The Trial of Man (2/2)

If what is actually required of a man is that he should bow before God, how is it possible to tell whether he has truly submitted to God or not? The test of his submission is his willingness to bow before whichever ‘Adam’ confronts him in life, for the “truly devout servant is one who obeys God’s commandments by giving other human beings their rightful due. A man, who prostrates himself before God, but fails to acknowledge the rights of others, treating them with arrogance and injustice, is only going through a meaningless ritual. When God directs him to bow before another, he is putting him through a test – a test to see whether he is truly the devotee of his Creator. When he fails to bow to that other he has failed in the test set for him by God.

Man is always ready to prostrate himself before God, for who would have the temerity to say of God, ‘I am better than Him?’ It is only when we have to bow before another human being that our complexes prove a major obstacle. Where God stands alone, and does not admit of anyone being placed on a par with Him, human beings on the other hand, tend to look upon each other as rivals. This being so, one person bowing before another raises the issue of personal prestige.

Ever dependent upon His Lord, man bows before Him. God is the giver: Man the receiver. Man never gives anything to God. He has nothing to give. But when man bows to man, that is quite a different state of affairs, for then he does have something to give. It may only be a kindly word that he offers, or, more importantly, it may be the recognition of another’s being in the right; sometimes it means handing over a sum of money, which is due to another; sometimes it involves withdrawing from some position in recognition of another’s superiority; sometimes it is a question of showing respect for someone’s honour, by passing over a weakness of his which could have been exploited; sometimes it means holding one’s peace, and refraining from pouncing on some mistake that another has made; sometimes it entails siding with someone purely as a matter of principle, eschewing the immediate gain to be had from acting in an unprincipled way. These are all typical situations in which one person must bow to another. In all such cases, the one who accedes to the other is doing something very positive: he is giving something to the other.

There are, of course, a number of mental barriers that have to be overcome before an individual can be completely just and right-minded in his attitude to others. In honouring one’s rival, one must often compromise with one’s own sense of prestige. This is what really makes it difficult to give precedence to a fellow human being. Yet this is the crucial test set for him by God. Without making this sacrifice, he cannot earn God’s favour. One who shirks making this sacrifice can never endear himself to God no matter how many exercises in self- prostration he puts himself through.

A man who achieves a certain superiority owes his position to God. To acknowledge the superiority of another, then, amounts to acknowledging the fairness of God’s distribution of His blessings. If one refuses to recognize the superiority of another, that is tantamount to challenging God’s sense of fair play. When one bows before the rights of another, one is not really bowing before another human being, but before God, for it is on account of God’s commandment that one bows before that person, rather than because of any excellence inherent in him.

God, the Lord of the Universe, is the Supreme Reality. To discover God is the greatest triumph that a human being can achieve. In this world, it is in the act of self-prostration that a man truly finds his Lord. But such self-prostration is acceptable to God only when a man’s entire life is coloured by humility and submission. It is only then that the devotee can be said to be psychologically prepared to be the recipient of God’s divine light. His act of self-prostration is the real meeting point with the Lord of the Universe. If, on the contrary, one is arrogant and self-centred in one’s day-to-day activities, one’s self-prostration is a hollow act, and as such, will not bring one closer to God. Satan will have taken possession of one’s heart and one’s posture of humility will be bereft of soul. We must never forget that Satan lies ever in wait. ‘Because you have led me into sin,’ said Satan, ‘I will waylay them as they walk on Your straight path, and spring upon them from the front and from the rear and from their right and from their left. Then you shall find the greater part of them ungrateful.’ ‘Begone,’ said God, ‘a despicable outcast. With those that follow you, I shall fill the pit of Hell.’