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Part 1: My son! There are many, many varieties among the animal species, are there not? Of the four-legged animals, let me mention one variety, the goat. Once the goat is let loose in the forest by the goatherd so it can find its food, it will take a nibble here and a nibble there from every plant it sees, whether it is poisonous or non-poisonous. It take the leaves into its mouth, and, after chewing and swallowing them, sends them, not into the digestive part of the bowel, but into the rumen, the reserve stomach. As it goes on nibbling and swallowing in this manner from any plant it sees, the leaves stack up layer upon layer in that storehouse that is the rumen in the same order in which there were swallowed. Having gathered its fill, the goat goes off to lie down in a quiet place, and, little by little, with each breath, brings up the food stacked in the reserve pouch. Having brought the food up, the goat chews it, grinds it down with its teeth, and then sends it down into the digestive tract. It continues in this way until all the food that had been stored in the rumen has been brought up, chewed completely, and sent down into the intestine. This process goes on day and night, whether the goat is standing up or lying down. Do you understand, my son? If one who is born as man, who wears the qualities of man and has the wisdom of man, wishes to analyze the wonders of God through his divine analytic wisdom (pahuth arivu), and to extract the truth that is within those wonders, he must find a kāmil shaikh, a true teacher of wisdom. Then, like that goat, this wise disciple should accept all the instructions and discourses given by the shaikh whenever they come, and store them within his heart. After this, he should attend to his duties to the shaikh in a reverential manner. Once he has completed these duties, he should retire to a secluded spot and bring up, one at a time, all the things he stored within his heart earlier, chewing and chewing with his divine analytic wisdom, slowly dissecting and analyzing them. Then he must swallow all the truths that emerge as a result of that analysis and store them within the treasury that is the radiance of his wisdom. My son, you should not sift out and discard (as bad or dangerous) the things that are not understandable or acceptable to your wisdom, while accepting only the portion that suits your own wisdom, for nothing that issues forth from the shaikh is ever faulty or worthy of rejection. Realizing this, you must save even what may appear unacceptable to you, just as the goat did. On a later occasion, when you are ready for that particular lesson, your shaikh will repeat that teaching and reveal its meaning. You must accept that in turn and deposit it within your heart. Later, at a quiet moment, if you bring it up a little at a time, chew it diligently, and analyze it with your wisdom, you will realize that what you thought to discard earlier is, in fact, a precious gem of inestimable value. In this way, if you accept every part of whatever comes from the shaikh, then settle yourself in a quiet place and analyze these things one by one with discerning wisdom, you will realize the truth within them. You should store all these truths within the treasury called wisdom. It is important for you to know this before you can proceed further. Do you understand, my son? Furthermore, with the hand of your innermost heart—the hand called faith—you must take this luminous truth into the palace of certitude, which is within your innermost heart, and place that truth in the treasury called wisdom contained within the treasure chest that is the truth of Allāh. After this, you should continue to accept all the words that may emanate from the shaikh, analyze them with discrimination, and finally store them in the same manner. Later on, you should withdraw some of the treasure that you stored within that treasury called wisdom, and use it to scrutinize the merchandise that is sold in the marketplace of the body of ignorance, striving to identify and obtain only those imperishable things your true wisdom needs. Such things are very rare and will be extremely hard to find in that market. Therefore, you have to examine each thing carefully before deciding that it is, in fact, what you need, for, even though it may look almost exactly like the thing you had in mind, it may lack its essential qualities, taste, and favor. If you buy something merely because the color is right, you may find it contains poisonous tastes capable of killing your wisdom. If you buy it without knowing its true nature, you may have brought disaster to your life, both in this world and in the hereafter. You must realize this. Furthermore, the taste you are seeking will not appear in a form you are used to seeing with your eyes. It will not even fall within the scope of physical vision. It will go on displaying the form envisioned by your intention, but not reveal its true nature. Therefore, the eyes that see with desire and the natural bent of your mind will be drawn toward acquiring these forms, convinced that they are indeed what you are seeking. It is then that you need to use the radiance of your wisdom to kill the craving and desire of your mind, by unmasking the true nature of the delusive form that is misleading you. How can you do this? Suppose something captivates your eyes, drawing out your desire (via the elements) and bewitching your wisdom with the enchantment of illusion, and suppose your deceiving mind lusts for that thing. If you focus your immaculate, radiant wisdom on that object of fascination and gaze at it steadfastly and intently, that deceptive form will be burnt and scorched by the power of that radiance. Understand this. Anything that can be burnt by that power cannot possibly be at thing of true wisdom. To be continued.... “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.” Copyright: Resonance of Allah Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Family Newsletter Aug- Sept 2001
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