Don’t become attached to this life and this world.

 

252. Don’t become attached to this life and this world: The religions of God all warn us not to become entangled with the affairs of this world and become ensnared in the abode of worldliness and materialism. This worldly life is a trap that catches the unwary traveler, on the road to spiritual realization, in a web of, glutinous craving and deceit, selfish desire and oppression, distracting him from the pathway leading unto God and heavenly blissfulness; and, in fact, causing harm to our spiritual wellbeing.  Christianity: 2 Timothy 2:3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 2 Timothy 2:4 “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 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 10:38 “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:39 “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” 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.” Mark 8:35 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” Luke 6:24 “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” Luke 8:14 “And that (the holy word) which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” Luke 9:24 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” 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.” 3:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” 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.” James 4:14 “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Romans 8:38 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”  Judaism: Ezra 39. “Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joyfulness of your glory:” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Esdras 2 (Ezra 4)) 4 Ezra 7:20 “For there be many that perish in this life, because they despise the law of God that is set before them.” “For God hath given strait commandment to such as came, what they should do to live, even as they came, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.” 4 Ezra 7:59 “For this is the life whereof Moses spake unto the people while he lived, saying, Choose thee life, that thou mayest live.” Psalms 26:9 “Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands is mischief,” 31:9 “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.” 31:10 “For my life is spent with grief,” Proverbs 15:31 “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.” Proverbs 13:8 “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke. Psalms 63:3 “Because Thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.” Psalms 49:6 “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;” Psalms 49:7 “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:” Psalms 62:10 “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” Psalms 52:8 “Trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “Christ was heavenly, divine and belonged to the world of the Kingdom. He was the embodiment of spiritual knowledge. His intellect was superior to these philosophers, His comprehension deeper, His perception keener, His knowledge more perfect. How is it that He overlooked and denied Himself everything in this world? He attached little importance to this material life, denying Himself rest and composure, accepting trials and voluntarily suffering vicissitudes because He was endowed with spiritual susceptibilities and the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 312)

Baha’i Faith: “If man is bereft of the divine bestowals and if his enjoyment and happiness are restricted to his material inclinations, what distinction or difference is there between the animal and himself? In fact, the animal’s happiness is greater, for its wants are fewer and its means of livelihood easier to acquire. Although it is necessary for man to strive for material needs and comforts, his real need is the acquisition of the bounties of God. If he is bereft of divine bounties, spiritual susceptibilities and heavenly glad tidings, the life of man in this world has not yielded any worthy fruit. While possessing physical life, he should lay hold of the life spiritual, and together with bodily comforts and happiness, he should enjoy divine pleasures and content. Then is man worthy of the title man; then will he be after the image and likeness of God, for the image of the Merciful consists of the attributes of the heavenly Kingdom.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 335)

 BABI RELIGION: “Such must be the degree of your detachment, that into whatever city you enter to proclaim and teach the Cause of God, you should in no wise expect either meat or reward from its people. Nay, when you depart out of that city, you should shake the dust from off your feet. As you have entered it pure and undefiled, so must you depart from that city.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 92)

 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 Judgment.”

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

Islam: 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!”

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

Islam: 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)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “A man may spend the whole life in running after pleasure, but he will find that his thirst is yet unslaked, and he will be ever in bondage.” “One should not neglect the world, at the same time he should have no hankering for wealth, he should get rid of covetousness. Lust and greed are the two enemies of God realization.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 214 and 221)

 Zoroastrianism: “When the devotee is fully established in detachment he does not pray for anything, for he can do without everything. Detachment is the highest good. So long as the mind hankers for worldly goods, love of God does not find a place there.” “One who desires worldly objects cannot love Mazda (God) with his whole heart. (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan pp. 268, 666 and 776)

 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)

 Hinduism: 16. “Let him not, out of desire (for enjoyments), attach himself to any sensual pleasures, and let him carefully obviate an excessive attachment to them, by (reflecting on their worthlessness in) his heart.” 80. “When by the disposition (of his heart) he becomes indifferent to all objects, he obtains eternal happiness both in this world and after death.” 81. “He who has in this manner gradually given up all attachments and is freed from all the pairs (of opposites), reposes in Brahman alone.” 17. “Let him avoid all (means of acquiring) wealth which impede the study of the Veda; (let him maintain himself) anyhow, but study, because that (devotion to the Veda-study secures) the realization of his aims.”

(Hindu, Laws of Manu 4 and 6)

 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))

 Buddhism: “Cultivate a mind that is independent of material circumstances. And why? Because, all sensuous conditions and material circumstances are only manifestations of mind and are alike dream-like and imaginary.” (Buddha, Diamond Sutra)

 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)

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

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)

Baha’i Faith: “Know ye that by ‘the world’ is meant your unawareness of Him Who is your Maker, and your absorption in aught else but Him.”

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

Baha’i Faith: “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, p. 276)

 BABI RELIGION: “Fie upon the world and its people and upon those who take delight in earthly riches, while oblivious of the life to come. Were the veil to be removed from thine eye thou wouldst crawl unto Me on thy breast, even through the snow, from fear of the chastisement of God which is swift and near at hand.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 22)