image by axinia
Sufism fascinates me since I know about it. Apart from my spiritual practice of Sahaja Yoga, Sufism is probably the closest to my heart.
What is Sufism? Here is the beautiful explanation by a great Sufi-master Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927).
“Sufism is not a religion, for it is beyond the limitations of faiths and beliefs which make the diversity of religions in the world. Sufism, in short, is a change of outlook on life. It is like viewing from an aeroplane a town, the streets of which one has known and walked through, and yet one has never before seen the whole town at a glance.
The Sufi’s idea is to view life by raising himself above it. If a man is in pain, how can he relieve the pain of another? If a person is already burdened with a load, how can he take on another person’s burden? If a person is quarrelsome himself, how can he bring peace between others who are fighting? Therefore a Sufi considers it necessary to live in the world and at the same time to be not of the world. Where the Yogi lives the life of an adept in the forest or in a mountain cave, the Sufi lives it in the world. For he considers that to awaken one’s heart to human sympathy, one must experience oneself the struggles and responsibilities of life in the world, and realize that man lives not for himself alone, but that his greatest joy must be to share every benefit and bliss he has in life with others.
This process of viewing life both from below and from above makes his sight keen. He not only knows the law of nature, known to all, but he understands the inner law which is working behind everything, which gives him an insight into things and awakens his sympathy for others.
The Sufi’s God is the only Being that exists. His teacher is the spirit of inner guidance; his holy book is the manuscript of nature, his community is the whole of humanity. His religion is love. There is no God of any people. who is not his God, no spiritual teacher of any creed who is not his teacher. There is no sacred scripture that he does not accept, since he is the worshipper of light and the follower of love, and yet he is free from all the world’s distinctions and differences.”
Isn`t it the perfect attitude to life and spirituality?…
Recently, reading some book by Hazrat Inayat Khan, I came across one interesting statement on self-realisaiton:
“Only self-realization can give man full independence. It would be no exaggeration to say that by self-realization the heart of man becomes greater than the universe. The world in which man lives like a drop in the sea then becomes a drop in the ocean of his heart. The saints and sages, the illuminated souls who have brought light to others, have been the self-realized ones. One might ask, then where is the place of God, itself-realization brings one to perfection? The answer is that God is a steppingstone to self-realization. The godly one is not always self-realized, but the self-realized one is godly. All the different ways that lead to God, different religions, faiths, occult schools, mystical paths, all these bring one in the end to the same goal, and that is self-realization. Even where there is a great difference such as that between the teachings of the Hebrews and those of Buddha, both teachings will meet in one thing, and that is self-realization.”
There is a beautiful collection of Sufi wisdom here.
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
The Prophet said, “All of them will be in the Fire except for one.”
They asked, “Who are they, Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Those who base themselves on what I and my Companions are doing today.”
I find the dance of dervishes fascinating…there is something about it.
swaps, it is fascinating indeed, however it is really the least fascinating of all Sufi things 🙂 Their spirituality and wisdom is great!
What fascinates me is that they propose ‘dervish dance’ as a path to enlightenment, exactly opposite to Eastern still methods!!
“Therefore a Sufi considers it necessary to live in the world and at the same time to be not of the world.”
It’s like our saints urging man to be like a swan – to be in water without getting wet.
Swaps
I feel inspired and thought I would share some words of Rumi
My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved; have seen the two worlds as one
And that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner,
Only that breath breathing human being.
You may like to hear it read
I see that you mean, my friend. Indeed, it is much more difficult to life in the world and to become/remain a saintly person – much easlier to escape to HImalayas and enjoy the Moksha all alone 🙂
That is why I said Sufism is the closest to Sahaja Yoga – because it is actually the same approach.
You know, I sometimes think I must have been a strikt yogi in my past lifes, becase my quest for spirituality is too straightforward, and I used to be very hard with people who were far from understanding this path…
However now I enjoy so much being among people, loving them and still being what I am.
Hi Axinia, I wanted to say that the Sufi saints are perfect Sahaj Yogis and i saw that you already said it!!! Total detachment and aboslute bliss!! That’s why we can enjoy the sufi poems and songs so much as they are all realized souls. We can identify Sufism a lot similar to SY and the becoming a Drop in the ocean is the basis for detachment and witness state. JSM
thanks, dear…another similarity that I found is that they do not only talk of love, they ARE love and they LIVE love…
http://my-sixth-grade-hero.blogspot.com/2008/12/sufi-message-of-hazrat-inayat-khan.html
The above link leads to a man who has stolen this post word for word. I am not spam, I am someone who has had their content and photos stolen as well. Google needs to take this person off the internet, He stole your photo too! Please I urge you to report this person
Notify, thans for your notice! – I am aware of such cases, but I really not not care (see “about”).
While in Delhi next, visit his mazaar in Nizamuddin area (entry from the Jangpura side). The place, despite being amid the cluster emits unbelievable peace. Library is good too.
yes, I was also thiking of this. I definetely want to visit this place. I am sure his thomb must have wonderful vibrations.
I happened upon this post today. It is a real gem. I just thought maybe I would share some things.
Of the dervish Dance Rumi has said:
Dancing is not getting up any time painlessly
like a speck of dust blown around in the wind
Dancing is wen you rise above both worlds
tearing your heart to pieces, giving up your soul
Its really amazing in many ways, the dance is not something that is planned but something that happened when one for a moment is absent from himself/herself in a state of ecstasy.
Leafs have been my favourite. Everyone is talking about them. I anticipate winnipeg jets are able to keep it up as I heard their sales #’s are lagging in the future years.