Similarly, if a man wishes to know whether God is pleased or displeased with him, he should look at his life. A life wholly devoted to righteousness must please God: righteousness is the indication of His pleasure. A life wholly given to vice must displease God: vice is the indication of His displeasure. A life partly righteous and partly vicious is to be valued according to the predominating element in it. If the earthly life is not turned to account, there shall be no progress on the other side. If a man who has not transmuted [on earth] the evil qualities in his nature, is taken to heaven at his death, and all celestial boons are bestowed upon him, those qualities will not change. He will have only the houris, the palaces, the roast cocks and the stream of running water, but will be too weak to realise the real object--the Goal of the _inner_ man, and the ideal of all the disciples and of the Master. How insignificant are all other gains where That is lost! How immaterial is any loss, where That is gained! Frequent ablutions and baths remove sloth and drowsiness. The Divine Vision on resurrection day depends on the Divine Grace, not on merit. No eye deserves His Vision, no ear His Voice, no intellect His Knowledge, no feet His Path.... Self-reproach is necessary for a seeker.--_Letter 72._ AVARICE. To work for show, and desire the rank of a saint, is not the mark of piety. Thy deeds are all tainted with desire. Purity consists in the spirit of Service, not in avarice. The one is not compatible with the other. But we want bribes to serve the Lord. O brother, cast off avarice. God does not owe anything to any one, and His gifts on earth or after death are gratuitous. Do all your works for His Service, not in the hope of gaining heaven or shunning hell.... He who aspires to work in His Service should be careful of the purity of his motives, which is a function of the heart. An act without pure motive cannot soar from the region of sham to the sphere of Service.... A prayer worth the name is one performed with the fervour of the heart, and not with the lips only. The motto of monotheism, "There is no God save =Allâh=," if repeated as a talk at moments of sale and purchase, can not be regarded as a declaration of Divine Unity.... God says: "My shrine is not a place of sale and purchase. Thou goest to market with the object of gaining something thou hast not. But if thou comest to My Shrine, come with the distinct understanding that thou losest all and returnest a pauper." =Khwâjâ Ahmad= had a vision of God, Who told him: "=Ahmad=, all men ask Me for something, save =Bâyazîd=[16] who asks for Myself alone."--_Letter 73._ [16] A great Muhammadan saint. THE EVIL OF THE WORLD. The world and all things therein are to be avoided, save as needed for the Lord's sake. The world may be classed under three groups:-- (1) The first group is purely worldly, and cannot serve His Cause. It consists of: