Then follow exhortations to undergo "the pains of negation," as they are called in the Gulshan i Raz, i.e., even as the great saint and poet Faridu-'d-Din 'Attar cast away his drugs, to cast one's own will, knowledge, power, and ''self" into the unique river of "annihilation," and from that state to rise to the higher state of eternal existence in God. The end and object of all negation is to attain to subsequent affirmation, as the negation in the creed, "There is no God," finds its complement and purpose in the affirmation "but God." Just so the purpose of negation of self is to clear the way for the apprehension of the fact that there is no existence but The One. The intoxication of life and its pleasures and occupations veils the Truth from men's eyes, and they ought to pass on to the spiritual intoxication which makes men beside themselves and lifts them to the beatific vision of eternal Truth. This is the same thing as saying they must pass on from negation to affirmation, from ignorance to the highest knowledge. This is illustrated by the story of the Turkish noble and the minstrel, which is given with an apology for using illustrations derived from drunkenness. A Turkish noble awoke from his drunken sleep, and called his minstrel to enliven him. The minstrel was a spiritual man, and proceeded to improve the occasion by singing a song with a deep spiritual meaning:

"I know not if thou art a moon or an idol, I know not what service to pay thee, Thou art not apart from me, yet, strange to say, I know not where I am, or where thou art. I know not wherefore thou art dragging me, Now embracing me, and now wounding me!" That wine of God is gained from that minstrel, Both of these have one and the same name in speech, Men's bodies are like pitchers with closed mouths; Beware, till you see what is inside them.

The pitcher of this body holds the water of life, If you look at the contents you are wise; Know words resemble these bodies, The body's eyes are ever intent on bodies, The soul's eyes on the reasonable soul; Wherefore, in the figures of the words of the Masnavi, The form misleads, but the inner meaning guides. In the Koran it is declared that its parables "Mislead some and guide some." O God! when a spiritual man talks of wine,

How can a fellow spiritual man mistake his meaning? Thus that minstrel began his intoxicating song, "O give me Thy cup, Thou whom I see not! Thou art my face; what wonder if I see it not? Thou art my reason; what wonder if I see Thee not Through the multitude of intervening obstacles? Thou art 'nearer to me than my neck vein,' How can I call to Thee, 'Ho,' as if thou wert far off? Nay, but I will mislead some by calling in the desert, To hide my Beloved from those of whom I am jealous!"

You have said your say; now hear my answer, Though to you this time seems midnight, To the vulgar all parts of the world seem dead, And as to your saying that "this house is empty, Why then should I beat a drum before it?" Know that the people of God expend money, And build many mosques and holy places, And spend health and wealth in distant pilgrimages, In ecstatic delight, like intoxicated lovers;

And none of them ever say, "The Ka'ba is empty;" How can one who knows the truth say that? These people are ranged in battle array, And risk their lives to gain God's favor; One plunged in calamities like Job himself, Thousands of them are thirsty and afflicted, Striving in earnest desire to do God's will. I likewise, in order to please the merciful God, Seek ye a purchaser who will pay you gold;

Where will you find one more liberal than God? He buys the worthless rubbish which is your wealth, He accepts these frozen and lifeless bodies of yours, He takes a few drops of your tears, He takes your sighs fraught with grief and sadness, In return for the sigh-wind that raised tear-clouds, God gave Abraham the title of "Father of the faithful." Come! in this incomparable and crowded mart Sell your old goods and take a kingdom in payment!