The Bowl of Saki Commentary

When personality is intrigued by the world it becomes intoxicated by name and form. This produces pleasure and pain. This produces rise and fall and all duality. God is beyond duality, therefore scripture teaches that every valley must be exalted and every mountain brought low. To reach this state, Sufis cultivate indifference—which is really the highest kind of love. When love for one person means not-love for another, then that is passion, not love. The true love, even when thrown upon another will also shine upon everyone, and this is true whether it is thrown upon a personality or upon God.

Human love for human, no matter how great it is, is generally marred by thoughts, which cast shadows upon it. Human love for God, which necessitates ego-sacrifice, permits the light which has always been there to shine through the heart and flood the mind with all knowledge. While it may appear wrong to seek Allah for the sake of knowledge, it is actually impossible to do this, for if one loves knowledge the heart is not empty and so God cannot be the ideal. But when there is no other ideal or love than God, all knowledge and all other desires are attained.