Spiritual Chat 5 - Text Only Version About Spiritual Chat 5 Title: "Learning To Die Well", Date: February, 19, 2002 Footnotes For Chat 5 Chat Between: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) and Rumi Library Navigation Tree Go To Spiritual Chat 4 Chat 5 - Related Material Page 1 of 2 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My love you, my dearest brothers and sisters. 1. Introduction - to letter send with Spiritual Chat 5 to Rumi, and to the "Fellowship Mailing List" of Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) on 2/19/02 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My love you, my dearest brothers and sisters. My dearest loving sister Rumi, enclosed is a copy of the beautiful Spiritual Chat that we had today. It was certainly, "Sitting on the lap of God, while Bawa teaches us what we do not know". Al-hamdu lillah. We are all so very blessed by God. You can also read our chat today on-line in its Hypertext version by accessing Spiritual Chats, at www.SpiritualChats.homestead.com, and then by selecting Spiritual Chat 5 - "Learning To Die Well". We were able to get the "text only version" on-line before sending this letter. Also, we are in the process of putting on-line all the other chats we have had. For example, Spiritual Chats 1 and 2 from last month are now on-line, and Spiritual Chats 3 and 4 that we had on February 12th, and 14th are underway. Spiritual Chat 2 and 3 have their own URL and can be accessed directly as Spiritual Chat 2, and as Spiritual Chat 3. Finally, Spiritual Chat 3 has a lot of new material beyond what was covered in the original chat, that you may find helpful. All of these Spiritual Chats contain a wealth of Wisdom Points that all the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen could benefit from reading. This is the true Common Wealth of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). 2. Get A Life - a true life, by putting down our false life MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam alaykum. Hi Rumismith. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) Rumismith: Wa alaikum as-salam ya Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What's up? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Our last dialogue was so very helpful for this child. Rumismith: Not much. I tried to get in touch with you yesterday but it always said you were not connected. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is true, Louie is never connected, but Bawa is always connected. This is the great mystery of our life. This is what Bawa showed us in the "Bawa - Bawa Muhaiyaddeen" conversations. That is the learning for this child that came out of our last chat. Rumismith: Yes it was for me too. But yesterday and today are very difficult. I have been really connected last week, inspired by our dialogues. But yesterday and today I am depressed. I keep on saying Bawa, Bawa. I dont know what he is doing with me. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Don't want it so badly. As they say, "get a life". Rumismith: Don't want what so badly? MuhaiyaddeenLB: To be what only God can be. Rumismith: It is true I have no life, that is part of the problem. 3. If You Are There, God Is Not There MuhaiyaddeenLB: Remember, "If you are there, God is not there, and if God is there, you are not there." MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is the subtle part of the path, walking the left and the right. Rumismith: But why do I need to be so depressed if only God is there? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Because you have identified with what has covered the light, not with the light. 4. Accept The Darkness As What Is Currently Living Within You MuhaiyaddeenLB: A few days ago you said that you realized that you were not ready to give up your life for God. Do you remember. Rumismith: I don't want to identify with what covers up the light. Yes I do remember I said that. Rumismith: But in truth I really do not have a life. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Embrace that, embrace what just said that within you, "In truth I really do not have a life", As what is within you, but not as "who you are", and have some compassion for it. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In truth, "there is nothing other than God", not "in truth I really do not have a life". See the difference between the two? One is said by God within us, by the One who is "one with" everything within us, and the other is said by what has grown within us, through our ignorance, as our life of separation and differences, as what is "separate from" everything within us. We have both. 5. Reject The Darkness As "Who You Are" MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 1: You do have a life and it is very, very much alive within you. And that is Ok. Step 2: That life is the life of darkness that has grown within you, but it is not "who you are", so accept it as what is currently there, but reject it as "who you are". Rumismith: Yes I do see the difference. The truth is that part of me would like to have a life and that part is very strong at this point. 6. Become Peaceful With Your Current Reality MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 3: Become peaceful with this current reality within you because God is the one who set it up that way within you, not you, and He is the one who has to deal with it within you, not you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: If you realize this, then what is the problem? Rumismith: Well, there comes in my doubt. I think I did something wrong that my whole focus is not totally on God and thankful for whatever He gives. Like I pushed the button of the elevator down instead of up. Click HERE for more on this reference of "Pushing the up or down button in the elevator. 7. Differentiate Between You And The Darkness Within You MuhaiyaddeenLB: For Last Point: The problem is that you are not making a distinction between you and what has grown within you. Instead, you are making a distinction between you and God, between you and Bawa, between you and this child. Rumismith: What has grown within me? MuhaiyaddeenLB: New Point: You didn't do anything wrong, nor did you do anything right. You are just experiencing what has grown within you, and making the mistake of identifying with it as you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What has grown within you is what is separating you from God, from your brothers and sisters, and from the Creation of God. It is the life of separation and differences, which did not exist within you when you first came here, and for the first two years. Rumismith: True. It is painful. MuhaiyaddeenLB: True, it is only painful to the mind, not to wisdom. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Everything is Ok. Everything is always Ok. Rumismith: I just feel I am in a boiling pot screaming let me out, enough, enough, enough already. MuhaiyaddeenLB: So let it out. Stop trying to be God. Stop trying to be good. Stop trying to please the world within you. Stop trying to be correct. Stop trying, and let go, let it all go, let it be as it is, and be happy. Rumismith: I would like to be peaceful and have wisdom just like you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: You do, and its name is Bawa. Time for a short story? Rumismith: I need to have the awareness of it at all times, nothing short of it. Yes please for the story. 8. The Triple Dirt And The Grace of God MuhaiyaddeenLB: Short Story: A man was buried inside of a mountain, and the place he was inside the mountain had four walls. Behind three of the walls were three other mountains, each a hundred miles wide, and behind the last wall, behind the fourth wall, which was the only exit from the mountain, was a barrier that was only about a foot thick. Even a gentle tap on the fourth wall, applied correctly, would send it falling down and release the man from the mountain. MuhaiyaddeenLB: So the man decided to dig himself out of the mountain. Which wall should he select, wall 1, 2, 3, or 4? Rumismith: 4 of course. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Then why are you digging on walls 1, 2, and 3? Rumismith: You have a way to make me laugh at myself. But to me it seems that 4th wall is made out of thick steel. MuhaiyaddeenLB: We must realize that walls 1, 2, and 3 are the Triple dirt of our life, and wall four is the grace of God in our life. Which we use is our choice, we have the 4 walls. Wall 1 is arrogance, and wall 2 is karma, and wall 3 is illusion, and wall 4 is iman and wisdom. No matter how much you dig on wall 1, 2, and 3 you will never get out of the mountain of your mind and desire. MuhaiyaddeenLB: The name of wall 4 is Bawa. Rumismith: I like this story. Thank you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bawa is the 99 qualities of God, so when you become depressed you are not digging on wall 4, but on wall 1, 2, and 3. Bawa is patience, contentment and gratitude, trust in God, praise of God, and the realization that only God is great. That is wall 4. When you are not falling into these things, in everything that you do, you are digging on walls 1, 2, and 3. Rumismith: But how, how, please tell me how to switch from wall 1, 2, and 3 to wall 4. MuhaiyaddeenLB: By stopping the mind through wisdom. By acting the way wisdom acts. By reacting to things the way wisdom reacts to things. Rumismith: But when I am in a state of depression I can't connect with wisdom. 9. A Person Is Known By His Qualities MuhaiyaddeenLB: For Last Point: Bawa says that a person is known by his qualities. So each time you rap about "Rumi" in a negative way, you are digging on walls 1, 2, and 3. The only proper response to the question "how are you", or "what is happening" is Al-hamdu lillah. The first word out of your mouth determines your day, your moment, your life. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 1: Stop talking about "Rumi". Instead talk about Bawa, the life and teaching of Bawa, a paragraph from a book or discourse by Bawa. Rumismith: Yes, yesterday I was transcribing Bawa's discourses all day long. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In the "Forward" of the book, "The Pearl of Wisdom", page 6, Bawa teaches us, "...Forget yourself. Speak and lose yourself. Talking alone with intensity, say, 'He is One', your soul will elevate itself." Rumismith: Then I read Bawa's discourse 4/26/72, "How To Merge With The Guru", at www.SpiritualDiscourse001.homestead.com, from our WebSite, "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library", at www.BawaMuhaiyaddeenLibrary.homestead.com. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What a wonderful thing to do. 10. The Meaning of Suffering And Sorrow MuhaiyaddeenLB: In "Sandakumaran's Song", on page 8 in the book, "Maya Veerum - The Forces of Illusion", Bawa teaches us the meaning of suffering and sorrow in our life, "What is the cause of suffering? Your mind engulfs you and gathers in sorrow. You fail to understand this wisely O man, and conclude, these must be the trials of God." "The sorrow and torment, the demons that attack and bring turbulence to your life, will be destroyed when wisdom cuts the schemes of the mind." "What suffering can there be then?" "Analyze and examine yourself. Then you will know the state of being One with God. What other bliss can there be but this? This is what our mind does. Our getting depressed is the nourishment of all of the lives of darkness within us. Realize this. 11. Life Is A Feast of The World MuhaiyaddeenLB: Our getting depressed does not, does not, does not, have anything to do with us, it is just us being "lunch" for all the lives of darkness that have grown within us. For as His Holiness teaches us, "All that you see is a dream. All that you do is just a thought within that dream. All that you appear as is hidden ......... Life is a feast of the world. Its medicine is a time after a time." 12. Life Can Also Be The Harvest of God Rumismith: I like that forgetting oneself, that has always spoken to me. In the boo, "Mystical Experiences" Bawa says: "If man gets to know his (true) self, (his selfless self), forgets the earth, and completely eradicates his ego, (his false self, his selfish self), then the Qutb (will emerge from within Him), and then the Nur will emerge (from within the Qutb), and when these two merge with the eternal Allah (with the Primal One hidden within us), that is Alif, the effulgence of Allah". Isn't that beautiful? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes - now you are on a roll. Keep it up. Al-hamdu lillah. Rumismith: I like you because you have a good sense of humor about you. So, shall we talk more about loosing oneself. End of Page 1 of 2 of Spiritual Chat 5 - text only version - or Go To Spiritual Chat 5: Related Material or Footnotes For Chat 5 Outline of Footnotes 1. Pushing The "Up" or "Down" Button In The Elevator This reference to pushing the "up" or the "down" button in the elevator comes out of an analysis by this child of a discourse by His Holiness, an analysis at the feet of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), an analysis of the beautiful discourse given by His Holiness on 4/6/85, in which Bawa teaches us that the only thing we truly have in our life is a choice, and everything else is God's responsibility, not our responsibility. In this discourse His Holiness teaches us that each thing in our life, in each moment of our life, in each situation of our life, is just about deciding between two choices in our life, the right or the wrong choice, the truth or the falsehood of our life, and nothing else, and that everything else in our life, everything else flowing out of that choice, either heaven or hell or God, is already determined for us by God, is automatic, is completely out of our control or manipulation or influence, is carried out completely by God. And the only real choice in our life, that we are always making, either implicitly or explicitly, is the choice to either live as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, to either join in partnership with God within us, in what He is already doing within us, and in this way become "one with" God within us, and "one with" what God is doing within us, for His Divine purpose, not for our worldly purpose, allowing Him to finish what He has started within us, which is to reveal True Man within the Creation of God, and reveal God within the Creation of True Man, or to try and forge out our own way, a way "separate from" God, to try and make up our own agenda and try to accomplish it "separate from" God, to try and live our own life "separate from" God, to make our own mark on the world, for example, by having our own personal things, like a job, a wife, children, a house, a set of personal accomplishments, our own family, brothers and sisters, history and lineage, or our own understanding of things, as we see them to be. The analogy of the elevator came out of the analysis by this child of this discourse by His Holiness, an analysis by this child living at the feet of His Holiness, an analysis by this child trying to live as "one with" His Holiness, and as "one with" what His Holiness is doing, which is curing Himself of us, of the "us" of "separation from" God, revealing the "us" of "oneness with" God, which is His Holiness within us as "one with" God within us, the analogy that in truth our life is like a man who enters and rides an elevator, who is presented with two, and only two choices within the elevator, to push either the "up" or the "down" button of the elevator (there are only three floors for this mystical elevator, the floor you are on, the floor above you, and the floor below). And the consequences flowing out of his choice, out of either choice that he makes, of pushing either the "up" or the "down" button of the elevator, are completely within the responsibility of the elevator, are completely carried out by the elevator, carrying him either "up" or "down", to the floor above or below. In this way, the consequences of a man making a choice in this mystical elevator are not in any way within the responsibility of the man in the elevator. He only has the choice in his hand, nothing else, the choice to go either "up" or "down", to the floor above or below, nothing else. Everything else is within the responsibility of the elevator, the elevator is responsible for everything required to carry him to the floor above him or below him. As is the case of each of our lives, we have the choice to live as either "one with" God or "separate from" God. Only this choice is in our hands, nothing else, the choice to go either "up" or "down" in our life, to go to either heaven and eternal "oneness with" God, or to hell and eternal "separation from" God, nothing else. Everything else is within the responsibility of God. God is responsible for everything required to carry us to heaven and eternal "oneness with" God, or to hell and eternal "separation from" God. And once the man in the elevator make his choice and pushes either the "up" or "down" button, everything else is taken care of by the elevator, he either goes "up" in the elevator or "down" in the elevator. Nothing that he does in the elevator after making his choice, by pushing either the "up" or the "down" button, has any effect on what the elevator next does, or what happens to him in the elevator after he makes his choice, with him going either "up" or "down". Similarly, once we choose in any moment, situation, thought, intention, or activity in our life to do it "with" or "without" God, to do what we are doing, thinking, or intending, either as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, everything else is taken care of by God, and we automatically move "up" or "down" in our life. It is just that simple. Nothing that we appear to do, as the consequences of our decision, nothing that may appear to us to flows out of a situation, a word, a thought, or an activity that we are involved in, after making our choice to do it as either as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, has any effect on what happens to us in any way as a result of our choice, because either it moves us forward on the path to God, which is the path to an eternal life as "one with' God, or it moves us forward on the path to hell, which is the path to an eternal life as "separate from" God. That is all that can happen, based on our choice, because nothing else is really happening. Everything else is just part of the dream, the dream of a life of separation and differences that we see in our ignorance as existing "outside" of us. We must realize without the slightest doubt, that nothing else is really happening in our life, or in any life, whether we believe it or not, whether we like it or not, either we are moving closer to "oneness with" God, or further away from "oneness with" God, which all comes out of our choice, in each moment of our life, out of whether in that moment we turned "toward" God or "away from" God, to do it, to say it, to think it, to understand it, or to accomplish it, as in an elevator nothing else is really happening in the elevator, either we are going "up" or "down", which all comes out of our choice, out of whether we pushed the "up" or the "down" button. The following is a part of a beautiful 7 page letter that was sent by this child to our sister Aziza (Bitsy) Weiss on the 18th thru the 24th of October, 2001, that was given the title, "Only God Is Good", and dealt with the difficulty that she, as well as many of us, were and are having as a result of the September 11th destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City, and the damage to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the subsequent "War on Terrorism" that is currently occurring in the world today. This letter to Aziza can be read by going to The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library and by going directly to the following URL or web page address for Spiritual Letters, Home Page - Spiritual Letters: www.SpiritualLetters.homestead.com. Once there click on "Spiritual Letter 8" - "Only God Is Good". We are in the process of putting the whole letter on-line. To date (4/5/02) only page 1 of 7 is on-line. Beginning of Part of Letter To Aziza --------------- My dearest loving sisters Aziza, we must absorb into our hearts, without the slightest doubt, the explanation given to us by His Holiness, on 4/6/85, of what it means to say to God, "You are the cause when we go down in our life, and You are the cause when we progress, when we climb up in our life." In this discourse His Holiness gives us God's explanation, of the meaning of this statement to God, which each of us in the clarity of our wisdom, must personally understand and say to God, for God to accept us and take us back into Himself. ----- beginning of quotation by His Holiness ----- And God tells man, "I have given you the state in which You and I can be one. Also, I have given you the state where You and I can be separated. I have given you the wisdom to understand that all mankind are the children of one Mother, and to be joined in unity, but also you have the tendency to forget this, and to destroy yourselves as a result." "We have spread out one mat called the dunya, or this world, and all of us are on this same mat, sitting, laying down, eating, praying, to experience everything in our life. The dunya, this plate is like this. And we have given you the wisdom to understand this, that the world is like a prayer mat, where you can pray from any part of the world. And it is also an alter where you sacrifice." "The world is a place where one can embrace the other in peace and unity, but it is also the place where one can murder the other in sacrifice. You have the wisdom to join together, as one family, to eat off the same plate in unity, and you also have the wisdom (the consciousness), when it is warped, to plunder the food of another, and to covet what others have." "So there are 400 trillion, and 10 thousand different kinds of prayers and worship, acts which are just and unjust, the divisions of "you" and "I", the divisions that yours are different from mine and mine is different from yours, causing all these divisions and separations. And because of this, you also have within you, the state in which you will commit so many sins, and evils, and murders." "However, you also have (within you) the wisdom to understand this, and to differentiate between these two states." ----- end of quotation by His Holiness ----- In this way, my dearest loving sister Aziza, our work now, our only work now, is to put down what we have mistakenly picked up through our ignorance, is to put down the life of separation and differences that God has given us, to put down the life that God has discarded, that God has given us as part of Him giving us everything that He has, and through our wisdom to pick up the life of oneness and unity, to pick up the life that God has picked us, as His life, the life of justice and truth, the life of compassion and unity that God has also given us, as part of everything that He has. The choice is ours, because we have both types of lives within us, the life of what God has discarded, the life of darkness, the life of falsehood and injustice, and the life that God has picked up, the life of light, the life of truth and justice, because God has given us both types of lives, as part of what He has given us, and we can pick up either, and put either down. The choice is ours. In this way, God has given us everything, which includes all that He Is, all that is within Him, and all that has separated from Him, and He has given all of this to us, to us as His Children for this age, so that we, joined in partnership with Him, can do what He did, can do what only He can do, which is to separate from us what He separated from Himself, by joining with Him, by joining with what He has given to each of us to do this Divine Work, by joining with the life and teaching of God for this age, by joining with the life and teaching of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). Then and only then, we are one with Him, and He is one with us. Then and only then will our life be successful. Then and only then will our wisdom reason over our fate. End of Part of Letter To Aziza ------------------- End of Footnotes ........................... |
Spiritual Chat 5 - Text Only Version About Spiritual Chat 5 Title: "Learning To Die Well", Date: February, 19, 2002 Footnotes For Chat 5 Chat Between: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) and Rumi Library Navigation Tree Go To Spiritual Chat 4 Chat 5 - Related Material Page 1 of 2 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My love you, my dearest brothers and sisters. 1. Introduction - to letter send with Spiritual Chat 5 to Rumi, and to the "Fellowship Mailing List" of Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) on 2/19/02 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. My love you, my dearest brothers and sisters. My dearest loving sister Rumi, enclosed is a copy of the beautiful Spiritual Chat that we had today. It was certainly, "Sitting on the lap of God, while Bawa teaches us what we do not know". Al-hamdu lillah. We are all so very blessed by God. You can also read our chat today on-line in its Hypertext version by accessing Spiritual Chats, at www.SpiritualChats.homestead.com, and then by selecting Spiritual Chat 5 - "Learning To Die Well". We were able to get the "text only version" on-line before sending this letter. Also, we are in the process of putting on-line all the other chats we have had. For example, Spiritual Chats 1 and 2 from last month are now on-line, and Spiritual Chats 3 and 4 that we had on February 12th, and 14th are underway. Spiritual Chat 2 and 3 have their own URL and can be accessed directly as Spiritual Chat 2, and as Spiritual Chat 3. Finally, Spiritual Chat 3 has a lot of new material beyond what was covered in the original chat, that you may find helpful. All of these Spiritual Chats contain a wealth of Wisdom Points that all the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen could benefit from reading. This is the true Common Wealth of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). 2. Get A Life - a true life, by putting down our false life MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam alaykum. Hi Rumismith. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) Rumismith: Wa alaikum as-salam ya Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What's up? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Our last dialogue was so very helpful for this child. Rumismith: Not much. I tried to get in touch with you yesterday but it always said you were not connected. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is true, Louie is never connected, but Bawa is always connected. This is the great mystery of our life. This is what Bawa showed us in the "Bawa - Bawa Muhaiyaddeen" conversations. That is the learning for this child that came out of our last chat. Rumismith: Yes it was for me too. But yesterday and today are very difficult. I have been really connected last week, inspired by our dialogues. But yesterday and today I am depressed. I keep on saying Bawa, Bawa. I dont know what he is doing with me. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Don't want it so badly. As they say, "get a life". Rumismith: Don't want what so badly? MuhaiyaddeenLB: To be what only God can be. Rumismith: It is true I have no life, that is part of the problem. 3. If You Are There, God Is Not There MuhaiyaddeenLB: Remember, "If you are there, God is not there, and if God is there, you are not there." MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is the subtle part of the path, walking the left and the right. Rumismith: But why do I need to be so depressed if only God is there? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Because you have identified with what has covered the light, not with the light. 4. Accept The Darkness As What Is Currently Living Within You MuhaiyaddeenLB: A few days ago you said that you realized that you were not ready to give up your life for God. Do you remember. Rumismith: I don't want to identify with what covers up the light. Yes I do remember I said that. Rumismith: But in truth I really do not have a life. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Embrace that, embrace what just said that within you, "In truth I really do not have a life", As what is within you, but not as "who you are", and have some compassion for it. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In truth, "there is nothing other than God", not "in truth I really do not have a life". See the difference between the two? One is said by God within us, by the One who is "one with" everything within us, and the other is said by what has grown within us, through our ignorance, as our life of separation and differences, as what is "separate from" everything within us. We have both. 5. Reject The Darkness As "Who You Are" MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 1: You do have a life and it is very, very much alive within you. And that is Ok. Step 2: That life is the life of darkness that has grown within you, but it is not "who you are", so accept it as what is currently there, but reject it as "who you are". Rumismith: Yes I do see the difference. The truth is that part of me would like to have a life and that part is very strong at this point. 6. Become Peaceful With Your Current Reality MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 3: Become peaceful with this current reality within you because God is the one who set it up that way within you, not you, and He is the one who has to deal with it within you, not you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: If you realize this, then what is the problem? Rumismith: Well, there comes in my doubt. I think I did something wrong that my whole focus is not totally on God and thankful for whatever He gives. Like I pushed the button of the elevator down instead of up. Click HERE for more on this reference of "Pushing the up or down button in the elevator. 7. Differentiate Between You And The Darkness Within You MuhaiyaddeenLB: For Last Point: The problem is that you are not making a distinction between you and what has grown within you. Instead, you are making a distinction between you and God, between you and Bawa, between you and this child. Rumismith: What has grown within me? MuhaiyaddeenLB: New Point: You didn't do anything wrong, nor did you do anything right. You are just experiencing what has grown within you, and making the mistake of identifying with it as you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What has grown within you is what is separating you from God, from your brothers and sisters, and from the Creation of God. It is the life of separation and differences, which did not exist within you when you first came here, and for the first two years. Rumismith: True. It is painful. MuhaiyaddeenLB: True, it is only painful to the mind, not to wisdom. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Everything is Ok. Everything is always Ok. Rumismith: I just feel I am in a boiling pot screaming let me out, enough, enough, enough already. MuhaiyaddeenLB: So let it out. Stop trying to be God. Stop trying to be good. Stop trying to please the world within you. Stop trying to be correct. Stop trying, and let go, let it all go, let it be as it is, and be happy. Rumismith: I would like to be peaceful and have wisdom just like you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: You do, and its name is Bawa. Time for a short story? Rumismith: I need to have the awareness of it at all times, nothing short of it. Yes please for the story. 8. The Triple Dirt And The Grace of God MuhaiyaddeenLB: Short Story: A man was buried inside of a mountain, and the place he was inside the mountain had four walls. Behind three of the walls were three other mountains, each a hundred miles wide, and behind the last wall, behind the fourth wall, which was the only exit from the mountain, was a barrier that was only about a foot thick. Even a gentle tap on the fourth wall, applied correctly, would send it falling down and release the man from the mountain. MuhaiyaddeenLB: So the man decided to dig himself out of the mountain. Which wall should he select, wall 1, 2, 3, or 4? Rumismith: 4 of course. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Then why are you digging on walls 1, 2, and 3? Rumismith: You have a way to make me laugh at myself. But to me it seems that 4th wall is made out of thick steel. MuhaiyaddeenLB: We must realize that walls 1, 2, and 3 are the Triple dirt of our life, and wall four is the grace of God in our life. Which we use is our choice, we have the 4 walls. Wall 1 is arrogance, and wall 2 is karma, and wall 3 is illusion, and wall 4 is iman and wisdom. No matter how much you dig on wall 1, 2, and 3 you will never get out of the mountain of your mind and desire. MuhaiyaddeenLB: The name of wall 4 is Bawa. Rumismith: I like this story. Thank you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bawa is the 99 qualities of God, so when you become depressed you are not digging on wall 4, but on wall 1, 2, and 3. Bawa is patience, contentment and gratitude, trust in God, praise of God, and the realization that only God is great. That is wall 4. When you are not falling into these things, in everything that you do, you are digging on walls 1, 2, and 3. Rumismith: But how, how, please tell me how to switch from wall 1, 2, and 3 to wall 4. MuhaiyaddeenLB: By stopping the mind through wisdom. By acting the way wisdom acts. By reacting to things the way wisdom reacts to things. Rumismith: But when I am in a state of depression I can't connect with wisdom. 9. A Person Is Known By His Qualities MuhaiyaddeenLB: For Last Point: Bawa says that a person is known by his qualities. So each time you rap about "Rumi" in a negative way, you are digging on walls 1, 2, and 3. The only proper response to the question "how are you", or "what is happening" is Al-hamdu lillah. The first word out of your mouth determines your day, your moment, your life. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Step 1: Stop talking about "Rumi". Instead talk about Bawa, the life and teaching of Bawa, a paragraph from a book or discourse by Bawa. Rumismith: Yes, yesterday I was transcribing Bawa's discourses all day long. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In the "Forward" of the book, "The Pearl of Wisdom", page 6, Bawa teaches us, "...Forget yourself. Speak and lose yourself. Talking alone with intensity, say, 'He is One', your soul will elevate itself." Rumismith: Then I read Bawa's discourse 4/26/72, "How To Merge With The Guru", at www.SpiritualDiscourse001.homestead.com, from our WebSite, "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library", at www.BawaMuhaiyaddeenLibrary.homestead.com. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What a wonderful thing to do. 10. The Meaning of Suffering And Sorrow MuhaiyaddeenLB: In "Sandakumaran's Song", on page 8 in the book, "Maya Veerum - The Forces of Illusion", Bawa teaches us the meaning of suffering and sorrow in our life, "What is the cause of suffering? Your mind engulfs you and gathers in sorrow. You fail to understand this wisely O man, and conclude, these must be the trials of God." "The sorrow and torment, the demons that attack and bring turbulence to your life, will be destroyed when wisdom cuts the schemes of the mind." "What suffering can there be then?" "Analyze and examine yourself. Then you will know the state of being One with God. What other bliss can there be but this? This is what our mind does. Our getting depressed is the nourishment of all of the lives of darkness within us. Realize this. 11. Life Is A Feast of The World MuhaiyaddeenLB: Our getting depressed does not, does not, does not, have anything to do with us, it is just us being "lunch" for all the lives of darkness that have grown within us. For as His Holiness teaches us, "All that you see is a dream. All that you do is just a thought within that dream. All that you appear as is hidden ......... Life is a feast of the world. Its medicine is a time after a time." 12. Life Can Also Be The Harvest of God Rumismith: I like that forgetting oneself, that has always spoken to me. In the boo, "Mystical Experiences" Bawa says: "If man gets to know his (true) self, (his selfless self), forgets the earth, and completely eradicates his ego, (his false self, his selfish self), then the Qutb (will emerge from within Him), and then the Nur will emerge (from within the Qutb), and when these two merge with the eternal Allah (with the Primal One hidden within us), that is Alif, the effulgence of Allah". Isn't that beautiful? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes - now you are on a roll. Keep it up. Al-hamdu lillah. Rumismith: I like you because you have a good sense of humor about you. So, shall we talk more about loosing oneself. End of Page 1 of 2 of Spiritual Chat 5 - text only version - or Go To Spiritual Chat 5: Related Material or Footnotes For Chat 5 Outline of Footnotes 1. Pushing The "Up" or "Down" Button In The Elevator This reference to pushing the "up" or the "down" button in the elevator comes out of an analysis by this child of a discourse by His Holiness, an analysis at the feet of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), an analysis of the beautiful discourse given by His Holiness on 4/6/85, in which Bawa teaches us that the only thing we truly have in our life is a choice, and everything else is God's responsibility, not our responsibility. In this discourse His Holiness teaches us that each thing in our life, in each moment of our life, in each situation of our life, is just about deciding between two choices in our life, the right or the wrong choice, the truth or the falsehood of our life, and nothing else, and that everything else in our life, everything else flowing out of that choice, either heaven or hell or God, is already determined for us by God, is automatic, is completely out of our control or manipulation or influence, is carried out completely by God. And the only real choice in our life, that we are always making, either implicitly or explicitly, is the choice to either live as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, to either join in partnership with God within us, in what He is already doing within us, and in this way become "one with" God within us, and "one with" what God is doing within us, for His Divine purpose, not for our worldly purpose, allowing Him to finish what He has started within us, which is to reveal True Man within the Creation of God, and reveal God within the Creation of True Man, or to try and forge out our own way, a way "separate from" God, to try and make up our own agenda and try to accomplish it "separate from" God, to try and live our own life "separate from" God, to make our own mark on the world, for example, by having our own personal things, like a job, a wife, children, a house, a set of personal accomplishments, our own family, brothers and sisters, history and lineage, or our own understanding of things, as we see them to be. The analogy of the elevator came out of the analysis by this child of this discourse by His Holiness, an analysis by this child living at the feet of His Holiness, an analysis by this child trying to live as "one with" His Holiness, and as "one with" what His Holiness is doing, which is curing Himself of us, of the "us" of "separation from" God, revealing the "us" of "oneness with" God, which is His Holiness within us as "one with" God within us, the analogy that in truth our life is like a man who enters and rides an elevator, who is presented with two, and only two choices within the elevator, to push either the "up" or the "down" button of the elevator (there are only three floors for this mystical elevator, the floor you are on, the floor above you, and the floor below). And the consequences flowing out of his choice, out of either choice that he makes, of pushing either the "up" or the "down" button of the elevator, are completely within the responsibility of the elevator, are completely carried out by the elevator, carrying him either "up" or "down", to the floor above or below. In this way, the consequences of a man making a choice in this mystical elevator are not in any way within the responsibility of the man in the elevator. He only has the choice in his hand, nothing else, the choice to go either "up" or "down", to the floor above or below, nothing else. Everything else is within the responsibility of the elevator, the elevator is responsible for everything required to carry him to the floor above him or below him. As is the case of each of our lives, we have the choice to live as either "one with" God or "separate from" God. Only this choice is in our hands, nothing else, the choice to go either "up" or "down" in our life, to go to either heaven and eternal "oneness with" God, or to hell and eternal "separation from" God, nothing else. Everything else is within the responsibility of God. God is responsible for everything required to carry us to heaven and eternal "oneness with" God, or to hell and eternal "separation from" God. And once the man in the elevator make his choice and pushes either the "up" or "down" button, everything else is taken care of by the elevator, he either goes "up" in the elevator or "down" in the elevator. Nothing that he does in the elevator after making his choice, by pushing either the "up" or the "down" button, has any effect on what the elevator next does, or what happens to him in the elevator after he makes his choice, with him going either "up" or "down". Similarly, once we choose in any moment, situation, thought, intention, or activity in our life to do it "with" or "without" God, to do what we are doing, thinking, or intending, either as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, everything else is taken care of by God, and we automatically move "up" or "down" in our life. It is just that simple. Nothing that we appear to do, as the consequences of our decision, nothing that may appear to us to flows out of a situation, a word, a thought, or an activity that we are involved in, after making our choice to do it as either as "one with" God or as "separate from" God, has any effect on what happens to us in any way as a result of our choice, because either it moves us forward on the path to God, which is the path to an eternal life as "one with' God, or it moves us forward on the path to hell, which is the path to an eternal life as "separate from" God. That is all that can happen, based on our choice, because nothing else is really happening. Everything else is just part of the dream, the dream of a life of separation and differences that we see in our ignorance as existing "outside" of us. We must realize without the slightest doubt, that nothing else is really happening in our life, or in any life, whether we believe it or not, whether we like it or not, either we are moving closer to "oneness with" God, or further away from "oneness with" God, which all comes out of our choice, in each moment of our life, out of whether in that moment we turned "toward" God or "away from" God, to do it, to say it, to think it, to understand it, or to accomplish it, as in an elevator nothing else is really happening in the elevator, either we are going "up" or "down", which all comes out of our choice, out of whether we pushed the "up" or the "down" button. The following is a part of a beautiful 7 page letter that was sent by this child to our sister Aziza (Bitsy) Weiss on the 18th thru the 24th of October, 2001, that was given the title, "Only God Is Good", and dealt with the difficulty that she, as well as many of us, were and are having as a result of the September 11th destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City, and the damage to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the subsequent "War on Terrorism" that is currently occurring in the world today. This letter to Aziza can be read by going to The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library and by going directly to the following URL or web page address for Spiritual Letters, Home Page - Spiritual Letters: www.SpiritualLetters.homestead.com. Once there click on "Spiritual Letter 8" - "Only God Is Good". We are in the process of putting the whole letter on-line. To date (4/5/02) only page 1 of 7 is on-line. Beginning of Part of Letter To Aziza --------------- My dearest loving sisters Aziza, we must absorb into our hearts, without the slightest doubt, the explanation given to us by His Holiness, on 4/6/85, of what it means to say to God, "You are the cause when we go down in our life, and You are the cause when we progress, when we climb up in our life." In this discourse His Holiness gives us God's explanation, of the meaning of this statement to God, which each of us in the clarity of our wisdom, must personally understand and say to God, for God to accept us and take us back into Himself. ----- beginning of quotation by His Holiness ----- And God tells man, "I have given you the state in which You and I can be one. Also, I have given you the state where You and I can be separated. I have given you the wisdom to understand that all mankind are the children of one Mother, and to be joined in unity, but also you have the tendency to forget this, and to destroy yourselves as a result." "We have spread out one mat called the dunya, or this world, and all of us are on this same mat, sitting, laying down, eating, praying, to experience everything in our life. The dunya, this plate is like this. And we have given you the wisdom to understand this, that the world is like a prayer mat, where you can pray from any part of the world. And it is also an alter where you sacrifice." "The world is a place where one can embrace the other in peace and unity, but it is also the place where one can murder the other in sacrifice. You have the wisdom to join together, as one family, to eat off the same plate in unity, and you also have the wisdom (the consciousness), when it is warped, to plunder the food of another, and to covet what others have." "So there are 400 trillion, and 10 thousand different kinds of prayers and worship, acts which are just and unjust, the divisions of "you" and "I", the divisions that yours are different from mine and mine is different from yours, causing all these divisions and separations. And because of this, you also have within you, the state in which you will commit so many sins, and evils, and murders." "However, you also have (within you) the wisdom to understand this, and to differentiate between these two states." ----- end of quotation by His Holiness ----- In this way, my dearest loving sister Aziza, our work now, our only work now, is to put down what we have mistakenly picked up through our ignorance, is to put down the life of separation and differences that God has given us, to put down the life that God has discarded, that God has given us as part of Him giving us everything that He has, and through our wisdom to pick up the life of oneness and unity, to pick up the life that God has picked us, as His life, the life of justice and truth, the life of compassion and unity that God has also given us, as part of everything that He has. The choice is ours, because we have both types of lives within us, the life of what God has discarded, the life of darkness, the life of falsehood and injustice, and the life that God has picked up, the life of light, the life of truth and justice, because God has given us both types of lives, as part of what He has given us, and we can pick up either, and put either down. The choice is ours. In this way, God has given us everything, which includes all that He Is, all that is within Him, and all that has separated from Him, and He has given all of this to us, to us as His Children for this age, so that we, joined in partnership with Him, can do what He did, can do what only He can do, which is to separate from us what He separated from Himself, by joining with Him, by joining with what He has given to each of us to do this Divine Work, by joining with the life and teaching of God for this age, by joining with the life and teaching of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). Then and only then, we are one with Him, and He is one with us. Then and only then will our life be successful. Then and only then will our wisdom reason over our fate. End of Part of Letter To Aziza ------------------- End of Footnotes ........................... |
This page was last updated on: April 5, 2002
