Discourses of Rumi

388 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIEveryone goes to the store to fulfill their needs.God bestows both the desires and the provisionsfor each person, but if people sit at home actingself-sufficient then their provisions will neverreach them. After all, when a little child cries, hermother feeds her. Now, if the child stopped tothink, “What use is there in crying? How couldcrying possibly cause milk to come?” she wouldstay hungry. Therefore, crying brings her food.This is the same as asking, “What use is therein this bowing, prostrating and prayer? Whyshould I do it?” Well, when you bow before aprince, the prince has compassion for you, doesn’the? But this compassion doesn’t come from theprince’s skin and flesh. Should he die, or when heis asleep, then bowing to the prince’s body accomplishesnothing. So we realize that the compassionof the prince is something invisible. If we can bowto something invisible contained in skin and flesh,surely we can also bow to that Prince who is withoutskin and flesh.If everything contained in skin and flesh werevisible, Abu Jahl and Mohammed would havebeen the same, there would have been no differencebetween them. An ear, to outward appear-