This Is Not a Museum of the Mute!
A train journey can be full of myriad experiences. The train rushes ahead, carrying with it scores of people heading to different destinations. It passes through the countryside, through changing terrain. The train thus becomes a symbol of the journey of life, a life full of signs and indications. But just as the passengers in the train are unaware of the passing scenes outside, being engrossed in activities that delight them, so, too, in this world, an individual passes his time, rarely if ever pondering on the signs of God that are spread out all through the universe.
The sun rises, its face beaming, and it shines on us, as if conveying a message. But before it can speak, it sets. A tree bursts forth with branches richly laden with leaves. The sea moves ceaselessly, cradling wave after wave. All of these want to say something. But a human being simply walks past them, without listening to their call. The loftiness of the skies and the beauty of the earth – all these are dimensions of this universal programme. They have so much to convey, but a person does not lend them his ear. He thinks them to be inert.
Is this glorious universe a museum of mute entities? No, not at all! The fact is that all these things have a message of God, which they continue to broadcast in an eternal, timeless language. But a person is so lost in other sounds that he does not hear the silent voice of the universe.
Once, while on a journey, I got off the train at a mid-way stop in order to offer my prayers. I asked some people on the platform where the west was in order to determine the proper direction for prayers. But no one had an answer to that simple question! I thought to myself, “The sun dawns here every day – that is a shining truth. But these people are so lost in themselves that they have no idea of east or west! How, then, will they know what message the sun conveys, every day of their lives, in its silent language?”
The train halted at another station, and I got off and stood on the platform. The sun had just set. It was a beautiful scene – tall trees silhouetted against the pale red sky that was streaked with clouds. “The beauty of all these comes from their loftiness!” I mused. “But a human being is not prepared to scale such heights. He doesn’t live at the heights of the trees, of the sun, of the clouds. Instead, he wallows in superficialities, in personal interests, false friendships and petty enmities. Instead of journeying with the rest of the universe, he prefers to remain closeted in his little shell. In a world where a heavenly environment awaits him, he forces himself to live in hell. This is the root cause of every form of evil in the human world. If an individual were to live at the lofty level of the rest of the universe, his life would be as beautiful as the beautiful things that appear throughout Nature!
