Way of The Seekers — Page 112
112 THE him to restrain the dog. The saint said: Very true. You should follow the same method in combating Satan. You should supplicate God: I want to come closer to you but your dog – Satan – does not let me approach you. You alone, Lord, can keep him off me. Thus one sure means of avoiding evil is prayer to God. One should pray: God, I am doing my best to ward off evil, but I cannot succeed unless you help me. I have received a query concerning the suggestion that we should aim high. A friend asks whether it is permissible to entertain colorful wishes. To my mind, it is not desirable to indulge in this kind of wishful thinking. For example, the Promised Messiah (on him be peace) has said that we should not hanker after divine revelation. Loftiness of aim or ideal is to be distinguished from wishful thinking and aspirations. Greed means to crave and run after fanciful desires, but a goal or aim is determined after due consideration and is followed by diligent effort for its realization. One who is given to wishful thinking is like a beggar, but one who fixes his goal and strives for its realization, does not beg but fights for a cause. The same is true of the wish to receive divine revelation. Revelation is a bounty and a feast from God to His servant. No one would like to visit a friend in order to partake of a feast to which he has not been invited. That would be considered undignified. But if one visits a friend in order to meet him and the friend entertains one that is fit and proper. Such is the case with revelation. A servant prays to God for nearness to Him and a high spiritual status. When he attains such status, he begins to receive revelation. But if a person hankers after divine revelation that would mean that he is greedy for the feast, but has no urge to achieve nearness to God. Thus it is not proper to entertain eagerness for receiving revelation. To revert to the topic in hand, if a person, despite putting Into practice the directions that I have outlined, is not able to avoid evil and pursues virtue with increasing success, he should realize that the malady from which he is suffering is more physical than spiritual. He should know that there is