He so frequently used this phrase when addressing his...

He so frequently used this phrase when addressing his disciples that "working for God's sake" had turned into a motto for them. Like a mahout (elephant driver) who repeatedly strikes the elephant's head with the hammer, the Shaykh would also frequently strike his disciples' mind with (the motto) "Work for God". He would give examples from himself and others in this respect to have them master this instruction. In all states he stressed to everyone to work for the sake of God.

He would say: "God must be present in all your aspects of life; even when you go home at night and kiss your wife, kiss her for the sake of God!" Those who were trained at the Shaykh's school achieved spiritual stations and intuitions as a result of practicing this instruction. What have you done for God's Sake? One of the Shaykh's children related the following account: 'One day my father and I went to Bibi Shahrbano.

On the way we ran into an ascetic, and my father asked him: "What has been the outcome of your (ascetic) self-discipline?" The ascetic bowed down and picked up a stone from the ground. The stone turned into a pear and he offered it to my father, saying: 'Here you are, help yourself! My father cast a glance at him and said: "You did this for me, let me know what you have done for God?!" Hearing this, the ascetic burst into tears! Woe to me! Woe to me!

One of the Shaykh's disciples who had spent around thirty years with him quoted the Shaykh as saying to him: "I saw the spirit of one of the scholars of spirituality -who had been residing in one of the big cities in Iran -in Barzakh, who pitied himself, beating on his thighs and saying: 'Woe to me! I have come (out of the world) with no pure and sincere actions in hand!' I asked him why he is doing so.

He answered: 'In my life once I made acquaintance with a businessman who introduced to me some of his esoteric features. When I parted with him, I decided to practice asceticism so that I could also acquire an insight to have intuitions and to see the barzakh and the unseen. I practiced self- discipline for thirty years before I succeeded. At that time death knocked at my door.

Now (in the barzakh ) they are telling: By the time you ran into that man of spirituality, you were indulged in your carnal desires, and after that you spent about thirty years of your life in achieving intuitions and vision of the states in barzakh.