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DISCOURSES OF RUMI |
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Discourse 11 The saying 'Hearts bear witness one to another' refers to a statement or a narration that is not disclosed openly. Else what need would there be for words? When the heart bears witness, what need is there for the testimony of the tongue? The Amir Na'ib said: Certainly the heart bears witness. But the heart plays one part by itself, the ear another, the eye another, the tongue another. There is need of each one, in order that the profit may be the greater. The Master said: If the heart is totally absorbed, all the other members are obliterated in it and there is no need of the tongue. After all take the case of Laila. She was not a spiritual being, but corporeal and of the flesh, fashioned of water and clay. Yet passion for her produced such absorption and so utterly seized and overwhelmed Majnun that he had no need to see Laila with the eye, no need to hear her words by the voice, for he never saw Laila apart from himself, so that he cried:
So the physical has such power that passion can bring a man into a state in which he never sees himself apart from the beloved. All his senses are absorbed in her, sight, hearing, smell and the rest. No member seeks a share apart, seeing all united and having all present. If each of these members I have mentioned plays its part in full, all are immersed in the experience of that one and seek no share apart. The seeking by the sense of another share apart proves that that one member has not taken its true and complete share. It has enjoyed a defective share and consequently has not been immersed in that share; another sense seeks its share, and all severally seek a share apart. From the standpoint of reality the senses are a unity, but from the standpoint of form they are separate one from another. When one member is affected by absorption, all the members are absorbed in it. Thus, when a fly flies upwards it moves its wings, its head and all its parts; but when it is immersed in honey, all its parts are alike and not one makes any movement. The nature of absorption is that the one absorbed is no longer there; he can make no more effort; he ceases to act and to move; he is immersed in the water. Any action that proceeds from him is not his action, it is the action of the water. But now if he strikes out in the water with his hands and feet he is not said to be submerged; if he utters a cry, 'Ah, I am drowning,' this too is not called absorption. Take the famous utterance, 'I am God.' Some men reckon it as a great pretension; but 'I am Gael' is in fact a great humility. The man who says 'I am the servant of God' asserts that two exist, one himself and the other God. But he who says 'I am God' has naughted himself and cast himself to the winds. He says, 'I am God': that is, 'I am not, He is all, nothing has existence but God, I am pure non-entity, I am nothing.' In this the humility is greater. It is this that ordinary men do not understand. If a man renders a service ad majorem Dei gloriam, his servanthood is still present there; even though it is for the sake of God, he still sees himself and his own action as well as God; he is not drowned in the water. That man is drowned in the water, in whom no movement, no action remains, all his movements being the movement of the water. A lion was chasing a deer, and the deer was fleeing from the lion. There were two beings in being, one that of the lion and the other that of the deer. But when the lion caught up with the deer and the deer, being overpowered beneath the lion's clutch, in terror of the lion became unconscious and senseless and collapsed before the lion, in that moment the being of the lion remained alone, the being of the deer was effaced and remained no more. True absorption is this, that God most High causes the saints to be in fear of Him, but not with the fear of men who are afraid of lions and leopards and oppressors; revealing to them that fear comes from God, and security, pleasure and joy, eating and sleeping -- all these are of God. God most High shows to the saint a form particular and sensible to the eye wide-awake and open, the form of lion or leopard or fire, so that it becomes known to him that the form of the lion and the leopard which he beholds in reality is not of this world at all but of the world unseen, imaged forth to him and displayed in mighty beauty. Likewise gardens and rivers, maids of Paradise and palaces, all manner of food and drink, robes of honour, fleet steeds, cities, dwelling-places, and every kind of marvel -- he knows that in reality these are not of this world. God displays them and informs them before his eyes. Thus he knows for a certainty that fear comes from God, and security, all comforts and all fine shows. Now this fear of God does not resemble the fear of men, because it is an object of contemplation and not by proof, since God has shown to him expressly that all things are of Him. The philosopher knows this, but he knows it by proof; and proof is not permanent. That delight which ensues from proof has no permanence, that you should say of the proof that it is delightful and warm and fresh. When the memory of the proof passes, its warmth and delight remain no more. Thus, a man knows by proof that this house had a builder. He knows by proof that this builder has eyes and is not blind, has power and is not impotent, had being and was not non-existent, was living and not dead, and existed before the house was built. All these things he knows, but he knows them by proof; and proof is not permanent and is soon forgotten. Lovers of God, however, having served the Lord have come to know the Builder and seen with the eye of certainty; they have eaten bread and salt together and mingled one with the other; the Builder is never absent from their apperception and their gaze. Such a man as this passes away in God. In regard to him sin is not sin, crime is not crime, since he is overwhelmed and absorbed in Him. A certain king ordered his slaves everyone to take in his hand a golden cup, because a guest was coming. His favourite slave he also commanded to take a cup. When the king showed his face, that special slave on beholding the king lost control of himself and became distraught, so that the cup fell from his hand and was shattered. When the other slaves saw this they said, 'Perhaps this is what we ought to do'; and they cast down their cups deliberately. 'Why did you do that?' the king reprimanded them. 'He was your favourite, and he did so,' they replied. 'Fools!' the king cried out. 'He did not do that. I did it.' To outward seeming all those forms were sinful. But that one sin was the very acme of obedience; indeed, it transcended obedience and sin. Of them all the true object was that one slave; the rest of the slaves were followers of the king; hence they are the slaves' followers, since he is the essence of the king, and he wears only the form of slavery. He is full of the beauty of the king. God most High declares, 'But for thee I would not have created the heavens.' 'I am God' is the same thing, its meaning being, 'I created the heavens for Myself.' This is 'I am God' in another language and another idiom. Though the words of the great saints differ a hundredfold in form, yet since God is one and the Way is one, how should there be two words? Though in form they appear contrary, in meaning they are one. Differentiation is in the form; in the meaning all is concord. A prince orders a tent to be stitched. One man twists the rope, another strikes the pegs, another weaves the covering, another stitches, another rends, another sticks in the needle. Though to outward seeming they are diverse and different, from the standpoint of meaning they are united and are doing the same job. So it is with the affairs of this world. When you look into the matter, all are doing God's service, reprobate and righteous, sinner and obedient, devil and angel. For example, the king desires to prove and make trial of his slaves by various means, so that the constant may be sorted out from the inconstant, the loyal from the disloyal, the faithful from the unfaithful. There is need for a tempter and a provoker, so that the slave's constancy may be established; if there were none, how would his constancy be established? Hence that tempter and provoker is doing the service of the king, since it is the king's will that he should so act. He sent a wind to differentiate between the stable and the unstable, to separate the gnat from the tree and the garden, that the gnat may vanish and the sparrow-hawk may remain. A certain king ordered a slavegirl to adorn herself and offer herself to his slaves, so that their loyalty and disloyalty might be revealed. Though the girl's action appears outwardly sinful, in reality she is doing the king's service. These true servants of God have seen themselves in this world not by proof and rote, but face to face and unveiled, that all men, good and evil alike, are obedient servants of God.
Therefore, in regard to them this world itself is the resurrection, in that the resurrection means in reality all serving God and doing no other work but His service. These men perceive this truth even here below, for 'Even were the veil removed, I would not be increased in certain faith.' The knower, from the linguistic standpoint, is a man of higher degree than the gnostic. God is called the Knower, but must not be called the Gnostic. Gnostic means one who did not know, and then came to know; and this does not apply to God. From the standpoint of common usage however the gnostic is the greater; for gnostic is used to denote one who knows the world, transcending proof, by direct vision and face to face. By usage such a man is called a gnostic. It has been said, 'The knower is better than a hundred ascetics.' How should the knower be better than a hundred ascetics? After all, the ascetic practises asceticism on the basis of knowledge; asceticism without knowledge is impossible. For what is asceticism? To forsake the world, and to turn one's face to obedience and the world to come. Well, it is necessary to know this world, its foulness and impermanence, to know the charm and permanence and everlastingness of the world to come, and to strive to obey, saying, 'How shall I obey, and what is obedience?' All these things are knowledge. Hence asceticism is impossible without knowledge. Hence the ascetic is both knower and ascetic. This 'knower' who is better than a hundred 'ascetics' is nevertheless real, only its meaning has not been understood. There is another knowledge which God gives a man after this asceticism and the knowledge which he possessed at first. This second knowledge is the fruit of that knowledge and asceticism. Assuredly such a knower is better than a hundred thousand ascetics. Let me cite a parallel. A man planted a tree, and the tree bore fruit. Assuredly, the tree that bore fruit is better than a hundred trees that have not borne fruit. For it may well be that the latter trees will never bear at all, since many diseases intervene. A pilgrim who reaches the Kaaba is better than the pilgrim who is still travelling in the desert. There is fear with regard to the latter, whether they will reach the Kaaba or no; whereas the former has really reached the Kaaba. One certainty is better than a hundred doubts. The Amir Na'ib said: He who has not arrived still has hope. The Master replied: What is the hopeful man compared with him who has arrived? There is a vast difference between fear and security. Why need we speak of such a difference, which is manifest to all? What I am speaking about is security; for there are great differences between security and security. It was in regard to security that Muhammad, God bless him and give him peace, was superior to all the other prophets; otherwise, all the prophets are in security and have transcended fear. But there are stations in security.
It is possible to give some indication as to the world of fear and the stations of fear; but the stations of security have no indication. In the world of fear every man considers what he shall expend in the way of God. One man expends his body, another his wealth, another his life; one man expends by fasting, another by prayer, another by ten prostrations, another by a hundred. Hence their stages are distinct in form, and can be indicated. In the same manner the stages between Konia and Caesarea are distinct and known: Qaimaz, Uprukh, Sultan, and so forth. But the stages by sea from Antalya to Alexandria are without indication. The ship's captain knows them, but they are not told to landsmen since they are not able to understand. The Amir said: Even to tell imparts some benefit. Though they may not know everything, still they will know a little and will find out and guess the rest. The Master replied: Yes indeed, by Allah! A man sits wakeful through the dark night, resolved to travel towards the day. Though he does not know how he shall travel, yet since he is awaiting the day he is near to the day. Another man is travelling by caravan upon a dark night and in a storm of rain. He does not know where he has got, where he is passing, what distance he has covered; but when day comes he will see the result of that travelling and will get somewhere. Whoso labours for the glory of God, though he close both his eyes his labour is not lost.
Inasmuch as within he is dark and veiled, he does not see how far he has progressed; but in the end he will know. 'This world is the seedplot of the world to come.' Whatever he sows here, there he shall reap. Jesus, upon whom be peace, laughed much; John, upon whom be peace, wept much. John said to Jesus, 'You have become exceedingly secure against the subtle deceits, that you laugh so much.' Jesus replied, 'You have become exceedingly unmindful of the subtle and mysterious and wonderful graces and lovingkindnesses of God, that you weep so much.' One of God's saints was present at this incident. He asked God, 'Which of these two has the higher station?' God answered, 'He who thinks better of Me' -- that is to say, 'I am where My servant thinks of Me. Every servant has an image and an idea of Me. Whatever picture he forms of Me, there I am. I am the servant of that picture wherein God dwells; I care nothing for that reality where God dwells not. Cleanse your thoughts, O My servants, for they are My abode and dwelling-place.' Now make trial of yourself as to weeping and laughter, fasting and prayer, solitude and company, and the rest, which of these is more profitable to you. Whichever state brings you straighter on the road and secures your greater advancement, choose that task. 'Take counsel of your heart, even if the counsellors counsel you.' The truth is within you: compare with it the counsel of the counsellors, and where it accords with that, follow that counsel. The physician comes to the sick man and questions the inward physician; for within you there is a physician, namely your natural temperament which rejects and accepts. Therefore the external physician questions it: 'Such and such a thing that you ate, how was it? Was it light? Was it heavy? How was your sleep?' From what the inward physician tells him, the external physician makes his prescription. Hence the root of the matter is that inward physician, the patient's temperament. When this physician is feeble and the temperament is corrupt, because of his feebleness he sees things all contrary and gives crooked indications. He says that sugar is bitter, vinegar is sweet. He therefore needs the external physician to succour him, so that his temperament may return to its original balance. After that he shows himself to his own physician and takes his counsel. Man has a like temperament of the true self. When that is feeble, whatever his interior senses perceive and declare is contrary to the truth. So the saints are physicians who succour a man until his temperament is restored to its right balance and his religion and his heart have gathered strength. 'Show me things as they truly are.' Man is a mighty volume; within him all things are written, but veils and darknesses do not allow him to read that knowledge within himself. The veils and darknesses are these various preoccupations and diverse worldly plans and desires of every kind. Yet for all that he is wrapped in darkness and is veiled by so many veils, he can nevertheless read something and is thereof apprised. Consider when these darknesses and veils are removed, how then he will be apprised and what varieties of knowledge he will discover within him! After all, all these trades and professions -- tailoring, building, carpentry, goldsmithery, science, astronomy, medicine and the rest of men's countless and innumerable callings -- all these were discovered from within man, they were not revealed by stones and clods. When it is said that a raven taught man to bury the dead, that too is a reflection of man which impinged upon his brain; man's own inner urge prevailed upon him to do that. After all, the animal is but a part of man: how should the part teach the whole? A man desires to write with his left hand; he takes the pen into his hand, but though his heart is strong his hand trembles as he writes; yet the hand writes at the command of the heart. When the Amir comes, the Master utters mighty words. The words are never cut off; because he is a master of words, words all the time come to him without interruption. If in the winter time the trees do not put forth leaves and fruit, let men not suppose that they are not working. They are continually at work. Winter is the season of gathering in, summer is the season of spending. Everyone sees the spending, but they do not see the gathering in. In the same way a person gives an entertainment and spends much upon it; this everyone sees, but no one sees the gathering in and collecting little by little for the sake of the entertainment, no one knows anything of that. Yet the ingathering is the root of the matter, for the expenditure comes out of the income. With whatever person we are in unison, every moment we have words with him, even when we are silent, in absence and presence alike. Indeed we do battle with the other, and are intermingled; though we strike with our fists one against the other, yet we are speaking to him and are one and in unison. Do not regard that fist, in that fist there are raisins. Do you not believe it? Then open it, and see the difference between raisins and pearls of great price. Other men speak fine and subtle sayings and high wisdom in verse and prose. The inclination of the Amir thiswards and towards us is not on account of high wisdom and subtle sayings and sermonising. Things of that kind are to be found everywhere, and are by no means in short supply. His loving me and his inclination towards me is not for those things. He sees something else; he sees a light transcending what he sees proceeding from others. It is related that a certain king summoned Majnun before him. 'What has happened to you and what has befallen you?' he enquired. 'You have disgraced yourself, forsaken your hearth and home, become wasted and utterly destroyed. What is Laila? What beauty is hers? I will show you many beautiful and lovely girls, make them your ransom and bestow them upon you.' When they had been brought to court, Majnun and the lovely girls were duly introduced. Majnun kept his head cast down, staring in front of him. 'Well now, lift up your head and look!' the king commanded. 'I am afraid,' Majnun replied. 'My love for Laila is a drawn sword. If I raise my head, it will strike it off.' Majnun had become so immersed in his love for Laila. After all, the other girls also had eyes and lips and noses. What then had he beheld in her, to come to such a state? Discourse 12 The Master said: I have been longing to call on you, but as I know that you are busy with the interests of the people I have been sparing you the trouble. The Parvana said: This duty was incumbent upon me. Now that the emergency has ended, henceforward I will attend upon you. The Master said: There is no difference. It is all the same thing. You are so gracious that all things are the same to you. How can one speak of troubles? But since I am aware that today it is you who are occupied with good deeds and charities, naturally I have recourse to you. Just now we have been discussing this question: if one man has a family and another man has none, should one cut away from the former and give to the latter? Literalists say that you cut away from the poor family man and give to the other; when you consider the matter well, he himself in reality is a poor family man. It is the same with the spiritualist who possesses a jewel. He strikes a man and breaks his nose and jaw. Everyone says that the latter is the wronged party. But in reality the wronged party is the one striking the blow; the man doing wrong is he who does not act in his best interests. The one who has been punched and got his head broken is the wrongdoer, and the striker is assuredly the wronged party. Since he is the owner of the jewel, since he is consumed in God, his actions are God's actions. God is not called a wrongdoer. The Prophet too, God bless him and give him peace, killed and spilled blood and raided; yet they were the wrongdoers, and he was the wronged. For example, an occidental dwells in the occident. An oriental has come to the occident. The occidental is a stranger; but what stranger is he who has come from the orient? For the whole world is but a house, no more. Whether he has gone from this house to that house, or from this corner to that corner, after all is he not in the same house? But that occidental who possesses the jewel has come out of the house. Why, the Prophet said, 'Islam began a stranger'; he did not say, 'The oriental began a stranger.' So the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, when he was defeated was the wronged party, and when he defeated his enemies he was still the wronged party. For in both cases he was in the right; and the wronged party is he who is in the right. The Prophet's heart, God bless him and give him peace, ached for the prisoners. God most High, to comfort the Prophet, sent down a revelation saying: Say to them, 'In your present state of bondage and chains, if you resolve upon righteousness God will deliver you out of this, and will restore to you that which has gone, and many times as much, and will grant you forgiveness and benediction in the world to come -- two treasures, one that has gone from you, and one the treasure of the world to come.' The Parvana asked: When the servant of God performs an action, does the grace and good arise from the action, or is it the gift of God? The Master answered: It is the gift of God and the grace of God. But God out of His exceeding lovingkindness attributes to the servant both, declaring, 'Both are yours.'
The Parvana said: Since God is of such lovingkindness, then everyone who seeks in truth shall find. The Master answered: But without a guide this does not come to pass. So, when the Israelites were obedient to Moses, upon whom be peace, ways were opened up to them even through the sea; dust was brought up out of the sea and they passed over. But when they began to be disobedient, they remained so many years in the wilderness. The leader of a given time is bound to secure the welfare of those whom he perceives to be bound to him and strictly obedient. For instance, when a group of soldiers are strictly obedient in the service of their commander, he too expends his intellect upon their welfare and is bound to work to secure it. But when they are not obedient, how should he expend his intellect to look after their interests? The intellect in the body of a man is like a commander. So long as the subject members of the body are obedient to it, all the body's affairs proceed well and perfectly; but when they are not obedient, all its affairs come to disorder. Do you not see how, when a man is drunk with taking wine, what disorders are effected by these hands and feet and this tongue, all subjects of his entity? Then on the following day, when he is sober again he cries, 'Alas, what have I done? Why did I strike? Why did I speak abusively?' So things proceed in perfect order only when there is a leader in that village, and the villagers are obedient to him. The intellect takes thought for the welfare of these subjects in the time when they are at its command. Thus, the intellect thinks, 'I will go'; but it only goes when the foot is obedient to it, otherwise it does not conceive this thought. Just as the intellect is commander in the midst of the body, so these different entities, who are humankind, together with their several intellects, knowledge, speculation, and learning, are in relation to the saint all unalloyed body, and he is the intellect in the midst of them. Now when these human kind, who are the body, are not obedient to that intellect their affairs all fall into confusion and ruefulness. Now when they are obedient, they must be obedient in such a fashion that whatever the saint does they are obedient, and do not have recourse to their own intellect. For it may well be that with their own intellect they do not understand his action; therefore they must obey him. Similarly when a child is apprenticed to a tailor he must obey his master; if he gives him a patch to sew he must sew that patch, if he gives him a hem he must sew that hem. If he wishes to learn his trade, he must surrender his own initiative completely and become entirely submissive to his master's orders. We hope that God most High may bring upon us such a state, namely His providential care, which is superior to a hundred thousand strivings and strugglings.
This statement and that statement are one and the same: 'One tugging from God most High is better than the service of all men and jinns.' That is to say, when His providential care intervenes, it does the work of a hundred thousand strugglings and more. Struggling is fine and good and mightily useful, but what is it compared with God's providential care? The Parvana asked: Does God's providential care bestow struggling? The Master answered: Why should it not? When providential care comes, struggling also comes. Jesus, upon whom be peace -- what a struggle he made! He spoke whilst yet in the cradle.
John the Baptist described him whilst yet in his mother's womb. Speech came without struggling to Muhammad the Messenger of God:
First comes grace. When out of error wakefulness enters into him, that is the grace of God and the pure gift of the Lord. If this were not so, how then did it not befall those other friends who were his associates? Grace and requiting are like a spark of fire that leaps. First it is a gift; but when you add cotton waste and nurse that spark, making it increase, then it is grace and requiting. First of all man is small and weak.
But when you have nursed that weakling fire it becomes a world and sets a universe aflame; that little fire becomes great and mighty.
I said: Our Master loves you very much. The Master said: Neither my coming nor my speaking is commensurate with my love. I say whatever comes into me. If God wills, He makes these few words profitable and maintains them within your breast, bestowing mighty benefits. If God wills not, grant that a hundred thousand words are spoken, they will not lodge in the heart but will pass by and become forgotten. Similarly a spark of fire lights upon a burnt rag: if God wills, that one spark will take and become large; if He wills not, a hundred sparks will fall on that tinder and not remain, leaving no mark.
These words are the host of God. By God's authority they open and seize fortresses. If He commands many thousands of horsemen to go and show their faces at such and such a fortress but not to capture it, so they will do; if He commands a single horseman to seize that fortress, that same single horseman will open its gates and capture it. He delegates a gnat against Nimrod, and it destroys him. 'Equal in the eyes of the gnostic are a dang and a dinar, a lion and a cat.' For if God most High bestows His blessing, one dang does the work of a thousand dinars and more; if He withholds His blessing from a thousand dinars, they do not the work of one dang. So too if He commissions the cat, it destroys the lion as the gnat destroyed Nimrod; if He commissions the Lion, all lions tremble before him or become his ass. Just so, certain dervishes ride on lions. Just so, the furnace became coolness and safety to Abraham, upon whom be peace, verdure and a rose-plot, since it was not God's authorisation that the fire should consume him. In short, when men realise that all things are of God, all things become one and the same in their eyes. Of God I hope that you will hear these words too within your hearts, for that is profitable. If a thousand thieves come from without, they cannot open the door so long as they have no fellow-thief within to open from within. Speak a thousand words from without, yet so long as there is none to confirm them from within they are unprofitable. So too with a tree: as long as there is no freshness in its roots, though you pour a thousand torrents of water over it, it will nothing profit. First there must be a freshness in its roots for the water to succour it.
Though the whole world be ablaze with light, except there be light within the eye, that man will not behold that light. The root of the matter is that receptiveness which is within the soul. The soul is one thing, and the spirit is another. Do you not see how in sleep the soul fares abroad? The spirit remains in the body, but the soul wanders and is transformed. When 'Ali said, 'He who knows his own self knows his Lord,' he was speaking of this soul. The Master said: If we say that he was speaking of this soul, that is no small matter. If on the other hand we explain it as meaning that Soul, the listener will understand it as referring to this soul, since he does not know that Soul. For instance, you take a little mirror in your hand. The object shows clearly in the mirror: whether it shows large or small, it is still that object. Mere words cannot ensure understanding; words only reveal the inward impulse of the listener. Outside this world of which we are speaking there is another world for us to seek. This world and its delights cater to the animality of man; these all feed his animality, whilst the root principle, man, goes into a decline. After all, they say, 'Man is a rational animal.' So man consists of two things. That which feeds his animality in this material world is these lusts and desires. But as for that which is his true essence, its food is knowledge and wisdom and the sight of God. The animality in man flees away from God, whilst his humanity flees away from this world.
Two persons are warring within this one entity.
There is no doubt that this world is a world of winter. Why is the name 'solid' given to inanimate things? Because they are all solidified. These stones and mountains, and the garments worn by the entity, are all solidified. If this world is not a world of winter, why are they solidified? The inner substance of this world is elementary; though itself invisible, by its effects it can be known that it is wind and bitter cold. It is like the season of winter, when all things are solidified. What manner of winter is it? Winter of the reason, not of the senses. When that Divine zephyr comes along the mountains begin to melt, the world turns to water; just as when the warmth of July comes along, all things solidified begin to liquefy. On the resurrection day when that zephyr blows, all things will melt away. God most High makes these words our army round about you, to be a barrier for you against the enemy and to be the means of overmastering the enemy. For there are enemies, enemies within and enemies without. Yet they are nothing: what thing should they be? Do you not see how a thousand infidels are captive to one infidel who is their king, and that infidel is captive to his thoughts? Hence we realise that thoughts have their effect, since through one feeble and muddled thought so many thousands of men and worlds are prisoners. Consider then, where there are thoughts unbounded, what grandeur and splendour are theirs, and how they vanquish the enemy and what worlds they subdue! When I see distinctly what myriads of forms unbounded, what armies unending stretching through waste upon waste, all are prisoners of one person, and that person prisoner to a contemptible little thought! These who are all prisoners of one thought -- where do they stand, compared with thoughts mighty, infinite, weighty, holy, sublime? Hence we realise that thoughts have their effect. The forms all are followers and mere instruments; without thought they are immobilised and 'solid.' So he who regards the form is also 'solid'; he cannot penetrate the meaning. He is a child and immature, even though in form he be aged and a centenarian. 'We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle': that is to say, we were at war with forms, and had drawn up our ranks against 'formal' adversaries; now we draw up our ranks against the armies of thoughts, so that good thoughts may defeat bad thoughts and drive them out of the kingdom of the body. This then is indeed the greater struggle and the greater battle. So thoughts have their effect, for they work without the body's mediation; just as the Active Intellect without any instrument keeps the heavens turning. Therefore the philosopher says that thoughts require no instrument.
As it is accident, one must not dwell upon accident. For this substance is like a musk-pod, and this material world and its delights are like the scent of the musk. This scent of the musk is but transient, for it is mere accident. He who has sought of this scent the musk itself and has not been content with only the scent, that man is good. But he who has been satisfied to possess the scent, that man is evil; for he has grasped after a thing that does not remain in his hand. For the scent is merely the attribute of the musk. So long as the musk is apparent in this world, its scent comes to the nostrils. When however it enters the veil and returns to the other world, all those who lived by its scent die. For the scent is attached to the musk, and departs whither the musk reveals itself. Happy then is he who reaches the musk through the scent and becomes one with the musk. Thereafter for him remains no passing away; he has become eternal in the very essence of the musk and takes on the predicament of the musk. Thereafter he communicates its scent to the world, and the world is revived by him. Only the name of what he was survives in him: as with a horse or any other animal that has turned to salt in a salt-pan, only the name of horse remains to it. In effect and influence it is that ocean of salt. What harm does that name do to it? It will not bring it out of its saltiness. And if you give some other name to this salt-mine, it will not lose its saltiness. So it behoves a man to eschew these pleasures and delights, which are the ray and reflection of God. He must not become content with this much; even though this much is of God's grace and the radiance of His beauty, yet it is not eternal. With reference to God it is eternal, with reference to man it is not eternal. It is like the rays of the sun which shine into houses; for all that they are the rays of the sun and are light, yet they are attached to the sun. When the sun sinks, the light no more remains. Hence it behoves us to become the Sun, so that the fear of separation may no more remain. There is giving, and there is knowing. Some have gifts and bounties, but not knowledge; some have knowledge, but not gifts. But when both are present, that man is mightily prosperous. Such a one is truly incomparable; yet for the purpose of example he may be compared. A man is going along the road, but he does not know whether this is the road or whether he is off the road. He goes on blindly, hoping that perchance a cock will crow or some other sign of habitation may appear. What is he compared with the man who knows the road and travels on, not needing sign or way mark? He has his set task. So knowing excels all else. Discourse 13 The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: 'The night is long: do not shorten it by your sleeping. The day is bright: do not cloud it with your sins.' The night is long for telling secrets and asking for one's needs without the distraction of other men, without the disturbance of friends and foes. Then is secured a privacy and a tranquillity; God draws down the veil, so that acts may be guarded and preserved from hypocrisy and done wholly for God. At night the hypocrite stands revealed from the sincere man; the hypocrite is exposed. At night all things are veiled, and by day they are exposed; but at night the hypocrite is exposed. 'As nobody sees,' he says, 'for whose sake should I do it?' 'Somebody sees,' they answer him. 'But you are not somebody, that you should see Somebody. 'That Somebody sees, in whose hand's clutch all men are. In the time of distress all call upon Him; in the time of toothache, earache, eyeache, in doubt and fear and insecurity. In secret all call upon Him, trusting that He will hear and will grant their request. Privily, privily they distribute alms, to ward off evil and restore from sickness, trusting that He will accept their gifts and alms. When He has restored them to health and peace of mind, that sure faith departs again and the phantom of anxiety returns.' 'O God,' they cry, 'what a state we were in, when in all sincerity we called upon Thee in that prison corner. For a hundred repetitions of Say, He is God unwearying Thou didst grant our requests. Now that we are outside the prison we are still as much in need as we were inside the prison, that Thou mayest bring us out of this prison of the world of darkness into the world of the prophets, which is the world of light. Why does not the same deliverance come without the prison and without the state of pain? A thousand phantoms descend, whether they do wonderful good or not, and the influence of those phantoms yields a thousand langours and wearinesses. Where is that sure faith which burns up all phantoms?' God most High answers them, 'As I have said, the animal soul in you is your enemy and My enemy.
Strive always against this enemy in prison; for when he is in prison and calamity and pain, then your deliverance appears and gathers strength. A thousand times you have proved that deliverance comes to you out of toothache and headache and fear. Why then are you chained to bodily comfort? Why are you ever occupied with tending the flesh? Forget not the end of the thread: constantly deny your carnal soul its desires, till you have attained your eternal desire and find deliverance out of the prison of darkness.
Discourse 14 Shaikh Ibrahim said: Whenever Saif-al-Din Farrukh beat anybody, he would immediately occupy himself with someone else until the beating was over. In this way and fashion no one's intercession could succeed. The Master said: Whatever you see in this world corresponds exactly with what is in the other world; rather, all these things are samples of the other world. Whatever exists in this world has been brought here from that world.
The bald man of Baalbek carries on his head trays and various drugs, a pinch from every heap -- a pinch of pepper, a pinch of mastica. The heaps are infinite, but there is no room in his tray for more. Man is like the bald man of Baalbek, or a druggist's shop. He is loaded with pinches and pieces out of the treasuries of the attributes of God, all in boxes and trays, so that he may engage in this world in trade suitable to Him -- a piece of hearing, a piece of speech, a piece of reason, a piece of generosity, a piece of knowledge. Men there are who are hawkers of God; they go about hawking, and night and day they fill the trays. You empty or fritter away to make your living; by day you empty, and by night they fill again and give replenishment. For instance, you see the brightness of the eye. In that world there are eyes and sights and regards of various kinds. A sample of those has been sent to you, for you to look about the world. Sight is not confined to such dimensions, but a man cannot bear more than this. 'All these attributes are with Us unlimited; We send them to you in a known measure.' So consider how many thousands of people, generation after generation, have come and filled themselves from this Sea, and become empty again. Consider what heaps those are. The longer a man stays upon that Sea, the colder his heart grows for the tray. You may suppose then that the world issues from that Mint, and returns to the Mint again.
Surely we: that is to say, all our parts have come from there and are samples of there, and again return there, small and great, and of all living creatures. But in this tray they soon become visible; without the tray they are not visible. For that world is a subtle world and comes not into sight; yet how wonderful it comes! Do you not see how the spring breeze becomes visible in the trees and grasses, the rose-beds and sweet herbs? Through the medium of these you gaze upon the beauty of spring. But when you look upon the spring breeze itself, you see nothing of these things. It is not because those spectacles and rosebeds are not in the breeze; after all, are these not its rays? Rather, within the spring breeze are waves of rose-beds and sweet herbs; but those waves are subtle and do not come into sight, only through some medium they are revealed out of their subtlety. Likewise in man these qualities are hidden, and only become manifest through an inward or outward medium -- one man through speech, another through discord, another through war and peace. You cannot see the attributes of man: examine yourself, and you will not find anything. So you suppose yourself empty of these attributes. Yet it is not the case that you have changed from what you were, only these things are hidden in you, like the water in the sea. The waters leave not the sea save through the medium of a cloud; they do not become visible except in a wave. The wave is a commotion visible from within you, without an external medium. But so long as the sea is still, you see nothing. Your body is on the shore of the sea, and your soul is of the sea. Do you not see how many fishes and snakes and birds and creatures of all kinds come forth and show themselves, and then return to the sea? Your attributes, such as anger and envy and lust and the rest, come forth from this sea. So you may say that your attributes are subtle lovers of God. You cannot perceive them save through the medium of the tongue; when they become naked, because of their subtlety they come not into sight. Discourse 15 In man there is a passion, an agony, an itch, an importunity such that, though a hundred thousand worlds were his to own, yet he would not rest nor find repose. These creatures dabble successively in every trade and craft and office; they study astronomy and medicine and the rest, and take no repose; for they have not attained the object of their quest. Men call the beloved 'heart's ease' because the heart finds ease in the beloved. How then should it find ease and rest in any other? All these pleasures and pursuits are as a ladder. Inasmuch as the steps of the ladder are not a place wherein to dwell and abide but are for passing on, happy is he who the quicker becomes vigilant and aware. Then the road becomes short for him, and he wastes not his life upon the steps of the ladder. Someone asked the question: The Mongols seize property, and from time to time they give property to us. This is a strange situation. What is your ruling? The Master answered: Whatever the Mongols seize has come as it were into the grasp and treasury of God. In the same way when you fill a jug or a barrel from the river and carry it away, that becomes your property so long as it is in the jug or barrel, and nobody has the right to interfere. Anyone who takes from the jug without permission is guilty of theft by violence. But once the water is poured back into the river, it passes out of your ownership and is lawful for all to take. So our property is unlawful to them, whereas their property is lawful to us. 'There is no monkhood in Islam: the congregation is a mercy.' The Prophet, God's blessings be upon him, laboured for solidarity, since the gathering of spirits has a great and momentous effect, whereas in singleness and isolation that is not achieved. That is the secret of why mosques were erected, so that the inhabitants of the parish might gather there and greater mercy and profit ensue. Houses are separate for the purpose of dispersion and the concealment of private relations: that is their use. Cathedral mosques were erected so that the whole city might be assembled there. The Kaaba was instituted in order that the greater part of mankind might gather there out of all cities and climes. Someone said: When the Mongols first came to these parts they were naked and bare, they rode on bullocks and their weapons were of wood. Now they are sleek and well-filled, they have splendid Arab horses and carry fine arms. The Master said: In that time when they were desperate and weak and had no strength, God helped them and answered their prayer. In this time when they are so powerful and mighty, God most High is destroying them at the hands of the feeblest of men, so that they may realise that it was through God's bounty and succour that they captured the world, and not by their own force and power. In the first place they were in a wilderness, far from men, without means, poor, naked and needy. By chance certain of them came as merchants into the territory of the Khvarizmshah and began to buy and sell, purchasing muslin to clothe their bodies. The Khvarizmshah prevented them, ordering that their merchants should be slain, and taking tribute from them; he did not allow their traders to go there. The Tartars went humbly before their king, saying, 'We are destroyed.' Their king asked them to give him ten days' grace, and entered a deep cave; there he fasted for ten days, humbling and abasing himself. A proclamation came from God most High: 'I have accepted your supplication. Come forth: wherever you go, you shall be victorious.' So it befell. When they came forth, by God's command they won the victory and captured the world. Someone said: The Tartars also believe in the resurrection, and say that there will be a judgement. The Master answered: They lie, desiring to associate themselves with the Muslims. 'We also know and believe,' they say. A camel was once asked, 'Where are you coming from?' It replied, 'From the baths.' The retort came, 'That is evident from your pads!' If they really believe in the resurrection, what evidence is there to prove it? The sins and wrongs and evils that they have committed are like snow and ice piled together heap on heap. When comes the sun of penitence and contrition, tidings of the other world and the fear of God, it will melt those snows of sinfulness as the sun in heaven melts the snow and ice. If some snow and ice should say, 'I have seen the sun, and the sun of summer has shone upon me,' and it still remained snow and ice, no intelligent man would believe it. It is not possible that the summer sun should come and leave the snow and ice intact. Though God most High has promised that good and evil shall be rewarded at the resurrection, yet an ensample of that comes to pass every moment and at every instant. If happiness enters into a man's heart, that is his reward for making another happy; if he becomes sorrowful, it is because he has brought sorrow upon a fellow-man. These are presents from the other world and tokens of the day of recompense, so that by these little things men may come to understand those great matters, even as a handful of corn is offered as a token of the whole heap. The Prophet, God's blessings be upon him, for all his majesty and greatness one night felt pain in his hand. It was revealed to him that that pain was the effect of the pain in the hand of 'Abbas. For he had taken 'Abbas captive and had bound his hands together with all the prisoners. Although that binding of his hands was done at God's order, yet it brought its recompense. So you may realise that these gripes and depressions and dumps that come upon you are the effect of some injury and sin that you have committed. Though you do not remember in detail what and what you have done, yet from the recompense know that you have done many evil deeds. You do not know whether that evil resulted from negligence or ignorance, or because an irreligious companion made light of your sins so that you do not recognise them as sins. Consider the recompense, how much you are contracted and how much you are expanded: certainly contraction is the recompense of disobedience to God, and expansion is the recompense of obedience to Him. Why, the Prophet himself, God bless him and give him peace, because he turned a ring upon his finger was rebuked: 'We did not create you for idleness and play.'
Estimate from this whether your day is passed in disobedience or obedience. God occupied Moses, upon whom be peace, with the affairs of men. Though he was at God's command and altogether occupied with God, yet God occupied one side of him with men for the general good. Khadir He occupied with Himself wholly. Muhammad, God bless him and give him peace, He occupied at first wholly with Himself; thereafter He commanded him, 'Call the people, counsel them and reform them.' Muhammad, God's blessings be upon him, wept and lamented, saying, 'Ah, my Lord, what sin have I committed? Why drivest Thou me from Thy presence? I have no desire for men.' God most High said to him, 'Muhammad, do not sorrow. I will not abandon you only to be occupied with men. Even in the midst of that occupation you shall be with Me. When you are occupied with men, not one hair of the head of this hour you spend with Me, not one will be taken from you. In whatever matter you are engaged, you will be in very union with Me.' Someone asked: The eternal decrees and that which God most High has predestined -- do they change at all? The Master answered: What God most High has decreed in eternity -- that there shall be good for good and evil for evil -- that decree will never change. For God most High is a wise God: how should He say, 'Do evil, that you may find good'? If a man sows wheat, shall he gather barley? Or if he sows barley, shall he gather wheat? That is impossible. All the saints and prophets have said that the recompense of good is good and the recompense of evil evil.
If you mean by the eternal decree what we have stated and expounded, that never changes: God forbid! But if you mean that the recompense of good and evil increases and so changes, that is to say, the more good you do the greater good you will receive, and likewise the more wrong you do the greater evil you will see, there certainly change enters in; but the original decree does not change. Some quibbler said: But we see how sometimes a wicked man turns virtuous, and a virtuous man turns wicked. The Master answered: Well, that wicked man did some good, or meditated some good, so that he became virtuous. So too the virtuous man who became wicked did some evil or meditated some evil so that he became wicked. Consider how it was with Iblis when he protested to God regarding Adam.
After having been supreme amongst the angels he was cursed to eternity, and banished from the Throne. So we say again that the recompense of good is good, and the recompense of evil evil. Someone asked: A man has taken a vow to fast one day. If he breaks that vow, is there expiation? The Master answered: According to the Shafi'i code expiation is required even in the case of a single statement, because Shafi'i holds that a vow is the same as an oath, and whoever breaks an oath is required to make expiation. According to Abu Hanifa however a vow does not carry the meaning of an oath and so expiation is not required. There are two kinds of vows: one absolute, and the other restricted. An absolute vow is when a man says, 'It is incumbent upon me to fast one day'; a restricted vow is, 'Such and such is incumbent upon me if so and so comes.' The Master added: A certain man had lost an ass. For three days he fasted with the intention that he should find his ass. After three days he found his ass dead. He was distressed, and in his distress he lifted his face to heaven and said, 'If in lieu of these three days that I have observed fast I should not eat six days in Ramadan I would not be a man at all, you would make a profit out of me!' Someone asked: What is the meaning of 'greetings' and 'prayers' and 'blessings' upon the Prophet? The Master answered: It means that these acts of adoration and service and worship and attention do not come from us and we are not free to perform them. The truth is that 'blessings' and 'prayers' and 'greetings' belong to God; they are not ours, they are wholly His and belong to Him. In the same way in the season of spring people sow seeds, go out into the wilderness, and make journeys. All these activities are the gift and bounty of spring; otherwise they would still he as they were, shut up in houses and caves. Hence this refreshment and enjoyment belong to spring, and spring is the dispenser of enjoyment. Men regard the secondary causes, and do not distinguish between them and the actualities. But to the saints it has been revealed that secondary causes are no more than a veil, so that men do not see and recognise the Cre, liator. Thus, someone speaks from behind a curtain. People suppose that it is the curtain speaking, not realising that the curtain has nothing to do with it, and is a veil. When the man emerges from the curtain it is made known that the curtain was a pretext. God's saints see beyond the causes the actualities as they are discharged and eventuate. Thus, a camel came forth from a mountain; Moses' staff became a serpent; out of the hard rock twelve fountains flowed. Muhammad, God's blessings be upon him, without any instrument, by a mere sign split the moon asunder. Adam, upon whom be peace, came into existence without mother and father; Jesus, without a father. For Abraham, upon whom be peace, out of the fiery furnace roses and a rose-bower sprang up; and so on and so on.
Seeing these things, they have realised that secondary causes are a pretext, the effective cause being other. Causes are only a veil, to occupy the common people. God promised Zachariah, upon whom be peace, 'I will give you a son.' Zachariah cried, 'I am an old man, and my wife is old. My instrument of lust has become feeble, and my wife has reached a state in which it is not possible for her to conceive a child. Lord, from such a woman how shall a son be born?'
The answer came, 'Take heed, Zachariah ! You have lost the clue. I have shown you a hundred thousand times that actualities are without causes. That you have forgotten, and you do not realise that causes are the pretext. I am able this very instant before your very eyes to produce out of you a hundred thousand sons, without wife and without pregnancy. Indeed if I make the sign, a whole people stand forth manifest in this world, completely formed, mature and possessing knowledge. Did I not cause you to be, without mother and father, in the world of spirits? Did you not receive graces and favours from Me aforetime, ere you came into this physical being at all? Why do you forget these things?' The several states of the prophets and saints and of other men, good and evil, according to their ranks and substance, may be set forth in a parable. Slaves are brought out of heathen land into the realm of Muslimdom and are there sold. Some are brought at the age of five years, some at ten, some at fifteen years. Those who were brought as children, having been nurtured for many years amongst Muslims and now grown old, forget utterly that other country and no trace of it remains in their memory. Those brought a little older remember a little; those much older recollect much more. Even so the spirits in the other world were in the Presence of God.
Their food and sustenance was the speech of God, without letters and without sounds. When any one of these has been brought into this world as a child, when he hears that Speech he remembers nothing of his former state and sees himself a stranger to that Speech. That party of men are veiled from God, being wholly sunk in unbelief and error. Some remember a little bit, and ardour and yearning for the other side are quickened in them: they are the believers. Some, when they hear that Speech, their former state becomes manifest before their eyes even as it was so long ago; the veils are entirely removed and they are joined in that union; those are the prophets and the saints. Now I will counsel my friends earnestly. When those brides of heavenly truth show their faces within you and the secrets are revealed, beware and beware that you tell not that to strangers, and describe it not to other men. Tell not to every man these words of mine that you hear. 'Impart not wisdom to those not meet for it, lest you do wisdom wrong; and withhold it not from those meet to receive it, lest you do them wrong.' If a fair and adorable one surrenders to you and is privily in your house, saying, 'Show me not to any man, for I belong to you,' never would it be proper and seemly for you to parade her in the bazaars and to call to every man, 'Come and see this beauty!' That would never be agreeable to the adorable one; she would turn to others, and be enraged against you. God has made these words unlawful to them. Even so the dwellers in Hell lament to the dwellers in Paradise, saying, 'Well now, where is your generosity and your humanity? Out of those gifts and bounties which God most High has bestowed on you, if out of charity and common kindness you sprinkle and confer just a little upon us, what would that be?
We are burning and melting in this fire. Out of those fruits, or out of those limpid waters of Paradise if you sprinkle a drop or two upon our souls, what would that be?'
The dwellers in Paradise give answer, saying, 'God has forbidden that to you. The seed of this bliss was in the abode of the world below. Since you did not sow and cultivate there, namely by faith and sincerity and good works, what should you gather here? Even if we confer upon you out of generosity, since God has forbidden that to you it will burn your throats and stick in your gullets. If you put it in your wallet, it will be torn and all will be spilled.' A crowd of hypocrites and strangers came into the presence of Muhammad, God's blessings be upon him. They were expounding mysteries, and lauding the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace. The Prophet intimated to his Companions saying. 'Cover up your vessels.' He meant, 'Cover up and keep covered your bottles and cups and pots and pitchers and barrels, for there are creatures unclean and venomous; lest they fall into your bottles and unwittingly you drink water from those bottles and suffer injury.' He bade them, in this formal manner, 'Conceal wisdom from strangers, and in their presence stop your mouths and tongues, for they are mice and are not worthy of this wisdom and grace.' The Master said: That Amir who has just left our company -- though he did not understand in detail what we were saying, yet he realised in summary that we were calling him to God. I take as a sign of understanding that supplication and wagging of the head and affection and passion. Well, the countryman who comes into the city hears the call to prayer; though he does not know in detail the meaning of the call to prayer, yet he understands its purport. Discourse 16 The Master said: Whoever is loved is beautiful, but this statement is not reversible; it does not necessarily follow that whoever is beautiful is loved. Beauty is a part of lovableness, and lovableness is the root principle. If a thing is loved it is of course a beautiful thing; a part of a thing cannot exist apart from its whole, and is inherent in that whole. In Majnun's time there were many girls more beautiful than Laila, but they were not loved of Majnun. 'There are girls more beautiful then Laila,' they used to tell Majnun. 'Let us bring some to you.' 'Well,' Majnun would reply, 'I do not love Laila after form. Laila is not form. Laila in my hand is like a cup; I drink wine out of that cup. So I am in love with the wine which I drink out of it. You have eyes only for the beaker, and are unaware of the wine. If I had a golden beaker studded with precious stones, and in the beaker there were vinegar or something else other than wine, of what use would that be to me? An old broken gourd in which there is wine is better in my eyes than such a goblet and a hundred like it.' A man requires to be moved with passion and yearning, for him to tell the wine apart from the beaker. So it is with the man who is hungry, not having eaten anything for ten days, and the other man who is full and has eaten five times a day. Both see a loaf of bread. The full man sees the form of the bread, whereas the hungry man sees the form of the living soul. For this bread is like the goblet, and the pleasure it imparts is as the wine in the goblet. That wine cannot be perceived save by the regard of appetite and yearning. Therefore acquire appetite and yearning, so that you may not be merely a viewer of form, but in all being and space you may see the Beloved. These creatures are as cups, and these sciences and arts and branches of knowledge are inscriptions upon the cup. Do you not see that when the cup is broken those inscriptions no more remain? The wine therefore is the thing, which is in the cup of the physical moulds, and he who drinks the wine sees that
The man who asks must first conceive two premisses. First, he must be certain that he is erring in what he says, and that something different is the case. Secondly he must reflect that over and above this, and better than this, there is a statement and a wisdom of which he knows nothing. Hence we realise the meaning of the saying, 'Asking is the half of knowing.' Everyone has his face turned to somebody, and the ultimate object of all is God. In this hope all men expend their lives. But as between these two there must be one who discriminates and who knows, as between the two, which of them is hitting the mark; who is scarred with the blow of the polo-stick of the King, so that he declares and believes that there is One God. A man is said to be absorbed when the water has absolute control of him and he has no control of the water. The man absorbed and the swimmer are both in the water; but the former is carried along and borne by the water, whereas the swimmer carries his own strength and moves at his own free will. So every movement made by the man absorbed, and every act and word that issues from him, all that proceeds from the water and not from him: he is present there as the pretext. In the same way when you hear words coming from a wall, you know that they do not proceed from the wall but that there is someone who has brought the wall into speech. The saints are like that. They have died before physical death and have taken on the status of door and wall. Not so much as a hair's tip of separate existence has remained in them. In the hands of Omnipotence they are as a shield: the movement of the shield proceeds not from the shield. This is the meaning of the statement, 'I am the Truth': the shield says, 'I am not there at all, the movement proceeds from the Hand of God.' Regard such a shield as God, and do not use violence against God; for those who rain blows against such a shield have declared war against God and ranged themselves against God. From the time of Adam down to the present day you hear what things have befallen such as have used violence against God -- Pharaoh, Shaddad, Nimrod, the peoples of 'Ad and Lot and Thamud, and so on and so on. And that shield stands firm till the resurrection, age after age; now in the form of prophets, now in the form of saints; to the end that the godfearing may be distinguished from the ungodly, God's enemies from His friends. Therefore every saint is God's proof against men, whose rank and station are determined by the degree of their attachment to him. If they act hostilely against him, they act hostilely against God; if they befriend him, they have made friendship with God. 'Whosoever sees him has seen Me; whosoever repairs to him has repaired to Me.' God's servants are confidants of the sanctuary of God. Just as God most High has cut away from His servitors every vein of separate existence and lust, every root of perfidy, inevitably they have become masters of a whole world and intimate with the Divine mysteries, which none but the purified shall touch. The Master said: If that man has turned his back on the tombs of the great saints, he has done so not out of disavowal and neglect: he has turned his face towards their souls. For these words which proceed from my mouth are their soul. It does no harm to turn the back on the body and the face towards the soul. It is a habit with me, that I do not desire that any heart should be distressed through me. During the seance a great multitude thrust themselves upon me, and some of my friends fend them off. That is not pleasing to me, and I have said a hundred times, 'Say nothing to any man on my account; I am well content with that.' I am affectionate to such a degree that when these friends come to me, for fear that they may be wearied I speak poetry so that they may be occupied with that. Otherwise, what have I to do with poetry? By Allah, I care nothing for poetry, and there is nothing worse in my eyes than that. It has become incumbent upon me; as when a man plunges his hands into tripe and washes it out for the sake of a guest's appetite, because the guest's appetite is for tripe. After all, a man considers what wares are needed in such and such a city and what wares its inhabitants want to buy; those wares he buys, and those he sells, even though the articles be somewhat inferior. I have studied many sciences and taken much pains, so that I may be able to offer fine and rare and precious things to the scholars and researchers, the clever ones and the deep thinkers who come to me. God most High Himself willed this. He gathered here all those sciences, and assembled here all those pains, so that I might be occupied with this work. What can I do? In my own country and amongst my own people there is no occupation more shameful than poetry. If I had remained in my own country, I would have lived in harmony with their temperament and would have practised what they desired, such as lecturing and composing books, preaching and admonishing, observing abstinence and doing all the outward acts. The Amir Parvana said to me, 'The root of the matter is acts.' I replied, 'Where are the people of action and the seekers of action, so that I may show them action? Now you seek after words, and have cocked your ears to hear something. If I do not speak, you become upset. Become a seeker of action, so that I may show you action! I am looking all over the world for action, so that I may show you action! I am looking all over the world for a man to whom I may show action. Since I find no purchaser of action but only of words, I occupy myself with words. What do you know of action, seeing that you are not a man of action? Action can only be known through action, science can only be understood through science; form through form, meaning through meaning. Since there is not one traveller upon this road and it is empty, how will they see if we are on the road and in action?' After all, this action is not prayer and fasting. These are the forms of action; action is an inward meaning. After all, from the time of Adam to the time of Muhammad, God bless him and give him peace, prayer and fasting were not in the form we know, but action was. So this is the form of action; action is a meaning within a man. Similarly you say, 'The medicine acted'; but that is no form of action, it is its meaning. Again they say, 'That man is agent in such and such a city'; they see nothing of mere form but call him agent in respect of the works which appertain to him. Hence action is not what men have generally supposed. Men suppose that action is this outward show; but if a hypocrite performs that form of action it does not profit him, since the meaning of sincerity and faith is not in him.
The root principle of all things is speech and words. You have no true knowledge of speech and words, and consider them of little account. Speech is the fruit of the tree of action, for words are born of action. God most High created the world by a word.
You may have faith in your heart, but unless you speak it in words it is nothing worth. Prayer too, which is an act, is not perfect unless you recite the Koran. When you say, 'In this present age words are of no account,' you negate this assertion also by means of words. If words are of no account, how is it that we hear you say that words are of no account? After all, you say that also by means of words. Someone asked: When we do a good deed and perform a righteous act, if we entertain hopes and expectations of a good recompense from God, does that harm us? The Master answered: By Allah, one must always entertain hope. Faith itself consists of fear and hope. Someone once asked me, 'Hope itself is goodly, so what is this fear?' I replied, 'Show me a fear that is without hope, or a hope without fear. Since the twain are never apart, how can you ask such a question?' For example, a man has sown wheat; he naturally hopes that wheat will come up, whilst at the same time he is afraid lest some impediment or blight may intervene. Hence it is realised that there is no such thing as hope without fear, nor can one ever conceive of fear without hope or hope without fear. Now if a man is hopeful and expectant of recompense and benefit, he will assuredly apply himself with greater diligence to that action. Expectation is a wing, and the stronger the wing the longer the flight. If on the other hand he is without hope he becomes slothful, and no more good and service proceeds from him. Similarly a sick man will drink a bitter medicine and will give up ten sweet pleasures, but if he has no hope of being restored to health how will he be able to endure this? 'Man is a rational animal.' Man is a compound of animal and speech; just as the animal is constant in him and inseparable from him, so too speech is constant in him. If he does not speak outwardly, yet he speaks inwardly; he is constantly speaking. He is like a torrent in which clay is mixed up; the pure water is his speech, whilst the clay is his animality; but the clay in him is accidental. Do you not see how those pieces of clay and material moulds have departed and rotted away, whilst their speech and narration and their sciences, bad and good, have remained? The 'man of heart' is a plenum; when you have seen him, you have seen all. 'All game is in the belly of the wild ass.' All creatures in the world are parts of him, and he is the whole.
Now when you have seen him who is the whole, assuredly you will have seen the whole world, and whomsoever you see after him is a mere repetition. Their speech is contained in the words of the whole; when you have heard their words, every word you may hear thereafter is a mere repetition.
The poet says:
Discourse 17 The Na'ib said: Before this, the unbelievers used to worship and bow down to idols. We are doing the selfsame thing in the present time. We go and bow down and wait upon the Mongols, and yet we consider ourselves Muslims. We have so many other idols in our hearts too, such as greed, passion, temper, envy, and we are obedient to all of them. So we act in the very same way as the unbelievers both outwardly and inwardly; and we consider ourselves Muslims! The Master answered: But here is something different, in that it enters your thoughts that this conduct is evil and utterly detestable. The eye of your heart has seen something incomparably great which shows up this behaviour as vile and hideous. Brackish water discloses its brackishness to one who has drunk sweet water, and 'things are made clear by their opposites.' So God implanted in your soul the light of faith which sees these things as hideous. Confronted by beauty, this appears hideous. Else, since other men are not so affected, they are perfectly happy in their existing state, saying, 'This is absolutely fine.' God most High will grant you your heart's desire. Where your ambition is, that will be yours. 'The bird flies with its wings, the believer flies with his ambition.' There are three kinds of creatures. First there are the angels, who are pure intelligence. Worship and service and the remembrance of God are their nature and their food: that they eat and by that they live. Just so the fish in the water lives by the water; its mattress and pillow is the water. Angels are not under any burden of obligation. Inasmuch as the angel is divested and pure of lust, what favour does he confer if he does not gratify his lust or conceive and indulge carnal desire? Since he is pure of these things, he has not to struggle against them. If he obeys God's will, that is not accounted as obedience; for that is his nature, and he cannot be otherwise. Secondly there are the beasts, who are pure lust, having no intelligence to prohibit them. They too are under no burden of obligation. Lastly there remains poor man, who is a compound of intelligence and lust. He is half angel, half animal; half snake, half fish. The fish draws him towards the water, the snake draws him towards the earth. He is forever in tumult and battle. 'He whose intelligence overcomes his lust is higher than the angels; he whose lust overcomes his intelligence is lower than the beasts.'
Now some men have so faithfully followed their intelligence that they have become entirely angels and pure Light. They are the prophets and the saints. They have been delivered out of fear and hope:
In some men lust has overcome their intelligence, so that they have taken on entirely the status of animals. Some again are still struggling. These last are the people who feel within them an agony and anguish, a sorrow and a repining; they are not satisfied with their own manner of life. These are the believers. The saints are waiting for them, to bring them unto their own station and to make them as themselves; the satans too are waiting for them, to draw them to the lowest of the low, even towards themselves.
The exoteric commentators interpret the foregoing Sura as follows. Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace, had the high ambition, 'I would make all the world Muslims and bring them into the path of God.' When he saw his death approaching he cried, 'Ah, did I not live to call men unto God?' God most High answered, 'Do not grieve. In that very hour when you pass away, provinces and cities which you would conquer by armies and by the sword I will convert to obedience and to the Faith, every one of them, without armies. The sign of that is, that at the end when you are dying you will see men entering in throngs and becoming Muslims. When this sign comes, know that the time for your departure has arrived. Then give praise, and seek forgiveness, for thither you shall come.' The esoteric commentators, however, explain the text otherwise. According to them it means, that man supposes that he will drive away from himself reprehensible qualities by labour and striving. Having struggled very hard and expended all his powers and means, he falls into despair. Then God most High says to him: You thought that that would come to pass through your own power and action and labour. This is the law which I have laid down, namely, whatever you possess, expend it in My way. After that, My grace will supervene. Upon this infinite road I command you to journey, with the feeble hands and feet that you possess. I know well that with feet so feeble you will never accomplish this journey; indeed, in a hundred thousand years you will not be able to accomplish a single stage of this journey. But when you are going along this road, even as you collapse and fall and have no strength left to struggle farther, then God's loving providence will carry you on. Even so a child, so long as it is a suckling, is carried in the arms, but when it is grown it is set free to walk. Now, in this hour when your powers no more remain -- in that time when you possessed these powers and struggled hard, from time to time, between sleeping and waking, I showed you grace whereby you derived strength to seek Me and were filled with hope; so in this hour, when your own means fail, behold My graces and gifts and lovingkindnesses! For men are coming unto you in throngs such that you would not have witnessed so much as an atom of that after a hundred thousand strivings.
Seek forgiveness for these thoughts and conceits. For you conceived that that task would be accomplished by your own hands and feet, and did not see it would be brought about by Me. Now that you have seen it is brought about by Me, seek forgiveness --
I do not love the Amir on account of worldly considerations, for his rank and learning and activity. Other men love him for that sake, not seeing the Amir's face, but his back. The Amir is like a mirror, and these attributes are like precious pearls and gold inlaid on the back of the mirror. Those who love gold and pearls look at the back of the mirror; but those who love the mirror do not look at the pearls and the gold. Their faces are always upon the mirror, and they love the mirror for itself as a mirror. Because they see in the mirror fair beauty, they grow not weary of the mirror. But he who has a hideous face full of blemishes sees in the mirror only ugliness; he quickly turns the mirror and looks for those precious stones. Yet what does it harm the face of the mirror, if its back is studded with a thousand kinds of engravings and precious stones? So God compounded animality and humanity together so that both might be made manifest. 'Things are made clear by their opposites.' It is impossible to make anything known without its opposite. Now God most High possessed no opposite. He says, 'I was a hidden treasure, and I wanted to be known.' So he created this world, which is of darkness, in order that His Light might become manifest. So too He manifested the prophets and the saints, saying, 'Go forth with My Attributes unto My creation.' They are the theatre of the Light of God, so that friend may be disclosed from foe, brother from stranger told apart. That Reality, qua Reality, has no opposite, only qua form: as Iblis in comparison with Adam, Pharaoh in comparison with Moses, Nimrod in comparison with Abraham, Abu Jahl in comparison with Muhammad, God bless him and give him peace, and so ad infinitum. So through the saints the opposite of God is disclosed; though in reality He has no opposite. Through the enmity and opposition they disclosed, their affairs prospered and acquired wider celebrity.
The poet says:
Many there are whom God most High chastises by means of plenty and wealth and gold and rulership, and their souls flee away from that. A dervish saw in Arabia a prince riding, on his brow the illumination of the prophets and saints. He said, 'Glory be to Him who chastises His servants by means of affluence!' Discourse 18 Ibn Muqri recites the Koran correctly. Yes: he recites the form of the Koran correctly, but he has no knowledge of its meaning. This is proved by the fact that when its meaning is required, he refuses it. He recites blindly. He is like a man who holds a sable in his hand; he is offered another sable better than that, but he refuses it. So we realise that he does not know what sable really is; someone has told him that this is sable, and in blind compliance he has taken it into his hand. It is like children playing with walnuts; offer them the nut itself, or the oil of the walnut, and they will refuse it, saying, 'The walnut is the thing that goes spinning along. This makes no noise, and it doesn't spin along.' Yet God's treasuries are many, and God's sciences are many. If he recites this Koran with knowledge, why does he reject the other Koran? I expounded to a Koran-teacher: The Koran says,
Now with fifty drams of ink one can transcribe the whole of this Koran. This is a symbol for God's knowledge, all knowledge belonging to God, not this only. An apothecary puts a pinch of medicine in a piece of paper. You say, 'The whole of the apothecary's shop is in this paper.' That is foolishness. After all, in the time of Moses and Jesus and the other prophets the Koran existed. God's speech existed, but it was not in Arabic. I expounded the matter thus, but I saw that it made no impression upon the Koran-teacher; so I let him go. It is related that in the time of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, any of the Companions who knew by heart one Sura or half a Sura was called a great man and pointed out -- 'He has a Sura by heart' -- since they devoured the Koran. To devour a maund of bread or two maunds is certainly a great accomplishment. But people who put bread in their mouths without chewing it and spit it out again can 'devour' thousands of tons in that way. 'Many a Koran-reciter there is whom the Koran curses': this was therefore said of the man who is not apprised of the meaning of the Koran. Yet it is good that this should be so. God has closed in heedlessness the eyes of certain people so that they may cultivate this present world. If certain men were not made oblivious of the other world, the world would not be populated at all. It is heedlessness that gives rise to cultivation and population. Consider the child, now: he grows up quite heedlessly and becomes tall, but when his reason reaches maturity he ceases to grow. So the cause and reason of cultivation is heedlessness, and the cause of desolation is heedfulness. What I am saying is motivated by one of two things: either I speak out of envy, or I speak out of compassion. God forbid that it should be envy! It is stupid to envy one who is worthy of envy; what then of one who is not worthy? No; I speak out of great compassion and mercy, for I wish to draw my dear friend on to the true meaning. It is related that a certain person on the way to the pilgrimage fell into the desert, and was overcome by a mighty thirst. Presently he espied afar off a small and tattered tent. He pushed on to that place, and seeing a young girl cried aloud, 'I am a guest! My goal is gained!' So saying, he alighted and sat down and asked for water. They brought him water, the consuming of which was hotter than fire and more brackish than salt; as it went down, from lip to throat it burned every part. The man out of extreme compassion addressed himself to counselling the woman. 'I am under an obligation to you for the degree of relief I have found at your hands,' he said. 'Compassion has welled up within me. Give good heed to what I say to you. Behold, Baghdad is nearby, and Kufa and Wasit and the rest. If you are sorely afflicted, by squatting here and there and by rolling along from place to place you can bring yourselves thither. For there are to be found plentiful sweet, cool water, foods of various kinds, baths, luxuries, rich delights.' And he enumerated the pleasures of those cities. A moment later a Bedouin came on the scene who was the woman's husband. He had caught a few brace of desert rats, which he bade the woman to cook. They gave some to the guest, who being in such desperate straits partook of them. After that, in the middle of the night, the guest slept outside the tent. The woman spoke to her husband. 'Didn't you hear all the stories our guest had to tell?' And she repeated to her husband the guest's entire narrative. 'Don't listen to these things,' the Bedouin answered. 'There are many envious people in the world. When they see some folk enjoying ease and plenty they envy them, and want to set them wandering and to deprive them of their fortune.' So it is with these people. When anyone out of pure compassion offers them a piece of advice, they impute it to envy. But if there are roots in a man, in the end he will turn his face to the truth; if from the day of the Primordial Covenant a drop has been sprinkled upon him, in the end that drop will deliver him out of all confusion and misery. Come then! How long will you be remote from us and estranged? How long locked up in confusion and melancholy madness? Yet what is a man to say to a people who have never heard anything the like of it from anyone, neither from his own teacher?
Although it is not so attractive at first to face the truth, the farther one proceeds the sweeter it appears; contrary to the outward form, which appears attractive at first, but the longer you sit with it the chillier you become. What is the form of the Koran, compared with its meaning? Examine a man: what is his form, compared with his meaning? If the meaning of that form of a man departs, not for a single moment will he be let loose in the house. Our Master Shams al-Din, God sanctify his spirit, once said: A great caravan was making its way towards a certain place. They found no sign of habitation, neither any water. Suddenly they came upon a well, but there was no bucket. So they took a kettle and some rope, and lowered this kettle into the well. They drew at the rope, but the kettle broke away. They sent down another, but it broke away too. After that they tied people from the caravan with a rope and sent them down into the well, but they did not come up again. Now there was an intelligent man present. He said, 'I will go down.' They let him down, and he was nearly at the bottom of the well when a terrible black creature suddenly appeared. 'I will never escape,' the intelligent man remarked. 'But at least let me keep my wits about me and not lose my senses, so that I can see what is going to happen to me.' 'Don't make a long story of it,' the black creature said. 'You're my prisoner. You won't escape unless you give me the right answer. Nothing else will save you.' 'Ask on,' said the man. 'Where is the best place?' came the question. 'I am a prisoner, and helpless,' the man reflected. 'If I say Baghdad or some other place, it may be that I will have insulted his own hometown.' Then he spoke aloud, 'The best place to live in is where a man feels at home. If that is in the bowels of the earth, then that's the best place; if it's in a mousehole, then that's the best place.' 'Well said, well said!' cried the negro. 'You've escaped. You're a man in a million. Now I've let you go, and set free the others on account of your blessing. Henceforth I'll shed no more blood. I bestow on you all the men in the world for the love of you.' Then he gave the people of the caravan water to satisfy their needs. The purpose of this story is the inner meaning. One can tell the same meaning in another form, only the lovers of traditional forms accept this version. It is difficult to speak with them; if you speak these very same words in another parable they will not listen. Discourse 19 The Master said: Someone said to Taj ai-Din Quba'i, 'These doctors of divinity come amongst us and deprive the people of their religious beliefs.' He answered, 'It is not the case that they come amongst us and deprive us of our beliefs. Otherwise, God forbid that they should be of us. For instance, suppose you have put a golden collar on a dog; you do not call it a hunting dog by reason of that collar. The quality of being a hunting dog is something specific in the animal, whether it wear a collar of gold or of wool.' A man does not become a scholar by virtue of robe and turban; scholarship is a virtue in his very essence, and whether that virtue be clothed in tunic or overcoat, it makes no difference. Thus, in the time of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, the hypocrites sought to waylay the Faith. So they used to put on the prayer-robe, in order to make those who imitated the ritual slack in the way of religion; for that they could not contrive until they made themselves out to be Muslims. Otherwise, if a Christian or a Jew impugned the Faith, how would people listen to him?
This is merely words: you have that light, but you do not have humanity. Seek after humanity: that is the true purpose, the rest is mere longwindedness. When the words are elaborately decorated, the purport is forgotten. A certain greengrocer was in love with a woman, and he sent messages by the lady's maid. 'I am like this, I am like that. I am in love, I am on fire. I find no peace. I am cruelly treated. I was like this yesterday. Last night such and such happened to me.' And he recited long, long stories. The maid came into the lady's presence and addressed her as follows. 'The greengrocer sends you greetings and says, "Come, so that I may do this and that to you."' 'So coldly?' the lady asked. 'He spoke at great length,' answered the maid. 'But this was the purport.' The purport is the root of the matter; the rest is merely a headache. Discourse 20 The Master said: Night and day you are at war, seeking to reform the character of women and to cleanse their impurity by yourself. It is better to cleanse yourself in them than to cleanse them in yourself. Reform yourself by means of them. Go to them, and accept whatever they may say, even though in your view their words are absurd. And eschew jealousy; though it is a manly attribute, yet through that good attribute evil attributes enter into you. It was on account of this truth that the Prophet said, God bless him and give him peace, 'There is no monkhood in Islam.' The way of monks was solitude, dwelling in mountains and not taking women, giving up the world. God most High and Mighty indicated to the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, a strait and hidden way. What is that way? To wed women, so that he might endure the tyranny of women and hear their absurdities, for them to ride roughshod over him, and so for him to refine his own character.
By enduring and putting up with the tyranny of women it is as though you rub off your own impurity on them. Your character becomes good through forbearance, their character becomes bad through domineering and aggression. When you have realised this, make yourself clean. Know that they are like a garment; in them you cleanse your own impurities and become clean yourself. If you cannot succeed with yourself, deliberate with yourself in a rational way as follows. 'Let me pretend that we have never been married. She is a whore. Whenever lust overmasters me I resort to her.' Thus rid yourself of manly pride and envy and jealousy, until such time that beyond such deliberation you experience pleasure in struggling and enduring, and in their absurdities discover spiritual joy. After that, without suchlike deliberation you will desire to endure and struggle and to submit yourself to oppression, since you see definite advantage to yourself in that. It is related that the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, one night returned with his Companions from a raid. He bade them beat the drum saying, 'Tonight we will sleep at the gate of the city, and enter tomorrow.' They asked, 'Messenger of God, to what good purpose?' He said, 'It may be that you will see your wives cohabiting with strange men and you would be pained, and a commotion would arise.' One of the Companions did not hear; he entered and found his wife with a stranger. The way of the Prophet now, God bless him and give him peace, was this. It is necessary to endure pain, ridding oneself of jealousy and manly pride, pain over extravagance and clothing one's wife, and a hundred thousand other pains beyond all bounds, that the Muhammadan world may come into being. The way of Jesus, upon whom be peace, was wrestling with solitude and not gratifying lust; the way of Muhammad, God bless him and give him peace, is to endure the oppression and agonies inflicted by men and women. If you cannot go by the Muhammadan way, at least go by the way of Jesus, that you may not remain altogether outside the pale. If you have the serenity to endure a hundred buffets, seeing the fruits and harvest of that, or believing in your hidden heart, 'Since they have spoken and told of this, then such a thing is true; let me be patient until the time when that whereof they have told comes to me also' -- after that you will see, since you have set your heart on this, saying, 'Though this hour I have no harvest of these sufferings, in the end I will reach the treasures,' you will reach the treasuries, aye, and more than you ever desired and hoped. If these words have no effect upon you at this moment, after a while when you become more mature they will have a very great effect. That is the difference between a woman and a scholar. Whether you speak to a woman or do not speak, she remains still the same and will not abandon her ways; words have no effect on her, indeed she becomes worse. For instance, take a loaf and put it under your arm, and deny it to other men, saying, 'I will not give this to anyone at all. Give it? Why, I won't even show it.' Though that loaf has been cast against the door and dogs even will not eat it because bread is so plentiful and cheap, yet the moment you begin to refuse it everybody is after it and set their hearts on it, pleading and protesting, 'Certainly we want to see that loaf which you refuse and keep hidden.' Especially if you keep that loaf in your sleeve for a year, insisting emphatically that you will neither give it away nor show it, their eagerness for the loaf passes all bounds; for 'Man is passionate for what he is denied.' The more you order a woman, 'Keep yourself hidden,' the greater her itch to show herself; and people through her being hidden become more eager for that woman. So there you sit in the middle, augmenting eagerness on both sides; and you think yourself a reformer! Why, that is the very essence of corruption. If she has in her the natural quality not to want to do an evil deed, whether you prevent her or not she will proceed according to her good temperament and pure constitution. So be easy in mind, and be not troubled. If she is the opposite, still she will go her own way; preventing her in reality does nothing but increase her eagerness. These fellows keep saying, 'We saw Shams al-Din Tabrizi, Master, we really saw him.' Fool, where did you see him? A man who cannot see a camel on the roof of a house comes along and says, 'I saw the hole of a needle and threaded it.' That is a fine story they tell of the man who said, 'Two things make me laugh -- a negro painting his nails black, and a blind man putting his head out of the window.' They are exactly like that. Blind inwardly, they put their heads out of the window of the physical body. What will they see? What does their approval or disapproval amount to? To the intelligent man both are one and the same; since they have seen neither to approve nor to disapprove, whichever they say is nonsense. First it is necessary to acquire sight, then one must look. Moreover even when sight has been acquired, how can one see so long as they must not be seen? In this world there are so many saints who have achieved union; and other saints there are beyond those, the saints called the Veiled Ones of God. The former saints are ever pleading humbly, 'O Lord God, show unto us one of Thy Veiled Ones.' So long as they do not truly desire him, or so long as he must not be seen of them, however seeing their eyes may be they cannot see him. Now as for those tavern-haunting strumpets by whom none must be seen, of course they cannot reach them or see them. How can one see the Veiled Ones of God or know them without their will? This is not an easy matter. The angels said:
'We are full of love. We are spiritual beings. We are pure light. They, who are humans, are a gluttonous, blood-spilling handful who shed blood.' All this is in order that man may tremble for himself. For the spiritual angels, who had neither wealth nor rank nor any veil, pure light whose food was the Beauty of God, pure love whose eyes were keen and far- seeing, hovered between disavowal and confession, that man might tremble for himself: 'Woe, what am l? What do I know?' Likewise, that if some light shone upon his face and he felt a certain joy, he might give thanks a thousandfold to God, saying, 'How am I worthy of this?' This time you will experience greater joy in the words of Shams al-Din. For the sail of the ship of man's being is belief. When there is a sail, the wind carries him to a mighty place; when there is no sail, all words are mere wind. The lover-beloved relationship is very pleasant; everything between them is sheer informality. All these formalities are for the sake of others. This is prohibited to all other but love. I would have given a great exposition of these words, but the hour is untimely, and one must labour very much and dig out rivers to reach the pool of the heart. The people are weary, or the speaker is weary and proffers an excuse. Else, that speaker who transports not the people out of weariness is not worth two pence. One cannot call any lover proof of the beauty of the beloved, and one cannot establish in any lover's heart proof of the hatred of the beloved. Hence it is realised that in this matter proofs do not operate. Here one must be a seeker of love. If in this verse I exaggerate the right of the lover, that is not true exaggeration. Moreover, I see that the disciple has expended all his own 'meaning' for the sake of the master's 'form';
For every disciple who comes to the master must first abandon his own 'meaning,' being in need of the master. Baha' al-Din asked the question: Surely he does not abandon his own 'meaning' for the sake of the master's 'form' but for the sake of the master's 'meaning'? The Master answered: It is improper that this should be so. If this were so, then both would be masters. Now you must labour to acquire an inward light, that you may escape and be secure from this fire of confusions. When a man has acquired such an inward light, all mundane circumstances appertaining to this world such as rank, command, vizierate, shining upon his inward heart pass like a lightning-flash; just as with worldlings the circumstances of the unseen world, such as the fear of God, and yearning for the world of the saints, shine upon their hearts and pass like a lightning-flash. The people of God have become wholly God's and their faces are turned on God; they are preoccupied with and absorbed in God. Worldly passions, like the lust of an impotent man, show briefly but do not take root and pass away. The worldlings are the opposite of this regarding the affairs of the world to come.
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