"Bahá'í Prayers": The Writings that guide the life of the Bahá'í World Community include numerous works of the Báb, Prophet-Herald of The Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith; and His son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Baha'i literature can be read in over 800 languages and dialectes. Among these extensive Writings are beautiful, soul-stirring prayers and meditations.

'Abdu'l-Bahá tells us that prayer is conversation with God. "Know thou, verily it is becoming in a weak one to supplicate to the Strong One, and it behooveth a seeker of bounty to beseech the Glorious Bountiful One. When one supplicates to his Lord, turns to Him and seeks bounty from His Ocean, this supplication brings light to his heart, illumination to his sight, life to his soul and exaltation to his being."

In the Bahá'í view, the power that brings about answers to prayer is the inexhaustible Power of God. The part of the suppliant is only to exert the feeble force necessary to release the flow or determine the course of the Divine Bounty, which is ever ready to serve those who have learned how to draw upon it. . 
— Recited by Lisa Janti; music by Bob Alcivar

"The Seven Valleys" are considered by many as the apex of achievement in the realm of mystical composition. They were written as a response to questions put to Bahá'u'lláh by Shaykh Muhyi'd-Din, the judge of Khaniquin, a student of Sufi philosophy. The subject is "timeless and placeless" representing the inner truths of all religions. It delineates the stages that the soul must traverse on its journey towards the object of its being, union with God - the "Beloved".

The other seven meditations are excerpted from three books: "The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh"; "Gleanings from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh"; and "The Seven Valleys of Baha'u'llah". There, we are called upon to become "true seekers," to "contemplate the manifest signs of the universe, and ... penetrate the hidden mysteries of the soul." If we do that, we shall be endowed with a "new eye;" a "new ear;" a "new heart;" and a "new mind." Indeed, as Bahá'u'lláh has asserted; "Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame."
— Recited by Lisa Janti; music by Bob Alcivar

"The Hidden Words": 'Abdu'l-Bahá advised that "The Hidden Words is a treasury of divine mysteries. When thou ponderest its contents, the doors of the mysteries will open." Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, revealed these "gem-like utterances" in 1858, as He walked along the banks of the river Tigris, during His exile in Baghdad. He said of "The Hidden Words" that they contained the "inner essence" of all that had been revealed to the Prophets of old.

Shoghi Effendi wrote that "The 'Hidden Words' are dynamic spiritual leaven cast into the life of the world for the reorientation of the minds of men, the edification of their souls and the rectification of their conduct."

George Townshend added: "The Hidden Words" is conspicuously one of those works that can only be interpreted through personal, and indeed, communal, experience. We of the spiritual twilight, who stand yet on that twilight's darker edge, we who inherit a general tradition of doubt and mammon-worship, cannot pierce the deeper meaning of these "Hidden Words" not attain that outlook on life and the universe which it enjoins. Years and generations must pass before man can shake off the fetters he has bound upon his soul and regain that keenness of insight which he has last through long disuse. "The Hidden Words" is not a digest, nor an ordered statement. It is a new creation. It is a distillation of Sacred Fragrance. It is a focus in which all the Great Lights of the past are joined into one Light, and all God's Yesterdays become Today." — Recited by Lisa Janti; music by Bob Alcivar

"Ladder to the Soul": We have compiled these music selections by request from those who have heard the original spoken-word CDs recited by Lisa Janti. Newly composed music, as well as excerpts from the underscore music from "The Hidden Words", "The Seven Valleys" and "Bahá'í Prayers" have been carefully selected, newly mixed and re-mastered especially for this presentation. Music holds such an exalted place in Bahá'í life and the spiritual growth of individuals, in large part, because of statements such as the following by 'Abdu'l-Bahá; "The art of music is divine and effective. It is food of soul and spirit. Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted." The "Ladder to the Soul" collection is the latest offering by A/J Productions, adding meditative and spiritually uplifting music to our ongoing series. — Music by Bob Alcivar