AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP
A Good Harvest
HUMAN life is divided into two periods—the pre-death period and the post-death period. The limited period before death is a test period for us and the eternal period after death is to receive reward or punishment depending on our performance in the test. Those who qualify will be rewarded with Paradise, and those who fail will be sent to Hell.
This is the scheme of creation as devised by the Creator. The goal of creation is to select those people fit to inhabit the world of Paradise. The evil that people do creates the environment required for testing and selecting those who will inhabit Paradise. On completion of this test period there will be no need for the existence of this world or of those who have failed in the test. The only thing that will remain will be Paradise and those who have been selected to reside in it.
To make people aware of this plan, the Creator has made elaborate arrangements. Firstly, a deep consciousness of this has been placed in human nature itself. It is common experience that total fulfilment cannot be found in the present world. Everyone leads a discontented life and leaves the world in this same state. This general discontentedness is a reminder to everyone that their destination lies somewhere else; that their desired world is not the world before death and that they should strive to find it in their life after death.
The Creator has made this world such that no one can find a life of comfort here. It is riddled with problems, diseases, accidents, boredom and all kinds of unpleasant situations, until death finally overcomes one within a short span of time. These are repeated reminders of the fact that man cannot build a world of his dreams in this ephemeral abode; that this world is decisively insufficient for the fulfilment of his desires. This unpleasant situation compels him to continue the search for reality.
The sufferings of some stand as lessons to others. There are some who are paralyzed and confined for life to a wheel-chair; others suffer from incurable diseases losing all charm in life. These are the Creator’s sign-posts exposing the transitory nature of life in this world. They are reminders that it is just not possible for us to build a world of our own choice in this life.
Those who play the role of God’s sign-posts appear to be in great suffering. But there is good news for them. On the Day of Judgment their deeds will be accepted by God. They may not have been able to perform great deeds, but their patient and silent suffering will be accepted by God. Patience and willingness to endure what God had destined for them will alone suffice to gain entry into Paradise.
The knowledge of this reality is not alien to man. Through different sources, man has come to understand that he cannot build a world of his choice in this life span; that whosoever performs good deeds will be able to find a world of his choice only in Paradise, in the life span after death. Paradise will be built in the next world, but the heavenly personality that will inhabit Paradise is to be built in this world.
What is Paradise? This world a miniscule model, is in a sense, an introduction to Paradise. Paradise is in fact, the perfect version of the present world. All the blessings of the present world will be available in the heavenly world, the difference being that the present world is imperfect, while the world of Paradise is total perfection; this world is far from ideal but the heavenly world will be an ideal world; the present world is ephemeral, while the world of Paradise will be eternal.
This world and Paradise are worlds apart. There is fear and grief in the present world, pollution and all kinds of suffering. In Paradise, there will be no fear, no grief, no pollution, or suffering. Paradise will have no limitations or boundaries; this world is full of limitations and disadvantages. Man will have a sense of absolute fulfilment in Paradise, whereas, in this present world no one can enjoy this sense of fulfilment.
Hell is a place quite opposite of Paradise. The sufferings and disadvantages we experience in our lives in this world will be all brought together.
The period before death is the period of sowing the seeds, while the
period after death is for reaping the harvest.
The periods before death and post-death are linked and can be compared to the sowing and reaping of the harvest. The period before death is the period of sowing the seeds, while the period after death is for reaping the harvest. ”As you sow, so shall you reap” is an eternal principle that applies to the life span after death as it does to the life before death.