In 1900 Leo Tolstoy was not only a world-famous writer, but arguably the most famous person in the world. Spiritual crises tormented him relentlessly from an early age right up until his death; he had an intense desire for the ascetic life to search for the ultimate meaning of life, but his wife would have none of it. His struggles led him into the study of Oriental religions and got him excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church for blasphemy. As early as 1855 Tolstoy wrote in his diary plans to create a new religion “cleansed of faith and mystery, a practical religion, not promising future bliss, but giving bliss on earth.” He sought religion with social justice without prejudice and superstition. In the twilight of his life he encountered the Bahá’í Faith, which fit the bill of his searching. We have on record a number of references he made to the Faith: speaking of the eternal enigma called life, and deploring the fact that we spend our entire earth allotment of time trying to solve the riddle, he goes on to add: “But there is a Persian prophet who holds the key.” His most explicit endorsement: “The teaching of the Bábís have great future before them....I therefore sympathize the Bábísm with all my heart, inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God....The teachings of the Bábís which come to us out of Islám have through Bahá'u'lláh's teachings been gradually developed, and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching.” The year after his death, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in London, where he said, “I received a letter from Tolstoy, and in it he said that he wished to write a book upon Bahá'u'lláh.”
Alas, he did not leave such a work to posterity. But recently I perused a newly-translated sampling of his later short stories under the title Divine and Human, and looked for tell-tale signs of Bahá’í influence on his writing. I did find about a half-dozen passages which it seemed to me couldn’t have been written without this influence, but this is nevertheless speculation on my part. However, one of the stories, A Coffeehouse in the City of Surat, could well have been told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá himself. A Persian scholar studied the essence of God all his life, but in the end became confused, and the king exiled him. So in this coffeehouse in India, he has a conversation with his slave about God, which attracts the interest of a number of travelers who happen to be there at the time. In turns a Brahmin priest, a Jewish moneychanger, an Italian Catholic, a Protestant pastor, and a Turkish customs officer expounded on the nature of the one true God from their own limited perspectives, and a great commotion ensued where everyone argued. All participated in the melee but one Chinaman who sat quietly in the corner. Observing this, they stopped their arguing and asked the Confucian to arbitrate. Instead of choosing any one of them as a victor, he told a parable about traveling all over the world and listening to people argue childishly about the nature of the sun, each claiming the sun for themselves. Finally the skipper of the ship, who had seen the sun in all these various regions set them all straight. Tolstoy has the Chinaman wrap up the story thus:
“And tell me now, whose temple can compare with that which was created by God himself when he wanted to unite all people into one faith? All human temples are copies of this temple—that is, the world created by God. All temples have domes and ceilings, all temples have lanterns, icons, images, inscriptions, books of laws, sacrifices, altars, and priests. Which temple has a bath as great as the world’s oceans, or a dome as high as the heavenly dome, or lanterns like the sun, moon, and stars; or images such as people living together, loving and helping each other? Are there any mere inscriptions about the love of God that are more easily understood than the blessings God gives us for our happiness? Where is the book of law more easily understood than the law of love, which is written on our hearts? Where are the sacrifices equal to the ones people give every day to those they love? Where is the altar that compares with the heart of a kind person in which God himself receives the sacrifice?
Alas, he did not leave such a work to posterity. But recently I perused a newly-translated sampling of his later short stories under the title Divine and Human, and looked for tell-tale signs of Bahá’í influence on his writing. I did find about a half-dozen passages which it seemed to me couldn’t have been written without this influence, but this is nevertheless speculation on my part. However, one of the stories, A Coffeehouse in the City of Surat, could well have been told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá himself. A Persian scholar studied the essence of God all his life, but in the end became confused, and the king exiled him. So in this coffeehouse in India, he has a conversation with his slave about God, which attracts the interest of a number of travelers who happen to be there at the time. In turns a Brahmin priest, a Jewish moneychanger, an Italian Catholic, a Protestant pastor, and a Turkish customs officer expounded on the nature of the one true God from their own limited perspectives, and a great commotion ensued where everyone argued. All participated in the melee but one Chinaman who sat quietly in the corner. Observing this, they stopped their arguing and asked the Confucian to arbitrate. Instead of choosing any one of them as a victor, he told a parable about traveling all over the world and listening to people argue childishly about the nature of the sun, each claiming the sun for themselves. Finally the skipper of the ship, who had seen the sun in all these various regions set them all straight. Tolstoy has the Chinaman wrap up the story thus:
“And tell me now, whose temple can compare with that which was created by God himself when he wanted to unite all people into one faith? All human temples are copies of this temple—that is, the world created by God. All temples have domes and ceilings, all temples have lanterns, icons, images, inscriptions, books of laws, sacrifices, altars, and priests. Which temple has a bath as great as the world’s oceans, or a dome as high as the heavenly dome, or lanterns like the sun, moon, and stars; or images such as people living together, loving and helping each other? Are there any mere inscriptions about the love of God that are more easily understood than the blessings God gives us for our happiness? Where is the book of law more easily understood than the law of love, which is written on our hearts? Where are the sacrifices equal to the ones people give every day to those they love? Where is the altar that compares with the heart of a kind person in which God himself receives the sacrifice?
“The more one tries to understand God, the closer one will come to him, reflecting God’s goodness, mercy and love to everyone.
“Let him who sees the whole light of the sun that fills the world not despise the superstitious man who sees only one ray of this very same sun in his idol. Let him also not despise the unbeliever, who is blind and cannot see any light at all.”
When the Chinese man had said this, all the people in the coffeehouse ceased their arguments about whose religion was the best.
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