God Is Found by Hearts That Are Righteous and Pure

Spirituality has been explained and practiced by saints and Sufis for centuries. They always wanted to teach us to reach God. They set the first step as knowing ourselves and setting standards for our inner exploration of what we should seek. I have been keenly studying and understanding inner exploration for the last 20 years as spirituality is the basis of the creation of this universe. My conclusion ends with the following:-

If you want to know God look into yourself, Know yourself and you will find God. This whole journey starts with yourself and ends with yourself.

A great saint, Bulleh Shah, once wrote:

You have read a thousand books

but have you read yourself?

You rush to mosques and temples

in indecent haste,

have you tried to enter yourself?

You are engaged in

needless battle with Satan

have you ever fought with yourselves?

You have reached the sky

But have failed to reach

what’s in your heart!

At the age of 48, when my body is deteriorating and my soul is getting stronger, knowing myself makes my body strong and fills my heart with contentment. Children have found their activities and are busy in their lives. My journey is getting closer to the end but I want a happy ending. I want to explore the deepest points of my thoughts to know the impurities.

I have been taught by my parents that we are punished and rewarded by God based on our intentions. My small brain could not understand how one could evaluate the intentions. With time, I learned that it was easy. Knowing the positivity or negativity of my intentions was not a hidden thing for my brain or heart to evaluate.

If I was helping someone, was that for the sake of praise from others? Showing them— look how sympathetic I am? Or it was purely a help as we are asked to help others regardless of any reward or appreciation?

This learning was like magic in my life. My actions were loud and clear based on my intentions. I knew that my intention was good but at the time of my action, something wrong happened, it was not my fault and I should not be blamed.

Later on, I learned it as the first stage of knowing myself. As I kept on practicing and looking deep into my intentions for separating its bad and good parts I was asked to move on to the second stage. It was the time to rectify the bad parts.

I was advised to tailor my intentions.

This was a big task. How can I tailor my intentions? If I feel bad about someone, I do not want to see that person happy. So how is it possible to think positively and try to bring good things their way? If I want him to fall badly, how can I tailor my intention such that I pray for his betterment and do good for him?

Our creator, God, lives in our hearts; all we need is to look into them. He created our hearts full of kindness, care, and love. That kindness and love, when expressed for the betterment of other humans, help us move toward God. Care for the needy, siblings, parents, neighbors, friends, and those, who can not take care of themselves, leads us to purify our hearts and show the way to God.

We must look into ourselves, our hearts, and our souls to see what we are keeping and rearing there. What is keeping us away from our Creator?

This is the turning point that teaches us how to tailor our intentions.

We should search each corner of our hearts to see the hidden feelings that if shared with others we would feel ashamed of ourselves. Thoughts that make us small.

Our hearts should be pure and clean.

Pure like a diamond that has no mixing. Clean like a shining floor. If there is any tiny blemish, let it be magnified with the help of our inner eyes. Our thoughts and intentions should be checked by our hearts to show their hidden impurities.

Polluted thoughts, intentions, and actions should be treated to have a pure heart that reflects on our faces.

When we can polish our thoughts so much that we don’t feel shame while sharing them with others and know that we don't want and intend to do wrong to anyone, believe me, we start covering the distance towards God with the speed of light. God is pure love and to reach Him we need to purify ourselves.

Knowing yourself is the first step if you want to know God.

Purifying your thoughts and intentions helps you start your journey. I started my journey in my twenties with a clear intention to have a pure heart with feelings positive and strong. It does not mean I was not doing anything wrong but I knew clearly that bad thoughts were part of my actions. Any time when this happened, I tried to get rid of those thoughts and tried to tailor my intentions.

God created this universe and the creatures living here on our planet or other planets. As a teenager, I had a kind heart and I tried to be truthful but it was not easy for me to let go of others who did wrong to me. I always wanted to teach them a lesson and it’s still like that with a little bit of improvement.

Now, I look deep into the matter and try to find the psychological issues behind their actions. Most of the time I forgive them and don’t want anything bad to happen to them, but I keep myself at a distance. This action keeps me safe.

Now I’m deeply connected to the thought that God loves His creations, so to get closer to Him we need to love His creations and for that, we should look into ourselves to see those emotions that bring ease into others’ lives. If I can not do good for them at least I should not do anything bad.

My rewards are from God and I do not want others to pay me back. My biggest reward is the contentment of my heart. As if I have not done anything wrong so nothing wrong would happen to me. And in case something bad happens, my heart remains calm.

If I pick up prickly things from on the road with the intention that it would save someone from getting hurt, is considered a pious act in the eyes of God. My good intentions and actions purify my heart and turn it into a place where I can bring God closer.

Remember, when we love someone we want to make that person happy, we want to take away sorrow. Here, in spirituality, we want to make God happy.

The journey towards God starts with self-awareness and ends with sympathy and empathy.

Saints say that spirituality starts from knowing one’s self and ends with God. Loving God means loving His creations, knowing ourselves, and changing into the one who thinks and acts to please God.

Read the following lines written by Bulleh Shah

You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!

You alone exist, I do not!

Like the shadow of a house in ruins,

I revolve in my mind.

If I speak, you speak with me:

If I am silent, you are in my mind.

If I sleep, you sleep with me:

If I walk, you are along my path.

Oh, Bulleh, the partner has come to my house:

My life is a sacrifice unto Him.

You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!

This path unites us with God so that we speak what He likes and doing this pleases us, we act as per His desires and it fills our hearts with contentment. We ignore our needs and try to fulfill others’. In less, we find joy and happiness, and we want all to grow, from the deepest of our hearts, we want all in our surroundings happy and relaxed. Our hearts’ purity does not let us enjoy even our enemies’ failures and sorrows.

God wants us to have those attributes that bring peace to this Earth. This whole process purifies our hearts and brightens our souls.

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