MERCY OCEANS, Book 08 (The Heart, Shaykh Nazim, 43 pages, 4/4)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=5816
ghty declared: “I am going to try My servants” — finished. You can’t ask why, as He has clearly said why : to test his servants. If you can't distinguish good from evil then you are on the level of animals and you have no responsibility for your actions. But if you lay claim to being intelli- gent, clever, learned, refined, perceptive, etc, then you must know that you are responsible, and that you must ultimately answer the question, “Why did you do evil?’”.
Question : “Many people ask, if Allah Almighty has fore-ordained everything that would come to pass in this world from the Day of Creation to the Resurrection Day, haw can we be responsible for our actions?”
The Sheikh: Ask him if he has reached such a level where he can say that or not, If he claims to have reached the level where he sees everything as proceeding from Allah Almighty, please bring him here that we may make a little test. I will first slap him across the face, then hit him over the head with my stick, and if he is not reacting or getting angry, then I will confirm that his claim is valid:
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that he is living on that level, seeing all as proceed- ing from his Lord. But if he reacts and gets angry, or moves to defend himself then I shall confirm that he is a liar and a pretender.
Years ago, as I was walking with my Grand- sheikh in Damascus, a football that some boys were playing with hit me on the head and knocked off my turban. I got very angry and tumed around. shouting: “Oh you miserable, misbehaved brat!” Grandsheikh said : “Oh Nazim Efendi, you have just lost your faith. How can you claim to believe that everything comes from Allah Almighty when you are ready to blame someone for something that hits you on the head. Do you not know that Allah is the Original Cause of that event? So why are you blinded by secondary causes? When that ball hit you why did you look to see which one threw it. in order to quarrel with him? Do you not know that it is from Allah?” Then I recited the confession of faith to renew my faith.
The level of faith that our Grandsheikh was referring to is the level of Prephets and Saints. We are trying to attain to that level, and when men reach that level, peace will reign on Earth. The reason for all troubles on Earth, for all wars and suffering is that people have lost sight of their Lord’s Will behind all events. They have lost sight of the hand of the One who is testing them through those events. They have stopped seeing events as tests from their Lord, therefore they continue fail- ing those tests.
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Gee aS we, “e-
DISTINGUISHING INSPIRATIONS FROM DELUSIONS
Question: “How can we distinguish between what comes to the heart through inspiration from Allah, the Prophet or our Sheikh, and what invades the heart from the “inspirations of Satan’.
* * *
The Sheikh: Our Grandsheikh taught us a method we can use right from the outset of our con- nection with the Way in order to distinguish real inspirations from stray thoughts and the whisper ings of Satan. That method is simply to wait and see whether that inspiration recurs or not. If it comes to your heart repeatedly it may be a sign that it is real. Grandsheikh compared this to the labour pains of birth. If the contractions a preg- nant woman feels occur repeatedly and in decreas- ing intervals, then the birth is really at hand. Real inspirations occur in the same way. Once they come to a murid they come again and again, but if they are only stray thoughts they will not persist, and if they are evil whisperings, even if they persist, it will become clear that they are no good by a kind of disturbance he feels in his heart. In this way even
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beginners can distinguish real inspiration sent to their hearts by the Prophet through their Sheikh, from any other stirrings.
As far as spiritual visions are concerned, they are not necessary nor necessarily desirable for be- ginners in the Naqshbandi Way. In our Way, spir- itual visions are given only upon arriving at the des- tination, while in other Tariqahs visions may play a major role right from the beginning. The reason for this discrepancy in method is that we are very careful to preserve our followers from stumbling into dangerous traps. If a murid easily sees visions he may become preoccupied with those experiences and forget to seek improvement. Pride and a false sense of accomplishment may destroy him as well. He may say : “This is great! I have never seen any- thing like this on Earth!’, and he gets stuck where he is. He may become complacent at his present sta- tion and think that he has reached the ultimate goal. It may be lost on him that so much, far more excel- lent, is yet to come.
In order to avoid such “derailment” the Masters of the Nagshbandi Way guide their followers towards perfection without visions, so that the fol- lowers may learn to work on purifying themselves for the sake of Allah Almighty, not for the sake of amazing visions or mystical powers.
We worship our Lord for His sake Alone, to reach His Divine Presence, not for anything else at all, and certainly not in crder to gain access to visions. If a Nagshbandi dervish ever thinks of
— 65 — FL: 5
doing something for the sake of seeing a super- natural vision, he should consider himsel? ritually impure and take a shower (the complete ablution for ritual impurity, “ghusl’”) immediately, in order to rid himself of that spiritual impurity that makes him unable to approach the Divine Presence. Such a thought indicates that the murid has given up approaching the Divine Presence — the main goal of Tarigah — and prefers to play and amuse himself along the Way.
Yes, beginners and those on the Way have been protected from visions. The veils are lifted only when the murid has arrived at ithe Station of Safety. Just as the Holy Qur’an refers to Mecca as the place where one is safe, (killing and fighting being for- bidden within the holy precincts,) so, there is a spiritual station of safety. There is a long arduous journey ahead of you between your present station and that one; indeed, those who attain to that un- veiling are few.
But those who do arrive at that Station will ex- perience such visions, and they are unique for each real murid, If both of you arrive at that Station, your visions will be distinct: the colours, the fra- grances, the manifestations are never the same. But for now your duty is to persevere and to move patiently towards your Lord’s pleasure.
™ Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
— 66 —
AN INVITATION TO ADDRESS A MASS MEETING ONE-HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW
India is a land of many wonders, a land where strange and unusual customs abound. In a certain re- gion of India it used to be the custom to call a gen- eral meeting of the populace once a century. Yes, only one time every one-hundred years, but every- one living at that time in that kingdom, without exception, was obliged to attend. Even newborn babies had to be brought by their»moethers. At this mass meeting, held only once a century, only one person would speak and address the assembled masses. Who would that person ‘be? The one who had attended the previous meeting and was still alive - he would speak, not anyone else. And that ancient person would say: ‘Oh my sons and my daughters, one-hundred years ago I was a small child and my grandfather caught me by the hand and brought me here. Oh my sons and daughters, except for me not one person who attended that previous meeting is still alive; all of them have passed away.” “Now all of you are here, living and breathing, but at the next meeting a century from now, none of you will be in attendance except for maybe one or two of these babies and small chil- dren.”
— 67 —
That was a strange custom in India, but not a useless one; a custom through which people were taught, guided and awakened to the realization that they will not be on this earth forever, This lesson was an effective one for the Whole popula- tion, to remind everyone that he is but a passenger on @ Caravan passing through this life. In particu- lar this custom was designed to remind young peo- ple of the transitory nature of life on this earth, as young people in the heat of their youthful pow- er can easily forget this, They were alerted to the fact that youth, that treasure which they tempo- rarily possess, is a fading treasure.
When people look at their own lives in per- spective, they may see that youthful period as being the most precious and wonderful time of their lives. Once they have wasted that treasure there is no way of regaining it, and along their lives they will feel regret and sorrow for how they have squandsred that treasure and have nothing to show for it. Had they but used that treasure wisely, and not let their possession of it drive them mad, then they might have found they can recall their youthful days with happiness and not severe re- morse, and also that they may even carry some- thing of that treasure with them throughout their lives, having resources of physical and spiritual energy at their disposal.
But nowadays, people are so wanton that youth no longer extends to the age of thirty-three as it used to, ‘but may be completely burnt out at the
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age of twenty-three — and in the future it may be thirteen — so that the young are drained physically, mentally and spiritually like decrepit and hopeless old people.
When a young person reaches puberty he (or she) discovers that he has fallen into the huge ocean of life and is swimming in it. Little children are also in that ocean, but they cannot yet under- stand what it means. The onset of puberty coin- cides with the onset of wonderment and confusion. At this period of life, if young people are not pre- pared to understand what is really happening they will be like a,person happily engaged in a pleasure swim in a warm ocean, swimming and splashing this way and that, thinking only to enjoy himself. Sooner or later, though, he feels tired from his frol- ic and looks for the shore, but, alas, he has been caught unawares in a current that is rapidly car- rying him away from shore. Depending upon just how soon or late he discovers that he is caught in that dangerous current he may be still within reach of the shore or he may be already too far out to save himself. One who has frolicked in that current must make double efforts to reach the shore, as he must not only cover the distance, but he must swim twice as hard and never may stop, to avoid being pulled back out by the current and losing all the distance he has covered. To make it safely to shore will be the struggle of his life. .
The youths of our times are all facing such a struggle in their lives, as they have neither been
trained to be strong swimmers nor has their at- tention been drawn to the fact that there is a cur: rent dragging them rapidly out to sea, If young people have been prepared for this situation they may swim towards shore without difficulty, and enjoy themselves all the while, Instead of swim- ming around heedlessly in circles, if they know to swim always towards shore they will enjoy their swim and even have the energy to swim in that sea throughout their lives without peril, having become familiar with its currents and with the extent of their own power, so that they are never caught unawares.
But without attaining that shore, the shore of rest and safety, no one can keep himself afloat in- definitely. Even machines made of hardened steel need rest, so what about a bag of flesh and bones? Instead of running around a hill ten times go to- wards a destination! But youth is wasting all its energies uselessly. That youth energy is not replen- ishable, not like the gas tank of a car that can be refilled.
Therefore, divine guidance sets limits for youth, so that young people may be prevented from wasting their treasures. If the young heed the wisdom of divine guidance they will keep the gem of youth along their lives; if they don’t they will become like “walking corpses” at a very early age.
But the person who seeks to open his spiritual life and is careful of over-indulgence even in those enjoyments permitied by the Divine Law, he is the one who will keep his youthfulness more than any-
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one. Part of the discipline for attaining spiritual awakening is to live a simple life, not seeking to enjoy everything that the law permits, Our Grand- sheikh was over one-hundred years old, but be was as strong as a young man. Once when he had a med- ical check-up the doctors were astounded to find that his blood pressure and pulse were like that of a much younger person.
Our Grandsheikh drew my attention to a tra dition of the Holy Prophet in which he advised a shepherd to leave some milk in the udder of a ewe rather than milking it to the last drop. The Prophet, peace be upon him, explained that if a little milk remains in the udder more milk will easily be pro- duced to fill it up again; but if it is greedily squeez- ed out to the last drop it will fill again only with difficulty.
We must draw a wide-ranging conclusion from this Tradition. The total freedom in our time awa- kens the kind of greed that impels young people to drain themselves of youth energy to such an extent that it becomes impossible to replace it. Look, the teachings of our Prophet, peace be upon him, have such wideranging implications: he was talking to one man about milking sheep, but the import en- compasses the very heart of the problems of our time.
The people of the twentieth century are in dire need of the teachings of the Last Prophet, especially the young people, otherwise even millions of psy- chiatrists will not be enough to help them deal with
—7W—
their psychological problems, nor millions of doctors and tons of drugs enough to cure them of their dis- eases, All efforts to deal with their problems will be but a drop in the mouth of a person dying of thirst. This is the clang of the alarm bell: if no one heeds it and stands up to say “stop” the world will sink deeper and deeper into the swamp.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
— 72—
SPs Pro
DEPRESSION — FERTILE MEDIUM FOR THE GROWTH OF MADNESS
Question: “As a psychiatrist, what can I do for patients suffering from depression?”
* x *
The Sheikh said:
In Aralbic there is a proverb: “Madness mani- fests in at least seventy different varieties.” This proverb implies that one can easily count at least seventy distinct varieties of madness. That is a minimum, only a broad categorization; actually, there is no limit, mo maximum.
In fact svery person has a distinct and unique type of madness within himself: in some people it is latent and in some it has taken over; but it is present — must be present — in all people. How does each person’s individual madness become manifest? — By means of depression. Depression is the medium in which madness develops; a means by which that sleeping beast is awakened. If a patient comes to you in a depressed state, you may diagnose the particular aspects of the madness that is devel- oping through the depression and use that know- ledge to help him out of his depression, otherwise he will become truly mad.
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Therefore, we must all do what we can to avoid waking up our latent madness. We must avoid de- pression and the causes of depression, to never al- low the seed of madness to germinate or sprout. Psychiatrists, and people in general, must under- stand the causes of depression. The causes of de- pression may ‘be the same for all people, but each person may react differently to the same thing, as human beings are subtle and manifest endlessly varying reactions to the same causes.
Because human beings are subtle, psychiatrists must be masters of sublety to be able to help their patients; they must be able to diagnose the direction of the depression and its development in a unique personality, and they must be clever enough to know how to approach that depressed person. The way to conquer depression is to eliminate its causes, but to be able to do that they must know how to advise a patient, how to address him. Speaking is an art, especially speaking to depressed people who are in such a delicate state.
The way of phrasing one’s speech is the key: one obtains either the desired result or its opposite — as the following story will show :
Once a king dreamt that all his teeth had fallen out. He was disturbed by this dream, so he called for a man who interpreted dreams. The interpreter listened to the dream, then he told him: “Oh my king, all of your relatives are going to die before you.” The king became very angry upon hearing this
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and ordered the interpreter of dreams. to be beaten one-hundred whiplashes and thrown out of the palace.
Then the king called in a different interpreter and told him of his dream. After hearing the dream the interpreter said: “Your Majesty, among your relatives you will be the one to enjoy the longest life of all.” The king was very pleased and ordered that the dream-interpreter be rewarded with one-hun- dred gold coins for his services.
dock, the same dream, and, in reality, the same interpretation; but one interpreter left the palace in disgrace with one-hundred stripes on his back, while the other left with honour and a purse bulging with one-hundred coins. The second man was clever, he knew how to address a king, but the first one was foolish, even though he understood dreams just as well as the second. Likewise, in your position, as a psychiatrist, every word must be weighed for its effect. One well-directed word can bring more peace to the heart of a patient suffering from dep- ression than a whole book that misses the point.
The main cause of depression is lack of faith, believing in nothing. The important element in treating depressives is to make them believe, for if they go on believing in no one and nothing, there is nothing you can do for them. At least you must get them. to believe in you: that is the strongest means and the essential key for physical and spiritual healing.
Only if the patient believes in you, can you help
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him : only if he is willing to take from you, can you effectively give him anything. If he believes in you he will be open, and so you will be able to work on changing the ideas and attitudes that are part of his depression. Yes, you must use your ‘wisdom to get him to believe in you. That is the foundation of any cure. To build that strong base is essential, but it is a matter of spiritual power, not something one can learn in school. That power calls for spiritual authorization, and we have granted you ‘that, so that now you will find that you can do your job ef- fectively through your inspiration, The authorization that comes to us through our Grandsheikh will increase your understanding of people’s situations and make you better able to address them.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
©
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SRBESE
DEPRESSION AND SLEEP
A person in a healthy mental state finds that “sleep resides beneath the pillow’: When bedtime has arrived he falls asleep quickly and easily. But depressed people often suffer from insomnia. Such people should seek to engage themselves in strenu- ous physical labour so that their bodies are tired and ‘will fall asleep despite their mental state.
For depressed people sleep is like a bird that alights on a branch of a tree, then quickly takes flight. Therefore, whenever they may feel sleepy or physically exhausted they should immediately leave Whatever they are doing and go to bed or take a nap wherever they may find a quiet corner.
There is however one time of day, when nobody should fall asleep under any circumstances short of severe illness, and most particularly this applies to depressive people: the time between Asr and Magrib from 2 hours before sunset until the sun has set. If a person falls asleep when it’s light and wakes up in dusk or darkness, he will find himself face-to-face with depression, If a depressed person sleeps at this time he will be offering himself up to madness. The Holy Prophet said: “Whoever sleeps in the late afternoon should blame only himself for ‘whatever calamities befall him”.
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That is a terrible time in which to sleep. If you find yourself being overcome by sleep at that. time of day you must try to ward it off, washing your face ‘with cold water, drinking tea or coffee, working in the garden or kitchen, taking a walk or looking after the children.
No one should use sleeping pills to induce sleep, as they are not only habit forming but destroy the whole nervous system. Indeed it is better not to sleep than to take those pills, One may use such natural sedatives as yogurt, anis herb etc.
Also, sleeping on one’s belly causes depression. Satan sleeps on his belly; and none of the Prophets and Saints ever slept like this. For adults, sleeping more than eight hours is a cause of depression. Not to mention people who oversleep to extremes, there are so many people who are in the habit of sleeping nine hours, That extra hour is no good; it causes listlessness and bad memory. Particularly people seeking to follow Sufi Ways must be careful not to oversleep.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
— 78 —
ADVICE ON CHILDREARING
Most of the western people I have met don’t know to look after their children properly. Somehow, the misguided notion that they should leave chil- dren to do whatever they like has taken hold of them. To say that they leave them free like wild beasts would not be quite accurate, for even animals educate their young. If even animals can be trained by their elders to behave in a way befitting their nature, then what about the most highly honoured descendants of Adam, who have been granted such high potential by their Lord?
You must look after your children. If they do something laudable you must be sure to praise and reward them, so that they may be pleased with your attention and do such good actions more often. But when they misbehave you must at least point it out to them : don’t ever let your children’s misbehaviour just pass without drawing their attention to your disapproval, You must say: “Don’t do that; it is no good to do that; it harms people”. And sometimes, if it seems that the message is not getting across, you may pull their ears or spank them, Yes, the pillars of education are the hope of reward and the fear of reprimand or punishment. Western people
— 7 —
have demolished these two pillars and leave their children to grow wild — that is their mistake.
Some of our brothers used to bring their child- ren with them when they came to see Grandsheikh. Instead. of keeping their children quiet during the meeting, some would let the children run around and cause disruption, neither controlling them nor taking them away from the meeting. Grandsheikh would tell them : “Oh my son, just you wait, those children will grow up to piss on your head”.
Free-style education has brought a great ca- lamity down upon Western civilization, so great that statesmen ask: “What can we do to maintain the peace in our society? How can we stem the tide of violence? What can we do with these wild peo- ple?” And people ask: “What can we do about these rulers who are oppressing us?” What we are wit- nessing in our time is a fulfillment of a prophecy of the Holy Prophet, in which he says: “There will come a time when statesmen ‘will curse the populace and the populace will curse statesmen”.
How shall adult people be brought under cont- rol, when their parents could not exercise any influence over them when they were small? There is a saying : “Who grows up in a certain way will end up that way’. This is the reason why trees growing crooked are bent into shape when they are yet small and supple. Once their trunks are thick, who can bend them? Therefore, education must begin in infancy.
A very important part of good education is to
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try to teach your children patience by not giving them everything they demand immediately. You must tell them : “You don’t get it now, but I will give it to you in five minutes, (or in half an hour, or to- morrow, or if you do well in school)” Or you may say: "I won't give it to you until you stop bothering me, so just forget about it and I may give it to you”.
Grandsheikh used to say that the major cause of depression in rich people is that they immediately got everything they wanted when they were young. Later, as adults, when they find something desired to be unattainable they taste bitter frustration, and not having learned to handle that experience depres- sion.
Another point is, that we must train our chil- dren to respect and honour their parents, especially as family ties have so deteriorated in the West. You must not allow your children to eat of any sweets they are given until they offer them first to their mother. That way, insha’Allah, as adults, they will think to bring their mother a share of their earnings.
Teach your children to kiss your hands and cheeks when they wake un in the morning and before they go to bed at night. This will instil in them affeetion and respect for their parents.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
Go
— sl —
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Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=5816
ghty declared: “I am going to try My servants” — finished. You can’t ask why, as He has clearly said why : to test his servants. If you can't distinguish good from evil then you are on the level of animals and you have no responsibility for your actions. But if you lay claim to being intelli- gent, clever, learned, refined, perceptive, etc, then you must know that you are responsible, and that you must ultimately answer the question, “Why did you do evil?’”.
Question : “Many people ask, if Allah Almighty has fore-ordained everything that would come to pass in this world from the Day of Creation to the Resurrection Day, haw can we be responsible for our actions?”
The Sheikh: Ask him if he has reached such a level where he can say that or not, If he claims to have reached the level where he sees everything as proceeding from Allah Almighty, please bring him here that we may make a little test. I will first slap him across the face, then hit him over the head with my stick, and if he is not reacting or getting angry, then I will confirm that his claim is valid:
— 62 —
that he is living on that level, seeing all as proceed- ing from his Lord. But if he reacts and gets angry, or moves to defend himself then I shall confirm that he is a liar and a pretender.
Years ago, as I was walking with my Grand- sheikh in Damascus, a football that some boys were playing with hit me on the head and knocked off my turban. I got very angry and tumed around. shouting: “Oh you miserable, misbehaved brat!” Grandsheikh said : “Oh Nazim Efendi, you have just lost your faith. How can you claim to believe that everything comes from Allah Almighty when you are ready to blame someone for something that hits you on the head. Do you not know that Allah is the Original Cause of that event? So why are you blinded by secondary causes? When that ball hit you why did you look to see which one threw it. in order to quarrel with him? Do you not know that it is from Allah?” Then I recited the confession of faith to renew my faith.
The level of faith that our Grandsheikh was referring to is the level of Prephets and Saints. We are trying to attain to that level, and when men reach that level, peace will reign on Earth. The reason for all troubles on Earth, for all wars and suffering is that people have lost sight of their Lord’s Will behind all events. They have lost sight of the hand of the One who is testing them through those events. They have stopped seeing events as tests from their Lord, therefore they continue fail- ing those tests.
— 63 —
Gee aS we, “e-
DISTINGUISHING INSPIRATIONS FROM DELUSIONS
Question: “How can we distinguish between what comes to the heart through inspiration from Allah, the Prophet or our Sheikh, and what invades the heart from the “inspirations of Satan’.
* * *
The Sheikh: Our Grandsheikh taught us a method we can use right from the outset of our con- nection with the Way in order to distinguish real inspirations from stray thoughts and the whisper ings of Satan. That method is simply to wait and see whether that inspiration recurs or not. If it comes to your heart repeatedly it may be a sign that it is real. Grandsheikh compared this to the labour pains of birth. If the contractions a preg- nant woman feels occur repeatedly and in decreas- ing intervals, then the birth is really at hand. Real inspirations occur in the same way. Once they come to a murid they come again and again, but if they are only stray thoughts they will not persist, and if they are evil whisperings, even if they persist, it will become clear that they are no good by a kind of disturbance he feels in his heart. In this way even
— 64 —
beginners can distinguish real inspiration sent to their hearts by the Prophet through their Sheikh, from any other stirrings.
As far as spiritual visions are concerned, they are not necessary nor necessarily desirable for be- ginners in the Naqshbandi Way. In our Way, spir- itual visions are given only upon arriving at the des- tination, while in other Tariqahs visions may play a major role right from the beginning. The reason for this discrepancy in method is that we are very careful to preserve our followers from stumbling into dangerous traps. If a murid easily sees visions he may become preoccupied with those experiences and forget to seek improvement. Pride and a false sense of accomplishment may destroy him as well. He may say : “This is great! I have never seen any- thing like this on Earth!’, and he gets stuck where he is. He may become complacent at his present sta- tion and think that he has reached the ultimate goal. It may be lost on him that so much, far more excel- lent, is yet to come.
In order to avoid such “derailment” the Masters of the Nagshbandi Way guide their followers towards perfection without visions, so that the fol- lowers may learn to work on purifying themselves for the sake of Allah Almighty, not for the sake of amazing visions or mystical powers.
We worship our Lord for His sake Alone, to reach His Divine Presence, not for anything else at all, and certainly not in crder to gain access to visions. If a Nagshbandi dervish ever thinks of
— 65 — FL: 5
doing something for the sake of seeing a super- natural vision, he should consider himsel? ritually impure and take a shower (the complete ablution for ritual impurity, “ghusl’”) immediately, in order to rid himself of that spiritual impurity that makes him unable to approach the Divine Presence. Such a thought indicates that the murid has given up approaching the Divine Presence — the main goal of Tarigah — and prefers to play and amuse himself along the Way.
Yes, beginners and those on the Way have been protected from visions. The veils are lifted only when the murid has arrived at ithe Station of Safety. Just as the Holy Qur’an refers to Mecca as the place where one is safe, (killing and fighting being for- bidden within the holy precincts,) so, there is a spiritual station of safety. There is a long arduous journey ahead of you between your present station and that one; indeed, those who attain to that un- veiling are few.
But those who do arrive at that Station will ex- perience such visions, and they are unique for each real murid, If both of you arrive at that Station, your visions will be distinct: the colours, the fra- grances, the manifestations are never the same. But for now your duty is to persevere and to move patiently towards your Lord’s pleasure.
™ Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
— 66 —
AN INVITATION TO ADDRESS A MASS MEETING ONE-HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW
India is a land of many wonders, a land where strange and unusual customs abound. In a certain re- gion of India it used to be the custom to call a gen- eral meeting of the populace once a century. Yes, only one time every one-hundred years, but every- one living at that time in that kingdom, without exception, was obliged to attend. Even newborn babies had to be brought by their»moethers. At this mass meeting, held only once a century, only one person would speak and address the assembled masses. Who would that person ‘be? The one who had attended the previous meeting and was still alive - he would speak, not anyone else. And that ancient person would say: ‘Oh my sons and my daughters, one-hundred years ago I was a small child and my grandfather caught me by the hand and brought me here. Oh my sons and daughters, except for me not one person who attended that previous meeting is still alive; all of them have passed away.” “Now all of you are here, living and breathing, but at the next meeting a century from now, none of you will be in attendance except for maybe one or two of these babies and small chil- dren.”
— 67 —
That was a strange custom in India, but not a useless one; a custom through which people were taught, guided and awakened to the realization that they will not be on this earth forever, This lesson was an effective one for the Whole popula- tion, to remind everyone that he is but a passenger on @ Caravan passing through this life. In particu- lar this custom was designed to remind young peo- ple of the transitory nature of life on this earth, as young people in the heat of their youthful pow- er can easily forget this, They were alerted to the fact that youth, that treasure which they tempo- rarily possess, is a fading treasure.
When people look at their own lives in per- spective, they may see that youthful period as being the most precious and wonderful time of their lives. Once they have wasted that treasure there is no way of regaining it, and along their lives they will feel regret and sorrow for how they have squandsred that treasure and have nothing to show for it. Had they but used that treasure wisely, and not let their possession of it drive them mad, then they might have found they can recall their youthful days with happiness and not severe re- morse, and also that they may even carry some- thing of that treasure with them throughout their lives, having resources of physical and spiritual energy at their disposal.
But nowadays, people are so wanton that youth no longer extends to the age of thirty-three as it used to, ‘but may be completely burnt out at the
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age of twenty-three — and in the future it may be thirteen — so that the young are drained physically, mentally and spiritually like decrepit and hopeless old people.
When a young person reaches puberty he (or she) discovers that he has fallen into the huge ocean of life and is swimming in it. Little children are also in that ocean, but they cannot yet under- stand what it means. The onset of puberty coin- cides with the onset of wonderment and confusion. At this period of life, if young people are not pre- pared to understand what is really happening they will be like a,person happily engaged in a pleasure swim in a warm ocean, swimming and splashing this way and that, thinking only to enjoy himself. Sooner or later, though, he feels tired from his frol- ic and looks for the shore, but, alas, he has been caught unawares in a current that is rapidly car- rying him away from shore. Depending upon just how soon or late he discovers that he is caught in that dangerous current he may be still within reach of the shore or he may be already too far out to save himself. One who has frolicked in that current must make double efforts to reach the shore, as he must not only cover the distance, but he must swim twice as hard and never may stop, to avoid being pulled back out by the current and losing all the distance he has covered. To make it safely to shore will be the struggle of his life. .
The youths of our times are all facing such a struggle in their lives, as they have neither been
trained to be strong swimmers nor has their at- tention been drawn to the fact that there is a cur: rent dragging them rapidly out to sea, If young people have been prepared for this situation they may swim towards shore without difficulty, and enjoy themselves all the while, Instead of swim- ming around heedlessly in circles, if they know to swim always towards shore they will enjoy their swim and even have the energy to swim in that sea throughout their lives without peril, having become familiar with its currents and with the extent of their own power, so that they are never caught unawares.
But without attaining that shore, the shore of rest and safety, no one can keep himself afloat in- definitely. Even machines made of hardened steel need rest, so what about a bag of flesh and bones? Instead of running around a hill ten times go to- wards a destination! But youth is wasting all its energies uselessly. That youth energy is not replen- ishable, not like the gas tank of a car that can be refilled.
Therefore, divine guidance sets limits for youth, so that young people may be prevented from wasting their treasures. If the young heed the wisdom of divine guidance they will keep the gem of youth along their lives; if they don’t they will become like “walking corpses” at a very early age.
But the person who seeks to open his spiritual life and is careful of over-indulgence even in those enjoyments permitied by the Divine Law, he is the one who will keep his youthfulness more than any-
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one. Part of the discipline for attaining spiritual awakening is to live a simple life, not seeking to enjoy everything that the law permits, Our Grand- sheikh was over one-hundred years old, but be was as strong as a young man. Once when he had a med- ical check-up the doctors were astounded to find that his blood pressure and pulse were like that of a much younger person.
Our Grandsheikh drew my attention to a tra dition of the Holy Prophet in which he advised a shepherd to leave some milk in the udder of a ewe rather than milking it to the last drop. The Prophet, peace be upon him, explained that if a little milk remains in the udder more milk will easily be pro- duced to fill it up again; but if it is greedily squeez- ed out to the last drop it will fill again only with difficulty.
We must draw a wide-ranging conclusion from this Tradition. The total freedom in our time awa- kens the kind of greed that impels young people to drain themselves of youth energy to such an extent that it becomes impossible to replace it. Look, the teachings of our Prophet, peace be upon him, have such wideranging implications: he was talking to one man about milking sheep, but the import en- compasses the very heart of the problems of our time.
The people of the twentieth century are in dire need of the teachings of the Last Prophet, especially the young people, otherwise even millions of psy- chiatrists will not be enough to help them deal with
—7W—
their psychological problems, nor millions of doctors and tons of drugs enough to cure them of their dis- eases, All efforts to deal with their problems will be but a drop in the mouth of a person dying of thirst. This is the clang of the alarm bell: if no one heeds it and stands up to say “stop” the world will sink deeper and deeper into the swamp.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
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SPs Pro
DEPRESSION — FERTILE MEDIUM FOR THE GROWTH OF MADNESS
Question: “As a psychiatrist, what can I do for patients suffering from depression?”
* x *
The Sheikh said:
In Aralbic there is a proverb: “Madness mani- fests in at least seventy different varieties.” This proverb implies that one can easily count at least seventy distinct varieties of madness. That is a minimum, only a broad categorization; actually, there is no limit, mo maximum.
In fact svery person has a distinct and unique type of madness within himself: in some people it is latent and in some it has taken over; but it is present — must be present — in all people. How does each person’s individual madness become manifest? — By means of depression. Depression is the medium in which madness develops; a means by which that sleeping beast is awakened. If a patient comes to you in a depressed state, you may diagnose the particular aspects of the madness that is devel- oping through the depression and use that know- ledge to help him out of his depression, otherwise he will become truly mad.
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Therefore, we must all do what we can to avoid waking up our latent madness. We must avoid de- pression and the causes of depression, to never al- low the seed of madness to germinate or sprout. Psychiatrists, and people in general, must under- stand the causes of depression. The causes of de- pression may ‘be the same for all people, but each person may react differently to the same thing, as human beings are subtle and manifest endlessly varying reactions to the same causes.
Because human beings are subtle, psychiatrists must be masters of sublety to be able to help their patients; they must be able to diagnose the direction of the depression and its development in a unique personality, and they must be clever enough to know how to approach that depressed person. The way to conquer depression is to eliminate its causes, but to be able to do that they must know how to advise a patient, how to address him. Speaking is an art, especially speaking to depressed people who are in such a delicate state.
The way of phrasing one’s speech is the key: one obtains either the desired result or its opposite — as the following story will show :
Once a king dreamt that all his teeth had fallen out. He was disturbed by this dream, so he called for a man who interpreted dreams. The interpreter listened to the dream, then he told him: “Oh my king, all of your relatives are going to die before you.” The king became very angry upon hearing this
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and ordered the interpreter of dreams. to be beaten one-hundred whiplashes and thrown out of the palace.
Then the king called in a different interpreter and told him of his dream. After hearing the dream the interpreter said: “Your Majesty, among your relatives you will be the one to enjoy the longest life of all.” The king was very pleased and ordered that the dream-interpreter be rewarded with one-hun- dred gold coins for his services.
dock, the same dream, and, in reality, the same interpretation; but one interpreter left the palace in disgrace with one-hundred stripes on his back, while the other left with honour and a purse bulging with one-hundred coins. The second man was clever, he knew how to address a king, but the first one was foolish, even though he understood dreams just as well as the second. Likewise, in your position, as a psychiatrist, every word must be weighed for its effect. One well-directed word can bring more peace to the heart of a patient suffering from dep- ression than a whole book that misses the point.
The main cause of depression is lack of faith, believing in nothing. The important element in treating depressives is to make them believe, for if they go on believing in no one and nothing, there is nothing you can do for them. At least you must get them. to believe in you: that is the strongest means and the essential key for physical and spiritual healing.
Only if the patient believes in you, can you help
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a
him : only if he is willing to take from you, can you effectively give him anything. If he believes in you he will be open, and so you will be able to work on changing the ideas and attitudes that are part of his depression. Yes, you must use your ‘wisdom to get him to believe in you. That is the foundation of any cure. To build that strong base is essential, but it is a matter of spiritual power, not something one can learn in school. That power calls for spiritual authorization, and we have granted you ‘that, so that now you will find that you can do your job ef- fectively through your inspiration, The authorization that comes to us through our Grandsheikh will increase your understanding of people’s situations and make you better able to address them.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
©
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SRBESE
DEPRESSION AND SLEEP
A person in a healthy mental state finds that “sleep resides beneath the pillow’: When bedtime has arrived he falls asleep quickly and easily. But depressed people often suffer from insomnia. Such people should seek to engage themselves in strenu- ous physical labour so that their bodies are tired and ‘will fall asleep despite their mental state.
For depressed people sleep is like a bird that alights on a branch of a tree, then quickly takes flight. Therefore, whenever they may feel sleepy or physically exhausted they should immediately leave Whatever they are doing and go to bed or take a nap wherever they may find a quiet corner.
There is however one time of day, when nobody should fall asleep under any circumstances short of severe illness, and most particularly this applies to depressive people: the time between Asr and Magrib from 2 hours before sunset until the sun has set. If a person falls asleep when it’s light and wakes up in dusk or darkness, he will find himself face-to-face with depression, If a depressed person sleeps at this time he will be offering himself up to madness. The Holy Prophet said: “Whoever sleeps in the late afternoon should blame only himself for ‘whatever calamities befall him”.
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That is a terrible time in which to sleep. If you find yourself being overcome by sleep at that. time of day you must try to ward it off, washing your face ‘with cold water, drinking tea or coffee, working in the garden or kitchen, taking a walk or looking after the children.
No one should use sleeping pills to induce sleep, as they are not only habit forming but destroy the whole nervous system. Indeed it is better not to sleep than to take those pills, One may use such natural sedatives as yogurt, anis herb etc.
Also, sleeping on one’s belly causes depression. Satan sleeps on his belly; and none of the Prophets and Saints ever slept like this. For adults, sleeping more than eight hours is a cause of depression. Not to mention people who oversleep to extremes, there are so many people who are in the habit of sleeping nine hours, That extra hour is no good; it causes listlessness and bad memory. Particularly people seeking to follow Sufi Ways must be careful not to oversleep.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
— 78 —
ADVICE ON CHILDREARING
Most of the western people I have met don’t know to look after their children properly. Somehow, the misguided notion that they should leave chil- dren to do whatever they like has taken hold of them. To say that they leave them free like wild beasts would not be quite accurate, for even animals educate their young. If even animals can be trained by their elders to behave in a way befitting their nature, then what about the most highly honoured descendants of Adam, who have been granted such high potential by their Lord?
You must look after your children. If they do something laudable you must be sure to praise and reward them, so that they may be pleased with your attention and do such good actions more often. But when they misbehave you must at least point it out to them : don’t ever let your children’s misbehaviour just pass without drawing their attention to your disapproval, You must say: “Don’t do that; it is no good to do that; it harms people”. And sometimes, if it seems that the message is not getting across, you may pull their ears or spank them, Yes, the pillars of education are the hope of reward and the fear of reprimand or punishment. Western people
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have demolished these two pillars and leave their children to grow wild — that is their mistake.
Some of our brothers used to bring their child- ren with them when they came to see Grandsheikh. Instead. of keeping their children quiet during the meeting, some would let the children run around and cause disruption, neither controlling them nor taking them away from the meeting. Grandsheikh would tell them : “Oh my son, just you wait, those children will grow up to piss on your head”.
Free-style education has brought a great ca- lamity down upon Western civilization, so great that statesmen ask: “What can we do to maintain the peace in our society? How can we stem the tide of violence? What can we do with these wild peo- ple?” And people ask: “What can we do about these rulers who are oppressing us?” What we are wit- nessing in our time is a fulfillment of a prophecy of the Holy Prophet, in which he says: “There will come a time when statesmen ‘will curse the populace and the populace will curse statesmen”.
How shall adult people be brought under cont- rol, when their parents could not exercise any influence over them when they were small? There is a saying : “Who grows up in a certain way will end up that way’. This is the reason why trees growing crooked are bent into shape when they are yet small and supple. Once their trunks are thick, who can bend them? Therefore, education must begin in infancy.
A very important part of good education is to
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try to teach your children patience by not giving them everything they demand immediately. You must tell them : “You don’t get it now, but I will give it to you in five minutes, (or in half an hour, or to- morrow, or if you do well in school)” Or you may say: "I won't give it to you until you stop bothering me, so just forget about it and I may give it to you”.
Grandsheikh used to say that the major cause of depression in rich people is that they immediately got everything they wanted when they were young. Later, as adults, when they find something desired to be unattainable they taste bitter frustration, and not having learned to handle that experience depres- sion.
Another point is, that we must train our chil- dren to respect and honour their parents, especially as family ties have so deteriorated in the West. You must not allow your children to eat of any sweets they are given until they offer them first to their mother. That way, insha’Allah, as adults, they will think to bring their mother a share of their earnings.
Teach your children to kiss your hands and cheeks when they wake un in the morning and before they go to bed at night. This will instil in them affeetion and respect for their parents.
** Wa min Allah at-Taufiq **
Go
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