October 6, 2008

Admitting One’s mistakes requires great courage.

How do we achieve Salvation?

Seen in the light of this creation plan, the root of all human problems is that the unenlightened want to make their Paradise in this world prior to death, whereas under the natural laws, the situation here on earth makes this impossible. According to God’s creation plan, man has to be content in this limited world before death, so that he may be sure that in the eternal world after death he has Paradise in store for him. The right and proper thing for man to do is therefore to acknowledge and accept this law of creation, and plan his life accordingly. His sole aim in this present world should be to make himself acceptable in the eyes of God, so that he may be held eligible for admission into Paradise in the eternal world after death.

Successful is one who has realized the eternal world of paradise in this temporary world; who has discovered in the failures of the present world, the secret to eternal success in the next eternal world.

When a paradisiacal personality develops in human beings, the present world is rendered meaningless in their eyes. Their intellectual plane reaches to such heights that everything becomes immaterial. They do not find any fulfillment in the material things of the world. The world of paradise is so perfect that the riches of this world are nothing in comparison to it. Owing to their heightened consciousness, they realize that the present world is not the place that they have been created for. Their hearts cry out to God:

“O God! Bestow on us, the paradise of the Hereafter. Give us a place in the world of Your neighbourhood.”

A paradisiacal person, that is, one fit to inhabit paradise, is such an ardent seeker of paradise that he begins to feel as if he is living in paradise while remaining physically in this world. If he has found paradise in terms of such a feeling, in the next world he will physically become a resident of paradise.

God’s angels will welcome those men and women, who reach the Hereafter with all the above qualities. The angels will come forward and say: “Congratulations, O Blessed Souls! Enter God’s heaven by divine decree. Here, there is no death and no parting from this joyous world. The eternal life has been given to you for all eternity.”

The Qur’an says:
O Soul at peace! Come to your Lord well pleased, and He will also be well pleased with you. So enter among My chosen servants. And enter My Garden. (89:27-30)