Topics
All are aware that everything that is in the universe is born—it
grows and develops, reaches its prime, and then its decline sets in Eventually,
progressively, either slowly or quickly, it dies. Man faces exactly the same
predicament. Man is born and he through a time of innocence and then steps into
the world of awareness. The adult, intelligent and conscious man, who considers
this stage of awareness his highest elevation, Marts to decline. A time comes
when the mental and physical strength fails to bear the burden of the human
structure. When the structure's bricks and stones (skeleton), cement and mortar
(nervous system), plaster (flesh), and its beautiful facade (skin) lose their
strength, the structure collapses and falls to the ground.
Observation of the law of motion lends us the fact that within
every object that is in motion there is something stored, and it when this
stored thing burns that the object moves. Within motor and airplanes it is
gasoline that burns; kerosene burns within lanterns; electricity burns within
illuminated II and within man energy burns in form of calories. The more
calories that are stored within a person the stronger, the live, and better
looking he appears. A person's health is affected by the same ratio that his
calories decline. Just as a cat starts to stop and stall if its fuel supply is
interrupted, man also falls and rises. This rise and fall is indicative of his
superior health.
According to God's command, man has been fashioned from rotten
mud and dry ringing clay. Within this insignificant object Allah breathed in
His spirit, transforming it into a living being that can hear and see and taste
and feel. Man is able to walk around, sleep and awaken, eat and drink, and use
his will mid abilities because lights have been stored within him. Excessive
use of the lights quickly makes him tired and exhausted; ample supply of lights
keeps him healthy and active for a longer time. The longer a man is busy in
worldly affairs, the more he loses his inner peace and contentment of heart.
Worldly comfort and luxury may have its place, but it is law of
nature that when man concentrates on something, that thing appears displayed on
the screen of the human mind, and this display consumes the lights that had
been stored ¬the same store [of lights] that is being generated by the 200
billion cells of the human mind.
If one of the rooms in a house contains ten items such as n sofa
set, a radio, a television set, a table, and other articles of display and
luxury, while another room contains only a bed, when our eyes view the [room
with] ten items, the stored lights within us display the ten items on the
mental screen [whereas, in the other room we need to consume only enough lights
to display one item]. In other words, the light that could have been spent for
just one item is spent ten times over.
It is a general observation that an ordinary man experiences
better health and a longer life, whereas a man with his mind caught in worldly
affairs not only experiences poor health but also a shorter life span. The fact
of the matter is that, within one of the men, the expenditure of the stored
lights is less, while in the other man that expenditure is greater. Everyone
knows that the one who spends more is eventually bankrupt.
From a spiritual point of view, when a child comes out from the
mother's womb into this world he possesses a large enough storehouse of lights
to live a lifespan of 5000 years. He spends this [stored fuel] so excessively
due to his foolishness, false pride, and ostentatious nature that the lifespan
of 5000 years is reduced to a mere 50 or 60 years. In other words, man who
could have lived for 5000 years, spends [life energy] excessively and runs out
of it in 50 or 60 years.
It is a law [of nature] that the man who is content and at peace
experience good health—he has good appetite; he does not have any difficulty
falling asleep; and he lives longer. On the other hand, the man who lives in
chaos and who is plagued by mental worries needs to expend many more calories
than are normally required. He also has the need to eat, but in order to feel
hungry and then to stop feeling hungry he needs to us medication. He wants to
sleep, as sleep is the best tonic for mental energy, but he is not able to
sleep. Like every other living thing he wants to experience joy, but the
imprints of sorrow and misfortune and of excesses in the business of profit and
loss do not let that joy come to the surface, so he covers has face with so
many false faces to hide the agony within. This agony consumes an inordinate
number of calories and, alas a time comes when, with so much sorrow and regret,
be passes on to the next world, without having obtained his purpose in life,
becoming an illustration of this [verse of the Holy Quran]:
[“He loses both this
world as well as the Hereafter." (Holy Qur'an Ch22:v11)]
He leaves for a world where he will not find his business or his
factories or his magnificent mansions—his entire life's worth is reduced to a
6x3 foot barren hole in the ground, and it does not take long before the
particles of this man's body, who so worshiped the world, are trampled under
the feet of both man and beast.
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
Science has made immense progress, yet many believe that, even with all of the modern tools at our disposal, human beings function at no more than 10% of their mental capacity. This leads to the question of what exactly it is that comprises the remaining 90%. Yet another question that arises is this: If it has taken man four and a half billion years to be able to apply only 10% of his ability, how long will it take for him to make use of the remaining 90%?