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Fellowship Member: How can we adapt and be flexible in the world? Sometimes my mind sets up certain rules of conduct, but the situation and wisdom seem to indicate that some other conduct would be more appropriate. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: It certainly is difficult. A fish lives in the ocean and spends its entire life in water. That is where it lives. If it were told to live on land, the fish would find it difficult, very difficult! In the same way, the mind lives in the dark ocean of illusion maya. That is where it spends its entire life. If you try to make the mind change, if you try to make it live outside that dark ocean, it will protest vigorously, will it not? That ocean of illusion seems to contain water but in fact there is no water. There are no waves, but it seems to have waves. There is no darkness, but it appears dark. T here is no sun or moon, but it seems that there is a sun and a moon. There is no world there, only the illusion of a world. There is no earth (soil), but it seems as if there is earth. No fire, but there seems to be fire. No water, only what seems to be water. No air, only the illusion of air. There is no ether, no torpor, no colors-but to the mind all these do exist. There doesn’t seem to be any feeling of ‘I’ there, but the ‘I’ is present. There also does not seem to be any karma, but karma and karmic connections do exist. Thus, everything seems real, but it is all illusion, maya. This is what the ocean called illusion is like. It is within such an ocean that the mind lives, along with all the karmic illnesses as such desire, sin, anger, hastiness, hatred, pride, love for wealth and lands, and love for woman. These are things that provide comfort to the mind, making it laugh with joy at one time and cry in sorrow at another time. Therefore, for this fish of the mind, which is completely in its life in the ocean of illusion, to come out of that ocean and live on land is very, very difficult indeed. Why? Just as ocean-dwelling fish need salty water, the mind needs the brine of avarice, craving, wrath, envy, treachery, conceit, anger, the pride of ‘my religion is better than yours’ and ‘I am different from you’, intoxicants, lust, theft, murder, falsehood, haughtiness, the conceit of ‘I am the greatest’, the vanity of ‘mine’, impetuosity—all this salt is what the mind thrives on. If such qualities were not there, the mind would die, for these are the salt of life for mind and desire. It is on these that arrogance and karma thrive and grow. If not for these qualities, they would die. Such is the ocean in which the mind dwells. So, if the mind were to come out of this salty ocean and live on the shore, in the perfectly pure wide open space which is wisdom, it would die. Only fresh water is available there, and the salty qualities that are food for the mind would find it hard to survive. They would die. Therefore, if you want to come out of that salty ocean and live in the wide open space in the fresh water of the perfectly pure heart, the galb, the water that has no salt and is drinkable, the water that is not subject to rebirth and will never diminish; if you want to come out and live in that fresh water and in the open space that is the wealth for all three worlds, living the life of freedom of the soul, then you need to transform yourself into God’s three thousand gracious and beneficent qualities of love and compassion; qualities such as patience, inner patience (sabur), contentment and gratitude (shakur), surrender to the will of God (tawakkul-‘alallah), praising Him for whatever may happen to you (al-hamdu lillah), compassion for all lives, equanimity, tolerance, sympathy, charity, and consider all lives as precious as your own, feeling the suffering of others as though it were your own, feeling the joy and sorrows of others as your own. Discard the bad and take what is good and share that goodness with others. Many more such qualities dwell in God’s kingdom of purity. If the mind were willing to come out, this fresh water would nourish it. However, the salty things would have to be transformed. Those qualities would have to die. But the mind does not want to come out. It is too involved with attachments, blood ties, fanaticism of race and religion, bigotry, pride over family and caste, conceit over wealth, and love for earth, gold and woman. Therefore, it is difficult to make it come out willingly. With wisdom, we must reflect on these things, acquire the qualities of grace, and, come out of the ocean. Having come out, if we take on His qualities of grace, if we imbibe the pure water, that honey of grace, we can acquire the state of freedom of a true devotee, the state in which we never die and are never born again. Like God, imperishable, eternal, and complete, we can dwell in the kingdom of God’s justice. That is the water we must drink, the water that comes from Him. If we do not attain those qualities, it will certainly be very hard to live there. Unless the mind attains that state, it will not come out and live in fresh water of the open space—the fish will not be able to swim there. So, using wisdom, we must, if we can, identify the qualities the mind craves in that illusory ocean, and kill them. To help wisdom do this, we have been given iman, or faith, determination and certitude. If that iman is in the right state, and if you can form the state of patience, inner patience (sabur), gratitude and contentment (shakur), and giving all responsibility to Allah (tawakkul’alallah), then you will come out into the open space, the space of good thoughts and good intentions. Once you come to the fresh water of the open space, your earlier qualities will die. They cannot survive there. The only things that can survive there are God’s qualities and God’s actions. Only on that day will true wisdom dawn within you, and you will transform into true man. Only on that day will you establish a connection with the kingdom of God. Only on that day will you begin your journey to the presence of your Lord. Only then will you become one who has developed the compassion to help the creations of God and perform your duty to them. If one does not attain that wisdom if he puts some of that salt water in a barrel and decides to live in that barrel, all the while claiming that he has come out of the ocean, then one day that water will dry up and become foul and putrid. Mosquitoes and worms will breed in it and bite him. These creatures dwell in that water, and they will feed on him. As a result of the diseases they produce, he will die and then return to the same place from which he was born, the salt water. One who has wisdom will destroy whatever causes desire and come out into the open space of God’s kingdom. If he takes on God’s qualities, that will be fresh water, water in which he can survive. Until then, as long as he is between these two states, the qualities and actions of the ocean of maya will create problems for him. But once his wisdom understands, he will eliminate those qualities. He will kill them. Only then will he acquire freedom. Only then will there be a connection to God, prayers to God, and connection and duty to the creations of God. It is then that he will perform the four kinds of service: service to God, service to the guru or teacher, service to the people, and service to the world. If, however, he does not attain this state, but persists in collecting salt water in a tin and living in it, all the while claiming to have left the ocean, joy and sorry will remain with him. Arrogance and karma will keep afflicting him, devouring him little by little. But if faith, determination, and certitude develop, the wisdom will begin to grow. As wisdom develops, he will know his guru, or shaikh. And when he knows his shaikh, he will know the right food that is needed for his growth. When he can recognize and eat the right food, he will know the true state of God’s kingdom. If he knows this state, he will know his own state and the state of his birth. If he knows his own state and the state of his birth, he will see God and know God. One who has realized this state will perform service to God, to the guru, to the people, and to the world. The heart of one who serves in this manner will be occupied by God alone. His heart will give room only for God, nothing else. Since the shaikh and the shaikh’s Father are one, service to God will become service to the guru. And even though he does not see God, he can see his shaikh. My children, if you can open your hearts and give room to the shaikh, through that grace you will find the path to God. As long as you are not in that state of surrender, it will be like bringing salty sea water to the shore and living immersed in it. One day that salty water will kill you. Then you will have nothing to turn to—no wife, no children, no religion, scriptures or doctrines, no color differences, no race or caste. All of these will forsake you. In disgust, all these will tire of you, despise you, and chase you away. Then even good qualities and true, good actions will chase you away. All, the qualities of God will chase you away. Duty to God will chase you away. So, in that state, both sides will have deserted you, God’s qualities and your own. The salt water of your qualities will have become putrid, smelly, and infested with worms and maggots that suck your blood. You will have to suffer this agony and die. You must realize what you want to attain, and toward that end find a teacher, a Sheikh who is an insan kamil, a true human being, one who is capable of leading you there. First of all, that teacher, that Sheikh, must have absolute faith in God. Secondly, you must have faith in that Sheikh. Thirdly, you must receive with utmost care the treasures he has in his possession. It is no use trying to copy or imitate him. You should not try to become the Sheikh. You must become a child. You must become an embryo within his heart. If you can transform yourself into an embryo, a child, within his heart and do service to him, later he will transform into an embryo and be born within your heart. As soon as he is born within your heart, if you nurture him and bring him up within you, he will become your child and guide you to the freedom of your life. Then, since God is within the Sheikh, God will grow within you in that same place. But as long as you do not establish that state within, as long as you do not have that steadfastness of faith, you can never hope to overcome karma and escape this suffering. You will never be able to free yourself of the desire for earth, gold, and woman or extricate yourself from arrogance, karma and maya. You will not be able to extricate yourself from tirahan, singhan, and siran, the place from which you were born. You will never be able to eradicate the six evil actions of desire, anger, miserliness, lust, theft, murder, and falsehood. You will not be able to escape from these states. If you can realize this, and with the steadfast certitude and faith of iman, become an embryo within his heart, if you will enter his heart and become a seed and then grow within his as a child—as soon as that child (you) has grown to maturity, you must then make the shaikh into an embryo within your heart. Once he has grown from a child to maturity within you, you will no longer be there. Only he will be there. And, since God is within your shaikh, God will be in your heart. Copyright: Questions of Life—Answers of Wisdom, Vol 2. (pages 95-100) Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Family Newsletter April- May 2002
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Bawa Muhaiyaddeen for over 50 years selflessly shared his knowledge with people of every race, religion—from all parts of the world. Before Bawa’s passing in 1986 he wrote “Peace and the Mind” and requested that everyone in the world receive a copy. If you would like your FREE copy please Click Here! www.onegodonly.com
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