Rasa in Sufism

[brajeshwara das]

Moses heard a shepherd on the road praying,

"God,

Where are you? I want to help you, to fix your shoes

and comb your hair. I want to wash your clothes

and pick the lice off. I want to bring you milk

to kiss your little hands and feet when it's time

for you to go to bed. I want to sweep your room

and keep it neat. God, my sheep and goats

are yours. All I can say, remembering you,

is ayyyy and ahhhhhhhh."

Moses could stand it no longer.

"Who are you talking to?"

"The one who made us,

and made the earth and made the sky."

"Don't talk about shoes

and socks with God! And what's this with your little hands

and feet? Such blasphemous familiarity sounds like

you're chatting with your uncles.

Only something that grows

needs milk. Only someone with feet needs shoes. Not God!

Even if you meant God's human representatives,

as when God said, 'I was sick and you did not visit me,'

even then this tone would be foolish and irreverent.

Use appropriate terms. Fatima is a fine name

for a woman, but if you call a man Fatima,

it's an insult. Body-and-birth language

are right for us on this side of the river,

but not for addressing the origin,

not for Allah."

The shepherd repented and tore his clothes and sighed

and wandered into the desert.

A sudden revelation

came then to Moses. God's voice:

You have separated

me from one of my own. Did you come as a Prophet to unite,

or to sever?

I have given each being a separate and unique way

of seeing and knowing and saying that knowledge.

What seems wrong for you is right for him.

What is poisonous to one is honey to someone else.

Purity and impurity, sloth and diligence in worship,

these mean nothing to me.

I am apart from all that.

Ways of worshipping are not to be ranked as better

or worse than one another.

Hindus do Hindu things.

the Dravidian Muslims in India do what they do.

It's all praise, and it's all right.

It's not me that's glorified in acts of worship.

It's the worshipers! I don't hear the words

they say. I look inside at the humility.

That broken-open lowliness is the reality,

not the language! Forget phraseology.

I want burning, burning.

Be friends

with your burning. Burn up your thinking

and your forms of expression!

Moses,

those who pay attention to ways of behaving

and speaking are one sort.

Lovers who burn

are another.

Don't impose a property tax

on a burned-out village. Don't scold the Lover.

The "wrong" way he talks is better than a hundred

"right" ways of others.

Inside the Kaaba

it doesn't matter which direction you point

your prayer rug!

The ocean diver doesn't need snowshoes!

The love-religion has not code or doctrine.

Only God.

So the ruby has nothing engraved on it!

It doesn't need markings.

God began speaking

deeper mysteries to Moses. Vision and words,

which cannot be recorded here, poured into

and through him. He left himself and came back.

He went to eternity and came back here.

Many times this happened.

It's foolish of me

to try and say this. If I did say it,

it would uproot human intelligences.

It would shatter all writing pens.

Moses ran after the shepherd.

He followed the bewildered footprints,

in one place moving straight like a castle

across a chessboard. In another, sideways,

like a bishop.

Now surging like a wave cresting,

now sliding down like a fish,

with always his feet

making geomancy symbols in the sand,

recording

his wandering state.

Moses finally caught up

with him.

"I was wrong. God has revealed to me

that there are no rules for worship.

Say whatever

and however your loving tells you to. Your sweet blasphemy

is the truest devotion. Through you a whole world

is freed.

Loosen your tongue and don't worry what comes out,

It's all the light of the spirit."

The shepherd replied,

"Moses, Moses,

I've gone beyond even that.

You applied the whip and my horse shied and jumped

on itself. The divine nature of my human nature

came together.

Bless your scolding hand and your arm.

I can't say what has happened.

What I'm saying now

is not my real condition. It can't be said."

The shepherd grew quiet.

When you look in a mirror,

you see yourself, not the state of the mirror.

The flute player puts breath into the flute,

and who makes the music? Not the flute,

The flute player!

Whenever you speak praise

or thanksgiving to God, it's always like

this dear shepherd's simplicity.

When you eventually see

through the veils to how things really are,

you will keep saying again

and again,

"This is certanly not like

we thought it was!"

-Rumi

[brajeshwara das]

I was really surprised no one responded to this. Is it that Islam is so out of the range of our experiences? Prior to joining the devotees I was very attracted to Sufism and particulary the poetry and dance. Just wondering who else had any appreciation for some elements if Islam. I always liked how carpetmakers and artists would make such intricate designs but leave flaws as to not try and challenge the prefection of the Lord. Anyhow.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

I was really surprised no one responded to this. Is it that Islam is so out of the range of our experiences? Prior to joining the devotees I was very attracted to Sufism and particulary the poetry and dance. Just wondering who else had any appreciation for some elements if Islam. I always liked how carpetmakers and artists would make such intricate designs but leave flaws as to not try and challenge the prefection of the Lord. Anyhow.

 

Perhaps we were all stunned into silence by the beauty of the poem, Braj!!

 

I can't say I've had much association in the Sufi community, but, certainly, I've been moved (as have other aspiring Vaishnavas) by Qawwalli Sufi music such as popularized by the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

 

Anyways, it is *this* brand of Islam which ought be getting all the attention rather than the radical, violent minorities, wouldn't you agree?

 

Dayal Nitai!!!

[bija]

Hi Braj.

 

I was going to reply to your thread several times but did not as my knowledge of sufism is minimal. I have felt attraction to the tradition also. There is one particular film documentary available (forget the name of it) about women sufi mystics in an islolated part of Iran. The women are very secretive about their spiritual lives and practice (the documentary is amazing - the women were exhibiting manifestations of love of God).

 

It seems that sufism would require full time spiritual practice and commitment to discover its depths, and as you know trying to discover and enter a portion of the depth of Krsna bhajana is also a full time endeavor and desire. So due to this lack of time in practice my study of sufism has been limited. But saying this it is possible to perceive a real unity of the two paths - please see article below. (The pyschological spiritual teaching of Islam)

 

Once I made contact through writing with one sufi group in Tasmania. They were very friendly in reponse and open to Gaudiya faith. Very well balanced (this is much appreciated about sufism).

 

Here is their website : http://www.almirajsuficentre.org.au/

 

I recall somewhere in Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada's writings (possibly CC purports) that he considered sufi's to be impersonalists. But is it possible that he was not aware of all the diverse groups and sects of sufism and their deeper theology (I do not know). I have been a personalist since a small child, so my tendency is to see personalism in all things (sufism included - even though it may not be so in all cases).

 

Here is an article that is very insightful and beneficial:

 

For article (Sufism - The Psychological Spiritual Teaching of Islam)

http://www.almirajsuficentre.org.au/aboutus.htm#States

[brajeshwara das]

 

 

Anyways, it is *this* brand of Islam which ought be getting all the attention rather than the radical, violent minorities, wouldn't you agree?

 

Dandavats Prabhuji,

 

Yes, I completely agree. It is a crying shame that beauty is displaced by brutality. When someone says 'Islam' in the west instead of thinking of people who are devoted and pious like many Muslims the world over we normally think of someone holding a gun. Really, really sad.

[bija]

It is really sad that sufi minorities have been persecuted in some islamic countries. Why is it that the more peaceful and mystical sects are the one's that are often considered heretic?

[Guest guest]

'Control and Envy' to start with.

 

But the Sufis are viewed by the traditional fundermantalists similarly to how the saharjiyas are viewed in Gaudiya Vaisnavism as 'loose cannons' and there may be some credence in that, even though they are more open and liberal thinking than some of the party-spirited main camps.

But overall like most humans, they have an overwhelming desire to enjoy Krsnas' property. Yet fortunately for them and us they don't have the same fervour to convert the rest of the population to their their team and misconceptions.

[zjj]

Haribol! I've been gone for a while but I'm back home now and am reading up on the threads.

 

To get to the point, Sufis are a minority and are persecuted in many Muslim countries. I don't really considered Sufis to be Muslim. What they believe and practice is much more interesting and attractive to me than Islam.

 

By the way, where did that poem come from, Braj?

 

Jai

[Guest guest]

I qwas always attracted to the dance, the whirling dervish. I had someone I listened to attentively that dervish came from the word "Durvasa", and that the emotion of the dancer was similar to the fiery emotion of Durvasa Muni.

 

If you ever see a real whirling dervish, youll be enamored. I bvelieve they are of either sufi or zoro tradition, but knowing me, I could be wrong.

 

The world is so vast, yet so small.

 

mahak

[mahak]

[bija]

This short documentary is a most interesting films on mysticism in Iran.

 

Possibly you may like this film Mahak. A preview can be seen in the 'teaser' on this website.

 

http://www.aryanafproductions.com/films.html

 

The main website is currently unavailable, but here is the link anyway:

 

http://aryanafproductions.com/mysticiran/