Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 280
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 280 faith in God, he should shun every vain conversation, vain deed, vain company, vain relationship, and vain passion—amounts simply to bringing that same eternal relationship from a potential into the realm of actuality. It is not something new. And as I have already stated, the first stage of man’s spiritual being— which is to attain to the state of humility, fervour, and anguish in one’s worship and remembrance of God—this stage amounts in itself merely to that of general application. In other words, the anguished self does not necessarily shun the frivolous or show higher moral values or civi- lised traits. Rather, it is quite possible that the heart of the person who assumes humility and cries and supplicates in Prayer, so much so that it even affects other people, may not be free from frivolous things, deeds, actions, companionship, relationships, and passions; that is, he may not have attained emancipation from sin. The reason is that the occasional experience of inner anguish, or feeling of pleasure and concentration in Prayer is one thing, and the purity of the self is something altogether different. Even when the sup- plication, humility, and crying of a seeker is free from the contamina- tion of innovative practices and idolatry, still the person who has not yet reached the second stage of the spiritual self is only searching for the spiritual goal, wandering on the way which is yet beset at every step with many a desert, wilderness, thorny bush, mountain, great tempes- tuous ocean, and wild animal—all enemies of faith and spiritual life— unless he has attained the second stage of spiritual development. Bear in mind that the states of humility, meekness, and submission do not at all necessitate a true relationship with God, for often times even mischievous people become humble upon witnessing a manifes- tation of the wrath of God, while in fact they have no relationship with God whatsoever, nor are they free of vain pursuits. For example, the earthquake that struck on 4th April 1905 caused hundreds of thou- sands of hearts to become so humbled and overawed that they did nothing but cry and beseech God, so much so that even the atheists forgot their atheism. But as the time passed and the shocks ceased,