Sufism
Sufism is older then Islam. Some Muslim nations are even trying to rid their country of
Sufism. Sufis are usually Arabic but their religion traces its roots back to Abraham. The
religion most similiar to Sufism would be Sikhism. In fact the Sikh history has several
Sufis as their saints."
Abraham had two sons. His first son was with Hagar, Sarah's concubine. This was
because Sarah didn't believe whe would have a child when she was in her eighties and
gave her husband permission to have a son with her concubine. But later she had a son
like God had promised."
[See Genesis 21]
Genesis 21:
The Birth of Isaac
1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he
had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the
very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore
him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God
commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to
him. 6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will
laugh with me." 7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would
nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a
great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to
Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and
her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son
Isaac." 11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But
God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to
whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your
offspring." 14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and
gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She
went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin
was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down
nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she
sat there nearby, she began to sob. 17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God
called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be
afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by
the hand, for I will make him into a great nation." 19 Then God opened her eyes and she
saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21
While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
[End Genesis]
Abraham taught his son Ishmael the ways of connecting to God. Even though he was
only 13 years old when he left his father, Ishmael remembered the prayers and
meditations Abraham had taught him. Ishmael later became the patriarch of the arabic
nations. This knowledge was passed on from master to disciple throughout the centuries.
Centuries and centuries later, these mystics who still practiced the teachings of Abraham
sought to learn more about the teachings of a prophet named Muhammad.
Abraham's legacy to his son Ishmael was the school of spiritual knowledge based on self
realization as the door toward understanding the path to oneness with God. Before the
time of the prophet the discipline was simply called the understanding. The
understanding was based on God's Law."
The history of Sufism records that during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohammed, fifteen
centuries ago, there was a group of pious individuals from different arabic nations who
were guided by this ancient understanding. These individuals sought for the direct
experience of the Divine. As they became companions of the Prophet, they were people
of principles practicing certain disciplines and meditations for the sake of purification,
the realization of Divine love, and the understanding of reality. They were the Lovers of
God who sought union with Him through losing the limited self in His Divinity (fana),
and remaining alive in that Reality (bagha).
These individuals met on the platform, or suffe, of the mosque where Prophet
Mohammed used to pray in Medina, Arabia. They would meet there almost everyday to
discuss the ways to inner knowledge, the truths of revelation, and debate the meanings of
the revelations of the prophet Muhammad. This was long before the Koran was ever
written. The Koran was written after the death of the Prophet. The secret teachings of the
Sufis was never included in the Koran. The platform of that mosque in Medina became
the first gathering place of one of the most influential groups in the history of mankind's
spiritual civilization. They were called ahle suffe, the People of the Platform.
These individuals brought to Islam the spiritual practice based on knowledge of the self,
and thus free of the trappings of tradition and superstition, a knowledge of the inner heart
apart from the customary beliefs of their contemporary society as well as those of future
civilizations.
It is from this group that all the schools of Sufism that have ever existed owe their origin,
for by pursuing the path of unsullied inner knowledge they were the founders of Sufism,
and the binding link between its subsequent developments.
Among the most famous were: Salman Farsi, Ammar Yasser, Balla'al, and Abdullah
Masoud; some historians have added Oveyse Gharani to this list as well. Avoiding
proselytizing among the multitude, their gatherings were held in private, open only to
true seekers of reality. Instead of preaching in public, these pious individuals were
searchers for truth, not performers of rhetoric.
After the Prophet passed away, each of the people of suffe returned to his homeland to
instruct students eager to follow upon the path of inner knowledge. History shows that
within a century or two their style of self understanding and discipline were introduced
by their students to nations as diverse and widely separated as Persia, India, Indonesia,
Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and North Africa. Their teachings were based on individual
understanding and direct experience, not just on particular texts or rote learning. In this
manner their fundamental teachings have been preserved in their style up to the present,
instead of withering away into the empty formulas of scholasticism.
Through this process of diffusion, different schools and orders of Sufism gradually
emerged from the single original group of suffe at Medina. Their practices differ from
one another in emphasis and doctrine, but all legitimate Sufi schools trace their ultimate
origins back to the ancient teachings of Abraham.
On Sufism and Idries Shah's
The Commanding Self (1994)
By Doris Lessing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Most people's associations with the word "Sufi" go something like this: dancing
dervishes; disreputable money-hungry "gurus"; exciting Oriental music, like Ravel's
"Bolero" (which did, in fact, originate as a Sufi chant to be used for specific and exact
purposes); and peculiarly irritating "disciples" who use "meaningful" phrases and a vague
unworldliness like badges of superiority. This mishmash seems suspect because of an
association with Islam: for while Islam is as varied as Christianity, and most Moslems no
more fanatic than an average Christian, recent events have revived sets of mind
reminiscent of the hundreds of years of wars against the dreaded Saracen. Even in
respectable reference books Sufism is described as a mystical Moslem sect, but Sufis
claim that their "way," or discipline, predates Islam, and is as old as humanity itself, is
coeval with humankind's beginnings, is the inner core of every religion. We are talking
here not of a word or even a vocabulary but a way of looking at life, and at the human
story. Sufism is not to be associated with any one practice or belief, for Sufis may use
any relevant method to convey their message and often without ever using the words
"mysticism," "Sufism," "spirituality." This approach does disappoint people looking for
excitement or intoxication.
It is not so difficult to say what Sufism is not, but hard to say what it is, particularly when
questions are put in the hope of eliciting definitive replies: Is it this? or is it that? The Sufi
Way, or Path, is fluid and always changing. Every fresh introduction of it into societies
(such as Central Asia and the Middle East) where it is already familiar and part of the
culture, or into those where it is not, such as the West now, involve fresh, or freshly
presented traditional material, a new form or framework, and usually new people. The
Sufi Teacher, or Exemplar, is central to Sufism.. For this time now in the West it is Idries
Shah, who is the author of this book. Sufi sayings or aphorisms hint at the difficulties.
"Speak to everyone according to his (or her) understanding." "He who tastes, knows."
"There is a change of perception with every new stage of the road." Which is to say that
people involved with the study may see it all--must see it all--differently at different
times. This can be summarized thus: the phrase "God is Love" may be graffiti on a wall,
or the moment of understanding of the highest spiritual truth, with a thousand different
stages of understanding between.
At the start a student will almost certainly associate Sufism with religious or cults she or
he is already familiar with. But "Learning How to Learn" (the title of one of Shah's
books) means shedding ideas you begin with and allowing yourself to understand what
exactly is being offered. This could be a definition of the Sufi Way.
During the last thirty years or so Idries Shah has been introducing Sufism into the West.
Which is not to say that Sufism has not been in the West, but has not been openly offered,
in this way, as a major contribution to thought. He is a representative of an ancient family
traditionally recognized within his culture as the custodian of this ancient spiritual
tradition. He is only the most recent in a long line. His father, for instance, was The
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, an equally extraordinary man, who represented India and
Afghanistan at different times as a diplomat, and in cultural institutions designed to
bridge the gap between West and East, and was a writer on religious and cultural
questions, and a traveler whose books still fascinate. Idries Shah has lived in Britain since
the Fifties. His mother was a Scots girl who thought she was marrying a wild Afghan
tribesman, but she found the truth to be somewhat more complicated. She, too, has
written memoirs about a life in courts and embassies. The followers of the Sufi Way
number millions, and are to be found all over the world. The analogy with the Agha Khan
is an easy but misleading one.
When Idries Shah began his work, his difficulty was, as it is for all reintroducers of
Sufism, that previous manifestations have left behind "husks" of cults, semi-religions and
practices (like dervish dancing) which were designed to be appropriate for their times.
The last thing real Sufis want is to encourage people modeling themselves on the past.
The world is full of deluded "Sufis" who are replicas of medieval persons. For Sufis have
always been in the forefront of their times, and have often anticipated our discoveries.
They were talking about evolution, the structure of the atom, the circulation of the blood,
and psychological laws, we think of as our discoveries, centuries ago. This kind of claim
has attracted academics, and books on Sufism pour from the presses. Nearly all are by
non-Sufis, and are, say Sufis, valueless except to those satisfied by their own processes of
analysis. What Sufis offer is learning, through experience. But if Sufism is not to be
understood by people not involved in the process of becoming Sufis, or working with
Sufis, what hope is there for outside enquirers; what use is a book like this one? But this
is exactly where The Commanding Self comes in, and other books Idries Shah has been
publishing which are part of a "course," if you like, and designed to introduce the
interested to this way of looking at life, as well as teaching students. An analogy they use
is that a dried peach is not a peach, but may prepare you to recognize fresh peaches when
at last you eat one.
Idries Shah writes in English. He has caused to be published or published himself Sufi
classics considered still relevant, or mixed his own work with material from the past. All
Sufi teachers have done this. It is hard to categorize Shah's books, or any Sufi book. They
are not academic, nor like any genre we are familiar with. His books are very varied in
style and method. Some Sufi books are written by the "scatter" method, where the
material is arranged in such a way that "impacts" reach the reader by-passing the
conditioned self, which is such a very efficient censor. A good example of "scatter" is in
The Sufis, the book in which Shah introduced the new appearance of the Sufi Way in the
West. People ask, "Does Sufism have a bible?" No, it cannot, because of their continual
updating of the material, but this book is for our time a classic, a compendium of
information, historical material, stories and poems and jokes. It is the book I found when
looking thirty odd years ago for a teacher and a teaching. Reading it was the most
remarkable experience of my life. Ideas, aspirations, intuitions, discoveries I had thought
I could share with no one else were here, in this book. Why was I looking at all? I had
reached the end of some road, and knew it: specifically, I had exhausted what I have
described as "the intellectual package" of our time, which consists of material, both
philosophic and that assumption of our culture that creature comforts must be everyone's
chief aim in life; then, belief in one of the churches of Marxism; a belief that politics or a
political party will solve everything; science in the place of God. I was by no means the
only one to have tired of this "package." In my case it was writing The Golden Notebook
that taught me I must look again.
The fact that we in the West are conditioned to material accumulation and to a belief that
we are entitled to anything we may happen to want are barriers to understanding the
Sufis. It is common for persons hearing about "mysticism" for the first time--as in my
case, at the age of forty or so--to assume that all they have to do is demand it and it must
be theirs by right. And many are put off when they hear, "Nearly everyone is fitted to
contribute to the advancement of humanity," and not, "You want it? Fine, here it is." A
hint of the Sufi attitude to evolution is conveyed in this miniature tale: a caterpillar is told
that one day it will be a beautiful butterfly. "Show me now," says the caterpillar, "while I
am crawling up this tree."
It takes a long time, perhaps years, to understand the Sufi claim that emotionalism may
be a barrier. This is put in the Mulla Nasrudin joke, thus: Nasrudin summons the doctor.
"My temperature is over 110." "You don't need me," says the doctor. "Call the fire
engine." Nasrudin is a joke figure created by the Sufis to carry their message across
frontiers, and many of our jokes originated in the Nasrudin corpus. We value emotions
and emotionalism, an attitude caricatured in the television serial Star Trek. Mr. Spock is
deficient because he has no emotions, but real people have emotions and are on a higher
level. But emotion with us is a word that lumps together everything from puppy warmth
to the highest reaches of intuition.
Idries Shah says that his task is first of all to supply information to a culture starved of it,
information that is about a genuine mystical tradition. It is an astonishing fact, and one
that I first encountered thirty years ago that someone may have gone through many years
of our education or--as in my case--be pretty well read within our own literary tradition,
and yet have not heard much more about the great spiritual traditions than that they exist.
Yet they have all deeply influenced the cultures they are part of. At the best we may have
read St. John of the Cross and The Cloud of the Unknowing, and if so, we have been
given an inkling of what a real mystical tradition may be. But it is hardly a rare sight in
our time to see a highly educated person encountering some cult or "guru" and losing all
balance because unfamiliar and exciting material is rushing into an area of their brains
left uncultivated, and so they have no defenses. They throw over their own traditions as if
they have no value at all, and hasten to lose themselves in an ashram or cult (of which
there are dozens, all over the world) amazing better-balanced onlookers who do not
understand how these besotted ones have apparently learned nothing at all about how to
assess people, have lost ordinary common sense.
In Moslem countries Sufis and Sufism are not exotics. The ideas and themes are part of
the culture. Sometimes great Sufi classics are the foundations of a literature--in Iran,. for
instance, with Hafiz, and Sanai, Sa'adi and Attar. A Thousand and One Arabian Nights
originated with the Sufis. There are many other wonderful books hardly known to us in
the West. The Sufis say that it took eight hundred years of hard and often dangerous work
to get Islam to accept the Sufi claim. These are people who take a very long view: they
complain that Westerners think we are showing concern for the future if we think of the
welfare of our children.
This storyteller must confess that the Sufi use of tale and anecdote and poems and jokes
has been and is a most intense delight. This body of literary material, described by them
as the most valuable of the treasures in the human heritage is too varied to be described
here. Some tales go back thousands of years. Idries Shah's Tales of the Dervishes offers
samples of this richness. Others are new-coined. Shah has created some. It takes time to
even begin to appreciate what a range and depth is there. When the Sufis claim they use
stories to teach, our associations with the words "teach" and "teacher" limit
understanding. Their insistence that the inculcation of a simple morality of an ethic is a
very low-level stage of instruction begins to explain something of their scope. A real
teaching story, whether thousands of years old, or new, goes far beyond the parables that
are still part of our culture. A parable has a simple message: this means that. But in a Sufi
teaching story, there may be layers of meaning, some of them not to be verbalized.
Current ways of "teaching" literature in schools and universities may make it difficult for
literary people to approach Sufi literature as it should be: Sufis do not pull apart a tale to
find its meaning, but cite the case of the child who has dismantled a fly and, left with a
heap of wings, a head, legs, asks "Where is the fly?" In other words, a student learns to
use the mind in ways unfamiliar to us. They "soak themselves" in the material. They
ignore the analytical approach, and the practice of memorizing and regurgitating. The
meaning of a Sufi tale comes through contemplation, and may take years.
I particularly like the unsentimental Sufi view of life: "A tortoise carries a stranded
scorpion across a river on its back. The scorpion stings the tortoise, who indignantly
protests, 'My nature is to be helpful. I have helped you and now you sting me.' 'My
friend,' says the scorpion, 'your nature is to be helpful: Mine is to sting. Why do you seek
to transform your nature into a virtue and mine into villainy?'" With us, this tale is often
quoted as an example of the wickedness of the scorpion and the helplessness of the
tortoise. Poor little me. But these are psychologically sophisticated people. That people
may enjoy suffering has only recently been accepted by us. Or that people may be
brainwashed. Or that we are easily conditioned. Psychology is very much a "language" of
our time. And so in this time it is often within this framework that they teach.
A Perfumed Scorpion (by Idries Shah) for instance. I have found nothing as subtle,
comprehensive, perceptive and often surprising anywhere else, as the Sufi knowledge
about the nature of the human being. Which may be abrasive. In one of the exchanges in
this book which are traditionally used by Sufis to illustrate problems, the questioner asks
about prayer. The answer: "Prayer depends on knowing how to pray and what it is for.
The usual idea of prayer is merely emotional and performs a conditioning function."
There are no simple messages here. The Sufis do not offer an indoctrination course. They
say that our demand, often an unconscious one, to be indoctrinated and given "belief" is a
barrier to what they have to offer. They insist, decade in and decade out--and always have
done--that all human societies are based upon, and their continuity and growth reinforced
by, the use of hope, fear and repetition. This structure is not visible to the majority of
people, but it is employed in every type of organization, whether tribal, national, political,
religious, recreational, educational or any other. "Because everyone is accustomed to
being manipulated by hope and fear, because everyone assumes that repetition is
necessary, the possible progress in analyzing this situation is virtually at a halt."
"The Commanding Self" is a Sufi technical term for the false personality, which is made
up of what a culture puts into a person--parents, schools, the zeitgeist. This false self is an
enemy which has to be recognized for what it is and then by-passed (not destroyed) if the
Sufi understanding is to be received.
When I first read the Sufi contention that I am mere concoction of transient influences. I
felt liberated, as if at last hearing news I had been waiting for. I know some people find it
a threat. "What, me, a mere play of shadows? But there are more and more people who,
perhaps because of the savage times we live in, which challenge us so directly, perhaps
because of the way we all move about, forced to compare different cultures and to see
ourselves as products of our own, welcome the news that what we really are is not what is
to be seen, but is "something else," and "somewhere else." If our real self is initially only
a "tiny shining precious thing," then it is capable of infinite expansion. The picture on the
cover of the book is of a very ancient representation of the commanding self, like an
angry biting lurid threatened, and threatening, animal. Some of us may be tempted to see
this nasty beast as, too, an illustration of the frightening angers and paranoia of the world
now.
Our current mind-set, which is a passionately or dogmatically defended atheism, does not
deter the Sufis, who say that it is only a different manifestation of the religious impulse,
almost a religion in its own right.
Source www.sufis.org
-- Doris Lessing
Essential Sufism
edited by James Fadiman & Robert Frager
The following is from the Introduction by Sheikh Ragip Robert Frager al Jerrahi
For thousands of years, Sufism has offered a path on which one can progress toward the
"great end" of Self-realization, or God-realization. Sufism is a way of love, a way of
devotion, and a way of knowledge.
There is no single, systematic approach to Sufi teachings, and not all of its teachings can
be communicated in words. The wisdom of Sufism can be found in stories, poetry, art,
calligraphy, rituals, exercises, readings, dance movements, and prayer.
Sufism is often described as a path, suggesting both an origin and a destination. The aim
of Sufism is the elimination of all veils between the individual and God. Traveling this
path, one can acquire knowledge of Reality. God is the ultimate reality, not this
phenomenal world of multiplicity.
To understand Sufism, we must understand mysticism. The Greek root myein, "to close
the eyes;' is also the root of "mystery"; the mystic's goal is not to be reached by the
intellect or by ordinary means. Fundamentally, mysticism is love of the Absolute, the
One Reality, also called Truth, Love, or God. According to Sarraj's classic definition of
Sufism, "The Sufis are people who prefer God to every- thing and God prefers them to
everything else:'
For the Sufis, not only love but also self-knowledge leads to knowledge of God. The Sufi
philosopher Al-Ghazzali says, "Real self-knowledge consists in knowing the following
things: What are you in yourself and where did you come from? Where are you going and
for what purpose are you tarrying here awhile? In what does your real happiness and
misery consist?" Many pitfalls, both real and imagined, render us unable or even
unwilling to seek this inner knowledge.
Historians usually describe Sufism as the mystical core of Islam and date its appearance
to the beginnings of Islam, at about the ninth century A.D. According to many Sufis,
however, the essential Truths of Sufism exist in all religions. The foundation for all
mysticism includes the outer forms of religious practice, as well as a life based on moral
and ethical principles. The roots of the tree of religion are founded in religious practices
and principles, which focus on outer behavior. The branches of the tree are mysticism,
the spiritual disciplines that extend the individual upward, toward the Infinite. The fruit
of the tree is the Truth, or God.
In this universal sense, Sufism existed before Islam. Before the time of Muhammad,
religious law had died out in Arabia and the people had lost their understanding of ethics
and morality. Without the outer practice of religious law and moral principles, there
could be no inner practice of Sufism. The adoption of the moral and ethical teachings of
Islam created a climate in which Sufism could develop and flourish. Sufism is not
different from the mysticism at the heart of all religions. Just as a river that passes
through many countries and is claimed by each as its own is still only one river, all
mysticism has the same goal: the direct experience of the Divine.
One who practices Sufism is called a Sufi, or dervish, or faquir. Sufi has several
meanings in Arabic, including "pure" and "wool."
Most Sufis believe that the great religions and mystical traditions of the world share the
same essential Truth. The various prophets and spiritual teachers are like the light bulbs
that illuminate a room. The bulbs are different, but the current comes from one source,
which is God.
Because all the great prophets have received their inspiration from the same Source and
brought the same light, the same basic truths, to humanity, the Sufis believe that to deny
even one of the prophets is to deny their universal message and common Source. When
bulbs are arranged in series so that electricity passes through one bulb to get to the next,
if one bulb goes out, all the lights go out.
Sufism proposes that all the great religious and spiritual teachers were sent by one God.
They were all true teachers, and what they taught was true. Their teachings originated
from the same Divine Source. There is no fundamental difference among all the spiritual
teachers and what they have brought; however, just as some bulbs give more light, some
teachers have illuminated more of humanity than others. The Sufis love and accept them
all, because the Sufis believe there is one God and one message and many prophets.
The Sufi Creed of Faith
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I believe in God
And in God’s Angels
And in the Holy Books
And in God’s Messengers
And in the Day of Resurrection
And in Destiny
That all good and bad come from God
That there is life after this life.
THE FOUR STAGES OF SUFISM There are four stages of practice and understanding
in Sufism- shariah (religious law), tariqah (the mystical path), haqiqah (Truth), and
marifah (Gnosis). Each is built upon the stages that go before.
First is the shariah, which is the basic foundation for the next three stages. The shariah
consists of teachings of Islam, basically the morality and ethics found in all religions. It
provides guidance to us for living properly in this world. Trying to follow Sufism without
following the shariah is like trying to build a house on a foundation of sand. Without an
ordered life built on solid moral and ethical principles, mysticism cannot flourish. In
Arabic, shariah means "road:' It is a clear track, a well-traveled route that anyone can
follow.
Second is the tariqah, which refers to the practice of Sufism. Tariqah literally means the
path in the desert that the Bedouin would follow to travel from oasis to oasis. This path is
not clearly marked like a highway; it is not even a visible road. To find your way in the
trackless desert, you need to know the area intimately, or you need a guide who knows
the destination and is familiar with the local landmarks. Just as the shariah refers to the
external dimension ( religion, the tariqah refers to the inner practices of Sufism. The
guide you need in order to find your way is the sheikh, or Sufi teacher. The shariah
makes the outer day-to-day life clean and at- tractive. The tariqah is designed to make the
inner life clean and pure. Each of these supports the other.
Third is haqiqah, or Truth. Haqiqah refers to the inner meaning of the practices and
guidance found in the shariah and tariqah. It is the direct experience of the mystical states
of Sufism, direct expenence of the presence of God within. Without this experience,
seekers follow blindly, attempting to imitate those who know, those who have attained
the station of haqiqah. The attainment of haqiqah confirms and solidifies the practice of
the first two stages. Before haqiqah all practice is imitation. Without the deep inner
under- standing that comes from experience, one follows mechanically the teachings and
practices of others.
Fourth is marifah, or Gnosis. Gnosis is superior wisdom or knowledge of spiritual truth.
This is a deep level of inner knowing, beyond haqiqah. More than momentary spiritual
experience, marifah refers to an ongoing state of attunement with God and with Truth. It
is the knowledge of Reality, attained by a very few. This is the station of the Messengers,
the prophets, and the great sages and saints.
The great Sufi sage Ibn 'Arabi explained these four levels as follows: At the level of the
law (shariah ) there is "yours and mine:' That is, the law guarantees individual rights and
ethical relations between people. At the level of the Sufi path (tariqah), "mine is yours
and yours is mine." The dervishes are expected to treat one another as brothers and
sisters--to open their homes, their hearts, and their purses to one another. At the level of
Truth (haqiqah), there is "no mine and no yours." The advanced Sufis at this level realize
that all things are from God, that they are really only caretakers and that they "possess"
nothing. Those who realize Truth have gone beyond attachment to possessions and
beyond attachment to externals in general, including fame and position. At the level of
Gnosis (marifah), there is "no me and no you:' At this final level, the individual has
realized that all is God, that nothing and no one is separate from God.
Rumi
The most famous Sufi is Rumi. Jelaluddin Rumi was born in the region today known as
Afghanistan in 1207. His family fled the Mogul invasion to Konya, Turkey where he
spent most of his life.
Rumi following in his fathers ancestoral line became a scholar until his meeting with the
wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz. Of this meeting Rumi said, "What I had thought of
before as God, I met today in a person."
After Shams, Rumi's other strong influences were Saladin Zarkub, the goldsmith, and
later his scribe, Husam.
His poetry filled with a longing to be with the Friend, Him, or You. Are these mysterious
pronouns the names of God, Shams, or who? This is for you, the reader to ponder.
Rumi founded the Mevlevi Order of dervishes, better known as the Whirling Dervishes of
Sufism. Through a turning movement, body posturing, mental focus, and sound, the
dervish achieves ecstasy through union with God.
Once a secret society, today the Mevlevi tour the world allowing audiences to witness the
ceremony of their sacred dances and music.
It is also interesting to note that similar to other major religions, Islam frowns upon
dancing and using words such as "gamble," "drunk," and "wine" which you find
throughout Rumi's and other great Islamic and Sufi poets writings. Obviously they mean
"drunk" on God's grace, but that's not to say they wouldn't be outcast by religious
fundamentalists today.
His first name literally means Majesty of Religion, Jalal means majesty and din means
religion. Because of the threat of Mongol invasion in Persia his family fled, finally
settling in Konya, Turkey. He passed away, on December 17, 1273. His shrine is in
Konya.
As a genius theologian, a brilliant scholar, and a pillar of Islam, he followed in his father
place until his spiritual friend and teacher, Shams of Tabriz appeared in his life. Rumi
underwent a spiritual transformation in 1244 after meeting Shams. With appearance of
Shams, Rumi became reborn and soon started his marvelous work "Masnavi,"
(Mathnawi) consisting of 24,000 verses at age 38. His other famous work is "Divan-e
Shams-e Tabriz" (the collective poems of Shams of Tabriz). Rumi's poetry has a mystic
connotation, a combination that is the universal language of the human soul. Rumi's title
is Moulana (Mowlana) which means our master.
One of Rumi's favorite musical instruments was ney (flute). In Persian poems can be
sung or can be read. Rumi said, music can be a form of zikr, remembering that there is no
God but God, who is one -- which in Arabic is La illaha illa llah.
Rumi's poetry has been translated into many languages, his work is well known
throughout the world. Rumi was the founder of the Mevlevi Dervish Order, also known
as the whirling dervishes. The Mevlevi order is based in Konya and have a traveling
group of musicians and whirlers that perform all over the world. Experiencing the
whirling dervishes and musicians is a wonderful experience.
Select works of Rumi
"One went to the door of the Beloved and
knocked. A voice asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'It is I.'
The voice said, 'There is no room for Me and Thee.'
The door was shut.
After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked, 'Who is there?'
The man said, 'It is Thee.'
The door was opened for him."
---Tho didst contrive this "I" and "we" in order that
Thou mightest play the game of worship with Thyself,
That all "I's" and "thous" should become one soul and
at last should be submerged in the Beloved.
--If you could get rid
Of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the
Mirror of your perception.
---We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.
We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!
Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls,
that we should remain in being beside thee?
We and our existences are really non-existence;
thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.
We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.
Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen:
may that which is unseen not fail from us!
Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift;
our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.
--I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And From vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels What you cannot imagine,
I shall be that.
Sikhism
Source sikh.org
A way of life and philosophy well ahead of its time when it was founded over 500 years
ago, The Sikh religion today has a following of over 20 million people worldwide.
Sikhism preaches a message of devotion and remembrance of God at all times, truthful
living, equality of mankind, social justice and denounces superstitions and blind rituals.
Sikhism is open to all through the teachings of its 10 Gurus enshrined in the Sikh Holy
Book and Living Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Who and What is a Sikh?
The word 'Sikh' in the Punjabi language means 'disciple', Sikhs are the disciples of God
who follow the writings and teachings of the Ten Sikh Gurus. The wisdom of these
teachings in Sri Guru Granth Sahib are practical and universal in their appeal to all
mankind.
"I observe neither Hindu fasting nor the ritual of the Muslim Ramadan month; Him I
serve who at the last shall save. The Lord of universe of the Hindus, Gosain and Allah to
me are one; From Hindus and Muslims have I broken free. I perform neither Kaaba
pilgrimage nor at bathing spots worship; One sole Lord I serve, and no other. I perform
neither the Hindu worship nor the Muslim prayer; To the Sole Formless Lord in my heart
I bow. We neither are Hindus nor Muslims; Our body and life belong to the One Supreme
Being who alone is both Ram and Allah for us." (Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Granth Sahib,
Raga Bhairon pg. 1136)
"Any human being who faithfully believes in: (i) One Immortal Being, (ii) Ten Gurus,
from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh, (iii) The Guru Granth Sahib, (iv) The
utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and, (v) the baptism bequeathed by the tenth
Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion is a Sikh." (Reht Maryada,
Sikh Code of Conduct)
Philosophy and Beliefs
There is only One God. He is the same God for all people of all religions.
The soul goes through cycles of births and deaths before it reaches the human form. The
goal of our life is to lead an exemplary existence so that one may merge with God. Sikhs
should remember God at all times and practice living a virtuous and truthful life while
maintaining a balance between their spiritual obligations and temporal obligations.
The true path to achieving salvation and merging with God does not require renunciation
of the world or celibacy, but living the life of a householder, earning a honest living and
avoiding worldly temptations and sins.
Sikhism condemns blind rituals such as fasting, visiting places of pilgrimage,
superstitions, worship of the dead, idol worship etc.
Sikhism preaches that people of different races, religions, or sex are all equal in the eyes
of God. It teaches the full equality of men and women. Women can participate in any
religious function or perform any Sikh ceremony or lead the congregation in prayer.
History and Practices
The founder of the Sikh religion was Guru Nanak who was born in 1469. He preached a
message of love and understanding and criticized the blind rituals of the Hindus and
Muslims. Guru Nanak passed on his enlightened leadership of this new religion to nine
successive Gurus. The final living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh died in 1708.
During his lifetime Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa order (meaning 'The
Pure'), soldier-saints. The Khalsa uphold the highest Sikh virtues of commitment,
dedication and a social conscious. The Khalsa are men and women who have undergone
the Sikh baptism ceremony and who strictly follow the Sikh Code of Conduct and
Conventions and wear the prescribed physical articles of the faith. One of the more
noticeable being the uncut hair (required to be covered with a turban for men) and the
Kirpan (ceremonial sword).
Before his death in 1708 Guru Gobind Singh declared that the Sikhs no longer needed a
living and appointed his spiritual successor as Sri Guru Granth Sahib, his physical
successor as the Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh felt that all the wisdom needed by Sikhs for
spiritual guidance in their daily lives could be found in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the
Eternal Guru of the Sikhs. Sri Guru Granth Sahib is unique in the world of religious
scriptures because not only is it accorded the status of being the spiritual head of the Sikh
religion, but besides the poetry of the Gurus, it also contains the writings of saints of
other faiths whose thoughts were consistent with those of the Sikh Gurus.
Sikhism does not have priests, which were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru
felt that they had become corrupt and full of ego. Sikhs only have custodians of the Guru
Granth Sahib (granthi), and any Sikh is free to read the Guru Granth Sahib in the
Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) or in their home. All people of all religions are welcome to the
Gurdwara. A free community kitchen can be found at every Gurdwara which serves
meals to all people of all faiths. Guru Nanak first started this institution which outline the
basic Sikh principles of service, humility and equality.
The most significant historical religious center for the Sikhs is Harmiandir Sahib (The
Golden Temple) at Amritsar in the state of Punjab in northern India. It is the inspirational
and historical center of Sikhism but is not a mandatory place of pilgrimage or worship.
All places where Sri Guru Granth Sahib are installed are considered equally holy for
Sikhs.
"There is one Reality,
The Unmanifest-Manifested
Ever-Existent, He is Naam (Conscious Spirit)
The Creator; pervading all
Without fear, without enmity;
The Timeless, the Unborn
And the Self-existent;
Complete within Itself.
Through the favor of His
True Servant, the Guru,
He may be realized.
He was when there was nothing;
He was before all ages began;
He existeth now, O Nanak,
And shall exist forevermore."
Indian Master, Guru Nanak
The Crown of Life
A Study in Yoga
Kirpal Singh
1997 Ruhani Satsang edition
Dedicated to the Almighty God
working through all Masters Who have come
and Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj
at whose Lotus Feet
the writer imbibed sweet Elixir of Holy Naam - the Word
PART ONE
The Yogic Patterns
CHAPTER ONE
Yoga: An Introduction
ALL the great teachers of humanity, at all times and in all climes--the Vedic Rishis,
Zoroaster, Mahavira, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, Nanak, Kabir, Baba Farid, Hazrat
Bahu, Shamas Tabrez, Maulana Rumi, Tulsi Sahib, Swamiji and many others--gave to
the world but one sadhna or spiritual discipline. As God is one, the God-way too cannot
but be one. The true religion or the way back to God is of God's own making and hence it
is the most ancient as well as the most natural way, with no artifice or artificiality about
it. In its practical working, the system needs the guidance of an adept or a teacher well
versed in the theory and practice of Para Vidya, the Science of the Beyond, as it is called,
for it lies beyond the grasp of the mind and of the sense-faculties. Where the world's
philosophies end, there the true religion starts. The scriptural texts give us, at best, some
account of the Path so far as it can be put into imperfect words, but cannot take us to the
Path nor can they guide us on the Path.
The spiritual Path is essentially a practical Path. It is only the spirit--disencumbered
and depersonalized--that can undertake the spiritual journey. The inner man, the soul in
man, has to rise above body-consciousness before it can traverse into higher
consciousness or the consciousness of the cosmos and of the beyond. All this and more
becomes possible through the Surat Shabd Yoga or the union of "self" in man (Surat or
consciousness) with the Shabd or Sound Principle, through the grace of some Mastersoul.
In order to have a clear idea of the teachings of the Masters from the hoary past right to
the present time, it would be worth our while to study the nature and extent of the Surat
Shabd Yoga and its teachings in relation to the various yogic systems as taught by the
ancients, and also the principles of Advaitism as propounded by Shankaracharya.
The term yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj which means meeting, union,
communion, consummation, abstraction, realization, absorption or metaphysical
philosophizing of the highest type, that promises to bring close proximity between the
soul and the Oversoul (jiva-atma and Parmnatma or Brahman). Patanjali, the reputed
father of the yoga system, after the fashion of his progenitor Gaudapada, defines yoga as
elimination of the vritis or modulations that always keep surging in the mind-stuff or chit
in the form of ripples. He calls it chit vriti nirodha or the suppression of the vritis, i.e.,
clearing the mind of the mental oscillations. According to Yajnavalkya, yoga means to
effect, or to bring about, at-one-ment of the individual soul with Ishwar or Brahman. The
yogins generally define it as the unfoldment of the spirit from and disrobing it of the
numerous enshrouding sheaths in which it is enveloped in its physical existence. Sant
Mat or the Path of the Masters, far from denying any of these objectives of yoga, accepts
and endorses in full all that is said above and, in some measure, agrees to the aims and
ends thereof, but regards them at best as mere pointers to the goal. It does not rest there,
however, but goes beyond and tells us of the "Way Out" of the mighty maze of the
universe and the "Way In" to the Heavenly Home of the Father, the spiritual journey that
the spirit has to undertake from death to life immortal (Fana to Baqa), by rising above
body-consciousness by means of a regular system of self-analysis and withdrawal of the
spirit currents from the body and concentrating them at the seat of the soul (Tisra Til),
and then actually passing through the intermediary centers beyond Bunk-naal, the
inverted, tube-like passage, until it reaches the final stage of consummation and attains
at-one-ment with its Source.
Here one might ask the question as to the need for union between the soul and the
Oversoul, when the two are essentially the same and are already embedded one in the
other. Theoretically speaking, this is correct, but how many of us are consciously aware
of this and work practically in the light and life of this knowledge and awareness? On the
other hand, the soul is always following the lead of the mind, the mind that of the senses,
and the senses that of the sense-objects, with the result that the soul, by constant
association with the mind and the senses for ages upon ages, has completely lost its own
individual (undivided) identity and has for all practical purposes become identified with
the mind. It is this veil of ignorance which has come in between the soul and the Oversoul that has to be removed to enable the soul to come into its own, to realize its inherent
nature and then to seek its real home and gain life eternal. All religions were originally
designed by man solely with this end in view but unfortunately in the course of time man
gradually drifts away from reality and becomes the slave of his own handicrafts and
religions, as religions deteriorate into institutionalized churches and temples, rigid codes
of moral and social conduct, lacking the living touch and the pulsating life-impulse of
their founders.
"I know no disease of the soul but ignorance," says Ben Jonson. How to remove the
veil of ignorance is the problem of problems. We have allowed it to grow into an
impervious rock too hard to be blasted. Still, the sages have provided various means to
rend the otherwise impenetrable veil, such as Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga
and other methods. The light of true knowledge, as visualized by Jnana Yoga, may be
able to dispel the darkness of ignorance, just as a lighted candle may dispel darkness from
a dark room. By Bhakti Yoga one may be able to change the course of hatred,
separateness and duality into that of love for all, at-one-ment and oneness with all living
creatures and thereby be established in the all-embracing love for all. Finally, by means
of Karma Yoga one may be able to root out feelings of selfishness, ego-centricity, selfaggrandizement and self-love and engage in charitable deeds of philanthropy and similar
activities, which may be beneficial to mankind in general, and acquire fellow feelings and
love for all, see the reflex of the universe within his own self and that of his self in all
others, and realize ultimately the principle of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood
of man. These are, in the main, the three paths, or rather three aspects of an integrated
path of head, heart and hand, whereby one may achieve the desired end, the union of the
soul with the Oversoul. They may for convenience be briefly termed the process of selfmastery, self-sublimation and self-sacrifice, leading ultimately to "Cosmic
Consciousness," or awareness of the all-pervading Reality as the basis of all that exists.
The objective in each case is the same and each aims at the same target, though in the
initial elementary stages each of them starts from dualistic considerations. It is from
dualism that one starts, and in non-dualism (advaitism) that one ends; and for this one
may take to the path of divine knowledge, of universal love and devotion or of selfless
service of humanity.
The target ever remains the same,
Though the archers aiming at it be so many. RAJAB
In Jnana Yoga, for instance, one has to develop the faculty of discrimination, so as to
be able to distinguish between agyan and gyan, i.e., ignorance and true knowledge, the
illusory character of Maya and the reality of Brahman. When he is convinced of the latter
he gets glimpses of nothing but Brahman pervading everywhere in Its limitless essence,
immanent in all forms and colors which take their design and hue from that essence
alone. This perception is the dawning of true knowledge and divine wisdom.
In Bhakti Yoga, likewise, we begin with the twin principles of Bhagat and Bhagwant,
or the devotee and the deity, and the devotee gradually loses his little self and sees his
deity all-pervading, and his own self expands so as to embrace the totality as does his
own Isht-deva. "Whoever enters a salt mine, tends to become salt." As you think, so you
become.
Again, in Karma Yoga, one may enter the Karma Kshetra or the field of actions, under
some impelling force to begin with, but in course of time he learns the value of selfless
Karma. Karmas when performed for their own sake without any attachment to the fruit
thereof, cease to be binding, and by force of habit one gradually becomes Neh Karma
(action-less in action), or a still point in the ever-revolving wheel of life. In this way,
when one from the circumference of his being reaches the center of his being, he acquires
inaction in action and is freed from the binding effect of Karmas.
Vritis: What they are
When a current emanating from the spirit strikes any object, such as a physical thing, a
mental feeling, an idea, or a sensory sensation, and returns to its source, it is called a vriti.
The vriti produces a modulation in the mind-stuff. All our knowledge of the world
without and within comes from vritis or the rays of thought. A ray of light, reflected from
or originating from an object, passes through the eyes to the brain, where it is converted
into thought impressions making us aware of the object.
Vritis are of five kinds:
(i) Parman: The relationship between the pure soul and Prakriti or Nature is called
Parman. In every manifestation, the pure soul finds its own essence at the core and
nothing is apart and distinct from It.
(ii) Vipreh: The relationship between the knowing soul and Prakriti or Nature's object
is called Vipreh. It takes in and accepts the manifested form as it is, but remains skeptical
of the one and active life-principle at the core of it.
(iii) Vikalp: It is the relationship that the mind-ridden soul has with the objects,
producing doubt and delusion as to the objects themselves, their existence, their intrinsic
nature and the life-essence at their core.
(iv) Nidra: It is the relationship that the prana-covered soul has with the objects. It
embraces in its fold the twin states of dream and deep slumber, regardless of the existing
surroundings.
(v) Smriti: It is the relationship of the embodied soul with the objects of the world on
the physical plane.
All these vritis constitute so many hurdles in the way of the soul seeking to understand
its true and essential nature, which in reality is nothing but that of God. Kabir therefore
says: "Soul is of the same essence as that of God."
Similarly, the Muslim divines express the same idea when they speak of the soul as
Amar-i-Rabbi or the fiat of God.
If one could but clear the chit of the vritis (chit vriti nirodha, as it is called), nothing
would be left except the pure essence of Godhead. Hence we have the oft-repeated
famous dicta on yoga, as in the following:
Chit-vriti nirodha (clearing the mind of the mental oscillations)
is the essence of yoga. PANTANJALI
At-one-ment of the soul and the Oversoul is yoga. YAJNAVALKYA
Extrication of the soul from the materials of life by disrobing it
of the enshrouding sheaths, is yoga. MACHHANDRA NATH AND GORAKH NATH
The easiest, the most ancient, and the most natural way to gain the fruits of yoga, as
taught by Kabir, Nanak and others before and after them, is that of Shabd Yoga or Sehaj
Yoga, as given by all the Master saints from time immemorial. When the spirit is able, by
practice of the spiritual sadhna, to cast off, one by one, the various coverings, it becomes
a pure spirit, complete in itself, a conscious entity, self-existent and self-luminous, ever
the same and eternally free. According to the saints, yoga is communion of the soul with
the holy Word (God into expression), the power of God or the spirit of God: Sruti,
Sraosha, Kalma, Naam (For detailed explanation of these terms please refer to "Naam or
Word") or the Holy Spirit as variously designated by the various sages each in his own
particular time.
Soul and Oversoul
1. Soul is the Reality and the Essence. It is one as well as a totality. In one there is
always the delusion of many, and the totality does signify the existence therein of so
many parts. The ideas of a part and of the whole go cheek by jowl, and both the part as
well as the whole are characterized by the similar-ity of the essential nature in them.
2. The essence of a thing has its own attributive nature and the two cannot be separated
from each other. Just as the essence is both one and many, so is the case with its
attributive nature.
3. The essence of a thing is its Johar, its very life breath. It is the only primal principle
that pervades everywhere and is the reality behind all forms and colors. This active life
principle is the very source of creation and goes variously by the names of Prakriti in the
subtle, Pradhan in the causal, and Maya or matter in the physical world.
4. The attributive nature of a thing is its integrated part and parcel in which its nature
inheres. Just take the case ot light. Can light be conceived of as apart from the sun, or
radiant vitality apart from a gloriously healthy personality.; One does not exist without
the other as the two are inseparable and fully embedded in each other.
5. Any attempt to consider the two--nature and its essence--as separate, even if only in
imagination, is bound to bring in the idea of duality. It is only in terms of this duality that
one can conceive of the creation as distinct from the creative principle as being the result
of the outer play of the twin forces of spirit, called matter and soul. The scientific
investigations too have now come to the irresistible conclusion that all life is one
continuous existence at different levels and what we call inert matter is nothing but
energy at its lowest stage.
In Nature itself, both in the subtle and causal planes, these two principles are always at
work: God and Prakriti in the subtle, God and Pradhan in the causal, and soul and matter
in the physical universe. The creation everywhere is but the outcome of the impact of the
one on the other.
6. Soul then is the life-principle and the root cause at the( core of everything, for
nothing can come into manifestation without it. It has a quickening effect, and imparts its
life-impulse to the seemingly inert matter by contact with it. It is by the life and light of
the quickening impulse of the soul that matter assumes so many forms and colors with
their variety of patterns and designs which we see in the Universe.
7. This life current or soul is extremely subtle, a self effulgent spark of Divine Light, a
drop from the Ocean of Consciousness, with no beginning and no end, and eternally the
same, an unchangeable permanence, boundless, complete in Itself, an ever-existent and
all-sentient entity, immanent in every form, visible and invisible, for all things manifest
themselves because of It. Nothing is made that is not made by It.
The One remains, the many change and pass,
Life like a dome of many-colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity. SHELLEY
8. Just as the sun spreads out its rays in the world, as an ocean carries on its surface
bubbles, ripples, waves, tides and currents, and as a forest is made up of innumerable
trees, so does Oversoul or God, when looked at through His creation, appear to be split
into so many forms, exhibiting and reflecting the light and life of God in a rich panorama
of variegated colors. Yet His spirit runs through all alike, just as a string through so many
beads, while He, unconcerned, remains apart from all in His own fullness.
9. The first downward projection of the spiritual current, as it emanated from God,
brought into manifestation ether (akash), which is the most subtle of the elements and
spreads everywhere in space. This has two aspects. One is that of the spirit or soul
remaining unmanifest in the ether, and the other that of the manifest ether, wherein the
two forces, positive and negative, which are inherent in it, further combined and brought
into manifestation air (vayu) and exactly in the same way the manifest air gave birth to
fire (agni) and the manifest fire produced water (jal) and the manifest water led to the
formation of earth (prithvi), while the spirit of each element which is essentially the same
remained unmanifest throughout.
In the same way as above, what we call God has an essential Godhood, absolute and
imageless, the life and spirit of the Universe, and at the same time the Universe itself with
its
varied creations full of and manifesting so many forms and colors, appearing and
disappearing like ripples in the sea ot life. The unmanifest and impersonal God is free
from all attributes, while His individualized rays, as manifested in countless forms and
colors by constant contact with Maya, Prakriti and Pradhan (physical, subtle and causal)
feel themselves, through ignorance of their true nature, as limited and separate from each
other and are thereby drawn into the ambit of the inexorable Karmic Law or the Law of
Cause and Effect, which entails a consequence for every deed, every word and every
thought. What is unfulfilled in one life is fulfilled in another and thus the giant wheel of
life and death once set in motion goes on perpetually by the force of its own inexhaustible
momentum. Herein lies the difference between the individualized soul on the one hand,
and the Great Soul of the Universe (called God) on the other, the one being bound and
limited the other being without bounds or limits.
Prakriti or matter
The term Prakriti is a compound term and is derived from the Sanskrit root pra
meaning "first," and kar signifying "to act" and thus Prakriti stands for "original matter"
(latent energy) which, when acted upon by positive spirit force, brings into being the
many forms, patterns and designs in the vast creation of the Great Creator. This is called
Maya, and all that can be seen or felt by any of the senses falls in the category of matter
or Prakriti. Matter, as explained above, is latent energy, at its lowest level, which is
quickened into activity (activated) and made to assume the many different forms that we
perceive as patent. This process from passivity into activity of energy leads to creation, or
manifestation of the hitherto unmanifested spirit force.
Brahman or spirit force comes into being only through a gross covering (kaya).
Just as the totality of the seemingly individualized souls goes to make Oversoul (God),
so also the mighty maze of the created beings and things with different forms and colors
in their totality, is called Prakriti.
Prakriti by itself can neither be felt by the senses nor has it any existence of itself, but
comes into manifestation only when acted upon by the spirit force. Just as the rays of the
sun have no existence apart from the sun and appear only when the sun rises on the
horizon, so does Prakriti, in conjunction with the life-impulse, assume innumerable
shapes and forms beyond the human ken, and the One invisible soul seems to get
diversified into individualized parts, with different names and varied species that baffle
description and solution. Still, the yogins have taken into account the five koshas or the
enshrouding sheaths that have come to cover up the spirit current in its downward
descent, and have devised and formulated ways and means to remove them. These koshas
or coverings may briefly be described as:
1. Vigyan-mai Kosh: Covering of the mental apparatus or intellect with its two phases:
one concerned with knowledge (gyan) on the physical plane and the other with
enlightenment (vigyan) on the spiritual planes. This is the first covering in which the
spirit gets wrapped as it comes in contact with the subtle matter called Prakriti. The light
of the soul, as it reflects in the intellectual center, brings into motion what is commonly
known as intellect, consisting of inner spiritual perception and outer cognition. The soul,
along with this reflected intellectual ability, becomes both cognitive and perceptive.
2. Man-o-mai Kosh: This is the second covering or sheath that the intellectualized or
the cognitive soul wraps around itself by further intensive contact with Prakriti, which
now begins to reflect the mind-stuff as well; and with this added faculty the soul becomes
inclined toward the mind and gradually gets mind-ridden.
3. Pran-mai Kosh: The covering of the pranas (the vital airs) constitutes the third
sheath around the soul. As the thinking (cognitive) and mind-bound soul presses still
further upon Prakriti (matter), it begins to vibrate with pranas, which are of ten types
according to their different functions. This makes the cognitive and mind-bound soul to
be pran-mai, or impelled by a quickening effect.
4. Anna-mai Kosh: When the cognitive, mind-bound and impulsive soul works upon
the Prakriti, it forges therein yet another type of covering, that of anna-mai. This is the
last of the five sheaths, and for its maintenance it begins to feel a continuing need for
anna or foodstuff, and other sense objects.
This anna-mai covering is just an inner lining of the physical body (gross matter),
which in fact is its outer manifestation; and it continues to wrap the soul even when its
outer form, i.e., body, declines, decays and disintegrates.
The existence of this coarse physical body depends upon the healthy condition of the
Anna-mai Kosh on the inside of it.
Some of the souls, even when they cast off the outer physical body, still hanker after
food because of the Anna-mai Kosh, hunt after the pleasures of the world and continue to
haunt human habitations in their wanderings for satisfaction of their innate cravings. It is
to satisfy these cravings of the physically disembodied souls that the Hindus perform
pind dan and saradhs, and make propitiatory offerings to the manes or the departed souls
so that they may find rest and peace.
5. However, it is Anand-mai Kosh (Bliss) that is the first and the foremost of these
Koshas or coverings. This is almost an integral part of the soul itself. It is the most subtle
sheath, like that of a thin covering over a lighted candelabra. One experiences it a little
when in deep and dreamless slumber (sushupti), for on waking up he retains a hazy idea
of the anand or bliss that he experienced in that completely undisturbed state of rest.
These then are the five koshas or hijabs (curtains or covering mantles) as the Muslims
call them, and they cover the soul, fold within fold. The aim or purpose of all yogas is to
gradually disentangle the soul from these coverings one by one, until it is finally
disengaged from all of them and is restored to its original and pristine glorious state of
self luminosity (Swayam Jyoti), which is no less than that of several suns put together.
This is the stage of Aham Brahm Asmi or "I am Brahm," and when attained, one not only
feels himself to be at oneness with God, but actually hails God with the words--Ayam
Athma Brahma--"O God! I am of the same essence as Thou art." Most of the yoga
systems take this to be the be-all and end-all of all spiritual endeavors. This in fact is the
highest and the last stage of self-realization, but is yet a halfway house on the spiritual
journey--a stage of no mean consequence, for it is from here that a rare soul starts toward
the much coveted goal of complete realization of God, since it is Khud Shanasi (Selfknowledge) that gradually leads on to Khuda Shanasi (knowledge of God).
Self-knowledge and actual self-realization is the culminating point in the process of selfanalysis, without which one cannot proceed Godward and enter into the Kingdom of
God. In this process of inversion and withdrawal of the spirit within by rising above
body-consciousness and freeing the spirit from the tentacles of the body and mind, the
easiest, quickest, and surest process is by communion with the Shabd or the Sound
Current (the Holy Word), and this is the only means for God-realization. It is the most
ancient way the world has known, coming down as it does from the dawn of creation
itself. It is coeval with Man from the day he became separated from his Father in Heaven.
All the great Masters of mankind gave this Word to their disciples. This is baptism with
the Holy Spirit, as Christ put it.
Relationship between the three bodies and the five koshas
The human body consists of three raiments: physical, astral or subtle, and the causal or
seed-body.
In the physical body we have all the five koshas or coverings, and this is why we, in
our waking state, get some knowledge and experience of all the five things: bliss,
cognition (inner or outer), mindfulness (chit and its vritis or mental modulations), pranic
vibrations and the physical system.
As one rises into the astral or the subtle body, one consciousness of the physical
existence, while the soul mentally experiences the rest of the four states, viz., bliss,
cognition, mindfulness and pranic vibrations.
As the spirit travels higher on into the causal body, even the mental apparatus itself
drops off and only the power of smriti (remembrance) remains, and it witnesses and gives
an count of the bliss experienced in that state.
Division of creation according to the koshas
All beings from gods to man, as well as the other forms of life, including plants, are
classified into five categories in relation to the preponderance of one or the other of the
faculties:
1. Purely cognitive beings, like Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, etc.
2. Beings endowed with mind-stuff: Indra and other deities, gods and goddesses, etc.
3. Beings endowed with pranic vibrations: Yakshas, Gandharbas and
other spirits, etc.
4. Physical beings: Men, animals, birds, reptiles and insects, etc.
The creatures endowed with physical bodies have all the five koshas or coverings in
them in varying degrees of density. (Anand-mai, Vigyan-mai, Mano-mai, Prammai and
Anna-mai); while those endowed with pranic vibrations have but four koshas, dropping
off Anna-mai. Similarly, creatures gifted with the mind-stuff have but three, dropping off
Pran-mai as well, and again, cognitive beings have but two, namely Anand-mai and
Vigyan-mai, as they are freed from the shackles of the mind, the pranas and the need for
anna or foodstuff.
There is thus a very close correspondence between the five primary elements (earth,
water, fire, air and ether), of which the bodies are made, and the koshas or coverings. In
fact, the koshas themselves are, more or less, the effective result of the five basic
elements and endow creatures with the five faculties enumerated above.
5. The liberated soul (jivan mukta) has but a transparent veil of Anand-mai Kosh.
Spirit in its pure and unalloyed form is the creator, for all creation springs from it, and is
sometimes known as Shabd Brahm. It is the self-effulgent light, self-existent, and the
causeless cause of everything visible and invisible. The spirit and God both are alike in
their nature and essence, i.e., subtlety and bliss. This blissfulness is the very first
offspring of the interaction of soul and Prakriti, and being the primal manifestation of the
Godhood in the soul, remains the longest to the end in its fullness in spite of the other
four coverings enveloping it and bedimming its luster. Blissfulness being the essential
and inseparable quality of the soul inheres in its very nature. This is why the searching
soul ever feels restless, and feels terribly the loss of its essence in the mighty swirl of the
world. This is why Christ emphatically declared:
Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness. ST. LUKE
Having thus lost sight of the inner bliss, we try to find happiness in the worldly objects
and take momentary pleasures as a synonym for true happiness but very soon get
disillusioned. This leads to the innate quest for real happiness. It is the eternal quest in the
human breast, and from outward, ephemeral and evanescent pleasures one is forced to
turn inwards search of true happiness. This leads on to the beginning of the various yoga
systems, one and all, according to the needs the individual aspirants.
1. Persons with gross tendencies, animal instincts, and interested only in body-building
processes and developing the Anna-mai Atma, successfully take recourse to Hatha Yoga.
2. Persons afflicted with wind or gastric troubles, due obsessions with pran vayu in
their system, can combat the with the help of Pran Yoga.
3. Persons with Mano-mai Atma in the ascendant, and suffering from mal, avaran and
vikshep, i.e., mental impurities, ignorance and modulations of the mind, can with the help
of Raja Yoga conquer and pierce through the Mano-mai Kosh.
4. Persons gifted with a strong intellectual bent of mind are ever engaged in finding the
why and wherefore of things. Such aspirants take to the path of Vigyan or Jnana Yoga.
5. Those who are anxious to escape from the world and that is worldly and seek bliss
for its own sake have the path Anand Yoga or the yoga of Tree Happiness, called the
Sehaj Yoga.
In the Sehaj Yoga, the aspirant does not have to undergo any of the rigorous disciplines
characteristic of the other yogas. He must have a sincere and ceaseless yearning for the
end all ends, the goal of all goals, not content with a mere mastery of his physical and
mental powers. And when there is such longing, sooner or later he would find, as
Ramakrishna found Totapuri, an adept to put him in touch with the vital life current
within, and the current by its own force and attraction will draw him up without any
excessive struggle or effort on his part. It is this that makes it in a sense the easiest of all
yogas and thus it is often called Sehaj Yoga (the effortless yoga). It can be practised with
equal ease by a child as well by an old man; by a woman as well as a man; by the
intellectually gifted and ingenious as well as the simple hearted; by the sanyasin as well
as the householder. It consists in attuning the soul to the spiritual current ever vibrating
within, hence it is known as the Surat Shabd Yoga, or the Yoga of the Sound Current.
With these preliminary remarks, we are now in a position to discuss the subject of yoga
with its various essentials as taught by Patanjali, to understand the part that each plays,
the technique involved therein, how each step works out, and how far the yogic exercises
help practically in achieving the desired result--liberation of soul from the bondage of
mind and matter--so as to realize its own potential nature as distinct from bodyconsciousness, and then to rise into Cosmic Consciousness and further on into SuperCosmic Consciousness. It is the freed soul that has to experience "awareness" at varying
levels, from realization of the "self" to that of "Cosmic" and ultimately to that of "SuperCosmic" or God.
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