The Raindrop Will Become A Pearl

The reflection cast from good friends is needed until you become, without the aid of any reflector, a drawer of water from the sea.
Know that at first the reflection is just imitation, when it continues to recur, it turns into direct realisation of truth. Until it has become realisation, do not part from the friends who guide you. Do not break away from the shell until the raindrop has become a pearl.
The Masnawi, Volume II:566-8