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QUESTION: How can we know whether we have progressed or not? BAWA MUHAIYADDEN: It is easy to find out whether one has progressed. Do you have desire? QUESTIONER: Yes. BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: That means you have not progressed, you have gone backward. Do you have anger? QUESTIONER: Yes. BAWA MUHAIYADDEN: That means you have gone even further backward. Do you have envy within you? Do you feel jealous? QUESTIONER: I think so. BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: That means you are still further back. Do you and your husband quarrel? QUESTIONER: Not too much BAWA MUHAIYADDEN: Even if you fight a little bit, that puts you a little further back. This is how you can find out whether you are progressing or not. QUESTIONER: That isn’t very encouraging. BAWA MUHAIYADDEN: There is hope, so don’t be discouraged. Don’t worry. You must try to surmount these things. Go forward, leaving them behind. God does not see any difference between one life and another. He permeates every life, dwelling within, as the life within that life. He sees no difference between one religion and another or between one color and another. He has no selfishness. He gives food equally to all His creations. He performs His duty, satisfying the hunger of all lives. He does not feel happy when they do right, or angry when they do wrong. He looks after and provides for all His creations, whether they commit faults or not, whether they do good or evil. There will be a Day of Judgment, when each person will be judged according to what he has gained for himself through his own actions. God has said, “It is not My duty to judge them now. Let them do what they want. When Judgment Day comes, each one will be given what he searched for. What he receives will depend upon his state. I will give him a deed of ownership for whatever he has constructed during his lifetime.” At any moment, a man can give up everything he has and become completely free. Even though this state can be attained in one second, some people might not reach it in a thousand years. But if we can discard our attachment to earth, gold, lust, possessions, our body, and everything we have gained so far, if we can throw all this away and say, “My God!” then we can surrender to God and be liberated then and there. We can surrender to God even up to the last second before the Angel of Death comes to take us. Even at the very moment when life is about to depart, if we take that one step forward, if we turn away from all these things and go toward God, we will have won. Then God will embrace us and say, “My child!” He will not judge us before Judgment Day. After that, everything is finished, but until the Angel of Death comes, there is still time to surrender. So do not worry. Be comforted by the thought that we still have time. During that time we have to keep moving, we have to walk, we have to run. We cannot stand still. Now, when you set out on a journey, you may take along a heavy lunch basket. After a while you might leave behind some of the things you are carrying and say, “Oh, we don’t want to be loaded down with these,” but you will still hold on to your food. As you progress further, even that begins to feel heavy. “All right,” you say, “let’s eat some of this now and throw the rest away.” But then you think, “We must at least bring the water.” Soon that also becomes heavy, and you might say, “Aiyo, aiyo, even this water is too heavy to carry! I can’t walk!” Then you discard the water to make your load still lighter. Next the coat you are wearing to protect you from the cold begins to be burdensome, and so you throw that away too. You continue walking with just a flimsy shawl over your shoulders, but soon even the shawl is too much. So you throw that off and walk on. After a while, swear starts pouring down your face, so you have to take off your shirt and leave that behind also. Next the shoes you are wearing to protect your feet become a nuisance, so you kick them off. Now you are walking in your socks. But even they feel like a burden, sticking, itching, and annoying you in all sorts of ways. So, you pull them off. Then the hat on your head becomes a dead weight. Because you are suffering under that weight, you get rid of it. Now all you have left is a loincloth to cover your backside. With only that small loincloth you suffer and struggle on until you reach the end of your journey. That is how it must be done. But there is still more. As you go even further wearing just the loincloth, you will cut away the attachments you have to everyone and everything. In this way, one by one, you must discard all of the things you have acquired for yourself. This is what you must do on the journey to God. Then you will say, “Oh, now everything is gone. I have given up everything. God, you are the only One for me, the only One I need.” Then God will come and lift you up, saying, “Come, come.” He will lift you up and say, “Hold My hand, I will take you.” And He will take you. So do not be discouraged. You still have time. But keep walking. Do not stand still. Up until this time, you have been carrying so many dead weights, so many burdens. Only when they all have dropped away from you will God appear, saying, “Come,” and take you along.
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Muhaiyaddeen, M.R. Bawa. Questions of Life – Answers of Wisdom Volume 1. Philadelphia: Fellowship Press, 1991. 82-84. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen- a Sufi mystic, can best be remembered for his efforts to bring unity through understanding to the faithful of all religions. If you would like more wisdom quotes and articles that will help you in your life, marriage, job, and prayers that give you peace of mind visit us at www.wisdomarticles.com.
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