Part 2

Answer: There are many signs, but it is impossible to describe and fix them. For all that, there is no sign or mood, the presence or absence of which _alone_ would mark a Teacher or a pretender. In short, one blessed with the Divine Grace should set his feet on the Path, turn away from sensual pleasures and passional gratifications, and fix his attention on God. Then the glance of some Perfect Teacher will shine in the mirror of the heart.... When a true disciple catches such a glance, he instantly contracts a love for the Beauty of His Godly Strength, becomes restless and uneasy, and comes to the Path. This uneasiness forbodes fortune and success. Perfect discipleship consists in perfect love for the Beauty of the Teacher's Godly Strength. A disciple should follow the wishes of his Teacher, and not his own wishes.... In each locality there is a Teacher who protects men living in that area. The King of the time is only one, but there is an ordinary teacher in each town. According to tradition there are always 365 Friends of God, who are the props of the world and the channels of the transmission of blessing and mercy from heaven to earth.... O brother, know for certain that this work has been before thee and me (_i. e._, in bygone ages), and that each man has already reached a certain stage. No one has begun this work for the first time. Everything is according to Divine dispensation. Do you suppose 100,024 prophets to have ushered any new work into the world? By no means. They stirred up what lay already in the bosom, and led man to what was ordained for him by God....--_Letter 6._

ON DISCIPLESHIP.

Desire is a craving in the heart for a certain object. The craving produces a stir in the heart, the stir arouses a tendency to seek for the object. The nobler the object, the purer the desire....

Desire is threefold:--

(1) Desire for the world. It consists in the absorption of a man in the seeking of worldly objects. Such a desire is a downright danger. When it clouds the heart of a neophyte, it keeps him back from all virtues, and lures him to failure. A life spent in the gratification of such a desire deprives one of eternal happiness after resurrection.

(2) Desire for heaven. The soul transcends the previous stage, longs for the heavenly state and permanent happiness, and practises lifelong asceticism, so that he may attain his object on the day of resurrection. The desire for heaven is nobler than the desire for the world....

(3) Desire for God. A man (at this stage) unfolds the inner sight, aspires to transcend the created universe, and considers it disgraceful to seize anything contained in that area--so that he develops a longing for the Creator Himself and is respected in heaven as well as on earth. When a disciple ceases to hanker after the world and heaven, and regards everything save his Object as a hindrance to his (onward) march, he should heartily endeavour to seek God, come manfully to the Path, and resort to a compassionate Teacher, so that the latter may help him in treading the Path, and tell him of its dangers, thus securing him a safe journey without any break or failure.

The Teacher cannot turn an unruly candidate into an earnest disciple.... If the spirit of the Path lies latent in a candidate, it will unfold by His company and service. The Divine Law works in this way.

ON DISCIPLESHIP. (_Continued._)

When a man calls himself a disciple, he ought to justify the title to the fullest extent and firmly tread the straight Path. He should constantly use the collyrium of turning back (=Taubâh=), put on the robe of detachment from connexions and from self, drink the wine of Seeking out of the cup of Purity, draw the sword of Magnanimity from the sheath of Religion, dismiss the cravings of the infidel Desire, practise absorption, and not care for the higher or the lower worlds. When he has become proficient in the truths of discipleship and the subtleties of Seeking, has gathered the fruits of purification and asceticism, begun to tread the Path and passed through several stages of the journey--then, if asked whether he is a disciple, he can say: "I may be one, God helping." Thus is discipleship justified, and pretension avoided.

This is the way of those endowed with insight and divine Wisdom. Not to look to personality at any stage, nor to depend upon its possessions. Many saints with a lifelong devotion have slipped down from dizzy heights.... A disciple who concentrates in himself the purity of all the angels and the piety of all men is self-conceited and sure to fall, if he knows himself to be better than a dog.... The beginner has a tongue, the proficient scholar is silent.--_Letter 54._

A disciple is a worshipper of his Teacher. If his rest and movements are in accordance with His commands, he is a disciple; if he follows his own desires, he is a follower of his desires, not of his Teacher. A disciple is he who loses himself in the Teacher. He shakes off his desires, as a serpent casts its slough. If he has even the least remnant of desire left in him, and doubts and protests find room in his heart, he is a worshipper of himself, not of the Teacher.... A disciple should be a worshipper of the Teacher, [so that he may become a worshipper of God]. One who obeys the Messenger verily obeys God.--_Fawâed-i-Ruknî._

God has concealed precious gifts under the difficulties He has imposed upon these men (_i. e._ the disciples). A disciple should manfully discharge his duties without fail, in spite of the hardships and trials of the Path. God does not work in one way only, and it is difficult to know which way will lead the disciple to Him--joy or sorrow, gifts or privation. There is a divine secret underneath all sufferings and enjoyments in the world.--_The Series of 28 Letters, Letter 1._

"A long journey is needed to ripen the raw." As a fruit requires both sunshine and shadow for its maturity, so a pilgrim requires the dual experience--joy and sorrow, union and separation, presence and absence,--for his perfection.--_Ibid, Letter 5._

There is no bar to the reception of the Divine Light. If there is any, it is due to lack of capacity. How can an unpolished mirror reflect an image?... The pilgrim needs patience and endurance, not hurry and unrest. God knows each man as he is, and sheds the Light when he deserves it.--_Ibid, Letter 4._

Contentment is a _sine quâ non_; one without it should abandon occultism and go to the market.

The performance of duties to the best of one's abilities cannot be dispensed with, as it is necessary for the safe passage of the pilgrim. While sane, he should follow Truth. Truth in words and conduct is ever beneficial, never harmful.--_Ibid, Letter 15._

THE FRIEND OF GOD--(THE =WALÎ=).

The =Walî= (or the Friend of God) is one who constantly receives the favours of the Deity, which consist in his being guarded against all troubles, the hardest of which is the commission of sins. As a Prophet must be sinless, so must a Friend be protected. The distinction between the two is this: The one is beyond the commission of a sin; the other is liable to commit a sin on rare occasions, but does not persist therein.... The Friend is endowed with all possible virtues.... Again, it is said, the Friend is he who does not fail in his duties to God and the universe. He does not serve through hope and fear of agreeable and disagreeable consequences. He does not set any value on his individuality....

A Friend may be either known or unknown to the people. If unknown, he is not affected by the evils of fame....

A Friend is he who does not long for the world or for Heaven, who forsakes himself for the Divine Friendship and turns his heart to the True One.... The Friends are the special objects of the Love of God. Owing to their devotion, they have been chosen as the Governors of His Kingdom, the channels of His Activities, receive special powers, and are liberated from the bondage of the desire-nature. They do not desire anything save Him, nor feel attachment to anything save Him. They have been before us, are in these days, and will be till the end of the world....

They are to-day the appointed Agents of God to serve as channels for the propagation of the messages of the ancient Prophets, and to govern the world--so that the rain may pour from heaven by Their blessings, that plants may grow from the earth by Their purity, and that the faithful may prevail over the faithless by Their strength.

Superhuman powers are a kind of idols in this world. If a saint is content with their possession, he stops his onward progress. If he turns away from them he advances the cause of his union with God. Here is a subtile mystery, and it is this: True Friendship consists in the rejection of all save the Beloved. But attention to superhuman powers and reliance upon them means the rejection of the Beloved, and satisfaction with something other than Himself.--_Letter 8._

THE BROTHERHOOD OF FRIENDS.

[There is a passage on the hierarchy of Divine Friends in =Fawâed-i-Ruknî=, another work of the author, which is translated below as a supplement to the present subject.--_Trs._]

There are 4,000 =Walîs= who are not known to the world. They do not know one another, nor are they conscious of their exalted position. They ever remain veiled from the world, as well as from themselves.

There are 300 =Akhyâr= (the Charitable or the Benevolent) who solve the difficulties of the world and keep the gate of the Divine Sanctuary. There are forty =Abdâl= (the Substitutes); 17 =Abrâr= (the Liberated); 5 =Nujabâ= (the Pure); 4 =Autâd= (the Pegs); 3 =Nuqabâ= (the Watchers); 1 =Qutub= (the Pole), also called =Gaus=, the 'Redresser of Grievances'. All these know one another and are interdependent for the discharge of their respective duties. (Total, 370--_Trs._)

According to another authority (=Majma-us-Sâerîn=) there are 356 =Walîs= ever working in the world. When one of them retires, another takes his place, so that there is never any diminution in the number 356. They are made up of 300 + 40 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 1. The =One= is the =Qutub= of the world, the preservation of which is due to His holy existence. If He retired without another to take His place, the world would fall to pieces. When the =Qutub= retires, one of the _Three_ takes His place; one of the _Five_ fills up the gap in the _Three_, one of the _Seven_ fills up the gap in the _Five_, one of the _Forty_ fills up the gap in the _Seven_, one of the _Three Hundred_ fills up the gap in the _Forty_, and a man is posted to the vacancy in the rank of the _Three Hundred_--so that 356 ever continue working in the world, and every spot is blessed by Their auspicious Feet. Their outer life is similar to that of ordinary people, so the latter cannot know Them. Inwardly, They are united with God. Love, Friendship, and the Mysteries have to do with the _within_, not with the _without_. They (the =Walîs=) are too strong to be hindered by earth, water, fire, air, plains and hills. Being in the East, They can see and hear men in the West. They can instantly go from the East to the West, come from the West to the East, go to and come back from =Arsh= (the Divine Throne). Theirs are many superhuman powers of like nature.

POLYTHEISM, AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF GOD.

Polytheism is twofold:--

(1) The outer, which consists in worshipping a god other than the One Highest God....

(2) The inner, which consists in thinking of a being, other than God, as a helper at the time of need.

Some say that to see anything save Him, is polytheism for an Occultist.

Some say that to refer to any separated self in any way, to be inclined to do anything with one's own will, and to resort to one's own schemes and plans in any emergency, are all forms of polytheism....

The chosen Friend is he who is of God alone, both without and within. He neither acts nor thinks against [the Divine Will]. He does not mix with the desire-nature, forgets his services in the presence of the Master, and cannot do without Him.... He is so filled with Him in all respects--both without and within--that it is impossible for anything else to enter into him.... He loses his desire, will, and all individual qualities, and exists merely through God's Desire and Will. He gets what he wills--not because he wills anything other than what is God's will, but because his will is one with God's. Nay God unfolds His Will in him.--_Letter 9._

LIGHTS.

When the mirror of the Heart is cleansed of impurities, it becomes capable of reflecting the supersensuous lights. They appear in the beginning as flashes, but gain in power and volume as the heart becomes purer--manifesting [gradually] as the lamp, the flame, the stars, the moon, and the sun. The forms of flashes arise from ablutions and prayers ...; those of the lamp, the flame and the stars, from the _partial_ purity of the heart; that of the full moon, from its _perfect_ purity; that of the sun, from the Soul reflecting its glory in the perfectly purified heart. A time comes when [the inner light] is a thousand times more luminous than the [external] sun. If [the visions of] the sun and moon are simultaneous, the latter signifies the heart reflecting the light of the Soul, the former the Soul itself. The light of the Soul is _formless_, but is seen behind a _veil_ distorting the _idea_ into the form of the sun.

Sometimes the Light of the Divine Attributes may cast its reflection in the mirror of the heart according to the purity of the latter.... This Light distinguishes itself by a feeling of bliss in the heart, which shows that it comes from God and not from others. It is hard to describe this bliss. It is said that the Light of the Constructive Attributes is illuminative, but not scorching; that of the Disintegrating Attributes scorching, but not illuminative. This is beyond the comprehension of intellect. Sometimes, when the purity of the heart is complete, the Seer sees the True One _within_ him, if he looks _within_, the True One _without_ him, if he looks to the universe. When the Divine Light is reflected in the light of the soul, the vision gives bliss. When the Divine Light shines _without_ the media of the soul and the heart, the vision manifests formlessness and infinity, uniqueness and harmony, the basis and support of _all_ existence. Here there is neither rising nor setting, neither right nor left, neither up nor down, neither space nor time, neither far nor near, neither night nor day, neither heaven nor earth. Here the pen breaks, the tongue falters, intellect sinks into nothingness, intelligence and knowledge miss the way in the wilderness of amazement.--_Letter 12_.

THE UNVEILING OF THE SUPERSENSUOUS.

The essence of the Unveiling lies in coming _out_ of the veils. The seer perceives things not perceived by him before. The "veils" mean hindrances keeping one back from the perfect vision of the Divine Beauty, and consist of the various worlds--according to some, 18,000 in number, according to others, 80,600--all present in the constitution of man. Man has an eye correlated to each world, with which he observes that world during the unveiling. These worlds are included under a twofold division: Light and Darkness, Heaven and Earth, Invisible and Visible, Spiritual and Physical,--each pair expressing the same sense in different words.... When a sincere pilgrim, impelled by his aspiration, turns from the lower nature to follow the Law, and begins to tread the Path under the protection of a Teacher, he unfolds an eye for each of the veils uplifted by him, to observe the conditions of the world before him. First, he unfolds the eye of intellect and comprehends the intellectual mysteries to the extent of the uplifting of the veil. This is called the _Intellectual unveiling_, and should not be depended on. Most of the philosophers are at this stage and take it as the final goal. This stage transcended, the sincere pilgrim comes to unveil the heart, and perceives various lights. This is called the _Perceptual unveiling_. Next, he unveils the Secrets; this is the _Inspirational unveiling_, and the Mysteries of creation and existence are revealed to him. Next, he unveils the Soul; this is the _Spiritual unveiling_, and he can now view Heaven and Hell, and communicate with the Angels. When the soul is completely cleansed of earthly impurities, and is thoroughly pure, he unveils Infinity and is privileged to gaze at the circle of Eternity, to comprehend instantly both Past and Future, getting rid of the limitations of Space and Time, ... to see both fore and aft ... to read hearts, know events, and tread on water, fire, and air. Such miracles are not to be relied on.... Next comes the _Innermost unveiling_, enabling the pilgrim to enter the plane of the Divine Attributes.... The Innermost is the bridge between the Divine Attributes and the plane of the Soul, enabling the Soul to experience the Divine vision, and reflect the Divine character. This is called the _Unveiling of the Divine Attributes_. During this stage, the disciple unfolds esoteric knowledge, revelation from God, His vision, His bliss, real absorption, real existence, or Unity,--according as he unveils the Divine Attributes of intelligence, audition, sight, construction, disintegration, stability, or oneness. Similarly one may think of other qualities.--_Letter 13._

* * * * *

[The last two extracts tacitly refer to the following =Sûfî= classification of the human constitution:--

1. The Body (=Tan=), the brain-consciousness, or intellect, correlated to the physical plane (=Nâsût=).

2. The Heart (=Dil=), the desires and the lower mind, correlated to the astral and lower mental planes (=Malakût=).

3. The Soul (=Rûh=), the higher mind, the Ego, correlated to the higher mental plane (=Jabarût=).

4. The Spirit (=Sirr=, or the _Mystery_), correlated to the spiritual planes (=Lâhût=)--_Trs._]

ON THE SAME.

[The following supplementary notes from _The Series of 28 Letters_ may prove both instructive and interesting.--_Trs._]

You say you hear certain words, but not from the organ of speech, or through the organ of sound. Speech and Sound belong to this world: what you hear belongs to =Malakût=.--_Loc. cit., Letter 10._

A pilgrim may hear the _sound_ in his body, nay, in the minerals, plants, and animals. But if he hears from them the same =Zikr= (_i. e._, the sacred formula) as practised by him, it is but an echo of his practice--an imaginary phenomenon, not a real one: whereas, if he hears from them the =Zikr= peculiar to them, the phenomenon is real.... The universe being endless, the phenomena are endless.--_Ibid, Letter 15._

Powers and phenomena are trials for a pilgrim. Regard them as obstacles, and never care for them.... It is a rare boon to pass from the Name to the Named.... The Vision of the Prophet Khezar foretells your success on the Path.... The odours, sacred and unearthly, experienced by you, pertain to the =Malakût=: how can you find their likeness on earth?--_Ibid, Letter 16._

ILLUMINATION.

There is a difference between Divine illumination and Soul-illumination. When the mirror of the heart is cleansed of all impurities, and has become thoroughly clear, it may serve to focus the rays of the Divine Sun and so reflect the Divinity and all His Attributes. But this boon is not enjoyed by every clean heart. Every runner does not catch the game (lit., the antelope), but only he who runs _can_ catch it....

A clean heart reflects some of the qualities of the Soul. If thoroughly clean, it may at times reflect all the qualities. Sometimes the Essence of the Soul--the Divine Viceroy--may display its nature, and assert "I am the True One" by virtue of its viceroyalty. Sometimes the whole universe may be seen making obeisance at the viceregal throne, and the soul may mistake the Divine Viceroy for God.... Such mistakes are common, and cannot be avoided without the Divine Grace and the help of the Teacher. Now to come to the difference:

(1) Soul-illumination conquers the lower nature temporarily, _i. e._, so long as the illumination continues;--Divine illumination conquers it permanently.

(2) Soul-illumination is not inconsistent with the foulness of the heart, does not solve all doubts, nor does it impart the bliss of Divine Knowledge;--Divine illumination is the reverse of this.

(3)--Soul-illumination may induce pride, self-conceit, and egoism.... Divine illumination does away with all these, and increases the fervour of Seeking.

'Illumination' and 'obscuration' are two words generally used among the =Sûfîs=. The former means the unfolding of God, the latter means the infolding of God. These expressions do not apply to His Essence, since It is changeless. As when one finds the solution of a problem, and says, "the problem is solved"--the problem is not solved, but one's mind unfolds so as to grasp the problem; knowledge being called the solution of the problem, ignorance its obscuration--so, when one sees all from God, and not from self, when Self does away with the lower nature and sees the Unknowable,--this is designated Illumination.--_Letter 14._

DREAMS.

_First_, a pilgrim passing through the _earthly_ qualities sees in his dreams heights and depths, streets and wells, gloomy and deserted sites, waters and mountains. _Secondly_, passing through the _watery_ qualities, he sees greens and pastures, trees and sown fields, rivers and springs. _Thirdly_, passing through the _airy_ qualities, he sees himself walking or flying in the air, going up the heights. _Fourthly_, passing through the _fiery_ qualities, he sees lamps and flames. _Fifthly_, passing through the _etheric_, he finds himself walking or flying over the heavens, going from one heaven to another, sees the circling of the sky, and the angels. _Sixthly_, passing through the _starry_ region, he sees the stars, the sun and the moon. _Seventhly_, passing through the _animal_ qualities, he sees the corresponding animals. If he finds himself prevailing over an animal, it indicates his conquest over the corresponding quality. If he finds himself overcome by an animal, it denotes the predominance of the corresponding quality, and he should guard himself against it.

The pilgrim has to pass through thousands of worlds, and in each world he perceives visions and experiences difficulties peculiar to it.

O brother, the soul is for the Goal. It should boldly cry out: "Let me either cease to live, or reach the Goal."--_Letter 16._

ON MISCONCEPTIONS.

Many men fall from doubt and suspicion. A class of people say, "God does not need our worship and services, and has no concern with our virtues and vices: why should we restrain ourselves?" Such a doubt arises from sheer ignorance, and supposes that the Law enjoins duties for the sake of God. No. Duties are for the sake of man alone.... An ignorant man of this sort fitly compares with a patient who, being prescribed a certain treatment by his physician, does not follow it, and says that his abstinence does no harm to the physician. He speaks truly enough, but works his own destruction. The physician did not prescribe to please himself, but to cure him.