So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, except for one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand...} (Al-Baqarah: 249) means: except for the one who takes only as much as is needed to establish the Outward among its people [the public]; and this is the permitted and commanded knowledge [for the purpose of dissimulation].
The fresh meat and the ornament are the reports that the believer hears from the People of the Outward1, by which he grows stronger and his insight into the Gnosis (Ma'rifa) of Allah increases.
The salty and bitter water is the Inward Knowledge—bitter, difficult, and unpalatable to the taste, which the People of the Outward do not incline toward, except for those whose hearts' locks Allah has opened and whom He has guided to His religion.
The noble and virtuous Sayyid, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Tusi—may Allah sanctify his soul—traveled this Straight Path and walked this upright course, excelling in clarifying this meaning in his 'Ainiyya poem, saying:
I said to it: O Heart, the River—it is
The Outward Sciences established by the Mim as the Lawgiver.
So act upon it, for it is the Wall—I establish it