He who hath attained this station is sanctified from all that pertaineth to the world.  Wherefore, if those who have come to the sea of His presence are found to possess none of the limited things of this perishable world, whether it be outer wealth or personal opinions, it mattereth not.  For whatever the creatures have is limited by their own limits, and whatever the True One hath is sanctified therefrom; this utterance must be deeply pondered that its purport may be clear.  “Verily the righteous shall drink of a winecup tempered at the camphor fountain."(64) If the interpretation of “camphor” become known, the true intention will be evident.  This state is that poverty of which it is said, “Poverty is My glory."(65) And of inward and outward poverty there is many a stage and many a meaning which I have not thought pertinent to mention here; hence I have reserved these for another time, dependent on what God may desire and fate may seal.

This is the plane whereon the vestiges of all things (Kullu Shay’) are destroyed in the traveler, and on the horizon of eternity the Divine Face riseth out of the darkness, and the meaning of “All on the earth shall pass away, but the face of thy Lord...."(66) is made manifest.

O My friend, listen with heart and soul to the songs of the spirit, and treasure them as thine own eyes.  For the heavenly wisdoms, like the clouds of spring, will not rain down on the earth of men’s hearts forever; and though the grace of the All-Bounteous One is never stilled and never ceasing, yet to each time and era a portion is allotted and a bounty set apart, this in a given measure.  “And no one thing is there, but with Us are its storehouses; and We send it not down but in settled measure."(67) The cloud of the Loved One’s mercy raineth only on the garden of the spirit, and bestoweth this bounty only in the season of spring.  The other seasons have no share in this greatest grace, and barren lands no portion of this favor.

O Brother!  Not every sea hath pearls; not every branch will flower, nor will the nightingale sing thereon.  Then, ere the nightingale of the mystic paradise repair to the garden of God, and the rays of the heavenly morning return to the Sun of Truth—­make thou an effort, that haply in this dustheap of the mortal world thou mayest catch a fragrance from the everlasting garden, and live forever in the shadow of the peoples of this city.  And when thou hast attained this highest station and come to this mightiest plane, then shalt thou gaze on the Beloved, and forget all else.

    The Beloved shineth on gate and wall
    Without a veil, O men of vision.(68)

Now hast thou abandoned the drop of life and come to the sea of the Life-Bestower.  This is the goal thou didst ask for; if it be God’s will, thou wilt gain it.

In this city, even the veils of light are split asunder and vanish away.  “His beauty hath no veiling save light, His face no covering save revelation."(69) How strange that while the Beloved is visible as the sun, yet the heedless still hunt after tinsel and base metal.  Yea, the intensity of His revelation hath covered Him, and the fullness of His shining forth hath hidden Him.