Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Once a person asked Hakim al-Umma (Allah have mercy on him), that the famous verse;
Yak zamana suhbat ba awliya
Behter az sed sala ta’et e bay-riya
(Momentary companionship of Friends of Allah is better than hundred years of sincere worship) seems to be an exaggeration. How can this be possible?

Hakim al-Umma replied,

‘It was no exaggeration at all. Moreover, the message was still not completely conveyed. If the poet had said;
Yak zamana suhbat ba awliya
behter az sed lekh sala ta’et e bay-riya
(Momentary company of Friends of Allah is better than million years of sincere worship), it would not have been an exaggeration.”

This is because in the company of pious/awliya you get more than the sincerity. You get the ta’uluq ma’Allah/love of Allah swt. This is the master key for all the further good actions.’