Chapter II: Patience and Gratefulness
One day, the Prophet Moses said in his invocation: O God you have created Adam. How has he expressed gratefulness to you? God said: He knew that everything came from Me. This knowledge is his gratefulness. So instead of being grateful to the giver, be grateful to Him who created the giver and his will.
(2) State of mind on gratefulness: Know, readers, that the mind assumes a state when knowledge of gratefulness comes to it. The happiness which arises in mind out of gratefulness is called its state the feeling of gratefulness and humility for the donee. This state of mind in gratefulness is of three kinds. Take an illustration. When a king wants to go out and gives a horse to a certain man, the latter feels joy for three causes - (1) for getting a horse which will be useful to him, (2) for getting it from the head of state, (3) and for enjoyment of getting by riding on it. These are the three stages of gratefulness. In the first stage, the attention of the donee remains confined to the horse only and not to its giver.
In the second stage, he expresses gratefulness to the giver. In the third stage, gratefulness gains perfection as he expresses it to God who enkindled a will in the king to gift the horse to him. This is the highest stage. The saint Shibli said: To turn attention to the giver rather than to the gift is gratefulness. The saint Khaoas said:
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80 PATIENCE AND GRATEFULNESS VoI-IV
People in general express gratefulness on getting food, dress and drink but the really wise men do it in getting beneficial things to soul. He who gets enjoyment in getting only the things enjoyable to eye, ear, be|ly and sexual organ, cannot express real gratefulness as there is disease in his soul. Real happiness consists in the happiness of soul by remembering God. A diseased man may get pleasure in eating earth or displeasure in sweets.
(3) To get acquainted with actions arising out of gratefulness.
It is to act with happiness by getting acquainted with the giver of gift. This action is connected with mind, tongue and all bodily limbs. These are the three modes of expressing gratefulness. To express gratefulness by mind is to pray for good of all people and to cherish such a will. To express gratefulness by tongue is to praise God under all circumstances; and to express it by the bodily limbs means to employ them in the service of the Lord and to save them from committing sins prohibited by Him.