First Article Template Sufism

Sufism Reoriented

By Dana Field, U.S.A.
(Divya Vani_ August, 1966 issue)
Shah quotes Rumi to the effect that the spiritual treasure “is the reward of the pulling down of the house” (Op. cit., p. 350), i.e., the aspirant should tear down his ego. Granted that the seeker has the faith or intuition that the “treasure”-for Sufis Truth, for lovers of God the Beloved-really exists and that he is willing to tear down his ego, does the aspirant know how to do it? Baba has refuted the assumption that the aspirant can or will do a thorough-going job of it, without the aid of a Perfect Master. Baba may tell you to get rid of your ego, but He always means that it be done with the Perfect Master’s help. Sufis seem to think otherwise.
To “tear down one´s house” has an ominous sound, even for a treasure beneath it. Now, in relation to Baba´s Reorientation of Sufism, let us see the metaphor used by Baba for the same idea. Baba has explained that the ego and mind are sustained by impressions that express as cravings, desires and actions, and these bind consciousness further within illusion. Baba gave this message to a professional person who said he had neglected to seek God:

“God exists. If you are convinced of God´s existence, then it rests with you to seek Him, to see Him and to realize Him.
“Do not search for God outside of you. God can only be found within you, for His only abode is the heart.         
“But you have filled His abode with millions of strangers and He cannot enter, for He is shy of strangers. Unless you empty His abode of these millions of strangers you have filled it with, you will never find God.

“These strangers are your age-old desires-your millions of wants. They are strangers to God because want is an expression of incompleteness and is fundamentally foreign to Him who is All-sufficient and wanting in nothing. Honesty in your dealings with others will clear the strangers out of your heart.

“Then you will find Him, see Him and realize Him.” 
(The Everything and The Nothing, p.7).

This makes the above Sufi conception look pale in comparison.  Baba´s Teaching is very up-to-date, in line with our psychology and temperament. Here we have unequivocal talk about the how and why of our ignorance about God, and what to do to “find Him, see Him and realize Him,” with the Master´s’ help. It is not put on a basis of “take it or leave it”: We can´t go on living with all those undesirable “strangers” in our own house! We can all appreciate that. We have brought our troubles on ourselves and we now must take the initiative to oust them.  We attend properly to our bodily needs, but when it comes to the mind we don´t know what to do; much less do we know what to do about the needs of our souls.  Hence, the importance of Perfect Guidance. Christ used a similar example as Baba, in His parable of the seven great devils appropriating the home of the absentee owner.

Baba advised a devotee who had a drinking problem: “Fill your cup with the Wine of Divine Love; then you will not want to drink anything else.” Baba often tells us that God is Love, Infinite Love, and that the world is zero. Time is nothing. With Realization everything disappears, because it is Maya-divisions, dreams, ignorance.

When someone asked Baba about habits and becoming a slave to them, Baba replied: “If you become addicted to God, then all of your problems are solved. Go on drinking the love of God until you become one with God.  It is good to be addicted to the love of God.

“One who knows what love is, enters deeper and deeper within and finds that he has Four Journeys (the Path, Realization, Return, Passing Away) to make there. These Journeys within have no space, yet it is an infinite process.
“Only Jesus Christ knew what Baba knows-how to suffer. No one is more eager than I to break My Silence. As soon as I break My Silence everything will go easily.

“God is so close to each of you-closer than the very breath of your life. You have to give up everything, including yourself; then you have Baba to yourself. God is beyond religion, beyond love. When you love God intensely, then there is the experience of real separation from God.  

“When you have the gift of love, you love your Self. The false self becomes the lover of the true Self. There is nothing but God.  Clean your heart completely-not a stain, no desires, not even a desire for God-Realization, and just be conscious. That is the solution.  

“ I have been always telling My lovers, ‘No ceremonies, just love Me.´ Ages have come and gone, but I keep on telling them that they should worship God with love, step after step within, until they find within them the Infinite Ocean-yet they seek for God outside.

“Do you know what would happen if I gave you My real ‘embrace´?  May be I would crush you and make you the ‘dust’ at My feet. If I gave you the real embrace, you would burst. Christ did not give this embrace, even to Peter.

“Repeating My Name is not enough, it should be done with all love and faith. You should continue to love Me more and more. It is true that man can become God just through loving Me.

“Hafiz says: ‘It is foolishness on your part to desire Union with God; but if you are mad enough, become the dust under the feet of the Perfect Master.’”

(The Awakener, Vol. 9, No. 1 & 2, p.  9-10)
Idries Shah quotes Sheikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardi’s Vine allegory´ (excluding the last line):
The seed of Sufism was sown in the time of Adam germed in the time of Noah budded in the time of Abraham began to develop in the time of Moses reached maturity in the time of Jesus produced pure wine in the time of Mohammed*  (and has intoxicated in the time of BABA).
(Trans. Col. W. Clarke)

*Opus cit., p. 263.
That Sufism is of ancient origin can be inferred from Baba´s statement, “I am the greatest Sufi of the past, present and future.”
(The Awakener, Vol. 4, No. 4, p. 10).
Being the full Avatar of God,* this necessarily follows. The fact that Baba was born a Zoroastrian, and not a Moslem, shows that Sufism is much broader than Islam, which has been its outer frame for the past 1400 years. It is a point of interest that Baba received God-realization at the hands of a Sufi Master, Babajan.  

In this connection, Baba once referred to His Godhood, as Avatar of this age, in these terms:
Kabir (a great Sufi Master in India, worshipped by Hindus and
Moslems alike) says:  
“Pilgrimage to holy places bears one fruit.
“Company and guidance of ‘Sants´ (Saints) bear four fruits. 
“Oh Kabir! the grace of a ‘Sadguru´ (Perfect Master) bears       infinite number of fruits.”  
Vedas say:
“Out of thousands of men, one becomes a ‘Sant´ ‘Saint´ out of thousands of ‘Sants´ one becomes a ‘Brahmi-Bhoot´ (God-realized); out of many such God-realized ones, one becomes a ‘Sadguru’ (Perfect Master).”
I say:
“During the Avataric period the five Perfect Masters make GOD incarnate as MAN.”                                                
(The Awakener, Vol. 5, No. 2, p.1)  
Vedantists may claim that Ramakrishna was Avatar of this age, pointing to his statement: “I was Rama, as I was Krishna,” but he was referring to the Consciousness which all three had in common, i.e., the “I AM GOD” state, not to their Office,   *Jesus was a manifestation of God, Baba has revealed.

(to be continued)