In reality, the world and its pleasures are nothing more than a sport and pastime. They are temporary and short-lived, and the result of these joys is that a person is distanced from God.
However, the pleasure derived from attaining deeper insight into God is something which no eye has seen and no ear has heard; none of the other senses have experienced this sensation. It is a piercing phenomenon. At every moment it gives rise to a new form of pleasure which had not been experienced previously.
Man has a unique relationship with God Almighty. The divines have presented the most subtle discourses on the bond that exists between the human essence and divine nature of providence. If the mouth of an infant is put up against a rock, could any sensible man entertain that milk would flow forth from within the rock and the child would be satiated? Of course not.
In the same manner, until a human being falls down at the threshold of God Almighty, their soul does not pass through the process of complete self-effacement, which is needed to foster a relationship with divine providence, nor is this even possible until the soul is reduced to a state of non-existence or to a state that resembles nothingness; for this is what divine providence requires. Until this is so, the soul cannot be nourished with spiritual milk.
The Arabic word lahw comprises all the pleasures of food and drink. The ultimate outcome of these pleasures, as you can observe, is nothing but distaste. Pride over forms of adornment, modes of transport, fine houses, authority or family background are all things that are ultimately viewed by their possessors as abhorrent, causing grief, saddening one’s disposition, and turning it restless.
The Arabic word la‘b among other things, implies a love for women. When a man is intimate with a woman, his passion and pleasure ultimately turns dull. However, if all this is preceded by true love for none other than Allah Almighty, a person experiences satisfaction upon satisfaction, and pleasure upon pleasure, until finally the door of true divine insight is opened to them and they enter into an eternal and undying satisfaction, where nothing but purity and cleanliness exists. That pleasure lies in God, so strive to seek Him and search for Him, for this is true pleasure.
(Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, Malfuzat, Vol. 1, pp. 218-219)
