The Bowl of Saki Commentary
Commentary for:
Self-pity is the worst poverty; it overwhelms one until one sees nothing but illness, trouble, and pain.
Commentary from Hazrat Murshid SAM (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, Samuel L. Lewis):
The Bowl of Saki Commentary, copyright © 1981, 2012 Sufi Ruhaniat International. All rights reserved.
Self-pity is a concentration upon nufs, the cause of all disharmony. When one concentrates upon God, nothing but love will be found, but when the attention is centered around the thought of self, all ugliness, pain, and illness will rise. Of course in a certain sense they were always there, but this concentration gives them more life. Self-pity deprives the body and mind of the usual life which is naturally bestowed upon them by the Grace of God. It feeds the elementals who derive their potency from human excrescences, and these elementals in turn increase trouble. Concentration upon darkness does not increase the darkness, but it does impede the opportunity for light and health to reach the place of sickness.