The Bowl of Saki Commentary

Praise from another may or may not affect us. If it affects us, if it buoys us up, it raises us. In Saum, saying "Praise be to God," the hands are raised, the thoughts are raised, the heart is raised, the voice is raised. This means a change of condition, and if there is a possible change of condition—a change upward—there can also be a change downward. Those who allow the words of others to raise them up, to intoxicate them, will also permit the words and thoughts of others to deject them, to intoxicate them in another manner. Either of these conditions is an intoxication; the person in a state of sobriety is one affected neither by praise nor by blame.