Part 4
Another is through one's own nature. "He that knows his own nature, verily knows his God." God first shewed His Powers in the universe to enable monotheists to gain Knowledge of Him by observing it. This way being too long for the Sages, He placed in Man the essences of the entire creation, thus making Human Nature the facsimile of the whole universe and the ladder to His Knowledge. Pilgrims tread the Path of Divine Knowledge _in_ themselves, look for the pure and the foul _in_ themselves, and find the indication and proof of that Knowledge _in_ themselves.
God engages some men in observation, and they know Him by pondering over His creation. He leads others to His knowledge through asceticism. There is another class of men whose hearts He illumines at once. Again, some are debarred from the _essence_ of the Divine Knowledge, others from the Path itself. "The Divine Beauty has thousands of aspects, each atom presenting some peculiar one."
=Noori= was asked: "What is the proof of God?" He replied: "The proof of God is God Himself." They asked him again: "Then what is the use of intellect?" He said: "Intellect is a failure, it cannot lead save to what is a failure like itself." Intellect can only look upon an entity either as _body_, _essence_ or _accident_; or in Space and Time. It cannot go beyond those limitations. If it fixes any of those limitations on God, it sinks to infidelity. If, bewildered, it exclaims: "I do not find any existence save with these properties. So, God being without any of these properties, is perhaps naught,"--it is still dragged down to infidelity.... In short, Divine Knowledge depends upon Divine illumination alone.
Divine Knowledge is the knowledge of God as He is in His Essence, Attributes, and Works. The Sage should know God in the same way as God knows Himself, and as He has described Himself in the =Qurân=. There are two theories as to the _perfection_ of this Knowledge. Some Intellectualists hold that the Sage knows God in the same way as God knows Himself. If he does not know Him perfectly, he knows a part of Him. But God is partless. So Sages are equal in Divine Knowledge. Intellectualists hold to the possibility of perfect Divine Knowledge. The other theory is held by the Sûfîs and a few intellectualists as well, _viz._, that no one knows God perfectly. They know Him to exist, and know it to the extent necessary for their salvation. They do not hold to the possibility of perfect Divine Knowledge.
With the Masters of the Path, Divine Knowledge is the actual and direct perception of God: with the Intellectualists, it is the sound intellectual knowledge of God.
It is incumbent on a pilgrim not to be satisfied and stand still until he reaches the Goal. The more he knows, the more he should seek.... The whole world is satisfied with a smell or a word (_i. e._ very little), and no one has received even a drop from the holy cup. "I asked Him, 'Whose art Thou with all this Beauty?' He said, 'I am My own, for I am verily ONE. I am the Lover, the Beloved, and Love; I am the mirror, the image and the beholder'."--_Letter 45._
LOVE AND DEVOTION.
This world and the next are intended to be used in seeking God. An objection raised against such a use of the next world is untenable: for prayer and fast, pilgrimage and the holy war, and all the exoteric obligations cease _as such_ in the next world; but devotion--seeking after God--ever endures. If you go to heaven, each day of the heavenly life will open up new vistas of Divine Knowledge. An endless work is this, may it never end!
When God loves a man, He inflicts troubles on him and takes away his wealth, wife and children, so that he may be bound to naught, and estranged from all save Him. If he suffers patiently, he receives boons without toil. If he endures cheerfully, he is purified of all evils.
Again, God's love for a man makes him aware of the defects of his desire-nature, so that he becomes its instructor and censor.
The following are the signs of a man's love for God:--
1. Being given to prayer and seclusion.
2. According to others, preferring the Divine Word to human words, the Divine Presence to the sight of man, the Service of God to the service of the world; and not grieving for any loss save separation from Him.
3. According to =Junnaid=: Not being tired in His Service.
4. According to a certain Sage: Avoiding sins.
* * * * *
It is dangerous to assert one's love for God.
The word "=Mahabbat=" (love) is derived from "=Hibba=" (a seed.) The seed is the germ of life, as it is there that lies the real plant. The seed is put into the soil, lies concealed therein, and receives sun and rain, heat and cold, without any [apparent] change. When the time comes, it sprouts, flowers, and fructifies. So, when Love takes root in the heart, it bears presence and absence, joy and sorrow, union and separation, with equanimity....
Devotion is the perfection of Love. Worship makes a servant, knowledge makes a knower, abstinence makes an ascetic, sincere seeking makes an earnest aspirant, sacrifice of all the world makes a Friend, self-sacrifice makes a Lover, losing the perishable and imperishable elements of self in the Beloved makes a Devotee.
It has been said: Devotion is born of the Light of the Presence of the Eternal Beloved. It is like a flash of lightning, illuminating the eye of the Devotee, speaking to his ear, enlivening his movements, and alienating him from all the world--so that his acts are not for self nor for others, but are works of impersonal Devotion to the Beloved.
Devotion is beyond words, intellect, and astral perception. "I am Devotion, beyond this world and the next; I conquer all without arrow or bow; I shine as the sun in every atom, yet my presence for its very brightness is unperceived; I speak in every tongue, I hear in every ear; yet, strange to say, I am tongueless and earless; as every thing in the Universe is verily Myself, My like cannot be found therein."--_Letters 46 to 48._
[The following extract from _Fawâed-i-Ruknî_ may appropriately find place here.--_Trs._]
As prayers and fasts are the _outer_ duties, so Love and Devotion are the _inner_ duties. Their ingredients are pain and sorrow. Devotion leads the devotee to God. Hence Devotion is necessary to tread the Path. Know Devotion as Life, its absence as death. The privilege of Devotion is not granted to every man, nor does every man deserve it. He who deserves it is worthy of his God; he who does not deserve it is unworthy of Him. A Devotee alone can appreciate the value of Devotion. A vast multitude seek after heaven, while very few seek after Devotion; for heaven is the lot of the desire-nature, while Devotion is the lot of the Soul.
Get rid of the notion of selfhood, and give up thy self to Devotion. When thou hast done so, thou hast reached the Goal.
Dost thou know why so many obstacles have been set up on the Path?--In order that the devotee may gradually develop strength, and be able to see the Beloved without a veil.
The boat on the sea [of life] is Devotion; the Boatman is the Divine Grace.
SEEKING GOD.
Nothing is more binding upon you than to seek God. If you go to market, seek Him. If you come home, seek Him. If you enter a tavern, seek Him. If the Angel of Death come to you, take care not to neglect the Seeking. Tell him, "Do thou thy work, I do mine." ... If you be taken down to hell, you shall not neglect the Seeking. Say to the Angel of Hell, "Strike my useless personality with the whip of chastisement: I, on my part, tread the Path of Seeking"--so that the Work may go on. If you are taken up to Heaven, do not look to the _houris_ and palaces, but speed on the Way of Seeking. "Tho' they offer me both the worlds, I will not have them without Thy Presence."
The first stage on the Path of Seeking is _Humility_. The Great Ones say: 'Humility is the messenger from God to man.' Sown in the heart, it impels to God. Practised for some time, it turns into _Courage_. Masters unanimously hold that Love cannot put up save with the Courage of the Disciple. Practised for some time, Courage turns into _Seeking_. This Seeking is led by the Divine Will to the secrets of [the holy formula], "There is no God except Allâh." The drum of Seeking proclaims at the gate of the Divine Sanctuary, "He who seeks God obtains Him." A cry resounds: "Let neither sky nor earth, heaven nor hell, hinder the Path of My Seekers, for they seek Me, and I am their Goal." These are the steps on the ladder of human progress. Each pilgrim has his own stage, according to his aspiration.
The vigilant Seeker should kill out self-conceit and self-respect with asceticism and purification, transcend both the worlds, and be ready to lose his life. It is unlawful for him to aspire after anything in the universe. "One does not unite with the All, unless one parts with all."
It is said:
When Adam was lodged in Paradise, the Law commanded him not to approach the Tree, while the Path dictated to him to turn away from all. Adam said unto himself. "This Paradise is full of wonders, and I am its lord. But my heart longs to visit the abode of sorrow: lordship will not serve my purpose." A voice spoke to his spirit, "Adam, wilt thou remove to a foreign country?" "Yes," answered Adam, "for I have something to do." The voice said, "Do this work here." Adam: "The other is more important." The voice: "Heretofore, Paradise and the angels have been thy servants. Now thou shalt have to exchange the home of peace for the abode of condemnation, the crown for poverty, reputation for disgrace." Adam: "I accept all these, and will proclaim my freedom throughout the universe." So it cannot be said that Adam was deprived of Paradise, but rather that Paradise was deprived of Adam.--_Letter 50._
THE WAY TO GOD.
=Khwâjâ Bâyazîd= was asked, "What is the way to God?" He replied: "When _thou_ hast vanished on the Way, _then_ hast thou come to God." Mark this: If one attached to the Way cannot see God, how can one attached to self see God?
When the Sun of Divine Knowledge rises, all modes of knowledge become ignorance; when Divine aspiration appears, all desires melt away....
Whoever is bound to his exterior--his turban, his robe, the size and colour of his garment--is still attached to the personality and a worshipper thereof. Thou canst serve either personality or the Law: two contraries cannot unite. So long as you hanker after approbation and dignity, so long as you become angry at an insult, you are with your old genius and self-conceit, and have not been accepted by the Law. You should sacrifice yourself in the SELF. To no purpose do you change your dress and food. If you eat a single blade of grass in a lifetime, remain clad in a single garment for a thousand years, are shut up in a monastery away from the sight of men,--beware, lest you should be deluded. All these are but the subtleties of the desire-nature, its cunning and craft.
Many pious men are as motionless as a serpent or a scorpion frozen with cold. Their piety is not due to rectitude and purity, but to lack of opportunity. When summer comes in and the surroundings change, one may behold what they do.... No one can safely tread the Path without a Guide.... In the beginning, a disciple is not a fit recipient of the Divine Light. He is like a bat, unable to bear the light of the Sun. As it is dangerous folly to travel in utter darkness, he needs a light less dazzling than the Sun, in order to illumine the Path for his safety. Such a light is that coming from the Masters, who, like the moon [reflecting the light of the sun], have become fit reflectors of the Spiritual Light.--_Letter 51._
SPEECH AND CONDUCT.
All learned men base conduct on speech. They have gathered their learning through the avenues of hearing and speaking. The Masters of Truth have received Their Knowledge through divine inspiration, which depends on following the Law. With Them, knowledge does not depend upon words or speech. It has no connection with the tongue. Knowledge is that which makes a man follow the Law. Secular learning deals with words. Knowledge deals with Truth, and is not to be found save in the region of the Real. The province of the tongue is letters, and they are limited. Knowledge comes from the Heart, and the Heart does not perish. God has not given Knowledge to all, whereas He has not withheld speech from any. Knowledge is that which controls desire and leads to God. That which contributes to the gratification of desire and leads to the courts of chiefs and oppressors is not Knowledge, but a snare. Knowledge makes one humble and frees from ostentation and disputes.... The end of all learning is the beginning of Discipleship.
The _first_ robe worn by a Disciple consists in coming out of the self. The _second_ robe consists in setting no value on what he heretofore took as divine, so that the flame of Discipleship burns all things in him. Then, he begins to see lights and utter charming words, leading to self-conceit and the admiration of others. This is a snare of the desire-nature, and stops his progress. Here comes in the necessity of a Teacher to help him cross this stage and bring him from stagnation to motion. Thus _light is a thicker veil than darkness_. Hence is it that the Wise are dumb and blind, unaffected by the opinion of the people. Hence is it, again, that the difficulties of a Disciple cannot be solved by a learned man, as the latter is but versed in religion, while the difficulties of the former are connected with the Path. It is useless for a Disciple to follow the learned, as the dicta of the latter are concerned with _outer_ conduct, while he has to deal with the _inner_ life. The one is preparing for the destruction of self; the other seeks salvation for the self through knowledge. The business of the learned is to gather up what has been left by others, and store in his bosom the knowledge of the past. The business of the Disciple is to throw away and renounce what he has, and to unlearn what he has learned. So they are opposites and cannot be reconciled in any way.--_Letter 52._
MAGNANIMITY.
A disciple lacking in magnanimity makes no progress at all. One whose aspiration does not go beyond heaven, is not fit for this battle. The Wise hold that the desire to have everything in the world according to one's own wishes, befits a woman, not a _man_.... In short, a magnanimous disciple should first of all tread upon his own life, and try his sword on his own desire-nature, not on an infidel. For the infidel can only hurt the body, and plunder earthly possessions; whereas the desire-nature injures the very root of religion and destroys faith....
Be on the alert, and take no step without due caution, for Time is a penalty to the heedless.
It is said:--When a man wishes to enter the Path, the Chief of the Evil Ones, Satan, seizes his skirt and says: "I bear the Cross of Curse for this work, that no unclean fellow may enter the Path. If any dare come in without the Robe of Monotheism and sincere Earnestness, I lop off his feet." ...
"Should thy inner eyes unfold, every atom would tell thee a hundred secrets. Then wouldst thou see each atom ever advancing. All are absorbed in the march--_thou_ art blind--and the march goes on _in thee_ as well. There is no limit to the progress of LOVE. Such _has been_, there is no help." From highest heaven to lowest abyss, all things are seeking and striving. It is the wicked man alone who has made peace with the enemy, and cut himself off from the Beloved.--_Letter 53._
KNOWLEDGE.
Knowledge is to purification and asceticism what ablution is to prayer. No practice is possible without knowledge, as no prayer is possible without ablution....
Knowledge is of two kinds: that received from teachers and books, and that unfolded in the soul. Again the latter kind is twofold:
(1) The Knowledge transmitted from the Divine Sanctuary into:--
(_a_) The Soul of a Prophet. Such Knowledge is called =Wahî=.[10]
(_b_) The Soul of a Master. Such Knowledge is =Ilbâm= (inspiration).
(2) The knowledge transmitted into:--
(_a_) The Soul of a Master from a Prophet.
(_b_) The Soul of a Disciple from a Master.
[10] A revelation received from God through an Angel (mostly Gabriel).--_Trs._
As a Master sees God in the Soul of a Prophet, so a Disciple sees God in the Soul of a Master.
"So long as the tablet of thy heart bears the impression of letters, thou dost not know any of the secret meanings. When the letters completely vanish from the tablet of thy heart, then comes the knowledge of the secret meanings."
Knowledge is the key to all virtues, as ignorance is the key to all vices. Knowledge ushers in liberation, ignorance brings in destruction. The celestial ranks and abnormal sacred powers spring from knowledge; chastisements in the various grades of hell result from ignorance. So the faithful should shun ignorance and the ignorant in the same way as vice and infidelity. "A wise man is my friend, and a fool is my foe." As ignorance and the ignorant are to be avoided, so is it obligatory to seek knowledge and the company of the wise--not worldly knowledge, but the moral; not the worldly wise but the morally wise. "If you acquire knowledge thoughtlessly, you will use it as a means of gaining worldly position. True Knowledge is that which leads to the Divine Sanctuary, not that which leads to wealth, rank and passional gratifications." The company of a Sage for a day is more conducive to progress than purification and asceticism.--_Letter 55._
[The following note may be added from "_The Series of 28 Letters_."--_Trs._]
Real knowledge comes from the Soul, and a true knower is he in whom lies the original and final Knowledge. The purer the Soul, the deeper and more subtile its comprehensions.--_Loc. cit., Letter 6_.
THE STEPS OF A DISCIPLE.
The first step is Religion (=Sharîat=). When the disciple has _fully_ paid the demand of Religion, and aspires to go beyond, the Path (=Tarîqat=) appears before him. It is the way to the Heart. When he has fully observed the conditions of the Path, and aspires to soar higher, the veils of the Heart are rent, and Truth (=Haqîqat=) shines therein. It is the way to the Soul, and the Goal of the Seeker.
Broadly speaking, there are four stages: =Nâsût=, =Malakût=, =Jabarût= and =Lâhût=, each leading to the next. =Nâsût= is the animal nature, and functions through the five senses--_e. g._, eating, contacting, seeing, hearing and the like. When the disciple controls the senses to the limit of bare necessity, and transcends the animal nature by purification and asceticism, he reaches =Malakût=--the region of the angels. The duties of this stage are prayers to God. When he is not proud of these, he transcends this stage and reaches =Jabarût=--the region of the Soul. No one knows the Soul but with the divine help; and Truth, which is its mansion, baffles description and allusion. The duties of this stage are love, earnestness, joy, seeking, extasy and insensibility. When the pilgrim transcends these by forgetting self altogether, he reaches =Lâhût=, the unconditioned state. Here words fail.
Religion is for the desire-nature; the Path, for the heart; Truth for the Soul. Religion leads the desire-nature from =Nâsût= to =Malakût=, and transmutes it into Heart. The Path leads the Heart from =Malakût= to =Jabarût=, and transmutes it into Soul. Truth leads the Soul from =Jabarût= to the Divine Sanctuary. The real work is to transmute the desire-nature into Heart, the Heart into Soul, and to unify the three into one. "The Lover, the Beloved and Love are essentially ONE." This is absolute monotheism....
"The motive of the faithful is superior to their acts." Acts by themselves are of no value: the importance lies in the heart.
It is said that the traveller on the divine Path has three states: (1) Action.[11] (2) Knowledge. (3) Love. These three states are not experienced unless God wills it so. But one should work and wait. He will do verily what He has willed. He looks neither to the destruction nor to the salvation of any one.
[11] _lit._, walking or moving.
One who wishes to arrive at the Truth _must_ serve a Teacher. No one can transcend the bondage and darkness of desires unless he, with the help of the Divine Grace, comes under the protection of a perfect and experienced Teacher. As the Teacher _knows_, He will teach the disciple according to his capacity, and will prescribe remedies suited to his ailments, so that "There is no God except =Allâh=" be firmly established in his nature, and the ingress of the evil spirits be cut off from his heart. All the world seeks to tread the Divine Path. But each knows according to his _inner_ purity, each seeks and aspires according to his knowledge, and each treads the Path according to his seeking and aspiration.--_Letters 56 & 57._
[The following extracts from "_A Series of 28 Letters_" may throw further light on the subject. The =Sûfî Mulk= (or =Nâsût=,) =Malakût=, =Jabarût= and =Lâhût= severally correspond to, if they are not identical with, the physical, astro-mental, causal and spiritual planes of modern Theosophical literature.--_Trs._]
It is not permitted to give out the knowledge gained through [supersensuous] vision. This much only can be recorded:--
The objects of the senses constitute this world (=Mulk=); those cognised by intellect constitute the plane of =Malakût=; the potentialities of all beings constitute the plane of =Jabarût=; ... In other words, this world is visible, the =Malakût= is supersensuous, the =Jabarût= is super-supersensuous.... The subtlety of this world cannot bear comparison with that of =Malakût=, the subtlety of =Malakût= with that of =Jabarût=, nor the subtlety of =Jabarût= with that of the Holy Essence Divine. There is not an atom of this world but is permeated by =Malakût=; not an atom of =Malakût= but is permeated by =Jabarût=; not an atom of this world, =Malakût= and =Jabarût= but is permeated by God, and conscious of Him. Being the most subtile, He must permeate all--for the greater the subtlety, the greater the quality of permeation. Now you may understand the meaning of the verse: "God is with thee wherever thou art, and in thy very being, though thou mayest not see Him; nearer is He to thee than the nerve of thy neck." Hence is it said that this world, =Malakût=, =Jabarût= and God Himself are all with thee, and that the True Man is the focus and mirror of all the Mysteries of the Divine Essence. It is not permitted to go further lest exotericism may censure. "Utter not secrets before the mob if thou art a true devotee Hast thou not seen that =Mansûr=, intoxicated with devotion, uttered a secret and was put to death?"--_Loc. cit., Letter 2_.
ISLÂM.
=Islâm= is other than the lower nature. So long as the lower impulses do not yield to purity, the heart has no affinity with Islâm. The investigators of Truth give to the bundle of the impulses the name of 'the desire-nature'. The outer body with its limbs and joints is not dangerous, but is simply a horse to carry the directions of the Law. God says: 'He sent us a horse from His mighty palace. Let us ride on it and come to the Path'. So long as it carries His directions we should not vex it. If it attempts to transgress the Law, let us punish it with the whip of asceticism, so that it may come back to the path. This is the discipline of the body. But if a man pricks his limb with a pin, saying that he thereby subdues the desire-nature, he is a sinner. Many ignorant fellows labour under a delusion and foolishly take self-torture as an important discipline. By no means transgress the limit of the Law and common-sense. The body is a valuable horse, and fit to carry the divine charges. It is the desire-nature, and not the body, which deserves rooting out and chastisement.