EVIL

“Evil is non-existent; it is the absence of good.” ~Abdul Baha~

Evil. A word which is familiar to our ears, yet remains a mystery. We encounter this word in newspapers, televisions and magazines. It is strewn all across various religious texts. It finds its way into our conversations but, do we really know and understand what evil really means?

One of the first thing that our mind conjures up when we hear or see this word, is the devil or better known as Satan. Is the devil a manifestation of evil or does the word has a meaning much closer to home? To answer this question, we must first discover what evil stands for.

Well, the answer to that question is simple. “Evil is imperfection.” It might sound silly, but that is what the word really implies. The myriad meanings and manifestations of evil in the past are man’s way of trying to understand their own selves,unknowingly. In reality, evil refers to the lower nature of man. In man there are two expressions. One is the expression of nature and the other, the expression of the spiritual realm.

In other words, man’s life is governed by his material nature and spiritual nature. In his material nature, we see qualities such as injustice, cruelty and tyranny manifest itself. These are an expression of the imperfections of nature. Therefore, evil is a product of man’s lower material nature. One might ask, since evil is part of human nature, is it good? The answer is yes and no.

Just because evil is a part of our material nature, this does not imply that we are powerless to overcome it. We are given the capacities to do so. This is where our spiritual nature comes into the picture. Through the expression of spiritual qualities such as love, kindness and compassion, we can overcome the evil within our material nature. And yet, without evil, how will we know the good?

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What life has taught me

Life (NBC TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Life is a journey in which each one of us are travellers. The purpose of this journey is to equip ourselves with what we need to reach our final destination; to attain the presence of our Creator. Throughout this journey, life will teach us many valuable things. Lessons which will shape us to be a strong and confident individual. I am going to share with you what life has taught me so far.

 

Always remember that everyone enters your life for a reason. Either to teach you something or to learn something from you. Once this purpose is fulfilled, some will continue to remain in your life and some will move on. Do not hold on to those who leave, not because you do not love them, because it’ll destroy your inner peace. Move on. Moving on does not mean that you have forgotten or stopped loving that person but it is having the strength to say I love you but you are not worth the pain.

 

Forgive quickly not because what was done to you was ok but because you need to be at peace. Holding on to anger consumes you from within. The blessed Buddha said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” If the one who wronged you seeks for forgiveness, forgive for the person is truly sorry but if the person does not, forgive anyway because you deserve to be at peace with yourself.

 

Love unconditionally. It means loving without expectations, even those who do not love you. It is inherent in human beings to yearn for love and to love. It’s how the world works. Abdul Baha said “In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love.” Love has the power to transform lives. But in order to love others, we must first learn to love ourselves. Only when we have learned to love ourselves, we are able to share that love with others. We are created to show forth love, so love!

 

Last but not least, do not have expectations because it usually leads to disappointments. I am not trying to say that having expectations is a bad thing but sometimes having too much expectations will kill you from the inside when they do not materialize. There is a saying which goes ‘it is better to be surprised than disappointed’. It is normal for us to expect a little from someone whom we love. But as I mentioned earlier, loving unconditionally means loving without expectations. It shows the world that big loving heart that God has gifted you with.

 

These are some of the valuable lessons that life has taught me thus far. It will not end here for life is a life long learning process.

 

You know who you are…

Everyone enters your life either to teach you something or to learn something from you. There will come a point in your life where you will meet that special kind of people, who will affect your life in a profound way. I have recently met 2 of that special people and coincidentally they share the same name!

One I have never met but helped me to embrace myself for who I am. He helped me to find the courage within myself so that I can stand up and be true to myself. While the other taught me that the key to happiness is to love yourself first before loving others.

I have been up and down throughout my life. Getting to know these 2 wonderful souls has changed me in a profound way. I am braver now in my quest to be true to myself. I am no longer a conformist. I have also begun to love myself more and do things which makes me happy.

As Abdul Baha says

“I want you to be happy…, to laugh, smile and rejoice in order that others may be made happy by you.”

I am grateful to God for never abandoning me and bringing these 2 wonderful souls in to my life. You know who you are 🙂

 

 

Malaysian speaking Farsi

My first attempt in speaking Farsi, to the world!

How do I learn Farsi?

Calligraphic rendition of “Farsi” (in Nasta’liq), converted to SVG from Image:Farsi.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Salam and Hello! As you all know, I have been learning Farsi for the past 1 year. A lot of people ask me how do I learn the language and able to pick it up so fast? Well, in this post I would like to share with you how I started learning Farsi.

 

It all started when I met a friend from Iran. I had the interest to learn Farsi for quite sometime and meeting this friend rekindled my interest to seriously study the language. I started simple. I began asking my friend how do you say the daily things that you encounter in life in Farsi. This somewhat contributed to my vocabulary which would be useful in the later stages of my learning.

 

Finding a Farsi learning book is difficult here in Malaysia. I looked high and low and finally managed to get hold of a simple phrase book intended for travelers planning to visit Iran. It very briefly explained the basic grammars of the Farsi language and jumped straight into phrases to be used at different situations.

 

I studied the grammar in that book and once I understood its basics, I began constructing sentences with the help of my now many Persian friends. Along the way I realized that my vocabulary was limited which hindered me from conversing. After another long search, I managed to find a Farsi dictionary and that has helped me tremendously! Now I can have basic conversations with friends and I hope in due time I will be able to converse on more complex matters.

 

I feel that there is no fixed and hard rule to learn a language. At the end of the day it depends on the individuals themselves. Everyone has their own way. Some may learn fast, some slow but the important thing to remember here is to never give up! Movafagh bashin! Good Luck!

 

 

 

 

 

My 1st post in Farsi!

Salam be hamegi. Man Dharvind hastam az Malezi. Emsal bisto seh sal hastam. Ghablan az yad gereftane zabane farsi, mitunam seh ta zabane dige sohbat konam yani ingilisi, malayi va hendi. Dar hudud yek sal pish yad gereftane zabane farsi ro shuru kardam va be khatare rahmate Khoda inghadr pishraft mikonam.

Shoma bayad shegefti mikonid ke chera ye pesare hendi mikhad farsi yad begire? Dust dokhtare Irani nadaram pas chera? 😛 Man dalile khoobi daram. Dinam Baha’i hast. Dine Baha’i dar sarzamine mughaddase Iran aghaz shod. Rasule dine Baha’i Hazrate Baha’u’llah hastand che kasi Irani budand va zabane Farsi harf zadand. Hazrate Baha’u’llah ro kheyli kheyli dooseshun daram va mikham zabaneshun yad begiram. In dalile mane.

Hamchenin zabane farsi zabane ghashangiye, keshvare Iran kheyli zibaye va Iraniha mehrabun hastand. In alaghe Farsi az koocholo dashtam vali nemidunestam cheejori yad begiram. Amadan be shahre Kuala Lumpur ziyad forsat dad vase yad gereftane zabane Farsi.

Yek ketabe Farsi peyda kardam va bahash safaram shuru kardam. Dar in shahr ham ziyad dustaye Irani ro molaghat kardam. Dustaye Iraniye man komakam mikonand va bazivaghth bahashun tamrin mikonam. Amma bozorgtarin masaleye man ke khejalati mikesham vaghti ke mikham ba kasi Farsi sohbat konam. Age betunam ino hazf konam, Enshallah mitunam Farsiyam behtar konam. “Kam kam, ruz be ruz” 😀

Any mistakes please do correct me. Thank you.

A Journey of Discovery (Learning Farsi)

I started learning Farsi about a year ago. For those of you don’t know, Farsi or Persian is the language spoken mainly in Iran. You might wonder why would a Malaysian of Indian descent is interested in learning Farsi? Hahaha, well there’s a very good reason behind my avid interest in Farsi.

I am a Baha’i. The Baha’i Faith dawned in Persia, present day Iran, 170 years ago. The Founder of the Baha’i Faith is Baha’u’llah who is an Iranian nobleman who speaks Farsi. So, my love for the language stems out from the love for His Holiness Baha’u’llah.

I’ve had the interest to learn Farsi ever since I was a kid but I didn’t have the means or resources to do so. Moving to Kuala Lumpur 2 years ago for studies, opened many doors of learning. I met a lot of Iranian friends which acted as stimulus for me to seriously study the language.

I managed to get hold of a Persian book and a few resources and started my study. Along the way, my Persian friends assisted me and sometimes I would practice with them. But my biggest problem is that I am very shy when it comes to speaking Farsi with someone. If I manage to overcome my shyness, I definitely can improve my Farsi. But I’m getting there slowly.

This journey of discovery has been amazing so far. Farsi is a beautiful language, poetic in nature. I wish that one day, I can speak fluent Farsi. Thank you to all the friends who are assisting me in this journey.