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Main Index
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the real hell starts. You alone select your particular path to hell.
Heaven is dull at first glance. Bliss is bound to appear uninteresting, because it is the supreme peace. Suffering appears much more interesting and exciting in the beginning because it is provocative. And you choose excitement; you succumb to its provocation, and then suffer. Once you choose tranquillity you will attain bliss. Everything happens by His order, by His rule; but His order shapes to your desire. He is neutral. He does not impose His will on you. Even were He to do so, you would not be ready to accept His will.
If heaven were given to you by force, it would seem worse than hell; and if hell is chosen by your free will, it seems like heaven, because your independence is whole and challenged.
A subtle philosophical question is involved: how can man's freedom and God's independence exist together? On this basis Mahavir denied the existence of God, because if the will of God is supreme man cannot be independent. And if there is no independence, what value has the soul? Therefore Mahavir insists: There is no God, there is freedom! Others have disagreed: There is no freedom! Only destiny is, God is.
Nanak's concept is between these two. He says man is free and God also exists. Man has the freedom of choice; he can ask for whatever he desires. He can work towards attaining his desires, but he succeeds only through His compassion. Ask for joy or ask for sorrow -- you will get it.
Now this is interesting. Why do you go on asking for suffering? The fact remains that if you do not ask for happiness, try as He may, God cannot give it to you.
Junaid, the fakir, used to say that you cannot give happiness by force, you cannot force tranquillity. He would say, "I am eager to give joy and peace to others, I have tried many times, but it is impossible. The more you urge upon a person, the more you startle him and he becomes suspicious. You cannot give bliss to anyone, because no one is ready to take it."
One of his devotees said he could not believe this and he would like to try an experiment. He chose a pauper as the subject, and told Junaid: "The king
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