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Chapter 11
VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM OF GOD
57. Vision Of The Cosmic Form Is Difficult To Bear
11. What is true of space is true of time too. We do not remember the past and have no idea of the future; and that is good for us. The Holy Koran has mentioned five things which are exclusively under the control of God, and man can do nothing about them. Knowledge of the future is one of those things. We can at best make a guess; but a guess is not knowledge. It is indeed a happy situation that we do not have knowledge of the future and forget most of the past. Even if a bad man becomes good, we remember his past and do not respect him. We cannot forget his past sins, howsoever hard he may try to convince us about his transformation. It is only when the person dies and is reborn in a different form that the world will forget his sins. Remembrance of the past causes attachment and contributes to the growth of passions. All our problems will be solved when all the memories and perceptions of the past are forgotten. There must be some way of forgetting all the sinful and meritorious deeds. Death is such a way. When we cannot endure the suffering in this birth, why rake up the muck of the past births? Is the muck in this birth not enough? We even forget most of our childhood years, and it is good that we forget them. For instance, the only means to achieve Hindu Muslim unity is to forget the past. Yes, Aurangzeb did commit atrocities; but how long are we going to harp on them? There is a famous garba song by Ratanbai in Gujarati. It says at the end, “In this world, what good the people achieve will be remembered; their sins will be forgotten.” Time is sifting everybody’s deeds. We should take only what is good from history and cast off what is evil. It would indeed be wonderful if one remembers the good only. But alas! It does not happen. Hence forgetting is extremely necessary. God has created death for this purpose. |
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