Self-Rectification Closes All The Doors To Calumny

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 26 June 2023 "Khud Ko Samajh Loon Bahut Hai Apni Khaamiyon Ko Jaan Loon Bahut Hai Kahaan Logon Mein Aib Dhoondhta Phiroon Apni Khudi Ko Buland Kar Loon Bahut Hai " Hafeez Jalandhari (1900-1982) (It's enough to understand myself / And also being aware of my follies and flaws/ Why on earth should I look for blemishes in others?/Rather, let me elevate my inner self and that's -more than- sufficient). Hafeez Jalandhari wrote this 'flawed' (from the point of view of prosody or versification) quatrain when he was quite young. In spite of it being Khaarij-e-Bahar (incorrect metre), the quatrain has profundity. The whole life is not enough to understand oneself and also to know the flaws a person is fraught with. Life goes in vain in looking for flaws in others. Shaikh Sadi writes in his Gulistan, Chapter 3, " The flaws we find in others/ Are always the flaws of ours / I cannot see the hair in my own nostrils/ But laugh at seeing the same in the nose of my brother." Fault-finding is a universal pastime and we regularly as well as religiously indulge in it to conceal our own flaws. There's a famous adage in Pashto, "Mizqin Il'faat Bin Naqqaat" (A failed poet becomes a critic; Arabic word 'Naqqaad' for a critic is pronounced and written Naqqaat with a Toey in Pashto). So very true. Most of the critics are failed poets and writers. What they themselves lacked in their own creativity and craftsmanship, they tend to see and criticize in the works of others and often amplify that. Mystics believe that the understanding of a 'flawed self' is the beginning of self-awareness and rectification. Once an individual realizes that he or she is fundamentally flawed (don't mix it up with the Biblical ' Original Sin'), self cleansing begins and a person starts detecting and eliminating his own drawbacks and shortcomings. Then, where's time to see flaws in others? According to Mahayana Buddhism, Abhidhamma Pitaka, 1001 human births produce a flawless Buddha and Jain Agamas (particularly Viyah Pannati Bhagvai Sutta/ Aayarang Sutta) believe that 1900 births culminate in Kaivalyam Chetna (absolutely clean and unblemished consciousness or unblemished self). When the process of knowing one's self and cleansing is so long and self-consuming, one is left with no time for fault-finding, rancour or ill-feeling. One spiritually-inclined judge of the SC once said very profoundly, " Self-rectification closes all the doors to calumny." One cannot deny this. ---- 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/self-rectification-calumn/d/130072 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