In the book of Kalila and Damna a story is told of a lion who held all the beasts of the neighborhood in subjection, and was in the habit of making constant raids upon them, to take and kill such of them as he required for his daily food. At last the beasts took counsel together, and agreed to deliver up one of their company every day, to satisfy the lion's hunger, if he, on his part, would cease to annoy them by his continual forays. The lion was at first unwilling to trust to their promise, remarking that he always preferred to rely on his own exertions; but the beasts succeeded in persuading him that he would do well to trust Providence and their word. To illustrate the thesis that human exertions are vain, they related a story of a man who got Solomon to transport him to Hindustan to escape the angel of death, but was smitten by the angel the moment he got there. Having carried their point, the beasts continued for some time to perform their engagement. One day it came to the turn of the hare to be delivered up as a victim to the lion; but he requested the others to let him practice a stratagem. They scoffed at him, asking how such silly beast as he could pretend to outwit the lion. The hare assured them that wisdom was of God, and God might choose weak things to confound the strong. At last they consented to let him try his luck. He took his way slowly to the lion, and found him sorely enraged. In excuse for his tardy arrival he represented that he and another hare had set out together to appear before the lion, but a strange lion had seized the second hare, and carried it off in spite of his remonstrances. On hearing this, the lion was exceeding wroth, and commanded the hare to show him the foe who had trespassed on his preserves. Pretending to be afraid, the hare got the lion to take him upon his back, and directed him to a well. On looking down the well, the lion saw in the water the reflection of himself and of the hare on his back; and thinking that he saw his foe with the stolen hare, he plunged in to attack him, and was drowned, while the hare sprang off his back and escaped. This folly on the part, of the lion was predestined to punish him for denying God's ruling providence. So Adam, though he knew the names of all things, in accordance with God's predestination, neglected to obey a single prohibition, and his disobedience cost him dearly.

Trust in God, as opposed to human exertions. The beasts said, "O enlightened sage, Lay aside caution; it cannot help thee against destiny; To worry with precaution is toil and moil; Go, trust in Providence, trust is the better part. War not with the divine decree, O hot-headed one, Man should be as dead before the commands of God Lest a blow befall him from the Lord of all creatures." He said, "True; but though trust be our mainstay, The Prophet cried with a loud voice,

'Trust in God, yet tie the camel's leg.' l Hear the adage, 'The worker is the friend of God;' Go, O Quietists, practice trust with self-exertion, Exert yourself to attain your objects, bit by bit. In order to succeed, strive and exert yourselves; If ye strive not for your objects, ye are fools." They said, "What is gained from the poor by exertions Again, know that self-exertion springs from weakness; What is more lovely than committing oneself to God? Many there are who flee from one danger to a worse;

Man plans a stratagem, and thereby snares himself; What he takes for life turns out, to be destruction. That jealous king slew a myriad babes, While Moses, whom he sought, was in his house. Our eyes are subject to many infirmities; Go! annihilate your sight in God's sight. For our foresight His foresight is a fair exchange; So long as a babe cannot grasp or run, It takes its father's back for its carriage. But when it becomes independent and uses its hands,

The souls of our first parents, even before their hands, Being made captives by the command, 'Get down hence,' They became bond-slaves of enmity, lust, and vanity. The Prophet said, 'The people are God's family;' He who sends forth the rain from heaven, Can He not also provide us our daily bread?" The lion said, "True; yet the Lord of creatures Step by step must we mount up to the roof! Ye have feet why then pretend ye are lame? Ye have hands why then conceal your claws?

When a master places a spade in the hand of a slave, Like this spade, our hands are our Master's hints to us; Yea, if ye consider, they are His directions to us. When ye have taken to heart His hints, Ye will shape your life in reliance on their direction; Wherefore these hints disclose His intent, Take the burden from you, and appoint your work. He that bears it makes it bearable by you, Accept His command, and you will be able to execute it; Seek union with Him, and you will find yourselves united.

Exertion is giving thanks for God's blessings; Think ye that your fatalism gives such thanks? Giving thanks for blessings increases blessings, Your fatalism is to sleep on the road; sleep not Till ye behold the gates of the King's palace. Ah! sleep not, O unreflecting fatalists, Till ye have reached that fruit-laden Tree of Life Whose branches are ever shaken by the wind, And whose fruit is showered on the sleepers' heads. Can a cock who crows too soon expect peace?

If ye cavil at and accept not God's hints, Though ye count yourselves men, see, ye are women. The quantum of reason ye possessed is lost, Inasmuch as the unthankful are despicable, If ye really have trust in God, exert yourselves, And strive, in constant reliance on the Almighty." He said, "O friends, God has given me inspiration. The wit taught by God to the bee It fills its cells with liquid sweets, The skill taught by God to the silkworm

The earthly Adam was taught of God names, He laid low the name and fame of the angels, Yet blind indeed are they whom God dooms to doubt! The devotee of seven hundred thousand years (Satan) Was made a muzzle for that yearling calf (Adam), Lest he should suck milk of the knowledge of faith, The knowledge of men of external sense is a muzzle But God drops into the heart a single pearl-drop Which is not bestowed on oceans or skies!" "How long regard ye mere form, O form-worshippers?

Your souls, void of substance, rest still in forms. If the form of man were all that made man, A painting on a wall resembles a man, 'Tis life that is lacking to that mere semblance of man. Go! seek for that pearl it never will find. The heads of earth's lions were bowed down When God gave might to the Seven Sleepers' dog. What mattered its despised form When its soul was drowned in the sea of light?" Human wisdom, the manifestation of divine.

On his way to the lion the hare lingered, He proceeded on his way after delaying long, What worlds the principle of Reason embraces! How broad is this ocean of Reason! Yea, the Reason of man is a boundless ocean. O son, that ocean requires, as it were, a diver. On this fair ocean our human forms Float about, like bowls on the surface of water; Yea like cups on the surface, till they are. filled; And when filled, these cups sink into the water.

The ocean of Reason is not seen ; reasoning men are seen; Whatever form that ocean uses as its instrument, Till the heart sees the Giver of the secret, Till it espies that Bowman shooting from afar, It fancies its own steed lost, while in bewilderment It is urging that steed hither and thither; It fancies its own steed lost, when all the while In deep distress that blunder head Runs from door to door, searching and inquiring, "Who and where is he that hath stolen my steed?"

They say, "What is this thou ridest on, O master?" He says, "True, 'tis a steed; but where is mine?" They say, "Look to thyself, O rider; thy steed is there." The real Soul is lost to view, and seems far off; Thou art like a pitcher with full belly but dry lip; How canst thou ever see red, green, and scarlet Unless thou seest the light first of all? When thy sight is dazzled by colors, But when night veils those colors from thee, As there is no seeing outward colors without light,

Outward colors arise from the light of sun and stars, The light that lights the eye is also the heart's Light; The eye's light proceeds from the Light of the heart. But the light that lights the heart is the Light of God, At night there is no light, and colors are not seen; Hence we know what light is by its opposite, darkness. At night no colors are visible, for light is lacking. How can color be the attribute of dark blackness? Looking on light is the same as looking on colors; Opposite shows up opposite, as a Frank a Negro.

The opposite of light shows what is light, God created pain and grief for this purpose, To wit, to manifest happiness by its opposites. Hidden things are manifested by their opposites; But, as God has no opposite. He remains hidden. God's light has no opposite in the range of creation Perforce "Our eyes see not Him, though He sees us." Discern form from substance, as lion from desert, The sound and speech arise from the thought;

Thou knowest not where is the Ocean of thought; Yet when thou seest fair waves of speech, When waves of thought arise from the Ocean of Wisdom, These forms of speech are born and die again, These wa,ves cast themselves back into the Ocean. Form is born of That which is without form, And goes again, for, "Verily to Him do we return." Wherefore to thee every moment come death and "return." Mustafa saith, "The world endureth only a moment."

So, thought is an arrow shot by God into the air. How can it stay in the air? It returns to God. Every moment the world and we are renewed, Life, like a stream of water, is renewed and renewed, That seeming continuity arises from its swift renewal, If a single spark be whirled round swiftly, This apparent extension, owing to the quick motion, If ye seek the deepest student of this mystery, Lo! 'tis Husamu-'d-Din, the most exalted of creatures!