Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Search for Truth
An express train tears at full speed towards its destination. A continuous spectacle of lush crops and brimming streams and brooklets flashes by on either side. However much the scene attracts attention towards itself, the express train shows no interest in it. It ploughs through plain and mountain, over land and river, without reducing its speed. Small stations are dotted along the line, but even they do not interrupt the train’s motion. It carries on, as if it will stop nowhere.
It is much the same with a purposeful life. A person who has adopted a purpose in life will fix his attention upon it. He will not waste his time with peripheral issues. A purposeful person is like a traveler who seeks to spend every moment of his time steering himself towards his destination. Alluring worldly attractions hover enticingly before this traveler, but he closes his eyes to them. Luxurious shade invites him to be cooled from the scorching sun. Lavish mansions call him to rest his feet from the long, hard road. But he has no time for these things: all he sees is the goal he has set before him. All kinds of different requirements confront him, but he steers clear of them and continues on his way. His determination to reach his destination does not alter with the ups and downs of life. The speed and direction of his journey remain constant through thick and thin.
A purposeful person is quite unlike a wayward traveler who, lacking direction, sometimes sets off in one direction and sometimes in another. He knows where he is going. The road that he must tread clearly stretches out before his eyes. There is no question of him interrupting his journey or diverting his attention towards other things. He travels on and on until his purpose is fulfilled, his destination reached.
For life to be invested with meaning, it is essential that we should set a target for ourselves. An individual should be certain of the worthwhile nature of his chosen target. In pursuit of it, he must have the total support of his conscience. It should permeate his entire being, running through his body as blood runs through his veins. It is by concentrating his mind and setting his heart on a certain target that man becomes different from animals. If he lacks a target in life, there is no difference between himself and beasts of the jungle. When someone adopts a dominating purpose, his life undergoes a drastic change. He becomes a completely different person. So total is his absorption in his quest in life that he has no time for petty side issues. He pursues his goal with unswerving dedication, not resting until it is achieved.