The Bowl of Saki Commentary
Commentary for:
Will power is the keynote of mastery, and asceticism is the development of will power.
Commentary from Hazrat Murshid SAM (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, Samuel L. Lewis):
The Bowl of Saki Commentary, copyright © 1981, 2012 Sufi Ruhaniat International. All rights reserved.
This will-power is both love-power and life-power. When it expresses itself as power it is called "will." That is to say, in love-true love-power, intelligence, and beauty should be in equilibrium. When beauty dominates there is adoration which leads to intoxication, and when power dominates there is more fire without always more light.
In order that will-power be not destructive, in order that it be one with intelligence and beauty, the spiritual life is followed, which concentrates everything upon Unity. No doubt the life of self-denial in the desert accomplishes it, but that is like spending all one's time gathering fuel for a fire, which is used neither to cook food nor to warm others. The real spiritual asceticism is followed in the midst of the world. This is nothing but a willing surrender for the purpose of a greater benefit for oneself and the whole humanity.