World of Action, World of Reward

The present world is the arena of action, and the Hereafter is the arena for acquiring the results of our actions. A very small portion of the life of every person is spent in this present world. Then, after this, he is taken to another world, where, his fate will be determined in accordance with his actions in the world before death.

In this sense, the present world is a place for our examination. An examination hall is a place where students spend some time in order to be examined, not a place where they obtain the results of their examination. If a student wants to acquire a job while still sitting in the examination hall and even before writing his examination, he will definitely fail! In the same way, a person who wants to build an eternal palace of joy for himself in this present world is never going to succeed—because the present world hasn’t been made for that purpose at all!

Wise is he who understands this difference and who, while being in this world, does here what he has to and desires for the Hereafter that which can be had only there.

In this regard, a wise person adopts the same principle that a student does. When a student is in an examination hall, his entire attention is on trying to answer his test paper as well as he can. He doesn’t try to build the palace of his dreams in the examination hall itself. A wise person has the same attitude regarding this world and the Hereafter. He puts his short life before death into preparing for the Hereafter so that after his examination in this world, he can obtain for himself an eternal world of joys—in Paradise.

If a person is heedless in this regard, after he dies, it will not be possible for him to make up for it. It will be impossible for him to return to the world and again appear for the examination of the Hereafter.