the spirit of brutish passion against his regulations; so that there are prophets who, captivated with lust, anger, pleasures of eating and drinking, costly garments, beautiful women, and engaged in oppression towards the children of one race, whom they call infidels, consider these practices not only as legal, but even as laudable, and tend towards them. So it happens that many learned men and their followers, who, for the sake of the world have chosen to obey these prophets, but in their heart deny them, and are aware of the falsehood of this sect, wait for an opportunity, with prudent regard to circumstances and a favorable hour, to adopt the regulations _of Akbar_”.――Nobody in the assembly had an answer to give to the learned philosopher, who, after the effort which he had made, left the hall.[66] The lord vicar of God said to his disciples, that, it is an indispensable duty to worship God, the all-just, and that it is necessary to praise those who are near him; among mankind, said he, none is higher in rank than the planets, to the station of which no man can attain. None except God, the all-mighty, is the wish of the godly man, that is, whatever the godly undertakes, the object of his wish in it is God; for instance, he takes some food, that he may be able to perform the service of God; performs that service, that he may not be slack and deficient in his duties to God; desires a wife, that he may give existence to a virtuous son, worshipper of God; pays veneration to the lights of the stars, because they are near God the all-just; and abandons himself to sleep, that his soul may ascend to the upper world. Finally, the godly man is at all times in the service and obedience of the all-just, and at no moment is he negligent in pious practices. Moreover, he thinks himself bound to abstain from hurting living beings, and he respects all the creatures of God. He does not cut grass and green trees without necessity, nor pollute the ground wantonly, except on a particular place; he throws neither water nor fire upon vile spots; he blesses the stars; further in this disposition he accustoms himself to abstinence in speaking, eating, and sleeping; he constrains himself to many occupations: one of them is to close with his fingers the exterior organs; he dwells with veneration upon the image of the lord of fires (the sun), until he had carried this exercise so far that, by merely covering his eyes, the great object is present to him; then, whichever of the illustrious and mighty personages of Hind, or Iran, or Greece, or any other place, he wishes to see, that person presents himself to his view, and he sees lights, explores many ways, and makes himself master of the temporary and the eternal. The lord vicar of the all-just is called _Ilahí_, “divine,” by his followers, because in all their actions the object of their wishes is God; and the lord has received the divine mission to establish the worship of the stars, which are to be the Kiblah of the