Source: Self Building, P. 300, Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini.
One of the most eminent wayfarer of gnostic journey - the great learned Divine Scholar Mulla Muhammad Taqi Majlisi writes:
"Whatever this servants has discovered during his period of self-building and gnosticism is related to the period when I was busy in studying commentary of the Holy Qur'an, one night, while I was in a state of partly slept and partly awakened I saw the Holy Prophet Mohammad (S.A. W.) in a dream. I said to my self that it is a good opportunity to take a profound look about the perftction and moral ethics of the Holy Prophet (S. A. W.) The more I paid attention towards him I found his splendor and illumination spreading till it brightened the entire space around me.

"At this moment it was revealed to me that the Holy Qur'an is the perfect man frstation of the Holy Prophet s moral ethics. Therefore, to know more about Holy Prophet s moral ethics I must ponder deeply about the Holy Qur'an. The more I paid attention upon the verses of Holy Qur an the more I discovered the sublime realities till at one instant I felt that a lot of realities and learning have been descended upon my heart.

"After that whenever 1 pondered about a Qur'anic verse, I felt that a special talent for its comprehension has been bestowed upon me. Of course, appreciation of this incident by some one who has not been blessed with such a grace is naturally d~ffi cult rather impossible, but my aim was to advice and guide the fellow brothers for the sake of God-Almighty. The guidelines for ascesticim and self-building consist of

- Useless talks, rather any thing other than God's Remembrance should be strictly avoided.

- Living in luxurious, beau4ful and comfortable housing as well as consumption of expensive foods, drinks and fancy clothing should be renounced. (one should limit himself to the extent of fulfilling his genuine needs).

- Social mixing with other than God's most favorite saints should be strictly avoided.

- Excessive sleep should be avoided and God s invocation with complete dedication should be recited continuously.

"God s favorite saints by continuous recital of invocations namely:

"Oh! Self-existent Oh! Eternal (ya Hay yio ya Qayyum!) and "There is no god but God (Ya man la ilaha illa ant), were able to obtain good results. I too have practiced the same invocation but perhaps my favorite invocadon is "Oh! God ! (Ya Allah), with thorough cleansing of heart from all existence other than God, together with absolute concentration towards Him. Of course, what is important is that God's Remembrance should be accompanied with absolute concentration and heart s presenc~. Also, all other deeds do not come close to the importance assigned to invocation.

if this is done for a period offorty days and night continuously then certainly the doors of wisdom, learning, and love will be opened for the wayfarer enabling him to ascent towards the most exalted gnostic positions of annihilation in God (fanafi Allah wa baqa billah), or achieving permanence with God-Almighty.

- Rozateh al-Mutaqin, vol. i3, p-l28.