Journey of a Sufi

‘Knowledge is power’. Yes it is, it makes you more informative and solves humanities ever increasing problems by finding solutions, But it can be destructive e.g Bhopal gas tragedy; Chernobyl nuclear tragedy; atomic holocaust in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, weapons of mass destruction in world wars and wars in Middle East; excessive use of chemical fertilizers and its ill effects so on and so forth. But it takes away the innocence of man. You need to be innocent like a dove to enter the Garden of Bliss, Simply put, it means that when your conscious has been aroused and awareness has been dawned like a morning break of light, along with it the whole cosmos is lit, the entire humanity gets awaken so also the animal kingdom. There is chattering around with noise, pollution and sound and the silence is lost. The monkey mind gets aroused. So also all the internal human organs and system becomes active. The sublimity is lost and evaporates. The ego and ‘I’ness raises its hood. The pride and arrogance in man is ready to strike with its poisonous fangs. The sexual impulse becomes over active, slowly and gradually the dinosaurs in the human mind and in his self become alive and the human ingenuity is ready for self destruction.

When you approach a Guru for tranquility, peace, solace and spiritual growth, the first lesson given to you is to empty yourself and reach nothingness. The ‘La illaha’ of Islamic credo, ‘There is nothing other than Allah’ becomes obvious, Allah is all and everything, you are nothing but a big zero.

Prophet Mohammad (saw) knew everything, he had been given Alpha and Omega of knowledge yet he declared that he is an unlettered Prophet. This is innocence. You are like an empty shell on the shore of knowledge. You are nothing and the supposed information you have collected is nothing but pride which you have filled yourself with. Hence pride, arrogance and ego is considered as Satan.

Though you need to acquire education to fulfill your daily needs by a gainful occupation, yet when you reach home after the work is done, you need to put off the switch which opens the door to your acquired knowledge in your mind. You need to live in your space with innocence, when you lay your head on your pillow you should be in a state of ignorance and innocence to enter the stage of bliss and ecstasy.

Your spiritual health is in putting off everything you know. You should be in a stage of sublimity only then humility dawns on you. Satan, the ego and pride and arrogance is ever ready to strike with its poisonous fangs. Beware! Your so called knowledge is dangerous. Leave it aside and humble yourself before the ETERNAL LORD OF MERCY to enter the Garden of Grace, Beauty and Peace.

Your primordial Father Adam and Mother Eve on instigation from Satan ate the fruit of knowledge and lo they lost their innocence and so also the Garden of Bliss, Knowledge destroys as it takes away the innocence. Innocence is therefore BLISS.

It is human instinct to show likes and dislikes and to be happy when all things happen as per our desires and wishes. So long as our pleasure principle works, we are satisfied and are joyous. Only when we face the difficulties in life that sorrows binds us. At the changing attitudes of our adversaries, we get upset and angry and when our competitors succeed, we are thrown in fits of jealousy or ill feelings. Anger is a sudden gush of emotions when our rational feelings get submerged in disquiet and unhealthy feelings. Our blood boils and during this moment all the good feelings disappear and momentarily, the gush of emotions and feelings would throw us into temper tantrums. So long as we calm down soon and rationalize our feelings and bring back normalcy in a humorous way, no harm appears. Only when the dissatisfied feelings are carried to a longer length and we give up our normal sensible actions and proceed to do harm to others and when such feelings are misdirected to bring in disharmony in the relationship between the fellow beings, it is then that the sufferings begins to take birth.

Anger and jealousy are twin sisters, when aroused from the depth of our inner consciousness; they act as tsunami to destroy the shores of the beautiful life. The harm that emanates would not only bring discomfort to ourselves but would also lay down a foundation for destruction of all that is built up for a long time. The gardens of love and affection tended and cared, emitting sweet fragrance would be washed away to nothingness.

When individuals are unable to harm others through their twin emotional imbalances and at the same time are not in a position to wean out the same with defense mechanism by forgiveness or rationalization, then both these twin feelings will take a toll on the mental and physical health of the individuals.

A well balanced personality maintains all the inner feelings and it is well blended without letting out or disturbing the love and affection in us which are the most beautiful flowers in the garden of our life.

Human beings are blessed with innate goodness. In order to retain this goodness and make it to bloom and to bear sweet honeyed fruits, then the level of these two sisters have to be tempered and kept in absolute control.

Satan (Shaitan) was the ‘moulvi-e-malkut’, the Chief of Angels and is believed to have attained highest degree of knowledge and worship. But when Lord Almighty directed him to bow down before Adam, he refused and lost the highest status held by him. He was banished from the presence of our Lord, the Rub. It is these two twin sisters – anger and jealousy (the ill feelings generated on account of Satan feeling superior) brought down on him the wrath of Allah. Thus, jealousy is the FIRST SIN in the eye of Allah. It destroys the love, compassion and mercy in the human being and makes one hardhearted. It is to the hardhearted that Allah warns of hell fire. Hatred is the bitter fruits of anger and jealousy emitting from the hardhearted and black soul. There may be countless reasons for one to become angry and feel jealous. But one needs to develop self control and forgiveness. One needs to seek the blessings of Allah by being ever devoted to Him. Only through humility and devotion can these twin sisters – anger and jealousy, be subdued and love and affection, compassion and mercy can be cherished, to help us to reach the highest echelons of spirituality. A sinless person would have cultivated all good feelings to a highest degree and would have reduced the evil feelings to negligibility.

A sinless person would have cultivated all good feelings to a highest degree and would have reduced the evil feelings to negligibility.

“To err is human but to forgive is divine,” is an old adage. If men start taking revenge for each and every small mistakes and wrongs done by others to them, then peace, love and affection and harmony of the world would be lost forever. It is in the nature of man to commit mistakes but to repent in leisure is also second nature of man. Since it is human to fall in error and commit a folly therefore it becomes incumbent on every individual to forgive by overlooking the mistakes and wrongs of others. Patience and fortitude should be exercised to a great extent to achieve the desired goal of peace of mind and happiness in life. If we keep harboring grudge against our fellowmen for wrongs committed by them against us, then it is sure way to lose peace of mind and happiness forever. Instead we need to develop magnanimity and largeheartedness to forgive all and silly mistakes and wrongs of others.

A question posed is as to whether serious crimes committed against individuals or against the society should also be forgiven? It is not so, it would lead to lawlessness and breakdown of law and order and also disturb the peace and tranquility of the society. In such circumstances, therefore law takes its own course. Society has laid down rules and regulations for punishing suitably the wrong doers. One should also do introspection before prosecuting any individual by seeking justice against a law breaker and wrong doer. Such a person maybe your own kith and kin. In such circumstances, it may break the family bonds and filial relationship. Compromise and compounding of offences are provided in law. There would be umpteen instances when wrong doer in a fit of emotions, anger and in passion would commit a wrong, a sin or a crime but would definitely not have an intention to harm the injured person. Intention plays an important part in such circumstances to determine the gravity of such offences. It is in such circumstances law requires for pardoning the wrong doer or giving less punitive punishment than incarnation or corporal punishment. If the wrong doer comes forward to compensate the wrong committed by adequate and full monetary compensation or undertakes to do good and charitable works to atone his sin then such wrong doers are required to be pardoned by exercising magnanimity and large heartedness.

All wrongs are not punishable like jeers, taunts, criticism and insults. It may cause deep hurt and this would be a cause to bear a grudge and rancor. This is an occasion to exercise restraint and to pardon such foolish and silly persons, for they have committed wrongs without knowing its ramifications. To ignore such vain talks of others and exercise silence is a better proposition for maintaining healthy relationship.

Allah and His Prophet (SAS) have again and again assured of forgiveness and clemency to sinners and wrongdoers on their seeking pardon and forgiveness. Holy Prophet (SAS) was troubled by his enemies throughout his Prophethood but he kept forgiving his enemies including his staunchest enemy Abu Sufian. “Forgive them for they know not what wrong they do,” he would advice his followers. Self realization may dawn on the wrong doers and they would realize their mistakes and seek to amend for their wrongs and would patch up the relationships by seeking friendship and by strengthening it by good deeds. Therefore every individual needs t do introspection and should develop large heartedness, broad mindedness, love and affection to forget and forgive the wrongs of fellowmen, kith and kin so as to achieve ‘As-sakina’ in their hearts i.e. eternal peace, solace and bliss in this life and in the life hereafter.

Let us bury time and history with its values and customs, the age old icons, idols and heritage. Now can we look for new horizons, new way of life, fresh pastures, fresh grounds of spirituality? But I find emptiness in my soul. Locked in the deepest memory are images of those decades old events, when I watched with these gleaming tiny eyes the spiritual aura surrounding the saintly, graceful souls, deep in prayers, in trance seeking Divine mercy and grace. There used to be sweet fragrance, aroma of frankincense, agar. I was immersed in the lovely feelings of presence of Divine souls. I felt the presence of Angels slowly floating with white wings with light around. The entire bliss, solace and tranquility was slowly and gradually dawning on the blissful souls in the serene gathering. All of them seeking with single minded devotion the Grace and Mercy of Divine which was flooding the room full of worshipers, praying in rhythmic tone the Holy passages, psalms and zikr to allow the aged divine soul to ascend to the Lord’s throne.

Now today a sick and a miserable heart patient is surounded by doctors, para medic staff struggling for hour long to revive the pulse, to bring back life to the dying tortured body. The patient is put on an oxygen mask, with several tubes fixed, glucose slowly dripping in. The patient is stuggling to breathe with low groans. None in the room to sing praise to the Lord of Mercy. There is no aura, no angels, no saintly persons to ring in spirituality. There is no burning of agar, frankincense. There are no prayful eyes gleaming and seeking Divine Grace. The whole atmosphere is grotesque, macabre and grave.

So much for modernity and trust in medical science. The doctors and paramedics are bereft of Divinity, spirituality, grace and awe. Man has lost his soul, his humanity in this materialistic, mad rat raced world.

Life is a big employer; looking out for skilled, trained intelligent, smart young personal like sturdy trained war horses. The candidate should be war fit, learnt strategy of meeting life challenges, its tricks, its trials and tribulations. A stupid untrained soldier is a burden like a lame horse.  A soldier should be quick to the commands and carry out the orders in zest and zeal without grouse, grieviance and complain, fully prepared to lay down his life courageously in the face of the enemies attack. A soldier not only masters the use of the weapan but is trained to uncover the enemies’ plans and stratagems with his intelligence and cleverness. Life picks up only such sturdy soldiers who can win wars for it and bring laurels and awards. This is also so in the every field be it economic, sociology, science, politics, medicine or engineering. A person lacking in skill of one type or other is left out to suffer the rigmarole of life. Life and its economy respects higly talented persons who are result oriented, smart, fully groomed quick and mercurial, every ready to learn fast the changes taking around and adopt to any changing situations.

Life discards lazy, useless and redundant persons who have no skills, lack intelligence but should have good manners, sweet tongue, smart in turn out; persons with weaknesses just cannot make it to the goal.

A soldier should be cheerful in the face of attack of his adversaries; should be highly disciplined to receive the commands of his superiors and implement it implicitly without murmur or delay. A soldier should have smart turnout, alert, quick to spot the designs of the enemy and uncover any plot to damage the army. Life is precious; it has to be preserved with proper health care, good healthy habits, good exercise, prayers, meditation, and acquisition of knowledge on daily basis, practicing honesty, truth, maintaining integrity at all times. A Soldier should be simple in manners, humble to the core, generous to fellow soldiers, caring one and all and keeping life supports always in hand. Life rejects persons who are over sexed, petty minded, disobedient, lethargic indisciplined, lazy, stupid and good for nothing. Life is tuned with cosmic harmony with cosmic man and universal man who are conscious of bringing cosmic harmony in the environment and in society every second and every minute. Any one in humanity or its own soldiers who work against its aim is brutally discarded.

Life discipline is of utmost  importance to meet its eventualities, storms, tempests, tsunamis, turmoil’s, earth quakes, destruction and violent changes brought out by natural events or by internal mechanical working of the society.

Life’s fuel is love graciousness, humility, simplicity, piety, intelligence, smartness, cleanliness, order and discipline. Main source of its strength to move about smoothly is its capacity to forgive and forget and to move on by compromises and never to take revenge, hurt or cause harm. Life’s generosity is enormous to the hilt but in return expects unwavering loyalty, courage sincerity, devotion and service.

Life can be unforgiving, cruel and rude to its treacherous enemies, who hold grudge against it and work to destroy life’s good designs to help humanity. Life has its own wonderful schemes and plans and is always ready to help anyone without scruples who come forward to help and assist life’s objectives to bring peace, order, happiness, joys, equilibrium, and harmony in life of the entire cosmos. All those who are sectarian, narrow minded, selfish, self centered and out to destroy society with evil deeds of promiscuity, drugs. alcoholism, child labor, exploitation of women, widows, helpless children, destitute, are slowly and steadily eliminated by life in its own way by injecting super anti disinfectants, strong purgatives and anti biotics. It is a slow and silent process but a sure one.

Humanity has to save itself by joining cosmic forces which are benign, kind, loving and caring and help in carrying out eternal good deeds.