I can tell you the philosophy of a parable, why parables are used, then you should understand the meaning. Parable is to draw, to make things for you understandable and make them easy for your mental reach. And parables in a very short space of time speak of volumes on a subject which otherwise would occupy a very big space and very long description. So this is why parables are used to make subjects easier for you, not to make subjects difficult for you. And you are behaving as if parables are described to make things very difficult and complex for you.
For instance, when you speak of a garden, the holy Quran repeatedly tells us of this philosophy, that whenever the holy Quran speaks of anything which you know, it is only to draw attention to some common factors. And if you know a thing, only then you can think of some common factors in the other part. So that is the philosophy of every parable and whenever the attention of us, of human beings are drawn to things which are known to them, it means that you study the significance and philosophy of these things which are known to them, the unknown would become known to you through their help. That is the meaning. So you know, as everybody does, what gardens are for, what they do to mankind, what are their benefits.
So whatever their benefits are physically here in this earth, they become benefits spiritually for us, for the life to come. It’s as simple as that. Even when mountains are described in the holy Quran, that is the philosophy. It says apparently we’re talking of these mountains, but in reality, they’re only parables, for you to think over them. For example, the holy Quran when speaks of the mountains, They’re only examples and illustrations for mankind, so that they may ponder over these questions and think over them and enter into a mental exercise. So to enter into a mental exercise and to think, that is one of the reasons why these parables are described. So you should do that. That is the object of parables.
Think of various things, why gardens are used, why they are useful, what are their purposes, when they are destroyed, why they are destroyed, what you do to them when enemies attack them, like in the form of beasts or birds or human beings, what happens to them when diseases attack them, how they creep into them, what are the answers to those diseases. There’s so much to be thought, to be investigated, so much to be said, and whatever you discover in this regard, about the qualities and the nature and the dangers and the inherent benefits and the apparent benefits, whatever the nature is of your investigation, you’ll find that all these factors are also applicable to the spiritual world, to the garden described in the hereafter.
So these things should be studied in detail, and wherever that similarity is not applicable. This is the beauty of the holy Quran, it declares it very positively, that this similarity is only for this world, it will not be applicable in the garden we are describing in the hereafter. For instance, the milk is described, and you know that milk becomes sour after a while, it becomes attacked by bacteria, so the holy Quran speaks of the milk and immediately tells us that milk will never turn sour. So it is the duty of the one who speaks of a parable to make the distinction whenever it is necessary, otherwise almost entire milk would be applicable to the example which is being covered by that parable. So much can be investigated, so much can be said about just one single parable, that it is impossible for me to exhaust this subject, even in many sittings.
For example, the holy Quran is revelation to the, if it was revealed to a mountain, when all this has a meaning, this is why the holy Quran says, so that they can think and ponder. So that means, so much has been said in just a short sentence, that once you begin to ponder over things, you will discover so many things, and this is not the only illustration in the holy Quran. So many, Ma Bahuzatan for example, the example of a mosquito, what is meant by that example? The holy Quran itself raises the question. Then kindling of fire, then the phenomena of lightning, then rain, its effect on the ground, its effect on various types of soil.
If the holy Quran is so full of parables, it’s impossible to exhaust them, and gardens are also used in various ways. Gardens of a certain people, two brothers for instance, behaving differently, and the characters of the two brothers who own those gardens, and the ultimate result of boasting of one, and so many other applications are made of gardens in the holy Quran, that it’s impossible for me to exhaust the subject, or even think of exhausting a very small part of the subject in one sitting.
