Nanak - Discourse with Sheikh Brahman

The Sheikh started with the problem uppermost in his mind. He said: 
'Either seek worldly prosperity or seek God. Put not thy feet on two boats lest thou losest the entire capital'. 
This question was in keeping with his declared conviction that it was not possible for a house-holder to find God. The Guru replied equally firmly, verified by the biographers, thus: 
'Put thy feet as also thy capital on both boats (remain a householder but detached in the love of God). If one boat were to sink, the other would cross over(i.e. would be there for thy rescue). The love of God would save thee from worldly entanglements and the love of family, with all the responsibilities it entailed, would curb renunciation taking extreme forms. Thus imbalance in both extremes would be liquidated and harmony restored. Human personality remained incomplete unless both the mystic and the mundane aspects of life were advanced. (This view was further explained in the next line.) When a man possesseth the wealth and the capital of truth and liveth naturally in God, there will be no boat, no water, no sinking, and no loss'. 
The Sheikh did not grasp the full meaning and again pointed out the obstacles in the path which the Guru had indicated above. It was, he said, the dreadful Maya that was the real obstacle in the way of realization: 
'Farid, untrue becomth the world's great mystery because of the love of the dreadful witch(i.e. Maya). O Nanak, I have seen with my own eyes the field(of life) being ruined'. 

 The Guru replied:

'O Farid, the dreadful witch(Maya) hath her fascinations, but this hath gone on from the beginning of creation. Yet, if the master of the field were wide awake, the field would be saved'. 
 Maya was God's creation and was evil too, in a way, but when a man took refuge in Him, Maya with all its evil aspects disappeared. There was, thus, no need to run away from home and turn a mendicant. Rather, in the midst of Maya, the self had to be controlled to let God enter. The Light which the Sheikh was vainly searching or in the forests, was already in the heart. It was only to be illuminated by the torch of God's Name. One might fly to the forests but Maya would overtake one even there. Life should therefore be lived in its fullness and not in parts. It was cruel to run away from people groaning in pain, though through their own unnatural ways of living. A man was indebted to society in a hundred ways. In fact, he could not exist without it. To run away from the post of duty i.e. from the service of society, was the height of ingratitude, and life's debt could not be paid back in installments. It was unnatural to remain insensitive to human problems. And it was utterly selfish to thank of one's own so-called advancement when the society of which one was a part, suffered for want of right guidance.

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