I have explained the metaphor of the Staff and its transformation in the treatise Unveiling the Veils and Explaining the Meaning of Truth and Falsehood¹ and omitted it here for brevity.

I will strike a definitive proverb for you: Heat appears with the appearance of the Sun and disappears with its absence. People thus imagine that the Sun itself is "hot," while in reality, it is neither hot nor cold. The same applies to lineages and all of the Fifteen States manifested by the Prophets and Successors.

The meaning of the saying of Christ: "Indeed, the light has come into the world."

I will strike another example for you: A magnifying glass (zujaja murakkaba) may produce a consuming fire in the presence of the sun, yet in reality, it possesses neither heat nor fire. Without the presence of the sun, it would never burn anything.

Likewise, the Prophets and Successors: although they manifest lineages and [human] states through their existence, they transcend them. Just as the sun and the glass do not contain fire—rather, the heat and fire occur only through the sun's presence—so it is with lineages and human states.