Locman of Sarkhas said: “O God! I am old, troubled in my mind, and gone astray far from the path. An old slave is contented when he is given a certificate and set free. In Thy service, I too, O my King! my black hair has turned white as snow. I am a sorrowful slave; grant me contentment. I have grown old; give me the certificate of my manumission.” “O Thou who hast been specially admitted into the sanctuary!” a voice from the invisible world replied, “whoever desires to be freed from slavery must at the same time efface his reason and care for nothing. Leave these two things, then, and set Thy foot forward.”
“O my God!” Locman answered, “I desire only Thee, and I know thereby that I must neither follow my reason nor give way to anxiety. I understand it well in this manner.”
“O my God!” Locman answered, “I desire only Thee, and I know thereby that I must neither follow my reason nor give way to anxiety. I understand it well in this manner.”
Accordingly, Loqmân renounced his reason and all care; he stamped his foot and waved his hands in his madness, and said: “I no longer know what I am. I am not a slave, it is true, but what am I? My slavery has been abolished, but my emancipation has not taken place; neither joy nor sorrow has remained in my heart. I remain without attributes, and yet I am not devoid of them; I am a contemplative, but I enjoy no contemplation. I know not whether Thou art me or whether I am Thee; I have been annihilated in Thee, and duality has been lost.”