FLOWERS AND THORNS
The mind of a person who builds his character positively will be a treasury of positivity. Such a positive personality will find a place in the eternal world after death in Paradise, where they will forever lead a life of comfort and joy.
Man is an eternal being. However, his life is divided into two periods or phases: the period before death (generally, a maximum of 100 years) and the period after death (which carries on eternally). The life in the first phase is spent in this world, and the life in the second phase is spent in the world of the Hereafter.
Today’s world—the present world—is like a thick jungle. Here, there are flowers and, along with them, thorns. In the world of tomorrow—that is the Hereafter—the ‘flowers’ and the ‘thorns’ will be separated from each other. After this, an eternal world will emerge, one part of which will have, as it were, only ‘thorns’ (Hell), and in the other part, only ‘flowers’ (Paradise). In today’s world, everyone has the opportunity to make his eternal fortune. The record of their life in this world will determine whether they will be settled in the world full of thorns or the eternal garden of flowers.
Dividing people into these two groups continuously happens in this world. Through the record of their life (or, in other words, based on the character that they are building in this world), each person is declaring, as it were, which of the two groups he is eligible to be included in after his death—the group that will be settled amidst the thorns or the group that will be placed among the flowers. The conditions of this present world are the means for this personality development. Every person is passing through this process. Someone is developing a thorny personality for himself, while someone else is developing a flower-like character. These two groups of people do not appear to be distinct and separate in today’s world. However, in the world of tomorrow, they will be separated from each other. One group will be admitted into eternal Paradise, and the other group will be consigned to eternal Hell.
In the present world, every person faces negative experiences. If someone habitually takes an unpleasant experience as something negative, he will develop a negative personality. In contrast, if someone can convert a negative experience into a positive one, it is the best way to create a positive character.
For example, someone is rude to you, oppresses you, gets angry with you, and causes you harm. Now, you have two options to respond to this. First, you can try to do with this person just as he did with you. So, if he has abused you, you can abuse him back. If he has troubled you, you can also trouble him. If he has harmed you, you can also choose to hurt him. If he has shouted at you, you can shout back.
The person who reacts like this will develop a negative personality. He has sown a harvest of thorns in his heart, so his personality will be thorny. After death, in the next world, he will be resurrected as a thorny personality, and he will be put into the jungle full of thorns—Hell—where he will stay for all eternity, in a state of regret and sorrow.
In contrast is the person who positively responds to other people’s negative behaviour. If someone abuses him he does not abuse him in return. Instead, he forgives him. If someone oppresses him, he refuses to behave in the same way. This sort of person has lived like a flower among the thorns. He developed in himself a flower-like character in this world. In the next world, in the life after death, he will be allowed to live in a garden of flowers—Paradise.
The human mind has two primary compartments—the conscious and the unconscious. Whenever a thought enters our mind, it first enters the conscious mind. After that, it gradually advances and enters the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is that part of the mind where every thought is preserved forever, although it is not in our conscious control. If you want to have a flower-like character, at the very moment when a negative thought enters your conscious mind, you should activate your thinking process and convert it into a positive thought so that this item is stored in the storehouse of the unconscious mind as a positive, not a negative, item. For example, if a hate-filled thought enters your mind, you should diffuse it and convert it into a loving thought. If a vengeful thought enters your conscious mind, you should convert it into a thought of gratitude. If a thought that enters our mind provokes our ego and makes us feel proud, we should change it into a thought that engenders humility. If you entertain a selfish thought, you should convert it into a thought of selflessness. And so on.
The mind of a person who builds his character in this way will be a treasury of positivity. Such a person will be free of negativity. Only such a positive personality will find a place in the eternal world after death in Paradise, where they will forever lead a life of comfort and joy.
