Discourses of Rumi

228 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIlands and craving for carrion. On the contrary, itfollows the Sultan’s horses and pursues the game.It is the same with the hawk. When the Sultan hastrained it, it never says, “I inherited from myfather desolate haunts in the mountains and thedevouring of dead things, so I will not heed theSultan’s drum, or his game.”If the intellect of the beast can choose somethingbetter than what it inherited from its parents,it is monstrous and horrible that a humanbeing, superior to all the inhabitants of the earthin reason and discrimination, should be less thana beast. We take refuge in God from that!Certainly it is right to say that God honoredJesus and drew him close, so that whoever servesJesus has served the Lord, whoever obeys him hasobeyed the Lord. But since God sends a prophetin every age, manifesting by their hand all thatwas manifested by Jesus’ hand and more, itbehooves us to follow that prophet—not for thesake of the prophet, but for the sake of God.Only God can be served for Its own sake.Therefore, only God is truly loved. Love for allelse ends in God. So, love a thing only for God,