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In the presence of a sheikh, if the first word that comes from your mouth is a positive thought, then what follows will be positive. If you speak negatively, then the result will be negative. You will be stopped, and there will be a danger in that for you; a loss will occur. It is from the words you utter that the sheikh can help you. If someone asks the sheikh, “is today going to be a bad day or a good day?”, it will be a bad day. His first words were negative, so the sheikh will have to tell him to cancel his plans or his journey, because it is not a good time for him. But if he were to ask, “Is today going to be a good day or a bad day?”, the it will be a good day, because his first thought was positive. In all the journeys that you might undertake in life, the words you utter will determine what becomes of your life. If you say, “I’m poor, I’m poor, I’m poor,” you will never be rich. If you say, “I don’t have anything, I don’t have anything, I don’t have anything in the house,” no matter how much you obtain, you will still have nothing. If you say you’re poor, you’re poor, you’re poor, then no matter what comes to you, you will still be poor. If you say, “I’m sick, I’m sick,” no matter how well you are, you will always think you are ill. You will never be well. But if you say, “This is enough, what God has given me is enough,” then you will never want for anything. If you say, “I have the wealth that God gave me, I lack nothing,” then you will never be in need of anything. Whatever words you utter, it is from those words that you obtain the benefits. If you say, “Well I’m sick, you know, but just a little. It’s not a big deal. I’m quite well on the whole,” then you will be well. You will progress according to the state in which you present yourself before the sheikh. If a wife constantly comes to me saying, “My husband is not well, I have to go,” or “My husband is not well, he had to stay home,” or “My husband is not well, we both have to go”—that is not good. It is not good to say that all the time. Look at this man here. He does not have a job, but he gives to charity, generously. He does not have a job, but he never says it is difficult for him. He thinks, “Well, God will bring something,” and that is what happens. And so he is progressing. If someone keeps saying they are ill, then will they ever be well? This is not good. To keep repeating such complaints is not good when it is done in front of me. It will never bring the person any goodness. A man should always say, “It is nothing. I’m pretty well. I’m just a little tired. It’s nothing. I feel quite well.” Even if you are in difficulty you should say, “It’s not so hard. God has given me this, so it’s not really hard. I can manage. I have the fullness of what God has given me.” Similarly, a wife should never say, “I have nothing to cook, I have nothing to cook, I have nothing to cook.” If she utters those words, then she will not have anything to cook, and you will not eat. Instead she should open the cupboard and say, “The food that God has given is here, and somehow I can manage to feed my husband out of it.” Only if you have that attitude will your life be totally satisfied and complete. Otherwise your life will be in sorrow. It is not necessary for a man to kill someone. It is enough to say, “There is poison in your water, there is poison in your water, there is poison in your water.” Saying that will be the poison. However, if you say, “That is nothing. What is this poison? God is here, there is no poison, there is nothing. I am quite well,” then there will be no poison. If you say, “Aiyo, a demon is coming, a demon is coming, a demon is coming,” a demon will come. But if you say, “Whether it is a demon or a ghost, what can it do to me? God is here,” then the demon will go. It is never good to use negative words. It will never result in goodness. At all times, you should have faith, certitude, and determination and use positive words, Whether you are happy or sad, you have to be positive and use good words. Then anyone can attain victory in their lives. Anyone! Negative thoughts should not exist, negative words should not exist, negative intentions should not exist. If you come before the sheikh in that negative state, even if you come to him a thousand times, it will be useless. Your words have to be pure, your hearts have to be pure, and your thoughts have to be pure. Only if the honeybee falls totally within the flower and attaches itself to the pistils, can it draw the nectar. Likewise, if you want to fully receive what the sheikh has, your whole heart has to attach to him, and your faith has to connect with him. Only then can you receive the nectar; otherwise you will never obtain it. That is how your heart must be. You have to die within his words; then you will never die. If you do not die within the sheikh, you will gain nothing. You have to use your wisdom. Good words have to come from you, good thoughts, good ideas, good actions, good qualities. This is what will give you victory, and sorrow will not afflict you. I am telling you my experience. Bawa continues: I never really knew how to swim, and one day I went to bathe in a pond. Everyone was there, bathing. It was very hot, so I thought, “Well, I will go for a swim too,” and I swam out to where the water was really deep. When I went to put my feet down, there was nothing there. I was in really deep water. I yelled, “Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh” I thought in my heart that I was going to die. I yelled, “Ahhhh!” I became scared because the water was deep. I was very afraid. My determination left me, and the water took me down. My determination left. I was fine before that, but then the water pulled me down. My legs and arms were paralyzed; they were thrashing about, but I could not control them. My brain left me. The water was closing in. I sank to the bottom. Then my awareness returned and I realized that I had lost my determination. So with determination, I pushed off from the bottom. My strength returned, I recovered balance, I was able to move my hands and legs, and I was able to swim back to the shore. I didn’t have to sink. I could have swam. I was fine until I went to put my feet down and thought, “Oh, it’s deep! It’s so very deep!” Then my arms and legs became totally paralyzed. All this time the people on the shore were watching. They cried, “Aiyo, a swimmer has gone swimming in deep water.” They too were afraid. This was my experience. My nerves were paralyzed, my balance was gone! I was afraid because I tried to put my feet down and I could not touch. I thought, “Oh, how deep I have gone!” and because of that fear I could not do anything. But then I thought, “I can swim in the shallow waters, so why can I not swim here? I don’t need to put my feet down.” Then I pushed off from the bottom and was able to swim back. In just two or three minutes, all my strength was lost because of that fear. So you should never be afraid. Whether you are poor or in hardship, you should always have determination. If you ever think, “Oh no, what am I going to do?” You will be finished. It will all be finished. I have had so many experiences like that. Little children are never afraid. When I was small I was not afraid, but after I became a little older, I had a little fear. There were tigers and lions and elephants all around me in the jungle. I was a little afraid of them. I would see a lion far away, and I would say in fear, “Oh, a lion has come!” I became scared even if I heard the sound of a lion. I had no determination at that time. I knew if I tried to run away the lion would have chased me and caught me. Even if I climbed a tree, it would have climbed after me. Tigers can climb trees and some bears can too, so it was difficult. I was afraid. But I was not afraid when I was very young. Somehow this fear came when I was older. But then I realized, “My God! If God is within me, what should I be afraid of?” Then if a lion came I would look at it in the eye, I would stare directly at it. It would stare back at me, and then turn away. It would walk away. So from then on I could go wherever I wanted—along the road here and there or on the jungle paths. The lions were like that, so were the tigers, elephants, and even the snakes. When I stared at them they would lower their heads and leave. They would just go. After that I was not scared anymore. At one time I used to be afraid of some demons and ghosts, but when demons came, I would stare at them and they would hide. Or else they would catch fire and burn. I was afraid before, but then I acquired determination. We have to stare down each evil that comes to us. Let poverty come. We have to look straight at it; we have to stare it down and say, “What can this do to me? We have to really stare these things down. Let the demons come. Just stare them down. Let a dog come. Even if a dog wants to bite you, if you just stare at it, it will go away. You do not need to take up a stick, a rock, or anything; just stare it down, and it will go away. You have to have that determination. You should never have vengeance, or jealousy, or ignorance, or pride, or egoism, or doubt. But you must have that absolute conviction in God; you must have that faith. You must have truth and iman (faith, certitude and determination). If we are in that state, we can transcend anything in our lives. Let illness come—but have faith until you fall unconscious. Never let go of it. You must have that determination. What else can you ever do anyway? You have to say, “My God! What can ‘I’ do?” You have to have that faith, then you can overcome anything in life. Positive words must always come from your mouth, you should never speak negatively. You should not have negative thoughts; you should have positive thoughts. You should not have negative ideas; you should have positive ideas. You should not be jealous; you should be grateful. You should never be jealous. You should have tolerance and peacefulness. You should never be vengeful. You should be honest; you should be in peace and tranquility. You should always be compassionate. You should never be proud. You should praise God, because God is the One who does all things. If you can teach yourself to have these qualities, this will be a very good life for you. You do need this in your lives. My love you, my children. Think about this. “M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen- a Sufi mystic, can best be remembered for his efforts to bring unity through understanding to the faithful of all religions.” Discourse From: September 16, 1980 Philadelphia, PA Translated by: Crisi Beutler Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Family Newsletter January – February 2002
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