Greater Jehad

He further says:

8220;O Elders! We have crushed the enemies outside poverty, disease, illiteracy and so on but the hurdle of deadly enemies inside lust, anger, greed, ego, envy, doubt remain unscathed!

8220;These enemies cannot be crushed by our intellect and consciousness. They are like a lion whose subjugation cannot be planned by a rabbit intellect. This enemy is like a deadly python whose thirst cannot be quenched even by entire rivers of water.8221;

Human beings are like a bow, and these internal elements are like crooked arrows. They cannot be shot from the bow. For achieving an easy passage to God, we should try to take help from a 8220;perfect man8221;, a 8220;spiritual master8221;, a 8220;guru8221; and a 8220;Prophet8221;, who could show us the way. Otherwise we will be helpless and powerless.

Rumi says further:

8220;If we do so, even if we are as insignificant as a needle, but with direct access to Almighty, we will be able to blow the Qaaf symbolising a huge, invincible mountain into smithereens. And that is why to gain sight of our own Self8217; is so important. The call for self-consciousness in order to know the Lord is the epitome of all religious teachings.8221;

As Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian nation, says in his book My Religion: 8220;There is one reality in the whole world and that is the knowledge of the self. Whoever knows his own self knows God and his creatures. Whoever is devoid of such knowledge is devoid of any knowledge.8221;

In the world, there is only one force, one type of freedom and one form of justice and that is the power of ruling over one8217;s own self. Whoever has domination over his self has domination over the world.

8220;There is only one sort of goodness in the world, and that is loving others as one loves himself; in other words, we should regard other people as we regard ourselves. What remains is illusion and nullity.8221;

It is obvious that the self-consciousness that we are discussing is not that which appears on one8217;s ID card name, father8217;s and mother8217;s names, birth place and place of residence. It is not a biological self-consciousness that man ranks one degree higher than bears, monkeys, and other beasts To shed light on this obscure area, Shaikh Mahmud Shabistari 1267-1320 in his mystical poem Gulshan-I-Raz the mystic rose garden explains the nature of 8220;Self8221; as follows;

Who am I? Make me well aware of 8220;self8221;.

What does it mean, within your self, 8220;travel?8221;

Then you inquired about, what is it 8220;self8221;?

Make me aware of 8220;Self8221;. Who is this 8220;Self8221;?

Acquiring knowledge of this Self, which is God, is Greater Jehad.