There was a period of time when some of the friends criticized the National Assembly for demanding too much spiritual discipline from the participants in teaching campaigns and institute courses. The National Assembly decided to relax the conditions and let the friends be more ‘normal’ in their service to the faith. When we told [Dr. Muhajir] this, he suddenly became very sad. He asked me for a piece of paper and wrote on it, “The less you expect, the less you achieve”. On the back he wrote in Persian, three verses of a poem, reportedly a favourite of Mulla Husayn’s, on the dangers of seeking comfort and importance of extreme effort to succeed in our activities. I treasure this small piece of paper and often refer to it to remind myself of the valuable lessons I learned that day.
“The moment you are detached you can be successful. Bahá’u’lláh has said so. Bahá’u’lláh says in His Kingdom He has lions of detachment. If He releases them they will conquer the world for Him; be one of those lions. The only thing necessary is detachment. Whether you are working in banks or offices, taking care of your future, all these things can be postponed for three or six months. You can take your vacation with pay, or without pay, anything. Just think that if the Five Year Plan is not finished what will happen to all of us? This is what the beloved Guardian says – ultimately the success of all the plans depends on individual Bahá’ís. If each individual do not take it as his or her own personal responsibility, it will not work.” (Dr. Muhajir)