. 💐 *Grief-Proof Heart* 💐

Abridged from the book "Mawaiz-e-Dard-e-Muhabbat" (by Arif Billah Hazrat Aqdas Maulana Shah Hakim Akhtar Sahib)

Selection and Abridgment by *Huzaifa Mangroli*

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It is not necessary that outer luxury brings inner comfort. An air conditioner can cool our skin but it cannot extinguish the fire of the heart. If Allah is displeased, even if the body is in a million comforts, the heart remains in torment and cannot find peace. A saint says:

*When the heart was a garden, spring dripped from everything*

*When the heart became a desert, the whole world became a desert*

As much as we worry about outer luxury, we should worry even more about making our heart connected with God; otherwise, even in an air conditioner, the heart will remain burning with anxiety and miseries. Even among thousands and millions of rupees, the heart will remain sorrowful, anxious, and disturbed.

Maulana Rumi states:

*That one is blissful and glad in the corner of a mosque*

*And that one is sour and hopeless in a garden*

One person is blissful on a straw mat inside a mosque, while another is in a garden surrounded by flowers on all four sides but is sorrowful and hopeless due to the thorns of grief. This one is crying among flowers, and that one is laughing among thorns. Now if someone says that this is a coexistence of opposites (contradiction)—how does Allah Almighty make someone happy amidst grief? Then I say, "Look sir! Switzerland is making these waterproof watches; there is water all around, why does it not affect it? Why is it waterproof? Allah also makes the hearts of His lovers 'grief-proof'. The one upon whose heart is Allah Almighty's mercy and gaze of kindness, remains happy and carefree even amidst thousands of griefs."