THE STORY OF THE “GATE OF THE GARDEN” QUOTE FROM ABDU'L-BAHA

Inez Greeven told us in approximately 1980 that she went on Pilgrimage in 1920 during the days of Abdu'l-Baha and had many heavenly experiences.  One example:  One night, she was asleep in the same bed with her dear sister India, in the pilgrim house (I assume, the pilgrim house across the street and downhill from the Master's House, the Old Western Pilgrim House).  

Historical photo of the Old Western Pilgrim House on Haparsim Street

Photograph taken approximately 1925, Copyright 2006

Baha'i International Community, Used with permission

In the middle of the night she awoke, and something was different.  She couldn't put her finger on it.  Then as she awoke more fully, she could see that she was floating several feet above the bed.  She was startled, and got down, and began to walk around the room. She bumped into things and the noise awoke her sister.  “What's wrong?” her dear sister asked.  “I was floating in the air!” she said. “And I don't understand why...” and as she reflected on it, she knew for a certainty that at that very moment, Abdu'l-Baha was praying for her in the Shrines.  Later that day she was walking in the streets of Haifa, and she saw the Master.  He saw her, and walked over to her, smiled and asked, “Did you know I was praying for you?”  She said yes, she did.

The Master also told her that she and her sister were permitted to come on Pilgrimage, because their mother was a good woman.

Near the beginning of her Pilgrimage, the Master asked her, “Where is your husband?” This was the one question she did not want Him to ask.  She replied, “Well, he's not here, Abdu'l-Baha.”  “Yes, I can see that he is not here.  Where is your husband?”  She replied that her husband had left her for another woman.  “Yes, I know,” the Master said.  “And because you have forgiven him, God has forgiven him.”

This would have referred to her husband at the time, presumably a Mr. Cook, because at the time of her first Pilgrimage her name was Inez Cook. Later, she married Max Greeven, an American Baha'i resident in Germany, greatly praised by the beloved Guardian. More about the two of them is found in "Dear Co-worker: Messages from Shoghi Effendi to the Benelux Countries," (Leuven: Brilliant Books, 2009) ISBN 9789057210006.

Here is Inez during her 1920 Pilgrimage.  She is standing directly above Abdu'l-Baha's blessed head, holding the Greatest Name and a rose He gave to her.

On her return trip on the ship back across the Atlantic Ocean, she began to reflect on how she could convey her experiences to her friends. In particular, she wanted to share the grandeur of the Faith and of the Master, with two of her friends to whom she was teaching the Faith.  She then thought of the idea of having them go to the Holy Land themselves.  She thought that as soon as they met the Master, they would understand that this Faith is from God.  She sent a cable to `Abdu'l-Baha and asked permission for her friends to go to the Holy Land and meet Him and visit the Holy Places, and He cabled back that permission was granted.

In those days it was quite an adventure to travel that far and visit the Holy Land.  She made arrangements, and saw her friends off at the dock in New York as their ship sailed away.  Some weeks later she came to the dock to welcome them home.  She eagerly anticipated that they would tell her that they had become Baha'is.  As they came down the walkway from the ship, she greeted them and gave them hugs, excitedly asking, "Well?  Well?"

One of her friends said, "Oh, our trip was wonderful!"

"Well, tell me all about it!"  Inez said.

"Well, first of all we visited the pyramids in Egypt."

"Yes, yes, go on," Inez said somewhat impatiently.

"And then we went to the Holy Land."

"Yes, yes!"

"And we went to Jerusalem and visited all the holy places."

"Yes, yes!"

"And then we went to Mount Carmel, and we met your Master."

"YES!"

"And he invited us into his home, and we had meals with him and his family. Why, they were the *nicest* people!  And he told us funny stories.  And they took us to beautiful gardens and shrines.  It was wonderful."

Inez paused.  "Is that all?"

"Is that all?  What do you mean!?  We had a wonderful time! Thank you for arranging it!"

So neither of her friends had become Baha'is, and she did not understand this.

Inez was apparently a wealthy woman, as she lived in a hotel in New York. The following year, in 1921, Inez returned to the Holy Land for a second Pilgrimage. This was not long before the end of the Master's life, as official immigration records show that she came back to the USA just a week before His passing.

During this second visit, she decided to ask him why her friends had not become Baha'is.  She said words to this effect: "My friends came here, and they met you, and they visited the Holy Places, but they were unaffected.   When I came here I was completely intoxicated with the greatness of the Cause.  Why didn't they become Baha'is?"

`Abdu'l-Baha's answer was,

“At the gate of the garden,
some stand and look within, but do not care to enter. 
Others step inside, behold its beauty, but do not penetrate far.
Still others encircle this garden, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers;
and having enjoyed its full beauty, pass out again by the same gate.
But there are always some who enter,
and becoming intoxicated with the splendor of what they behold,
remain for life to tend the garden."

The translator wrote this down for Inez, whose name at that time was Inez Cook.

On the long ocean voyage home, Inez thought about this, and thought about her two friends.  She decided that what she would do, was to tell her friends everything. So after her return to New York, she met with her friends, and told them exactly what had happened.  She then gave both of them a copy of `Abdu'l-Baha's beautiful statement about the gate of the garden, which is on the same theme as Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed. 

One of these two women was attracted to the Cause, and became a Baha'i. Her name was Frances Esty.  She became a lifelong devoted Baha'i.  She compiled a lovely book of the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha which she titled The Garden of the Heart.  In the front of this book, which is extremely rare, she quotes this pilgrim's note, and thanks Inez Cook for it.  It is often wondered where in the Writings this beautiful passage came from, and to whom it was revealed. It is not from the Master's Writings, it is a pilgrim's note from Him to Inez Greeven, and the earliest reference to it I know of is this early book, published by the Roycroft Press in 1930 in East Aurora, New York.

When Frances Esty died, I heard that she left her estate to the Baha'i Faith, and her community purchased a Baha'i center with the proceeds.

Brent

Abdu'l-Baha's Use of Storytelling

I had the pleasure of meeting Inez Greeven a number of times in the 1970's and early 1980's at her home in Carmel, California. Mrs. Greeven had gone on Pilgrimage in 1920 and again in 1921. She described the manner of Abdu'l-Baha's storytelling.

I wish first to mention that in his wonderful book Portals to Freedom, Howard Colby Ives writes of when Abdu'l-Baha "touched His fez so that it stood at what I called the humorous angle." (p. 58)

Inez Greeven, whose name in 1920, before she married Max Greeven, was Inez Cook, told me that when she and her fellow pilgrims sat down to lunch with Abdu'l-Baha, He had already eaten. He seated the pilgrims around the table, and personally placed food on their plates. When everyone had food, Abdu'l-Baha began to walk around the table and speak to them on spiritual matters. Mrs. Greeven said that what He said was so profound and so lofty, that it filled her soul. She said it reached the point that her heart was so filled with spirit that she could not bear to hear another word. And at that moment, He stopped, and moved His head-gear back on His head, and then He began to tell funny stories. She said, "He was the funniest man I ever met." She said that He was so funny, that everyone was practically falling off of their chairs. She said "Our sides hurt from laughing, we couldn't bear to laugh any more." Then, she said that Abdu'l-Baha moved His cap forward, and again began walking around the table, and speaking on lofty matters.

What I learned from Mrs. Greeven's description, was that this was the rhythm of Abdu'l-Baha. He alternated speaking of the Word of God, with telling stories. The stories drove the point home, and they also gave the listeners an opportunity to relax, and to take in the spiritual message.

Here is a portion of Mrs. Greeven's pilgrimage photograph, taken on the front steps of the Master's house.

Abdu'l-Baha with pilgrims, 1920
Copyright held by Baha'i World Centre, used with permission
(Please click photo for larger image)

Standing in front of the pilgrims is Abdu'l-Baha. Immediately above Him is Inez Greeven, holding the symbol of the Greatest Name. On the left, wearing a necklace, is Grace Ober, and on the right, wearing a dress with a white collar, is Grace Krug. Behind Mrs. Greeven and Mrs. Krug is the Hand of the Cause of God Ibn-i-Asdaq. Behind Mrs. Greeven and Mrs. Ober is Saichiro Fujita (A biographical sketch of Fujita-san is in Japan Will Turn Ablaze).

Here is the full photograph of that 1920 Pilgrimage:

Abdu'l-Baha with pilgrims, 1920
Copyright held by Baha'i World Centre, used with permission
(Please click photo for larger image)

Here is a partial photo identification;

Far left, arms folded: Dr. Zia Bagdadi; one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan to the Central States was revealed in his honor. Next to Dr. Bagdadi, Persian man with white button on his lapel: Ruhi Afnan. Next to him, wearing white shirt with high collar, Harlan Ober. Between Dr. Bagdadi and Mr. Ober, on the step below, her face obscured by the woman in front of her, is apparently Ruth White, who was on that pilgrimage. Grace Ober (identified in the smaller image above) is next to Mr. Ober. (As explained in the book about the Hand of the Cause Hermann Grossmann, following this pilgrimage, and in obedience to the wishes of Abdu'l-Baha, Mr. and Mrs. Ober traveled home via Germany where they gave the Baha'i message; Mr. Grossmann learned of the Baha'i Faith from them in Leipzig at one of their talks.) Inez Greeven is standing directly above Abdu'l-Baha, and holding the symbol of the Greatest Name; she is the source of this photograph; at the time, her name was Inez Cook, she married Max Greeven some time later. The story of how Abdu'l-Baha gave her the famous pilgrim's note about the "gate of the garden" is told here.  Saichiro Fujita is between Mrs. Ober and Mrs. Greeven, on the step above them. The Hand of the Cause Ibn-i-Asdaq, in white turban and white beard, is next to Mr. Fujita. The little girl, far left, the only person standing on the step immediately above Abdu'l-Baha, is named Daisy; I believe she was a niece of Mrs. Greeven. Grace Krug, identified above, is standing behind Abdul-Baha; she is wearing a dark dress with white collar. The tall man in the center of the photograph with light hair and grey coat is her husband Dr. Florian Krug. In the front row, looking at Abdu'l-Baha, the woman with the black hat, wearing a dress with white collar and dark string of beads, is India Haggarty, the sister of Inez Greeven. (There is a story in Star of the West about these two sisters, Inez and India visiting the village of Abdu'l-Baha in Burma, which I believe took place immediately following this Pilgrimage). Above Mrs. Haggarty's left shoulder is Faydu'llah Subhi, a secretary of Abdu'l-Baha who fell under the influence of Avarih and broke the Covenant (Child of the Covenant, p. 296). Behind Subhi's left shoulder, wearing a light-colored jacket, is Badi Bushrui, the father of Dr. Suheil Bushrui. There is a woman in the front row, far right, wearing a white dress; above her left shoulder, the man with a dark fez and white beard is Mirza Muhsin Afnan, one of Abdu'l-Baha's sons-in-law, who remained faithful. He is the father of Ruhi Afnan, and also of Suhayl Afnan, who is the young man in front of him, the person farthest to the right in the picture. In the top row there are two Indian soldiers; this photograph was taken during the years immediately following the successful taking of the Holy Land by the British Army under General Allenby; at the time there were Indian soldiers in the British army, and these two soldiers appear to be in that category.