Chapter I: Repentance
Answer: (1) The medicine for the first cause is to think of the delay of punishment in this way. What will occur in future must happen. The future is near the thoughtful men, but death is nearer to a man than the lace of his shoes. What will inform him that the Hour is near? Then the affairs of the future happiness will become the matters of the present. Great efforts are undertaken to ward off future dangers in the world. For earning profits in business, merchants embarks on deep seas and oceans and bear ail sorts of hardship in journey. If one falls ill and if a physician informs him that if he drinks cold water, it will injure him and may lead him to death, he shall give it up at once for fear of death, even though cold water is agreeable to him and even, though the pangs of death is short lived. He does not fear however what will occur after death. He shall have to leave the world and there is no escape from it. This world's life is temporary, not everlasting. Now it is an object of thought that he gives up an agreeable thing of this world relaying on the word of a Christian physician, while he cannot give up the temporary pleasure of the world in expectation of future happiness relying on the words of the Prophet supported by miracles. The punishment of Hell is very much grea ter than tha t of disease.
(2) The medicine for the second cause is that he shall give up the taste which is strong with efforts and say: If I cannot give up this temporary happiness of this world's life, how can I get the everlasting happiness of the next world? When I can't bear the pangs of patience, how shall I bear the punishment of fire in Hell?
(3) Disease of delay in repentance may be removed in this way. Most of the immates of Hell will shriek for long sufferings in Hell. He who makes delay in repentances, wishes to live long while he may die soon. If he lives long, he may not give up sin in future as he cannot give it up at present. It is not known how he will give up greed in future when he cannot give it up at present.
Rather it may increase manifold owing to habits. The greed which man makes firm as a result of habits is not like that greed
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which has not become firmly rooted. For this reason, those who make delay in repentance are destroyed. They don't know that the more time passes, the more it becomes difficult to be eradicated. The man of procrastination is like a man who seeing a firmly rooted tree, leaves it to be uprooted in future. But he knows that it will be more firmly rooted in future. The more you grow old, the more you will become weak and there will be less chance of your uprooting the tree.