THIS WORLD IS NOT GODLESS

 

            THIS WORLD IS NOT GODLESS  

            Among the common attributes of God omnipresence is the most significant. He is present everywhere. He is watching you with his open eyes that can make no mistake. You cannot hide yourself from his observation. No curtain can make you invisible.

            God’s  other attributes include omniscience, omnipotence, eternity, immutability, and sovereignty.

            God wishes all human beings to be virtuous. Some cardinal virtues expected by Him are:

            Prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, humility, charity, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

            The antonyms of virtues are :

            Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, revenge, and rebellion.   

            Some people think that God is all merciful. He overlooks our moral weaknesses, physical and mental aberrations, all sorts of sinful beaviour;  and we can therefore escape punishment. It is an incorrect conception.

            Remember: God sees the truth but waits.

His ways of punishing and forgiving us are mysterious. He does not retaliate but at the same time He does not quickly forgive. .

            Confession of your guilt, immoral actions, undue pride, arrogance, immoral and sinful behaviour and the promise to mend yourself at the earliest is the best way to please God.   

            Also remember: It is never too late to mend.

            Here is a poem about forgiveness and non-retaliation.  Its title is Yussouf and is written by the American poet and essayist James Russell Lowell (1819-1891). Its central idea is that forgiveness is the noblest form of revenge.

                                     Full Text of the Poem

A stranger came one night to Yussouf's tent,

Saying, 'Behold one outcast and in dread,

Against whose life the bow of power is bent,

Who flies, and hath not where to lay his head;

I come to thee for shelter and for food,

To Yussouf, called through all our tribes "The Good."

 

'This tent is mine,' said Yussouf, 'but no more

Than it is God's come in and be at peace;

Freely shall thou partake of all my store

As I of His who buildeth over these

Our tents his glorious roof of night and day,

And at whose door none ever yet heard Nay.'

 

So Yussouf entertained his guest that night,

And, waking him ere day, said: 'Here is gold;

My swiftest horse is saddled for thy flight;

Depart before the prying day grow bold.'

As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,

So nobleness enkindleth nobleness.

 

That inward light the stranger's face made grand,

Which shines from all self-conquest; kneeling low,

He bowed his forehead upon Yussouf's hand,

Sobbing: 'O Sheik, I cannot leave thee so;

I will repay thee; all this thou hast done

Unto that Ibrahim who slew thy son!'

'Take thrice the gold,' said Yussouf 'for with thee

Into the desert, never to return,

My one black thought shall ride away from me;

First-born, for whom by day and night I yearn,

Balanced and just are all of God's decrees;

Thou art avenged, my first-born, sleep in peace!'

                                                            ******
G.R.Kanwal

11 June 2026