AW: Sultan Bahu: In Search of A Genuine Master

[Guest guest]

James,

thank you so much for the gift of these poems which speak to the soul.

Michael S.

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----Von: sant_mat_gnosis ( James )

[santmat (AT) zdnetonebox (DOT) com]Gesendet: Monday, March 26, 2001

09:30An: Betreff:

Sultan Bahu: In Search of A Genuine Master In Search of A

Genuine Master -- Poems of Sultan BahuIn Search of A Genuine Master

-- Poems of Sultan Bahu, Sufi Master and poet-mystic in the Qadriya

Order ___You should only choose someone as your Masterwho bestows the

blessings of both worlds on you.First he will drive the wolf from your

door,then reveal to you the path to God.He will transform the barren

ground of your heartinto fertile soil, so the seed of God's Name can

grow.If a Master has not accomplished this for youin this very

life,you can be sure he is feeding you false promises.___These false

prophets were never disciples themselves,but they contrive to make

disciples of othersas an act of seeming charity.They study nothing

themselves but make students of others.They swindle their disciplesof

their money and belongings.___As long as you proudly pamper your

ego,you will not realize Allah.You call yourself a holy man,yet you

don't even knowhow to dissolve your self in God.___There are few

genuine disciples.People purporting to be Mastersperpetuate

themselves with false promises.They exploit their followers to

satisfy their greed;they have no inkling of the exaltation of the

mystic path.But when their hearts are touched by God's love,they

willingly sacrifice their lives on this path.___O Shah Jilani, Master

of Masters!listen to my supplication.Who else will minister to my

needs?Who else will attend to my plight?For me, there is no one like

you.___If you wish to learn the art of dying while living,go and sit

in the company of mystics.___I found the mystic pathwhen I held the

beggar's bowl in hand,begging for the Master's grace.I could only

renounce the worldafter I met my exalted Master.Deep have I drunk

from the Ocean of Oneness,yet my soul thirsts for more and more.Tears

of blood pave the way to God, O Bahu!None but the ignorant will take

this lightly.___My Master is a bird of paradise;he only flies with

his own kind.Through great good fortune you will have his vision --if

the Lord pulls the strings of destiny in your favor.He cleanses the

lepers of their leprosy;he removes deformities of the spiritually

crippled.You hold the panacea of all ills, my Master!Pray, do not

leave Bahu to the care of physicians.___If you seek to meet God

ardently,become a disciple of a true Masterand sing his praises.If

you follow his instructions sincerely,you will, one day, assume his

very form.By constant repetition of his Kalma*you will bathe yourself

in its beatitude.___Ever since my Master gave meto drink from his cup

of nectar,I have become carefree -- indifferent to the world.___Only

when my Master initiated me into the Kalma*did I truly understand its

meaning.Only then did it dawn on methat I had wasted my earlier life

as a non-believer.But now, in the manner of Hazrat Ali, the lion of

God,Kalma has slain the demon of my non-belief.Only when Kalma has

saturated every pore of your beingwill your heart be purified, O

Bahu.___My Master has taught me a lesson:it repeats itself -- without

my repeating it.When I plug my ears with my fingers,without hearing, I

hear its melodies.My eyes are longing for a glimpse of Him:without

seeing, I see His Radiant Face.In every heart abides the Beloved, O

Bahu,in countless forms He reveals Himself to me.___The Master always

tends and protects his disciplesas a gardener nurses his seedlings.In

his divine presence, he nourishes themwith his merciful glance.It is

only appropriate to use the name 'Master'for someone who shows you

the Lordwithin your own body, O Bahu!___My Master taught me a

lesson:"Any moment you are negligentin remembrance of Godis a moment

spent in denial of God."These words opened my eyes to reality,and I

fixed my attention on the Lord.Then I placed my soul in his

protection --such was the love I cultivated in my heart.Having thus

bequeathed my soul to Him,I died before death -- to live in Him.Only

then did I attain the Goal of Life.___-- Sultan Bahu, "Sultan Bahu,"

J. R. Puri & K.S. Khak, RS Books See also, "Death Before Dying --

The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu," Jamal J. Elias, University of

California Press, Berkeley*Note on KALMA:'Speech, word or

proclamation.' According to the tenets of Islam, 'to read the Kalma'

is to confess or affirm the Muslim faith by saying, "There is no god

but God; Mohammad is the Prophet of God" (La Ilaha Illallah Mohammad

rasool'llah). To have someone say or repeat the Kalma is to convert

him to Islam. But, according to Hazrat Sultan Bahu and other Sufi

mystics, Kalma is also, on a mystic or esoteric level, beyond a

written or spoken word or expression. They refer to Kalma as the

audible Voice or Sound of God. How this Sound can be heard is one of

the things that a Master or kaamil Murshid reveals to their students.

Kalam-i-Illahi and Saut-e Sarmad are other terms in Sufi mysticism for

Abstract or inner Sound, the Voice of God that draws souls back to the

Beloved. ___/joinAll

paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and

subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not

different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of

the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always

Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart

to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the

Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It

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