Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume

A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday

Sufism: A Path to Perfection

by Dr. K.M.P. Mohamed Cassim

We live in a society which advocates the theory that happiness is the outcome of wealth and material acquisition. But when analyse the main reason for our failure to achieve happiness, we find that happiness does not dwell in outward things. Since our minds are scattered and our are polluted by various sorts of defilements, we are unable to establish harmony or happiness within us. Happiness comes when the mind and heart are kept in perfect unison. A person burdened with desires and ambitions cannot enjoy the beauty of life, because the freshness and newness of life can be experienced at every moment only through meditation, as otherwise, life becomes a drab and disgusting existence. Sufism says that without first creating order in our mind, it is impossible to bring happiness in our life. We must realise the fact that our mind is the maker of all mischief and misery. When the mind is utterly quiet, still and silent, perfect tranquillity prevails, which is our real estate. In other words, in the thought-free stage of the mind alone we can attain real happiness. In that perfect stillness of the mind, there is pure bliss, a rare sense of joy and sublime feeling.

We are all members of one huge family called humanity, with one common purpose; and according to Sufism, that one common goal is to attain God-realisation. Today, people in every land are faced with innumerable problems, because of the modern technological civilisation. These problems were unknown to their ancestors. The modern man is so much involved in sensual activities that his mental energy is wasted enormously. Hence, it is very essential that one must practise meditation systematically; then only there is the possibility of reducing the wastage of energy considerably. In other words, by keeping one's mind in a state of stillness, the quantum of energy that is dissipated through the cerebro-spinal system and the ceaseless cellular activities in the physical body are substantially minimised. In meditation, all the faculties with which the human mind is equipped are brought into full play and capacity. The state of meditation in no way brings about a lethargic condition of the mind or senses, but actually creates an awareness full of that dynamism necessary for the optimum use of the mind and the senses.

Sufism stresses the importance of spiritual training; and in this practice, what is required is a discipline of the entire being of man, of all the diverse faculties. Mere intellectual training is not enough, since spiritual illumination is not dependent on scholarship and logical thinking. At the end of a long and sustained spiritual practice, which involves severe control of the sense-organs and the mind, there is the possibility of purging the mind of all its impurities. So long as there is desire in the mind, the true state of Fana cannot be experienced, because the craving of the mind for pleasures makes one always restless and unhappy. Actually, Fana is a pure sublime feeling, untouched and uncorrupted by thoughts or desires. Fana means die. Fana is complete only when one dies to every thought, desire, despair, hope and ambition in life. It is only by dying that one shall be able to find the joy of living. The Sufis interpret life as a long spiritual journey. One day it must come to an end, and when it does come to an end, paradoxically, it is there at the point from which it started. Therefore, death in this world is not the end of existence. It is worthy of note that if we want to be without problems, we must be thoroughly dead while living, which means spiritual renewal is impossible without dropping the mental mechanism. Mystically speaking, birth and death are unified and transcended if one melts in the blaze of the Infinite Truth, known in Sufism as Haq.

Sufism is not a cold, deliberate shunning of everybody and everything for the sake of one's own salvation. The ultimate purpose of Sufism is the crucifixion of the egoistic personality and rising up into a new consciousness of our eternal oneness with the Supreme Reality, Allah. The state of Baqa implies the death of the human ego and the resurrection into the divine consciousness, and this spiritual awakening or divine elevation is achieved after passing through the experience of Fana which means the silence of the great void.

Today, we find people spiritually hungry in every corner of the globe, and if there is a single point on which there can be no difference of opinion, it is that everyone of us wants happiness or peace of mind. If the world and society is in a chaotic condition, it is because there is no peace in the mind of man. Happiness comes only when our mind is perfectly clear and free from all confusions. We should enquire into the deeper aspects of the mind with ever-increasing attention. It is also necessary to observe why the mind craves for sensual pleasures and how the same pleasurable enjoyments lead us to pain. Without such self-observation, it is impossible to have any kind of mastery over our mind. Whatever may be the pressures of the problems confronting us, our mind should remain unaffected by circumstances. When it is necessary, we must use our thinking faculty, but at other times we must able to remain in our natural state of "perfect peace" without wasting our mental energy on unwanted thoughts desires. The basic factor behind all human suffering is some sort of frustration, and the reason for such suffering is the interminable nature of desires, which can be snapped only by abstention from desire together. Detachment, in the true sense of the term, is an experience which liberates one's mind from distraction.

The world we live in is a wonderful place, because of its perpetually changing nature. What a man hates most is monotony and hence the changing world in a way is a blessing to humanity. The world appears to men in different ways, according to their psychological constitution. To scientists it appears in one way, while ordinary men in another way. It is only to the Sufis that the world appears in true form. The realm of spiritual liberation has always been a matter of interest to the seeker, because man, a physically finite being in an imperfect world, aspires for immortality. Every man, in his heart of heart, feels an urge for unalloyed joy, absolute freedom, uninterrupted peace, perpetual life and cessation of misery.

Sufism makes the strong plea that a lasting solution to human problems can be found only when the mind reaches the state of Fana, because it constitutes not only the cessation of mental activities through choiceless awareness, but also freedom from the known, which means mind has got merged in perfect silence. When we understand all about ourselves, there is that emptiness, and in that state there is wisdom, and that wisdom begins when sorrow ends. Sufism emphasises the importance of leading a pure life and practising spiritual disciplines so that the whole psycho-physical constitution of the seeker becomes changed and purified. This self-discipline gives the seeker the necessary strength to bear the strains of the inner struggle. Meditation or Muraqabah means a state of alertness where no thought to interferes, and in that state, we not only explore the various aspects of the mind, but also the secret of the self, which brings about ever-new dimensions of the supra-mental state, a level beyond the senses. Normally we act out of an opinion, or conclusion, or out of speculative intentions; but we must realise the fact that meditation is the action of silence. Meditation normalizes the nervous system, increases orderly functioning of the brain, promotes integrated thinking and regulates action and behaviour.

Concentration is the preliminary process by which the diversified rays of the mind are brought to a single point. But meditation, which is the highest form of contemplation, is the divine method by which our mind is ultimately rendered silent. This state of meditative awareness not only helps us to commune with Allah, but also releases the mind from its restlessness. All forms of spiritual discipline aim at tranquilisaton of the mind, helping to rectify functional impairment and mental disease. Specialists in psychosomatic medicine and psychiatry have come to show a good deal of interest in meditation, as it attempts to eliminate psychological tensions and counteract bad influences that cause a disintegration of personality. Relaxation, both mental and physical, is becoming more and more essential in the fast-moving world in which we live.

Sufism holds the view that it is useless to look for peace or relaxation outside ourselves. It must come from within by leading a life of meditation. In the silent mind alone, one can attain full spiritual satisfaction. The best way to attain freedom is by egoless love, egoless work, egoless contemplation and egoless knowledge which means that one has to surrender and sacrifice everything. In the present-day world, when a crisis of character is eating into human vitals, it is our sacred duty to liberate the human consciousness from the grip of perpetual conflict by emphasising the importance of spiritual life. It is to be realised that a man of meditation alone can perform right action, in which there will be no regrets, confusion or contradiction.

In meditation, we live in this world without the images of pleasure or pain, and in that profound state of Muraqabah, we actually discover the origin of thinking. Then we enter into a new dimension, where the division between the observer and the observed does not exist. Free and happy indeed is the Sufi who lives in a state of perfection, a state of egoless and is in which he is able to understand and appreciate the unending beauty of life.