Vanity, abstain from a vain nature.

 

241. Vanity, the pure in heart abstain from a vain nature: The religious writings of God all tell us pretty much the same thing when it comes to having a vain nature. Vanity, like pride, is bad for us when it comes to our true spiritual development and something that needs to be avoided, for our spiritual health, if we wish to travel on this pathway that God has laid out for us.  Judaism: Job 15:31 “Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.” Job 35:13 “Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.” Psalms 12:2 “They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.” Psalms 12:3 “The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:” Psalms 94:9 “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” Psalms 94:10 “He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?” Psalms 94:11 “The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” Psalms 119:37 “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in Thy way.” Isaiah 5:18 “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that We may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that We may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”  Christianity: 1 Corinthians 3:20 “And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” 1 Corinthians 3:21 “Therefore let no man glory in men.” Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:26 “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 6:3 “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Galatians 6:4 “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” Galatians 6:5 “For every man shall bear his own burden.” Ephesians 4:17 “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity.”

ISLAM: “Remember, son, that vanity and conceit are forms of folly. These traits will bring to you serious harm and will be a constant source of danger to you.” “Do not be arrogant and vain”

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: 56. “I will not follow your vain desires: if I did, I would stray from the path, and be not of the company of those who receive guidance.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   6)

Islam: 24. “What! do they say, ‘He has forged a falsehood against Allah (God)?’ But if Allah willed, He could seal up thy heart. And Allah blots out Vanity, and proves the Truth by His Words. For He knows well the secrets of all hearts.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  42)

Islam: “Beware of….. vain desires that mislead those who have them.”

(Islam, Hadith, Bukhari Vol 9, Book 89, # 253)

ZOROASTRIANISM: 15. “I renounce with vehemence the murderous woman’s emptiness. She vainly thinks to foil us, but she herself, deceived therein, shall perish.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 10)

Zoroastrianism: 37. “They are intoxicated with (vain) pride in their youth, And shall be full of regrets at the end of their time.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta Fragments)

HINDUISM: “Darkened by ignorance; and so they fall-Tossed to and fro with projects, tricked, and bound In net of black delusion, lost in lusts- Down to foul Naraka. Conceited (vainness), fond, Stubborn and proud, dead-drunken with the wine Of wealth, and reckless, all their offerings Have but a show of reverence, being not made in piety of ancient faith. Thus vowed to self-hood, force, insolence, feasting, wrath, These My blasphemers, in the forms they wear and in the forms they breed, my foemen are.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 16)

Hinduism: 5. “Fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit, and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round, staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind.”

(Hindu Upanishads vol. 2, Katha-Upanishad)

BUDDHISM: 2. “Fools follow after vanity, are ignorant and careless. The wise keep awareness as their best treasure. Do not follow after vanity nor after sensual pleasure nor lust.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

Buddhism: 24. “Weeds harm the fields; vanity harms humanity.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

Buddhism: “The essence of mind and its purifying brightness have been absorbed all the time busying themselves with deluded transient thoughts, which are nothing but falsity and vanity.” (Buddha, Surangama Sutra)

SABEANISM: “The sun of which ye spake, the sun Is vanity and cometh to an end. Sun cometh to an end and becometh vanity And his worshippers come to an end and are vanity.” “The Fire of which ye spake Once a day needs a firebrand. The fire of which ye spake –Fire, is vanity and cometh to naught And its worshippers come to naught and are vanity.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 21)

BABI RELIGION: “O people of the Bayan! Act not as the people of the Qur’án have acted, for if you do so the fruits of your night will come to naught. Gain, spending your life on vanities, and inheriting thereby on the Day of Resurrection that which would displease Him Whom God shall make manifest, while ye deem that what ye do is right. If, however, ye observe piety in your Faith, God will surely nourish you from the treasuries of His heavenly grace.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 127)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Beware that ye allow not wolves to become the shepherds of the fold, or pride and conceit (vanity) to deter you from turning unto the poor and the desolate.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 53)

Babi Religion: “Methinks I was in a place of which it could be truly said: “Therein no toil shall reach us, and therein no weariness shall touch us”; “No vain discourse shall they hear therein, nor any falsehood, but only the cry, ‘Peace! Peace!”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 62)

Baha’i Faith: “Deliver your souls, O people, from the bondage of self, and purify them from all attachment to anything besides Me. Remembrance of Me cleanseth all things from defilement, could ye but perceive it. Say: Were all created things to be entirely divested of the veil of worldly vanity and desire, the Hand of God would in this Day clothe them, one and all, with the robe ‘He doeth whatsoever He willeth in the kingdom of creation,’ that thereby the sign of His sovereignty might be manifested in all things. Exalted then be He, the Sovereign Lord of all, the Almighty, the Supreme Protector, the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful.”

(Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 294)