The Bowl of Saki Commentary

The first of these lessons is easy to understand yet difficult to attain. For among the desires of the body are not only those lusts which seem to drag us downward, but even more so the great attractions of life-pleasant music, scenery, art, poetry, handsome people. There is in them the essence of ideal, the true nature of ideal. It can even be said that the very lusts of humanity are shadows of good things, and it is due to the warped nature and sway of the nufs in darkness that brings such frustration about. But for the most part it is clear to the mureed that the sway of the bodily appetites hold one back from one's heart's desire, and one learns from Murshid the means to eradicate their dominance from one's system.

The desires of the heart are more subtle. Is not beauty desirable? Are not beautiful things desirable? Do we not need objects or thoughts in which to express the inmost being of the soul? Yes, we may need objects for the inmost expression, but there is another aspect of life which is neither expression nor suppression which comes when God fulfills the Divine Purpose in the human, which of itself is the very fulfillment of humanity's purpose in life.

Even the highest ideal, the greatest harmony, the most valuable things in the Universe, one must be willing to sacrifice if one is to find the true spiritual life, the life of God in God. For that, one cannot stop even with heart, which stands as a globe over the soul; for in heart there is not full completion of Unity. Until all desires have amalgamated into the desire for God, the soul's desire to return to its source, the object of the journey has not been attained.