To work for show, and desire the rank of a saint, is not the mark of piety. Thy deeds are all tainted with desire. Purity consists in the spirit of Service, not in avarice. The one is not compatible with the other. But we want bribes to serve the Lord.
O brother, cast off avarice. God does not owe anything to any one, and His gifts on earth or after death are gratuitious. Do all your works for His Service, not in the hope of gaining heaven or shunning hell . . . .
He who aspires to work in His Service should be careful of the purity of his motives, which is a function of the heart. An act without pure motive cannot soar from the region of sham to the sphere of Service . . . . A prayer worth the name is one performed with the fervour of the heart, and not with the lips only. The motto of monotheism, “There is no God save Allâh,” if repeated as a talk at moments of sale and purchase, can not be regarded as a declaration of Divine Unity . . . . God says: “My shrine is not a place of sale and purchase. Thou goest to market with the object of gaining something thou hast not. But if thou comest to My Shrine, come with the distinct understanding that thou losest all and returnest a pauper.” Khwâjâ Ahmad had a vision of God, Who told him: “Ahmad, all men ask Me for something, save Bâyazîd * who asks for Myself alone.”—Letter 73.