The title Paradise of Presence comes from a luminous phrase in Baha’u’llah’s poem “Praised be my Lord, the Most High.”
My translation of the poem appears in full in chapter 17 of the book, but a few verses show the moment in which the phrase appears:
She uncovered her hair and the curls hung down on her breast.
Praised be my Lord, the Most High.The strain of God issued from the strands of her hair,
in remembrance of her Lord, the Lofty, the Most Exalted.
Praised be my Lord, the Most High.Behold! The miracle of night appeared from the darkness of her hair,
and the miracle of day from the brightness of her brow.
Praised be the one who created and arranged.She raised the sacred call in the paradise of presence.
Praised be my Lord, the Most High.Baha’u’llah
In this poem, the houri — the radiant figure who symbolizes the Holy Spirit — lifts her voice in a realm Baha’u’llah calls “the paradise of presence.” It is a world where divine reality is unveiled, where nearness to God is not imagined but experienced.
Baha’u’llah often uses the imagery of paradise to describe the inner world a person discovers when they turn toward the Divine. Paradise is not only a future destination; it is a reality that begins within the heart. He describes a person’s true paradise as their love for God and their union with Him, a sanctuary that grows as the relationship deepens.
The phrase “paradise of presence” captures this inner landscape with precision. It evokes the place where the soul becomes aware of God’s nearness — intimate yet immense, radiant yet interior. It is the meeting point between the human heart and the divine world, the space where spiritual perception opens and the soul begins to see with new clarity.
This book takes its name from that realm. Paradise of Presence is an invitation into that inner world: a place of encounter, unfolding insight, and companionship with the One who calls every soul into nearness.
You can read a complete translation of the poem at the Windflower Translations Library, and you can listen to a reading of it on the Windflower Readings YouTube channel.