WORLD OF ‘TODAY’,
WORLD OF ‘TOMORROW’
Every person nurses an ocean of desires in his heart. The place for fulfilling these desires is the world of ‘tomorrow’, not ‘today’.
If a farmer wants to harvest a crop the day he plants the seeds, he will lose the seeds and be deprived of a harvest. The same is true of both the world of ‘today’ (this world) and the world of ‘tomorrow’ (the Hereafter). The world of ‘today’ is the place for engaging in action, while the world of ‘tomorrow’ is the place for receiving the results of one’s actions. Therefore, if a person wants to obtain his ‘reward’ in this world, he will not be able to do the needed activities for a happy life in the world of ‘tomorrow’. Thus, he will not only lose this world, but he will also lose his only opportunity to build his next world.
Few people realise this, however. In this world itself, they want to obtain things—such as complete fulfillment or ideal justice and peace—that can be had only in the next world. Because of this, they lose both. Wise is he who earns the world of’ tomorrow’ through the world of ‘today’. He knows that if he gets stuck in the allurements and entanglements of the world of ‘today’, he will deprive himself of true success in the next world, the world of ‘tomorrow’.
Suppose you are on a journey and want to enjoy all the comforts that a person can enjoy only at home during that time; you will naturally not be able to fulfill this desire. From this, one can understand the issue of the world of ‘today’ and the world of ‘tomorrow’. This world is a place for a temporary halt, and the next world is your eternal home. The world of ‘today’ is the path on the journey, and the world of ‘tomorrow’ is the final destination of this journey. God has made this world the place for engaging in action and the Hereafter for obtaining the results of our efforts.
If, while on a journey, you want to obtain the comforts you can enjoy only when you are at your destination, you are bound to deviate from your path. In the same way, if you desire that in the world of ‘today’ itself, you should obtain the results of your actions, which is possible only in the world of ‘tomorrow’, your planning will go haywire.
Wise is he who understands this difference between the world of ‘today’ and the world of ‘tomorrow’. Therefore, he does not desire those things before death that one can find only in life after death.
It is imperative to recognise this fact. One must be realistic. One must not run after desires because desires will not take one to any destination other than destruction. Every person nurses an ocean of desires; these desires in themselves are not wrong. However, the place for fulfilling these desires is the world of ‘tomorrow’, not the world of ‘today’.
