THE CHALLENGE OF MAN
In the world before death, we should be content with what we have and patiently persevere in the face of challenges so that in the world after death, we may be eligible for Paradise, where there is complete fulfilment of desires.
In line with the law of nature, man is born in such conditions that his entire life passes in toil. Accordingly, arduous struggle and sorrow are a necessary part of the Creator’s creation plan. No person has the power to save himself from this course of toil in this world of test.
In the life of this world, sorrow and toil are part of the Creator’s creation plan. This system exists so that man can be reminded that the present world has not been made for him as a place to make merry but as a sort of examination hall. The present world exists so that man can pass through different situations. Amidst these situations, it is decided whether a person is worthy of being settled in the eternal world of Paradise or not. Those people who, passing through these situations, give the desired response will be lodged in eternal Paradise in the Hereafter, while those who do not provide the proper and desirable response will live in eternal deprivation.
This state of toil remains intact in this world. However, people do not understand its reality because of unawareness of God’s creation plan. By wrongly reacting against it, they fail in the examination of life.
These days, big companies claim to be engaged in the work of ‘de-stressing’. They try to provide peace of mind to people by asking them to stop thinking. However, stopping the mind’s thought process is only a form of temporary anaesthesia. It is not the real solution to the problem. The only real solution to it is just one—and that is stress management.
It is common to observe that victims of problems often get engaged in social services. It is just a way of diverting one’s mind to get over grief, but this is not necessarily a proper response to the issue of ‘toil’. Social service is a service to humanity; in this sense, it is undoubtedly a praiseworthy activity. However, if seen in relation to the creation plan of nature, an unwanted element might be present in it. The psyche of a person who experiences misfortune or problems in life is: “Let no one suffer what I have suffered.” This seems to be the motivation for people who engage in social service.
This psyche tells us that man considers all issues simply as worldly issues. To him, all problems relate only to this world. The most significant act, he thinks, is to make the world a problem-free place. However, this thinking is against nature’s creation plan, so it will never fructify here.
Whenever someone faces an unpleasant experience, it is so that he should derive a lesson from it. He should remember that the present world is a world of test. Here, no one will ever obtain a life of total comfort. Therefore, man should learn lessons from the negative experiences of the world. He should awaken within himself the consciousness that he will never attain the ideal life of his dreams in this limited world. He should search for the perfect life he desires in the unlimited world of the next period of life, that is, in the Hereafter.
In this situation, the true lesson one should derive from unpleasant experiences is that man should remember Paradise of the next world. He should awaken this thought: “Let me not suffer in the Hereafter that I have suffered in this world.”
Prosperous is he who, while in the temporary world, has recognized the eternal world, who, in the failures of the present world, has discovered the secret of the lasting success of the next period of life.
God made the present world according to a plan that every person should be engaged in ‘toil’. But, Paradise in the next eternal world will be totally free from sorrow, and only those with whom God is pleased will get a place there. Not understanding this fundamental point about life creates the problems mentioned above.
If you view the issue in the light of God’s creation plan, you will discover that the root of all human problems is that people want to make their ‘paradise’ in the world before death; whereas here, the conditions needed for this purpose are not present. Just as on sand or quicksand, no building can stand; in the same way, in the present world, no one can build his ‘dream palace’, his ideal world. When man fails to create a perfect world for himself here in line with natural law, he often becomes a victim of negative reaction, leading to further devastation. The right thing for man to do in this regard is to acknowledge the law of creation and develop a plan for his life in line with it. Moreover, this plan is just one—while still here, in this present world, he should strive to make himself the sort of desirable person who in the world, after death, will be deemed eligible for entry in Paradise.
Thus, according to God’s creation plan, in the world before death, we should be content with what we have and patiently persevere in the face of challenges, no matter how harsh they might seem, so that in the world after death, we may be held eligible to find a place in Paradise, where there is complete fulfilment of desires.
