Advice from Sheikh Semnani
 
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I.
 
The Sublime Deity—The Haqq (Absolute True Reality)—created this soil & vegetation with boundless wisdom and sincere true intentions so they are cultivated benefiting the people. If only the people could comprehend that the cultivation of this world is for the worldwide benefit and generation of wealth, consequently should never be directed towards extravagance & intemperance. If they could visualize the rewards of such production, they would never halt fruitful development! Since forsaking & stalling cultivation begets sins and people—equipped with that understanding—will never allow for the withering & deterioration of this earth.
 
II.
 
If someone has a fertile farmland with the potential to harvest a thousand kilos of crops and if upon his own faults & carelessness obtained only nine hundred kilos i.e. the hundred kilos of food afar from the people’s mouths, at last (on the Day of Reckoning & Judgment) he will be interrogated about those hundred kilos of lost harvest. [1] 
 
III.
 
All prophets had been commissioned to:
 
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal faults vs. the Divine Kamāl (Perfection)
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal cruelty vs. the Divine ‘Adl (Justice)
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal ignorance vs. the Divine 'Ilm (Knowledge)
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal obeisance vs. the Divine 'Izzat (Greatness)
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal mendicancy vs. the Divine Affluence
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal incapacity vs. the Divine Beneficence
Open the people’s eyes to their own personal evanescence vs. the Divine Everlastingness.
 
And further upon the same criterion, the sheikh insists that Murid (Avid Seeker of the Divine Beloved) opens the eyes to the vision of the above said meanings. The more the Murid (Avid Seeker of the Divine Beloved) attempts to prove himself or his perfection the more the sheikh is resented!? Since the sheikh endures all the sufferance so the student shuts the pompous eyes to his Self and opens the eyes to the Divine Perfection.
 
Alas the student, every moment, opens a new eye to his own personal admiration. The sheikh each moment attentively stops him, to make him aware of his gazing upon his own false-graces whilst blindness to the Divine Perception, since the fundamental characteristic of the Nafs (Psyche) is the self-worship (Beholding one’s Self with adoration & admiration). [2]
 
End.



 


[1] Imagine standing in front of the Almighty Lord of the universe answering for few pounds of fruits &  seeds, trembling with fear & regret, but how could we ever fathom responsibly responding to the death of the children?
 
Be warned, the murderers of those children are not just those who pulled the trigger, but also those who steered trouble and flared the flames of war, on all sides, for the sake of power, money, hate and so forth. The journalists, the cable networks, Wall Street brokers, scientists & engineers developing tech weapons, clergy enticing people to battle for their own personal fame & fortune, local & international leaders worrying about re-election and maintenance of their political parties & objectives. And yes! Forget not you & I.
 
[2] If you pray part of every night, fast many days, meditate for hours with Dhikr (Remembrance of the Divine), paying large charities and etc. are you doing them to be righteous i.e. are you boasting to your Self how great and angelic you are or you did those to accost nearer to the Beloved of heavens & earth? A true teacher, Pir (Old Sage), Sheikh or Spiritual Leader moment-by-moment battles the self-boasting of the student and for that reason Pir (Old Sage) of Harāt Khājeh Abdollah Ansāri said, “Righteous friends are far better than righteous deeds”. Since the righteous friends remind you of how lowbred and weak you are, while being aloof & worshiping may cause arrogance & self-deception, “Look at your Self man! How religious or spiritual you are becoming, look at you wow!?” And when you glance upon your Self with such admiration, indeed you lost the eyes to glance upon the Divine Beloved. Alas! Eyeless glance upon the Beloved and let your Self lost in this blinding darkness and smash the idrol of your Self, long before the death shattering her for you.


 


© 2006-2002,  Dara O. Shayda