The Pitcher at Hand

We must learn how to communicate with others. We need to master the art of listening—of resisting the temptation to speak, of hearing what others have to say. The first thing required when we wish to connect with someone is patience. To arrive at judgments about a person without truly knowing them, or to form opinions about matters without proper understanding, is nothing short of folly. My conduct, my words—they can make me appear as a saint or a demon in the eyes of others. If we could see beyond the surface veil, we would glimpse the true human being. If we observe only the outward aspect of someone, what we come to know of them is not what they truly are.
 
To look into another's heart, we need eyes within our own heart—and we must see with those eyes alone. Whoever's heart is blind cannot perceive the Creator's presence within others. If we fail to see God in humanity, it becomes impossible to feel God within ourselves. When we sense something good in another, our own feelings become beautiful, become pure. The joy we gain from this belongs to the richness of our own hearts. Do not judge how much better you are than another. Assume instead that you are worse than everyone else—yet remember, you did not come into this world to remain bad. You possess all the capacity to be good. If you can properly align this self-confidence with your will, you will become a better person than you are now.
 
Self-satisfaction cripples a person. We have not been given the right or the responsibility to judge what heaven is like, what hell is like, who is wicked, who is evil, who is beautiful to look upon, who is ugly, who is fortunate, who is unfortunate, who is virtuous, who is sinful, who is of good character, who is of bad character. We do not even truly know ourselves—how then can we know others? Who can say whom the Creator loves and whom the Creator dislikes? How does it enter our minds that I alone am pure, I alone am right, and all others are mistaken? Oh, what senselessness! How utterly absurd! It is not our work to judge others. The more we criticize others, the more indifferent we become to our own ugliness. Such indifference destroys a person entirely.
If we must reflect at all, let us contemplate the elevated aspects of people, let us evaluate those. From such reflection will emerge a measure of how much we ourselves must develop. As for what is good for us and what is bad, no one—not a single soul—can ever tell us. Neither friend, nor parent, nor teacher, nor spiritual guide. We must listen carefully to the "I" that dwells within us. The voice of our own heart never speaks falsehood.
 
Instead of wasting life searching for water, if only we could make our hearts understand how desperately we thirst for it, we would see an inexhaustible spring arise before our very eyes. We set aside a vessel brimming with water in the corner of our heart's chamber, yet we wander the whole world in search of a single drop. Alas—"Lalon died of thirst for water, though the Meghna river flowed near / A full pitcher at hand, yet the thirst could not be quenched!"