take counsel with the company of the righteous

Take counsel with the company of the righteous:
note the Divine command given to the Prophet, "Consult them."*
The words their affair is a matter for consultation are for this purpose;
through consultation mistakes and errors occur less often.

Human intellects are luminous like lamps;
twenty lamps are brighter than one.
There may happen to be among them
one lamp aflame with spiritual light,
for the jealousy of God sometimes lowers veils,
mingling the lofty with the low.

He has said, "Travel" **
seek your fortune in the world and reap its benefits.

In all gatherings seek among minds
the kind of intellect found in the Prophet,
for the heritage of the Prophet is a consciousness
which perceives the unseen things before and after.

Amid the inward eyes, too, always be seeking that inner eye
which this Mathnawi has not the power to describe.

Hence the majestic Prophet has forbidden monasticism
and going to the mountains to live as a hermit,
in order that this kind of contact with the saints should not be lost;
for to be looked upon by them is a blessing,
an elixir of eternal life.

~ Mathnawi, Jelaluddin Rumi ~
translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski
. from Jewels of Remembrance .

* Quran: Surah Ash-Shura (Consultation), verse 42:38 *
** Quran: Surah Al-Ankabut (The Spider), verse 29:20 **