Shaping One’s Own Personality

God created wood but He did not build boats. He placed iron in the earth but He did not mould it into the form of the machine. He created aluminium but He did not undertake the task of utilizing it to build ships. What is the reason? The reason is that God wants man to perform this second phase work. On the one hand, God created all kinds of raw materials and, on the other hand, He endowed man with the reason and intelligence to make use of them. Now God desires that man should shape the raw materials into machines; unmoulded matter should be converted into moulded matter.

This is how natural resources are pressed into the service of building civilization. Exactly the same is required of man. God gave man the best form or personality. At the level of nature, He gave him the best form of existence. However, this human personality in its initial form was a kind of raw material. Now man himself has to take that God-given thing and shape it into a new form. It is like writing his own blank pages of nature. This is the test of man. It is on the success or failure of this test that his future depends. It is required of man that he mould consciousness into realization; that he convert his feelings into the remembrance of God; that his actions should have divine characteristics. He should make himself God’s servant to the ultimate extent.

Once a living creature has emerged from his mother’s womb, it is up to him to shape his own personality. Man is born with the power of speech. Now it is up to him to make use of this power of speech to bring about the acknowledgement of the truth.

No one should misuse this power of speech in the denial of the truth. Man is endowed with fine capabilities as his birthright. There are some who make use of these capabilities for immediate gain, unlike others who devote these capabilities to achieving noble ends. Everyone exists on nature’s bounty. Some grow thorns while others grow orchids of flowers.