Tazkiyah at Every Moment

There is the general misconception that tazkiyah is a temporary course of action or, that to achieve it, some particular words or phrases have to be recited at fixed times. But this ritualistic form of tazkiyah is unnatural: nothing can be achieved by resorting to such short-term methods.

The truth is that, just as one inhales oxygen at every moment—there being no temporary way of inhaling, ––tazkiyah too is a continuous process. The real tazkiyah is that which continues at every moment. For instance, in this couplet by a Persian poet:

Bar mazaar-e-ma nay cheraghe nay guley
Nay par-e-parvana raqsad
Nay sadai bulbule

(I being a poor man, there is no lamp, no flower on my grave, that is why no fly hovers around my grave, no nightingale chirps at my grave).

When a couplet like this comes to mind, you should first think how great a state of ignorance the poet is in. He is thinking of the lamp and the flower at his grave. But the real problem is that, after death, man reaches another world, the demands of which are different from those of the present world. In that world certain superior qualities will be required, over and above those possessed in this world. Furthermore, there will be no time for preparation in the next world. There we shall find only the result of today’s action: there will be no opportunities to take remedial action.

The result of such revised thinking will be that this couplet, which people recite purely for enjoyment, will teach the individual a great lesson. He will start preparing himself for developing such a personality as will bring him success in the world of the Hereafter. With this mental reorientation, he will start thinking about what he will undergo after death, instead of what the fate of his grave will be.