FROM THE SPIRITUAL TREE

There is a tree beside my house. I call it the 'Spiritual Tree'. I derive spiritual inspiration from it. A tree is an evergrowing being that was initially a seed possessing the potential of becoming a full-grown tree. A seed takes food from the universe around it and then grows into a tree. The same is true with spirituality, the desire for which is intrinsic to, and an integral part of, the very nature of, every human being. To realise this spirituality, Man must derive spiritual food from the universe around him. A tree converts carbon-dioxide into oxygen; a spiritual person is one who can take positive lessons from negative situations. From this perspective, a tree is an embodiment of a spiritual personality. —Maulana Wahiduddin Khan


THE GREATEST TEACHER—DEATH

J ULIUS CAESAR on passing by a statue of Alexander the Great in Spain, paused to gaze at it. Moved to tears , he said, “In the whole of my life I have not been able to achieve even one tenth of the feats performed by Alexander in the space of a single decade.” 

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), son of the Greek King Philip II, conquered the greater part of the known world of his time in a mere ten years. Taking up a project entertained by his father, Alexander decided to attack the huge Persian Empire, marched in 334 BC into Asia Minor and quickly subjugated the cities in that region. He then conquered with comparative ease Phoenicia and Syria, and although he met with serious resistance at Tyre, he overcame this with the help of a fleet and the city was destroyed. Next he went to Egypt, which submitted to him without a struggle. To this day the city of Alexandria, which he founded exists as a monument to his victory in Egypt. Setting out on a further career of victory, he passed through Syria into Persia (now Iran) and marched up the valley of the Tigris through Mesopotamia (now Iraq). He captured Susa, Persepolis, Ecbatana and other Persian cities with their treasures and advanced as far as the Caspian Sea. The barbarian tribes dwelling on the coast of this sea were promptly brought under his rule. Alexander did not tolerate opposition, always pursuing a policy of nipping it in the bud. The new empire was organised, into provinces, each keeping its own traditions and institutions. About this time he crushed a rising led by Bessus, the successor of Darius. He next entered India, crossing the Indus near Attock and winning a great victory. After some further conquests, he returned through Baluchistan to Persepolis, then set himself to organise the great empire he had conquered.


Death strikes all, sparing neither the high nor the low.
Yet people who are not directly affected sadly fail to understand its significance.


Alexander was a great administrator as well as a great soldier, and spread the influence of Greece throughout the empire he had won. But what did fate have in store for him? In the midst of this tremendous task and while planning a fresh expedition into Arabia, he died in the ancient city of Babylon—as defenceless in the face of death as any poor man in his miserable hut. Although he started out on a career of conquest that has few if any parallels in world history, his life was too short for his empire to be welded together. And with his only son born after his death, none of his acquisitions could be retained by his heirs. His vast empire was then divided up between three military officers, none of whom was in any way related to him. There being no unifying force to hold it together, it was not long before his hard-won empire had disintegrated.

When death comes, it impresses upon the immediate beholders just how helpless man is before his Maker. Death strikes all, sparing neither the high nor the low. Yet people who are not directly affected sadly fail to understand its significance. It has a lesson to teach, but man ignores it. And if he has paid no heed to the most urgent realities of life, death will certainly leave him no respite to cogitate upon them at that time. It will be too late for him to learn lessons which he should have learnt long before. 

Death is the greatest teacher, but man lives out his life as if there were no such thing awaiting him which will end his life’s journey. o