By Nigar Ataulla
I pray that each one of us gets gifted with such high spiritual energy and stamina as my late parents had so that we can all overcome the pandemic and its after effects in a calm, peaceful, God-conscious way!
Spiritual masters stress the importance of leading a God-conscious life. While scriptures and other spiritual literature have much to say about God-consciousness, I was lucky to have been in the company of two God-conscious individuals. These two individuals were my late parents.
My mother was a practical person and spiritually oriented, but she did not wear religion on her sleeves. Honesty was her virtue, and politeness combined with firmness made her a ‘go –to’ person for many people, including myself when faced with a challenging situation. Even after all the hard work she did, she had the energy to pray the five times prayer with focus.
When you have firm faith in God, you do not despair when difficult situations arise. My mother’s positive outlook towards life and her unflinching trust in Almighty God helped her face many challenges, including her bodily aches and pains. Even when she left this world, she left immense sweetness around in the hearts of people. After her passing away, I discovered a little box of apple jam in the fridge that she had made probably just a day or two before. This was like a precious gift for me, the jam symbolising her attitude towards life: Stay sweet at all times and hold on to God!
My father was very particular about his five times prayers. Also, I observed him remembering God at other times too. He had laminated dua cards for various occasions and kept them with him. When challenging situations came, he would say, only that will happen as God wills. Whenever he was ill and in hospital, if his condition was good, he would sit and pray on the bed. The last time that he was in hospital, he was very weak, yet he kept up his prayers. Just a day before he passed away, he was extremely drowsy, and so I played one of his favourite Quranic chapters, Surah Ar-Rahman, on the phone. A few hours later, he told me to play Surah Yasin. His condition then was very feeble. What amazed me was that despite the fact that his organs were shutting down slowly, his God-consciousness was so fit and fine that he was able to remember the name of the Surah!
During his last stay at the hospital, he had to take a potassium injection, which was very painful for him. His frail body could take this pain with immense difficulty, yet he was very patient in enduring it. This patience I feel he gained from his God-consciousness. When he was shifted to the ICU, a few hours before his end, the doctor told me to be next to him and recite prayers. I consider myself lucky and blessed to have been able to do that.
Amidst the current pandemic and the anxiety and uncertainty that each one of us is going through, I often think about, and take comfort from, the God-conscious lives that my parents led. Their bodies may have become weak and frail, yet they were so spiritually strong that when their end arrived, they went peacefully back to God!
I pray that each one of us gets gifted with such high spiritual energy and stamina as my late parents had so that we can all overcome the pandemic and its after effects in a calm, peaceful, God-conscious way!
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