Keep Your Conscience Awake, Alive and Alert

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 3 June 2023 "Zameer Jise Kahte Hain, Khameer-E-Kirdaar Hai Woh." (What's called conscience is the very essence of an individual's character) Mirza Asadullah Khan 'Ghalib' in a letter to his friend Altaaf Hussain Hali ' Panipati ' from Dastambu, his collection of missives, mainly in Persian but there're a few letters in Urdu as well "Reason temporarily may get eclipsed, but the sun of remorse shines and blazes through eventually." Shams-e-Tabriz from ' Divan-e-Kebir ' also known as ' Divan-e-Shams' One of the most insightful quotations I've ever read in life is: 'Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time' (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist). This is very true. Every human being must be given a second opportunity so that he/she can wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Psychologists have found that there's a sense of remorse and repentance in every individual. Most of the individuals try to mend their ways and never repeat their transgressions, mistakes and blunders. They try to reform themselves and they succeed. At the same time, there's no getting away from the fact that there're people, who're devoid of any sense of remorse and they keep repeating their mistakes. But they constitute a miniscule. Maximum people are first time offenders and they never repeat their offences. There's a beautiful axiom in Dhammapad, 'Only when you've made mistakes to the extent of not being able to exceed further, you introspect and find that there's a new person emerging within and that person has no flaws of your earlier self.' This saying of Buddha has always intrigued me but I understood its import only after making a series of mistakes in life. We all learn how to swim when we're in the water. However great a coach you may have to guide you, unless you jump into the swimming pool, you cannot learn how to swim. Before making and realising my mistakes, I liked Buddha's maxim but could never understand its inner meaning. Let blunders happen. A point in life comes when we become aware of them and that's the turning point. Most of the individuals realise and change their paths to tread on a completely new one. And that's life, the greatest teacher. There's nothing that can never be changed. Human beings are malleable. They're pliable. Some of them may be perennially stubborn and rigid. But they're mere exceptions. Our conscience keeps us awake. Even if we're in a slumberous state of committing wrong doings, there're dreams of warnings. And we must be heedful to them. There's a beautiful parable (said to be true) written by a famous Bengali writer Tarashankar Bandopadhyay: There was a man in a remote village. He'd come to the town to meet his beloved. Both loved each other. Since she was a TB patient, she couldn't walk that much to go and meet her lover in a far-flung village. The man started getting tired of coming all the way from his village to the town to meet the woman and was also scared of the contagious disease his beloved was suffering from. He began to fabricate excuses about his inability to come and see her. One day a child came and gave him a letter. It was written by that woman. She could see through her lover's alibis. She requested to come and meet her for the last time. The man rushed to meet her. She was about to die. When she saw him, her last words were: 'My love, never lie in love' and she died. Struck by a blow of remorse, the man never recovered and died demented. We all have conscience and we need to keep it awake, alive and alert. This is also an unmistakable sign that we're capable of repenting and when we repent, we reinvent (ourselves). Ashk-e-Pashemaani Ne Mujhe Paak Kar Diya/ Tamaam Gunahon Ko Tinke Ki Maanind Baha Diya (The tears of repentance purified me/ The sins were watered away like straws). But remember a Hadees, “Tauba Jab Bhi Karo, Dil Se Karo, Faqat Zabaan Se Nahin” (Whenever you repent, repent from the depth of heart and not just with your tongue). ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/conscience-awake-alive-alert/d/129912 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism