Meditation on the Holy Koran LEVELS OF AWARENESS

Do human beings imagine that those who respond wholeheartedly to the demonstrations of Love that proceed from the Source of Love are on the same level of awareness as those whose negations of love have become beautiful in their own eyes, and who follow only their own circumscribed ideas and personal impulses? As such persons live on very different levels of awareness during earthly life, so will they exist in the realm beyond death.

Those immersed in authentic awe of Allah Most Sublime live on the level of Paradise, the fragrant gardens of pure consciousness where four rivers eternally flow. Divine Clarity is the river of transparent water, free from the slightest impurity, that refreshes the soul and slakes its thirst. Divine Knowledge is the river of sweet milk that nourishes the soul perfectly and never turns sour. Divine Bliss is the river of delicate wine that inebriates the soul who ascends in ecstasy. Divine Love is the river of clarified honey, the golden essence of mystical union. On the level of awareness called Paradise grow incomparable fruits, the countless Attributes of Allah Most High. There the soul is cleansed completely by the Divine Forgiveness that flows from the Source of Love. But on the level of awareness called Hell, the intense Splendor of Allah is falsely perceived as unbearable fire, and souls experience the terrors that they dream through their own chronic state of negation as boiling water which scalds their very being as they try to drink. My beloved, how can these two levels be compared?

Meditation on Holy Koran 47:14-15 THE KINGDOM OF REALITY

The infinite fountain of blessing is Allah Most High, Whose embrace of Power and Love constitutes the entire Kingdom of Reality. The Single Source behind all beings and events projects this vast drama of life and death as an education for souls, who learn to express the beautiful Attributes of Allah through contemplation and action within the realm of temporality. Allah Most High is awesome Power as well as tender Mercy and absolute Forgiveness. The ascending planes of Being and levels of awareness are luminous reflections of Divine Power, harmoniously interwoven with Divine Compassion, to create the perfect environment for training souls.

Those whose whole being is oriented toward the Source and Goal of Being do not perceive the slightest imperfection or injustice in the boundless kingdom of the All-Merciful One. Look deeply into this radiant creation of realms and planes, My Beloved. Can you observe the slightest fragmentation or disharmony anywhere? Contemplate this Kingdom of Reality again and again. The gaze of your spiritual understanding, returning to you weary and dazzled, will then come to rest in the Source of Perfection.

Meditation on Holy Koran 67:1-4 THE ESSENCE OF ISLAM

There exists only one Supreme Source, one inexhaustible Power calling Itself Allah, the profoundly living One, the Life beyond time that never diminishes. The One Reality never sleeps, nor even for a moment rests Its embracing Awareness. To the One alone belongs the emanation of planetary existence and the seven higher planes of Being, as spreading rays of sunlight belong to a single sun. There is no being who can turn toward the Ever-Present Source in prayer or contemplation except through the Power and Love that flow from the Source Itself. Since the Ultimate Source abides beyond time, It always remains perfectly aware of what causes precede and what results follow from each event. Human beings can comprehend nothing of this encompassing Awareness save what Allah Most High transmits to them as gifts of Grace. All creation, including planetary and heavenly planes, is the brilliant Throne of Allah. To sustain and protect this vast manifestation of Divine Energy involves no effort at all for the Original Source, Who is supremely transcendent and Who subsists solely as Radiance.

My beloved Mohammed, there should never be the slightest compulsion brought to bear upon any person to walk the exalted way of Islam. Allow humanity to be attracted spontaneously to Islam by its utmost clarity, for Islam simply makes clear the truth that there can be only one Source. This truth dissolves the primal error that turns away from the Ultimate Source by mistaking various limited views to be ultimate. Whoever ceases to rely on any idol, on any limited human understanding, and relies for strength solely on the limitless Source Who calls Itself Allah, has grasped the most trustworthy support, the clear and indestructible essence of Islam.

Allah Most Wise hears inwardly the spoken and unspoken prayers, and perceives intimately the open and hidden motivations of all beings. Allah Most Merciful gives the perfect guidance and full protection of His Divine Friendship to those who affirm the Source of Love with every breath. Those who live the life of constant spiritual affirmation, Allah Most High brings forth from the shadow realm of subjective impulses and limited concepts into the dear Light of the Source. But those who turn away from the Source of Light, who for guidance and protection rely on the graven images of limitation, are drawn from the clarity of Revelation into the realm of shadows, and will inevitably experience the Splendor of Allah as blinding fire.

Meditation on Holy Koran 2:255-257 THE PRAYER OF THE PROPHET MOHAMMED

My beloved Messenger, please teach human beings aspiring to true humanity to pray: "Most exalted Allah, Ruler of the radiant expanse of earthly and heavenly realms, You reveal the potent secrets of Your kingdom to whomever You will, and veil them from whomever You will. As pure Divine Mystery, You elevate whomever You will and limit whomever You will. Your Hands of Power and Goodness hold whatever is needed for the development of each living being, shaping as sensitive spiritual teaching every personal and every cosmic event, for through You alone all events become possible. You alone cause the night of ignorance to disappear into the day of knowledge, and the day of human knowledge, in turn, to disappear into the night of Divine Mystery. You alone cause the living to enter the sleep of death, and You alone awaken those who have died into Your Own transcendent Life. Most precious Allah, Your constant provision for the evolution of all beings is subtle beyond any understanding."

Meditation on Holy Koran 3:26-27 THE LIFE OF JESUS AS REVEALED TO MARY

The angels called: "Dearest Mary, listen. Allah Most High sends you joyous news of the Divine Word, emanating directly from the Source of Love, whose mystical name is Messiah and who will be known as the noble Jesus. He will be profoundly honored in this world, and in the realm of Paradise he is eternally beloved, abiding with the most intimate companions of Love, deep within the Radiance of Allah. The Messiah Jesus will transmit Truth to humanity, beginning as an infant in his cradle and continuing until he reaches manhood. He will be utterly righteous and pure of heart."

The Virgin Mary turned directly to the Ultimate Source and prayed: "Most precious Allah, how can I bear a child, since no man has known me?" Allah Most Merciful then awakened Mary spiritually by placing these Divine Words in her heart: "My beloved Mary, the Source of Power can manifest whatever is needed to guide humanity. To project any being or event, Allah simply affirms it and it is. Through your spontaneously conceived child, the Source of Truth will confirm the truth of the Holy Torah. Through this luminous child, the Source of Wisdom will transmit the wisdom of the Holy Gospel. My beloved Jesus will declare to the People of Israel: 'Behold, I have come with wonderful signs from the Source of Love and Power. As a child I molded from river clay the likeness of a bird. When I breathed on it, by the mysterious permission of Allah, it became a white dove that took wing before my mother's eyes. Through me, the Divine Power heals those born blind, cleanses lepers, and reawakens those who have fallen into the sleep of death. I demonstrate the Power of Allah by knowing precisely what people have experienced, what worldly wealth they have stored in their houses, and what spiritual treasure they have hidden within their hearts. These are demonstrations of Love to turn human beings toward the Source of Love. I have come to confirm the Words of Torah that were revealed before me, and also to bring new spiritual freedom. To give the people of Torah confidence in my Prophethood have I come with powerful signs from Allah Most Sublime. By responding wholeheartedly to me, you will be turning toward the Light of Allah. Allah alone is my Source and your Source. The direct path to illumination is to turn your whole life toward the Ever-Present Source.' "

The Resonance of Allah continued to spring forth in the heart of the Virgin Mary: "When the noble Jesus teaches thus, he will be rejected by his people and will cry out: 'Who will help to bear and to transmit the Truth of Allah that is flowing through me?' The blessed apostles will respond: 'Revered teacher, we will be your humble companions and the instruments of Allah Most High, for we have surrendered our lives to the Source of Life. You can witness our submission. We believe wholeheartedly that you are sent as Holy Messenger from the Source and Goal of Being. May our names be inscribed in the Heavenly Book among those who will follow and serve the Messiah Jesus always.'

"After the bitter scheming of those who live in negation of Love has been brought to nothing by the Power of Allah, the Voice of Truth will call these Divine Words into the heart of His holy servant: 'My beloved Jesus, I now draw you back into Me and exalt your being so that you may merge into My Being. I now purify and heal you from the harsh touch of those who deny that you are a messenger from the Source of Love. Be assured that I will transfigure with My Love all those who sincerely follow you, and awakening from the sleep of death, they will experience the radiant resurrection of Paradise. Be assured as well that all souls will eventually return to Me to resolve the conflict and confusion of their earthly journey.' "

Meditation on Holy Koran 3:45-55 THE PATH OF THE PROPHET ABRAHAM

Allah Most High does not dispel instantly the severe distortion of mind and heart caused by worshipping mental or cosmic forces, the false worship that turns away from the One True Source. Other moral distortions are healed simply by the sweet forgiveness that overflows eternally from the Source of Love. But whoever attempts to elevate limited concepts and experiences to the level of Divine Truth has strayed deep into the shadows of error.

My beloved Mohammed, your own people prayed to etheric forces not even at the level of lower heavenly beings, elemental energies themselves not even aware of the Supreme Source Who is now speaking. Other peoples pray to various personifications of the cosmic rebel Satan, the higher intelligence that is powerful and competing, but that turns away from the Ultimate Source by claiming ultimacy for itself.

Before time began, this Satanic arrogance declared to Allah Most High: "With my brilliant power and eloquence, I will draw to me a portion of Your precious human servants by convincing them that their own intelligence is ultimate and needs look to nothing beyond itself. I will fill them with brilliant notions of how to take the forces of the universe into their own hands. Invading them and dwelling within them as these intoxicating ambitions, when I command, human beings will attempt to change the very laws and principles of Your Creation."

Whoever trusts as a companion this disintegrating force called Satan, instead of making friends with the Source of Love, has suffered devastating loss. This should be obvious to everyone. Those who become intoxicated by Satan's beguiling promise that human intelligence and ambition are ultimate will experience the very Radiance of Allah as the relentless Fire of Hell. But those who keep free from this dangerous intoxication by turning constantly toward their own True Source, living day by day the harmonious life of Islam, will be drawn by the Source of Love directly into Divine Love, which they will experience as timeless gardens flowing with rivers of ecstasy and tranquillity. This homecoming into the Source of Love is Allah's Promise. Who could be more truthful than the One Who is Truth? This message is not your imagination, My beloved Messenger, nor was it the imagination of countless Prophets before you who brought My Words of Truth to their people. Whoever turns away from the Source of Love and spreads the negation of Love will inevitably experience painful results, and will eventually be utterly alone, without a single friend. Only Allah Most Merciful will be able to help, if such a person is still able to face Allah. But the man or woman who lives life completely turned toward the Source of Love, affirming Love with every breath, will encounter Paradise everywhere and will begin to understand the justice rendered to all beings by Allah Most High, justice so perfect that no soul is wronged by even so much as the point of a date stone.

Who could walk a more beautiful spiritual path than the person who lovingly surrenders all to the Source of Love, becoming one whose daily life in every detail clearly expresses Divine Love? This is the original path of the Prophet Abraham, who turned with purity of heart to the Source of Purity and whom Allah Most Sublime embraced as His most intimate friend.

Meditation on Holy Koran 4:116-125
THE COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE

To Allah alone planetary and celestial existence belong as myriad rays belong to the single sun. The Original Source of Light now shining through you, My beloved one, has transmitted an illuminating Book of Revelation to many peoples, through many languages, expressing always the essential message: "Turn with awe toward the Ever-Present Source alone." Whether or not this Message of Truth is heeded, the fact remains that the entire spectrum of earthly and heavenly existence emerges from and returns to Allah alone. Allah is utter Completeness and is alone worthy of eternal praise.

Allah Most High is the Source of Life streaming constantly through the lives of earthly and heavenly beings, all of whom He protects and guides from within by the Power of His Very Presence. If Allah so wished, He could allow humanity to disappear, and evolve another form of conscious being to express the highest Truth, for Allah alone is the Living Power that manifests the entire universe in detail, moment by moment. Whoever longs for fullness and abundance of life should live in conscious surrender to the Source of Life, for Allah alone grants the gifts of this world and the gifts of Paradise. Allah is the embracing Awareness Who sees all actions and motivations, and Who hears the most secret prayers.

My cherished lovers who have turned around toward your own True Source, be utterly committed to justice. Allah Most High is the Living Truth, and you should always witness to the truth on every level, even when your personal interests or those of your family and friends must be sacrificed. Whether rich or poor, all persons must receive equal justice, for Allah Most Merciful is equally present to all. My dear human beings who long to become truly human, you must never act capriciously or evasively but always in deep accord with the principles of justice revealed by Allah Most Wise, Who is fully aware of every intention of every being on every plane of Being.

Meditation on Holy Koran 4:131-135 THE PROPHETHOOD OF MOHAMMED

My beloved Mohammed, the Single Source has revealed Itself clearly through you, just as It did through My beloved Noah and all the other cherished guides of humanity. The Source of Wisdom now teaching humanity through you taught as well through My beloved Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. This very Source of Love sang the Psalms through My beloved David, and conversed directly with My beloved Moses. There are other Messengers of Allah whose holy lives have been revealed to you, My beloved, as well as many Prophets about whom you have not received precise revelation. These inspired and perfected human beings are all sent simply to bear joyous news of the homecoming into Paradise, or Divine Radiance, and to warn about the purifying Fire of Hell, which is the very same Divine Radiance. So many of these luminous Messengers have emerged from the human family that there can be no impression that Allah Most Merciful has not spoken repeatedly to all nations. Allah is none other than boundless Power and complete Wisdom. And Allah Himself now bears witness that His Divine Words are pouring through you, My beloved Mohammed. The Ultimate Source has chosen you from before eternity to be the channel for the culmination of Revelation. The angels also bear witness to your noble Prophethood, yet no confirmation of this truth is necessary beyond that of Allah Most High, Who is Truth.

Meditation on Holy Koran 4:163-166 ABLUTION

Cherished lovers of Allah, while you purify your hearts before plunging into the profound prayers of Islam, purify your bodies as well. The precious human body is the vehicle that bowing, kneeling, and prostrating, will carry you deep into Divine Resplendence. Rinse with clear water your hands, mouth, arms, face, head, and feet. Performed while repeating the Majestic Name of Allah, these simple gestures become a purification of the whole being from negativity and distortion. This is true preparation for prayer, not just washing after the natural acts of elimination and passion. This healing, refreshing, and transforming ablution comes from the Power of Allah, not from the touch of water. If you are sick, or traveling, or water is not available, simply wipe your face and hands with clean dust from the earth while repeating My Holy Name. This practice of ablution has not been revealed by the Source of Wisdom to add difficulty to the performance of prayers, but because Allah Most High wishes to purify and exalt the entire being of His lovers so they may merge into His Being. Experiencing daily this spiritual transformation, the lovers of Love are always flooded with gratitude. At every moment they remember the gift of return to the Source of Love conferred on those who have assimilated with their whole being the commands of Allah. They repeat fervently with each breath: "We hear and we obey." My dear human beings who aspire to be truly human, turn with awe toward the Ultimate Source. The encompassing Awareness Who calls Itself Allah already knows the secret thoughts and longings of every mind and heart.

Meditation on Holy Koran 5:7-8 TORAH, GOSPEL AND KORAN

The Supreme Source sent Jesus, son of My beloved Mary, to walk the noble way of all the Prophets, those deeply cherished guides of humanity. Through the Prophet Jesus, the Source of Wisdom transmitted the Radiant Gospel, full of the same Light of Truth that streams through the Living Torah, resonant with warning and guidance for those who turn with purity of heart toward Allah Most Sublime. The people of the Living Gospel, called Christians, can continue to live wisely in the light of the Revelation granted to them through My beloved Jesus. Only those are turning away from Allah Most High who abandon the wisdom that flows to their own people, through their own Prophets, from the Source of Wisdom.

The Eternal Source now reveals through you, My beloved Mohammed, this sublime Book of Truth, which confirms and safeguards the essential teaching of the Torah, the Gospel, and all the other authentic scriptures that existed before them. Thus Jewish and Christian traditions should be accepted reverently in the light of the Glorious Koran that descends gracefully through you. But you should not accept any teachings or practices of these earlier traditions which have sprung from limited human conceptions, or which contradict the clear principles of Truth revealed through the Holy Koran.

The Source of Life has shown the Prophets of all nations harmonious ways of life and open gateways into the Radiance of Allah. The Source of Power could have united all peoples into a single nation, but Allah Most Merciful has chosen to manifest His Truth through various sacred traditions as teaching and testing for human beings.

If each spiritual nation practices faithfully the path revealed through its own Holy Prophets, then all humanity will return together to the Source of Love. When time ends, on the Day of Truth, Allah alone will clarify the variations and contradictions among historical traditions. While abiding on the earthly plane of Being, evaluate the paths of Torah and Gospel in the light of this Living Koran that the Resonance of Allah is reciting through you. My beloved, never allow your people to be drawn away from the fundamental principle of Divine Unity by contrary teachings that other traditions may maintain. These are human distortions of previous Divine Revelations that remain essentially pure.

Meditation on Holy Koran 5:49-52
Sufi Wisdom JALALUDIN RUMI

It is related that the king of Bokara once sent for Bahaudin Naqshband to advise him on a certain matter.

His message said:

"An ambassador is coming, and I must have you with me when he is here, for consultations. Please come at once."

Bahaudin sent this reply:

"I cannot come, since I am at the moment dependent upon the air of Qasr-El-Arifin, and have no means of bringing it with me in storage jars."

The king was at first perplexed, and then annoyed. In spite of Bahaudin's great importance as a sage, he resolved to remonstrate with him for his lack of civility. In the meanwhile, the ambassador's visit was canceled, and so the king did not have to deal with him after all.

One day, months later, the king was sitting at court when an assassin leapt at him. Bahaudin Naqshband, who had entered the throne room at that moment, jumped upon the man and disarmed him. "In spite of your discourtesy, I am indebted to you, Hadrat El-Shah," said the king. "The courtesy of those who know is to be available when someone needs them, not to sit waiting for ambassadors who are not going to arrive," said Bahaudin.

Throughout the dervish literature you will find us saying repeatedly that we are not concerned with your religion or even with the lack of it. How can this be reconciled with the fact that believers consider themselves the elect? Man's refinement is the goal, and the inner teaching of all the faiths aims at this. In order to accomplish it, there is always a tradition handed down by a living chain of adepts, who select candidates to whom to impart this knowledge. Among men of all kinds this teaching has been handed down.

Because of our dedication to the essence, we have, in the Dervish Path, collected those people who are less concerned about externals, and thus kept pure, in secret, our capacity to continue the succession. In the dogmatic religions of the Jews, the Christians, the Zoroastrians, the Hindus and literalist Islam this precious thing has been lost. We return this vital principle to all these religions and this is why you will see so many Jews, Christians and others among my followers. The Jews say that we are the real Jews, the Christians, Christians.

It is only when you know the Higher Factor that you will know the true situation of the present religions and of unbelief itself. And unbelief itself is a religion with its own form of belief. Each perfected man is in a sense the same as each other one. This means that, correctly attuned through the energy of the School, a disciple can come into communication with all the Great Ones, just as they are in communication with each other, across time and place. We have renewed the substance of the tradition of the Ancients. Many among the dedicated dervishes have not done this, and we must leave them to what they want to practice. Do not engage in disputation with them. "You to your Way, and I to mine." The duties and practices of the School form one whole: the Truth, the manner of teaching and the participants form one hand, in which the ignorant may see only the dissimilarity of the fingers, not the combined action of the hand itself.

The Three Functions of the Perfected Man

The perfected man of the Sufis has three forms of relationship with people. These vary with the condition of the people. The three manners are exercised in accordance with (1) The form of belief which surrounds the Sufi; (2) The capacity of students, who are taught in accordance with their ability to understand; (3) A special circle of people who will share an understanding of the knowledge which is derived from direct inner experience.

Attraction of Celebrities

A man who is being delivered from the danger of a fierce lion does not object, whether this service is performed by an unknown or an illustrious individual. Why, therefore, do people seek knowledge from celebrities?

The Nature of Divine Knowledge

The question of divine knowledge is so deep that it is really known only to those who have it.

A child has no real knowledge of the attainments of an adult.

An ordinary adult cannot understand the attainment of a learned man.

In the same way, an educated man cannot yet understand the experiences of enlightened saints or Sufis.

Seeds Like These

The Enemy of Faith

Meditations

I Am

Truth

A Higher Love

Attainments of a Teacher

My Heart Can Take On Any Appearance

Three Forms of Knowledge

Luxuriant Growth

Unity

The Teacher

Love

The Poet and the Physician

The Beggar

Intellect

THE CHISHTI ORDER Cause and Effect

Abu-Ishak Shami Chishti said:

My teacher, Khaja Hubaira, took me for a walk through the town one day.

A man on a donkey would not make way for us in the narrow streets, and as we were slow in getting out of his path he cursed us roundly.

'May he be punished for that behavior,' people called out of their doorways.

The Khaja said to me:

'How simple-minded people are! Little do they realize how things really happen. They only see one kind of cause and effect, while sometimes the effect, as they would call it, appears before the cause.'

I was perplexed and asked him what he meant.

'Why,' he said, 'that man has already been punished for the behavior which he showed us just now. Last Thursday he applied to enter the circle of Sheikh Adami, and was refused. Only when he realizes the reason will he be able to enter the circle of the elect. Until then he will continue to behave thus.'

The Garden

Once upon a time, when the science and art of gardening was not yet well established among men, there was a master gardener.

In addition to knowing all the qualities of plants, their nutritious, medicinal and aesthetic values, he had been granted a knowledge of the Herb of Longevity, and he lived for many hundreds of years.

In successive generations, he visited gardens and cultivated places throughout the world. In one place he planted a wonderful garden, and instructed the people in its upkeep and even in the theory of gardening. But, becoming accustomed to seeing some of the plants come up and flower every year, they soon forgot that others had to have their seeds collected, that some were propagated from cuttings, that some needed extra watering, and so on. The result was that the garden eventually became wild, and people started to regard this as the best garden that there could be.

After giving these people many chances to learn, the gardener expelled them and recruited another whole band of workers. He warned them that if they did not keep the garden in order, and study his methods, they would suffer for it. They, in turn, forgot--and, since they were lazy, tended only those fruits and flowers which were easily reared and allowed the others to die. Some of the first trainees came back to them from time to time, saying: 'You should do this and that,' but they drove them away, shouting: 'You are the ones who are departing from truth in this matter.'

But the master-gardener persisted. He made other gardens, wherever he could, and yet none was ever perfect except the one which he himself tended with his chief assistants. As it became known that there were many gardens and even many methods of gardening, people from one garden would visit those of another, to approve, to criticize, or to argue. Books were written, assemblies of gardeners were held, gardeners arranged themselves in grades according to what they thought to be the right order of precedence.

As is the way of men the difficulty of the gardeners remains that they are too easily attracted by the superficial. They say: ' I like this flower,' and they want everyone else to like it as well. It may, in spite of its attraction or abundance, be a weed which is choking other plants which could provide medicines or food which the people and the garden need for their sustenance and permanency.

Among these gardeners are those who prefer plants of one single color. These they may describe as 'good'. There are others who will only tend the plants, while refusing to care about the paths or the gates, or even the fences.

When, at length, the ancient gardener died, he left as his endowment the whole knowledge of gardening, distributing it among the people who would understand in accordance with their capacities. So the science as well as the art of gardening remained as a scattered heritage in many gardens and also in some records of them.

People who are brought up in one garden or another generally have been so powerfully instructed as to the merits or demerits of how the inhabitants see things that they are almost incapable--though they make the effort--of realizing that they have to return to the concept of 'garden'. At the best, they generally only accept, reject, suspend judgment or look for what they imagine are the common factors.

From time to time true gardeners do arise. Such is the abundance of semi-gardens that when they hear of real ones people say: 'Oh, yes. You are talking about a garden such as we already have, or we imagine.' What they have and what they imagine are both defective.

The real experts, who cannot reason with the quasigardeners, associate for the most part among themselves, putting into this or that garden something from the total stock which will enable it to maintain its vitality to some extent.

They are often forced to masquerade, because the people who want to learn from them seldom know about the fact of gardening as an art or science underlying everything that they have heard before. So they ask questions like: ' How can I get a more beautiful flower on these onions?'

The real gardeners may work with them because true gardens can sometimes be brought into being, for the benefit of all mankind. They do not last long, but it is only through them that the knowledge can be truly learnt and people can come to see what a garden really is.

The Group of Sufis

A group of Sufis, sent by their preceptor to a certain district, settled themselves in a house.

In order to avoid undesirable attention, only the man in charge--the Chief Deputy--taught in public. The rest of the community assumed the supposed functions of the servants of his household.

When this teacher died, the community rearranged their functions, revealing themselves as advanced mystics.

But the inhabitants of the country not only shred them as imitators, but actually said: 'For shame! See how they have usurped and shared out the patrimony of the Great Teacher. Why, these miserable servants now even behave as if they were themselves Sufis!'

Ordinary people, only through lack of experience in reflection, are without the means to judge such situations as these. They therefore tend to accept mere imitators who step into the shoes of a teacher and reject those who are indeed carrying on his work.

When a teacher leaves a community, by dying or otherwise, it may be intended for his activity to be continued--or it may not. Such is the greed of ordinary people that they always assume that this continuity is desirable. Such is their relative stupidity that they cannot see the continuity if it takes a form other than the crudest possible one.

When Death is Not Death

A certain man was believed to have died, and was being prepared for burial, when he revived.

He sat up, but he was so shocked at the scene surrounding him that he fainted.

He was put in a coffin, and the funeral park set off for the cemetery.

Just as they arrived at the grave, he regained consciousness, lifted the coffin lid, and cried out for help.

'It is not possible that he has revived,' said the mourners, 'because he has been certified dead by competent experts.'

'But I am alive!' shouted the man.

He appealed to a well-known and impartial scientist and jurisprudent who was present.

'Just a moment,' said the expert.

He then turned to the mourners, counting them. 'Now, we have heard what the alleged deceased has had to say. You fifty witnesses tell me what you regard as the truth.'

'He is dead,' said the witnesses.

'Bury him!' said the expert.

And so he was buried.

The Spare Room

A certain man needed money, and the only way he could get it was to sell his house. He did not, however, want to part with all of it.

So he agreed, by contract with the new owners, that he would have the complete and unrestricted use of one room, in which he could keep, at any time, any of his possessions.

At first the man kept small items in his room, and used to go to see them without giving any trouble to anyone. Then, when he changed his job from time to time, he would store the tools of his trade there. Still the new owners did not object.

Finally, he started to keep dead cats in his room, until the whole house was made uninhabitable by the effect of their decomposition.

The owners applied to the courts, but the judges held that the nuisance was compatible with the contract. Eventually they sold the house back to its first owner at a great loss to themselves.

The Seven Brothers

Once upon a time there was a wise father who had seven sons. While they were growing up, he taught them as much as he could, but before he could complete their education he perceived something which made their safety more important. He realized that a catastrophe was going to overwhelm their country. The young men were foolhardy and he could not confide completely in them. He knew that if he said: 'A catastrophe threatens,' they would say: 'We will stay here with you and face it.'

So he told each son that he must undertake a mission, and that he was to leave for that mission forthwith. He sent the first to the north, the second to the south, the third to the west and the fourth to the east. The three other sons he sent to unknown destinations.

As soon as they had gone, the father, using his special knowledge, made his way to a distant country to carry on some work which had been interrupted by the need to educate his sons.

When they had completed their missions, the first four sons returned to their country. The father had so timed the duration of their tasks that they would be safely and remotely engaged upon them until it was possible to return home.

In accordance with their instructions the sons went back to the place which they had known in their youth. But now they did not know one another. Each claimed that he was the son of his father, each one refused to believe the others. Time and climate, sorrow and indulgence, had done their work, and the appearance of the men was changed.

Because they were so bitterly opposed to one another and each determined to assess the other by his stature, his beard, the color of his skin, and his manner of speech--all of which had changed--no brother would for months allow another to open the letter from their common father which contained the answer to their problem and the remainder of their education.

The father had foreseen this, such was his wisdom. He knew that until they were able to understand that they had changed very much they would not be able to learn any more. The situation at the present is that two of the sons have recognized one another, but only tentatively. They have opened the letter. They are trying to adjust themselves to the fact that what they took to be fundamentals are really--in the form in which they use them--worthless externals; what they have for many years prized as the very roots of their importance may in reality be vain and now useless dreams.

The other two brothers, watching them, are not satisfied that they are being improved by their experience, and do not want to emulate them.

The three brothers who went in the other directions have not yet arrived at the rendezvous.

As to the four, it will be some time before they truly realize that the only means of their survival in their exiles--the superficials which they think important--are the very barriers to their understanding.

All are still far from knowledge.

Camel's-Eye View

A man once asked a camel whether he preferred going uphill or downhill.

The camel said: 'What is important to me is not the uphill or the downhill--it is the load!'

The Oath

A man who was troubled in mind once swore that if his problems were solved he would sell his house and give all the money gained from it to the poor.

The time came when he realized that he must redeem his oath. But he did not want to give away so much money. So he thought of a way out.

He put the house on sale at one silver piece. Included with the house, however, was a cat. The price asked for this animal was ten thousand pieces of silver.

Another man bought the house and cat. The first man gave the single piece of silver to the poor, and pocketed the ten thousand for himself.

Many people's minds work like this. They resolve to follow a teaching; but they interpret their relationship with it to their own advantage.

'The Sufi is a Liar'

The Sufi is in the position of a stranger in a country, of a guest in a house. Anyone in either capacity must think of the local mentality.

The real Sufi is a 'changed' man (abdal), change being an essential part of Sufism. The ordinary man is not changed; hence a need for dissimulation.

A man goes into a country where nakedness is honorable, and wearing clothes is considered dishonorable. In order to exist in that country, he must shed his clothes. If he says merely: 'Wearing clothes is best, nakedness is dishonorable,' he puts himself outside the range of the people of the country which he is visiting.

Therefore he will either quit the country or--if he has functions to perform there--he will accept or temporize. If the subject of the excellence or otherwise of wearing clothes comes up in discussion, he will probably have to dissimulate. There is a clash of habits here.

There is an even greater clash between habit thought and non-habit thought. The Sufi, because he has experienced, in common with others, so many things, knows a range of existence which he cannot justify by argument, even if only because all arguments have already been tried by someone at one time or another, and certain ones have prevailed and are considered 'good sense'.

His activity, like that of an artist, is reduced to that of illustration.

On Music

They know that we listen to music, and that we perceive certain secrets therein.

So they play music and cast themselves into 'states'.

Know that every learning must have all its requirements, not just music, thought, concentration.

Remember:

Useless is a wonderful milk-yield

From a cow which kicks the pail over.

Hadrat Muinudin Chishti

How Man Raises Himself Higher

There are two things: good and that which has to become good--reality and pseudo-reality. There is God and there is man.

If a man seeks Truth, he must be eligible for the reception of truth. He does not know this. Consequently, believing in the existence of Truth, he assumes that he is therefore able to perceive it. This is not in accordance with experience, but it continues to be believed.

After my time, as an example, people will continue to use parts of what has been carefully attuned as a means to contact truth, using it as a sort of spell or talisman, to open a gate. They will play and listen to music, will contemplate written figures, will collect together, simply because they have seen all these things done.

But the art is in the right combining of the elements which help to make man worthy of his connection with real Truth, not in a pale imitation of them.

Remember always that the science (ilm) to effect the bridge between the external and the inner is rare and passed down only to a few. Inevitably there will be many who prefer to convince themselves of the reality of a lesser experience rather than to find the purveyor of the essence.

Hadrat Muinudin Chishti

The Mystery of the Sufis

[This Urdu song is sung by followers of the nineteenth-century Chishti saint Sayed Mir Abdullah Shah, whose shrine is in Delhi. The intention is to show that Sufis are known by something which they all share, something not portrayed adequately by names, ritual or regalia; though all these things have some relevance to the mysterious interior unity of being.]

I see a free man sitting on the ground.

At his lips a reed-pipe, the robe is patched, the hands work-worn.

Can this be one of the Great Elect?

Yes, O my Friend, it is He!

Sheikh Saadi Baba, Sultan Arif Khan, Shah Waliullah el-Amir.

Three waves from one sea. Three kings in beggar's garb.

Can they be the High Elect?

Yes, O my Friend, all is He!

All is HE, all is HE, all is HE!

Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew and Sikh.

Brothers in a secret sense--yet who knows it internally? . . .

O Companions of the Cave!

Why the axe, the begging-bowl?

Why the sheepskin, horn and cap?

Why the stone upon the belt?

See: when in your blood flows wine.

All is He, my Friend, is He!

Do you go to mountain-tops?

Are you sitting in a shrine?

Seek him when a Teacher comes,

Seek the jewel within the mine!

All is He, my friends, companions, ALL is HE!

ATTAR OF NISHAPUR

Attar of Nishapur is considered to be one of the greatest of Sufi teachers, and was said to be an inspirer of Rumi.

An Answer of Jesus

Some Israelites reviled Jesus one day as he was walking through their part of the town.

But he answered by repeating prayers in their name.

Someone said to him:

'You prayed for these men, did you not feel incensed against them ?'

He answered:

'I could spend only of what I had in my purse.'

The Heart

Someone went up to a madman who was weeping in the bitterest possible way. He said: 'Why do you cry?'

The madman answered: 'I am crying to attract the pity of His heart.'

The other told him: 'Your words are nonsense, for He has no physical heart.'

The madman answered: 'It is you who are wrong, for He is the owner of all the hearts which exist. Through the heart you can make your connection with God.'

On Being Offered an Unacceptable Donation

What! Would you with a sum of money

Erase my name from the Register of Dervishes?

The Tale of Fazl-Rabbi

One day a penurious old man went to see Fazl-Rabbi to discuss some matter or other.

Because of weakness and nervousness, this ancient stuck the iron point of his walking-stick into Fazl-Rabbi's foot.

Listening courteously to what the old man had to say, Fazl-Rabbi said no word, although he went pale and then flushed, from the pain of the wound and the iron, as it stayed lodged in his foot.

Then, when the other had finished his business, he took a paper from him and put his signature to it.

When the old man had gone, delighted that he had been successful in his application, Fazl-Rabbi allowed himself to collapse.

One of the attendant nobles said:

'My lord, you sat there with blood pouring from your foot, with that old man in his dotage piercing it with his iron-tipped staff, and you said nothing, nothing at all.'

Fazl-Rabbi answered:

'I made no sign of pain because I feared that the old man's distress might cause him to withdraw in confusion, and that he might abandon his application for my help. Poor as he was, how could I add to his troubles in that manner?'

Be a real man: learn nobility of thought and action, like that of Fazl-Rabbi.

The Slave Without a Master

Wandering in a patchwork robe, his face blackened by the sun, a certain dervish arrived at Kufa, where he was seen by a merchant.

The merchant spoke to him, and decided that he must be a lost slave.

'Because of your mild manner, I will call you "Khair" (good) ,' he said. 'Are you not a slave?'

'That I am,' said Khair.

'I will take you home, and you can work for me until I find your master.'

'I would like that,' said Khair, 'for I have been seeking my master for such a long time.'

He worked for many years with this man, who taught him to be a weaver; hence his second name: 'Nassaj' (weaver).

After his long services, feeling guilty of his exploitation, the merchant said to him: ' I do not know who you are, but you are now free to go.'

Khair Nassaj, the great Master of the Way, traveled onward to Mecca, without regrets, for he had discovered how to continue his development in spite of having no name and being treated like a slave.

He was the teacher of Shibli, Ibrahim Khawwas and many more of the great Teachers of the Sufis. He died over a thousand years ago, at the age of one hundred and twenty.

The Magic Box

A man once wanted to sell a rough carpet, and he made a public offer of it in the street.

The first man to whom he showed it said:

'This is a coarse carpet, and very worn.'

And he bought it cheaply.

Then the buyer stood up and said to another who was walking along:

'Here is a carpet soft as silk, none is like it.'

A Sufi who was passing by had listened to the buying and the attempted selling of one and the same carpet with two different descriptions.

The Sufi said to the carpet-seller:

'Please, carpet-man, put me in your magic box, which can turn a rough carpet into a smooth one, perhaps a nothing into a jewel!'

The Moon

The Moon was asked:

'What is your strongest desire?'

It answered:

'That the Sun should vanish, and should remain veiled for ever in clouds.'

The Five Hundred Gold Pieces

One of Junaid's followers came to him with a purse containing five hundred gold pieces.

'Have you any more money than this?' asked the Sufi.

'Yes, I have.'

'Do you desire more?'

'Yes, I do.'

'Then you must keep it, for you are more in need than I; for I have nothing and desire nothing. You have a great deal and still want more.'

The Madman and the Muezzin

A muezzin in Isfahan had climbed to the top of a minaret and was giving the call to prayer.

Meanwhile, a madman was passing by, and someone asked him:

'What is he doing there, in that minaret? '

The madman said:

'That man up there is in fact shaking a nutshell which has nothing within it.'

When you speak the ninety-nine Names of God, you are, similarly, playing with a hollow nutshell. How can God be understood through names?

Since you cannot speak in words about the essence of God, best of all speak about nobody at all.

Kitab-Ilahi

The Religious Framework

One day when the Companion Omar was looking through a Jewish holy book, the Prophet Mohammed said to him:

'You are too casual with that book. If you want to gain any value from it, you will have to become a Jew. To be a perfect Jew is better than to be an incomplete Muslim; and dallying with the Jewish book is half-hearted and will give you no benefit one way or the other.

'Your mistake is that you are neither one thing nor another in behaving in this manner. You do not believe, neither do you disbelieve. What, then, is your condition, how can it be described?'

Kitab-Ilahi

A Story of Moses

Once Moses was asking God to show him one of God's friends, and a voice answered:

'Go to a certain valley and there you will find one who loves, one of the chosen, who treads the Path.'

Moses went and found this man, dressed in rags, plagued by every kind of insect and crawling thing.

He said: 'Can I do anything for you ?'

The man answered: 'Emissary of God, bring me a cup of water, for I am thirsty.'

When Moses returned with the water he found the man lying dead. He went away to look for a piece of cloth for a winding-sheet. When he came back he found that the body had been all but devoured by a desert lion.

Moses was distressed beyond measure, and cried out:

'All-Powerful and All-Knowing One, you convert mud into human beings. Some are carried to paradise, others driven through tortures; one is happy, another in misery. This is the paradox which none can understand.'

Then an inner voice spoke to Moses, saying:

'This man had relied upon Us for drink and then turned back from that trust. He relied upon Moses for his sustenance, trusting in an intermediary. His was the fault in asking for help from another after having been content with Us . . .'

Your heart attaches itself again and again to objects. You have to know how to keep the connection with your origins . . .

Ilahi-Nama

Souls Before the Creation of the Body

Know about the time when there were souls and no bodies.

This was a time of a few years, but each of those years was one of our millennia.

The souls were all arrayed in line. The world was presented to their sight. Nine out of ten of the souls ran towards it.

Then paradise was presented to the remaining souls. Out of these, nine out of ten ran towards it.

Then hell was shown to the remaining souls. Nine out of ten of them ran away from it in horror.

Then there were only a few souls, those who were affected by nothing at all. They had not been attracted by the earth or by paradise, nor had they feared hell.

The Celestial Voice spoke to these survivors, saying:

'Idiot souls, what is it that you want?'

The souls answered in unison:

'You who know all know that it is You whom we desire, and that we do not desire to leave Your Presence.'

The voice said to them:

'Desire of Us is perilous, causes hardship and innumerable perils.'

The souls answered him:

'We will gladly experience anything for the sake of being with You, and lose everything in order that we may gain everything.'

Ilahi-Nama

The Test

It is related of Shaqiq of Balkh that he once said to his disciples:

'I put my confidence in God and went through the wilderness with only a small coin in my pocket. I went on the Pilgrimage and came back, and the coin is still with me.'

One of the youths stood up and said to Shaqiq:

'If you had a coin in your pocket, how could you say that you relied upon anything higher?'

Shaqiq answered:

'There is nothing for me to say, for this young man is right. When you rely upon the invisible world there is no place for anything, however small, as a provision!'

Kitab-Ilahi

About Mohammed, Son of Isa

Mohammed, son of Isa, was one of the boon-companions of the Commander of the Faithful. Because of the agility of his thought he surpassed all others.

One day he was riding through the Baghdad streets, accompanied by a multitude of attendants. The people asked one another:

'Who is this man, so dazzlingly bedecked, so well mounted, so rich?'

And one old woman who was hobbling along answered them:

'That is a poor man, not a rich one. For, had Allah not denied him his favor, he would not have such vanity as this.'

Hearing this, Mohammed, son of Isa, dismounted at once from his gorgeously caparisoned horse, and admitted that this indeed was his condition. From that moment he abandoned all desire for outward show and wealth.

The Perception of the Madman

There was a certain madman who would not take part in congregational prayers. One Friday, after much difficulty, people induced him to attend.

But as soon as the leader of the prayer started to recite, the madman started to bellow like an ox.

The people, assuming that he was only reverting to madness, but at the same time desirous of helping him, challenged him afterwards:

'Have you no idea of God, that you should make a noise like an animal in the middle of a believing congregation?'

But the madman said:

'I was only doing what the prayer-leader was doing. When he intoned, he was buying an ox, and I spoke like an ox!'

When this strange remark was reported to the leader of the prayer, he confessed:

When I was saying GOD IS GREATEST OF ALL, I was in fact thinking about my farm. And when I got to the phrase PRAISE TO GOD, I thought that I would buy an ox. It was at that moment that I heard something bellowing.'

The Miser and the Angel of Death

A miser had accumulated, by effort, trade and lending, three hundred thousand dinars. He had lands and buildings, and all kinds of wealth.

He then decided that he would spend a year in enjoyment, living comfortably, and then decide as to what his future should be.

But, almost as soon as he had stopped amassing money, the Angel of Death appeared before him, to take his life away.

The miser tried, by every argument which he could muster, to dissuade the Angel, who seemed, however, adamant. Then the man said:

'Grant me but three more days, and I will give you one third of my possessions.'

The Angel refused, and pulled again at the miser's life, tugging to take it away.

Then the man said:

'If you will only allow me two more days on earth, I will give you two hundred thousand dinars from my store.'

But the Angel would not listen to him. And the Angel even refused to give the man a solitary extra day for all his three hundred thousand pieces.

Then the miser said:

'Please, then, give me just time enough to write one little thing down.'

This time the Angel allowed him this single concession, and the man wrote, with his own blood:

'Man, make use of your life. I could buy not one hour for three hundred thousand dinars. Make sure that you realize the value of your time.'

The Donkey's Head

An idiot saw a donkey's head on a stick in a garden. He asked: 'What is that doing there?' He was told: 'It has been put there to avert the evil eye!' The fool replied: 'You are the ones with asses' brains, and that's why you have set up an ass's head! When it was alive it could not prevent the blows of the stick from hitting it. Now, when dead how can it repel the evil eye?'

Absurdity and Ignorance

What seems to be absurdity and is not, is better than the ignorance of the man who thinks it is absurd.

Light

The true lover finds the light only if, like the candle, he is his own fuel, consuming himself.

Christians and Muslims

A Christian once became a Muslim. The very next day, however, he began to drink wine.

His mother, coming upon him in a drunken state, said:

'My son, what are you doing? In acting in this way you have spurned Jesus, and you have also failed to please Mohammed. Stay in the belief which is yours! Nobody can be a man and worship idols as well as holding to another faith.'

The Tree Unaware of its State

A man cut down a tree one day.

A Sufi who saw this taking place said:

'Look at this fresh branch which is full of sap, happy because it does not yet know that it has been cut off.

'Ignorant of the damage which it has suffered it may be--but it will know in due time.

'Meanwhile you cannot reason with it.'

This severance, this ignorance, these are the state of man.

The Arrow

When an arrow is loosed from the bow, it may go straight, or it may not, according to what the archer does.

How strange, therefore, that when the arrow speeds without deviation, it is due to the skill of the archer: but when it goes out of true, it is the arrow which receives the maledictions!

King Mahmud and the Beans

The mighty King Mahmud of Ghazna, out hunting one day, was separated from his party. He came upon the smoke of a small fire and rode to the spot, where he found an old woman with a pot.

Mahmud said:

'You have as guest today the monarch. What are you cooking on your fire ?'

The crone said:

'This is a bean stew.'

The emperor asked her:

'Old lady, will you not give me some?'

'I will not,' she said, 'for this is only for me. Your kingdom is not worth what these beans are worth. You may want my beans, but I don't want anything you have. My beans are worth a hundred times more than all you have. Look at your enemies, who challenge your possessions in every particular. I am free, and I have my own beans.'

The mighty Mahmud looked at the undisputed owner of the beans, thought of his disputed domains, and wept.

Unaware

You know nothing of yourself here and in this state.

You are like the wax in the honeycomb: what does it know of fire or guttering ?

When it gets to the stage of the waxen candle and when light is emitted, then it knows.

Similarly, you will know that when you were alive you were dead, and only thought yourself alive.

The Madman and the Wrestler

A tipsy madman called after the coffin-bearers of a funeral:

'Who was this man who has fallen into the claws of death?'

They answered: 'Madman, this is the body of a champion wrestler, a young man who was in the prime of his life.'

The madman said: ' He died through the power of a mighty adversary, not knowing that this would happen to him.'

The Two Rings

A man loved two women equally. They asked him to tell them which one was his favorite.

He asked them to wait for a time until his decision should be known.

Then he had two rings made, each exactly resembling the other.

To each of the women, separately, he gave one ring.

Then he called them together and said:

'The one whom I love best is she who has the ring.'

This, Too, Will Pass

A powerful king, ruler of many domains, was in a position of such magnificence that wise men were his mere employees. And yet one day he felt himself confused and called the sages to him.

He said:

'I do not know the cause, but something impels me to seek a certain ring, one that will enable me to stabilize my state.

'I must have such a ring. And this ring must be one which, when I am unhappy, will make me joyful. At the same time, if I am happy and look upon it, I must be made sad.'

The wise men consulted one another, and threw themselves into deep contemplation, and finally they came to a decision as to the character of this ring which would suit their king.

The ring which they devised was one upon which was inscribed the legend:

THIS, TOO, WILL PASS

The King Who Divined His Future

A king who was also an astrologer read in his stars that on a certain day and at a particular hour a calamity would overtake him.

He therefore built a house of solid rock and posted numerous guardians outside.

One day, when he was within, he realized that he could still see daylight. He found an opening which he filled up, to prevent misfortune entering. In blocking this door he made himself a prisoner with his own hands.

And because of this the king died.

This Space

On a wall within the tekkia arches of the meditation-hall of Attar, it is related, were written the words:

'Reserved for the Sage (Hakim) Tamtim.'

Sheikh Attar instructed his senior disciples to observe the behavior of all newcomers towards this inscription.

He predicted that all who reacted to it in a certain fashion would develop mystical powers correctly and rapidly; and that all who said or did certain other things would leave or have to be sent away.

He never asked the disciples which postulant reacted in which way. But they observed, over the years, that it turned out always as he predicted.

One day he was asked why he left this inscription there. He said:

'It is to show those without perceptions that apparently insignificant indications to certain experiences will betray the inner capacities or lack of them to one who knows how to make a test.'