Audio Clip | The Most Direct Path to a Good Inner State

Details:

• Production: Bayan Ma'navi
• Duration: 03:22
• Source: A Good State of Being - Session 2

Transcript:

Practicing gratitude is the most direct path to achieving a good state of heart and mind!

 In one of the verses of the Holy Quran, the outcast and accursed Satan declares: “Then I will come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left...” Satan says, "I will go after human beings and assault them from the front, from behind, from the left, and from the right." Well, why do you attack them? What is your goal? “...and You will not find most of them grateful.” I will assault them from every angle so that they do not remain thankful. Being ungrateful is the root of all evils and miseries.

 The single most important factor for having a good inner state is gratitude (Shukr), and the primary reason a person's inner state turns bad is ingratitude. If somewhere people do not treat you with enough respect, you might say, "My pride was wounded." But if you are grateful, you will say, "No, they showed me enough respect. Al-Hamdulillah, I am thankful to them." If Satan robs you of this gratitude, he replaces it with jealousy, arrogance, or a thousand other afflictions. When a person is truly grateful, they cast aside a thousand vices. Do not think gratitude only removes one or two flaws. Gratitude creates a whole realm of positive states within a person and dispels a whole host of negative states.

If you are grateful, you will never grieve over the past; you will never live in regret. If you are grateful, you will not harbor feelings of envy and hostility toward others. When you are grateful, you will not cultivate negative assumptions about God. Entertaining bad thoughts ruins a person's state, especially when it is directed toward God. In truth, we have no refuge other than God. If you lack gratitude, it means you cannot make the most of your opportunities, because you cannot even see them. An ungrateful person is blind to opportunities; they constantly chase after what is missing and fail to notice what is already there. Opportunities reside in the half-full portion of the glass. When you are ungrateful, you do not even see the half-full glass, let alone seize the opportunities within it. You may have ten blessings and resources, yet your mind is dragged toward the ten things you do not have. Satan tells you, "Sit down and grieve! What will you do about what's missing? If only you had those, everything would be complete!"

 Practicing gratitude is indeed the most direct path to reaching a good inner state!