Schaikh Gauri, who had wholly identified himself with God, went one day beneath a bridge with some madmen (with love of God). Sanjar, who happened to pass that way in great pomp, said to him: “What are those people beneath the bridge?” The schaikh replied: “They are people who have neither head nor feet! And the state of us all can be no different. If you wish always to be our friend, we shall swiftly and utterly remove you from the world. If, on the contrary, you are our enemy and not our friend, we shall swiftly remove you from religion. See, then, what our friendship is and what our enmity is. Step forward, and you will be disgraced like us. If you come beneath the bridge for a moment, you will be delivered from the vain splendour that surrounds you and from the…
Sanjar answered him: “I am not your man; I deserve neither your friendship nor your hatred. I am neither your friend nor your enemy; I withdraw lest my harvest be burned*. I take from you neither honour nor dishonour; I have no dealings with what good you may do or what evil you may do. Ambition came like a swift-winged bird, ever faster in its flight; but if that bird lets itself be carried away by its flight, how can it receive the divine attraction? How can it attain the secret of its creation? Its course must go beyond the horizons of existence, for it is at once above reason and intoxication.”