Don’t become attached to the allure of this world.

 

138. Don’t become attached to this world: And don’t become confounded by the glitter and allure this world seems to hold over less-spiritually inclined individuals.  JUDAISM: Psalms: 27:16 “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” Psalms: 62:10 “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” Psalms: 119:72 “The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Proverbs: 15:16 “Better is little with the fear of The LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.” Proverbs: 28:20 “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”  CHRISTIANITY: Matthew: 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (money).” Matthew: 6:25 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Matthew: 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew: 6:19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;” 6:20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;” 6:21 “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Mark: 4:19 “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” Luke: 6:24 “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” Romans: 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Colossians: 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” 1 John: 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John: 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Ezra: 39. “Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joyfulness of your glory:” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Esdras 2 (Ezra 4)) Mark: 10:25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

 BABI RELIGION: “It behoves you……to arrive at that hallowed spot in a state of complete detachment, wholly sanctified from all that pertains to this world.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 342)

 ISLAM: Letter 10. “Have you ever seriously considered what would happen to you if all your wealth and property is taken away from you. The possessions, the riches and the luxuries that you have surrounded yourself with, belong to this world, a world which has profusely decorated itself and which is bent upon alluring you with its enjoyments. It has enticed you away and you have fallen an easy prey to its allurements. It has dragged you and you have followed it like a tame animal on the other end of the rope. It has ordered you and you have obeyed its orders submissively.”  “You have forgotten that shortly you will be called to bear the consequences of such a life; consequences from which no one can shield, liberate or absolve you.” “Abstain from such a life, keep yourself ready for the Day of Judgement.”

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

 81. “Eat of the good things We have provided for your sustenance, but commit no excess therein, lest My Wrath should justly descend on you: and those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed!” 131. “Nor strain thine eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of them, the splendor of the life of this world, through which We test them: but the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  20)

 60. “The (material) things which ye are given are but the conveniences of this life and the glitter thereof; but that which is with Allah (God) is better and more enduring: will ye not then be wise.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  28)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “If we are fondly devoted to Mazda (God) and Mazda alone, we can hold every worldly object as of little consequence.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 563)

 HINDUISM: 11. “Let him never, for the sake of subsistence, follow the ways of the world; let him live the pure, straightforward, honest life of a Brahmana.”

(Hindu, Laws of Manu chapter 4)

 BUDDHISM: 13. “Don’t practice an ignoble way of life, don’t indulge in a careless attitude. Don’t follow a wrong view, and don’t be attached to the world.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 SABEANISM: “Be no son of the House, the world,” “Adam, look upon the world which is a completely unreal thing. It is a unreal thing, in which you can put no trust.” (Sabeanism, Instruction of Adam)

 “Came, the life of my Self I found, Yea, Life! lo, Life! Life (God) hath triumphed over this world.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 30)

 “The mana rejoiceth in its treasure And in the glory of Life Which resteth on it. I have acknowledged Thee (O) Elect Righteous One, For Thou settest my soul free From transitory things.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 93)

 BABI RELIGION: “Every man of perception who hath scaled the noble heights of detachment, and every man of eloquence who hath attained the most sublime station, beareth witness that Thou art God, the Incomparable, and that Thou hast assigned no associate unto Thyself in the kingdom of creation, nor is there anyone to compare with Thee in the realm of invention.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 207)

 “Whoso is unable to renounce the world, let him now at this very moment, depart, for later on he will be unable to escape.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 326)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Man must sever himself from the influences of the world of matter, from the world of nature and its laws; for the material world is the world of corruption and death. It is the world of evil and darkness, of animalism and ferocity, bloodthirstiness, ambition and avarice, of self-worship, egotism and passion; it is the world of nature.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 451)

“Know ye that by ‘the world’ is meant your unawareness of Him Who is your Maker, and your absorption in aught else but Him.” “Whatsoever deterreth you, in this Day, from loving God is nothing but the world. Flee it, that ye may be numbered with the blest.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, pp. 275 and  276)

“Whatsoever deterreth you, in this Day, from loving God is nothing but the world. Flee it, that ye may be numbered with the blest. Should a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 276)