Post by Fana fi Shaykh on Aug 19, 2006 13:07:12 GMT
ALLAHUMMA SALLI ALA SAYYIDINA MUHAMMADINIS SAABIQI LILKHALQI NURUHU WA RAHMATUL LIL AALIMEENA ZUHURUHU ADADA MAMADA MIN KHALQIKA WAMAM BAQIYA WAMAN SAIDA MINHUM WAMAN SHAQIYA SALAWAATAN TASTAGHRIQUL ADDA WATUHEETU BIL HADDI SALAATAN LA GHAAYATA LAHA WALA MUNTAHA WALAN QADAAA'A SALAWAATAN DAAA'IMATAN BIDAWAAMIKA WA ALAAA AALIHI WASAHBIHI WA SALLIMA TASLEEMAM MISLA ZAALIKA.
The Path of Initiation & Discipleship
The Different Steps On The Path
The word 'initiation' is interpreted by different people in different ways. By some, it is considered to be a kind of attachment to a certain secret order. However, what I mean by initiation is, taking a step forward on a path unknown to oneself.
Initiations are of three different types. One initiation comes from within oneself, and this initiation is a person's intention to proceed on a path that is not generally taken by his fellow creatures. If this does not come from within, then he will always be afraid to take a step farther on a path that others around him do not take, for the conception of the generality is not that of an individual. The nature of most people is like that of sheep; wherever sheep are taken, there all the other sheep will follow. One should realize that although it is the nature of sheep to move in a flock, this is not the real nature of man. He will always deny that he has this tendency, and he will disapprove of it, and yet he will do that very thing without knowing that he does it. If you want to see it, just stand in the street and look up with surprise, acting as if you were absorbed in what you see; and soon, 20 persons will be standing by your side, not only foolish people, but wise ones, too! Therefore, he who is initiated, who walks on the path of initiation, is someone who has risen above the crowd and goes his individual way forward, independent of those who are around him.
When a man begins to feel that there is something behind the veil, when he begins to feel that there is something which he can attain by effort, then he takes the first step on the path which, as yet, he does not know. One should not be surprised if one notices this initiation in a five-year-old child. Neither need one be surprised if one does not see any sign of it in a man of 60 years; he has had no tendency towards it, and all his life he has not thought about it. However, the one who has received this initiation will go on. Even in childhood, he will show the tendency to take a step forward on a path which others do not take.
One will find this initiation in all the different aspects of life. A child taking a slate and pencil and drawing a picture, while not being an artist, still has a tendency to draw something, perhaps an idea that is not a child's idea but is very wonderful. One will find a child humming or singing a piece of music that a composer will be surprised to hear. He is doing something which is not ordinary, something which comes spontaneously from his soul and which shows his initiation on that path. One will also hear a child speak on certain subjects and express ideas which are quite different from what one would expect from a child, ideas that are, perhaps, even beyond the comprehension of a grown man. Yet the child speaks about it; it is his initiation.
I have known a child to ask me, 'Why must one kneel down, why must one prostrate oneself when they say that God is above?' I have known another child to say, 'Why must there be one direction in which a person should look in order to worship, why should not all directions be equally good for worship?' Many grown-up people have the fixed idea that they must perform their worship in a certain direction and not in any other, and never once in their lives have they asked themselves why. One will find grown-up people who have, perhaps, worshipped kneeling down all their lives and have never asked themselves why they should kneel down on the earth when they are supposed to worship God in the heavens. Therefore, to believe, to worship, to be pious, to be good, is quite different from the idea of being initiated. Initiation means emerging from the ordinary, it is rising above the conditions which are common. This shows the maturity of the soul.
Yaa Maqbool-e-Bargahe Ilaahi, Gohar Darya-e-Wilaayat, Qutbul Aqtaab, Fardul Ahbaab, Hazrat Abu Muhammad, Sayyid Muhiyyudeen, Mahboob-e-Subhani Sheikh Syed Shah Abdul Qaadir Jilani Al-Madad
The Path of Initiation & Discipleship
The Different Steps On The Path
The word 'initiation' is interpreted by different people in different ways. By some, it is considered to be a kind of attachment to a certain secret order. However, what I mean by initiation is, taking a step forward on a path unknown to oneself.
Initiations are of three different types. One initiation comes from within oneself, and this initiation is a person's intention to proceed on a path that is not generally taken by his fellow creatures. If this does not come from within, then he will always be afraid to take a step farther on a path that others around him do not take, for the conception of the generality is not that of an individual. The nature of most people is like that of sheep; wherever sheep are taken, there all the other sheep will follow. One should realize that although it is the nature of sheep to move in a flock, this is not the real nature of man. He will always deny that he has this tendency, and he will disapprove of it, and yet he will do that very thing without knowing that he does it. If you want to see it, just stand in the street and look up with surprise, acting as if you were absorbed in what you see; and soon, 20 persons will be standing by your side, not only foolish people, but wise ones, too! Therefore, he who is initiated, who walks on the path of initiation, is someone who has risen above the crowd and goes his individual way forward, independent of those who are around him.
When a man begins to feel that there is something behind the veil, when he begins to feel that there is something which he can attain by effort, then he takes the first step on the path which, as yet, he does not know. One should not be surprised if one notices this initiation in a five-year-old child. Neither need one be surprised if one does not see any sign of it in a man of 60 years; he has had no tendency towards it, and all his life he has not thought about it. However, the one who has received this initiation will go on. Even in childhood, he will show the tendency to take a step forward on a path which others do not take.
One will find this initiation in all the different aspects of life. A child taking a slate and pencil and drawing a picture, while not being an artist, still has a tendency to draw something, perhaps an idea that is not a child's idea but is very wonderful. One will find a child humming or singing a piece of music that a composer will be surprised to hear. He is doing something which is not ordinary, something which comes spontaneously from his soul and which shows his initiation on that path. One will also hear a child speak on certain subjects and express ideas which are quite different from what one would expect from a child, ideas that are, perhaps, even beyond the comprehension of a grown man. Yet the child speaks about it; it is his initiation.
I have known a child to ask me, 'Why must one kneel down, why must one prostrate oneself when they say that God is above?' I have known another child to say, 'Why must there be one direction in which a person should look in order to worship, why should not all directions be equally good for worship?' Many grown-up people have the fixed idea that they must perform their worship in a certain direction and not in any other, and never once in their lives have they asked themselves why. One will find grown-up people who have, perhaps, worshipped kneeling down all their lives and have never asked themselves why they should kneel down on the earth when they are supposed to worship God in the heavens. Therefore, to believe, to worship, to be pious, to be good, is quite different from the idea of being initiated. Initiation means emerging from the ordinary, it is rising above the conditions which are common. This shows the maturity of the soul.
Yaa Maqbool-e-Bargahe Ilaahi, Gohar Darya-e-Wilaayat, Qutbul Aqtaab, Fardul Ahbaab, Hazrat Abu Muhammad, Sayyid Muhiyyudeen, Mahboob-e-Subhani Sheikh Syed Shah Abdul Qaadir Jilani Al-Madad
