Sufism is a path of love. The Sufi is a traveler on the path of love, a wayfarer journeying back to ALLAH (God) through the mysteries of the heart. For the Sufi the relationship to God is that of lover and Beloved, and Sufis are also known as lovers of ALLAH (God) The journey to ALLAH (God) takes place within the heart, and for centuries Sufis have been traveling deep within themselves, into the secret chamber of the heart where lover and Beloved share the ecstasy of union.
When we
try to learn a new skill or try to gain knowledge about a specific subject,
we follow a guideline or a system, which demands that we pay attention to
the subject to fully understand it. Our mind becomes curious to know the
where, how and what of it. When we pay attention to the minor details, that
minor point itself gains value. However, when we ignore the most important
part and do not pay any cognitive attention to it then even that major point
loses its value and importance. Through contemplation we gain knowledge
about any object and the deeper that knowledge, the more we learn about that
object and its qualities.
Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is the name of that contemplation through
which man is able to gain the knowledge which is the primordial knowledge of
his Ego, Self, or Soul. After gaining that knowledge, any man can gain
access to his Ego or Soul.
It appears that the person performing Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is simply
sitting in a pose with his or her eyes closed. However, merely shutting the
eyes and assuming a specific pose does not serve the purpose. Muraqaba (Sufi
meditation) is in fact an angle of perception through which the person doing
the Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) frees himself or herself from outward senses
and begins their journey in the inward senses.
Now we are going to look into whether or not the Muraqaba (Sufi
meditation)-like conditions or states exist in us, without adopting the
specific pose of Muraqaba (Sufi meditation).
Freedom from outward senses happens in our daily life, both involuntarily
and voluntarily. For example, we go to sleep and while sleeping our brain
disconnects from outward senses. It is true that this disconnection is
temporary however; this condition could not be termed as anything but
disconnection from outward senses. Hence, we can say that Muraqaba (Sufi
meditation) is in fact a way of imposing a state of sleeping without going
to sleep.
Every human being, from the time of birth to death spends life in two
states. In other words, in the human mind there are two types of conditions
that prevail every moment of our life. One of these conditions or state is
wakening and the other sleeping or dreaming. In the wakening state, they are
trapped in Time and Space while during dreaming they are free from the
confines of spatiotemporal limitations. This freedom of Time and Space is
sought through Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) by converting the state of
sleeping or dreaming into an awakened state. Because during Muraqaba (Sufi
meditation), a person goes through the same conditions that he or she goes
through while sleeping or dreaming.
The notion that dreams are nothing but thoughts is not correct. In all
scriptures including the Quran (Koran), dreams have been mentioned. The
dreams that were mentioned in the Quran show that the realm of dream is free
from the restrictions imposed by Time and Space. When a person tries to
impose the state of dreaming through Muraqaba (Sufi meditation), they free
themselves from that spatiotemporal boundaries and they journey through the
realm of dream the way they travel while fully wake. All existing things
need foundation; without it they could not survive. This is not something
that is hard to comprehend. For example the foundation of a chair is its
legs. A house remains erect only when inside the earth its foundation is
laid. Similarly, we can only learn a subject or a branch of knowledge when
we know its basics. These basics (or formulas) are considered as the
foundation of any branch of knowledge. God has revealed it in the Quran,
Al-Lah is the Light of the heavens and earth.
In this Universe, there are several worlds and galaxies. The Essence and
Reality of God is something only God knows or those with whom He has shared
His Secrets. How much of this information God has shared with His chosen
servants is not our concern. However, we do know that God created this
entire universe for us humans. It is stated on several occasions in the
Quran that the foundation of this universe is the Light (nur) of God.
Based on this fact it is imperative that Man and all of his abilities be
centered on one foundation.
It is our daily observation that not all of our actions, motions, whims,
thoughts, imaginations, and feelings are dependent on the body of bones and
flesh. Because when the Spirit disconnects its link with the physical body
then this body of bones and flesh is unable to act on its own. As long as
the Spirit is attached with the body, all the needs, and functions necessary
for life are present. In other words, Spirit (ruh) is the foundation
of the body.
According to the Quran(Koran), a limited knowledge of the Spirit is given.
Nevertheless even this limited knowledge is still knowledge. What we are
trying to emphasize is that what we consider Man is a body of bones and
flesh, though that Man is nothing but fiction. The real Man is the one that
protects that skeleton of flesh and keeps it in motion, whom the Quran calls
ruh (Spirit). This ruh, in order to fulfill the needs of life
uses a medium. We call this medium, chromosomes. In the Quran, God has said
that, We poured Our ruh in him (Adam). In other words, ruh
created a medium and after that gave him the senses. ruh is in fact a
component of the Divine and in it all the knowledge of Divine Discretions
and Attributes are present, which God so Willed. Just how this knowledge was
acquired by the component, is a Divine Mystery, which could never be
explained.
There are eleven thousand generators (latifa, plural lataif)
at work inside the Man. According to Sufism, there are eleven thousand
Divine Names as well. Every Divine Name is an Attribute and every Divine
Attribute is knowledge (ilm). This knowledge further expands into
more and more spheres to become a manifestation of the Divine Attributes.
To enter the unseen world (al-ghayb) or to behold anything beyond
Time and Space, we have to first free ourselves from the clutches of
spatiotemporal restrictions. This is only possible when the vision that sees
Time and Space frees itself from its boundaries. To activate that vision,
certain exercises have been created through which even if the human mind is
not totally free at least it is able to come close to it.
Now the next question is to how and when the human senses could be freed
from that restriction. One example is the state of dreaming. Sleeping
actually is getting freedom from the diurnal senses, which are Time and
Space. When we go to sleep then our senses are transferred to a realm where
the state of Time and Space do exist but not in the chronological order in
which we spend our life. The Second way is that while wake human mind could
focus on any object with full concentration. For example when we read an
interesting book, we often lost track of the time. When we finally look at
our watch, we then realized that so much time had elapsed, though we were
not aware of it.
In the Quran, the event of Moses receiving the Torah is mentioned in the
following verse,
And We promised Moses thirty nights and fulfilled it in forty nights.
Day and night are mentioned in Quran in the following verses,
And We enter night into the day and let the day enter into the night.
We take the night out of the day and take the day out of the night.
We cover the day onto night and night into the day
When we contemplate these verses of Quran, we realized that day and night
are in fact two senses. In other words, our life is divided into two senses.
One of the senses is day the other one is night. During the day senses
(diurnal senses) restricted with Time and Space while during night senses
(nocturnal senses) we are free from these restrictions.
The Divine Statement that We promised Moses thirty nights and fulfilled it
in forty nights, is interesting. Because Moses did not simply spend forty
nights there, his entire stay was forty days and forty nights. It was not
that he was spending the nights at the place and coming back during the day.
He did spend his entire stay at the Mount. Interestingly God did not mention
days in the verse instead mentions only night. It clearly suggests that
during those forty days and forty nights, Moses was under the influence of
nocturnal senses. The same nocturnal senses, which free us from the
restrictions of Time and Space.
Hence, anyone who would impose the nocturnal senses during the period of day
and night on themselves would be free from the confinement of Time and
Space. This freedom from spatiotemporal restriction is the way to exploring
the unseen realm and getting intuitive information.
During a battle, an arrow injured Amirul Momineen Ali ibn abi Talib. It had
entered his thigh and the pain was excruciating. The surgeons could not
operate on it. Because of extreme pain he would not let them even touch it.
One of his companions suggested to surgeons that they wait until Imam Ali
began his prayer. When Imam Ali began his prayer, the surgeons were able to
operate on him without him showing any sign of pain. By the time he was done
with his prayers, Imam Ali realized that the surgeon had already performed
the surgery and the wound had already been stitched. This event is another
example of the negation of Time and Space. When Imam Ali started his
prayers, his senses went from diurnal state into nocturnal state. The moment
his mind entered the nocturnal senses his focus was shifted away from the
diurnal senses (restriction and pain). The foundation of Spirituality is
based on the reality that Man has two senses, two brains, and two lives.
Just like the two sides of a coin, it has two sides.One life is restricted;
the other one is free. Constrained life is day, wakefulness, and
consciousness. On the other hand, free life is the name of night, joy, peace
and the contentment of the heart.
To gain that life the easiest method in Spirituality is Muraqaba (Sufi
meditation). Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is in fact the name of an exercise,
effort and the angle of perception. Through it, anyone can enter the
nocturnal senses while keeping the diurnal senses active as well.
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Sufi Peer Baba Syed Sameer Chishty (Shah)
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Sufi Peer Baba Syed Sameer Chishty (Shah) Saheb s/o Sufi Peer Baba Syed Sultan Shah Holy Holy Holy Holy Holy Gaddi Nashin Aastana-e-Aliya Holy Ghareeb Nawaz 111 , Faiz Manzil,Mamu Bhanja , Dargah Sharif , Ajmer-305001 (Raj.) India Email :peerbabaajmer@gmail.com
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