Part 3

A second class of men transgress the Law and depend on the Divine Mercy. God is both merciful and a chastiser. We find that there are many distressed and poor men in this world in spite of His Mercy and His mountains of Treasure, that not a single grain of wheat grows without laborious cultivation, and that no man can be healthy without food, water and medicine. As He has ordained means for health and wealth without which they cannot be had, such is the case in the moral sphere also. Denial and ignorance are poisons to the soul, and idleness its disease. The antidotes for the poisons are knowledge and wisdom alone. The remedies for the disease are prayers and worship alone. He who takes poison while depending on the Divine Mercy, kills himself. The disease of the heart consists in desires. He who does not restrain his desires risks his life if he knows them as sinful. But if he does not regard them as harmful he has no life to risk, since he is already dead. For such disregard is denial, and denial poisons faith.

A third set would understand by self-discipline, as imposed by the Law, complete freedom from lust, anger and other evils. When they fail after practising self-discipline for a length of time, they regard the task as impossible. "Man, as he is constituted, cannot be pure, just as a black blanket cannot turn into a white one. Why should we undertake an impossible feat?" (So they think).--It is ignorance and vanity to suppose that the Law enjoins complete freedom from lust and other impulses inherent in human nature. The Prophet has said, "I am a man, and may be angry," and signs of anger were at times visible in him. God praises one who controls anger, not one who is devoid of anger. Again, the prophet had nine wives, and a man destitute of the sexual desire should be medically treated. The Prophet has countenanced the begetting of progeny and the perpetuation of the race. But he has instructed that the two (lust and anger) should be subdued so as to be under the control of the Law, as a horse under the control of the rider, or a dog under the control of the hunter. The animals should be trained, else they will set upon and overthrow the man. Lust and anger are like the dog and the horse, and it is impossible to catch the heavenly Game without them. But they should be under control, else they will destroy _us_. In short, the object of self-discipline is to break and subdue these impulses, and this is possible.

A _fourth_ set proudly declare that everything is according to the Divine Will. What is the use of exertion?--When the Prophet spoke of the Divine Will, his companions said, "We shall depend upon it and refrain from exertion." The Prophet replied, "_Ye shall exert_, and [then] what has been ordained will be given." Thus, man should not refrain from exertion. If he has in the beginning been ordained to a noble destiny, he will attain to it [by exertion]. Good and evil destinies hinge upon virtue and vice, in the same way as health and death upon food and starvation.--_Letter 18._

THE OUTER AND INNER AILMENTS.

Man has been formed of two different substances, the earthly and the heavenly. As his earthly frame is liable to ailments, so is the heavenly; and there are doctors for the treatment and cure of both. The doctors of the bodily ailments are the physicians, and those of the moral ailments are the Prophets and [later on] the Saints who are their successors. As a sick man would certainly die if not treated by a skilled physician, so a soul suffering from the moral diseases would certainly die, if not helped by a Prophet or a perfect Saint. As a physician examines the pulse to ascertain the disease of a patient, and recommends him to resort to one thing and abstain from another, with a view to restore physical equilibrium and health,--so also the Divine Messenger ascertains the moral ailments of the disciple, and prescribes different duties based on the Law according to his receptivity and capacity, recommending this, disallowing that, so as to reduce his inner perplexities and desires to a state of harmony required by the Law, and bring about moral health in the shortest possible time. As a sick man going against the instructions of his physician gets worse and worse and has to die, so a moral patient disobeying the Law gets more and more perverse and has to perish through ignorance.--_Letter 19._

THE ORIGIN OF THEOSOPHY

The institution of Theosophy (=Tasavvuf=) is ancient. It has been practised by the Prophets and the Saints. As evil impulses predominate in the world, the Theosophist (=Sûfî=) is looked down upon by men. The Theosophist is one who has lost the self, exists in the True One, is beyond the reach of the lower nature, and is at one with Truth. A Theosophical student (=mutasavvif=) is he who seeks to become a Theosophist through asceticism and purification, and disciplines himself in the ways of the Theosophist....

The Prophet had a place in his mosque set apart to discourse privately with his elect companions, who trod the Path. There were senior disciples such as =Abû Bakar=, =Omar=, =Osman=, =Alî= and =Salmân=; and mediocre ones, such as =Belal= and others. The Arab chiefs and his ordinary companions were not admitted there. The elect companions were about 70 in number. When the Prophet wished to shew his special regard to a particular companion (=Sûfî=), he favoured him with a piece of his garment (N. B. The word =Sûfî= may be derived either from =Safâ=, purity, or from =Sûf=, dress.--_Trs._)

The first Theosophist was Adam, and the last Mohammad; and Theosophy has continued amongst the followers of Mohammad.--_Letter 22._

SEEKING THE PATH.

The aspiration of the Seeker should be such that, if offered this world with its pleasures, the next with its heaven, and the Universe with its sufferings, he should leave the world and its pleasures for the profane, the next world and its heaven for the faithful, and choose the sufferings for himself. He turns from the lawful in order to avoid heaven, in the same way that common people turn from the unlawful to avoid hell. He seeks the Master and His Vision in the same way that worldly men seek ease and wealth. The latter seek increase in all their works; he seeks the ONE alone in all. If given anything, he gives it away; if not given, he is content.

The marks of the Seeker are as follows. He is happy if he does not get the desired object, so that he may be liberated from all bonds; he opposes the desire-nature so much, that he would not gratify its craving, even if it cried therefor for seventy years; he is so harmonised with God that ease and uneasiness, a boon and a curse, admission and rejection are the same to him; he is too resigned to beg for anything either from God or from the world; his asceticism keeps him as fully satisfied with his little all--a garment or a blanket--as others might be with the whole world.... He vigilantly melts his desire-nature in the furnace of asceticism and does not think of anything save the True One. He sees Him on the right and on the left, sitting and standing. Such a Seeker is called the Divine Seer. He attaches no importance to the sovereignty of earth or of heaven. His body becomes emaciated by devotional aspirations, while his heart is cheered with Divine Blessedness. Thoughts of wife and children, of this world and the next, do not occupy his heart. Though his body be on earth, his soul is with God. Though here, he has already been there, reached the Goal, and seen the Beloved with his inner eye.

This stage can be reached only under the protection of a Perfect Teacher, the Path safely trodden under His supervision only.... It is indispensable for a Disciple to put off his desires and protests, and place himself before the Teacher as a dead body before the washer of the dead, so that He may deal with him as He likes.

Virtue and vice have their uses and evils. Often a virtue throws one the farther from God, and a vice leads one the nearer to Him.... The virtue that begins in peace and ends in pride throws one the farther from God; the vice that begins in fear and ends in repentance leads one the nearer to Him.--_Letter 23._

THE PILLARS OF THE PATH.

Their words enliven the heart; their deeds liberate men; their compassion is universal; they do not care for feeding and clothing themselves, but feed and clothe all; they do not look to the evil of others, but stand as their saviours, return good for evil, and bless them that curse. Why?--For they are protected: no gale save the zephyr of Love can blow over the world from the horizon of their heart. Their compassion shines as the sun over friend and foe alike. They are humble as the earth, trodden by the feet of all. They are not hostile to any man, nor do they grasp at anything of the world. All creatures are their children, they are not the children of any. They are absolute Compassion for the whole universe, for east and west,--for they are liberated and see all from the One Root.... One void of these qualities cannot tread the Path.

In the case of a Theosophist, the heart goes first, then comes the tongue. In the case of a worldly-wise man, the tongue goes first, and then the heart.--_Letter 24._

RELIGION, THE PATH AND TRUTH.

Religion (=Sharîat=), the Path (=Tarîqat=), and Truth (=Haqîqat=).

_Religion_ is a way laid down by a Prophet for his followers, with the help of God. All Prophets equally call the attention of men to Monotheism and service. So there is but _one_ Religion, _one_ appeal, and _one_ God. Their teachings cannot be contradictory, as they are based on Divine inspiration. The difference is merely verbal and formal, but there is no difference in the essentials. They are the [spiritual] physicians of humanity, and have prescribed religions for their respective followers according to their needs. Religion consists of a series of injunctions and prohibitions, and deals with monotheism, bodily purification, prayers, fasts, pilgrimages, the holy war, charity, and so on.

The _Path_ is based on religion, and consists in seeking the essence of the forms [dealt with by religion], investigating them, purifying the heart, and cleansing the moral nature of impurities such as hypocrisy, avarice, polytheism, and so on. Religion deals with external conduct and bodily purification; the Path deals with the inner purification.

Religion is the soundness of external purification. _Truth_ is the soundness of the inner condition. The one is liable to alterations, is the work of man and can be acquired; the other is immutable, the same from the time of Adam to the end of the world, and is the Divine Grace. The one is like matter, or the body. The other is like spirit, or the soul.--_Letters 25 and 26._

[A higher stage is simply mentioned, in _Fawâed-i-Ruknî_, as =Mârfat= (the Divine Knowledge), without any detailed explanation. Thus, =Sharîat= corresponds to the exoteric religion of any given nation; =Tarîqat= to the Lesser Mysteries of the ancient Western mystic, or the Probationary Path of the Eastern mystic; =Haqîqat= to the Greater Mysteries of the ancient Western mystic, or the Path Proper of the Eastern mystic; =Mârfat= to the stage of the Perfect Man, or the Master.--_Trs._]

ACCESSORY TO PRAYERS.

After the morning prayer, the twilight should be spent in muttering the Divine Names, sacred recitations, repentance and apology. One should not speak at this time, except to obey an express injunction or prohibition of the Scriptures, to bless or benefit the faithful, and to instruct a student in need of knowledge. The company of a Saint, a knower of God, or one's own Teacher, if available, is preferable to mutterings and recitations.

Before the sunset prayer, some time should be spent in attentively examining the desire-nature _i. e._, reviewing the gains made and the losses incurred during the day.

One should go to sleep pure, and with holy recitations, and should not sleep unless overpowered. One should get up in the latter part of the night before twilight, and immediately take to the sacred duties.--_Letter 28._

PURIFICATION.

It is purity which makes man respectable. It is the storehouse of all boons and virtues.... =Islâm= is based on purity, and cannot tolerate the slightest stain. She does not show her face to the impure.

_First_:--the purity of the body, the garment, and food.

_Second_:--the purity of the senses, _i. e._, abstinence from sins and transgressions.

_Third_:--the purity of the heart, _i. e._, renunciation of all evil qualities, such as uncharitableness, envy and malice.

With the first purity, the disciple takes the first step on the Path; with the second, he takes the second step; with the third, the third. This is the essence of =Taubâh=--turning from impurity to purity. At first he was a temple of idols; now he becomes a mosque. At first he was a demon; now he becomes a man. At first he was dark as the night; now he becomes bright as day. It is now that the sun of =Îmân= (peace or faith) shines in his heart, and =Islâm= shows her face and leads him to the Divine Knowledge. Any work whatsoever, without this purity, is but a ceremony or tradition on the lines of the forefathers, but is _not_ =Islâm=.

* * * * *

Know God as your constant guardian. Living under His ever-watchful Eye, one ought to be modest and feel ashamed to bring one's transgressions to His notice.

* * * * *

As prayers cannot be duly performed without the outer purity, so the Divine Knowledge is impossible without the inner purity. As fresh water--not water already used--is necessary for the one, so pure Monotheism--not mixed--is necessary for the other.[7]

[7] See "Monotheism"--_Trs._

* * * * *

The inner purification is hinted at in the Prophet's prayer: "O God, purge out hypocrisy from my heart."--_Letters 29 & 30._

THE MOTIVE.

The value of a disciple's act lies in his motive. The motive is to the act as life is to the body and light to the eye. As the body without life or the eye without light is useless, so the acts of a disciple without a pure motive are mere forms. With the Seers, forms are denial and destruction, not faith and salvation. A valid motive arises from purity, as rays from the sun and sparks from the flame. When the motive is not biassed by worldly attractions, it is called _ascetic_ purity by the Sûfîs. When the motive is not biassed by heavenly attractions, it is called _spiritual_ purity. It is said that the motive of a man is according to his knowledge and wisdom. If desire and love of the world predominate in the heart of a man, all his acts will be worldly--even his prayers and fasts. If desire and love of heaven predominate in his heart, all his acts will be heavenly--even his eating and sleeping. Again there are others, of loftier aspiration, caring neither for earth nor for heaven, but for God only. All acts done by such men will be purely divine....

A disciple should always be careful to purify his motive and to get out of mere forms. For this, he should obey the instructions of a Teacher, his motive, though in the beginning mixed with hypocrisy and insincerity, will ultimately be purified by obeying His instructions.... The disciple should act as the earth, so that the Teacher may act as the sky--wet him with His rains, warm him with His sun, shade him under His clouds, perfume him with the fragrant breeze of His compassion--and thus help his growth.--_Letter 31._

PRAYER.

The daily routine of a disciple, in the absence of his Teacher, should be such as to secure purity of heart, whether by prayer, sacred study, mutterings, or meditation.

The secret of prayer is inexpressible. When the disciple, renouncing separateness, stands for prayer in a mood of self-surrender, his body ranks with =Kâbâ's= shrine, his heart with =Arsh= (the Divine Throne); and his spirit sees the Vision Divine....

The devotee mostly prays with the fire of Love without observing external forms (_e. g._ kneeling and prostration), takes all devotees as one, and does not stigmatise any man with the brand of infidelity and damnation.

In the state of prayer, one merged in the Divine cannot be conscious of anything else; as Alî, while praying, was operated upon, and an arrow drawn out of his thigh, but he did not feel it.--_Letter 32._

INVOKING THE DIVINE HELP.

Opinions vary as to which is the better course, invocation of the Divine Help, or self-surrender to the Divine Will. In some cases the one is preferable, in others the other, according to the tendency and condition of each individual. If invocation induces _unfolding_, it is good. If it induces _infolding_,[8] it should be stopped. If it induces neither the one nor the other, its performance and omission are of equal value. If _knowledge_ preponderates at the time of invocation, it is to be continued, for such an invocation is a worship in itself. If _Divine Wisdom_ preponderates at the time, silence is preferable....

[8] See p. 30.

What is the use of invoking the Divine Help, if the Divine Will is irrevocable?--Answer: The revocation by invocation is also in accordance with the Divine Will, the invocation being simply an ordained means, as a shield is a means to repel an arrow, and watering is a means to grow seeds.

If one resorts to an invocation, it is to be repeated three, five or seven times.--_Letter 36._

THE DIVINE ALLEGIANCE.

The Divine Allegiance gives freedom and the sovereignty of the whole world....

God never made anything so precious as the heart of His Servant, because it is there that He treasured up the wealth of His Wisdom: "I cannot be contained in heaven or earth, but I am contained in the heart of My faithful Servant."

What is Service?--To be resigned to the Divine Will without a murmur. A Servant is he who does not think of wages, and has been liberated from the bonds of desire. He who serves God for wages is the servant of the wages, not of God.

=Khwâjâ Hasân Basri= says: "Seek the Knowledge that is revealed by Service, and seek the Service that is revealed by Knowledge." Knowledge and Service are equally necessary, but Knowledge is superior, being the root and guide. Hence it is that the Prophet says: "Knowledge rules conduct, and conduct follows it." Again, He says that the sleep of the wise is better than the prayers of the ignorant, and that the ignorant do more evil than good by their acts.--_Letters 37-39._

THE SACRED FORMULA.

The disciple should ever practise the formula: "There is no God except =Allâh="--vocally or inaudibly, whether he be alone or in company. Let him not for a moment step out of this fort. The fort is made of the negative "no God" and the affirmative "except =Allâh=" phrases; and it protects the pilgrim entering therein against the two highway robbers: the desire-nature and Satan. When the disciple unfolds the inner eye in the plane of Unity, he transcends affirmation and denial, as they are inconsistent with Unity. Affirmation and denial inhere in the nature of man, and a disciple does not attain to Unity unless he goes beyond human nature. Affirmation and denial are in themselves a form of polytheism, since a valid affirmation and a valid denial each need three elements--the affirmer, the affirmation and the affirmed; the denier, the denial and the denied. When a believer in _two_ is a polytheist, how can a believer in _six_ be a monotheist? When the non-God has no existence, what is to be denied? When thou thyself art not, how canst thou affirm?... This is the zenith of Unity, and the stage of the Perfect Ones.... He who sees with the eye of Unity finds the non-God non-existent....

Whenever Mohammad, transcending the realm of His mission, looked with the inner eye into the realm of Unity, He eagerly and yearningly wished His personality blotted out, the dividing line erased, and the human limitation cast away. But the Compassion of the Beloved would ever intervene, and bring Him back to the realm of His mission for the delivery of the message.--_Letter 40._

THE NAKED FAITH.

Intellect is a bondage; Faith, the liberator. The disciple should be stripped naked of everything in the Universe in order to gaze at the beauty of Faith. But thou lovest thy personality, and canst not afford to put off the hat of self-esteem and exchange reputation for disgrace....

All attachments have dropped from the Masters. Their garment is pure of all material stain. Their hands are too short to seize anything tainted with impermanence. Light has shone in Their hearts enabling Them to see God. Absorbed in His Vision are They, so that They look not to Their individualities, exist not for Their individualities, have forgotten Their individualities in the ecstasy of His Existence, and have become completely His. They speak, yet do not speak; hear, yet do not hear; move, yet do not move; sit, yet do not sit. There is no [individual] being in Their being, no speech in Their speech, no hearing in Their hearing. Speakers, They are dumb; hearers, They are deaf. They care little for material conditions, and think of the True One [alone]. Worldly men are not aware of Their whereabouts. Physically with men, They are internally with God. They are a boon to the Universe--not to themselves, for They _are not_ themselves....

The knowledge that accentuates personality is verily a hindrance. The knowledge that leads to God is alone true Knowledge. The learned are confined in the prison of the senses, since they but gather their knowledge through sensuous objects. He that is bound by sense-limitations is barred from supersensuous Knowledge. Real Knowledge wells up from the Fountain of Life, and the student thereof need not resort to senses and gropings. The iron of human nature must be put into the melting-pot of discipline, hammered on the anvil of asceticism, and then handed over to the polishing agency of the Divine Love, so that the latter may cleanse it of all material impurities. It then becomes a mirror capable of reflecting the spiritual world, and may fitly be used by the KING for the beholding of His own Image.--_Letter 41._

THE INNER POLYTHEISM.

The Prophet says, "Polytheism in my followers is more imperceptible than the motion of an ant on a black stone on a dark night." Such a polytheism, though not affecting the [exoteric] faith, injures the essence and fruit of Faith. Pure gold and an alloy of gold are both gold, but the latter cannot be as precious as the former. True Faith consists in Monotheism, which is the antithesis of polytheism. Real Monotheism appears only when the root of polytheism[9] has been destroyed. In order to secure true Faith or Monotheism, every impurity that stains it should be cast away. Such impurities constitute the inner polytheism. Looking to any save God for help or hindrance; hoping or fearing from any save Him; hypocrisy, anger and pride, even in their most subtile forms; pleasure and pain at being praised and blamed by others; regarding virtue and vice as means of union with and separation from God--all these come under the _inner_ polytheism. In short, no one can be established in Faith unless his character comes up to the standard: "He is wholly from God, by God, and for God."

[9] Separateness.

Again the Prophet says: "There is no peace for the faithful except in the presence of God, and death is anything save His Presence."--_Letter 44._

THE DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.

Divine Knowledge is the essence of the faithful soul. One destitute of it does not really exist. The Knowledge of the Creator follows from the knowledge of created objects, and leads to the safety and permanence of the knower.

One way to the Divine Knowledge is to see the whole universe as subject to the Divine Will, to sever connection from all, and to realize the Unity of God and the Eternity of His Nature and Attributes.