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As man evolves, so he finds the limitations, the errors and the infirmities
of human nature; and so it becomes difficult for him to live in the world and to
withstand all that comes. Also it becomes very difficult for man to be fine, to
be good, to be kind, to be sensitive, and at the same time to be tolerant. And
what comes as a tendency is to push away everything, and to find oneself away
from everybody and every being. But the purpose of being born on earth is
different.
The purpose of being born on earth is to find that perfection which is within
oneself. And however good and kind man be, if he has not found for what purpose
he is born on earth, he has not fulfilled the object of his life. There are many
different aspects of that purpose as many people there are in the world; but
behind all different aspects of that purpose there is one purpose. It is that
purpose which may be called the purpose of the whole creation. And that purpose
is when the inventor looks at his invention working, when the great architect
builds a house which he has designed and which was his when it is built, when he
enters it and sees how nicely it is accomplished; the purpose is accomplished
when the producer of a play produces the play he has desired, and when the play
is produced and he looks at it, that is the purpose.
There are five aspects which give one the tendency towards the accomplishment of
the inner purpose: desire to live, desire to know, desire for power, desire for
happiness and desire for peace. These five things work consciously or
unconsciously in the profound depth of every soul. Working within one, they
prompt one either to do right or to do wrong, and yet these five aspects belong
to the one purpose in the accomplishment of which the purpose of the whole
creation is fulfilled. When the desire to live brings one in touch with one’s
real life, a life which is not subject to death, then the purpose of that desire
is accomplished; when one has been able to perceive fully the knowledge of one’s
own being, in which is to be found divine knowledge and the mystery of the whole
manifestation, then the purpose of knowledge is attained; when one is able to
get in touch with the Almighty Power, then the desire for power is achieved;
when one has been able to find one’s happiness in one’s own heart, independent
of all things outside, the purpose of the desire for happiness is fulfilled;
when one is able to rise above all conditions and influences which disturb the
peace of the soul and has found one’s peace in the midst of the crowd and away
from the world, in him the desire for peace is satisfied. It is not in one or
the other of these five desires that there is the accomplishment of the purpose;
it is in the fulfillment of these five desires that one purpose is accomplished,
the purpose for which every soul was born on earth.
It is the nature of God to wish to realize His own perfection. An artist wishes
to bring out the best that is in him; therein lies his satisfaction. In every
soul there is a longing to bring out, to bring to a culmination, what is waiting
within. And as soon as it has realized this longing the purpose of that soul’s
birth on earth has been fulfilled.
Though man remains imperfect the God part in man seeks for perfection. That is
what the world was created for. Man is here on earth for this one purpose, that
he may bring forth that spirit of God in him and thus discover his own
perfection.
Our happiness depends on living right, and right living depends on striking that
note; and the realization of that purpose is in the book of our heart. Open that
book and look at it. All meditation, all concentration and contemplation is only
to open this book, to focus our mind, and to see what purpose there is in our
life. And no sooner do we see that our ultimate goal and our life’s object and
happiness, our true health and well-being and or real wealth and welfare, are in
the fulfillment of our purpose, then the whole trend of life will change.
Striving in the spiritual path is breaking away from the false conception that
we have made of ourselves, coming out of it, it is realizing our true being and
becoming conscious of it. No sooner do we become conscious of our true being and
break the fetters of the false ego, than we enter into a sphere where our soul
begins to realize a much greater expansion of its own being. It finds great
inspiration and power, and the knowledge, happiness and peace which are latent
in the spirit.
God knows Himself by His manifestation. Manifestation is the self of God, but a
self which is limited, a self which makes Him know that He is perfect when He
compares His own Being with this limited self which we call nature. Therefore,
the purpose of the whole of creation is the realization that God Himself gains
by discovering His own perfection through His manifestation.
Divinity is human perfection and humanity is divine limitation.
For a Sufi at the beginning of his training, the spiritual life is desirable,
but after mastering it, material and spiritual lives become the same to him, and
he is master of both.
The religion of the mystic is a steady progress towards unity. How does he make
this progress? In two ways. In the first way he sees himself in others, in the
good, in the bad, in all; and thus he expands the horizon of his vision. This
study goes on throughout his lifetime, and as he progresses he comes closer to
the oneness of all things. And the other way of developing is to become
conscious of one’s own self in God, and of God in one’s self, which means
deepening the consciousness of our innermost being. This process takes place in
two directions: outwardly by being one with all we see, and inwardly by being in
touch with that one Life which is everlasting, by dissolving into it, and by
being conscious of that one Spirit being the existence, the only existence. |
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