Aslam

Your duty is to remain satisfied with little provision and food which are necessary for you, because it will come to you though you flee away from it. now it is the duty of God to send you provision through the intermediary of men which you have not conceived. God says : God finds out a way for one who fears God and supplies your provision from a source which you cannot conceive — 65 : 2. But he never guaranteed you to supply fowl or other tasteful dishes. He guarantees such food as is barely necessary for you in your life. God says : There is provision for you in heaven and what has been promised to you. The secrets of heaven can not be enquired into. For this reason, when a group of man approached Junaid Bagdadi, he said to them : What do you search ? They said : We search provision. He said : If you know that He forgot you, you can remind Him of it. They said : We shall sit tight at home depending on God and see what happens. He said : If you rely on God in order to examine Him. you will be entertaining doubt. They asked : Then what is the remedy ? He said : Give it up. The saint Ahmed bin-Isa said : I was hungry while I was in the vast area of a jungle. I became so much weak that even I could not pray to God for food. I said to myself : This is not the action of the God-reliant man. My spirit told me to pray to God for patience. As I was about to pray, I heard a voice from heaven : —

"He thinks he came very close to Me, I never do harm who comes close to Me, With efforts at places he prays to Me, He thinks I see him not, nor does he see Me."

I understand from this that he whose passion is weak but heart strong remains always satisfied and has got faith in God even though he is about to die. Death is inevitable. It comes also to him whose mind is not satisfied Jn a word, contentment on the one hand and, obedience to the Grantor on the other bring God reliance. Trust him who stood surety for those who remain satisfied through the current causes and examine to see the truth of His promise. You will find then what a wonderful provision comes to you which is not even within your conception. Don't wait for causes in your God reliance, rather wait for the Controller of causes as you don't look to the pen for writing but to the mind of the writer as,it is the mind which moves the pen.
The first cause is One. Look to Him and not to the intermediary

Vol-IV THE BOOK OF CONSTRUCTIVE VIRTUES 225

causes. This is the condition of God reliance for one who takes journey in jungle land without provisions or in towns and villages unrecognisid. He who engages himself in divine worship and pursuit of knowledge is a true religious man inspite of the kind of food he eats and the kind of cloth he wears. These kinds of things come to him unasked for.

To think for provision is weakness and a cause of harm. Some Persian Emperor asked a wise sage : Why do the fools become wealthy and the intelligent poor?