Home | Wisdom Discourses
Explanations of the Characteristics Of a Meingnana Guru (1) Only God will know the glory of God. Only God will know His power and His creation. Amin. Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My son, the human race is composed of millions upon millions of lives, each having its own subtle grade of wisdom. Among these human beings there are also millions upon millions of different kinds of spiritual teachers. Each disciple, filled with the acquired qualities and actions that match his wisdom, will join a teacher whose wisdom and powers seem, to that disciple’s intellect, to be appropriate for him. Among all the creations of Allah, man is the most exalted and has the greatest clarity of wisdom. But even though man was created by Allah as His secret, he lives his life without a thought of realizing that secret, or himself. As a result, man, who was born so noble, forfeits his wisdom and stands divided, separated into seventy-three different groups. (2) Every human being has ninety-six inherent forces, or tatthwas (3) (the strength intrinsic to each of his qualities). These inherent forces combine and manifest in varying amounts within each human being. Of the ninety-six forces within man, thirty-six belong to satan, while the rest are unique to man. In addition to these, man has four other forces—those belonging to earth, fire, water, and air. These one hundred forces exist connected to each other within man, manifesting as his body, as his physical visions, as the aesthetic arts, as ghosts, as deities, and as many other forms and shapes. To subdue and control these one hundred forces, to bring clarity to them and make them work for him, and through this is to reveal the secret of Allah’s truth—the resplendence of the soul, which is Allah’s essence (dhat), has come as man’s perfectly pure wisdom of gnanam, (4) as the Nur, as Allah’s secret, as His perfect purity, as His truth, as His patience, and as His justice. It is to know this that we who are insan (human beings) have come here. My son! If, having known this truth, realized himself, and understood the aforementioned forces within himself, one can keep all of them subdued and controlled, and see within them the eternally indestructible Thing of perfect purity, and if, with his divine luminous wisdom, he can contemplate, know, and realize that Treasure (which has no beginning, end, or destruction)—then, when he loses himself within divine luminous wisdom (gnanam), and the light of that wisdom disappears within Allah, he will have escaped from the seventy-two groups and come to dwell within the seventy-third group, the group of Allah’s dhat, His essence, shinning in their midst as the gnana guru, or divinely wise spiritual guide, radiating as the resplendence of divine wisdom, both in this world and in the next. Once this state is realized, he will see that there are 101 names—one hundred for Allah and one for insan (man), and that it is this number that is reflected in the 101 mantras, the 101 prayer beads (tasbih beads), (5) and the 101 dhikrs, the remembrance of God. (This number has been increased or decreased in various ways by different people who understand or practice this remembrance in their own way, each according to his respective level of wisdom.) It is such a being who comes as the meingnana guru, the teacher of divine wisdom, to the seventy-third group. He discovers the meaning of the twenty-eight letters that constitute his form, or surat, and, as he understand his form even further, he comes to know the five elements (earth, fire, water, air, and ether), thus recognizing a total of thirty-three things within his form. Such a teacher, the gnana guru, seeing his form as the thirty-three glorifications of God, realizes that this is the significance of reciting the tasbih thirty-three times (6) and comes to know and understand the meaning of those thirty-three tasbih. And through that knowing, this divinely wise teacher, who is a true man, realizing that his own form is the thirty-three glorifications, comes to know himself and his Lord. However, those in the other seventy-two groups have deviated from truth, fallen under the influence of the ninety-six forces, or tatthwas, inherent within them, and acquired the qualities and actions of those forces. Cultivating the kind of piety befitting their respective levels of intellect, they treat the wisdom that goes with those inherent forces as equal to God, call it divine wisdom, and thereby earn for themselves the dubious title of gnana guru, or spiritual teacher. Thus every one of these seventy-two groups, each from its respective level of wisdom (which never fails to remember the place of birth), will preach what it calls divine wisdom. No matter which inherent forces those gurus in the seventy-two groups exist in as they study, what they will be praising are but the forces of illusion (maya sakthis) (7) that gave birth to them, calling those forces by names such as Parameswari, Mahasakthi, or Mahadevi. (8) Invoking them with entrancing mantras, or incantations (9) stemming from illusion (maya), they awaken and arouse the 1,008 energies (kalais) of the deities conceived by their minds, make those energies manifest, and then, showing people the place [of birth] from which they arose, they make them worship those same energies. If, however, there happens to be a man of divine analytic wisdom, who, realizing the truth, attempts to extricate himself from these false teachers and make his escape, they will lure him back by showing him the joys of the sixty-four sensual pleasures, delude and dull his wisdom, and cover his resplendent eye of wisdom (10) by applying pastes of various color (thilak) (11) to his forehead, where the gnostic eye is located. In this way, they will reduce him to the blindness of ignorance and return him once again to parasakthi, which is the energy of illusion that caused him to be born. My brother, such gurus and the disciples who follow them will lay claim to many wondrous feats of illusory deception through these energies of illusion (maya sakthis). Some of those feats: They will capture a donkey and waste their time trying to turn it into a horse. They will attempt to turn a monkey into a man. They will try to turn a man into a monkey. They will attempt to transform a cat into a tiger. They will attempt to train a tiger to be a vegetarian. These gurus and their associates will sing songs that promise to perform many praiseworthy feats similar to the ones mentioned above. In addition, every day they will bathe the donkeys, which are the ten sins. They will trap the wild jungle monkey and train it to do the antics of mind monkeys. They will wash a cat, and tell it, “Become a tiger.” They will catch a tiger, wash it, and keep repeating to it, “Become a cat.” They will claim to have turned a cat into a vegetarian, all the while surreptitiously feeding it mice. They will even claim to have made a vegetarian out of a tiger, while feeding it on the sly with the meat and liver of a human being. My son! Take a good look at these types of gurus and disciples. They claim to have turned a donkey into a horse by the power of their thoughts. They claim to have trained a wild monkey in the antics of the city and transformed it into a human being. They claim to have turned cats into tigers and made them eat human flesh. They claim they can turn tigers into vegetarians and then transform them into gurus of true saivam, (12) bestowing high titles on them. It is such tiger cubs, anointed with exalted titles, who shine in this world as gurus of the forces of illusion. Such gurus, belonging to the seventy-two groups, commit the five heinous sins (13) without the slightest fear in their minds, and then firmly establish their disciples in the same state, heap titles on them, elevate their status, and advertise their greatness to the people. The first step in their quest for divine wisdom is to imbibe evil and poisonous intoxicants such as alcohol, whiskey, beer, brandy, gin, arrack, marijuana, opium, and many other such substances that destroy their wisdom. In addition, these gurus will tell their disciples that imbibing intoxicants (which is the first of the five heinous sins) is an essential prerequisite for the emergence of divine wisdom and that this is the first step called sariyai, or shari'at. A guru of this type will also extol the strength and the force within each of these intoxicants, explaining that it gives energy and vitality to the body and can cure a number of diseases. Saying this, the guru will drink it, make the disciples drink it, and go on extolling it to those who are his followers. To such people, this will be the stage of sariyai. The second step of their development is to tell lies, to destroy virtue and modesty, to steal, to speak hypocritically, to commit murder, and, by pretending friendship with one’s enemy, to ruin his family. Such gurus invoke the forces of illusion, the maya sakthis, convincing their followers that the performance of such acts constitutes the stage of kiriyai, or tariqat. They explain to them that it is even greater kiriyai if those actions can be accomplished without letting others become aware of them. They strive, by pretenses of love and through costumes and behavior, to become acclaimed as great ones. The disciples, attracted by these actions, praise and emulate them with great respect. Liberation, or mukthi, to these gurus and their followers, is the freedom acquired through such actions. To them, the third step, yogam, is to murder another man’s heart, his love, his compassion, his truth, his patience and the power that comes from that patience, to kill through treachery (without actually taking that life), to steal from others in order to selfishly nurture their own bodies, to destroy truth, conscience, and faith, and to search for and track down one who has been born as man and lives as man, then capture him, beat him, and chase him out of his country—this is the stage of yogam to such people. The acme of this yogam is, as the proverb says, “To keep one thought inside while saying something quite different on the outside, and ruin the family of your enemy by pretending to be a friend.” Thus they use cunning and stratagem and sweet-sounding words to win the friendship of their enemy and then instill their own evil thoughts into him in order to transform him into their own evil likeness. However, if that man, convinced that he must live as a man and die as a man, refuses to listen to these false gurus and attempts instead to explain the wisdom of truth to them, they will scheme and plot against him. They will pretend to want to be friendly with him, but in the end they will try to kill him, without actually taking his life. This will be the pinnacle of the yogam practiced by these gurus and their disciples. The fourth step, gnanam, or grace awakened wisdom, according to these gurus, is to conduct their entire life by the fifth great sin—falsehood and lies. They make that falsehood the truth for their lives and for the world, make it their god, and lose themselves within it—the lie losing itself within them, and all the karmas of the world losing themselves within that lie. The ‘true wisdom’ for them (the wisdom of worldly illusion) is to shine as gurus merged as one with that state of falsehood, and to rule the world with that lie. They will be celebrated and glorified the world over as gods who, without a single trace of duality, merged with falsehood. It is such people who shine as the gurus and disciples in the seventy-two groups. My son! Please understand this state clearly. If the five great sins did not emerge within them, that false wisdom of theirs would not blaze forth. My son! You must understand this state clearly. On the other hand, my son! The true teacher of divine wisdom, the meingnana guru, whom we mentioned earlier, subdues, controls, and brings under his rule all the inherent forces, or tatthwas, within him, realizes the truth, makes the light of his wisdom resplend, disappears within it, then makes the resplendence of that wisdom disappear within the Effulgence that is the one all-pervasive Omnipresence, comes to know the truth of that Effulgence, and goes on resplending from within that Effulgence. It is such a one who will be the meingnana guru for the seventy-third group. He subdues the inherent forces of the five elements that surround him, brings them under control, ties them up, and tosses them into a corner. He captures the six heinous evils: lust, wrath, greed, infatuation, bigotry, and envy, which were the cause of his arrogance. Using the light of his wisdom, he captures the braying ass of arrogance (satan’s pack mule) and makes satan climb onto it, and, loading onto it all the bundles that satan had stacked up earlier, he gives it a whack with the whip of wisdom saying, “Go to those seventy-two groups that lead people only to the place of their birth, unload these bundles there, and stay there. Wherever it was that you appeared from, return now to that same place, without looking back!” Having beaten and chased away that ass of arrogance, the teacher of divine wisdom traps and ties up the mischievous, troublesome monkey mind that came riding on the five elements of desire called the world, shows the monkey the mirror of dazzling brilliance, which is the radiance of the resplendent wisdom of his gnanam, and says, ”Hey, monkey! Look at this mirror!” As soon as the monkey sees its own form within that mirror, it forgets all the thoughts it had brought with it and now thinks only about that form. Believing that the form in the mirror is its own kith and kin, it keeps trying to hug it. Failing to succeed after repeated attempts, the monkey drops down exhausted and dazed. Moreover, intent only on hugging that form, it keeps on trying over and over again, refusing all food, heartbroken, and unable to indulge in its usual mischievous pranks and antics. Everything the monkey brought with it—the world, attachments, desires, gold, and the dark veils of the karmic evils of the seventy thousand worlds, as well as the monkey pranks and antics that go with them—all these lie forgotten, while the monkey goes on gazing at itself in that mirror. Thus does the gnana guru make that monkey pine and waste away to its death. After that, while looking into the shining mirror of his wisdom, the gnana guru sees the serpent that has come with the intention of killing him by any means possible at the first opportune moment. “Oho!” he says, “One can trust the river or the wind, one can trust the venom of the deadly serpent, one can trust the most ferocious elephant in the frenzy of musth, (14) one can trust the killer tiger, one can trust robbers or hunters, one can trust even the emissary of the Angel of Death—but it is dangerous to trust the raised hood of the poisonous cobra which is the sensual pleasures of maya. This snake, which emerges from the pit of the delusion (mayakkam) of maya, is an even greater menace to life than the powerful Angel of Death and is capable of bringing about our utter degradation.” With this thought, the gnana guru decides that he must somehow or other kill that serpent while it is still within that pit of maya, and, holding the razor-sharp sword of wisdom in his hand, he makes the radiant resonance of his wisdom thunder. The thunder of that resonance, accompanied by lightning, bursts forth in sharp blasts from the resplendence that is the luminous wisdom of gnanam, showering brilliant rays of light. When the thunder of this resonance is heard within the pit of maya and the poisonous cobra emerges, raising its head above the hole to look, the brilliance of those rays shatters that cobra’s eyes. As it reels about hither and thither with its eyes blinded, half-dazed and unaware of where it is going, the gnana guru raises the sword that is the sharpness of wisdom and cuts off the cobra’s head. Along with this, he also destroys its associate, the seven-headed serpent that arose from the seven hells, carrying with it the toxic poisons of the netherworlds and the seven base instincts, the nafs ammarah, (15) which are its qualities. Then, using the very poison brought by the serpent, the gnana guru burns to ashes the seven horrible, evil hells, as well as all the evil things in the illusory worlds of maya. My son, you must know this clearly. It is such a one who will be the divinely wise teacher, the meingnana guru, for both worlds. No worldly desire is within him, and he does not dwell within worldly desire. The antics and pranks of the illusory monkey of the mind are not within him, and he is not to be found within those pranks. There are no poisons of hell within him, and he is not to be found within those poisons. Know all of this well. The only thing he keeps within him is God, nothing else. Whatever people may ask the gnana guru for, he will know what their true intentions are, either from their words or from the thoughts stored in their minds, and he will give back to them the very things they keep within themselves and cherish most. But if someone who has analyzed and reflected a great deal comes to the gnana guru and asks for only that eternal, indestructible treasure that is Allah’s secret—he will teach him virtue, love, good conduct, and the rules thereof, fill him with patience and tranquility, discourse on truth and integrity, make him understand that truth, plant the flag of faith and certitude, and, once the disciple has developed to maturity, he will give him that treasure. He will unfurl the flag of faith and hand over the Treasure that he possesses—Allah, who is Truth. That Truth is Allah’s secret. Only one who has attained this state and has received this Treasure from the true teacher will acquire the resplendence of the soul. The one who teaches this will be a meingnana guru, and the one who studies the truth and acquires clarity thereby will be a disciple of the grace of gnanam (divine wisdom) and a disciple of God. A guru with this state of wisdom gives this teaching. A gnana guru with more exalted, resplendent wisdom may be able to explain millions upon millions more of Allah’s secrets once the disciple attains realization. But these things can be understood only up to the level of each one’s wisdom. A true guru will use his wisdom to analyze all the physical visions seen in this illusory world, discard the illusory sights and scenes, and keep the truth that is within them. One of lesser wisdom, on the other hand, will discard the truth and keep only the physical visions. My son! In this world there are two things that surround a man of wisdom: one is truth, the other is falsehood. (16) What is false is all the physical visions seen outside; they constitute unreal form. Yet within that unreal forms dwells the truth. It is the form of grace, a resplendence. To separate the two and to discard the lie and keep the truth, one needs the radiance of the light of wisdom. If one in that state were to analyze with his wisdom, he would see both the illusion of the lie and the grace of the truth. One who has pushed away those visions and seen the truth is one of wisdom. Know well that he alone will be a true man. Wisdom is the mainstay for every creation, under all circumstances. For each creation, wisdom should be its most valued treasure. And this alone will be the undiminishing wealth for man’s life. The wealth each one receives will be in direct proportion to his wisdom. So said the teacher of divine wisdom, the gnana guru. Amin, Ya Rabbal-'alamin. As-salamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullahi Wa barakatuhu kulluhu. May it be so, O Lord of the universes. May the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon you. Footnotes: 1) A divinely illuminated teacher of spiritual knowledge; a divinely wise spiritual guide who has the capacity to elevate the spiritual station of his disciples and bring them to the state of perfection; teacher of true divine wisdom. See glossary: kamil shaikh. 2) There are seventy-three groups among mankind. Of these, only the seventy-third group goes on the true path; they are the true believers (mu’minun). The people in this one group do not have to answer questions on Judgment Day, because they will have judged themselves and attained perfection right here, while in this world. In this group everyone remains eternally youthful, and everyone has perfect faith. This is a group of light. For them there will be no questioning in the grave. Of the other seventy-two groups, two will have to answer questions on the Day of Judgment. Some of them will go to heaven, the others to hell. But for the remaining seventy groups there is no need for any inquiry. They have already created and found hell for themselves and will go directly to hell. 3) The strength or vitality inherent in the qualities of the creations, manifested through the action of each of those qualities. While jinns, ghosts, and demons have thirty-six tatthwas, man has ninety-six, and through these he has the capacity to control everything. Jinns, demons, and ghosts can do many things that may seem superior to the powers of man, such as performing tricks of illusion (maya). But man has greater power; he has the strength (tatthwas) of wisdom that can control even those demons and spirits. Look at the elephant and the lion. They are so powerful and strong, but man is able to control them. Similarly, fire can burn anything, but fire can be doused, using water. There are also tatthwas of the earth, water, fire, air, and ether, of the sun and the moon, of birds, four-legged animals, fish, and so on. Although man has no developed all of their tatthwas, nevertheless he has inherent power and ability to control all the forces of all other species. This power allows man either to bring the world into a good state, or to make it evil, or even to destroy it. 4) Gnanam is grace-awakened wisdom; the Nur is the Light of Allah, the seventh level of wisdom, divine luminous wisdom. 5) The prayer beads help us to keep count and remind us of the 101 names that stand for the qualities of God. 6) Some people have prayer beads with thirty-three in a chain, others have 101. The thirty-three stand for the five elements that form the body and the twenty-eight letters in that body. If a man understands this, he will illuminate the five that compose his body and the twenty-eight that relate to his soul. At that point he will come to the two: La ilaha, illallahu and end up finally in the One. 7) The unreality of the visible world; illusion; the glitters seen in the darkness of illusion; an elemental energy that takes on various shapes, causing man to forfeit his wisdom. 8) Names for Parvathi, consort of Sivan, the supreme deity worshipped by Hindus. 9) [A set of words recited over and over again, ostensibly to aid the seeker in his search for God; the recitation of a special word or words; sounds imbued with force or energy through constant repetition, but limited to the energy of the five elements.] 10) When people apply holy ash or any other substance on their forehead, they are covering the eye of wisdom (kursi). This clouds that eye of wisdom, and then man becomes lost in illusion. One should always keep the eye of wisdom open. Some teachers intentionally cover it over and cloud it in their students by teaching them mantras and other forms of illusion. The inner meaning of the practice of applying holy ash is to burn arrogance, karma, and maya to ash, and then to apply that ash (with wisdom) to the forehead. But it is really the wisdom that should be placed on the forehead to destroy the evils. 11) [A round mark placed on the center of the forehead for religious or decorative purposes; usually made of sandalwood paste, holy ash, vermillion, or other colors. Other pastes may be used in occult practices.] 12) [Here the word saivam means vegetarianism.] True Saivam is the state of perfect purity, the state of not hurting another life. 13) Use of intoxicants and drugs, lust, theft, murder, and falsehood. 14) [A condition of frenzied sexual excitement or sexual drive (heat) occurring in the males of certain mammals, such as the elephant and camel; a condition of dangerous frenzy. The spiritual meaning is arrogance and fanaticism.] 15) This represents the nafs at the lowest level of the self—the carnal or base instincts, devoted to self-gratification. 16) Although there are many millions of things within man, the two main ones are falsehood and truth. Whatever you can see with your eyes is false, not real. It has a limit and will perish. But that which is buried within what you see—is truth. That is real. So, if you dissect everything you see and then discard what is false, you will find the truth within you. That truth is imperishable. If you can discover that which is imperishable and merge with it, then you will never perish. Once you have merged with that imperishable thing everything that threatens to attack or destroy you will be halted and made incapable of even approaching you.
Article Source: http://www.godarticles.com
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
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
# of Ratings = 1 | Rating = 5/5
