2017 07 The Light July 2017

July 2017 The
Light 2
The Call of the Messiah
by
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad
The Promised Messiah and
Mahdi
The aim and end of religion is to know the
true and living God Who created the world, to
attain to that stage of perfection in His love at
which the love of others besides Him is completely
consumed, to have full sympathy with
His creatures and to lead a life of true and perfect
purity. But I see that this aim is utterly neglected.
In fact, most religious creeds are, in fact,
one form or other of
atheism. Almighty God
is not known and recognised,
and hence the increasing
boldness upon the commission of sin.
For, it is plain that unless we have knowledge of
a thing, there is no love or fear of it on our part.
The prevalence of sin in the world is, therefore,
due to an absence of true knowledge concerning
the Divine Being.
The chief criterion of a true religion is that
it should point out the means to a true
knowledge of God, so that through knowledge
men may be kept back from sins, and realising
the Divine beauty and glory, they may so love
God as to deem even a momentary estrangement
from Him more painful than the severest
tortures of hell. The truth is that freedom from
sin and the love of God are the highest aims of
man’s life, and in these lies in fact the true bliss
which is known as the heavenly life. Every desire
which goes against the pleasure of God, is
really a flame of hell-fire, and to indulge in such
desires is to lead a hellish life.
The aim and end of religion is . . . to
have full sympathy with His creatures
. . .
I Shall Love All Mankind.
The question hence arises, how can a man
be saved from this hellish life? I answer this
question with the knowledge which I have received
from God, that no one is saved from this
fire except by a true and perfect knowledge of
God. The flood of passions and desires rages
high and nothing but the embankment of a perfect
knowledge of God can withstand it. Salvation,
which means a freedom from the control of
passions and desires, cannot, therefore, be attained
unless our faith is based on the impregnable
fortress of perfect knowledge which no
flood can destroy.
The fact that our appraisement of a thing or
our love or fear of it, depends only upon our correct
knowledge of it, needs no argument. Give a
diamond worth a million pounds to a young
child and he would not set upon it a higher value
than a mere plaything. If honey mixed with poison
is given to a person who is ignorant of the
fact, he would take it for honey and eat it with
pleasure, not knowing that the effect would be
fatal. But you cannot thrust your hand into a
hole which you know to be the hole of a serpent,
for you know that such an act might bring about
your destruction. Similarly, no one would dare
take poison with a
knowledge of it, for he
knows that it must
cause his death. What
is the reason then that you do not fear the death
which the transgression of Divine commandments
must certainly bring down upon you?
Only that you have not such knowledge of the
effect of your transgressions as of the biting of a
snake or of poison.
It is certain then that the knowledge of loss
or injury deters a man from doing the deed
which involves such loss or injury, and no belief
in redemption can act as such deterrent. Is it not
true that even the most daring and habitual burglar
would not break into a house where he is
sure to be caught and punished? Are not the
most violent passions subdued when their effect
is known to be sure and certain destruction?
A robber would not in broad daylight dare
to lay his hand upon a bag of money lying in a
shop when he knows that there is a sufficient
guard of armed police watching the shop. Are
criminals restrained from theft and extortion
because of their firm faith in the redemption of
sins, or because their hearts feel the awe of execution?
Or is it truer that the police and the fear
of punishment are the real deterrents? This is a
principle the truth of which is witnessed not
only in the case of men, but also of animals. Even
a lion in fury would not throw himself into
burning fire though he sees his prey on the
other side of it. A wolf would not fall upon a
sheep at whose head is standing a guard with a
drawn sword and a loaded gun. (end)