Sufism – The Path of Love

Sufism – The Path of Love

The word Sufi is derived from the Greek “Sophia”, meaning Wisdom. It is known as Tasawwuf ( Mysticism ) in Arabic, and is considered by scholars as the mystical, the inner or psycho-spiritual aspect of Philosophia Islamica. The great scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, considered Sufism as the esoteric dimension of Al Islam.

Sufism emphasises on the Unity of Absolute Being, Wahdat al Wujud. Absolute Being alone exists in se and the Relative Universe is only a superimposition upon the Absolute Reality. Absolute Being is also Absolute Beauty, before Whose Beauty all earthly beauty is but a pale comparison !

The Influence of Neoplatonism on Sufism

Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism conceived the Divine as the Alpha and Omega of Existence, its Source & Goal. The translations of Plotinus provided the philosophical ground for Sufism. One is struck by the similarities which exist in both systems, with regard to the concept of God, the soul, the body, Vice and Virtue, Life and Death and Beauty !

Sufism was influenced by Orpheus and Pythagoreanism. Orpheus was a poet who lived in Anatolia in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE. He had divine qualities and he could influence wild animals with his music. He postulated that the human soul can achieve perfection by refining itself from all passions and worldly possessions. Soul travels from body to body for self purification and reaches the Perfect State. Pythagorus adopted Orpheus’ philosophy and integrated it with his own concepts. Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism took Plato’s Theory of Ideas and reinterpreted them from Protagoras’ point of view. Neoplatonism considers the Divine as the Alpha & the Omega. From Him everything comes into being, in Him everything exists, and to Him all return. Communion or Union with Him is the highest Goal, therefore. Our lives have only a symbolic meaning and it is good and necessary as a Becoming. But all Becoming has Being as its Goal and Fulfillment and God is the only Being !

Sufism is the Path of Love – Al Muhabba. The Lord is understood as Universal Love and the aim of Sufism is to unite with the Source of all Being, Universal Love ! Love without Philosophy is superstition and Sufism therefore encourages the adventures of the intellect, the scientific and the philosophical pursuit, Al Marifa !

When he was asked about Sufism, Junayd ( the preceptor of Mansur Al Hallaj ) said, “Sufism is that you should be with the Divine– without any attachment.”

Sufism emphasises upon the struggle to overcome the dominance that one’s Negative Ego ( Nafs ) has over one. The war depicted in the great Epics – Iliad & the Odyssey etc – depict the great war between Good and Evil happening inside the human bosom – where the great struggle for supremacy is fought out on the ground floor of our existence, between the black and white opposites of Virtue and Vice, Light and Darkness, prosperity & adversity. The Beloved ( God ) may manifest as Benevolence or Severity and the Sufi aspirant has to love both !

As Rumi said:

I am a lover of both His benevolence and severity!
Amazing it is that I’m in love with these opposites !

If the aspirant can overcome one’s Negative Ego, ( in the inner War, Jihad ul Nafs ) he can achieve Bliss, the Bliss for which the world’s derelict sorrows yearn !

If you could get rid of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets would open to you.
The face of the Unknown, hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the Mirror of your perception. ~Rumi

Annihilation in the Divine Ocean

Like the waves of the Ocean, we are individual egos in the Divine Ocean of Existence. The aspirant, desirous of union with the Beloved, has to go through many stages of Consciousness. He has to lose his illusory individuality in the Infinite and this can only be achieved by Annihilation and Subsistence.

The Sheik of Naqshbandi wrote

In my annihilation of annihilation
In my annhilation
I found You !

Annihilation in the Divine Beloved.

For every initiate, there will be a Master ( Shaikh ). The Shaikh imparts his power to the disciple. The initiate goes through a process of purification and initiation. Once the initiate attains maturity, by the Grace of his Shaikh, he attains the state of Fana fi Shaikh, a state of annihilation in the astral plane.

The next stage is Fana fi Rasool, enjoying the qualities of the Prophet. Grace descends on him as he furthur advances on the path.

Next stage in the Evolution of Consciousness is the state of Fana fi Allah, annihilation in the Beloved. The initiate loses his identity in the all embracing Beloved, who he now understands is the Prime Mover of everything and who permeates the cosmos !

Rumi wrote

I thought about You so often
That I completely became You !
Little but little You drew near
Slowly but slowly I passed away.

This passing away is Annihilation in the Beloved ( Fana fi Allah ). There is another
intermediary state – Fana al Fana and the last state is Baqi bi Allah or Permanence in the
Beloved, which is the Eternal or Ultimate State. Fanah refers to Annihilation & Bakah refers to Subsistence.

The Universal Truth, extolled by all religions and philosophies, is the Essential Self, which is the substratum or the basis for the Persona, or the superficial personality. Every man has a Persona or Mask, but deep within him is the Ultimate Reality or Essential Self. Now to manifest the Essential Self, the initiate goes through a process of purification & transmutes his carnal ego into a refined ego, by the process of Prayer and Meditation. He seeks the Divine, loves the Divine, embraces the Divine, lives with the Divine and sacrifices for the Divine ! By his noble sacrifice, he earns for himself Heaven ! Only by hard sacrifice is high Heaven earned !

About Universal Truth, Ibn Arabi, the Great Master , ( al Shaikh al Akbar ) wrote

She has eluded the learned of Islam

And those who have studied the Psalms

The Jewish Rabbi

The Christian priest !

The greatest Sufi was Mohammed himself ( Peace be upon him ), he who said that ” Shariah ( Ethical Law ) is my speech, Tariqat ( the Way ) my actions and Haqiqat ( Truth ) my states ” !

Sufism can function as a Universal Religion & the well known scholar Kabir Edmund Helminski wrote thus about Sufism

” If Sufism recognizes one central truth, it is the unity of being, that we are not separate from the Divine. The unity of being is a truth which our age is in an excellent position to appreciate — emotionally, because of the shrinking of our world through communications and transportation, and intellectually, because of developments in modern physics. We are One: one people, one ecology, one universe, one being. If there is a single truth, worthy of the name, it is that we are all integral to the Truth, not separate. The realization of this truth has its effects on our sense of who we are, on our relationships to others and to all aspects of life. Sufism is about realizing the current of love that runs through human life, the unity behind forms.”

Inner & Outer Jihad ( Struggle ) in Sufism

“And those who perform jihad for Us, We shall certainly guide them in Our ways,
and God is surely with the doers of good”. (Quran XXXIX; 69)

“You have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad” . (Hadith)

Jihad means struggle and there are two types of struggle. The lesser Jihad is struggle against the oppressors; the greater Jihad is the inner struggle against the inner enemies, the Seven Deadly Sins ( lust, greed, anger, jealousy, sloth, covetousness & gluttony). The outer struggle is defined as Al Jihad Al Asghar and the inner struggle is Al Jihad Al Akbar !

Fighting against one’s negative ego is the most difficult, as the most difficult conquest is the conquest of the Mind. Verily it is said that the noblest conquest is the conquest of Mind or the greatest conquest is the conquest of oneself.

In his journey, the aspirant ultimately overcomes his Negative Ego & he becomes the Perfect Man, Al Insan Al Kamil !

New Age & World Government

Transcendental Philosophy The New Age or the Aquarian Age & World Government

It is generally believed that the Aquarian Age started in the year 2000, 2160 years roughly being the Age of a Sign. The Piscean age started at around 200 BCE ( Before Common Era ). Let us study the symbolisms of the Piscean and the Aquarian Ages. As the Earth’s precession is 72 degrees per degree, 2160 years is an Age Cycle. 25920 years ( 12*2160) is a Precessional Cycle or a Great Plato Year or an Aeon.

Pisces means Fishes and Jesus was the Redeemer of the Piscean Age. The Piscean Age emphasised Faith. The two fishes of Pisces indicate Dualism and during this time, the conflict between Religion & Science intensified as Science rose against blind Faith. The belief in an external God was rejected by Science. Aquarius is ruled by two planets in Astrology – Uranus & Saturn. Uranus represents Independence and Saturn Universal Humanism. Humanism postulates that no dogma or political doctrine can save you; only you can save yourself. If you save yourself, you save society, you save the nation and the Planet Earth ! In other words, Universal Humanism will be the hallmark of the Aquarian Age.

The astrologic scholar Jeff Jawer remarks that the Aquarian Age has not arrived in his article ” On The Cusp between Pisces and Aquarius. ” The first Venus Transit occurred in 2004 & the next one wlll be in 2012. These 8 years will be like the Dark Night of the Soul, a chaotic period of purgatorial suffering as the Planet Earth goes through a dark phase.

Dr Jose Arguelles, the scholar who brought the concept of Harmonic Convergence, also thinks that the enlightening Age of Aquarius will dawn on 2012. The famous song on Aquarian Age states thus

When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars!

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!

All freethinkers are excited about the New Aquarian Age where Wisdom will blossom and importance will be on Self development, Self Transformation, Self Realisation & Self Actualisation. Gone are the days of dogma & Blind Faith. Personal transformation will result in Planetary Transformation !

Dante, Bernard Shaw & Alice Bailey had highlighted in their writings that a World Government is the only solution to achieve permanent World Peace. Mahesh Yogi inaugurated the World Government in 1975 in Seelisberg, Switzerland ( ” In response to the call of time, a global organisation has been structured, the non-political, the non- religious World Government which has the knowledge and expertise to create an ideal society” ). Foster Bailey, the husband of Alice Bailey, said that ” Free Masonry is the descendent of a United World Religion, a divinely imparted Religion. Then came separativeness and religions. Now we are striving for a United World Order” There is also a move to create a World Stock Market & to control all governments in the world. The foundations behind the United Nations are spiritual. The Global Oneness Movement is gaining momentum and a Council of Global Governance has been constituted with Maurice Strong as the President.

Dr Wilhmhurst saw the dawning of the Aquarian Age as the fulfillment of the Plan and said that Free Masonry may be the vehicle for that fulfillment. Wise people point out that the New Age Movement is the Universal Religion which H G Wells predicted would one day take over mankind.

The hand of the Mysteries controlled the establishment of the United States Government and the signature of the Mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United States of America. The Seal discloses a mass of Masonic symbols, chiefly amongst them the American Eagle, which is a conventionalized phoenix. The U S Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter said ” The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes “.

The Third Testament

The New Age has been referred to as the Third Testament. While the Old & the New Testaments emphasised that Truth is Freedom ( Veritas vos Liberabit ), New Age Philosophy averrs that Knowledge alone is Freedom. Self Knowledge or Knowledge of the Absolute Self alone can make you free ! Global Oneness alone can save the world. Globalists alone can bring a planetary transformation and not those who champion the cause of a Nation or a Civilisation.

Some prominent globalists are Jeremy Rifkin, Norman Cousins, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, John Denver, George Lucas, Norman Lear, Alice Bailey, Alvin Toffler, Dr. Barbara Ray, Benjamin Creme, Levi Dowling, George Trevelyan, Fritjof Capra, Abraham Maslow, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ruth Montgomery, Shirley MacLaine, J.Z. Knight, Marilyn Ferguson, David Spangler, Nelson Mandela & Gorbachev.

Marilyn Ferguson in her book ‘ The Aquarian Conspiracy’ remarks that the New Age Revolution is a Movement which is characterised by ‘ no political doctrines, no manifesto’. It is a Movement ‘more universal than reform’ and ‘more profound than a revolution ! ‘ The main chararacteristic of the New Aquarian Age will be Spiritual Democray. Global integration has been achieved via the Net, which implements the Global Village Concept. The Wonder – the World Wide Web – is the true World Encyclopaedia !

Always the teachings of the White Lodge ( the Philosophers ) were opposed by the Black Lodge ( Theology ), who maintain that Man and God are different. Giadarno Bruno, one of the greatest philosophers, had to give his life as a price for his mystical experiences. He was burnt as a heretic. Rising to this challenge, Isaac Bonewits formulated the Aquarian Manifesto, which gives the freedom and the liberty to worship the God of one’s choice. This Aquarian Manifesto protects psychics & mystics.

Piscean Symbolism – Dualism

Pisces is characterised by two Fishes – The Eastern Fish & the Western Fish. The Eastern Fish represents the Positive Aspect of Man & the Western Fish , the Negative Aspect. It indicates the fierce conflict between Science & Theology and conflicting ideologies – Marxism vs Mysticism, Existentialism vs Essentialism etc. The lower energies, such as greed, jealousy, ego & ignorance were expressed during the Piscean Age and higher energies like peace, love and truth will be exhibited in the Aquarian Age. The Internet and the World Wide Web are Aquarian concepts. The dot com drives for Profit were Piscean and did not work.The Dot Com disaster , the 9/11 WTC attack – all these are indicators that it is time for us, as a global community, to evolve to a higher level of Consciousness and usher in a New Age. The main reason for the 9/11 disaster was our lack of global unity and separativeness.

Global Integration

As it is a syncretic Movement ( Syncretism holds that all religions are
essentially One ), it will bring forth global integration & Spiritual Democracry. During the Taurean Age ( 4000 BCE ), worship of the Golden Calf was common in the Middle East. During the Arian Age ( circa 2000 BCE ), the Jews indulged in widespread ritual sacrifice of sheep and other animals in the Temple. During the Picean Age ( 160 BC – 2000 ACE ), many Jews walked away from animal sacrifice and embraced Christianity.

The Piscean Age was represented by Clash and an us against them mentality and we saw many clashes, Church against State, Science against Religion, Spirituality against Materialism, Right vs. Wrong, Evil vs. Good, etc. Many forgot that they are spiritual beings having a human experience as the external world was focussed

A Paradigm Shift to Global Order ?

Dr Thomas Kuhn in his book ‘ Structure of Scientific Revolutions” defined a Paradigm ( pattern ) thus “Science is a series of peaceful interludes, punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions “.After such revolutions, one conceptual world view is replaced by another. The New World View is Monism ( All is One) , Holism ( Reality is organically One ) & Pantheism ( The Universe is divine & earth is sacred ). All regressive thinking & negative tendencies will fade away and Enlightenment will dawn. The Aquarian Age will usher in a major Shift in intellectual thinking, as it is the Shift of of the Ages ! Astrology will regain its pristine glory and guide humanity. Those Great Revolving Heavens which maketh Providence a virtuous Power, those mighty ones which advance us when we have learned or retard us when there is still work to done, will be respected as the messengers of Universal Will. We have to evolve to Divinity and become the Perfected Whole !

The World Plan has been in motion for centuries as a New World Order cannot happen overnight. To achieve this difficult task, guns have to removed from the hands of private owners, currency has to be removed and replaced it with credit, and intelligence databases all around the world should be coordinated. Many people are becoming aware that something serious is going on and a World Plan to unite global currencies, trade boundaries & Nation States are in the offing. The principle of Global Economic Interdependence will unite all the economies of the world. There exists a benign Secret Power behind the scenes whose aim is to control all the goverments of the world. The innovative World Order is made up many elements of control – Mind control, gun control, IMF, The World Bank, FEMA, UN, Secret Societies, weather control and so on and on and on. Nothing but absolute control over everything; trade, banking, stock markets, oil, energy, technology, cyber world, nuclear capability, etc, is the New World Order.

Let us conclude this article with the Great Invocation, the World Prayer,
which belongs to all humanity.

From point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May the Coming One return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

Universe as Becoming !

Transcendental Philosophy | Transcendental Philosophy averrs that all this is Becoming, mirrored as everything is in the Universal Mind. Jagat ( the relative Universe), Jiva ( the relative Ego ) & Para ( the relative Supreme ) are projections of the Universal Mind on the substratum of Pure Consciousness, Maya, upon the substratum of Brahman, the Absolute