This world and ûfîthe next are intended to be used in seeking God. An objection raised against such a use of the next world is untenable: for prayer and fast, pilgrimage and the holy war, and all the exoteric obligations cease _as such_ in the next world; but devotion--seeking after God--ever endures. If you go to heaven, each day of the heavenly life will open up new vistas of Divine Knowledge. An endless work is this, may it never end!
When God loves a man, He inflicts troubles on him and takes away his wealth, wife and children, so that he may be bound to naught, and estranged from all save Him. If he suffers patiently, he receives boons without toil. If he endures cheerfully, he is purified of all evils.
Again, God's love for a man makes him aware of the defects of his desire-nature, so that he becomes its instructor and censor.
The following are the signs of a man's love for God:--
2. According to others, preferring the Divine Word to human words, the Divine Presence to the sight of man, the Service of God to the service of the world; and not grieving for any loss save separation from Him.
3. According to =Junnaid=: Not being tired in His Service.
4. According to a certain Sage: Avoiding sins.
It is dangerous to assert one's love for God.
The word "=Mahabbat=" (love) is derived from "=Hibba=" (a seed.) The seed is the germ of life, as it is there that lies the real plant. The seed is put into the soil, lies concealed therein, and receives sun and rain, heat and cold, without any [apparent] change. When the time comes, it sprouts, flowers, and fructifies. So, when Love takes root in the heart, it bears presence and absence, joy and sorrow, union and separation, with equanimity....
Devotion is the perfection of Love. Worship makes a servant, knowledge makes a knower, abstinence makes an ascetic, sincere seeking makes an earnest aspirant, sacrifice of all the world makes a Friend, self-sacrifice makes a Lover, losing the perishable and imperishable elements of self in the Beloved makes a Devotee.
It has been said: Devotion is born of the Light of the Presence of the Eternal Beloved. It is like a flash of lightning, illuminating the eye of the Devotee, speaking to his ear, enlivening his movements, and alienating him from all the world--so that his acts are not for self nor for others, but are works of impersonal Devotion to the Beloved.