IV. Renunciation

“This leads us to the subject of Renunciation, which is of two kinds, external and internal. The former is the renunciation of worldly wealth; the latter, the renunciation of worldly desires. Everything that hinders or veils the Traveller’s path must be renounced, whether it relate to this world or the next. Wealth and dignity are great hindrances; but too much praying and fasting are often hindrances too. The one is a shroud of darkne , the other a veil of light. The Traveller must renounce idolatry, if he desire to reach the Goal, and everything that bars his progre is an idol. All men have some idol, which they worship; with one it is wealth and dignity, with another overmuch prayer and fasting. If a man sit always upon his prayer-carpet, his prayer-carpet becomes his idol. And so on with a great number of instances. “Renunciation must not be performed without the advice and permi ion of an elder. It should be the renunciation of trifles, not of nece aries, such as food, clothing, and dwelling-place, which are indispensable to man; for without them he would be obliged to rely on the aid of others, and this would beget avarice, which is ‘the mother of vice.’ The renunciation of nece aries produces as corrupting an influence upon the mind as the po e ion of too much wealth. The greatest of ble ings is to have a sufficiency, but to over-step this limit is to gain nought but additional trouble. “Renunciation is the practice of those who know God, and the characteristic mark of the wise. Every individual fancies that he alone po e es this knowledge, but knowledge is an attribute of the mind, and there is no approach from unaided sense to the attributes of the mind, by which we can discover who is, or who is not, po e ed of this knowledge. Qualities however are the sources of action; therefore a man’s practice is an infallible indication of the qualities he po e es; if, for instance, a man a erts that he is a baker, a carpenter, or a blacksmith, we can judge at once if he po e es skill in these crafts by the perfection of his handiwork. In a word, theory is internal, and practice external, the presence of the practice, therefore, is a proof that the theory too is there. “Renunciation is nece ary to the real confe ion of faith; for the formula ‘There is no God but God,’ involves two things, negation and proof. Negation is the renunciation of other Gods, and proof is the knowledge of God. Wealth and dignity have led many from the right path, they are the gods the people worship; if then you see that one has renounced these, you may be sure that he has expelled the love of this world from his heart, and completed the negation; and whosoever has attained to the knowledge of God has completed the proofs. This is really confe ing that ‘there is no God but God’; and he who has not attained to the knowledge of God, has never really repeated the confe ion of faith. Early prejudices are a great stumbling-block to many people; for the first principles of Monotheism are contained in the words of the Hadís: ‘Every one is born with a disposition [for the true faith], but his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.’ The Unitarians also say, that the real confe ion of faith consists in negation and proof; but they explain negation by renunciation of self, and proof by acknowledgment of God. “Thus, according to the Sufis, confe ion of faith, prayer and fasting contain two distinct features, namely, form and truth; the former being entirely inefficacious without the latter. Renunciation and the knowledge of God are like a tree; the knowledge of God is the root, renunciation the branches, and all good principles and qualities are the fruit. To sum up, the le on to be learnt is that in repeating the formula the Traveller must acknowledge in his heart that God only always was, God only always will be. This world and the next, nay, the very existence of the Traveller, may vanish, but God alone remains. This is the true confe ion of faith; and although the Traveller before was blind, the moment he is a ured of this his eyes are opened, and he seeth.