Discovering God

Purification of the Self for him. The voice of the conscience can be heard on all occasions, but the ego suppresses that voice and renders it ineffective. It is essential for a seeker of tazkiya to be abreast of this reality, so that he awakens his power of thinking, and nullifies his ego on all occasions. The moment one is able to overcome one’s ego, one’s conscience will be able to play its natural role and one will be able to traverse the path of tazkiya without any deviation. The exercise of nullifying the ego or reducing it to zero has a decisive role to play. But no one can perform this task for another. One has to do it oneself; the moment one’s ego is awakened, one should become alert and by exercising one’s will power set one’s ego at naught. The Method of Tazkiya Many attempts have been made to describe a number of methods of tazkiya. Lists of these methods have also been prepared. But the truth is that there is no list that can be prepared for the method of tazkiya. This is because no list, however long it may be, can be complete. No list can cover all the methods of tazkiya, and later experiences will prove that that “long” list was also less than complete. The truth is that tazkiya relates not to some list but is the product rather of one’s own will and intention. If a person were indeed serious about tazkiya and wanted to