Comment from Darvish, and some thoughts on Submission

Hello Friends,

Irving, the author of the darvish blog was nice enough to leave the following comment

Our later Master, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh said, “If you could accept what is happening at every moment, you would be finished with the path.” This acceptance is real submission to God in each moment, which with the grace imparted through the Master opens the heart to unconditional love for all of creation. We think we love, but it is usually a bargain enacted, a transaction. If love is not unconditional, it is not real love. This is the true submission.

Ya Haqq!

I remember reading

Those who have been slain
             by the dagger of submission,
Every moment receive
             new life from the Unseen.
The intellect cannot understand
            the origin of this mystery,
For such slain ones
            speak a different tongue.

                                                         -’Ayno’l-Qozat Hamadini

 Ya Haqq!

                  Dave

A Conversation over Pizza about Sufism, Grace, Jesus, Rumi

Hey Friends,

The best conversations are the ones over good pizza. I had a nice conversation with a friend when the following quote came up by Idries Shah:

“Enlightenment must come Little by little otherwise it would overwhelm”

I immediately thought of a cool anecdote I remember reading from Dr. Nurbakhsh’s Jesus in the Eyes of the Sufis.

As Jesus was traveling across a plain he saw a man who had made a retreat for himself there. it was secluded haunt with running natural spring and an oratory for prayer and it was surrounded by green shrubbery.

My dear god fearing ascetic Jesus addressed the man, why do you seclude yourself so?’Devotion has been my lifelong labor the man replied but my one overwhelming desires has still not been granted by god. “And what is that?” Jesus inquired. “To drink one draught of Divine Love confessed the ascetic. Jesus prayed that his desire be gratified then rose and continued on his way, it was granted by God’s grace.

Once again in the course of his wondering Jesus happened to pass by the same sport and saw that the retreat was in shambles and the sand had blown over it. The oasis has dried up and the man’s prayer niche has crumbled to pieces

O Lord Jesus petitioned where has this man gone How as this become ruined like this? Explain this tragedy to me. You will find his him on a certain mountaintop, God revealed to Jesus, himself a mountain of grief from head to foot.

Finding the mountain, Jesus saw the man with his lips all shriveled and his face pale and parched. Jesus was dismayed and astounded; the man appeared like a living course. His hair was crackling with anguish and the desert dust played freely over his face he was caked with dirt and blood; his eyes seemed like bottomless pits. When Jesus hailed in with greetings of peace he received no salutation in reply.

Jesus was then confided this revelation by God: “Such was his own entreaty. He desired an atom of love When I gave it to him he gave up everything. He ceased to care about himself. He was obliterated became utterly helpless. Had I poured one atom more of My Glory upon him he would have been shattered into a 1000 pieces.

An atom even, in Love, is too much;

Conceit in Love is unbefitting

Besides Love itself

Whatever else subsists, is

Like an idol temple

In the Ka’ba

When alien names from the heart

Are extirpated, the veils

From the Loved Ones visage are raised

 

I noticed an interesting mentality, maybe you can say it’s the Puritanical mentality that has been with America since its inception. The mentality is that the harder one works the better and quicker are ones results. There is a direct correlation between hard work and success. When there is a new disease or problem facing our country, our first impulse is to through money at it. The more money we through at it the more people will work on it the quicker an answer will be found.

Many times in my own search and I am sure to some extent even now as I feel like only a child on the path, the same mentality persists. I used to think that more meditation, more service more doing good stuff will give me more results, bring me closer to my goal.  From what I have learned once this mentality takes root it’s time to revamp one’s goals. Why?

There are no goals on the path, nothing to aspire to just total and complete submission or subservience to the greater reality both manifest and unmanifest. We have in mind what our results will look like. Our mind’s approximation of results and what the results really are rather different things even if they look similar initially. Also in a way to me it becomes a sort of bribe.  I will be nice to my neighbor not because I have mercy and compassion for him, and the trials life has put him too but because if I do it enough times I will go to heaven and eat seedless grapes and tiramisu.  (I don’t know what’s on the menu there; I don’t have that flyer at my desk only for Happy Gardens Chinese takeout.)

I have come to see things a bit different since those days. If the aspirant does meditation for a gain even if it is a spiritual gain they are deluding themselves. We are all especially me good at deluding ourselves. Until calamity comes and makes us take a step back and examine our motives. We work and work with no expectation, not caring to know are we there yet what there looks like, what are the significance of each action. We focus on the present and by grace we arrive. The way I see it in my head we can’t get anywhere really without that Grace. Check out these words from Llewellyn Vaughan Lee on Grace the master of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidiyya  order:

But the core of the path lies in the relationship with the teacher, suhbat; it is through this relationship that the transmission of the lineage and the grace are given, and without it there can be no inner transformation and no journey……But grace is the cornerstone of every Sufi lineage, of any company of the lovers of God. Stepping onto the path, we step into the grace of a spiritual tradition, the power of love that is given for the work that needs to be done. Without it nothing real can happen on the path. As Rumi tells us, through our own effort we cannot even reach the first way station. It is through grace that the miracle of transformation happens; it is grace that opens human beings to the infinite preciousness of God’s limitless love, which is so easily hidden even though it is always present. And grace by its very nature is a gift. It flows from heart to heart in a transmission of love, and no effort is required. It can be very difficult for Americans to stop striving and acknowledge dependence upon something beyond the reach of their effort or will or even their understanding.

The best analogy to me is that of planting a seed. All of us have done it at one time or another. We have to buy the right type of soil and provide it with all the right nutrient (water and fertilizer for the seed to grow in). The water and fertilizers are our spiritual practices with prepare the heart to be the throne of The Soul in which is our own soul. Once we plant the seed they all grow and sprout on terms which are beyond us, beyond our control. Each seed has a particular time place and circumstance under which it will sprout, the more nutrients and water we put in the soul, the more we might be harming the seed.

That’s grace to me the finally awakening, the final stirring, the creative spark that we have no control over. What do you think? It would be nice to her your thoughts. I leave you with two quotes. One from Sufi al Karaz with comentaryby Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee  and a poem from Rumi:

 

“Whoever believes he can reach God by his own efforts toils in vain; whoever believes he can reach God without effort is merely a traveler on the road of intent.” To step onto the path in which we must acknowledge our utter helplessness and dependence upon grace while still making every effort on our own is to enter a world of paradox and mystery which throws the wayfarer beyond the familiarity and security of his rational understanding, and this is not easy for people who have been so deeply conditioned by our powerful Western rational tradition.

 

SEEDS AND RAIN

 

The mystery of action: We are seeds.

You are rain. A dear stain,

our seed coverings decay.

 

                                          You mix with what is inside,

                                           and a toast to the new begins:

 

A divine blade, the keen edge

of now. Now rest, for the soul

 

slides over these eyes, as Shams

Tabriz covers Shams Tabriz.

-Dave

Another excerpt from Dogs from a Sufi point of View by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh

Hello Friends,

I was sitting down and reading some interesting things, that made me smile. I thought I would share them with you, but first a funny picture.

The Prophet told of a women who was considered to be a transgressor whileproceeding in the desert, she came upon a well by which was standing a dog,panting with thirst.Moved by pity she abandoned her work, made a bucket of her shoe and a rope of her head covering to draw water for the dog. For this god blessed her in both His worlds. The Prophet saud that on his me’raj [Journeyof Ascent] he saw her, radiant as the moon with the whole paradise of Eden at her disposal.

When the transgressor gave water to the dog, her reward from God was that of merit many times over. if you bring peace fir a moment to a het, the merit therefrom cannot be compared with the two worlds. This is becase the heart is without self and the merit therefrom goes beyond even the 2 worlds. Selfness is loss;become selfless with aspiration  so that through selflessness you may attain exaltation.

Here is another excerpt:

Shibli said “I learned Sifism from adog who was sleeping by the door of a house. The master of the house came out and drove it away but the dog came back. I said tomyself ‘How wretched this dog is, when driven away he still comes back.’ The Dog commanded by God said” O Shaikh, where should I go he is my master?”

And a final

“For forty years,” said Abu Othman, “whatever state God has kept me in I have not resented, and to whatever state He transferred me I have not been angry.”

The following story bears out this assertion. A man who disbelieved in Abu Othman sent him an invitation. Abu Othman accepted, and got as far as the door of his house. The man then shouted at him:

“Glutton, there is nothing here for you. Go home!”

Abu Othman went home. He had gone only a little way when the man called out to him:

“Shaikh, come here!”

Abu Othman returned.

“You are very eager to eat,” the man taunted him. “There is still less. Be off with you!”

The shaikh departed. The man summoned him again, and he went back.

“Eat stones, or go home!”

Abu Othman went off once more. Thirty times the man summoned him and drove him away. Thirty times the shaikh came and went, without showing the least discomposure. Then the man fell at his feet and with tears repented, becoming his disciple.

“What a man you are!” he exclaimed. “Thirty times I drove you off with contumely, and you showed not the slightest discomposure.”

“This is an easy matter,” Abu Othman replied. “Dogs do the same. When you drive them away they go, and when you call them they come, without showing any discomposure. A thing in which dogs equal us cannot really be accounted anything. Men’s work is something quite other.”

Stories like this are pretty impactful, because for me they aren’t so obtuse as other stories, and it is something practical and I can relate to it immediately. Its interesting how crazy things can get. Someone says something to us or sometimes doesnt say somethign to us we usually hear or expect to hear and we get in a huff and a puff, and we immediately distance ourselves from that person on some level.

We werent called or driven away by that person, we distanced ourselvees from that person. Thinking about it  that one of the worse things we can do to distance ourselves from someone albeit someone close to us or not. One this distance has been created, then its easy to see people as ‘those people’, or someone other than ourselves which goes against every fraternal instint we have.

Looking at children playing, you can ee the natural fraternal instinct in all of us. Children don’t see the difference between race, they dont even need to speak the same language to have fun with each other nad yet somehow when we get older we become super specific as to who is our friend, who do we curse openly and in the privacy of our homes.

What happens to the other person, the person whom we distance ourselves from?  Everyone has felt at one time that they have fallen in the eyes of a friends or are no longer at the same place, that something is different, and its so much a question of attention being paid but love being felt. The worst feeling in the world is to feel unloved, and it is my feeling that the great harm you  can do to another is to make them feel unloved, especially because of an expectation.

The sufis have viewed Satan as a actually a greaet lover of God, he loved God so intensely that he could not see himself bend before and love man so great and unflexible was his love for God, and yet man is none other than God himself. How many times too do we fail to recognize this because of our inflexibility.

My love and warm wishese to you all

Dave

Sincerity – just my thoughts

Hello Friends,

           Many times over the last weeke I have heard the word sincerity many many times. I got to thinking it the universe trying to tell me something and I decided I would jsut take a step back and try to digest what I have come to figure what sincerity is.

         The moment that sticks out to me the most  over the last few months that has truly taught me a lot about sincerity. I was told that real sincerity lies in having our inner self and outer self say the same thing. It requires complete unification of  our inner and outer life, as I would read later:

If we say that Sufism means ‘attaining unity’, then ’sincerity with oneself’ signifies ‘unifying ones outward being with ones inward being’ and thereby establishing unity in oneself.

if there is no unity of the outward with the inward, there can be no unity of character. This disharmony between one’ outward and inward being generates anxiety and depression. Only through the power of sincerity can one bring about  psychophysical unity in oneself, can one enjoy psychological health.

Hence the result of sincerity with oneself are liberation from the anxiety that stems from disharmony of character and the establishment of psychological health.   – Dr Javad Nurbakhsh

Immediately when I hear something like the quote above i think to myself that is great, so what does that mean in English? well I have noticed for myself that for disharmony there are examples that assail us from all corners of life experience. 

How of us are in job we don’t want to be in? How many of us are with people we don’t want to be with?  How many of us don’t want to live where we live? if we look around our workplace chances are we wont see many smiles, that’s just one example.

I really don’t feel like sincerity means vulnerability or being walked  and or shat on at all. For some reason i have noticed that the practicing of virtues has some how come to denote someone always being pushed around and victimized by life.

What do you think ?

Dave

My Favorite french Writers and a Quote from Dr Javad Nurbakhsh

Hello Friends,

                    Some of you may or may not know but my favorite writer is Antoine de St Exupery. beautiful prose, for me at least. We all know him as the writer of the  Little Prince, however how many of us know his as the writer of  ” Les courrier Sud” ( Southern mail), Les Terres des Hommes (Wind Sands and Stars), Le vol du nuit (Night Flight). These have been for me some of themost inspiring books I have read.

                  I was talking to my friend from the land of eagles (each time I type that I laugh lol), and St Exupery came up. I remembered a quote from him that really impacted me when I was much younger

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.

Its a really touching quote, I think its from Night Flight, but I cant remember. There should be a cool SQL for the mind. There was another quote by Camus that the afore mentioned one calls to mind and that is:

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Both these quotes for me allude to the same thing, unity and mutual participation which are the alluring dream of religion and the end point of the mystics. I have had this quote in my mind from Master Nurbakhsh which precipitated this posting for me.

O Sufi!

What is Sufism?

Sufism is the apprehension of Reality through the attraction of Divine Love. It is the struggle to bring about unity of attention in one’s inner and outer being, under the guidance of a master of the path. In other words, Sufism means looking in one direction and seeing all things as One.

 

Sufism, love, true fraternity, the higher goal of mankind, whatever you want to call it is all about moving in one direction, past opposites, past differing ideologies, past our conceptions of ourselves, past even this movement itself to a Singular existence. I believe that is what the true annihilation of self is.

-Dave

Dr Javad Nurbakhsh – A Look In Retrospect

Hello Everyone,

                        As some of you may know, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh, the head of the Nimatullahi Sufi order died on Friday october the 10th.  I just wanted to put together a few thoughts I had on him. I have never met him, nor am I a darvish in his order, but I have seen his far reaching affect on people, and I have witness for myself the puissance of his presence and leadership in the actions and behaviors of the darvishes of this order I have come across.

                      From what I have experienced in the Khanaqah is everyone from all creeds, races, etc being totally accepted and shown the highest courtesy and respect, this really impacted me when i first came. Also what really affected me was actually seeing professionals blue and white collar, coming together to further their spiritual pursuits. In many other places I have been to and  seen science and ‘book learning were shunned’. I have always felt that science and mysticism and  2 sides of the same coin.  What most influenced me in my visits, was the pervading sense of love between everyone there, and the lack of expectation.  I feel that in such an environment like this people can truly blossom into something much more richer and beautiful than our imagination combined with our hopes and dreams can conceive. I have seen some truly unique and beautiful blossoms there.

In most circumstance I would agree with Marc Anthony’s saying in Julius Caesar that the good that men do is often buried with them. However in the case of Javad Nurbakhsh, the good that he has wrought is very much alive through the selflessness and love of his Darvishes I have been very honored to have been witness to, even though not directly the, triumphant mark he has made and is continuing to make in our times.

Thank you for the opportunity

Dave

 

Dogs, Spirituality and marriage but not in that order

Hello All,

                             I just got home from work two jobs one day got to love it. It seems exercising my freedom of speech got me into touble with the Lady of the House. Luckily for me I have always imagined that my wifes angry state is her natural state by default. I have an emergency kit to help me survive during suck periods like this…..

Emergency Angry Wife Kit

1. $5 Dollars to buy her chocolate
2. Treats for my dog Happy because we will be hanging out a lot 
3. Holy Water from th neighborhood church
4. Bus and or train fare
5. Head fones, cds, batteries,
6. Fresh water

I feel prepared as I have all of these, if I were only joking, :-/.  Anyways while preparing myself for the inevitable tension discomfort I thought I would take a moment here on My Caravan of Dreams, to salute the family dog. Or rather the big family dog that genally belongs to the husband like Happy.

 As opposed to the dog of the wife which can fit into a purse and pees on all your prized possessions because on some level he knows that there arent enough emergency angry wife kits on earth to last you something were to happen to him due to your exacting revenge.

Uhm moving along, I was thinking about dogs, and how though they are  considered unclean animals in some parts of the world, theyare the most loyal animal i can think of. They completely submit to your will and are penultimately loyal in times of bounty and in scarcity.  There is a great spiritual lesson in there somewhere.

Case and Point:

THis is an awesome book! Here is a brief description from Alibris.com,ready?

DOGS: FROM A SUFI POINT OF VIEW is presented in stories drawn from classical Sufi literature and communicates the value of humility, loyalty, and other praiseworthy qualities of dogs, emphasizing the worthiness of a gentle training that tames wildness and makes this most noble animal useful to society.

I love animals and I think they rock to the point that I have 6 pets in my little crappy NYC apartment. Wish me all luck I double checked my list for my angry wife survival kit.

Here is a funny story about husbands and wives I figure you may laugh at, maybe if anoughof you laugh that good vibe will pass on to my spouse and I can come out of hiding lol

– Dave

 

The great Mulla Nasrudin belonged to a club
called “The Assembly of Those who are not
Afraid of their Wives.’

One day the chairman called the meeting to
order in the customary manner, saying: ‘O all
you who are not afraid of your wives – be seated.’

All sat except Nasrudin.

‘Whats the matter Nasrudin – are you afraid of your
wife?’ the chairman asked.

“I am not afraid of her, but I can’t sit down. She beat
me so hard last night that I am black and blue.’