The Lowest Level of Love | Ali Reza Panahian

The Lowest Level of Love

Could there be any level higher than this?!


There was a spiritual, loving person who lived in the desert. Sometimes we can see for example a truck driver who is very pure and spiritual. He talks and supplicates God sincerely when he’s on the road. Someone like this came to Imam Ali (‘a). He came to the Imam straight from the desert. “What is your question?” What do you think his question was? He asked about the levels of those in love. “How many levels do they have?” The Imam replied, “The lowest level of the people in love…” After hearing him, the man fainted. They poured water on his face and brought him to his senses. After regaining consciousness, he asked, “Is there any level higher than this?” Imam! You said the highest points. Then, you say this is the first level of love? Do we have any level higher than this? The Imam replied, “Yes, seventy levels.” Now, are you interested in hearing about the lowest level of those who are in love that when the Imam described it, the man fainted? Don’t faint!
“The lowest level is that he sees his own servitude to be small.” Whatever he does, he says, “This was nothing.” He says this with sincerity. When a spoiled person who thinks highly of himself does something good, he says, “That’s how I am!” “You didn’t do anything important!” It’s very good for a person to consider himself to be small. Don’t consider your good deeds to be big. “A person who considers his servitude to be small and his sins to be great.” So, the second feature of the lowest level of love is to consider one’s own sins to be great. Such a person doesn’t forgive himself. He makes one mistake and says, “God, I can’t forgive myself.” He constantly asks for God’s forgiveness.
Another tradition says, “A believer’s sins are always in front of his eyes and trouble him.” He constantly says, “God, I’m sorry. I was wrong to do this.” He keeps repeating this and becomes dearer and dearer to God. After doing a bad deed, say, “It was really embarrassing. It was really bad!” How does this show love? For example, you are in love and take a gift for your beloved. If a small spot is on it, you’ll blame yourself very much, very much. You won’t forgive yourself. You say, “It was embarrassing. It was too bad.” Someone says, “Don’t worry about it. It’s alright.” “No, I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Why don’t we apologize for our prayers? Because we are not in love. We say, “Take it! God, I prayed. There. Take it. Hey you! Collect it and give it to God!” “You think you prayed well?” “Yah! What do you expect? You want me to torture myself?!” He thinks he deserves more. “Excuse me; it looks like we owe you something!” Shall I say the third part, after which that man fainted? Or, shall I not say it?!
“He thinks there is no one but him in both worlds who will be punished.” They only want to punish him, not others. When walking in the streets, he says, “God only wants to punish me. He doesn’t want to punish others!” If you don’t want any bad points to be left hidden in your heart, you shouldn’t be easy on yourself. Be hard on yourself. “What should I do?” You should say, “God only wants to punish me and no one else.” If you don’t want to hide your bad points, you should be hard on yourself. What is the first condition for being hard on oneself? “He considers his servitude to be small.” He says, “God only wants to punish me. He doesn’t want to punish others!”
[From the series of speeches under the topic of “When people hide themselves.”]


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