and the religion of the Parsee. Even Islam gave him
no satisfaction, for--

"Nor above nor beneath came the Loved One to view,
I toiled to the summit, wild, pathless and lone,
Of the globe-girding Kaf[82]:--but the 'Anka[83] had flown!
{92}
The sev'nth heaven I traversed--the sev'nth heaven explored,
But in neither discern'd I the court of the Lord!
I question'd the Pen and the Tablet of Fate,
But they whisper'd not where He pavilions His state;
My vision I strain'd; but my God-scanning eye
No trace, that to Godhead belongs, could descry.
My glance I bent inward; within my own breast,
Lo, the vainly sought elsewhere, the Godhead confess'd!
In the whirl of its transport my spirit was toss'd,
_Till each atom of separate being I lost_."

These are the words of the greatest authority among the Sufis, the famous
Maulana Jelal-ud-din Rumi, founder of the order of the Maulavi Darwishes.
He also relates the following story: "One knocked at the door of the
beloved, and a voice from within said: 'Who is there?' Then he answered,
'_It is I._' The voice replied, 'This house will not hold _me_ and _thee_!'
So the door remained shut. The lover retired to a wilderness, and spent
some time in solitude, fasting, and prayer. One year elapsed, when he again
returned, and knocked at the door. 'Who is there?' said the voice. The
lover answered, '_It is thou._' Then the door was opened."

The great object of life, then, being to escape from the hindrances to pure
love and to a return to the divine essence, the Talib, or seeker, attaches
himself to a Murshid, or teacher. If he prosecutes his studies according to
Sufiistic methods he now often enters one of the many orders of Darwishes.
After due preparation under his Murshid, he is allowed to enter on the
road. He then becomes a Salik, or traveller, whose business henceforth is
suluk that is, devotion to one idea--the knowledge of God. In this road
there are eight stages. (1) Service. Here he must serve God and obey the
Law for he is still in bondage. (2) Love. It is supposed that now the
Divine influence has so attracted his soul that he really loves God. (3)
Seclusion. Love having expelled all worldly desires, he arrives at this
stage, and passes his time in meditation on the deeper doctrines {93} of
Sufiism regarding the Divine nature. (4) Knowledge. The meditation in the
preceding stage, and the investigation of the metaphysical theories
concerning God, His