Chapter VIII: Self-Examination and Self-Accounting
MEDICINE FOR LOVE OF PRAISE: There are four medicines for these four causes. (1) The medicine of the first cause which is the appreciation of one's own qualities is to remove the praise by recognizing that the praise is not true, if a man says to you - you are a generous, man, you are a great learned man, you are a great God-fearing man, while you find that you have not got those qualities, the taste of praise goes way as you do not believe in the assertions. The medicine for the second cause which is wide appreciation of one's influence is this. The feeling of power and influence of the praised man over the praiser can be removed if he knows that the praise was heaped upon out of joke, for which the taste of praise goes away.
The medicine for the third and fourth causes is the following. The third cause is the joy for the increase of the number of praises and the fourth cause is appreciations of one's influence. The medicine is to remove the causes.
MEDICINE FOR LOVE OF POWER: The medicine is mixture of knowledge and action. The medicine of knowledge is to know that the end of power is death and that it does not appertain to ever-lasting good works. Those who wielded great power had to fall victims to death or downfall. You will also meet the same fate. He whose goal is next world considers it as valueless, as he sees death imminentand considers earthly things as insignificant. His condition is like the condition of Hazrat Hasan Basari. He wrote to Caliph Omar-b- Abdul Aziz: You are as if the last person who will die. The Caliph also replied to him in the same strain: Think that you are no more in the world and will live for ever in the next world. The objects of these people were the next world. With this belief, they held divine services with the fear of God. So they considered early rule, honour and wealth as insignificant. God says: Rather you prefer this world's life, the next world is better and ever-lasting. God says: 'Never, rather you love the world and give up the next world'. He who has got the disease of greed for power, must remove it from his mind by applying this medicine arising out of this knowledge, as this disease is very dangerous and ruinous. He should think of the condition of those who wielded power and influence, their fall and their being always in fear of losing power and control. He
220 The Book of Destructive evils Vol-III
who wishes to live in the minds of men is like one who builds a house in the waves of sea. He who is busy in controlling the minds of men to preserve power, to remove the envy of those who envy and to remove enmity, remains in the worldly thoughts and anxieties and immerged in the abyss of taste of power. There is no end of his worldly hopes and aspirations. This is the medicine based on knowledge.