SANGITHA II
TA`LIL
That is right which you believe and which you can make others believe with you, but that is wrong which others refuse to believe and of which you yourself are not sure.
WASIAT
There will be many followers, but few devotees and among them still fewer thoughtful. If your sense is delicate and if you seek for fineness in life, attend to all things yourself and keep your secret in your own heart.
RIYAZAT
Designs Illustrating Fikr:
Bow and Arrow: The arrow and bow must be given to dispel the coldness of the heart, that is to say, in order to create the love element there in a person.
Cross: This form is given to a person in order to break the ego which shows pride and conceit; self denial is brought about.
World: This form is given to a person for him to realize the unity of the whole being, and to destroy the spirit of duality in him.
Crescent: This form is to give a person the power of inspiration and expression. If a person has a faculty of speaking or thinking or writing or doing anything in the way of receiving from above and expressing to the world, in that case this is given for the purpose of augmenting illumination.
Rainbow: The three circles of vibration which a person creates about him, one by his word, the other by his glance, the third by his movement; therefore three circles of magnetism are created round him, and these remain in his atmosphere.
The Vedantic or Yogi terms equivalent to the Sufic:
SK = Gayatri ST = Stotra WA = Japa SR = Mantra
FR = Tapa MB = Pranayama SB = Mudra
Muraqaba = Dhyana Mushahida = Dharna `Amal = Samadhi
NASIHAT
If you will not help yourself to better the conditions of your life, others will not help you, but on the contrary they will take advantage of your helplessness.
NASIHAT
If you are dependent upon others, some will try to make you more dependent, both your friends and foes, for it is to their advantage; but your true benefit is in making yourself independent of all the help, support, protection and service which you expect from others.
Indifference and independence are the two wings which enable the soul to fly.
KHAWAS
While dealing with people of the five different categories, viz., Human, Djinn, Angel, Animal and Devil, one must remember what to expect from them and how to deal with them.
While dealing with a person of the human category one must keep reason and logic foremost and meet him on a common ground. One must be positive, exact and balanced in one's thought, speech and action. One must not say to him that which is beyond the standard of a human being, not expect from him what is not justifiable by common sense. You can always expect from the soul of this category a return for all you give him, goodness for goodness, love for love, kindness for kindness, honor for honor, insult for insult, pain for pain. To all that is good and beautiful he will be ready to respond, but to all that is contrary he will also incline; for the nature is inclined both ways, and yet a human nature is his central theme. After a good action and after his faults he must come sooner or later to his central theme. Therefore there is no danger of his soul wandering far away from the human standard. It may do so for moments, but not always. His heart is the most fertile soil for all other natures; for, as capable he is to experience the life of the world fully, so capable is he of realizing the spiritual attainment in its fullness.
While dealing with the djinn personality one must be very careful lest one may be fooled by his seeming nature. He may seem innocent outwardly, but inwardly he may prove deeper than you could imagine. Sometimes he may seem deeper outwardly, but at the end of the examination you may find him only on the surface. Dealing with this personality, for an ordinary person is always like playing hide-and-seek. You cannot get at the mystery of this person; under his sadness there may be joy; beneath his joy there may be a sorrow; he may be looking at the North when his face is turned to the South; and to his friends he is always a puzzle. He seems to be a much better person than many others, and yet, if one looked for it, one might be able to find something in him worse than in many others. That person is a puzzle to himself and always a riddle for his friends to solve. But besides this, it is this soul who can be a real genius. What ever faculty may be developed in that person, it will show its development to its greatest fullness. As a poet, as a writer, as a painter, as a musician, as a philosopher, as an inventor, this man can do wonders.
This person will not let you hold him in any way. He is swift to slip away from the hand he has held, before the one holding him would even know. He may be loving, and yet you don't know where is his love; he may show kindness, and yet he cannot be fixed on any kind principles. However, great things and most wonderful things can be expected from a person of this category. One must be gentle and careful with this person, must help him and make the best use of his talent, but must never depend upon him.
This soul is more inclined to spiritual things than to anything else, especially to the intellectual and philosophical side of them and can show great advancement in spiritual attainment.
When dealing with the angelic personality one must know that one is dealing with a child. Do not trust him with a secret, considering him a good person; for he may prove to be too good to keep a secret; any curious person can get any secret out of him. Do not puzzle this person with the subtleties of philosophical ideas, for it will only confuse him and will do him no good. A simple faith, with devotion, is the path of this person, and virtue is most appealing to him; but the same person can be led to commit any fault, for which he is not responsible. He is too good, also, to be depended upon, but he can depend upon you, as a child would cling to his mother.
This personality susceptible to influences and sympathetic with any pain and sorrow, without knowing the cause of anybody's sorrow. This personality can easily be deceived by an actor personality; can be brought to tears in a moment; can be made to laugh at another moment. It takes but one moment to rouse this person to any enthusiasm, and one moment to take it away. It takes one word to make him inclined to do something, and one word to frighten him away from it. By forming an attachment with this person one very often has to suffer, because although his goodness is most winning and his love clings to one, his changeability causes one great sorrow and disappointment. Very often they blame another for having influenced this person, but they do not know that it is his own nature which cannot resist strong influences. However spiritual attainment is within his reach; he has to take but one step forward, and there he is.
In dealing with an animal-man one must study his nature and his habits, his wants and needs in life; otherwise one would handle this person wrongly and would have a disappointment. However, he can be controlled and told to do what he must do, and must be looked after. His failing is due to circumstances. If they were improved for him, he would be a most useful person. The world needs him more than a person of any other category, for it is a great part of the burden of life that he bears. Therefore in mythological terms Hanuman represented this type. If there were not this type the world would have to go without many things, but at the same time if this nature did not exist the world would have great peace.
According to the Hindu religion, devotion is necessary to Rama, but offerings are necessary to Hanuman, and when they are not offered then undesirable things happen, such as wars, revolutions, and all sorts of disagreeable things. This person must be kept at a distance, and he must have a law to follow through life. There must be some fear to cause him to act aright, and there must be some reward for him to look forward to. He must be provided with all the things his life needs, and he must be checked from doing things that he must not do. The problem of this person's life is not a difficult one to understand; the only difficulty is in controlling him and utilizing his thought, time and energy for the purpose in life for which he is suited.
In dealing with the devilish personality one must remember the teaching of Christ, "Resist not evil," for in everything this personality makes mischief. By trying to make him know that you have found out his mischief you will give him more strength, but being ignorant of his mischief you will encourage it. The tendency of a devilish person is to rule. He wants to get a grip on every person in whom he feels interested. And he gets control of another most frequently by taking advantage of his fault. He drags the one he wishes to control into a ditch; and when he finds his victim is dependent, then he stretches out to him his helping hand. But although the hand thus stretched out may seem to be a helping hand, in reality it is a hand of destruction. Instead of lifting a person up from the dirt, he would rather keep him there by the strength of his helping hand. If he lifted him up from there it would be in order to make of him a horse and ride on his back, of a donkey to bear his load.
A person with a kind nature, a tenderhearted man, a man of wealth, or rank, or reputation, or of some beauty of form or nature, is the prey for the devilish personality, who is constantly in pursuit of good people; for goodness is what he lacks, he unconsciously seeks after perfection, but in a wrong way. When two devils meet they will fight. They cannot bear each other, and can only unite when there is a common interest. It is the interest which will unite them, and there is no harmony in their souls.
There are moments, even, when the devilish personality comes to soberness. At such moments he may even act as a saint, and may thus delude the simple ones. But such change is not dependable, it is only a passing phase. He does not feel himself unless he is acting as a devil. It is presumption on the part of a good person to even try to change him or to help him. The devil is better helped by keeping him at a distance. By avoiding him you spare him from practicing his work. A person of this kind must not be given love, because love becomes his life, and it is like giving life to his devilish nature. Love for a devil should be to wish him to become better, but enduring his mischief is like giving him a hold upon us. Trying to detect a devil, or to correct him, or to argue with him on his follies is useless. There is no better way of dealing with him than silence.
KHAWAS
The five categories of human beings are different on account of their home plane. Where a person is born, or where he has lived long, that becomes his country. Every soul starts toward manifestation with the inclination of arriving at the destination of his journey, and that destination is the human plane. While descending toward this destination every soul touches two distinct planes on its way, the Angelic and the Djinn plane. There are souls who, owing to lack of sufficient strength or owing to the attraction of a certain plane, remain and settle in that plane, instead of progressing further. For instance, some of the souls descending toward the earth plane stopped at the Angelic plane and settled there; they are angels. Some came further, yet did not take the whole journey, but stopped at the Djinn plane; they are djinns. But there are some who come to their real destination, and it is they who fulfill the purpose of life. It is therefore that man is considered greater than djinn and higher than angels, for he has arrived at his proper destination.
The work of the angels is to be close to God. They live a divine life and they move in the divine light; they are the manifestation of divine beauty, and they constantly have the vision of the Divine Being. The djinns live in the plane of knowledge; their love is for the divine beauty and they live in the Divine Intelligence. Djinns are, therefore, nearer to man that angels; they communicate with man more often than angels. Angels communicate with the spiritual human beings who have risen as high as the plane of angels, but djinns communicate with poets, artists, and inventors, sometimes known to them and sometimes unknowingly. Therefore very often mediums make a mistake when they confuse by the word "spirit," Djinn, angel, or man who has passed.
No doubt the soul who has passed from earth returns the same way back, passing through the plane of djinns, it arrives in the world of angels; and in that way a person who has passed recovers his inner being as a djinn or an angel. And yet he is not the same as the beings belonging to that plane, because he goes with the additional knowledge which he has gained in the earthly plane.
In the Hindu tongue this experience of a djinn soul is called Gandharva and this experience of an angel is called Deva. There are some souls who halt in their journey to earth at either of these planes, Djinn or Angel, much longer time than a travelling soul would usually stay. And yet they cannot stay; the energy which is still there keeps them restless until they have accomplished their journey. Therefore they come on earth as human beings, yet showing in their nature the character of the plane at which they had stationed on their way. They cannot help feeling homesick, for they often unconsciously feel that they do not belong to this earth, that they had some experience somewhere else which they long to have again and the only way these souls can find is through the love of art, science or knowledge to the Djinn world, and through piety, purity and spirituality to the Angelic plane. It is this which consoles them in their life on earth, for it not only gives them a substitute for the life they have had, but to more or less extent the realization of that plane, because in the human being all planes are manifest. It is man's lack of this realization which covers from his eyes the inner planes, but in reality man lives on all the planes. To realize this he need but raise his consciousness from one plane to the other.
NASIHAT
There is always a danger for a spiritual person, whose heart is open to humanity, of partaking of the earthly shadow which falls upon his heart in the form of interest, praise, appreciation and devotion from others. If he lays his heart open to all these things, then he will become tempted to take more of it even at the cost of truth. Therefore, it is necessary for those who are treading the spiritual path to feel the truth at every step they take on earth, and to remember while journeying toward the goal that all they find upon this way, however beautiful, enjoyable or precious, is worth nothing. Then alone, to them the beauty of truth will disclose itself, and joy and pleasure, incomparably greater in its value than all the things of this world.
TASAWWUF
Man is miniature of Brahma the Creator, and he creates every moment of his life what he does not know himself. If man knew his creation he would create as he wished, and would make a world of his own. This is the work of the Masters, who grow to become, with their spiritual advancement, creators of their own world.
Wireless Telegraphy
The spiritual significance of this is that in this age God is speaking to man without wires (priests, or intermediaries) and each man can in his own home (his heart) himself receive God's messages, which are constantly being "broadcasted," if he will first tune his receiving apparatus to the right wave length and then "listen in."
The power of the spiritual man lasts as long as he is conscious of the spiritual spheres. No sooner does his consciousness become reflected with the earth than his power ceases to work and he falls flat on the ground. Verily the domain of every soul is in his own sphere.
There is a storehouse of all knowledge in the universal mind. If you can touch it, all the knowledge that is there in amplitude will be poured out to you with perfect ease.
TASAWWUF
To a spiritual being even the burden of the whole world is light to lift, but the self of a material person is a burden too heavy to lift. Therefore Krishna was named Giridhari, the Lifter of Mountains.
TA`LIM
If the physicians were to examine thoroughly every person that walks on the surface of the earth they would hardly be able to find one in a thousand whom they would call perfectly healthy, without anything the matter with him. And if that is so, when a mental physician will examine people from the point of view of metaphysics he will hardly find one in a million whom he might call perfectly healthy. So there is no question left about the spiritual physician and of his examination. The common disease is normal health.
It is the work of the Initiator, then, to see where lies the illness. Sometimes it is the bodily illness which is reflected in man's mind. Sometimes it is the mental complaint which is reflected in the soul of man, thus hindering his spiritual progress. It is the action and reaction of body and mind upon one another which create all diseases, physical or mental. The Initiator, therefore, is a doctor, not only the doctor of the body or mind, but also of the soul, and the only condition which is to be considered in the bringing up of a soul to the spiritual development is to heal that soul throughout, curing thus first his body, mind and soul, before he is inspired by the ultimate truth.
TASAWWUF
All that does not agree with you in thought, speech or action is sin, but when you make agree all that disagrees with you, you become the master of nature, you rise above all sin.
NASIHAT
You may touch all regions if you like, from the infernal region to the spheres of Heaven, but beware that you be not dead and buried in the region where you would not wish to be.
WASIAT
The best policy is to reconcile by yielding or controlling, whichever method might seem proper for the time.
TASAWWUF
Mawakul is a soul which is created of a soul; since a soul is a creative entity, being originated from the Creator Himself, it has every power in it to create. Its creation in the human body is all that is created in the body. The body does not only contain various bodies which are known by the science of medicine as blood cells and recognized as different germs. The further it will reach the greater conviction science will bring to the world that man's skin, bone, flesh, and blood all contain myriads of living beings. And not only the body but the mind, which contains also numberless beings, angelic beings, animal beings, and devilish beings, which compose the human mind. Sufis have called such entities created by the mind, which are distinct in their being as in their qualities, Mawakul. They are the same which in the Western language may be called elementals.
These elementals influence the living entities which the physical body contains, and the living entities of the physical body have also some influence upon the elementals living in the mind. People often speak of an evil spirit and attribute to the evil spirit some of the illnesses that man experiences. This evil spirit need not come from outside, it may be created in one's own mind. It does not mean that one does not partake of the evil influences of the others. Certainly one does, as one catches the germs of diseases from the others, in food, in water, even in breath, which cannot always be avoided. But there are many diseases of body and mind which are created in one's own self. The material scientist looks for its reason outside, but it must be remembered that very often the cause and the root of many diseases is in one's own self. As man can be a world within himself he is responsible for his creation, whether desirable or undesirable. In that aspect he is God Himself. It is this conception which was behind the belief that existed in ancient times of many gods, which in point of fact is one God.
Is it not then drunkeness on the part of man when he claims to be an individual standing separate from all others, thinking himself to be a single entity when he is already many within himself? He calls it "my birth," "my death," "my life," not knowing how many lives have been born in him, how many still living, how many died already, and how many entities of his own being will live after what he calls his death.
Man is an atom of that Individual Being who alone exists, as insignificant an atom in that Being as an atom of his own body, of which he cares not if it be rubbed off or disappears. One thinks so little of the peeling off of a little skin from the body. So important, indeed, is man's individuality, of which he makes such claims and to which he attaches such a great importance.
When the moment of sobriety will come and the eye of his soul will become open he will not dare for a moment to say, "I am something." He will claim, "I am nothing," until this claim of nothingness will turn into a reecho answering, so to speak, "I am everything."
SALUK
There are many good people to be found in the world, in spite of the power of the wicked. There are virtuous souls and pious beings among them. Yet seldom are found those with divine manner.
What is divine manner? The central theme of divine manner is first friendliness and last goodness. A good person sees bad in another, so the divine person is capable of seeing the same. Only the difference is that while the good person sees the evil of another, the divine person pleads against it, even to his own sense of goodness and justice. This he may do even to such an extent that there may be a dispute between the divine person and the faulty one. For when the divine person would be trying to turn his fault into virtue the other one proudly would be standing on the same spot, thus proving himself to be perfectly foolish. Nevertheless in spite of all difficulties that a soul may have to experience he will continue in divine manner just the same. The human manner conquers the kingdom of the earth, but the divine manner brings victory over the heavens.
Divine manner comes by adopting God's point of view, by constantly thinking, if God looked at His faulty creatures, how He would look at them, would He look at them as separate entities or would He look at them as seeing His own image in a mirror? If that is true, then the divinely inspired soul looks at the faults of all others thinking them to be faults of his own, and trying to raise the others above their faults as he would try to get above his own faults.
Therefore it is that the Initiators always correct the faults of their pupils without hurting their feelings, which another person cannot do. The reason is that they look upon the faults of their initiated ones as their own faults, faults in their own being. In this way they can do much more for their pupils than anyone else in the world.
TASAWWUF
Passing through an evolution on earth is necessary for the spirit in order that it should arrive at its culmination.
NASIHAT
Mother's love, father's protection, brother's support, and sister's sympathy, all these are to be found in one Murshid.
TA`LIL
The Murshid, after receiving a report on the possibilities of the candidate for initiation recommended by a Khalif, must take up one of the four examinations mentioned below, whichever he thinks it would be necessary to make. After going into the matter thoroughly himself, he must make out his impression and the enquiry made a report, recommending the candidate to Pir-o-Murshid for his consent.
First Special Examination
1. Attitude towards religion; belief or skepticism.
2. Psychic phenomena; any experience of such.
3. Subjects of interest such as theosophy, Christian Science, etc.
4. Breathing or other practices; any meditation done.
5. What is the ambition or aim in life.
Second Special Examination
1. Health. If not good, what does the person consider to be the cause.
2. Treatment of illness -- Medical, surgical, or psychic.
3. If healing, what experiences have been had.
4. Present condition. Under what circumstances was the person better.
5. Any habit of any kind likely to disturb healthy condition. (To discover this needs care and tact.)
Third Special Examination
1. Psychic phenomena -- any experience of sèances.
2. Spirit guide, or obsession of any kind.
3. Any mediumistic powers.
4. Automatic writing.
5. Spirit communications, or vision of any kind.
Fourth Special Examination
1. Married Life -- "Are you happy or unhappy?"
2. Sexual relations, successful or the reverse, attraction or repulsion.
3. Importance of sex life -- Is it in the thought much?
4. Any outside attachments.
5. Habits, practices, desires, varying from the normal.
TA`LIM
The work of the teacher is to create a seeking in the pupil for the knowledge which is revealed and which cannot be taught.
TA`LIL
Do not depend upon the enthusiasm with great response and devotion that comes from your pupil. First let him be in surroundings which are adverse to your person and your teaching, and then see if he remains unaffected.
TASAWWUF
Man is not a footprint of God but God Himself; as if the sun had thought by looking at the sunflower, "I am the sunflower," forgetting at that moment that the sunflower was only its footprint.
TA`LIM
As materialism is every day on the increase, you will very often find yourself placed in a difficult position. The materialist who looks at religion with contempt will feel some attraction toward esotericism; though he does not want God he will approach you for the sake of wisdom. Methods such as those prescribed by the Sufi Order will sometimes make him cynical, he will seem little eager. If he is very intelligent and materialistic to excess he will have an influence even on your own self confidence. An unbeliever has the power to shake the belief of the believers. Once faith is shaken, however much you try to make him take your point of view you will not be able to do so. Sometimes an unbeliever proves to be more intelligent than the average man that comes to you, and naturally you would wish to present to him the truth in his own language, by simplifying it to his shining intelligence. By doing so you will do nothing but make little of that truth which so long has been a mystery for him. Therefore take quite a different method by which to guide such a person; not through the God-ideal nor through spiritual devotion, but by guiding him in the path of concentration. You will first bring him to think differently, the next thing then will be to make him feel. Once the feeling is opened, his thoughts will become sentiments. Then give him an ideal; if not God, a Master, if not a Master, then the Initiator, yourself. If he is not capable of the ideal then give him an external Zikr that teaches self-effacement. For by effacing himself he will come to the same ideal which a believer arrives at by the worship of God.
TA`LIM
The main thing in the esoteric teaching is to take a pupil as a physician takes a patient, first to become acquainted with him thoroughly. It is the knowledge of the life of the pupil in every form that enables the Initiator to guide him efficiently. Every word, whether it is a sacred word, a mystical word or a ordinary word of the language, when once prescribed by the Initiator becomes powerful and has an influence upon the pupil. It is not the medicines that a physician prescribes that are so valuable, it is the making of that prescription which is valuable. It may be a most simple word, by the fact that it is given by the Initiator it become valuable.
The position of an Initiator is difficult before a pupil who lacks faith. Sometimes the pupil's disbelief affects the Initiator deeply. Nevertheless strength in one's own belief is the power that must be used against the disbelief of another. It is not the prescription one gives that is so important. If one takes a little grain of medicine from the hand of the physician without discussing, one must take from the hand of the Initiator a word which is a living medicine. Very often a grain of medicine is known to the patient, he knows what it is, Perhaps it is a most insignificant thing, yet he takes it because his physician has prescribed it. Therefore a word or a phrase which a person ordinarily uses in his everyday life, when prescribed by the Initiator must be taken as something most important and valuable by the pupil. What is the word? As it is said in the Bible, first was the Word and the Word was God. And what is God? God is what is wanting to complete oneself. The word answers the want. As from the Word manifestation has come, then in the word its secret is realized. According to Mahadeva, the Lord of Yogis, it is not always advisable to trust to an ungrateful pupil a sacred word. For a sacred word is incomparably greater than any wealth or any secret. It is better therefore first to try giving words that supply the present need of that person. Once he is so prepared, the next thing would be to help him to advance on the path.
It is best not to reject any pupil who comes to you, even if he be ungrateful or unworthy, as there is hope for every soul, and there is some good covered under his unworthiness. First strive to waken that hidden good in him. Failing this, give him a prescription that supplies his immediate need. If it happens that he goes from bad to worse, then instead of expelling him, exhaust his patience. When he is at the end of his patience he will go by himself.
NASIHAT
One need not work wonders in order to be convinced of his powers. As the powers develop they themselves become a phenomenon. When one begins to see all one feels and thinks and imagines becoming materialized sooner or later, then one need not seek for the mystery of miracle. Then one need only develop with faith and self confidence, saying at the same time to oneself, as Christ said, "Thy will be done."
RIYAZAT
There are five distinct aspects of Zikr which must be made clear before a mureed, for each of these five aspects has its distinct and definite work to perform in the evolution of a mureed.
The first aspect is the clear and correct repetition of the Zikr: La ilaha illa `Lláh Hu, which must be repeated without taking a breath between. Every word must be pronounced distinctly, rhythmically, and in one breath.
The second aspect of the Zikr is to make a form on one's body a certain psychical design prescribed by the Initiator, whether it be a cross or a star and a crescent or an arrow and a bow. It is prescribed according to the need that the Initiator sees in the mureed. In order to produce a devotional tendency the arrow and the bow is necessary; in order to give illumination to the mureed give him the star and crescent to be made; in order to teach him self-denial, self-abnegation, self-effacement, the cross is the right thing. The crescent, the bow or the horizontal line of the cross is to be drawn by the glance over the breast while repeating the words "La ilaha." The five pointed star, the arrow, or the perpendicular line of the cross must be pictured in the center of the breast after moving the head downwards toward the breast.
The third aspect of the Zikr is to think of the meaning. The meaning which is taught to the mureed in the Inner Circle is, "This is not my body," with the first half of the Zikr, and with the second half the thought that, "This is the temple of God."
For the Khalif the sentence has a different meaning. For him it is, "All is from God." And for the Murshid there is another thought attached to it and that is: "All is God."
The fourth aspect of the Zikr is to listen with the inside of the ears, so to speak, to the resonance which is produced in the solar plexus by the repetition of the word "illa," for there is a great importance attached to this. By vibrating the solar plexus thus one wakens in it its natural disposition, which is intuitive. When the doors of the heart are opened thus the magnetic power one has comes out radiating in one's voice and word and in one's atmosphere.
The fifth aspect of Zikr is to waken a feeling of reproach to oneself: "Why should I ever have owned this property of my body, which in reality did not belong to me?" This makes Zikr living and brings about results most desired.
RIYAZAT
The psychology of the western life being different from that of the life in the East it is necessary to consider this question keenly: No doubt spiritual inspiration comes from the same source to the Eastern or to the Western person, only it is interpreted differently. As there is a great deal of nervousness seen among people they need not be given night vigils nor fastings; even a vegetarian diet must not be forced upon pupils. The reason is that a nervous body needs rest. To all such persons long hours of sleep must be prescribed, and even if they cannot sleep the mere fact of lying in bed would be most helpful; for rest of the body regulates its circulation and the rhythm of pulsation and gives much of the same result which Yoga practice produces. Those who you think to have need and time to rest from half-an-hour to one-and-a-half hours after luncheon may be told also to take a rest then. During this rest they must be given a concentration. It is not necessary that they should do their meditation trying to avoid sleep; if by doing meditation they can sleep so much the better, for the meditation continues through sleep in the subconsciousness. Even if you prescribe to a mureed to do a certain meditation at night before going to sleep and through that meditation to sleep, it would make a hundred times greater effect than if the mureed engaged himself in doing different things between his meditation and sleep. The Qur'an says, "Wake up in the midst of the night or a little after," before the dawn -- for it is at that night-time that the Nafs is crushed, which is the real meaning of the crucifix. And the prayer is heard because God who hears through the mediumship of one's self listens more fully when the whole mechanism of the body and the mind is quiet. This explains how essential it is for a spiritual worker to keep the rhythm of his body and mind even; for it is by this that he can be heard by God and that he can hear God's voice. It must be prescribed to the mureed to do his exercises in bed immediately as he wakes in the morning, and just before he goes to bed. The importance of the process is in engraving all he practices in his subconscious mind, for that is where the phenomenon is hidden.
KHAWAS
Humankind can be divided into four categories. One kind is angelic, another godly, one is human, another devilish. Human is the one who sometimes thinks about himself and sometimes forgets himself in sympathizing with another. Devilish is the one who is always thinking of himself, unconcerned about another. Angelic is the one who hardly thinks of himself. And godly is the one who always thinks of God and forgets himself in the thought of God. There is no man so angelic that he has no godly part in him or no human part in him, nor is there a human being who has no devilish trait in him nor angelic qualities.
Devil is not a spirit that comes and obsesses a person; devil is one's own little self, which makes one conscious of the limited self, thus depriving one of the consciousness of God, Who is one's Higher Self. Therefore the whole work of Sufism is to rise above Nafs, the little self. And it is not an easy thing, for this has been the struggle of saints and masters and prophets. For they had greater trouble than the ordinary person. The reason is that with the expansion of their spirit Nafs becomes more powerful. And it is deliverance from this Nafs that is their liberation.
For the Initiator, therefore, it is necessary to know these four categories in every person that comes to be initiated and to treat each person accordingly; to know that the person who is full of devilish traits must be brought out by trial; the angelic one must be brought out by the way of love; the human soul must be reared with the sense of duty; and the godly must be inspired with the knowledge of God. In this way the Initiator will be able to raise them easily toward perfection.
The idea is the same as in what the Rishis of ancient times used to do. They used to put a person to test and trial, and this system was very much practiced by the Hindus. They used to put a person to a trial, and that trial would make the person straight, just as a bent wire is straightened out by being fixed and straightened with pincers. What we call the godly soul and the devilish soul are the same soul. The devilish soul is not very different from the spiritual soul, only in that for the time being it has become entangled. And by being put to a kind of trial it is straightened out. Therefore the work of the Initiator is like the work of God. An ordinary person might say that God is unjust in certain conditions. But it is not unjust if God sent a trial upon a person; and so is the Initiator's work also putting a person to a trial to straighten him out.
RIYAZAT
In doing Zikr you must consider your body as a harp; and your reading of the words is like playing upon it; and you must hear the echo of your own words produced in your heart and head. First it will vibrate the heart, then a resonance in the head will be produced. Once this has commenced it will result in the spreading of that resonance, that your whole body will resound. When this is done then you must know that your body is now tuned to the pitch to which it ought to be tuned. It will then radiate your spiritual influence outwardly, also it will perceive the outward influences finely, as the mind does. If the body is not prepared, so the mind and soul will be hindered in their expression.
Zikr is the best Riyázat there is. For there is a spark in a person, by the blowing on it, it expands, first as a glow, then as a flame. A warmth begins to come from a Zakir which heals and consoles, draws and attracts every soul. And an intelligence is produced as a flame in the Zakir, an intelligence which becomes as a torch in the hand of the Zakir, in the world which is seen and in the unseen world. The more one becomes conscious of its effect the more one is able to use it to the best advantage. The only secret of using the power attained by Zikr is in the direction of it. There is nothing in the world which cannot be accomplished by the one who has mastered Zikr.
TASAWWUF
By considering the mystery of our being we arrive at the knowledge of self. All that is in our mind and body has a certain use, and by knowing to what advantage it must be utilized, all the property of the body and the mind can very well be used to the best advantage. The flesh, bone and blood, as well as the saliva and all the properties that are produced and expelled have a chemical significance in connection with the perfect use of our physical body. All feelings, such as attachment, detachment, passion, anger, grief, hilarity, fear, and bewilderment, have their use in our lives and by each of the above mentioned feelings we can be profited if we know their mystery. By all thoughts and imaginations and by all faculties of mind, such as will, memory, thought, reason, and the ego, we can bring out desirable products. By the six great enemies of man, which are anger, passion, attachment, greed, conceit, and malice, we can produce desired results. By thoughts, speech and action, by feeling, we can bring our purpose to accomplishment. We learn from this that there is nothing undesirable nor unimportant, there is nothing useless, there is no waste, if only we waken to the knowledge of the alchemy of life.
TA`LIM
Mureeds may be divided into four sections, which will make it easy for the Initiator to guide them along four different ways which meet in the end in one goal. Those intellectually-minded must be guided in to way of Tasawwuf, metaphysics. Those of meditative inclination must be guided through the path of meditation. Those who are inclined to right action must be guided through the path of service. And those who are inclined to a devotional path may be guided in the path of devotion. It does not mean that the intellectual one may not be given a meditation, or a meditative person must not be given a path of devotion. It only means that one path one can tread at one time, and all other things must be secondary, to help him in his own path. An intellectual person will take to meditation. A meditative person will take to devotion. A devotee will be inclined to service. One who is inclined to serve will have the tendency for devotion. But one thing in each person is predominant, and it is in that thing that the person must be wakened.
Now the question is how an intellectual person may be helped by metaphysics. He must be given the studies, also he must be helped to analyze his body and mind, and by that he must be taught to understand that it is only the bricks and pillars put together which make a house. A house therefore means bricks and pillars, it is only a condition which makes it a house. So it is with individuality; the individuality is formed by things that the soul has borrowed from different elements in different spheres. Therefore one cannot call one's own what is borrowed, although man calls it himself. When this error is realized by the person intellectually by the analyzing process, then he wakens to the realization of truth.
There are many intellectual people, but few among them are intelligent. They think that they know so much, but in the end of examination you will find them knowing nothing. Their knowledge, just like a lot of rubbish collected, falls down in a moment when it is touched. Therefore it is not nourishment that the mind of an intellectual person desires, it desires food for the mind. Knowledge of truth, therefore, will not suffice his purpose, for he needs an exercise of mind. Teach him much, give him much to read, as knowledge of the anatomy of body and mind, also the knowledge of metaphysics, of manifestation, and of the journey back. Then he will feel that his mind is being fed. Otherwise if you give him the ultimate truth, thinking that he is intelligent, he will take it as a person will take a drop of the essence of food. It is the action of eating which will satisfy his hunger.
He must be taken through an intellectual puzzle, that he sees no door anywhere, until he has enjoyed it and he is so tired that he can no longer endure it. Then bring him to the ultimate truth, then alone he will appreciate it. This is demonstrated in a custom which exists in the East, that the worshipper is not allowed to enter directly in the shrine, he must take many round around the shrine before he must enter. It is called Tawaf among Arabs, and among Hindus it is called Pradakshina. It means, send him to the South if you want him to go to the North; for it you will send him to the North he will then want to go to the South, but once he has visited the South he will then go to the North.
There are sometimes intellectual giants. If you will intellectually discuss with them they would like to eat the brain of their teacher, and even then not be contented. Therefore give them studies of books. There are a lot of them in the libraries. For an illumination is only anticipated when their mind has been exercised in the study. The purpose of the food is nourishment, but the eating is the passion. So it is with truth and study; truth is the purpose, but study is the passion. And as long as this passion of study is not satisfied, the illumination which is the purpose will not prove satisfactory for them.
TASAWWUF
The power of the word has a great deal to do with the mystery of voice. Every word one speaks comes with a certain power, and that power is like a bat which throws out a ball. This power comes from the center of the breast, the solar plexus. By Zikr and Fikr practices this power is developed. All the spiritual practices which cultivate the heart center produce in one a battery, and by the power of this battery whichever word comes, that word has a power.
The great Nizam of Hyderabad once scolded his nephew by telephone, not in many words; he only said, "Are you mad?" From that day he went mad, and he is mad still. Once a lion was out of its cage in the palace. The same Nizam came down, when everybody was running away from the lion, and said to the lion, "Go." The lion pressed in its tail and bent its head low and went into the cage. Once this Nizam said to a secretary, "You have not acted rightly." The secretary got so upset that he slipped on a step while going downstairs, and fell down and was dead. This shows that it is not the words one says, it is the power that is behind. And that power comes from the centers.
The light comes from the head center, which is wisdom, and power comes from the heart center, which is magnetism. It is wisdom and power that make the word living. By every word one speaks one loses that much power out of oneself. There is only a certain fund of power that a person has. When that is lost then the words become powerless. It is therefore most advisable to economize one's words and develop power. Verily the power of the word can move mountains.
TA`LIM
The way of the Sufi esoteric training is not only in prescribing different meditations and in giving philosophical studies, but is in trying and testing a pupil, his sincerity, his faithfulness, his trust, his courage, his intelligence, his patience. It is weighing and measuring his sense of justice, his faculty of reasoning; probing the depths of his heart. Study makes a person intellectual. There are many universities where they can go and study; now they teach even theology and comparative religion. If meditative, they may just as well retire to the Himalaya and sit for meditation for years. That is not the purpose of the Sufi Order; to bring out in a soul human qualities, to make him a fully rounded and finished and perfected human being is our object. That object is finished by testing and trying. In the end, when a pupil proves satisfactory, to consider him a real mureed. This was the way of the ancient people; but this will be the way, if there ever will be, for the genuine teachers and sincere pupils.
If the pupil is made of gold, what is it to the teacher, if he has not the human quality? If a pupil is most learned, qualified and capable, what is it to the teacher, if he has not that quality which is most necessary for a pupil to have? Therefore, in the path of initiation always a few pupils have been selected. Our task in the modern world is harder than the task that the ancient people had before them. We have not to teach a pupil, but to train a pupil to become a pupil; and it is that which takes a great length of time. It is therefore that we receive three times in the Study Circle and again three times in the Advanced Circle, before a mureed is allowed to enter the Inner Circle, which begins him in the path as a Tálib. Tálib means "Seeker." When he becomes responsive, then he is a Mureed. When he has assimilated the teaching and when he begins to show it, then he becomes a Sufi.
TA`LIM
Naturally the Sufi's feelings will show appreciation of all that is good and beautiful in the pupil. This must not lead the Initiator to give further initiations to a pupil too quickly, for there is always a danger of picking an unripe fruit from the tree. A moment's impulse of appreciation is not to be relied upon. An Initiator must thoroughly test and try a pupil before he raises him to a high initiation. There may be one thing worthwhile in a pupil but four things still to be developed. By raising a pupil to a high initiation, the Initiator will take a risk hindering the development of four things which still remain undeveloped. Yes, a promotion will encourage a pupil and will inspire him to a higher evolution. Nevertheless a child must not advance too quickly to youth. It is sometimes a feeling of satisfaction for the Initiator to see a pupil progressing, but this must not induce an Initiator to initiate a pupil before the time. The esoteric path is a most delicate path. It is in the search of truth, and therefore everything pertaining to it must be as closely connected to reality as possible.
WASIAT
Never let a friend turn into an enemy; never allow an acquaintance to turn into a stranger; never let relations be broken by divorce, by separation, by indifference. Never let your co-workers go out of the Order. If they will not work, let them be, then, your mureeds; if they will not stay to be your mureeds, keep them as friends; if they will not continue friendship, do not let the acquaintance be broken. Keep friends looking at you, at whatever cost. Let them not turn their gaze away from you. Of however little importance a friend may be, know that to lose a friend is to lose a limb; and to lose a mureed is like losing an internal organ; to lose an acquaintance is like losing hair, which is not agreeable either. It must be known that as many friends, relations, mureeds, acquaintances we lose, so many less we have in our world, the world which is our own kingdom.
RIYAZAT
Shaghal 6
One must practise Shaghal 1 for five minutes and then try to hear the word Hu by summing up all the different noises in one. The best time for this practice is the midst of the night or early in the morning. All the different noises, however different they may be from one another, when they are collectively heard, resolve into the word Hu. One must contemplate upon the idea that all the Creator is constructing is by the power of this word, and this word is the sign of the working of the factory of the universe. By hearing this word one gets closer to the higher planes of life, the intuitive faculties become more clear, and one is drawn closer to the Creator.
For the posture, one must take, preferably, posture No. 3; otherwise one must do the practice sitting cross-legged.
Shaghal 7
Once Shaghal has been mastered and one is able to see the light, one must try to retain that light as long as one can. One must practise, without putting the fingers upon the eyes, to visualize a spark of light. It must be made as clear as the outer light; and one must know that light to be the first cause out of which manifested all forms. This will give the adept insight into all things, and he will be able to throw his inner light upon life, thereby to see its nature and character more clearly.
Shaghal 8
One must try by the practice of Shaghal No. 8 to absorb from the abstract the essential magnetism, or the life-force. This is done by closing both nostrils after having inhaled a deep breath. By doing this one attracts from the space life-force, filling oneself thus with a renewed life. This must not be done for a long time, and one must not strain the breathing tubes or the veins of the brain by doing this practice. This practice develops in one finer perception, and one feels the nature and character of things through his breath. The master of this practice can feel conditions through breath, the nature of things, the secret of objects, the mystery of personalities, the atmosphere of places, and he can sense conditions without being told about them.
Shaghal 9
The mystic sees another significance of the mouth than for it to be a receptacle of food and drink. Through the mouth words of wisdom are expressed, sacred words repeated. Therefore the mouth is likened to a shell from which pearl-like words become manifest. As by the opening of the mouth words are expressed so by the closing of the mouth the word is drawn within, which becomes a living word compared with all other words, which are lost after once they are spoken.
In Shaghal No. 9 the closing of the mouth by pressing the lips tight wakens in one's consciousness that heavenly savor, that taste of nectar, that joy of spiritual union with God, that it makes the adept enjoy his silence most. Some in doing this practice close their lips tight, with the tip of their tongue touching the palate. This has no other purpose than self-discipline, that even the tongue, that drops words unconsciously, often creating thereby discord and inharmony, may be locked by action and will. Life becomes a phenomenon when once this practice is mastered. The master of this Shaghal has tongues of flame, that all he says kindles the hearts of his listeners.
SHAGHAL 10
When the four organs of the senses -- the ears, the eyes, the nose, and the mouth -- are closed, one must experience by all of them that which one has experienced from them in divided Shaghal. In other words, one must hear the universal sound, see the light, perceive the divine fragrance, taste the spiritual savor, knowing that he himself, the soul and spirit, is experiencing in the deep depths of life the essence of the manifestation, feeling that he has risen to the summit of life's mountain, where he is enjoying the essence of life, and that all this experiencing is a means of wakening the consciousness of his real self. This brings a person to that stage in which he knows long, long before what is coming, and the knowledge of something which long ago has passed; it raises man above all fear, doubt, worry and anxiety; it enables his soul, so to speak, to float in the space instead of being captive in this mortal garb.
Shaghal 11
The one who practices Advanced Shaghal, who sees the spark without closing the eyes, who hears the sound of the spheres without closing the ears, who smells the fragrance of the essence of life, one who tastes the savor of the essence of the whole being, must perceive life differently from all others. The adept who has arrived at this stage of Advanced Shaghal knows of happenings long beforehand and of coming events, as well as of things of the past; for he hears the whisper of coming events and he reads the record of what has passed. He can be in the midst of the crowd and not be effected by it. He becomes free from doubt, and he rises above all worries. He feels detached in the midst of all seeming attachments. The practice of Advanced Shaghal tunes a person to the cosmic rhythm and to the Universal consciousness.
TA`LIM
How To Work With Impatient Mureeds:
Man by nature is impatient; he is much more so when he has a gain in view and it is not within his reach. A mureed who wishes to reach the spiritual goal sooner than he can, will show impatience in a thousand ways, and to making him patient, without making him discouraged, is the most difficult thing. Once the teacher gives in to the pupil, makes haste with the pupil's hurry, this hinders the normal progress of a mureed. The work of the teacher therefore is to give the pupil hunger and thirst for the knowledge more and more, and not give more food than he can digest.
In spirituality there is nothing to be learned; if there is anything to be attained in the path of spiritual attainment, it is patience, of which no man on earth can claim to have enough. The mureed must be tested and tried a long time before he proves to be absolutely resigned to the will of his teacher. But this test and trial must be so finely done that a mureed may not even know that he is being tested or he is being tried. This is all for the welfare of the mureed. It is the teacher's compassion to give his time and thought to his mureed's welfare, for the teacher is naturally above it all, indifferent to the attitude of his mureed.
WASIAT
When you speak before people, whether known or unknown to you, let your speech follow your silence. During that silence, meditate on the thought of harmony, feeling that you harmonize with every soul who is there, that no one is against you, that no one is antagonistic to you, that no one dislikes you, that no one disapproves of you. By this feeling either you will remove for the time while you are speaking, if not for long, their antagonism, their ill feeling, their disapproval, or you will rise above it while you speak. This silence will work as a healing for those whose mind is not in order. And if you felt that a current of antagonism anyone in the audience is still striking, then answer it with the thought of harmony again; and so you will be able to harmonize with all those before you, your friends or foes.
TA`LIM
An ill-mannered mureed can sometimes try the patience of the teacher to the utmost by his attitude, speech, and act. If the teacher will take notice of it, it might upset the tranquility of his spirit. If the teacher will react against it, it will give him all the more reason to show himself. It would be just like fuel put on the fire. The best thing, therefore, is to take it coolly, to observe it but not to notice it, to keep it in the mind but not to let it enter the heart, to gradually remove him from one's presence, with thought and tact, till he is removed to a considerable distance, and not let him come closer till he has learned his lesson. It needs a great art to do this. Yet an ill-mannered mureed is like a germ of decay that spoils the manners of other people. However important the person is or however useful the person is or however qualified the person is, if he has not the manner that he should have toward his teacher he must not be allowed to approach closer to the teacher.
TA`LIM
Great discrimination is needed to choose from among the candidates for higher initiations. The Initiator must first find out if the attitude of the mureed is proper toward his teacher; the next thing is, if the mureed's attitude is right toward others who are around the teacher; and the third thing is, if his attitude is right to all others. Then to find out if the mureed is deep in devotion, firm in faith, and intellectually acquainted with the teaching given in the Sufi Order, also the Sufi thought of the old. An Initiator must also observe in the mureed his object: whether he is in pursuit of power, or book learning, or wonder working, or if the mureed is enjoying himself in satisfying his curiosity. There are many more sides to be seen in the thought, speech, and action of the mureed before he is promoted to a higher initiation. Murshid, in the Sufi Order, may give six initiations, and the sixth initiation is called THE initiation. The remaining initiations are given by the Pir-o-Murshid, from Tálib upwards.
TA`LIM
The way in which the teacher observes the mureed is a different way from the way he observes others. He observes others with tolerance, with forgiveness, with appreciation, with admiration; but he observes his mureed carefully, minutely, weighing properly, measuring everything he does, for the reason that the teacher is responsible for the progress of his mureed. A teacher, who never expects love, kindness, thought or consideration from others, expects from his mureeds -- for their sake, for he is above it. If they will not come up to his expectation, he is not contented. The keen sensitiveness which belongs to the heart of a mystic is fully open to take impressions from mureeds. The teacher will try to close that sensitiveness to the outside world -- neither praise matters, nor blame -- but from a mureed everything matters. For the teacher lives for mureeds. His only object is to see their spiritual evolution.
Among Yogis this is done rather severely; by the Sufi teachers it is done more finely. But because it is done more finely, it makes it still more difficult. When a Yogi says to his pupil, "Go there," "Come here," the Sufi teacher observes silently: "Did he come when I expected him to come? Did he go when I expected him to go?" The Yogi's teaching is a teaching in words, the Sufi's teaching is a teaching without words. If the mureed did not have that sympathy, that love, that devotion for the teacher, he could not perceive the delicate feeling. Even with devotion, it is difficult to feel when occupied by a thousand different things of the world. Nevertheless, this delicate perception makes the heart blossom in the end into a fragrant flower.
TA`LIM
It is good for a teacher not to show his displeasure to his mureed, but it is better still not to be displeased with the mureed. It is difficult to avoid being displeased with a mureed who is inclined to make errors, for a teacher whose perception is delicate, whose feelings are fine. But it does not do any good to the mureed, spiritually or in the ordinary life, to have the displeasure of his teacher. The teacher's displeasure may fall upon a mureed as a curse and it would crush him before the teacher knows of it.
But at the same time, it is better to keep mureeds aware of the susceptibility of the teacher, as it is natural that, if the pleasure of the teacher is deep, his displeasure can be deep also. That the mureed may take precautions, that he may not always, relying upon the teacher's compassion, continue to commit errors.
The teacher must regard his displeasure as his own worst enemy, and must think that if it falls upon his mureed, his pupil, it is the same as if it fell upon himself. It is here that fineness of character and depth of feeling, which generally is in a teacher, is shown -- to weigh and judge his pupils and conditions. And it is often irresistible to express reaction that an error of the pupil would cause. But there lies the mastery -- that which one is capable of doing one does not do, because one does not wish to do.
TA`LIM
In order to do the work to the best of one's ability, the most advisable thing is to keep on with practices continually. As necessary it is for a mureed, so necessary it is for the Murshid, or even more necessary for the Murshid, to keep his inspiration and power in action. There is a struggle in the worldly life, but there is a greater struggle in spiritual life, a struggle with oneself and a struggle with others. It is a power gained by continual meditative exercises that will enable one to struggle. If not, the others get the upper hand. A defeat in the war is not so great as a defeat in the spiritual struggle. If once a general loses in the war, the next time he prepares for a success. But in the spiritual struggle one defeat finishes a person. Therefore a great precaution must be taken to keep up the spiritual exercises, in order to keep one's inspiration and power alive.
A teacher is likened to a person who is rich and generous at the same time. A spiritual person is likened to a rich person; he need not be generous. Naturally, therefore, on the teacher's store of power and inspiration there is a constant demand, whereas a spiritual person who is not a teacher, he can enjoy all the power and inspiration he has for himself. The further one advances in the spiritual path, the more one must value time, time in which one has approached nearer to perfection. Loss of time, for a spiritual teacher, is a much greater loss than for anyone whose time is devoted to earthly gains. A murshid's gain is greater, and his loss is greater at the same time. The work of a teacher is likened to the work of a general, who must always be on his guard lest he may be without the battery that is needed on the battlefield. Power and inspiration are most essential to have in order to train mureeds.
TA`LIM
In class, the right kind of mureed in two classes and the wrong kind of mureed in four classes -- always the wrong kind has more classes.
There is one of the wrong kinds who is only following the teacher for the satisfaction of his intellectual craving; and so long as the teacher has the food for his intellect he will be content, and the day when the teacher's idea does not fit in with his intellectual ideas he will have difficulties. There is no other side of the teacher that will appeal to him except one, and that is the teacher's intellectuality.
And there is another of the same kind who is curious, who wants to find out what phenomena can be traced in the doings or in the life of the teacher, if there is anything wonderful, if there is anything curious. If he can satisfy his curiosity, so long he will stay, and the day when his curiosity is not satisfied he will become discontented.
And the third kind is a victim to the teacher's influence. The teacher's influence is so strong that he is attracted to that influence as something is attracted to the magnet. He himself does not know why he is drawn to the teacher, yet he cannot help being drawn, because he is a poor victim.
And then there is a fourth kind who wants to be a mureed because it is a good pastime to be able to tell someone his difficulties, his troubles, to be able to pour upon someone his restlessness, his uneasiness, to be able to get somebody's advice in trouble. That is all he is concerned with. Neither he is for God nor for truth nor for evolution.
I do not mean to say that these four types of mureeds should be given up; and especially in our Sufi Movement, which is for humanity, they must be taken up just the same and they must be held; but, at the same time, one must be aware not to count them in one's heart, only on the register and the list. But in one's heart one must know that these are the four kinds which will take a long time to be tuned to a certain pitch.
And again, there are two right kinds. One of the right kinds is the one who is little interested in the truth of it or in the ideal part of it. He is a devotional kind, and his devotion is so real that he is sincere, that he is faithful, that by his devotion he is in at-one-ment with the teacher. He does not know, he does not trouble himself to ask if it is true or not true, high or low; that is not what matters to him. He has devotion, he has faith. That is a most desirable mureed, for this reason, that this mureed will inherit. This mureed will not have to learn by his actions, by his studies, by his meditations. He will inherit what the teacher has, as a spiritual treasure, because he comes with childlike faith, with sincerity, with faithfulness, with simplicity. Therefore of this mureed it may never be thought that he is a simple one, he must be overlooked. No he must be valued; he is a pearl, a diamond, he must be appreciated.
There is another kind who makes his reason a sponge to absorb the reasoning, the teaching of his master. Just as a sponge absorbs all the water that comes, so his spirit, hungry for the truth, absorbs all the teaching that comes in it, and then assimilates it. That mureed is a great satisfaction to his teacher, because as enthusiastic as the teacher is to give, so enthusiastic is the mureed to receive.
TA`LIM
Silent Teaching:
A teacher can elevate a soul much sooner by a silent teaching than by an oral teaching. No doubt every mureed is not ready in the same degree as the other. Nevertheless, if the teacher cannot use the method with all, he can try this method with many. I have seen myself some of the great teachers in the East who kept this method, of teaching by silence, as their main method of teaching. And what a mureed can learn in one year's time by oral teaching that mureed can learn in one month's time by a silent teaching, or even sooner. No doubt a mureed must have inclination to learn this way, and there are only the right kind of mureeds who will profit by this method; the wrong kind of mureed, even if you tried to, they cannot be helped fully. Then one can do them some good, but one cannot inspire them fully, because they are not open.
A teacher's control needs a great power. If a person is not inclined to speak, if he cannot speak, there is no effort on his part; but the one upon whom it is forcing to give, to teach, to give out, if he controls himself and keeps back, then the same thing comes as an influence and goes deeper still. It is so illuminating sometimes that the pupil begins to speak the same things that the teacher says. It comes to the pupil as an intuition. He begins to see it, knows it; it comes as his own thought. It is simply a reflection of the teacher's spirit fallen on the heart of the pupil. It is a most wonderful phenomenon. It is a wonder, and yet it is not a wonder, it is the proof of the oneness of the whole being.
TA`LIM
Testing:
No teacher may be told of this principle, since every teacher is inclined to adopt this principle, the principle of testing his mureeds. The greater the teacher, the more delicate his temperament, and the more capable of testing. Because his work with the mureed's progress entirely depends upon his testing, because it is his testing that gives him the right measure of the help that is to be given, it gives him the right measure of the teaching that should be given. And therefore the testing and the creation is his help, by this help he goes on. But one might say, "Does the teacher test everybody?" It is not necessary. There are some mureeds who are beyond test, you cannot test them; there is no necessity to test them. There are other mureeds who are tested. The more interest the teacher has for the mureed, the more greatly he tests him, and sometimes the test is very bewildering. Wit is not everyone's portion and a spiritual teacher is supposed to have it; and his great wit is the test he gives his pupils. The best and greatest wit that the teacher can use is not to let the pupil know in the least that he is being tested. If you look at a person and you see him, if you see him without a person's knowing that you see him, that is the most interesting part.
There must be no limit to the teacher's compassion; because then that is the teacher's test, God is testing the teacher by giving a difficult pupil. If the teacher loses his hope and inspiration and his sympathy and his eagerness, then the teacher is coming short of his test. The inner link is such a subtle subject that it is difficult for words to explain. It is the world of heart, of feeling. It does not belong to the earth, it belongs to Heaven, and we cannot see it from earthly conditions. There is no separation in that sphere; all the separation is in this sphere, the physical sphere. They talk about twin souls; there is no greater twin soul than the Murshid and the mureed. They are born twin souls and they will become twin souls in the end. For I have always heard my Murshid say that a friendship in the path of God and Truth cannot be compared with any other friendship, because every other friendship has some or other reason for it, but this friendship is higher than any other friendship because it leads to perfection.
RIYAZAT
By the practice of Shaghal one enables not only the organs of hearing but all the veins and tubes of the body to resound the voice of the spheres. The voice of the spheres is made of the collective sounds of the world resolved into one sound which the adepts hear as Hu. The Divine Spirit is All-Spirit and therefore the All-Sound is the Divine Voice. One might say that each sound conveys to one something, a word or an idea. What does the sound, which becomes physically audible to the ears and which thrills the whole nervous system, convey? It conveys the idea which is the sum total of all ideas. As in the seed there is leaf, fruit and flower, yet not manifest to view, so in this universal sound which apparently conveys no idea, all ideas exist. As the seed needs the earth and the water and the sun to rise as a plant and it brings fruits and flowers, so the sound needs the ground of thought, the water of feeling, the light of intelligence to help it grow and bring forth inspirations and revelations as its fruits and flowers.
TA`LIM
(Monday Collective Interview July 16, 1916)
The Spirit of the Mureed:
The teacher has two responsibilities: to look after his fragile spirit, and to look after the spirit of the mureed, which very often is asleep. And sometimes a conflict arises, that the teacher is very often on the point of breaking his own spirit while wanting to maintain the spirit of his mureed. Very often it is that the mureed, without knowing, is holding the glass-like spirit of his teacher, and unconsciously is on the point of throwing it against the rock. And the moment the teacher says, "Please do not throw it," the teacher has lost his spirit as will as the spirit of the mureed. Why has the teacher lost his spirit? Because the moment the mureed knows that the teacher's spirit is in his hand, and he can throw it in a moment -- no more the teacher is a teacher in the eyes of the mureed. ***syntax? The mureed thinks that the teacher's spirit is stronger than the rock. But he does not know that, in spite of the strength that the teacher has, it is more fragile than the glass. A conflict which may always arise, and no one knows it. People talk about delicacy. There is no greater delicacy than the relation between the teacher and the pupil on the spiritual path. In the East they have fighting between birds, partridges. And they enjoy this fight very much. But when the two birds are fighting, the owners of these birds are looking, watching carefully the fight.***syntax? And as soon as one of them sees that, "My bird may lose," before allowing his bird to know that he may lose, he lifts him up, and tells the other man, "I accept the defeat." But he does not let the little bird accept the defeat. That is another thing the teacher should consider: that the enthusiasm and the vigor of the mureed in life's conflict may not be injured, may not be broken; his spirit may be maintained under all conditions of life. And no one can do better than the spiritual teacher. There are strong mureeds and there are weak ones, there are clear-minded ones and there are confused ones. And there are those who are delighted by one word and who are dead by another word, as dead. And if their spirit is not looked after, instead of going forward, they may go backwards. But as I have said, the teacher must take care at the same time of his own spirit. Thousands and thousands and thousands of teachers have lost their spirit for this reason, in the conflict of maintaining the spirit of their mureeds. It is a hard struggle, and only the power of Truth can sustain the teacher in this terrible struggle. And as I have said, that if for the true one it is so very difficult, how much more difficult must it be for the false one?! He must be pitied most for doing the profitless work, and the real profit that could be got from it is lost from his hand. The ideal, which is Truth, he never gets, because he starts with falseness and ends in falseness.
Now very often there is a wobbling faith, most often. And the pupil has no power to balance himself. He goes on wobbling, wobbling, and the teacher has to hold him. If the teacher holds it with both hands his own spirit may drop, he has to hold it on one hand and in the other hand he must keep his spirit. Because even the greatest teacher, in the presence of one who has lost his belief, his faith has a great difficulty with his own spirit. Because the universe is automatic, it is just like a fish without water. The one who expects response and has no response, the one who expects sympathy and who has no sympathy, the one to whom faith is due, and has no faith, he feels without sustenance. So he must keep his spirit, at the same time the spirit of the one who has lost it. His task is difficult. And if he says, "I do not care," then that shows that there is no teacher there. The teacher must care, the teacher is born to care, it is his work -- how can he not care?
Then the mureed feels disappointed if things in life go wrong with him. And it is very often, that when you are on the spiritual path, that things go wrong with you; because now you have adopted another rhythm, and you are striking another path. Naturally things go wrong. And the mureed thinks that, "Since I have taken the hand of my teacher, now I am going backwards." Perhaps his health has something wrong with it, money matters wrong, business not right, or his friends not so sympathetic as they have been before. And when the teacher wants to give him the hand, the teacher must know that he is in the water, at the same time. It is not that the one who is sinking is sinking, but he himself is in the water. The sinking people might drag him also with them and make him sink. He must be moving his legs and hands at the same time while picking up, while holding the mureed from sinking down.
And the third thing is that there comes a time when a mureed gets an idea which does not fit in with the teacher's idea. It does not mean that it does not fit in with the teacher's idea, but he does not allow the teacher's idea to fit in. In the teacher's mind an idea is always fitting, but the mureed does not allow the teacher's idea to fit in with his own. That is a hard time for a teacher. By trying to fit in with the mureed he may lose his spirit. And if he does not fit in with the mureed then the mureed is lost.
And besides these three examples which I have given, there is a fourth example which is apart from these three usual cases, and that example is when one has to do something with a moody mureed. In one mood he is on the top of the clouds, and in the other mood he is at the bottom of the ocean, in one mood he considers you higher than heavens, and in the other mood you are nothing whatever to him. His ideal rises and falls very quickly, he can praise you one moment and he can criticize you one moment, he can believe you one moment and he can disbelieve you in the other moment. And there are many of this type and most of them are mediumistic. It is a mediumistic type. And sometimes there are still more wonderful phenomena of this type, that this type has got a vision that, "My teacher was the greatest Mahatma, that he was sitting on his throne of gold, and diamonds and rubies around him, and all light shining everywhere." After that vision this mureed comes and says, "You are my God, there is no one, there is nothing like you, you are everything. I have seen the vision." And the next day he has seen another vision, that vision is quite different, and that vision makes his faith destroyed. What about that teacher who with this vision would feel so confident and so proud and pleased with the mureed, and next day when he comes in his contrary mood, where will he be at that time? He will be down to the ground when the mureed says, "I have seen a vision, from that time I have lost my faith." What can you do? And remember there are numberless examples of this. And then there is a third type in the mediumistic type, that are to be classed as mediumistic types. That at one moment this mureed thinks that all my teacher says is right, all my teacher is, is good. And then another time he has a different idea. In that particular time when he is in favor, there is nothing he will not do; but when he is in disfavor, then he can stand against you, he can criticize you.
Q. Could you explain perhaps a little more about the teacher's spirit being also broken?
A. What I would like to say is this, that teacher's spirit is, no doubt, harder than the spirit of the pupil; it must be, but at the same time teacher's spirit is more fragile than the mureed's. If it were not fragile, it would not be so transparent to let the divine light come into the world. In order to be transparent it is fragile. Therefore it always takes the risk of breaking. As I say, the path of the master, the path of the saint who stays apart form the world is easier, in this way, that they do not knock against the world, but the path of the prophet, of the teacher, is most difficult, because he has to be in the midst of the world, in the midst of the whole struggle, and be as fine as one can be. Fine, and at the same time as gross, as strong as one can be. And that is a great struggle with one's own self, because it is two contrary things. Now could you be so strong and at the same time so fine? It is easy to be strong, not fine; it is easy to be fine, not strong. But to become both is Kemal; Kemal is a great destruction. There was a fine king, his name was Tasaske, that when he was conquered they said, he must be killed. Somebody said, "Why do you want to kill him with a sword? It is most easy to kill him." They said, "How?" "Take something which smells bad, somebody would take it in his presence and it is that way, that is all." And certainly he died after that. So as I say, that a man can be so fine, and someone can be gross. But to be so fine and at the same time so gross, that is most difficult. It is the greatest difficulty there is. And therefore the same example the Representatives must adopt, that they must be aware of that struggle, that is the destiny of the teacher. That is continual. It is not rare, it is always that, always. Minds that you cannot depend upon change, quicker than weather, and you have to deal with those minds, and train them and rear them and water them and take care of them.
Q. Murshid, that is the saint and the master both?
A. Yes, that is Kemal, as I say.
Q. Murshid, can the teacher really love such minds as that?
A. You see, there is a stage where the teacher arrives at the point that it is not that he loves, but he becomes love, he turns into love. Then alone he can stand, that is the fineness and the grossness. It is the great power of love, That is the grossness... ***words missing...fineness. It is out of love that he can forgive. If there was not love, he could not do it; that is the power; no other magic, it is love power.
Q. Murshid, what is the condition of that woman who had that now she will not trust any teacher any more? Her faith seems to be shattered, completely shattered.
A. Besides that, it is something very wrong done to the person. Grant that the teacher was undeserving, yet it is very wrong to have done it. If I would have thought that devil was my teacher, and found him out, I would have bowed before him for even once having called him my teacher. And perhaps my faith would have turned him from a devil to a saint.
Q. She thought she was doing good to the others?
A. Oh yes, but even Christ has said judge ye not. Who knows? If one thinks that the person is not the right, the best one can do is to retire from there, say, "Goodbye, now we have nothing to do any more with one another," that is all. It is too hard for a person to strike; she struck him too hard.
Q. Murshid, does that mean that if you are alone with a person you should never tell them they are wrong, in words?
A. I find it so very difficult to correct anybody, even the little child. Correcting is so very difficult. And when it comes to correct a person in words, it makes me feel that it is really descending to the deepest depth of the earth. And therefore I think that the only correcting is patience, patience; let time come, let time correct them, wish for it, hope for it, that is all. Nevertheless, I will always advise my Representatives to be extremely conscientious in correcting mureeds. It does not do in the end to correct them roughly. Besides, it is not in the spiritual path. It is all right for the factory men to be told by the chief that they must do this or that. Or that the captain to ***words missing.....soldiers. But when it comes to the Initiator and mureed, it is most delicate. They must be trained. If they cannot be trained, then you must wait that they look from your eyes, your pleasure and displeasure. Because, for the spirit of the teacher, it annihilates it for the teacher to be so gross as that, so dense as to have to say to the mureed in words. It simply makes the heart so heavy that it drops down to the ground. A heart which should be so light as to levitate, because it is the heart that is the sign of resurrection. When the body is left there it is the heart which will rise upwards. This heart must be kept light, on its wings, that it may rise the moment it wishes to rise; and that is the teacher's responsibility.
Q. Murshid, can the tie between a mureed and the teacher ever be entirely broken after an initiation?
A. Well, if it is ever broken it is on the part of the mureed, not on the part of Murshid. Murshid will always maintain the tie, no matter what happened. But if the mureed does not wish the tie, then it is the mureed's fault. But still Murshid takes care of the mureed just the same.
Q. If you have mureeds that drop away and you, perhaps, do not think that they are very desirable, still try to get them back?
A. No, I would not try to get them back. I would leave them to life to teach them more. But inwardly I would be wishing their welfare and well-being, and inwardly I would wish in every way that they would be protected, that I would not let them go out of my sphere of prayers, of thought. Only that they are holding themselves back, it is their responsibility.
RIYAZAT
(Collective Interview, Monday August 16,1926)
Some mureeds, those who desire to be healed by doing practices, may be taught to make a Fikr, Ya Shaffee - Ya Kaffee, inhaling, exhaling, repeating it mentally, and to direct their breath to the part of the body that needs to be healed. But this is not only a teaching for healing, but this is a general teaching, that every adept who sincerely studies and practices Sufi exercises must be able to consciously direct his breath to the painful part. It will require at least six weeks or sometimes three months to be able to feel breath touching the painful part of the body. And the best way of doing this exercise is to consciously direct first to the feet, to the soles of the feet, because the soles of the feet are sensitive. And when one is able to direct the breath to both soles of the feet, then the next thing would be to direct the breath to the both palms of the hands, and when that is done, then to direct the breath towards the forehead, and when that is done, then to practise to direct the breath to the solar plexus. When these four practices are mastered, then the adept becomes a controller of breath. Then he can operate the breath in any part of the body which needs healing. These practices must be done lying down, and first thing in the morning, and many who seek health and cure will be helped by it. And it is not only that, but it is a tuning of the body. It brings about a desirable condition of health.
Now, there is another outer practice. . . you may give to the adept an outer practice of operating with breath. First to project the breath, imagining that the breath is a current of light, in front of oneself. Sitting two meters away from the wall, at the same time facing the wall, then to send the current to the right side and to the left side, and upwards and downwards. By practicing the projecting of the breath as currents of light in five directions, one will be able to develop not only the healing power, but at the same time the inspiring power, the power of helping more and more. And in this way one will be able to communicate mentally with others by the means of breath.
And the third practice is the practice of unfoldment. And this can be done by a projecting the current of breath on the left side of one's breast, on the right side, and in the center, which means on the solar plexus. By projecting the current on the left side it will bring about the development of personality; by projecting the current on the right side it will give power of action; and by projecting the breath in the center, it means to the solar plexus, it will help the soul unfold latent inspiration, and powers will develop.
But these three practices may be given only to the most trusted mureeds; with the first practice which I have said, the word of Fikr must be Ya Shaffee - Ya Kaffee. With the second practice any word of power such as Ya Jalil, Ya Qadr may be used. And with the third practice such word as Ya Wahhabo, which is the word of progress, and Ya Fazil ***is that Fazl or Fazeel?, which is the word of illumination, that may be used. The first practice may be done lying down, the second practice and the third practice may be done sitting.
Q. How does one feel that the breath has gone to the right place?
A. By a continual practice you will feel with in six weeks, and if you do not feel it in six weeks, then certainly in six months. A person who is very ethereal may feel it the first day, that is very different.
Q. What are the five directions of the second practice?
A. The first direction is center, the next is left, the third is right, next is above and next is below. It may be done in one foot distance, that means from the center one foot above or one foot on each side and one foot below.
Q. Do you mean that you choose a spot? Should you try to see something particular?
A. No, only imagine first that you are projecting the current of breath which is light, force, power, on a certain point. By doing this you will get the use from the power as a mechanism which is there.
Q. How many times?
A. You can do a practice like this for five to ten minutes.
Q. To any rhythm of breathing?
A. Breathing must be to the rhythm of four.
Q. Always feeling that one is inhaling, one must imagine from the starting point?
A. Yes.
Q. If one wishes to send the breath to right and left, does one turn the head?
A. A little turning of the head.
Q. Thinking that one sends the breath there?
A. Yes, that is the wonderful part of it, that breath works under the command of will.
Q. To look at the feet when one wishes to send breath there?
A. No, to try and feel.
Q. Breathe entirely through the nostrils?
A. Entirely through the nostrils, because that is the natural breath. Through the mouth is a practice which brings about a certain result, but mouth is not meant for breath, only nostrils.
Q. Murshid, do you not think of bringing it up, and then pointing it, or directing it?
A. Yes, but when you have to send it to a certain part of the body the breath must touch there when inhaling, but when you send it out the breath must touch while exhaling.
Q. That is permitted always to practice, even if it is not given as an exercise especially?
A. Yes, it is either for self healing, or for the practice of healing others or for the practice of operating one's breath.
Q. A hundred times?
A. No, one need not count. Four, five minutes, or ten minutes the most.
Q. Five minutes for each practice?
A. Yes, five minutes for each of these three. But I think it is too much to do these three practices together. If a person had much leisure, in that case I would advise him to do one practice in the morning, one in the evening, one at night. But if one had no leisure, then one practice for three months, then another practice for three months, and the another for three months.
Q. In the morning?
A. Yes, that is the best.
Q. If you give practices to an invalid, the Wazifa I have done lying down?
A. Mostly to the invalids I give Fikr lying down, not the Wazifa. If they are not in the condition to sit, then they may be done lying down. Because, Wazifa has a positive effect, and it is more effective if a person is sitting.
Q. When you give a phrase, and do not give any number of times and not before or after meal, does it mean once a day?
A. That only means that I have forgotten. It means five times before and after each meal.
In prescriptions on one side of two lines, the double line on the right end I write abbreviations such as 1S., or 2S., or 3S., which means first Study Circle, second Study Circle, or third Study Circle. That the person may be initiated once or twice or thrice. And when I say 1A., 2A., 3A., that means first Advanced Circle, second Advanced Circle, third Advanced Circle, which brings a person to the sixth initiation. And when I say 1I,, 2I., 3I., that means first Inner Circle, second Inner Circle, third Inner Circle, that brings to the ninth initiation. It depends on the development of the person when you give initiations. Certainly it does not depend on how long they are with us. It depends on their development. Because I have some times seen that after five years only the first initiation was continuing, and I cannot see anything else; but in other cases it is again different.
Now I am coming to another question, that the initiation which entitles you to initiate others, this authority makes you a part of the Hierarchy. And where there is a hierarchy, there is a certain discipline. Either it is in connection with the Pir-o-Murshid, or the Murshidas, or with Murshids, and Shaikhs and Khalifs. It goes on like this, and to maintain that discipline is not only to maintain for those who are above, but it is to maintain for our own turn also. In other words, the children who have learned what it is to obey, they will be the ones who will teach their children to be the same. There is always a likelihood of disregarding the principle. I am telling you from my experience which I am faced with again and again. It is not only an idea, but my personal experience, and that brings about several difficulties. And we among ourselves must be prepared and ready to maintain this principle, because as long as this principle is maintained, so long there is the power of hierarchy; when this principle is disregarded, then nowhere the power of hierarchy works.
And if you ask, why does this question arise? There is in the whole world a spirit of revolt against authority, working continually through all directions of life. And this spirit can manifest in any person or in any situation. It is manifesting so rapidly and in so many places that one would simply be surprised how it is manifesting. This spirit is manifested in children to their parents, among younger ones to the elder ones, and among less cultured to cultured people, and among the coarse people to the people of distinction. And, as this is working invisibly through the minds of people, it is always inclined to take up the minds of those attached to hierarchy. And even one person so influenced may cause a great deal of harm. And unless we among ourselves did think about it, and bind ourselves together in one strength, maintaining the dignity and the principle of the Hierarchy, of our Order, we shall not be able to keep that dignity of the Message and of the Sufi Order as it is necessary to be kept.
In this class we shall talk about things of great importance. That is why I shall not say more about this question. But those who want to know what made me say this, they will see Shaikha Suzanna Kjösterud at some leisure hour, and she will tell them about the letter just now received. That will acquaint you with the need of this principle. In the East a Pir never has to say this; it is understood; he need not speak about it, it can be done. I shall be very glad about it.
Now, coming to the subject of psychological instruction. . . What the Initiators will develop in themselves, and what they will help to develop in those initiated: the Initiators will develop more and more insight into human nature. The more they develop this faculty the more they will be able to work more successfully. And this can be better accomplished by making a point of spending so much time in the study of human nature, to take every person that comes before them as a book, and to read in that person what they can read. And by doing this practice they will be able to get an insight into human nature, and they will be more able to answer his life's demands.
In order to get an insight the best way is to make oneself negative. The more negative the Initiator is the more he is able to understand his mureed. And the question, how should one make oneself negative? The first thing is to let the mureed speak instead of speaking oneself; to first let the mureed act instead of acting oneself; give an accommodation or occasion to a mureed to express himself. And in that way the Initiator will be able to grasp the condition of a mureed. It would be a great mistake on the part of the Initiator if he wanted to express himself. Because that is where many make a mistake, and in that way they are found out, that is not a teacher. And really speaking, always the false teacher does it, because he thinks that that is the way to dominate. That is not the way to dominate, and if that is the way of dominating it is the way of the king, not of the spiritual teacher. His way is not the hammer; his way is the way of the water. Hammer only can make a way by breaking a rock, but the water can make its way by embracing it and pass above, and that is the way of the Initiator.
And what the Initiator must try to develop in the heart of the mureed is not the love of power, of phenomena, but the love of wisdom. And how must one do it? Not talking to the mureed wisdom,***syntax but by adding wisdom wherever and whenever it is lacking in his life, in everything he says and does and thinks, and when he realizes that it is lacking, there is something lacking, that is the occasion for the teacher to add to it that which is lacking. A mureed will appreciate it immensely, because every soul looks for perfection and when the want is filled, then that is the best help that one can give to the mureed. But this wants patience on the part of the Initiator to wait till there is an occasion of adding wisdom to the heart of the mureed.
Q. Will you please give an example of adding wisdom?
A. I have perhaps hundreds or thousands of examples when a mureed came with great pleasure and joy and cried, saying, that, "I have this friend, most wonderful friend, and it is not only your help, but it is the help of this friend also that makes my life wonderful." And I have answered, "Wonderful," and waited. And perhaps after three years that mureed comes and says that, "This is not my friend, I cannot think that this can be my friend. This person has disappointed me in every way, in everything, I can no longer be his friend. He has been simply terrible, his influence has ruined my life." If I had known it the first day I could have saved these three years. If I could. But it was not meant. I should have patience for three years till this person was disgusted, till this person had learned her lesson. And then after that, "Do you think; that it was not the right friend for you?" "No, no." I said, "Why not? Why not tolerate what is friendship after all, why not continue it?" The mureed said, "It is impossible, Murshid, I cannot tell this person, my friend, has done this and that. Now only show me the way out of it." Then I said, "Yes, if you think, if your innermost being says, that you must get out of it, that is the time, perhaps. I am very sorry that you have to leave your friend, but now it is time." Do you think that those three years my heart has never ached? Do you think that I did not know what was going on? Do you think that I did not use the clearness of my vision? No, I waited and waited, till the time came. It is not one case; thousands of cases, not of one kind, of many kinds. Cases even that there was marriage, I had to give the blessing of the marriage. Do you think that I interfered with it? Do you think that I said, "No, you must not do it." Why? Because I knew this is not the time, this will only spoil. When the time will come then there is the occasion, I must have patience.
Q. It is terrible, that.
A. It is terrible, but it is that way. If not, what everybody will do with impulse, will say Yes or No, right or wrong, just do or just not do. I never do this. Would you believe that perhaps it is ten years since I saw a mureed making this fault against me, making that fault against me,..***missing words....... a mureed who would knowingly never do it, if that mureed knew that it hurt Murshid, could have never done it. But I let that go through my heart. But I have not said one word, and perhaps after ten years, when that mureed has forgotten all the faults done against me, one day when there was an occasion I told, and I said what about it. To become a teacher it requires patience. That is all. It is constant, continual patience. That was the occasion to tell.
Q. Why? I cannot understand.
A. Where is fruit, it is at a certain time ripened***syntax?, and then it is eatable. But when it is raw it is not eatable. In a person there is a response, and when there is a response you can tell that person. But if there is no response, when you tell the person will never listen to it. There is no response.
Q. Terrible. Yes.
A. That person could have never thought that for ten years Murshid has taken such a keen notice, and I never knew about it, never I have thought about it.
Q. Murshid, did it not almost break the mureed's heart?
A. I do not know, heart is ...***missing words.. it can break and mend, it can die and live, I do not know what it does.
Q. How often can one talk with a mureed? Is there a regular rule?
A. No, rule is rule. Rule for us cannot do. Our way is the way of the water, liquid. Of course it is a great pity, and it is sad really how the world is becoming less and less and less delicate. They are becoming so gross and so dense and so less comprehensive. Does it show that they are evolving? It only shows that their soul is becoming more material, more and more. There seems to be no delicacy any more. Because if one wants to evolve spiritually, one should give up denseness. Denseness is just like a wall that keeps man back from spirituality; and to become spiritual means to become fine, to become delicate. Nevertheless, the best help one can give to the mureed is to bring out the fineness that is in him.
Q. To make them feel that you recognize the fine qualities in them?
A. Yes, that is the idea, to appreciate it.
Q. Murshid, could you speak perhaps on suggesting a quality to a mureed, when they have it rather less than more, to suggest it to them?
A. Yes, the suggestion can be done by appreciating every little thing that is worth while in the mureed, one develops it. By appreciation one develops it.
I think that if a person was not at all generous,....***missing words... unless I had seen a little generosity on their part. I would wait till they show a little generosity, then I would make it more for them. But there must be a little spark, fire would show itself.
But the best way is to give them the occasion to show a quality. One can very easily do it, even a quality which is missing, to try and give them an occasion to show that quality. It will not do to feel afraid that this person will never be anything. By this feeling one only spoils. One must take every type of person in a movement like this and try to work with this person and to bring out all that is good.
Q. The examples of the others sometimes will do a great deal.
A. Oh yes.
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