The First: Rivalry towards material advantages slowly destroys sincerity. It is also detrimental to the results of our service. So too it causes the material benefits to be lost. This nation has always nurtured respect for those who work for reality and the hereafter,  and  has  assisted  them.  With  the  intention  of  actively  sharing  in  their genuine sincerity and in the work they carry out devotedly, it has always showed respect by assisting them with material benefits  like  alms  and  gifts to  save  them from preoccupation  with securing their material needs and  wasting their time. But such assistance and benefit may not be sought; it is given. It may not even be sought through the tongue of disposition by inwardly desiring it or awaiting it. It should rather be given unexpectedly, otherwise sincerity will be harmed. It would otherwise bring a person close to the prohibition stated by the verse,

Nor sell my signs for a small price,(2:41, etc.)

and in part destroys the action.

The evil-commanding soul selfishly excites a feeling of rivalry towards a true brother and companion in that particular service by first desiring and expecting such a material benefit, then not allowing it to go to someone else. Sincerit y is damaged, and the sacredness of the service is lost, and the person becomes disagreeable in the eyes of the people of realit y. He also loses the material benefit. This subject needs much discussion, but I shall curtail it and only mention two examples which will strengthen sincerity and true union between my true brothers.

First Example: ‘The worldly,’ and even certain politicians and secret societies

and manipulators of society, have adopted as their guiding principle, that of shared property,  in order to procure wealth and power. They do acquire an extraordinary strength and advantage, despite all their exploitation and losses. However, the nature of common property does not change with sharing, despite its many harms. Although each partner is as though the owner and supervisor of the rest in one respect, he is unable to profit from it.

Nevertheless, if the principle of shared property is applied to the works of the hereafter, it accumulates vast benefits and produces no loss. For it means that all the property passes to the hands of each partner. For example, there are four or five men. With the idea of sharing,  one of them brings paraffin, another a wick, another the lamp, another the mantle, and the fifth matches; they assemble the lamp and light it. Each of them becomes the owner of a complete lamp. If each of those partners has a full-length mirror on a wall, he will be reflected in it together with the lamp and room, without deficiency or being split up.

Just the same are mutual participation in the goods of the hereafter through the mystery of sincerity, and co-operation through the mystery of brotherhood, and joint enterprise through the mystery of unity: the total obtained by those joint acts, and all the light, enters the book of good deeds of each person taking part. This is a fact and has been witnessed by the people of reality. It is required also by the breadth of divine mercy and munificence.