You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!
You alone exist, I do not!
Like the shadow of a house in ruins,
I revolve in my own mind.
If I speak, you speak with me:
If I am silent, you are in my mind.
If I sleep, you sleep with me:
If I walk, you are along my path.
Oh Bulleh, the spouse has come to my house:
My life is a sacrifice unto Him.
You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!
–Bulleh Shah
My servant does not come near to me by performing [anything but?] my commandments, but comes [ever]near[er] to me by performing voluntary acts of worship (nawafil) so that I love him. And when I love him, I become his ear, his sight, his tongue, his hand, his foot and his heart. He hears by Me, he sees by Me, he speaks by Me, he strikes by Me, he walks by Me, he grasps by Me. This is a servant whos mind has died away in the supreme Mind and his greedy movements have calmed down his grip.
If you were to be united with Him
only after the extinction of your vices
and the effacement of your pretensions,
you would never be united with Him!
Instead, when He wants to unite you to Himself
He covers your attribute with His attribute
and hides your quality with His Quality.
And thus He unites you to Himself,
by virtue of what comes from Him to you,
not by virtue of what goes from you to Him
–Ibn ‘Ata’ Illah the Book of Wisdom/Kwaja Abdullah Ansari Intimate Conversations (One Volume)
