Yesterday this universe neither existed nor appeared to exist, while to-day it appears to exist but has no real existence: it is a mere semblance, and to-morrow nothing thereof will be seen. What does it profit thee to allow thyself to be guided by vain passions and desires? Why dost thou place reliance on these transitory objects that glitter with false lustre? Turn thy heart away from all of them, and firmly attach it to God. Break loose from all these, and cleave closely to Him. It is only He who always has been and always will continue to be. The countenance of His eternity is never scarred by the thorn of contingency. FINITE AND INFINITE BEAUTY The Loved One's rose-parterre I went to see, That beauty's Torch espied me, and, quoth He, "I am the tree; these flowers My offshoots are. Let not these offshoots hide from thee the tree." What profit rosy cheeks, forms full of grace, And ringlets clustering round a lovely face? When Beauty Absolute beams all around, Why linger finite beauties to embrace? HOW TO OBTAIN UNION WITH THE DIVINE In like manner, as it behoves thee to maintain the said relation continuously, so it is of the first importance to develop one quality thereof by detaching thyself from mundane relations and by emancipating thyself from attention to contingent forms; and this is possible only through hard striving and earnest endeavour to expel vain thoughts and imaginations from thy mind. The more these thoughts are cast out and these suggestions checked, the stronger and closer this relation becomes. It is, then, necessary to use every endeavour to force these thoughts to encamp outside the enclosure of thy breast, and that the "Truth" most glorious may cast His beams into thy heart, and deliver thee from thyself, and save thee from the trouble of entertaining His rivals in thy heart. Then there will abide with-thee neither consciousness of thyself, nor even consciousness of such absence of consciousness--nay, there will abide nothing save the One God alone. TRUTH In the fair idols, goal of ardent youth, And in all cynosures lies hid the "Truth"; What, seen as relative, appears the world, Viewed in its essence is the very "Truth." When in His partial modes Truth shone out plain, Straightway appeared this world of loss and gain; Were it and all who dwell there gathered back Into the Whole, the "Truth" would still remain. "THE GLORIOUS GOD" The glorious God, whose bounty, mercy, grace, And loving-kindness all the world embrace, At every moment brings a world to naught, And fashions such another in its place.