Aslam

house? He said: For seventy years. I asked him: What is your food? He said: What is your necessity? I said: I wish to learn. He- said: One Hamsa every night. I asked: Do you think one Hamsa is sufficient? He said: What is your intention? The people who are in your presence come to me one day every year. They roam round this prayer place and show respect to me. Whenever I become tired of divine service, I remember their respect at that time. I do divine service for one year for getting respect of one day only. O unitarian, what efforts then should I make for getting respect for ever? Then I asked for more advice. He said: Get down from the praying place. When I got down, he handed to me a leather pot with twenty hamsas in it and said to me: Enter the church and show to the people what I have given you. When I entered the church, the Christians assembled near me and said: O unitarian, what has been given to you by this hermit? I said: He has given me some portion of his food. They said: What will you do with that? We are entitled to get it. They asked him to accept money in its exchange. They gave me twenty dinars. Then I went to the hermit who enquired about my purse. I said to him that I had sold it for 20 dinars. He said: You have committed a mistake.
They would have given you even twenty thousand dinars. This honour is for that man who does not worship this thing. Now look, O unitarian, how is the respect of that man who worships God? O unitarian, advance to your Lord and give up wondering.

It has been reported that the rich used to feel dishonour in the assembly of Sufiyan Saori. He used to give their seats in the back row and the poor in the front row, even the rich would like to be poor in his assembly. The poor is more respectable to God than the rich. But the case is otherwise with us. We show more respect to the rich and as such there is show in it because of the greed for wealth. Keep your passion within your control. Don't be satisfied with your passion which will lead you to Hell and which will perish with you. Live in th world in such a way in which a king passes the remaining days of his life being attacked with a serious disease. He takes bitter medicine for cure and gives up all delicious foods. This leads him gradually to health. If he does not observe this rule, his disease will increase. Similarly the traveller in the path of religion gives up all the things injurious for the next world in order to get everlasting peace and happiness of the next world. In other words, he gives up worldly enjoyments and remains satisfied with little provision and small means. He

248 The Book of Destructive evils Vol-III