Like everything else in this world, God created this world as one half of a pair. This world, in which we pass our lives after birth, is the first half and the other world where we will live after death is the other half. The Creator of man has thus created him as an eternal creature and has divided his life into two stages - the pre-death period or the life in this world and the post death period or the life after death. The pre-death world is designed as a ‘testing’ ground, while the post-death world is designed to be a world of ‘reward’ or ‘punishment’. The mistake made by philosophers and thinkers is that they seek the human destination in the present world, whereas it does not exist in this world at all.
Since the present world is made to serve the purpose of man’s test, everyone here has been granted complete freedom to make his or her own moral choices. It is as if the present world were a kind of examination hall where all the provisions have been made that are needed for this test. But the perfect, ideal things needed for building a happy life do not exist here. For everything here is in an incomplete and limited form. If man tries to seek happiness here, it would be like a student wanting to build his desired life within an examination hall. Just as the student will ultimately be overwhelmed with a sense of frustration if he tries to do so, in the same way any man, who tries to build his perfect world in a place where he is on trial, will also face frustration.
So the question arises as to what men and women should do in this pre-death world in order to find the world of their desires in the post-death world? The answer is that they must exercise their freedom in accordance with the will of their Creator. How does one do this? We do this by surrendering ourselves to divine discipline. That is to say that in spite of having been granted full freedom to flout it around if we so wish, we restrain ourselves, we develop a positive outlook; even in a negative situation, we treat others as we ourselves want to be treated.
To reward the people who surrender themselves to the divine discipline in the pre-death world, God has made a perfect world in the post-death eternal world called Paradise. Paradise is the world that has been created in keeping with man’s perfection seeking nature. It is an ideal and perfect world in every respect, with no frustration, no problems, no aging, no illness – just eternal peace, bliss and happiness. God wants such men and women who qualify in their test in this limited world, according to the Divine standard to inhabit the ideal world of Paradise.
Who then are these men and women who measure up to the divine standard? They are the ones who, by using their intellectual capabilities, attain the realization of God. They are those who will discover the truth by tearing asunder the veil of mental confusion, who abandon all forms of worship in favour of the worship of the One True God and who then lead a divinely disciplined life. These are the criteria for earning Paradise according to the divine creation plan. Such men and women as come up to this standard will be ushered into the eternal Paradise after death, while those who fail to do so will be cast into eternal hellfire, where they will have nothing in store for them but eternal deprivation and frustration.
The people who will fill Paradise will be those who availed of the opportunities of this present world to do good, while the people who will fill hell will be those who failed to avail of such opportunities. Theirs will be a case of ‘missed opportunities’.
As the saying goes: ‘Opportunity only knocks once.’ This saying is wholly true in the matter of eternal success. For the chance to succeed is not going to be given to anyone twice. The situation of those adjudged to have properly availed of the opportunity will endure to their benefit for all eternity, just as the situation of those adjudged to have missed their opportunity will be one of unending perdition.
So, take stock of your life to see if you are availing this Divine opportunity. Make sure that you avail of your opportunity in this world in order that you may attain eternal peace in the next.
COMMENT