self-development and self-realisation. When he is making progress
towards this goal, he feels happy and knows that he is on the way to
qualify himself for promotion to a higher plane of existence. For
the self lives in and through activity, and the activity natural to it is
always in an upward direction. Inaction is the death of the self, and
so is movement in a downward direction. When the self of man is
making steady progress towards the goal, it may be with occasional
deviations and backslidings, but it slowly moves forward, until it
finds itself in a state which is symbolised by Jannah or paradise. The
picturesque imagery with which it is represented, has misled many
into thinking that it is a place which provides gratification for the
senses. It is not a place but a state of mind, a state charged with the
sense of fulfilment and the feeling of high aspiration. It is akin to
the feeling that the mountaineer experiences when, after wearily
climbing the hillside and avoiding boulders, he finally reaches the
lofty peak. Loftier peaks swim into his vision and invite him to fresh
conquests. For him it is at once the end of a journey and the
beginning of another. His joy at successful achievement is blended
with the thrill of excitement at the discovery of fresh fields for
adventure. Such is the state of mind of those who have fully realised
themselves on the human plane and are ready to ascend to a higher
one.
The state of mind directly opposite to this has been designated as
Jahannam. It is the Arabic form of the Hebrew word Gehenna.
Originally Gehenna meant the valley of Hinnom, where human
sacrifices to Baal and Moloch were offered.(1) Jahannam symbolizes
that condition of existence in which the self's purposeful activity is
brought to a standstill. Enfeebled and debilitated by continuous and
persistent wrong-doing, the self loses its capacity for progress and
for moving towards a higher state of being. Its urge for progress is
crushed and the enervated self surrenders itself to regret and
remorse. It has voluntarily relinquished its right to participate in the
pursuit of the good. If it ever feels the desire to rejoin the march of
free selves, the desire is too weak to pull it out of the slough of
despair and inaction. In the words of the poet, Robert Frost, it has:
Nothing to look backward to with pride and nothing to look forward
to with hope.
The Qur'an asserts:
Salvation^164