'I am Absolute
Being.'

"But I only say what I have heard from the mouth of Sheikh Mian Mir."

In the meantime the number of his adherents daily increased; persons of
all classes in society became his adherents; even women became capable
of mystical intuitions by the effect of his prayers and without having
seen him. However, the increasing number of those who wished to approach
him commenced to be inconvenient, and he said, "I am not a sheikh of
dervishes who receives novices and builds convents."

"Neither the mosque nor the dervish-convent attract me,
But the purity of the desert and the freedom of the open country."

In the year 1634 A.D., a certain Mir Baki, a descendant of the prophet,
attached himself to Mullah Shah, and experienced in a short time
ecstatic states; he then preached the doctrine of union with God without
any reserve. At the same time he claimed to be free from the precepts of
the religious law. The following lines were composed by him:--

"Why should my hand let go this sparkling cup of my soul,
I already realise the aspirations of to-morrow."

Which lines, rendered into prose, seem to mean, "Why should I pass my
life sadly on in self-maceration and austerity? I prefer to anticipate
now the delights which they speak of as belonging to the future life."
This is epicureanism, pure and simple, such as we find it in the odes of
Hafiz and the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam. When Mullah Shah heard of these
extravagant utterances, he caused Mir Baki to be expelled from the town.
At the same time the doctrines of Mullah Shah regarding union with God
began to make a great deal of sensation, and a large number of
influential men who belonged to the Conservative party raised against
him the accusation of heresy without really understanding his teaching.
They quoted some of his verses against him, and said, "Mullah Shah is
beginning to imitate Mansur Hellaj.[63] He should be brought to trial
and sentenced to death." They unanimously drew up an indictment against
him and affixed their seals; a large number of religious functionaries
joined them, and they submitted their petition to the Emperor
Shah-jehan, requesting him to pronounce sentence of death against Mullah
Shah. The Emperor consented, and despatched a firman to that effect to
Zafer-Khan, governor of Kashmir. Shah-jehan's son, the prince
Dara-Shikoh, had been absent, and only learned what had happened when he
returned. He immediately went