The Book of Akbar 271.1

271.1

not pertain to the acquisition of perfections. For him who is God's pupil, what occasion is there for teaching by creatures, or for application to lessons? Accordingly his holy heart and his sacred soul never turned towards external teaching. And his possession of the most excellent sciences together with his disinclination for the learning of letters were a method of showing to mankind, at the time of the manifestation of the lights of hidden abundancies, that the lofty comprehension of this Lord of the Age was not learnt or acquired, but was the gift of God in which human effort had no part. His Highness in that period assimilated external glory and temporal dominion in abundance, but feigned ignorance of inward perfections and spent much time in sport, and practised wisdom under a veil of concealment, so that even the farseeing failed to notice it. But, as his genius was soaring, he was making a perfect veil for himself out of grand external performances. And he put his heart into acts so that though their beauty was not evident to the superficial yet the profound perceived the designs. Among them was his continually giving his attention to that wondrous creature the camel and his delight in the marvels of Divine power.