In the Memory of Mr. Gupta and seven other members who dissolved the council in 1957 till the Second Guardian is appointed. The Council, by virtue of its actions, repudiated the plot of Persian Hands of Cause who wanted to abandon the Guardianship, emphasized in the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha. This council was restored in 2002 under the Guardianship of the Third Guardian Joel B. Marangella.


INTRODUCTION

The seven members of the LSA of Lucknow, all of whom must be receiving their reward in the ABHA Kingdom, are calling, not only the Bahá’ís of India, but the Bahá’ís of the world to follow their example in giving preminence to the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and sever their ties with the sans-Guardian organization, join the true Faith i.e., the Orthodox Bahá’í Faith, and assist the third Guardian, beloved Joel B. Marangella, to establish the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

In this period of strife, India is privileged to be a light to the world, the Torch-bearer of a message of universal brotherhood. Indian culture possesses the capacity for rejuvenation, and can without loss of continuity bring about a spiritual change. Indian people, though somewhat slow-going have the strength and vitality of youth, and so have preserved their basic human instinct for love of the truth. Their instinct reacts infallibly to the impact of realities. They are capable of effecting changes, not by imposition nor by intimidation, but by the process of education, a spiritual refining.

How many of us are aware that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Lucknow, upon the passing of Shoghi Efendi in 1957, stood up valiantly for this very basic human instinct of LOVE FOR THE TRUTH, and faithfully demonstrated its fidelity to the Will And Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in refusing to conform to the dictates of ten Persian Hands of Cause who conspired to make the Religion of Bahá’u’lláh conform to their own whims and wishes? These Persian Hands of the Cause were bent upon exploitation of the Sacred Name in following a policy of imposition and intimidation.

It is a well known fact that when men follow a policy of secret collusion, of which these Persian Hands were guilty at the very first conclave of Hands, held in ‘Akká following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, they cut themselves off from the truth and they become deluded by ignorance, and develop satanic perversity or egotism that proclaims itself absolute both in knowledge and power. The LSA of Lucknow, undeterred by this policy of intimidation, passed a resolution in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9th, 1957, resolving that "the activities of this L.S.A. be suspended till the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith."



THE SECOND GUARDIAN, CHARLES MASON REMEY’S COMMENT ON THE LETTER OF ASSEMBLY OF LUCKNOW

This afternoon [12 February 1959] there was a meeting of the seven of us Custodian Hands of the Cause now here in the Holy Land at which there was a discussion of many things — details of the comings and goings of pilgrims all of routine work, and a letter from the Local Assembly of Lucknow, India, was laid upon the table without remark, someone saying that it was a local problem — a matter that should be referred not to the Hands but to the National Assembly of India.

Seeing the letter, as it lay there on the table, I glanced at it and was astonished indeed at its contents. It was a record of the action of that local Assembly in which seven of the nine members had united to dissolve that local body until such time as the Guardianship be renewed and functioning again — this letter (this copy of which was addressed to the hands in the Holy Land, dated 18 November 1958) was being sent to the Indian National Assembly in New Delhi. This was indeed a most remarkable statement (in six short paragraphs and all on one sheet of paper) of the reasons why these friends cannot accept the present condition of the Cause without a Guardian, so the only thing that they could do was to dissolve their Assembly until they could again function as a Local Assembly of the Administration as given in the Will and established by the first Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi.

Therein I found an epitome of the main and vital points that I have urged the Hands to consider and about which they, as an overwhelming majority, will so far do nothing. These men of Lucknow who wrote that letter are indeed clear thinkers, as are those of the German National Assembly. It is a masterly piece of statement, most extreme in its expression (it could not be more extreme) but with a foundation as firm as the foundation of the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ...it gave me more hope than any of the other objections so far received by the Custodian Hands — objections to the action of the Hands in their tacit scrapping of the Guardianship that is of a divine nature and of their putting up in its place, the present human organization...




THE ORIGINAL LETTER WRITTEN BY
THE LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF LUCKNOW


Resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly (L.S.A. LUCKNOW) on November 9th,1957



REGISTERED SOCIETY NO. 141 NOVEMBER 18, 1958

(U.P. INDIA) RAFFANIAN

L.S.A. (LUCKNOW) HAIFA, ISRAEL

Where as by a resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9th,1957, it was resolved that "the activities of this L.S.A. be suspended til the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith" and the same was intimated to the N.S.A., New Delhi, and whereas it comes under the purview of the Supreme Council, so therefore it behooves this assembly to place the following arguments without prejudice, before the aforementioned Supreme Council through Raffanian, Haifa (Israel):

1. Man’s nature is two-fold; he is spirit and body and therefore, at once, a citizen of this world and of the Heavenly City.

2. The State of Guardianship is the supermost thing upon Earth, for the Guardians are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God Himself they are called Gods. That which concerns the mystery of The Guardian’s power is not lawful to be disputed, for, that is to wade into the weakness of Gods, and to take away the mystical reverence that belongs unto the temporal presence of them that sit in the Throne of God.

3. The Guardian ought to have no equal in his realm because this would nullify the rule that an equal cannot have authority over his equals. Still less ought he to have a superior or anyone more powerful than he, for he would then be below his own deputies and it is impossible that inferiors should be equal to the Supreme.

4. The Supremacy of the Guardian in spiritual matters is absolute under God. Substantially He is the "AKDAS" in the sense that he can neither be removed nor held responsible and has ultimate authority over the rest of the hierarchy, which his deputies have not. The Guardian has full power to create Hands of the Cause and can do so without any of the customary forms of election.

5. The unique power possessed by The Guardian alone, is, therefore a "Divine Right". It confers a peculiar superiority, a power of revision and supervision over all other forms of authority whether ecclesiastical or secular. In substance the Guardian alone is the head of the entire legal system, not, indeed, as a universal executive but as a court of final authority which functions not in absentia but by presence. It is evident that it is impossible to invest the community or even the Hands of the Cause, with the supreme authority which is the Divine prerogative of the Guardian.

6. The present system is but conciliary and the concilliarists have set against it the ideal of a harmony of powers cooperating by free and mutual consent. Such an argument is fought with the implication that God had changed the mode of imposing His Divine Right according to the wishes of the few. Such a democratic conception is vitally opposed to the Spirit of the Faith. The concilliarist theory strands curiously balanced between past and present. Wherever authority stands upon the exploitation of a sacred name, intimidation has to be adopted as policy on considerations.

L.S.A. Lucknow in animated suspense till the consecration of the Guardian on His vacant throne.

51 Sundarbagh,
Lucknow U.P. (India)

Copied from the original letter by C.M.R.
"Gupta" was the name of the writer of Lucknow, India.