The Purpose Of Life(from Masnavi, A Spiritual Treasury)

Posted by Ranu

God has placed a ladder before our feet: we must climb it, step by step.

You have feet :why pretend to be lame? You have hands: why conceal the fingers that grip?

If you bear God’s burden, He will raise you up.

If you accept His commands, He will shower you with His grace and bounty.

If you seek union with Him, you will become united for evermore.

It was our Creator who led us through the stages of evolution, from the animal state to the human. His purpose was to make us intelligent and aware, so that we might know Him. MASNAVI 1V: 3646- 7

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IQBAL’S PHILOSOPHY, posted by ranu

“We can achieve immortality, but only as an ever-growing ego”

According to Iqbal, one must try to heighten his/her ego to a height where even God would ask, What kind of destiny do you want? ( “In Urdu, khudi ko ker buland itna ke har taqdeer se pehle, khuda bande ko poochhe bata teri raza kia hai,” Iqbal ).

The question is how and what are the steps to achieve that goal?

Iqbal says, ‘All things are given to self-display, without the desire to self revelation life is death.’

Change is necessary, rest is impossible in this workplace of nature. Anything or anyone that doesn’t move dies, this is the secret of existence.

According to Iqbal it is never enough to achieve something and live on his/her laurels. He says, life is to make a pearl from your inner oyster. Do not borrow it from outside, take it from your inside.

If I wanted to achieve an ever-growing ego, I must avoid distraction. It leads my mind in a state of stagnation.

I bring myself to reality by reading Iqbal’s thoughts. It tells me to achieve immortality, I must have an ever-growing ego.

One cannot hope for perfection, for it has no growth. It belongs to God only. We humans must concentrate on our ever-growing ego. Perfection has no place for mankind for it has no potential for growth. I’d rather remain as a human.

Iqbal ends by saying, ‘I have no desire for a sojourn, for I die if I rest.’

I was impressed by Iqbal’s Quote, where he says, : heighten your ego to a height, where even God himself would ask you, what kind of destiny do you want.’

It was the beginning of my search for Iqbal. It’s how I joined the online course and am still fascinated by this poet and philosopher.

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Our Creator by Ranu( A story)

Long, long time ago the creator of our planet wanted to experiment something new.

He gathered His Angels and expressed His wish. The Angels from A to Z protested vehemently.

The littlest Angel with its sweet voice said: It is not a good thing to create humans, they will fight and cause bloodshed, please God give up this idea.

He told His Angels, you do not know what I know.

Ignoring the plea of the Angel, God continued to elaborate His plan. I will use clay to create the form with care, then I will breathe into its shape and it will come alive.

The human was created.Not wasting any second He ordered the Angels to bow to the human. All the angels did as told but one of them refused.

God was angry and threw him out of heaven. While leaving, the rebel angel said, ‘alright then I will cause chaos, give wrong advice to the humans, your world would be a very difficult place to live, until the day of judgement.

A Poem by ranu

William Wordsworth wrote poems of Nature,

I decided to express about my stature.

In height and weight I carry no distinction,

But when I fell I was close to extinction.

As I was falling down the stairs ,

I made my plea to God Upstairs,

Please do not make me an invalid,

I promise to say my prayers

To increase my good deed.

Perhaps He heard me, perhaps not,

For I only fractured a rib and bruised my body

It could have been worse my daughter declared,

you did not break your leg nor an arm.

Now I’m swallowing pain killers galore,

And wonder when will I be able enough,

Because lying flat on a bed long hours is tough is tough!

Daily Prompt : Doubt

In response to daily post’s prompt : Doubt

My years as a teenager and later an adult not a day passed when I was not in doubt of something. Before any exam I’d hold on to the question paper and after reading all the questions, I’d fear that none of the questions asked I’d be able to answer.

Slowly I’d sit straight and tell myself, ‘I studied the subject, why does it appear I never saw these words. Then my inner self would wake me up and whisper, ‘Ranu you have three hours to answer six questions, start writing, do not hand over your empty booklet, because if you fail, your older brother will marry you off to a farmer, you’ll be stuck in a village and cry day and night.’

Was this a warning? I knew because Dad passed away, my brother would really do this awful thing to me, and Mom would say nothing. I managed to write my exams, I had no clue what the result would be and added to this was my lack of confidence.

Two days before the results came out, I’d start praying asking God to please help me pass, I don’t remember this but I must have promised I’ll study harder for my next exam. God probably thought, ‘this is what humans do, they pray to get out of trouble and when they are successful, they forget the promise and go back to their laziness.’

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Writing 101, Day, Five: Freedom

“Uncensored writing coming from the heart often produces the most amazing read.”__ Bebong

“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.”__Jean Jacques Rousseau

“Free people remember this maxim: We may require liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.”___ Jean Jacques Rousseau

” You forget that the fruits belong to all and the land belongs to none.” ___    Jean Jacques Rousseau

The above three quotes has a definite purpose in my mind.

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What Freedom Means To Me:

I’m assured, “uncensored writing,

Often produces amazing reading.”

Does it mean I have Freedom to speak my mind ?

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Do only the wealthy ,

Have freedom to look down upon,

The poor and unfortunate people?

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Is the color or gender of a human,

The decision making tool for success and,

Failure?

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Will a human be discriminated,

Because he speaks a different language,

And belongs to a developing country?

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Most humans believe in the

Creator of the Universe,

Whether he calls Him Allah or God or

Bhagwaan,will it matter?

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The French Philosopher said,

“Man is born free ,

and he is in chains everywhere.”

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These  words, does not mean freedom?

Jean- Jacques says, fruits belong to all,

But the land belongs to none,

Yet battles are fought to possess land.

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If we thought for a moment what

The above quotes  mean,

We will no longer feel we own anything.

Will we  still  fight wars and kill people?

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Education is not the privilege of a few,

All of humanity deserves to be educated.

To gain the most basic knowledge,

Why some of us are white and most are not.

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It gives  us the most essential wisdom,

Why are we different,

Who is the culprit?

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It’s the ‘Climate’,

Can we  wage a war against ‘Nature?’

No we cannot, because nature protects us.

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To be able to survive ,

Humans must believe in Liberty ,

Equality and Freedom.

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Liberty is, ‘Free will,’

Equality is,’Equal, rights and opportunities,’

Freedom means, ‘Personal or civic liberty.’

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The most important is my conclusion:

God announced to the Angels,

“I am going to have a ‘Vicegerent,’

On Earth , Adam is his name,’

The Angels protested,

God said, “You do not  know, what I know!”

God served His purpose by creating us.

He has faith in us, which is why He,

Paid no heed what the angels had to say.

Can we not join together,

And let the Angels Pray?

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Ghazal: Singer, Gayathri, lyrics: Bahadur Shah Zafar, posted and translated by Ranu

I never had trouble speaking as I do now.

Your meeting place was not like it is now.

Who has taken away my patience and calm?

I was never this impatient like now, O heart!

God knows the magic that was in her eyes,

My emotions never ran so deep as they do now,

I lacked the power of observation,

I never was overwhelmed as I am now.

I never had trouble speaking as I do now!

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Author’s view: On Prayer

Then a priestess said, “Speak to us of Prayer.”

And he answered,  saying :

You pray in your distress and your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of your self into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer , she should spur you again and yet again, through weeping until you should come out laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet those who you can only meet by prayer.

Let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

If you enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you shall not receive,

you enter into it to humble yourself,

even if you enter it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard,

It is enough you enter the temple invisible.

God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips.

I cannot teach you the the prayer of the seas, the forests or the mountains,

You who are born of the mountains, the forests and the seas can find their prayer in your heart.

And if you listen in the stillness of the night, you shall hear them in silence:

“Our God , who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.

It is the desire in us that desireth.

“We cannot ask thee for aught for thou knowest our needs before they are born into us .

” Thou art our need ; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all.”

To be continued once more along with the author’s name!

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Continuation of the story: On Giving

Then a rich man said:

Speak to us about giving:

And he answered : You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow what shall tomorrow bring to the over- prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

There are those who give little of the much which they have–and they give it for recognition and their hidden desires makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little but give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

You often say, “I will give but only to the deserving,”

The trees in your orchard say not so, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you.

And you receivers-and you are all receivers -assume no weight of gratitude lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.

For to be overmindful of your debt is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.

To be continued 🙂

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Daily Prompt: Honorific

If you pick one person to commemorated on a day dedicated to him/her alone, who would you choose?

I would choose my Mom. When  my Dad passed away, we the siblings were very young. My Mom took care of us and reminded us we can achieve anything we want, we only have to concentrate on our studies.

We all studied hard except, one of my older brothers refused to study. Even if my Dad was alive he wouldn’t be able to make him go to school.

My mom was an inspiration to us. She was a very pious lady and taught us never to spend time back biting, this is one of the things God dislikes.No matter how many good deeds we do, it will all be useless if we continue to speak ill of others.

She was very kind to her own siblings and her parents. Before she got married she helped my grandparents with the cooking . My mom had a sister eight years older than her, my mom was the one my grandparents thought would be able to do the work around the house.