There is no more bewildering
ethers in this existence
than the emanations
of divine love
that surround one
falling into the vast oceanic
nature of God.
- Naomi F. Stone
1.
As it is in Heaven, so it is on Earth
The wise ones of every age through their gnosis have affirmed the truth that this world is the harvesting field for the hereafter. Everything that is in this existence exist only because they mirror that of the higher world or of the eternal hereafter. All things and happenings, both great and small in this ephemeral world has harvest to reap for the permanent Kingdom. We are passed down the sacred knowledge that all that 'is' manifest, manifest because they are first conceived in the Mind of God, in the Soul of the Universe - which is epitomized in the Last Revelation by the expression "Kun! fa ya Kun!", which means, (When the Divine Mind Wills) "Be! and it Is!".
Among all that you can see and experience in this world, the heart-chamber-sweeping human love is the most phenomenal human experience because it is directly linked to the purpose of the creation. The Divine Voice has transmitted: "I Was a Hidden Treasure and I longed to be Known, longed to be Loved. Hence I have created you O Human Heart so that you might come to know Me, and With certainty taste My Love and love Me" - that summarizes the whole purpose of creation and the cosmic love affair of the Creator and creation.
Know my friend, just as God was a Hidden Treasure and longed to be known, He still is a Hidden Treasure (for the unfortunate ones like us who have yet to perfect our gnosis about Him, who are not very different than the dead ones for not knowing ourselves fully, hence have not known our Lord in reality, may God cover and replace our short-comings with His perfectness and magnanimous grace). God still remains a Hidden Treasure for most of the world and that unfathomableness is expressed beautifully in the blessed saying of the beloved holy guide of mankind, Christ when he said, "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, but as the Father giveth unto the world." Even the pure peace that comes from God, is so unlike the peace we are familiar in the ordinary sense of the world, it is unfamiliar because we have not known God and His peace.
Just as in the pre-emanation He longed to be known and loved, in this moment God, in this moment of all pervading emanation, God is still longing deeply to be known and to be loved. And this deep longing of the Soul of the Universe to be known shall continue until the Day of Final Judgment when this reality is fully transformed into a completely new reality, these faculty of perception of human being is changed into a new perceiving faculty - then God shall unveil His Seventy Thousand Veils and arrive in His Full Glory. For many mystics, the whole cosmic drama of the Day of Accounting is a Divine excuse to reveal Himself to His beloveds - because on that Day only those who come with a purified heart shall behold the Divine Countenance.
Among all that you can see and experience in this world, the heart-chamber-sweeping human love is the most phenomenal human experience because it is directly linked to the purpose of the creation. The Divine Voice has transmitted: "I Was a Hidden Treasure and I longed to be Known, longed to be Loved. Hence I have created you O Human Heart so that you might come to know Me, and With certainty taste My Love and love Me" - that summarizes the whole purpose of creation and the cosmic love affair of the Creator and creation.
Know my friend, just as God was a Hidden Treasure and longed to be known, He still is a Hidden Treasure (for the unfortunate ones like us who have yet to perfect our gnosis about Him, who are not very different than the dead ones for not knowing ourselves fully, hence have not known our Lord in reality, may God cover and replace our short-comings with His perfectness and magnanimous grace). God still remains a Hidden Treasure for most of the world and that unfathomableness is expressed beautifully in the blessed saying of the beloved holy guide of mankind, Christ when he said, "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, but as the Father giveth unto the world." Even the pure peace that comes from God, is so unlike the peace we are familiar in the ordinary sense of the world, it is unfamiliar because we have not known God and His peace.
Just as in the pre-emanation He longed to be known and loved, in this moment God, in this moment of all pervading emanation, God is still longing deeply to be known and to be loved. And this deep longing of the Soul of the Universe to be known shall continue until the Day of Final Judgment when this reality is fully transformed into a completely new reality, these faculty of perception of human being is changed into a new perceiving faculty - then God shall unveil His Seventy Thousand Veils and arrive in His Full Glory. For many mystics, the whole cosmic drama of the Day of Accounting is a Divine excuse to reveal Himself to His beloveds - because on that Day only those who come with a purified heart shall behold the Divine Countenance.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
- Beloved Master of Mystics, Isa ibn Maryam
The Tremendous Day of Judgment when wealth and sons avail not (any one). Save who bringeth unto God a wholesome and purified heart. - The Holy Quran, 26:88-89
- Beloved Master of Mystics, Isa ibn Maryam
The Tremendous Day of Judgment when wealth and sons avail not (any one). Save who bringeth unto God a wholesome and purified heart. - The Holy Quran, 26:88-89
2.
in the Soul of Universe
Everyone sings to his own Laila.
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Jamal
may Allah protect and sanctify his spirit
That deep longing in the Soul of the Universe which longs to be known, according to the timeless spiritual law, 'as above so is below' - 'as it is in the Heaven, so it is done on Earth' - is manifested in the human love affair of one heart for another. The longing of the Divine Soul to be known and to be loved is also the universal seed planted in every human heart to be known and to be loved by another human being. So the inner secret about soul-mate is not born here - in this terrestrial planet, but its born at the pre-dawn of creation when the Soul of the Universe longed to be loved. According to mystics, the whole of creation is like a mirror upon which God contemplates His Own Essence and His longing to be known and loved becomes a grand cosmic play.
The quality of love and this longing of human soul for another soul-mate, lover, beloved is so universal that it transcend everything. Every construct, every identity, even faith or religious identity.
Love is the only freedom
in this world. Because it elevates
the spirit to such a supreme point
that neither mankind's laws
nor its customs can touch it,
nor can the laws or facts of
nature change its course.
- Khalil Gibran
Because human love is a reflection of Divine Love, which is the descent; the love for another human being is a stepping step to realize divine love, which is the ascent. So human love, an essential experience is given access to us all - regardless of our social status, race, creed.
Know my friend, if you long even in the slightest degree to taste the inner truth, loving another human being on spirit level is what prepares you for that - like no other experience.
Know my friend, if you long even in the slightest degree to taste the inner truth, loving another human being on spirit level is what prepares you for that - like no other experience.
3.
For salvation, love alone shall suffice
Whether its said in Batin, in esoteric parables or in Zahir, in exoteric prescription - Love has always been the easiest and direct means of ascension to divine proximity and to enter the Kingdom or to be granted in paradise, as it is worded in different tradition in different fashion. Even for those who in their state of realization do not evolve far enough to realize that 'human love is preparation for divine love', for them also, loving another human being with sincerity is made sufficient enough for salvation.In Islam, imitation of the last messenger, the last perfected vicegerent and leader of the caravan of holy guides of humanity, Prophet Muhammad - we are affirmed how love for human being is made an essential pre-condition even for wholesome faith. The Last revelation unveils, "Say to them (O My Messenger of Love and Mercy): If you love God, follow (and love and honor) me, and God will love you" (3:31).
Its said, "none of you shall be a true believer until the messenger is more dear to him or her, until the messenger is at the apex in the landscape of the heart than even their own family members." This is the equivalent to saying, unless you are able to perfect your love for the messenger of the cosmic age, for the guide of the soul of your life-time, your heart's capacity to behold divine love is still pre-mature. For a Muslim, love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable and which the Prophet as al-insan al-kamil (the Perfect man) possessed in the utmost degree. Love for the Prophet means to acknowledge, cherish and glorify all the potential of goodness and greatness that God has created within Man.
During the time of Krishna, it was Krishna whose heart was the locus of divine love and loving that heart was the gateway to divine love. During the time of Christ, specially those who found his blessed form in their life time, for them loving the heart of Christ was absolutely necessary for receiving divine love. That is the reason what Christ meant, "No one reaches Father except through me, the son." This wasn't meant to claim exclusivity on Christ's claim to be the only portal, but this is the great mystery for the pathway to divine love where human heart is the craft which transport one to the Door of Divine Love. And the universality of this message is not exclusivity, but a much wider panoramic inclusivity which includes the saints, the awliay, the qutub (spiritual pole) of the time, in every time, who become the portal through whom one reaches the Divine.
After Krishna, after Christ, after Muhammad, the true heirs of their message, the God realized sages, the God realized saints and awliyas, gauth, qutubs are the locus of divine love because they are the precious human beings who prefers God above all and hence God also prefers them above all and made their heart the sanctuary of divine love.
Thus in living stream of exoteric and esoteric tradition, in Sufism, loving the guide with a perfected love is the imitation of the same model as loving the messenger of God because the radiance of love is transmitted through love to them which then passes down to the next generation. And a person's spiritual maturity is reflected in proportion to their devotional love for their guide of the Path, of the Teacher of Truth.
O beloved seducer!
reflection of whose endearing ways
are you?
- Aamir Khusru
When someone came to Sri Ramakrishna asking for guidance saying how she can love God? The great saint, may his soul rest in bliss asked, whom do you love most? the woman said, I have a small daughter, I love her the most. Sri Ramakrishna said, go and adore your child in full awareness that she is radiant with divinity, her heart is where God is, love her with a perfect love and you shall love God.
What Ramakrishna advised is to practice love of God through human being because that is the most immanent, most immediate access. In the same mode, the Sufis follow the hierarchy of love that ascend first from loving the ummah (community) and by extension humanity. After that loving the spiritual guide, head of the community, Shaykh in Sufi Path, then from learning to love the Shaykh with perfect love (which is far easier said than done because it involves great practice of self-effacement, devotion, non-judgment, patience, diligence, surrender, sincerity, truthfulness, obedience, single pointed focus and above all love pure from all egoic projection and wants). So the guide is like a gentle father, who by holding the hand of their disciple take them to God.
Imagine the role of Christ to his apostles, these simple minded people, some were fishermen, carpenter, peasants, businessmen, who when came in contact with Christ, were transformed so dramatically through their single pointed love for him, that their evolution in spiritual realization were so accelerated that they could partake the same miracles, same qualities with Christ. They became 'Christ like' - which was the sole goal of Christianity if can be summarized, and which is long lost. Making the guide's heart as locus of one's heart, loving the master with the most refined love, making the guide as friend of the soul - soul-mate is a stepping stone for divine love.
So place of love has always been central as the means of salvation, no matter in what language and in what parable its used across the ages. The problem is we have corrupted and abused the nature of love so much and so often time, like everything else we have made love selfish motive driven and flesh-bound in many cases that we've forgotten the real love. But mystics have always told us not to be fooled with false gems and diamond. Like Rumi said, "Counterfeit gold exists because there is such a thing as real gold." May our quest never stop until we reach for the Real.
How to give example of the role of love as means for salvation? For example for a child, it suffices to love his or her mother with refined love to reach salvation. The last messenger has declared, "The paradise lies under the feet of mother." The meaning of which is that for salvation loving one's mother and servitude out of love and gratitude is a portal to the Kingom of heaven. For a mother, who simply love her child with a perfect love, similarly is reason enough for salvation if so God wills. In a sacred tradition the last messenger has said, "The mother who is broken-hearted due to her love for her deceased child, shall enter paradise." Similarly for a spouse, loving the partner with a perfect love suffice to achieve salvation.
There are other hints spread across many other places of every sacred tradition which will tell you the same truth that 'love shall suffice for salvation' - provided that it be pure love, it be conscious love, it be innocent love. Just as it is mentioned in previous article on soul-mate that the person for whom we can make our heart capacited with the maximum amount of love, both in giving and / or receiving is our soul mate and this is not necessarily a static possibility but a dynamic one.
The beginning and most basic quest for soul-mate begins with our partner, with our spouse (if we are lucky, very lucky that is), with our beloved. From there a step up is the love which finds it root in God, so one love one another motivated by love for God. That explains why Muslims in their every sitting inside obligatory prayer they send their loving greeting of peace to all believing men and women, because loving those hearts which love God, is a natural evolution for lovers of God.
Similarly this mode of loving another person, such as a teacher of truth or a guide of the soul comes as a token of love for God. In different faith tradition this love is first manifest by the leader of the caravan. For Christians it is Christ, for Krishna devotee its Krishna, for Muslims its Muhammad, the Last Messenger, upon them all be grace of God.
Its said, "none of you shall be a true believer until the messenger is more dear to him or her, until the messenger is at the apex in the landscape of the heart than even their own family members." This is the equivalent to saying, unless you are able to perfect your love for the messenger of the cosmic age, for the guide of the soul of your life-time, your heart's capacity to behold divine love is still pre-mature. For a Muslim, love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable and which the Prophet as al-insan al-kamil (the Perfect man) possessed in the utmost degree. Love for the Prophet means to acknowledge, cherish and glorify all the potential of goodness and greatness that God has created within Man.
During the time of Krishna, it was Krishna whose heart was the locus of divine love and loving that heart was the gateway to divine love. During the time of Christ, specially those who found his blessed form in their life time, for them loving the heart of Christ was absolutely necessary for receiving divine love. That is the reason what Christ meant, "No one reaches Father except through me, the son." This wasn't meant to claim exclusivity on Christ's claim to be the only portal, but this is the great mystery for the pathway to divine love where human heart is the craft which transport one to the Door of Divine Love. And the universality of this message is not exclusivity, but a much wider panoramic inclusivity which includes the saints, the awliay, the qutub (spiritual pole) of the time, in every time, who become the portal through whom one reaches the Divine.
After Krishna, after Christ, after Muhammad, the true heirs of their message, the God realized sages, the God realized saints and awliyas, gauth, qutubs are the locus of divine love because they are the precious human beings who prefers God above all and hence God also prefers them above all and made their heart the sanctuary of divine love.
Thus in living stream of exoteric and esoteric tradition, in Sufism, loving the guide with a perfected love is the imitation of the same model as loving the messenger of God because the radiance of love is transmitted through love to them which then passes down to the next generation. And a person's spiritual maturity is reflected in proportion to their devotional love for their guide of the Path, of the Teacher of Truth.
O beloved seducer!
reflection of whose endearing ways
are you?
- Aamir Khusru
When someone came to Sri Ramakrishna asking for guidance saying how she can love God? The great saint, may his soul rest in bliss asked, whom do you love most? the woman said, I have a small daughter, I love her the most. Sri Ramakrishna said, go and adore your child in full awareness that she is radiant with divinity, her heart is where God is, love her with a perfect love and you shall love God.
Is there somebody who can take me to the Lord?
I will go to him, touch his feet and kiss his hands,
And serve him faithfully, him, who can take me to the Lord.
- Sikh hymn
I will go to him, touch his feet and kiss his hands,
And serve him faithfully, him, who can take me to the Lord.
- Sikh hymn
Imagine the role of Christ to his apostles, these simple minded people, some were fishermen, carpenter, peasants, businessmen, who when came in contact with Christ, were transformed so dramatically through their single pointed love for him, that their evolution in spiritual realization were so accelerated that they could partake the same miracles, same qualities with Christ. They became 'Christ like' - which was the sole goal of Christianity if can be summarized, and which is long lost. Making the guide's heart as locus of one's heart, loving the master with the most refined love, making the guide as friend of the soul - soul-mate is a stepping stone for divine love.
So place of love has always been central as the means of salvation, no matter in what language and in what parable its used across the ages. The problem is we have corrupted and abused the nature of love so much and so often time, like everything else we have made love selfish motive driven and flesh-bound in many cases that we've forgotten the real love. But mystics have always told us not to be fooled with false gems and diamond. Like Rumi said, "Counterfeit gold exists because there is such a thing as real gold." May our quest never stop until we reach for the Real.
How to give example of the role of love as means for salvation? For example for a child, it suffices to love his or her mother with refined love to reach salvation. The last messenger has declared, "The paradise lies under the feet of mother." The meaning of which is that for salvation loving one's mother and servitude out of love and gratitude is a portal to the Kingom of heaven. For a mother, who simply love her child with a perfect love, similarly is reason enough for salvation if so God wills. In a sacred tradition the last messenger has said, "The mother who is broken-hearted due to her love for her deceased child, shall enter paradise." Similarly for a spouse, loving the partner with a perfect love suffice to achieve salvation.
There are other hints spread across many other places of every sacred tradition which will tell you the same truth that 'love shall suffice for salvation' - provided that it be pure love, it be conscious love, it be innocent love. Just as it is mentioned in previous article on soul-mate that the person for whom we can make our heart capacited with the maximum amount of love, both in giving and / or receiving is our soul mate and this is not necessarily a static possibility but a dynamic one.
Similarly this mode of loving another person, such as a teacher of truth or a guide of the soul comes as a token of love for God. In different faith tradition this love is first manifest by the leader of the caravan. For Christians it is Christ, for Krishna devotee its Krishna, for Muslims its Muhammad, the Last Messenger, upon them all be grace of God.
Darkness may hide the trees
and the flowers from the eyes
but it cannot hide
love from the soul.
- Khalil Gibran
4.
True Soul-Mate
Declares the Divine Voice: 'O Mankind, I have created everything in the cosmos for you, but I have created you for Myself alone. So Know Me to Love and Serve Me and serve no other,'
The guide of Shadhili Path teaches: "Every quality has many meanings and the same qualities and meanings are within you, when you reach. But you can not reach if you do not walk. Know why He has created you – to be special for Him, and to be special for yourself. When He created you, He wanted to see Himself in your picture. You are the picture of your God. You are holy, but understand the meaning of the word holy. You are the mosque, and you are the secret. You are! The key is in your heart and you are the door. Put the key in the door to open this holy place. You can not know God if you do not know of this holy place inside you."
Shadhili is the name of one of the largest sufi mystical brotherhood and the word Shadhili comes from the Arabic word which means, "For Me".
In a veridical dream to an earliest saint of Shadhili Path of Sufism, the title was bestowed to the saint from an Invisible Voice. Outwardly Shadhili is one who has been initiated through the hand taking ceremony called bayah by an authentic guide of the Path, and remains steadfast with the teachings of Shadhili Way. Inwardly one who preserves himself or herself for God alone, conduct his or her action according to Divine Will is a true Shadhili Dervish.
Indeed God loves those who guard themselves for God.
- The Quran
To become beloved of God, to become the soul-mate of the Soul of the Universe is the ultimate goal of the Religion of Love (mazhab e ishq).
And God loves them, and they love God.
- The Final Revelation
5.
Look at Yourself and remember me
You've no idea how hard I've looked
for a gift to bring You. Nothing seemed right.
What's the point of bringing gold
to the gold mine, or water to the Ocean?
Everything I came up with
was like taking spices to the Orient.
It's no good giving my heart and my soul
because You already have these.
So - I've brought You a mirror.
Look at Yourself and remember me.
- Jalaluddin Rumi
Remember the True Beloved, the True Soul-Mate of your soul and remember with the remembrance worthy of the Divine Beloved. May God forgive us our foolishness and incapacity to speak about the mystery of the divine love which Beloved alone knows with a perfect knowing. Indeed the Knowledge of the Divine Beloved encompasses everything and we comprehend nothing from His Knowledge except what He pleases.
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