A Sohbet with a Sufi Master

Questions answered by Ala-ad-Din Attar [14th century]
A Master from the Silsilah-e-Khwajgaan.

Most of the teaching was given at group meetings in reply to questions. We are fortunate in that one of the later Khwajas, Fakhr-ad-din Ali Husain al-Waiz Kashifi, has left us very detailed records in his book Rashahat Ain-al-Hayat, Dew Drops from the Spring of Life. He attended the meetings of many masters, including Ubaidullah Ahrar and Jami, and heard accounts of the earlier masters from their own pupils and descendants.

The following extract is an example of this which describes group meetings of Khwaja Ala-ad-din Attar in the middle of the fourteenth century.

Q. What is the purpose of asceticism? Is it to overcome the passions of the flesh?
A. No, the purpose is to break our dependence upon the physical world. It is the means whereby we are able to rise to the worlds of spirit and truth.

Q. Why is it that some pupils have to go by way of complete obedience and devotion to the teacher, whereas others seem to be able to go by themselves?
A. When the seeker is at the beginning of the path, it is essential that he should bind his heart to his guide. The teacher and guide is like a mirror of divine truth and by regarding the teacher in this way, the pupil is turned toward abandonment of self, fana, and the longing for God, jazb. Without this devotion it is not possible for the eye of the Truth to open. It is for this reason that the seeker at the beginning of his path must first of all bind himself to his teacher until he can get free from the attractions of the external world. If he does not do this, he falls away from his search and he fails to get the taste of nothingness. It is certain that it is wise to do everything in the right order. However, for the experienced seeker, this connection is no longer the answer because the experienced seeker has come to the reality of non-identification. For him, everything has become a mirror of absolute perfection. For him the things of the world have all the same value: the ocean is no more than a stream; the sun no more than a mote in the sunshine. For those who have come to this degree, to look through the mirror of the teacher is limitation and defect; they must see for themselves.

Q. What is the visible mark of the experienced seeker?
A. The aim of the work is to pass beyond all interests, activities and dependencies that are obstacles on the way to the truth. Our Khwaja Bahauddin used, for example, to treat everything as if it had no connection with himself. If it happened that he wore a new Kaftan, he would say this Kaftan belongs to so-and-so; thus wearing it as if it was borrowed and not his own. When you see someone is free from attachment to any thing or activity, you can be confident that he is already established on the path.

Q. What are the main marks by which one can recognise one’s progress?
A. When you have wiped out from your vision the world of matter and the world of spirit then you have reached fana. When you have abandoned the sense of your own existence, then this is emptiness within emptiness, fana-i-zaat. That which holds the seeker back is his own existence. That which prevents him from having perfect knowledge is his inability to abandon relative knowledge; what prevents him from reaching his absolute spirit is his inability to give up the relative spirit.

Q. Can one give these things up by one’s own will?
A. It is desirable that there should be a guide with the spirit of Muhammad in him so that the heart can lose its own existence in the existence of the guide; but when emptiness reaches its final stage, then the guide is no longer required because abandonment is finally something each soul must accomplish for itself.

Q. What can the sheikh and what must the seeker himself, do?
A. The great teachers have said that success comes only to those who work. The help a teacher can give is dependent upon the readiness of the pupil to work and obey the instructions he is given. Without zealous work, the deeper meanings will never be found. The accomplished man---that is, the guide---can only influence the pupil for a few days. There is a saying: ‘perseverance cannot be given.’ When we took part in the groups of Khwaja Bahauddin, we tried to hold on to remembering our aim from morning until night. Nevertheless, among all the companions, there were very few people who were capable of holding on for one day until nightfall.

Q. When I am doing our exercise, sometimes I find myself in a different state, but I cannot hold onto it. What is wrong?
A. Nothing is wrong. It can well happen that in the course of the effort to hold himself present, the pupil finds that he is in a different state but loses it at once. He should not on this account be depressed. With perseverance and effort, the transition becomes easier and finally is established. By continued effort the pupil can reach the same state as that of an angel and, when he is in this pure state, he is able both to see and accept his own nothingness. It is in this way that final liberation is attained.

Q. Do you approve of visits to the tombs of the masters of former times?
A. When you pay a visit to the tomb of one of the masters of wisdom, you benefit to the extent that you have understood their teaching and placed your confidence in them. The more there is understanding and trust, the more such a visit can be profitable. There is indeed a very great power that can be experienced when visiting sacred tombs, but you must understand that we communicate with the spirits of the dead masters also from a distance.


AN INTERESTING EXAMPLE OF TRAINING BY THE MASTERS.

"As soon as the Khwaja [Master] saw that the seeker was capable of making progress he would set him a special program of work. Bahauddin Naqshbandi describes how after leaving Khalil Ata when Samarkand was invaded and sacked by the Ozbegs, he was told to devote himself to vegetables. He was to understand vegetable life by caring for living plants and understanding also the place of invertebrates in the life of man. After this he was told to care for animals. He used to go in the streets and if he found a horse who was ill-treated or suffering in anyway, he would take charge of it and nurse it to health. One day in the middle of summer, which is intensely dry and hot in Bokhara, he went out into the wasteland and came upon a wild-boar gazing fixedly into the sun. He thought to himself, "That creature is worshipping God in his own way," and he mentally asked the boar to say a prayer for him. The boar immediately rolled over and over in the sand, lifted himself upon his hind legs and bowed to the sun, then trotted quietly away. When Bahauddin returned to his teacher he was told, "You have now understood that all creatures worship God in their own way. Now you must set yourself to take care of the material world. You should go into the streets and remove all filthy things that can be harmful to man." He did this for sometime, taking great care to keep himself and his own body scrupulously clean."



An excerpt from "The Masters of Wisdom"
of John G. Bennett.

CH. 9: The Master Training.