Part 6
There is a distinction, however, between mere groundless hope and reasonable expectation. One who endeavours to obey the Divine Commands may reasonably expect the Divine Grace; but it is a vain hope for one guilty of commissions and omissions to expect exemption from hell and enjoyment of heaven.... So it is wise to check the accounts of the desire-nature, and prepare for death; and it is foolish to follow the desire-nature and hope for the remission of sins.--_Letter 67._
PURSUIT AND RENUNCIATION.
=Sûfîs= differ as to whether they should follow or renounce worldly pursuits. Complete renunciation is only permitted at a very high stage, _i. e._ that of absolute unity and perfect trust in God.
Working for a livelihood began with Adam. He cultivated lands and taught cultivation to his children. The Prophet =Shoaib= was a merchant and possessed cattle. =Moses= served as His shepherd. If work interfered with the principle of trust in God, the Prophets would not have worked for a livelihood. =Mohammad= warned his friends against the abuse of the principle of trust, and ever kept in store a year's provision for his children. Work is a duty for him who has to support another; but he should work so as not to be cut off from God.
Each should look to his circumstances and inner attitude, in order to decide whether he should resort to work or cease from work. If ceasing separates him from God, work should be resorted to; if ceasing leads him to God, work should be left aside.
Work is as lawful as prayer and fast. The more you pray, the more you fast, the better; but to look for your salvation therefrom is dualism. You should adore for the glorification of God and the strengthening of your love, but you should rely on His Grace for your salvation. Similarly, work is better than renunciation; but it is not the work, but rather the Divine Grace, which is to be looked up to as Providence.
A Dervesh should avoid begging as far as possible, as it is dangerous in many respects. He, however, may beg (a) to gratify his hunger.... (b) to pull down his personality, ... (c) knowing the world as the Divine steward. It is more in keeping with the ceremonious glorification of the Lord to ask of His steward than of Himself.--_Letter 69._
THE COMPANY OF THE SAINTS.
Holy company is an important discipline for the pupil. It is very effective in conquering nature and habit. Hence is it laid down by the holy Saints as binding upon a disciple. The rationale of it is this. The desire-nature consists of certain ingrained tendencies, and is affected by the tendencies of one's associates. The Prophet says: "Men follow the religion of their friends, so they should always be careful of their company." ...
It is said that a man, while going round =Kâbâ=, prayed: "Lord, make my brothers virtuous." Others asked him, "Why dost thou pray for thy brothers at this sacred spot, and not for thyself?" He replied: "I have brothers who, when I return to them, will elevate me by their virtues if they are virtuous, and degrade me by their vices if they are vicious. As my righteousness rests on theirs, I pray for them, that they may help me in reaching the Goal."
=Malik= (Peace on Him!) says: "Do not associate with a brother or a friend, unless you would thereby advance the cause of Religion. To associate with any other object is absolutely forbidden." _Explanation_: If you associate with a superior, he will benefit you by his presence; if you associate with an inferior, you should benefit him by teaching him religion and morality, and yourself too by learning something useful he may know.
Company is to be sought for the sake of the Lord, not for selfish gratification.
Nothing is more dangerous for a beginner than loneliness. A story runs thus. There was a disciple of Master =Junnaid= who fancied he had made great progress and could not be harmed by isolation. So he took to seclusion. Nightly, a procession appeared before him with a horse for him to ride, and he was requested to ride up to heaven,--a delightful place with sweet dishes, running brooks and fair company--where he enjoyed himself till morn, and slept. On awakening, he would find himself at the door of his hermitage. He turned proud and boastful. On hearing the report, the Master came to him, asked him and was told what had happened, and advised him to repeat three times when he went to the pleasure-haunt: "There is nothing to be relied upon save God, and there is no power except His." He refused to act up to the advice for a few nights more. At last he wished to test the efficiency of the Master's lesson and repeated the sentence as advised. The whole procession fell into confusion and scattered, and he found himself in a cemetery with the bones of the dead around him. Then he came to realise his guilt, repented, and returned to the company of his fellow-disciples.
* * * * *
The rule of society is to behave with each according to his position in life. _With reference to elders_, to serve them; not to speak before them save when necessary, and then only with their permission, and after they have finished if they are speaking; not to sit on an elevated seat in their presence. _With reference to equals_, to live in harmony, and to share one's wealth with them (not as a loan, but as a free gift). _With reference to the young_, to treat them with love and kindness.
_General_: Elders to be treated as one's own parents, equals as one's own brothers, the younger ones as one's own children. None to be asked for anything, but each to be helped. Life to be rendered agreeable to all. Not to oppose others except at the call of religious duty. To associate with those strong in religion, integrity and moderation. Not to mix with those opposed in religion and temperament. To avoid the company of a youth. (The desire in the young for the company of their elders aids the development of their intelligence and knowledge. The desire in elders for the company of youths leads to sin and folly)....
=Sûfîs=, when conversing with one another, never say, "This is mine," "That is thine;" "I wish it were so," "I wish it were not so." It is the verdict of the Masters of Knowledge that God does not approve of the use of words denoting I-ness.
If thou wouldst know the Unknown, taste the nectar of Grace and transcend the seven heavens, then close the five senses, and pass from the perishable to the Imperishable. They asked Master =Shiblî=, "Who is a Knower, and how is he to be distinguished?" He said, "He is deaf, dumb and blind." They replied, "These are the marks of an unbeliever." He rejoined: "The unbeliever is deaf to the voice of truth, dumb for the utterance of truth, and blind to the vision of truth; whereas the Knower is deaf, dumb and blind to all save Truth."--_Letter 70._
SERVICE.
Service is an essential duty for the disciple. Its gains are superior to those of worship. It kills the desire-nature; it breeds humility and good manners; it destroys pride, impurity and inertia, quickens the soul and illumines the inner and the outer man.
They asked a Great One, "How many ways are there to God?" He said: "There are as many ways as there are atoms in the universe. But the best and the shortest is Service. I have reached the Goal by treading this Path, and recommend it to my disciples." ...
_Rules of Service_: To put aside one's own desires, to render oneself agreeable to others, ... and to regard one's powers and possessions as intended for the use of others....
As the wealthy are to serve with their wealth and the learned with their knowledge--so the disciple is to use _all_ his activities for the service of others....
All Great Ones began with Service, which gradually lifted them to the rank of Masters.--_Letter 71._
[The following Notes gleaned from other works of the Author are added as bearing on the subject.--_Trs._]
The outer conduct of an occultist should be in accordance with the mental capacity of the people surrounding him. He should speak what concerns them only, and not of his own relations with God. Master =Yahiâ= observes: "When with others, I say 'My Lord'; when alone, I say 'My Beloved'; when united, I say 'I'." Obey the Law, whatever your stage or position. Such is the approved mode of conduct, as recommended by the Masters of Wisdom.--_The Series of 28 Letters,--Letter 21._
A certain Great One was told that the chief of a certain town spent the whole night in prayers. He replied that the poor fellow had missed the way and undertaken the work of others. On being questioned again, he added that that man's path of duty lay in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the distressed, and fulfilling the wants of the needy; and that keeping up all night in prayer was the duty of a recluse. Each man ought to work according to his position in life.--_Fawâed-i-Ruknî._
THE TRANSMUTATION OF EVIL QUALITIES.
The purification of character by the transmutation of evil qualities into virtues is to be ever striven for as an essential duty. If neglected, it must breed dangers and difficulties.
Man has all the qualities found in the animals. His resurrection will be determined by his predominant quality, not by his outer body on earth--_i. e._, he will turn into the form of the corresponding animal. For instance, the predominance of anger, lust, pride or flattery in earthly life, produces severally the forms of the dog, the hog, the lion and the fox, on the day of resurrection. Similarly of other qualities....
Many men will be seen in bestial form on the day of resurrection, and many beasts in human form. The dog of the Cave-Recluses[15] will rise in the form of man, owing to his human qualities. Mount =Ahud= will have a rock drawn out of it, and will stand in the rank of the Pure Ones in human form.... Those endowed with the inner eye know that all beings, even the mineral, pray. "Every particle of dust in the air is full of the Light of Divine Love. All atoms in the universe are centres--active or potential--of Divine Love."
[15] The reference is to the seven sages who, with a dog, retired to a cave to avoid the persecution of a tyrant, awoke after a sleep of 300 years, and slept again to awake on the day of resurrection.--_Trs._
Such a difficult task lies in front, and none take to it save the Wise. So thou shouldst not be heedless, but slowly and steadily discipline thyself so as to overcome a part of thy animal nature--it is indeed a mighty achievement to overcome it in its entirety.
He who wishes to know the nature of his resurrection should see what is the predominating quality in his life: his resurrection will be determined by this quality. It is not difficult to know thus much.
Similarly, if a man wishes to know whether God is pleased or displeased with him, he should look at his life. A life wholly devoted to righteousness must please God: righteousness is the indication of His pleasure. A life wholly given to vice must displease God: vice is the indication of His displeasure. A life partly righteous and partly vicious is to be valued according to the predominating element in it.
If the earthly life is not turned to account, there shall be no progress on the other side. If a man who has not transmuted [on earth] the evil qualities in his nature, is taken to heaven at his death, and all celestial boons are bestowed upon him, those qualities will not change. He will have only the houris, the palaces, the roast cocks and the stream of running water, but will be too weak to realise the real object--the Goal of the _inner_ man, and the ideal of all the disciples and of the Master. How insignificant are all other gains where That is lost! How immaterial is any loss, where That is gained!
Frequent ablutions and baths remove sloth and drowsiness.
The Divine Vision on resurrection day depends on the Divine Grace, not on merit. No eye deserves His Vision, no ear His Voice, no intellect His Knowledge, no feet His Path.... Self-reproach is necessary for a seeker.--_Letter 72._
AVARICE.
To work for show, and desire the rank of a saint, is not the mark of piety. Thy deeds are all tainted with desire. Purity consists in the spirit of Service, not in avarice. The one is not compatible with the other. But we want bribes to serve the Lord.
O brother, cast off avarice. God does not owe anything to any one, and His gifts on earth or after death are gratuitous. Do all your works for His Service, not in the hope of gaining heaven or shunning hell....
He who aspires to work in His Service should be careful of the purity of his motives, which is a function of the heart. An act without pure motive cannot soar from the region of sham to the sphere of Service.... A prayer worth the name is one performed with the fervour of the heart, and not with the lips only. The motto of monotheism, "There is no God save =Allâh=," if repeated as a talk at moments of sale and purchase, can not be regarded as a declaration of Divine Unity.... God says: "My shrine is not a place of sale and purchase. Thou goest to market with the object of gaining something thou hast not. But if thou comest to My Shrine, come with the distinct understanding that thou losest all and returnest a pauper." =Khwâjâ Ahmad= had a vision of God, Who told him: "=Ahmad=, all men ask Me for something, save =Bâyazîd=[16] who asks for Myself alone."--_Letter 73._
[16] A great Muhammadan saint.
THE EVIL OF THE WORLD.
The world and all things therein are to be avoided, save as needed for the Lord's sake. The world may be classed under three groups:--
(1) The first group is purely worldly, and cannot serve His Cause. It consists of:
(_a_) Vices. Their commission in the mind or with the body does not serve His Cause.
(_b_) Too much of lawful enjoyments. This is the root of all failures and sins.
(2) The second group is purely divine, but may be turned to selfish use by an impure motive, _e. g._, meditation, prayer and asceticism, if practised with the object of gaining the respect of the people.
(3) The third group is apparently worldly but really divine, _e. g._, eating for the sake of the Divine Service; marriage with the object of begetting a child who shall repeat "There is no God save =Allâh="; making a small fortune with the object of peacefully serving God.
In short, the world is that which gratifies the cravings of desire in the present, and is of no use after death; that which may help on the other side of death is not worldly.... He who appropriates the world to the limit of _bare_ necessity (food, garment and a dwelling-house) breaks his bonds; whereas he who seeks luxurious living exposes himself to endless troubles....
The Great Ones have remarked that the lowest stage of purity shows itself as an inner craving for well-being after death and a diminution of worldly desires, ending in a gradual estrangement from this world, and the realisation of other worlds....
The work is harder than you imagine. All worldly pleasures are sorrows and sufferings.--_Letter 74._
RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD.
Service of the Lord is impossible without renunciation of the world. When thy body works for the world and thy heart longs for it, how canst thou serve Him? The heart is one; it cannot attend to two things at the same time. The world and the Lord are wide apart as east and west. The more you approach the one, the farther you recede from the other....
Renunciation is twofold:--
(1) Human renunciation, _i. e._ the renunciation which can be achieved by a man. It consists of three stages:
(_a_) Ceasing to seek for the worldly objects one has not.
(_b_) Casting off the worldly objects one has.
(_c_) Ceasing to entertain worldly desires in the mind.
(2) Superhuman renunciation, which consists in complete indifference to the world. It can be accomplished, with the help of the Divine Grace, by one who has achieved success in all the three stages of Human renunciation. The second is the true renunciation with many Sages.
The expulsion of worldly desires from the mind is a most difficult task. You will find many cases of _apparent_ renunciation, with an _inner_ longing for the world. But when you cease to seek for what you have not, and cast off what you have, the Divine Grace will enable you to drive out worldly desires from your mind. Relinquishment of the world will not give _real_ renunciation, so long as the heart still craves for the world. The Prophets were master-ascetics. One of Them was Solomon, who possessed the sovereignty of all the worlds, and was certainly an ascetic.
_Conclusion_: The separation of the heart from worldly cravings, in spite of the possession of worldly objects, is superior to the separation of the body from worldly objects, in spite of the worldly cravings that remain in the heart.
Renunciation is the basis of all virtue and progress, and, as such, is the first condition of discipleship. =Ahmad Hambal= (Peace on Him!) says that renunciation is threefold:--
(_a_) Abstinence from what is forbidden by the Scriptures. This is the lower renunciation.
(_b_) Abstinence from over-indulgence in lawful pleasures. This is the higher renunciation.
(_c_) Renunciation of that which separates man from God. This is the highest renunciation.--_Letter 75._
THE FINAL DOOM.
There are two classes of travellers, the noble and the wicked. Each class has its peculiar speed, path, and doom.
Noble souls are divided into ordinary noble ones, and the more advanced. The former attain heaven and the heavenly ranks by following the ascetic practices prescribed by Religion. The more advanced approach Purity by following the path of Devotion.
The wicked, too, are divided into ordinary wicked ones, and the more degraded. The former include some of the believers, leading a sinful life, disobeying the divine injunctions, and addicted to sensual pleasures. They tread the path of transgression and go to hell. The latter are the unbelievers, solely attending to sensual pleasures and earthly gains, and wholly disbelieving in Religion and the disembodied life. They risk the permanent for the sake of the transient, and finally lose this world as well as the next. The former suffer in hell temporarily, but finally escape it by virtue of their faith, albeit imperfect. The latter eternally suffer in hell owing to total absence of faith.
There are different gradations in hell, as there are grades of unbelief or hypocrisy. There are thinkers and blind followers amongst unbelievers as well as amongst believers. As the faith of a thoughtful believer is superior to that of an ordinary believer, so the sufferings of a thoughtful unbeliever are intenser than those of an ordinary unbeliever. Ordinary unbelief is inherited from ancestors and surroundings, and is punished in the first infernal region. Intellectual unbelief does not rest upon tradition, but upon researches carried on for long years, self-denial and discipline of the lower nature, all intended for and ending in scepticism and atheism.--_Letter 68._
THE SOUL (=RÛH=).
People differ in their opinions on the Soul--some call it a body, some an essence, some an accident; some regard it as eternal, others as created. Orthodox =Islâm= declares its existence, but is silent on its nature and quality. God says: "If questioned on the Soul, say, 'It is from the Will of God.'," =Abû Bakr Qahatî=, however, holds that the Soul is beyond the category of created objects. [The Author does not subscribe to this view, and enters on a controversy to show its heresy.--_Trs._]--_Letter 79._
[The following notes from _The Series of 28 Letters_, may be added as bearing on the subject.--_Trs._]
In search of peace, and fervently longing for spiritual fragrance, a pilgrim came to the Soul and said: "Thou art a reflection of the Glorious Sun, unfading; all the attributes of the Absolute One lie verily in Thee. Transcending Reason and understanding, Thou eludest description and predication. There is no creature above Thee, there is no Beloved beyond Thee." These lines from Master =Farîd Attâr=, and the hints underlying them, ought to be carefully pondered over--so that one may realise that there is no existence outside the Self, and that whatever one seeks is to be sought within the Self. If an authority be needed, one may read from the =Qurân=: "He is within thee, though _thou_ mayest not see." Again, this couplet is worth perusal: "Adam first ran towards all the atoms of the universe, but he did not find God so long as he found not the Way within himself."--_Loc. cit., Letter 24_.
The connection of the Soul with the body compares well with that of God with His universe: for the Soul is neither within the body nor without it, neither united with it nor separated from it. Soul and body belong to two different planes of existence; yet for all that there is not an atom in the body but is pervaded by the Soul.... The Soul retains its innate purity, linked though it be to the body for myriads of years.--_Ibid, Letter 3._
THE HEART.
There is a treasure buried in the heart of the knower. It is LOVE. A single jewel out of it is worth a thousand heavens. The guardian of heaven is an angel named =Rizwân=, whereas the guardian of the treasure of Love is GOD Himself.
Know that thy merit is measured by what thou seekest.... If thou worshippest to obtain heaven or avoid hell, thou worshippest thy own desires. If thou seekest or fearest an object, thou art the worshipper of that object. Thy real value depends on what is in thy heart. If thy heart is attached to GOD, thou art a divine man....
=Junnaid=, when ill, prayed for his recovery. A Voice answered him, "Dost _thou_ come in between Myself and Thee?"
Thou walkest every morning to office and comest back at dusk. Where is the difference between thee and the fire-worshipper and the Jew? Thy prayers are for increase of wealth, and thy pilgrimages for popular approbation. All thy acts are similarly tainted with name and form. The real end of life is yet veiled from thee.--_Letter 80._
=NAFS=, THE DESIRE-NATURE.
Some say the desire-nature is a substance, placed in the body, similar to the Soul. Others say it is a quality of the body, similar to life. But all take it as the source of evil qualities and acts. These evils are grouped into: (a) sins, (b) qualities, _e. g._ pride, envy, anger. The former pertain more to the _outer_ man, the latter more to the _inner_ man. The former are purified by ascetic practices, the latter by =Taubâh= (or Turning)....
It is said that the desire-nature and the Soul are both mysterious entities in the body, corresponding to demons and angels, hell and heaven in the macrocosm;--the one being the centre of evil, the other the centre of Good. There is no help against the desire-nature save in ascetic practices.
Man is the epitome of the whole Universe, and is composed of the Soul, the desire-nature and the body. He bears the characteristics of all the worlds. The earth, water, fire and air of this world appear in his body as the four humours: blood, phlegm, melancholy and bile. Other worlds are not less vividly marked in him. The Soul leads him to heaven, being its image; the desire-nature leads him to hell, being its image.
=Bû Alî= saw his desire-nature in the form of a hog. He wished to kill it, but it said to him, "Do not trouble thyself: I belong to the Army of God, _thou_ canst not annihilate me."
=Mohammad Nûrî= speaks of his desire-nature coming out of his throat in the form of a miniature fox. "I knew it was the desire-nature, so I put it under my feet and began to trample upon it. It grew the larger and the stronger. I said, 'Pain and torture destroy all things, but they simply aid your growth!' It said, 'This is due to the fact of my constitution being the other way: what is pain for others is pleasure for me.'"