Chapter II: Patience and Gratefulness
THE SEAT OF LIFE IS HEART: Life is like the fire of a lamp and heart is the seat of that lamp. The black blood in heart is like the thread of lamp and the food of the thread is oil. So the life strength that runs through the body is like the light of a lamp in a house. When the oil of the lamp finishes, the lamp of life extinguishes. This occurs according to the plan and purpose of God. This life is a material thing but soul which God termed in His verse as Ruh is a spiritual thing which intellect cannot grasp.
But it can be explained by high celestial light which is more honourable than intellect. A boy can understand things of his ideas but he cannot understand the objects which can be grasped by intellect as he is placed then in the lower stage. An elderly man can understand things of intellect, but he cannot understand what is behind intellect as he has not reached the highest stage which is gained by the light of certain and sure faith. So the pious men said that he who cannot know himself cannot know God.
About this soul, God says: They ask you about soul. Say it is from the order of God. God says: O satisfied soul, return to your Lord, well pleased with Him and well pleasing Him - 89 : 30Q.
BASIC GIFT OF FOOD: There are many items of food and God's gift regarding food are innumerable. Food is of three kinds- vegetables, fruits and crops. We shall discuss here about crops and that is the principal food. We shall take up the seed of wheat. God says: I shower rain and split up the earth and grow therein seeds, grape seeds, seeds of creepers and seeds of olive trees. To grow them, air is necessary and so for this purpose soft cultivated land is necessary, so that air may enter therein, God says: I send strong wind producing abundant rain. When water is necessary, God created canals, seas, oceans and fountains and sends winds to carry water to the fields.
Now look to the sun and the moon. He made them subservient and see how the sun makes the earth warm inspite of its great distance and thereby crops and fruits enjoy it, how by the help of the moon fruits become ripe and assume colour and hue. For this reason, if any tree is in shadow, it cannot grow for want of the rays of the sun and light of the moon. When you sleep under the sky, you will suffer from cold for its coolness. So the moon gives moisture to the crops and fruits. There is also a
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VoHV THE BOOK OF CONSTRUCTIVE VIRTUES 101