Kitab-i-Aqdas/Elder36

Some people sit in a Row of Sandals (saff al-ni'al),[note 2] seeking the seat of honour (sadr al-jalal). Say: Who art thou, O careless, conceited man (al-gharrar)? [note 3]

Of them there is he who claims the Hidden (al-batin) and the Hidden of the Hidden. [note 4]

Say: O liar, by God, what thou hast is husks. We have left it for you as bones are left for the dogs.

By God, the Truth, if one were to wash the feet of everybody in the world and worship God in thickets and in green valleys, on mountains, hill-tops, and summits, and at every stone, and tree, and clod, and yet the fragrance of My good pleasure be not diffused front him, he would never be accepted. This is what the Master of Mankind has ruled.

How many a creature in the isles of India has withdrawn from the world and deprived himself of what God has made lawful for him and endured retreats and hardships; yet these things will not be remembered by God who sends down the Verses.

Do not make deeds (al-a'mal) a snare of hopes (sharak al-amal). Do not deprive yourselves of this end which was the hope of those who drew nigh (to God) in the eternity of past eternities.

Say : The spirit of the deeds is my good pleasure; everything depends on my acceptance.

Read the Tablets in order to know what is the purpose of the books of God, the Mighty One, the Munificent.

Whoever attains unto My love has a right to sit on a throne of native gold in the chief seat in (the realm of) possibility. Whoever is deprived of My love, were he to sit on the ground, it would take refuge in God, [note 1] the Possessor of Religions.