Journey of a Sufi

Now, we are living in an advance age of our civilization, with advancement in every field. The door of communication has opened up to new vistas of knowledge and learning. The march of time has quickened its pace, so much so, that the vitals of the modern life are being devoured by new viruses, which are threatening to end the very existence of Man on this beautiful planet. From the time a child is born, he is being prepared to face the fast life. From the age of two or even less, a child is admitted to a play school. No longer do the nannies and grannies, aunts and uncles play with the child. There is a cultural breakdown and due to shortage of space of living, crammed living, living in concrete jungles, children are bereft of the beauty of nature and to watch the pleasantness the fauna and flora provides to thrill the senses and the opportunities it provides for observation and learning.

The masses and so also the privileged class are no longer in a position to spare time to learn the nuances of music, language and various other aspects of culture. They have to be content with watching films on the screen and be content with entertainment provided to appease the cheap senses of mind and heart. Today, more importance is given to that type of entertainment which satisfies the baser elements in man. This has been the major cause for breakdown of one’s personality and a person to become ‘egocentric’, ‘selfish’, ‘self-centered’; ‘spend thrift’, ‘greedy’, ‘jealous’ and such other weaknesses that robs a person of peace and solace.

Mankind has realized now that the advancement achieved with scientific and medical inventions besides great progress in the art of living has at the same time robbed man of the happiness of joint family system and age old traditions. Every age has found this loss around it in its time and tenure. Holy Quran in Sura C-III has referred to man being in a state of loss and points out that only those who are believers (in Almighty God, and in eternal goodness) and do good works and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance (patience) are saved from loss. Loss means loss of every good aspect of living, culture and civilization. Thus patience has been considered as a mother of virtue. Every human being has to have endurance and develop patience in every walk of life so that the baser elements in man do not strike him like a poisonous snake to death. The disturbing elements in mind and heart are required to be curbed. The multiple desires erupting like fountain constantly require controlling and checking and one has to set limits of tolerance. The living needs to be cultivated and it can be done only by exerting in endurance and patience. A seed takes its own time to sprout to a sapling and to a tree then to reach the flowering stage before it can bear sweet fruits for us to relish. So also all good deeds need and require time, patience and endurance to bear sweet fruits.

Loss of patience is a sure way to defeat and it ruins all the good that is likely to happen in our life. Self control can be cultivated only through patience. Just as a mother exhibits enormous patience in the upbringing of a child; so also virtues and good deeds requires at its root level patience.

God praised those who adopt patience and mentioned more than several times in the Holy Quran. He kept most good deeds and merits linked with patience. God Says:

“When they kept patience, I created leaders from amongst them who showed guidance according to my instructions”

Sura 32.V.24.

God says owing to the patience of Bani Israel, the words of your Lord were perfected well over them. God Says:

“I will reward those for their goods works and who are patient.”

“They will be given double rewards for their patience.”

“The patient will be given rewards fully without accounts.”

“Fasting is only for Me and I will give its rewards.”

He kept connection with those having patience with Him and promised that He is with the patient.

“Take to patience, God is with the patient”

Sura 2: V 249.

“If you keep patience and fear God… your Lord will help you with five thousand well armed angels”

“These are blessings and mercy upon them from their Lord and they are those who are guided”

Sura 2 V 58

The Prophet (SAS) said patience is half of faith. He said: The lowest measure of what you have been given is sure faith and firm determination of patience. He who has been given a portion of those two qualities has got no fear even if he prays little at night and fasts little during day time. If you can stand with firm foot with patience just as you are now and do not turn away from this way, it is dear to me. If anybody does divine service equal to all of you after turning away from patience, it will not be dear to me. I fear the world will be opened to you after me. You will then cherish hatred for one another and the dwellers of heaven will then be dissatisfied with you. He, who keeps patience and expects rewards, will get full reward. Then he recited this verse:

“What is near you will come to an end and what is near God will only remain. I will give full rewards to those who being patient do good works”

Sura 16 V 96

The Prophet (SAS) once said that patience is a jewel among the jewels of paradise. The Prophet (SAS) was once asked: ‘What is faith? He said: Patience. The Prophet said: To say what patience dictates is the best act.

Prophet Jesus Christ (PBUH) said: You cannot earn what you love till you keep patience at what you do not love.

The Prophet (SAS) said: Had patience been given the form of a man, it would have keen kind. God loves the patient.

(For more reading on “Patience and Gratefulness” See Chapter II of Volume IV of Ihya Ulum-id-din by Hazret Imam Ghazali (RAA)).

In common every day talks we always speak of being one with God, His Prophets and Saints, so also with pious people and law obedient ones. But compulsions of daily living, the material world, the economic needs of daily pressures makes us trip and fall. Though we say our prayers, keep Namaz, give doles and Zakat and make Holy pilgrimages yet our conscious stands witness against us for our hidden misdemeanors. We wear a mask and hide our self from our wrongs by projecting ourselves as very virtuous, kind and affectionate ones. Quite large number of our very close ones would discover our make up and recognize our real one in us.

Great many sages and wise ones have realized that there is no dichotomy in us. The evil and good are both ourselves. It requires of us to sacrifice a great amount of ourselves with deep penance and very hard work to realize our positive and negative nature, to conquer it to achieve bliss and tranquility. It is but only a few in humanity who reach the pinnacle of heights of success yet remaining totally humble to the core with sublimity and total surrender. The process of annihilation of inner egoistic self to the most Beneficent and Magnanimous Self is a daunting task, requiring every second of vigil of our unruly self. To conquer our self itself is a greater Jihad. Those who succeed even to a small percentage in life can be said to have achieved something if not the entire glory. But we should not be lacking in efforts even for a moment.

Hazreth Waris ali Shah of Barabanki, Lucknow, a very eminent Sufi was asked to give a small formula to fight the battles of life, he said that it is only through LOVE you can make peace with the world and ease the woes and pains of life. Hazreth Jesus peace be upon him said offer your other cheek if someone slaps on one of your cheek. He was teaching us not to retaliate but to forgive as otherwise it would escalate into a big fight and peace would disappear altogether. Therefore it is better to surrender than keep fighting as it would other wise ruins us. This has been demonstrated in our times with destruction of so many countries in the Afghan and Middle  Eastern wars. In micro level we see thousands of court case without settlement ruining families and societies.

Peace, Shanti and Salam should first be achieved in ourselves by annihilation of our Ego, pelf, pride, anger and jealousy and so many of our negative traits. For this we should surrender before a Guru, a Sufi Master or a Bishop who would tender our inner self with care and compassion and help us to achieve our goals.

Total Surrender

I love HIM,  respect  HIM and  honour HIM;
 Each breath of mine  is spent in His  service.
 Day and night merge and I slave forever
 Out of dedication, Love of Labour.
 Neither  vagaries of weather, ill health
 Nor desires, nor slumber  can deter me.
 With deep devotion, I burn the Candle
 Of my life  at His feet  in total surrender.

When you truly and sincerely turn towards Almighty Allah after repenting on all your past sins and wrong actions, Allah truly pardons the sins of the repentant sinner. This, Allah assures ‘Momineens’ and ‘Muslemeens’ in the Holy Quran again and again. The ‘Kalima’, ‘Laillaha illah’ – “there is no god but Allah”, when recited, should be with single minded devotion and certainty of faith; that you have turned away truly and sincerely from all that is other than Allah, from the idol worship of every kind and nature, false deities both in the mind, heart and spirit. It is the turning away not only from the myths and mythologies but also from the sins of the heart like worshipping the pleasures of the world, of aggrandisement of wealth, covetousness, lust, greed, jealousy, hatred, suspicion and all other negative feelings and that you have adopted the true worship of Allah with deep devotion by total surrender and submission to His commands and laws. The love of the Lord Almighty for achieving ‘As Sakina’ of the heart and ‘Qalb-e-Saleem’, pure heart, should be with certainty of faith. You should feel that the Lord’s mercy, clemency and compassion has surrounded you and that you have truly become humble, simple and sublime, that you have reached the truth and shunned falsehood. Only then, Holy Quran assures the faithful that Islam has entered your heart and soul. A true Musalmaan is a gifted person with enormous large heartedness, always kind, compassionate, loving and forgiving. A true Musalmaan is truly peaceful in all his behaviour, actions and deeds. He does not indulge in bickering, backstabbing, slander, mudslinging, jealousy, hatred and suspicion instead adopts a posture of patience, fortitude and total surrender to the almighty Allah. He believes that he is guided by Allah, by His commands and therefore acquires the knowledge of ‘Sunna’ and perfects himself in terms of the precepts of Holy Prophet (PBUH), his companions and saints. He follows the footsteps of the ‘Saliheens, ‘Sadiqueens’ and ‘Shuheda’, those who are doing good deeds, the truthful and those who bear witness to the unity of God hood. The life of a true follower is indeed a blessed one, as he joins the ranks of ‘Mutaqueens’ , the awe inspired ones, ‘Shakireens’ and ‘Sabireens’, the contented and the patient.

Man has to believe and consider himself as a vicegerent on this beautiful mysterious planet Earth. Vicegerent of an Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Ever living, Everlasting Lord, the Most Perfect Being, who is always and constantly Beneficial, Merciful, Kind, Loving, Forgiving Sustainer, a Tremendous Being with umpteen matchless qualities. Man has to humble himself in total submission and surrender before that Everlasting, Ever living Lord who is neither begotten nor begets any “being” as a like one in the form of a wife, mother, father or a son. The Lord as a Being; is totally perfect and alone stands without a Guide and anyone giving Him council. The Lord is Self Sustaining All Alone (Wahid) and (Samad) without any partner to share His business and His command.

Man as a vicegerent has to merely submit himself virtuously forever and ever and at all times with full devotion and submission, without challenging the authority of the Supreme Being. Man has to ever praise the Lord of all creations and all beings in the universe. The universe itself is created by a word of command (Kun) and it has come into being (Fayakuun). None has the power to change a word of command except Himself. There is no interceptor other than Himself save as those permitted and accepted by Him.

For erring soul of man, the Great Being Allah has been an Ever Guide, a Master, a Friend, a ‘Moula’ and ‘Naseer’. All have to submit to Him unquestionable without challenging His ever Greatness (Allah hu Akbar). Allah has been guiding His Prophet Messengers, to pass on the message to the Mankind so as to prevent man become niggardly, disobedient mischievous and misguided by man’s eternal enemy Satan, the Iblis, the Shaitan.

It is the foremost command of Allah to man to surrender and submit before the full Eminence and Greatness of His supreme existence and obey His commands sent through His last Prophet Hazreth Mohammad Mustaffa (SAS). Allah has commanded to ever be obedient and loving to His last Prophet Mohammad (SAS) as he is the light (Noor) of the universe (Noorullah) and has brought the Book (Holy Quran) as an eternal guide to the niggardly error filled slippery man.

The most fundamental principal and command of Allah is to declare His ‘Wahdaniyat’ (Allah sovereignty and unity of Godhood) and Risalat (Prophethood) of Prophet Mohammad (SAS)

The second command is to praise Allah all the time and more so to cleanse himself and be in a state of inner and outer purity (Tuhar) and submit at an appointed hour in daily prayers of five times as taught by Prophet Mohammad (SAS).

Man should submit and surrender in prayers and extol the virtues and greatness of the Superior Being in the manner and fashion as dictated by Allah Himself through His Gabreal to Hazrath Mohammad Mustaffa (SAS). The prayers are referred to as ‘Namaz’. The prayers are performed to praise the Lord and to recall all His bounties, Mercy and Compassion and His Ever Forgiving quality and nature. The prayers are to break the violence and niggardliness of man and to make man to submit in peace to achieve both inner and outer solace, bliss and comfort for the soul. ‘Namaz’ the daily appointed prayers is to bridle the passions, carnal desires and the evil in man (Nafs e ammara) and to bring the ‘nafs’, the soul to obedience and order (nafseluwwamma) and to make the soul peaceful and a surrended soul, ‘Nafs e mutmaeena’. Prayers are to help the soul to enlighten and purify itself and create a link with the Supreme Being. ‘Namaz is therefore ‘Meeraj e Muslimeen and momineen’. It is through prayers alone that the link with Supreme Being is established. The troubled and ever turbulent mind is put to peace and solace and the heart is purified. The impurities of the soul are cleansed and ‘Namaz becomes ‘Shifaul momineen’ (purifier for the momineens). Prayers enable man to establish peace, order and tranquility in him both inwardly and outwardly. ‘Namaz’ brings humility in man and man achieves sublimity and solace. It is through ‘Namaz’, prayers, that the process of purification of soul begins and man becomes a true vicegerent of Lord Almighty. Man through ‘namaz’, prayer, achieves ‘ubudiyat’ (servant hood) and becomes an obedient servant of the Lord Almighty Allah.

This narrative is of an centurion old frail Muslim fakira, a celibate, who lived all her life in total submission to Lord, the Rub, the Cherisher and  Merciful. She coae to be known in Chittor Town of AP as Mastani Ma, Harebhare Ma, Jhatpat Ma. She is almost dark complexion with phenomenal memory, bright sharp eyes with tremendous energy and gifted with psychical and mystical powers to read the destiny, characteristics of a person by merely keeping her fingers on the pulse. She would be wearing green apparels and for which she has come to be known as Harebhare Ma, the greened one. A recluse having sat in meditation all her life on 360 hillocks in various places, hillocks and mountains of erstwhile Andra Pradesh. She has come to be known as miraculous lady for blessing poor, wretched and shattered people. She attends to all the ‘Urs’ festivals of Sufis and Saints. An ardent female devotee was so much enamoured by her that she has built a stone mausoleum in the main thoroughfare of Chittoor town A.P. There are three chambers , in one she has preserved all ‘Chaders’ she has received from Sufi mausoleums of Saint Abdul Qader Jilani (RAA) of Baghdad, from Khwaja Ajmere(RA) and various dargas of India. In one another chamber she has got fixed on a small mount all the pebbles collected by her from each hillocks where she has sat for meditation.

I had the good fortune to get her blessings. I accompanied my highly place friend, her devotee in a car to Chittoor. It was noon time; she was seated in a corner of the mausoleum, which was being laid with flooring. She received us with smiles with gentleness and all love. She showed us around the three rooms. The masons were chiseling the stones. She opened a tiffen carrier and offered her devotee, my friend and me with rice, sambar, vegetables and pickles. She sat watching us eat. We asked her as to why she was not partaking with us. She gently and slowly mentioned that she has been fasting for half a century and has given up eating any thing. This was quite astonishing. She has been living miraculously on her spiritual powers and strength of her soul.

My friend requested her to check my pulse and say something about me. Gently she held my hand and placed her fingers on my pulse and said that I should not partake sugar, potatoes as I suffer from ailments, which hither to I was not aware. She narrated stories of Prophet pbuh and his most closest companions of preserving secrets and maintaining virtuous conduct. She was full of love and advised me to bear the hardships of life and not to complain, raise grouse and grievances nor grudge or bear spite and forgive the wrongs done by others and remain patient. She prayed for me and advised me to recite God’s names in the manner she recommended and wished me well in life. She asked me to remember her and call out for her help when required. Sudden peace, solace and tranquility dawned on me. I was overwhelmed with her compassion, love and kindness. It moved me and I noticed after a period of time changes occurring in me. It is now 14 years  I got her blessings. I cherish her memory every moment. She was hale and healthy blessing large multitudes of devotees, who seek her blessings and help till her peacefully passing away on 17^th November 2017.

Our country, an ancient land of spirituality is blessed with such elated and attained souls. Multitudes sustain their lives on the strength of faith on such attained Saints, avatars, yogis and Sufis, who bring universal peace and happiness. They bring heavenly joys and the hardship of life eases and smooth ens. They blow our sails to take our ship on turbulent waters to safe shores.

We feel the presence of the Divine and the soul brightens and lightens, with hopes to cherish with never ending joys and peace.