| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 192 |
regarding the intricacies of God's Faith and the
abstruse allusions in the utterances of the Day-springs
of Holiness. Thus will these mysteries be
unravelled, not by the aid of acquired learning,
but solely through the assistance of God and the
outpourings of His grace. "Ask ye, therefore, of
them that have the custody of the Scriptures, if ye
know it not." (1)
But, O my brother, when a true seeker determineth
to take the step of search in the path leading
to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must,
before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which
is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries
of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired
knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments
of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which
is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved,
of every defilement, and sanctify his soul
from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from
all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must
so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love
or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly
incline him to error, or that hate repel him away
from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this
