For them will be brought around platters and cups of gold. Therein will be whatever the souls hunger for and gives pleasure to the eyes. For them will be brought around platters and cups of gold. This is the portion of the renunciants and worshipers, who kept themselves totally in obedience and worship. They passed their days in hunger and thirst by the decree of discipline and struggle according to the Shariah. They did not take advantage of the tasty foods and drinks of this world, so tomorrow in paradise the serving boys and servants will pass around golden cups and say to them, “Eat and drink pleasantly for what you left behind in bygone days” [69:24]. Therein shall be whatever the souls hunger for and gives pleasure to the eyes. This is the portion of the recognizers and the yearners, who were always wishing for the vision of the Real's majesty and beauty with thirsty hearts, burning breaths, and spirits lit up by passion. A whiff of the world of friendship had reached them, and that whiff distracted and bewildered them. This was a bewilderment within the curtain, not outside the curtain. The bewilderment that takes you outside makes you lose the road, but the bewilderment inside the curtain is one of the traces of the perfect divine majesty. Whoever cannot go from creation to the Real is bewildered by losing the road. Whoever cannot come from the Real to creation is bewildered by the Presence of the Threshold. Wherever he goes, he returns only to Him. From here the Pir of the Tariqah said, “For a long time I was seeking Him and finding myself. Now I seek myself and find Him.” This is the same bewilderment requested by the chevaliers of the Tariqah: “O Guide of the bewildered, increase me in bewilderment!” They sang, “I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand, O guide of those bewildered in Thee!” A group worshiped God with fear and hope and their eyes fell on this: For them will be brought around platters and cups of gold. They are the wage-earners who have stayed attached to the reward and tied their hearts to aching for everlastingness. A group worshiped Him with affection and love, and they are the recognizers. They gave their hearts to His love and burned in wishing to see Him.
