ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS T HESE days, they’ve started manufacturing plastic flowers and fruits. They look just like the real thing. But if you smell a plastic flower, it has none of the fragrance of a real flower, and if you bite into a plastic fruit, it has none of the taste of a real fruit. In just the same way, absurd forms of religiosity have appeared these days. On the face of it, they appear grand, but if you examine them closely they have none of the true essence of religion, which is, fear of God and genuine concern for other human beings. In the age of plastic, perhaps religiosity, too, has also become plastic! God will gather all human beings after their death and take account of them, and then, on the basis of their deeds, will put them into eternal heaven or eternal hell. People may appear to be very religious, but, still, they are unwilling to accept their mistakes. No one wants to put an end to his airs for the sake of God. For their personal interests, innumerable people get together with others, setting aside their differences and complaints. But on the face of this world that belongs to God, there is no one who will set aside his differences and complaints and join hands with others for the sake of God. Religion or deen is this: that a person attains to the truth that there is but one God of this entire universe. This one God has made all things. He will gather all human beings after their death and take account of them, and then, on the basis of their deeds, will put them into eternal heaven or eternal hell. This is such a serious fact that if it really sinks deeply into one’s mind, one's entire life is completely transformed. One becomes very careful of all those things that lead people to the fires of hell. One also becomes very eager about those things that make a person worthy of the gardens of heaven. One begins to fear God above everything else. One begins to love God above all else. One subdues one's individual existence to live in the Glory of God.