THE SUFI DOCTRINE OF RUMI: Illustrated Edition
WILLIAM C. CHITTICK. FOREWORD BY SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR –

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Reviewed by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos

“Hail, O Love that bringest us good gain—thou art the physician of all our ills”

–Rūmī

The outpouring of interest in RūMī(1207-1273) or as he is known within the world of Islamic spirituality, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī or simply Mawlānā, “our Master,” in the contemporary West is an overwhelming confirmation of the timeless relevance of traditional wisdom that isneither of the East or West. He is the originator of the renowned “mystical dance” (semā), which later became known as the “dance of the whirling dervishes” that is utilized by the Mevlevi or Mawlawiyya Sufi order founded by Rūmī ’s followers after his death. How is it that a poet from the thirteenth-century born in Balkh (Khurasan or present-day Afghanistan), who lived most of his life and was buried in Konya (Turkey), has become a celebrated figure in America today? This is again evidence of his universal message that transcends religious and sectarian boundaries, national, cultural, and ethnic divisions and is not limited to time or place. With the rise of Islamophobia, including extremism and xenophobia in all its forms, the message of the saints and sages such as Rūmī provide an antidote to the increasing ignorance, hatred, and violence that are besieging the world today.
THE SUFI DOCTRINE OF RUMI is a revised edition of a work that was initially published in 1974 in Iran by the Aryamehr University in Tehran to celebrate the seven-hundredth anniversary of Rūmī ’s death, when Professor Chittick was an assistant professor of Religious Studies at the university. This new edition is colorfully decorated with calligraphy, Persian and Turkish miniature paintings, which are truly stunning for the eye to gaze upon.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, one of the world’s most respected writers and speakers on Islam and its mystical path, Sufism, was then the Chancellor of Aryamehr University. Nasr discusses the importance of this work for future Rūmī studies in his Foreword to this book:
[This] study of Dr. Chittick has the great merit…of approaching the subject [of Rūmī’s metaphysical teachings] from a strictly traditional point of view untainted by the modernistic fallacies which have colored most of the other studies devoted so far to this subject in Western languages.… May the message of Rūmī serve as a beacon of light to dispel the shadows which prevent modern man from seeing even his own image in its true form and from knowing who he really is.

Rūmī ’s major works are the DīWāN-I SHAMS-I TABRīZī of some 40,000 verses, and the MATHNAWī containing some 25,000 verses, which is often regarded as “the Qu’ran in the Persian language.” Although no work could fully encompass the totality of Rūmī ’s teachings, readers may ask, why yet another book? While numerous books are available they often miss the mark, and do not provide insight into the mystical symbolism of Rūmī ’s spiritual universe. Chittick speaks to his intentions behind preparing this work:
Despite numerous studies of him [Rūmī], until now there has been no clear summary in English of the main points of his doctrines and teachings…. For those who know [ Rūmī] only through the popularizing translations [of his poetry], this little book may provide some insight into his universe of meaning. Unlike most Sufi poets, Rūmī explains the meaning of his imagery and symbolism. My task is simply to juxtapose various verses and prose passages to let him say what he wants to say.

While Rūmī is well-known, and celebrated in the present-day, what is lacking are authoritative works accessible for general readers that offer an introduction in clear and accessible language to his magical poetry. This book does just that as it provides an authoritative and accessible presentation of Rūmī ’s magisterial teachings and its
fundamental themes vis-à-vis the Islamic tradition, which is central to his spiritual universe. The lack of knowledge pertaining to the Islamic tradition tends to obstruct Western readers from understanding the depth of Rūmī. Sufism is regarded as the inner or esoteric dimension of Islam and is a spiritual path by which the human being can transcend his or her individual egoism to reach the Divine. Chittick explains the distinction and relationship between the inner and outer dimensions of religion:
Exotericism by definition must be limited in some sense, for it addresses itself to a particular humanity and a particular psychological and mental condition— even though its means of addressing itself is to some degree universalized and expanded through time and space to encompass a large segment of the human race. Esotericism also addresses itself to particular psychological types, but it is open inwardly towards the Infinite in a much more direct manner than exotericism, since it is concerned primarily with overcoming all the limitations of the individual order.

Chittick clarifies the role of the Prophet Muhammad within Sufism as some have tried to separate Sufism from the Islamic tradition as if one could be a Sufi without being a Muslim:
For the Sufis themselves one of the clearest proofs of the integrally Islamic nature of Sufism is that its practices are based on the model of the Prophet Muhammad. For Muslims it is self evident that in Islam no one has been closer to God—or, if one prefers, no one has attained a more complete spiritual realization—than the Prophet himself, for by the very fact of his prophecy he is the Universal Man and the model for all sanctity in Islam. For the same reason he is the ideal whom all Sufis emulate and the founder of all that later become crystallized within the Sufi orders.
Rūmī confirms that all Sufi orders link back like a chain (silsilah) to the Prophet and that without the Prophet Muhammad there would be no Sufism.
This is expressed in his lyrical verse:

“God’s way is exceedingly fearful,
blocked and full of snow. He [the
Prophet] was the first to risk his life,
driving his horse and pioneering the
road. Whoever goes on this road, does
so by his guidance and guarding. He
discovered the road in the first place and
set up waymarks everywhere.”

To the surprise of many Rūmī admirers, who would never accuse him of being narrow-minded, rather than being against orthodox interpretations of religion, Rūmī speaks of orthodoxy as a spiritual necessity to the union with the Divine: “The (right) thought is that which opens a way: the (right) way is that on which a (spiritual) king advances.”

The following is another poetic articulation of Rūmī ’s perspective on orthodoxy: “Alter yourself, not the Traditions: abuse your (dull) brain, not the rose-garden (the true sense which you cannot apprehend).”
According to Rūmī, the true nature of the relationship between the Divine and the world of form requires a transcendent wisdom that is outside the reach of normal or rational knowledge:

It…is neither inside of this world nor
outside; neither beneath it nor above it;
neither joined with it nor separate from it:
it is devoid of quality and relation. At
every moment thousands of signs and
types are displayed by it (in this world).
As manual skill to the form of the hand,
or glances of the eye to the form of the
eye, or eloquence of the tongue to the
form of the tongue (such is the relation of
that world to this).

Although the Divine confirms the unity of all phenomena in the manifest world, when viewed through the lens of the relative or duality, all things appear as separate and disjointed from one another without a trace that they are essentially interconnected on a higher level. Likewise, knowledge cut off from its transcendent source characterizes the fallen consciousness of humanity.
Chittick writes, “The fall of man is the result of the blinding of the ‘eye of the heart’ (chashm-i dil or ‘ayn al-qalb), which alone sees with the vision of gnosis.” Due to the fallen consciousness which attaches itself to what is transitory, human beings do not see things as they are but rather in a distorted way: “Therefore union with this (world) is separation from that (world): the health of this body is the sickness of the spirit. Hard is the separation from this transitory abode: know, then, that the separation from that permanent abode is harder.”

According to Rūmī, the fallen consciousness of Adam extends and includes the whole of humanity:

Sick, surely, and ill-savored is the
heart that knows not (cannot
distinguish) the taste of this and that.
When the heart becomes whole (is
healed of pain and disease), it will
recognize the flavor of falsehood and
truth [since “God taught Adam the
Names”]. When Adam’s greed for the
wheat [the forbidden fruit] waxed
great, it robbed Adam’s heart of health
….discernment flees from one that is
drunken with vain desire.

The loss of the sense of the sacred is itself the forgetting of the Divine. Rūmī asserts, “Forgetfulness (of God), O beloved, is the pillar (prop) of this world; (spiritual) intelligence is a bane to this world.”
Sufism teaches that Universal or Perfect Man (al-insān al-Kāmil) is the prototype of both the microcosm and the macrocosm, the human being and the cosmos. This is to say that Universal or Perfect Man is “the perfect human model who has attained all the possibilities inherent in the human state.” For Universal or Perfect Man the misidentification with the empirical ego has relinquished itself, “the human ego with which most men identify themselves is no more than his outer shell”. Chittick explains the need for consciousness to be in ceaseless contemplation of the Real in order to remedy the forgetfulness of the Divine: “the maintenance of the world depends on the balance between the contemplative who has realized the state of Universal Man, and fallen man, who lives in a state of forgetfulness.” The theomorphic identity of all human beings is the Universal or Perfect Man as Rūmī instructs:

The owner of the Heart [Universal or
Perfect Man] becomes a six-faced
mirror: through him God looks upon
(all) the six directions. Whosoever hath
his dwelling place in (the world of) the
six directions, God doth not look upon
him except through the mediation of
him (the owner of the Heart)….
Without him God does not bestow
bounty on any one.

Rūmī reminds readers that the original function of every human being is to be the Universal or Perfect Man in order to act as a channel of grace in the world. In fact, not to do so, is to forfeit what it means to be human:

There is one thing in this world which
must never be forgotten. If you were to
forget everything else, but did not
forget that, then there would be no
cause to worry; whereas if you
performed and remembered and did
not forget every single thing, but forgot
that one thing, then you would have
done nothing whatsoever.

The saints and sages of the world’s religions remind the human collectivity of his or her original or theomorphic nature and provide methods of realizing
this transpersonal identity:

In the composition of man all sciences
were originally commingled, so that his
spirit might show forth all hidden things,
as limpid water shows forth all that is
under it—pebbles, broken shards, and the
like—and all that is above it, reflecting in
the substance of the water. Such is its
nature, without treatment or training.
But when it was mingled with earth or
other colors [when Adam fell], that
property and that knowledge was parted
from it and forgotten by it. Then God
most High sent forth prophets and saints,
like a great, limpid water such as delivers
out of darkness and accidental coloration
every mean and dark water that enters
into it. Then it remembers; when the soul
of man sees itself unsullied, it knows for
sure that so it was in the beginning, pure,
and it knows that those shadows and
colors were mere accidents.

Identity itself belongs to the Divine and thus the mystery of human identity cannot be resolved without the inclusion of what transcends the empirical ego. Rūmī astutely writes:
“The idol of your self is the mother of (all) idols….”
Whether the human being chooses to do good actions or evil ones, all creation confirms the existence of the Absolute. Rūmī writes,

“…(both) infidelity and
faith are bearing witness (to Him): both
are bowing down in worship before His
Lordliness.”

The secret of the Prophetic Tradition that affirms “Die before ye die” is a call for self- effacement before the Divine in order to be reabsorbed in the Divine. Rūmī states that ultimately death in this life is an alchemical process of spiritual transformation; it is a
journey of homecoming and not of departure in order to return to the Supreme Identity:

O you who possess sincerity, (if) you want
that (Reality) unveiled, choose death and
tear off the veil [of your self-existence]—
Not such a death that you will go into the
grave, (but) a death consisting of
(spiritual) transformation.

Rūmī casts light on the famous, yet no less controversial dictum by the great Sufi mystic al-Hallāj (858-922), which is an instruction on how to approach the Divine:
Take the famous utterance “I am God.”
Some men reckon it a great pretension;
but “I am God” is in fact a great humility.
The man who says “I am the servant of
God” asserts that two exist, one himself
and the other God. But he who says “I
am God” has naughted himself and cast
himself to the winds. He says, “I am
God”: that is, “I am not, He is all,
nothing has existence but God, I am pure
nonentity, I am nothing.” In this the
humility is greater.

The deepening of our understanding of the mystical dimension of the religions will aid in creating more spiritual literacy across the faith traditions and will simultaneously revive the meaning and significance of the outer or formalistic dimension of religion. For Rūmī and all saints and sages of the sapientia traditions are upholding the right understanding of their own faith traditions and how to approach them accordingly.

The shahādah or the essential declaration of faith in Islam, Lā ilāha illallāh, “There is no god but God,” when seen through the discerning and contemplative “eye of the heart” becomes a crystalline distillation of Rūmī ’s metaphysical teachings. Two main steps on the Path are contained in the shahādah, the first consisting of the “annihilation of self” (fanā) and the second the “subsistence in God” (baqā), for when the illusory nature of human identity dissociated from the Divine reality is seen for what it is and it becomes evident that the Divine is all that exists, concentration on the Real becomes possible. This formula can also be understood as “There is no self but the Self” or, correspondingly, “There is no reality but the Reality,” being universal in principle and applicable to all faiths.

As the centuries pass, Rūmī continues to demonstrate his profound presence in the hearts and minds of those who are attracted to his message, which calls for nothing less than are sacrilization of this world and union with the Divine. The importance of this book is that it guides readers through the fundamental themes of Rūmī ’s complex spiritual labyrinth, making his symbolic language intelligible to readers unfamiliar with his teachings or the mystical dimension of Islam. It is truly remarkable to find the timeless in time; and it is not only through Rūmī but all of the saints and sages of the world’s faith traditions where such examples of pure metaphysics can be found, urging a resurgence of the sacred that is ever present in this very moment. We conclude with two lines from Rūmī ’s DīWāN inviting all to take part in the pilgrimage of the Heart:

“Make a journey out of self into [your real] self,
O master, / For by such a journey
earth becomes a quarry of gold.”

“Under whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute Reality, it is only a means for realizing It without name and form.
That alone is true realization, wherein one knows oneself in relation to that Reality, attains peace and realizes one’s identity with it.”
— Śrī Ramana Maharshi

Reviewed by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos

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ŚRī RAMANA MAHARSHI (1879-1950), KNOWN AS THE SAGE OF ARUNACHALA, was a spiritual paragon of the twentieth century. He was revered by millions of people around the world because his teachings transcend all forms of religious exclusivism and are not limited to Hindu spirituality, as people of all faiths and walks of life came to sit in his presence. He assisted individuals to inquire into the deepest truths and did so using very few words. His
teachings were many times taught in silence. This was often his preferred method of instruction in order to transmit to the human being in his company the essence of non-duality or Advaita Vedānta. He embodied what is known as the sanātana dharma or “eternal religion” that is found at the heart of each of the world’s religions.

This book by A.R. Natarajan combines biographical material gathered from direct sources and the essential teachings of Ramana Maharshi. Also, included in this volume is Foreword
by Eliot Deutsch, a leading authority on Hindu thought. The reader can find therein 160 photographs documenting the span of Ramana Maharshi’s lifespan.
The Sage of Arunachala was born as Venkataraman Iyer, in what is now Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India, into an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. On July 17, 1896, at the age of sixteen,
Venkataraman for no apparent reason was overwhelmed by a sudden, violent fear of death. He provided the following description of this event:

I stretched myself like a corpse, and it
seemed to me that my body had actually
become rigid—“I” was not dead—“I”
was on the other hand conscious of being
alive, in existence. So the question arose
in me, “What was this ‘I’?” I felt that it
was a force or current working, despite
the rigidity or activity of the body, though
existing in connection with it. It was that
current or force or center that constituted
my personality, that kept me acting,
moving etc. The fear of death dropped
off. I was absorbed in the contemplation
of that current. So further development or
actively was issuing from the new life and
not from any fear

From this event emerged his true identity as the Self (Ātmā) that is beyond birth and death (saṃsāra) and prompted his self-enquiry (ātma vichāra) of “Who am I?”

Who can understand the state of the one
Who has dissolved his ego and
Is abiding always in the Self?
For him the Self alone is.
What remains for me to do?

Nearly six weeks later, on August 29, 1896, Venkataraman left his uncle’s home in Madurai, and traveled to the holy mountain Arunachala, in Tiruvannamalai. Since his arrival to the holy mountain on September 1, 1896, he remained there for the rest of his life.
He emphasizes that this process was not of his own ego-bound will, but rooted in the Divine Will, being as he considered it an act “in obedience to his command”.
It needs to be emphasized that while Ramana Maharshi left home and became a renunciate at an early age he did so with the highest regard and love for his parents and credits them for his spiritual search:

As mother and father both, you gave birth
to me and tended me. And before I could
fall into the deep sea called jaganmaya,
and get drowned in the universal illusion,
you came to abide in my mind, you drew me to yourself.

O Arunachala, you whose
being is all Awareness. What a wonderful
work of art your Grace has wrought, my
Mother-Father-Lord!

In fact, Ramana Maharshi’s mother, Azhagammal or Alagammal (1864 -1922), followed her son to live on the holy mountain with him during the last years of her life and was very devoted to him. The Matrubhuteswara Temple was built over her burial place and daily worship continues to be carried out until this day. Ramana Maharshi in no uncertain terms emphasized that “liberated women are on a par with liberated men” and viewed all women
as being his mothers. At the ashram, according to Ramana Maharshi, “All are equal here.”
Upon arriving in Tiruvannamalai he initially stayed at the Arunachaleswara Temple and
while he subsequently stayed at various sites on the sacred mountain, he is reported to have stayed the longest period in the Virupaksha Cave—for seventeen years, from 1899 to 1916. He in no way downplayed the householder life as he viewed it as being equal with
a renunciate life. He adds, “There is no difference between domestic life and that of hermits. Just as you avoid the cares of home when you are here, go home and try to be equally unconcerned and unaffected at the circumstances amidst home life.”
This early period of Ramana Maharshi’s sādhana or spiritual practice occurred in a remarkable fashion and demonstrated his total and utter surrender to the path for he underwent many physical and psychological austerities:

Days and nights would pass without my
being aware of their passing. I entertained
no idea of bathing or cleaning of teeth
or other cleansing activities even when
I had defecated and had no baths. The
face got begrimed, the hair had become
one clotted mass like wax and the nails
grew long. When anyone thought that I
should have food, I would stretch a hand
and smoothing would drop on my hand.
My hands were not useful for any other
purpose. I would eat and rub my hand on
my head or body and drop again into my
continuous mood. This was my condition
for some years from the time of my arrival.

Because of his non-dual point of view, he denied having engaged in any form of spiritual practice as it would affirm the insurmountable split of duality which was itself an illusion (māyā). It could be alternatively viewed as spontaneous penance as he affi rms, “I have never done any sadhana.” For Ramana Maharshi there was no otherness—no devotee or pilgrim—coming to visit him or asking questions as this would again denote a fundamental duality and would further perpetuate the notion of separateness, when in reality there is only the Absolute or non dual Essence. According to Hindu metaphysics the notion of the spiritual
aspirant (sādhaka) and the realized, the enlightened and the unenlightened or moksha and saṃsāra are illusory as they perpetuate this duality that is imaginary in nature. From the relative point of view, duality is all that exists, but from that of the Absolute such constructs are unreal. This is reflected in his dialogues with visitors and devotees, when he
expressed: “What you seek is that which is already at hand, ever existent.” Likewise, “Is there any way of adoring the Supreme who is all, except by abiding fi rmly as That!”

Because Ramana Maharshi emphasized like many other saints and sages before him that “the Guru is always within you,” this powerful non dual teaching has been fundamentally
misinterpreted and distorted. While this teaching is undoubtedly true and orthodox according to the different ways that immanence is expressed throughout the sapiential traditions, without prior transcendence there is no immanence. Meaning that without there first being an external guru it is improbable that the seeker will come to know the internal guru. For Ramana Maharshi, his relationship with the holy mountain of Arunachala took on the disciple-guru relationship. He describes this remarkable bond in the ensuing:

O Arunachala, you who stand and shine
before me in the form of my guru, destroy
utterly my faults, cure me and convert me,
and as your servant govern me.
Look at me! Think of me! Touch me!
Make me fi t, ripen me! Then be my
Master, govern me, O Arunachala.
Oh Lord in the form of hill,
You are the remedy for the endless chain of births.
For me your feet alone are the refuge.
Your duty it is to remove my mother’s
suffering and govern her.
O Conqueror of Time!
Your lotus feet are my refuge,
Let them protect my mother from death.

What is death if scrutinized?
Arunachala, blazing fire of knowledge,
Burn away the dross.
Absorb my sweet mother in you,
What need would there be then for cremation?
Arunachala, dispeller of Maya’s veil,
Why then the delay in curing my mother’s delirium?
O Mother of those who seek refuge in you,
Is there a better shield than you from fate’s blows

Ramana Maharshi discusses the traditional sources documenting the sacredness of Arunachala as the embodiment of Shiva:

There is an aitikya (tradition) that this
hill is linga swarupa, that is to say, that
this hill itself is God. This aitikya is not to
be found anywhere else. That is the cause
of the glory of this place. The tradition
of this place is that this hill is the form of
God and that in its real nature it is full
of light. Every year the Deepam festival
celebrates the real nature of the mountain
as light itself. Authority for this is found
in the Vedas, the Puranas, and in the
stotras (poems) of devotees. Because this
tradition maintains that the hill is Siva
swarupa, the practice of giripradakshina,
walking clockwise around the mountain as
an act of reverence or worship, has risen, I
also have faith in giripradakshina and have
had experience of it.

He encouraged seekers that visited to walk around the sacred mountain, which is a custom that is common to many of the world’s religions, known in Sanskrit as pradakshina. Ramana Maharshi describes the function of circumambulation for the spiritual aspirant:

For everybody it is good to do
pradakshina. It does not matter if one has
faith in the pradakshina or not. Just as fire will burn on touching it, whether they
believe or not the hill will do good to all
those who go around it.

Ramana Maharshi clarifies the mistaken belief that he never had a teacher: “I have never said that there is no need for a guru.” He affirms that while he had a guru, it was not a human guru, in the traditional sense. He states this here: “a Guru need not always be in human form.” Yet this does not mean that other seekers can follow in his footsteps, as his Spiritual Realization was due to his unique disposition given his jnānic nature that allowed him to attain deliverance or liberation (moksha) without the traditional requirement of initiation (diksha), which likens him to what is referred to in Islamic esoterism as a fard, a “solitary” or someone who awakens spontaneously and outside the normal channels of tradition. He elaborates further on the mistaken notion that he has not had a guru:
That depends on what you call a guru.He need not necessarily be in the human form. Dattatreya had twenty-four gurus—elements, etc. That means that every form in the world was his guru. A guru is absolutely necessary. The Upanishads say that none but a guru can take a man out of the jungle of mental and sense perceptions, so there must be a guru.

The Sage of Arunachala welcomed all and everyone who visited the ashram. He received Hindus, non Hindus or even the non-religious in the same manner, for he did not want to withhold his darshan from anyone who desired it. However, this should not be then taken to suggest that to have a religion was unnecessary; on the contrary, for having a religion and
committing oneself to it may very well have provided individuals with the framework needed to assimilate his teachings in a more integral way.
Ramana Maharshi’s compassion and blessing extended to all of creation. All sentient beings were in their essential nature the Self and the notion of “other” or “otherness” was again
non-existent and illusory (māyā). He had special relationships with squirrels and peacocks, and there was the well known and highly esteemed Cow Lakshmi, who came to the ashram as a calf in 1926 until her awakening or mukti in June 1948. When asked if the Cow Lakshmi had indeed been liberated Ramana Maharshi confirmed that she had been. He emphasized that happiness is the longing and natural state of all sentient beings:

“Every living being longs always to be happy, untainted by sorrow: and
everyone has the greatest love for himself, which is solely due to the fact
that happiness is his real nature. Hence, in order to realize that inherent and
untainted happiness, which indeed he daily experiences, when the mind is
subdued in deep sleep, it is essential that he should know himself. For obtaining
such knowledge the enquiry “Who am I?” in quest of the Self is the best means.

The Sage of Arunachala recognized the transcendent unity of all faith traditions. He went so far as stating that of all the non-dual Vedāntic statements none could match the one found within the Old and New Testaments:
Of all the definitions of God, none is indeed so well put as the Biblical statement “I AM THAT I AM” in EXODUS (Chap. 3). There are other statements, such as Brahmaivaham, Aham Brahmasmi and Soham. But none is so direct as the name JEHOVAH = I AM. The Absolute Being is what is—It is the Self. It is God. Knowing the Self, God is known. In fact God is
none other than the Self.
A noteworthy parallel has been made between Śrī Ramana Maharshi and Shaykh Ahmad Al-‘Alawī (1869-1934), two principle spiritual lights in the contemporary world. (Martin Lings,
“The Spiritual Master,” in A SUFI SAINT OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: SHAIKH AHMAD AL-‘ALAWī, HIS SPIRITUAL HERITAGE AND LEGACY

This is also an example of how two analogous spiritual traditions manifest themselves distinctly within the temporal cycle, one within Hinduism, a religion that traces itself back to the beginning of the Manvantara or the temporal cycle known as the Krita-Yuga or Satya-Yuga (Golden Age), and the other Islam, which represents the closing of the current temporal cycle known as the Kali-Yuga (Iron Age).
Ramana Maharshi provides an astute and sobering instruction on how to benefit others and the world when questioned on this point, “Help yourself, you will help the world.”
Likewise, he taught to always live and abide in the now or present moment, “Do what is right at a given moment and leave it behind.”
This book depicting the life and teachings of one of the most celebrated spiritual luminaries of the twentieth century, the Sage of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi, conveys the magnitude of his teachings in an era that has become increasingly disconnected from the
sacred, finding itself in a continued and alarming state of disarray. A.R. Natarajan has done a commendable job in presenting these timeless teachings in a manner that makes them relevant and accessible for contemporary seekers. Throughout the book there are wonderful photographs that provide a darshan-like experience of being in the presence of this remarkable sage. It is the unborn and eternal essence within all sentient beings known as the Self that Ramana Maharshi unshakably identified with, as his memorable words
capture so eloquently: “Where can I go? I am here.” ◆ Free Download Here

THE DRAGON THAT SWALLOWED ST. GEORGE

By Whitall N. Perry

“Whosoever implores my aid shall receive it’.—St. George

The purpose of this paper will be to examine the pattern of the eternal return (anakuklêsis) in relation to a particular archetypal entity—in the present case, St. George; and then to see, both how it happens that, and what the consequences are when, “myth” declines into desuetude.

….. Christianity’s conflict with the various paganisms it encountered can thus in part at least be explained as a rivalry between the classic spatial or periodic perspective and the newly revealed temporal or historical one, which—independently of other considerations—being more “timely” was precisely bound to prevail. Yet the bane of historicity is secularization, and man being what he is, it suffices but a subtle shift in focus for “the measureless and perilous world of forms and of change,” hitherto regarded as something negative to be rejected, now to be seen as something positive to be espoused. The outer world becomes reality, matter assumes an increased importance, and man experiences a Renaissance marked by humanism with its concept of indefinite progress and human or worldly perfectibility. This entails in consequence a loss of contact with higher states of being, mythology is relegated to a realm equatable with the incredible, while sacred history itself in turn becomes “myth.”
Islam, the last of the historical religions, actually seizes hold of time itself as a sword with which to destroy all time: the Shahâdah or Witness “Lâ ilâha illa ‘Llâh—There is no divinity if not the Divinity” destroys through a transformation that refers and ultimately renders everything back to its Origin; the Event or Final Day or Judgment is not only ceaselessly proclaimed as immanent, Islam itself is in a way already that Event or Judgment. The past and the future are more geometric than temporal; Allah “is the First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward”; there is purely the desertic fatality of the omnipresent Now, and this Now belongs to God

For the Muslim believer, the world is thus in part illusion and in part theophany, but at all events never more than a veil (hijâb) covering Reality.

It goes without saying that the Christian believer (wherever he still exists) is likewise no secularist: he is the first to “let the dead bury their dead” and is more predisposed than not to turn his back on the world itself as the personification of evil. He is a man who only endures history while awaiting the glory of the Kingdom to come. Read more here

This paper is part of the book Ye Shall Know the Truth – Christianity and the Perennial Philosophy

More than four others – Frisian Folkstale

 At that time there lived in the Grinzer Pein (Friesland) a young man who was called out  that he was not afraid of anything. When a ferry had to be dug, he got a job there. He joined the team with twenty westerners. Those twenty westerners were as lazy as duckweed. They wanted him to do the work, so he got into trouble with them. Then they said, “If you don’t work, we’ll cut you in pieces.” But the young man laughed and said, “You should try that first.” And then those twenty westerners came up to him with open knives , but he knocked them down one by one, for he was not afraid. And that same evening, near the new ferry, one of the Westerners was found cut into strips. But that joung man had not done that, his own comrades wanted to get rid of that westerner. And because the young servant  had fought with him, they thought, he will be blamed.

That turned out to be the case, because the nineteen westerners testified that he must have been the murderer of their comrade. He went to court, and because he would not confess, he was put on the rack, but he maintained his innocence, for he was not afraid of anything, not even the pain. Desesperate, they called a wizard, a real wizard. He had to scare him so he confessed. The wizard had him tied on a chair; then he was powerless. But they had tortured him so much that he could hardly speak.

And then he was given a cup of warm milk to drink. The magician looked straight at him and said, ‘Look at the ground in front of you!’ And then the young man noticed that his ten toes had turned into ten snakes. They grew out of his toes, they grew bigger and bigger and came closer and closer to his head. But he made those snakes drink one by one from the hot milk from the cup he had in his hands. The snakes writhed together again and fell asleep at his feet.

The wizard asked, “Aren’t you scared yet?” But he replied, “You haven’t got any of those beasts yet, because my cup isn’t empty yet.” Then the wizard turned the boy’s hair into flames and said that he would be consumed by these flames. But the young man asked: ‘Do you have tobacco in your pocket? I don’t have any tobacco with me, but my pipe does. Stop it in front of me for a moment, so I can at least light it on the flames and don’t have to use a match’.

And the third was that the sorcerer sat before him and said: If you will not confess, you will be sent to hell. ‘But the young servant laughed, for he was not afraid. The wizard looked straight at him and then the young man noticed that his body was turning into a skeleton. The magician said:

“Aren’t you scared yet? Remember – this is how you go to hell and stay there!” “Oh,” he said, “why should I be afraid? Such an old charnel house as I am now – there is no one in hell who knows me.” And he did not bow the neck.

However, he was sentenced to death. The executioner appeared and he was to be cut into four. He was already on the block to be chopped in four, then they asked him if he wasn’t scared yet. “No,” he said, “why should I be afraid? Our father always said I was worth more than four others. And if you cut me in four here, you’ll be dealing with not one, but four men in a minute.’ And he was not quartered, but they took him back to the cell.

That same night the devil came to him and left nothing to frighten him. He told him the most horrible stories and transformed himself into the most horrible forms. The devil became an old woman, with teeth as large and as sharp as razors, and threatened to bite his throat. The devil became a dragon with seven heads that spewed fire at him. He became a very large snake, with a mouth so wide that it could eat it in one sitting. But the young servant was not afraid. Only when the devil finally asked him if he felt any fear at all did he say, “No, I don’t, but you do!

And he began to tease him so furiously, he made such hideous noises, and he drew such crooked faces, that even the devil became frightened and threw himself to the ground and blew the retreat.

The judges came to the conclusion that a person that even the devil fears can never be a murderer. And he was acquitted…

BEADS OF FAITH: Pathways to Meditation and Spirituality Using Rosaries, Prayer Beads and Sacred Words REVIEWED BY SAMUEL BENDECK SOTILLOS

The Name pronounced even once is a benefit, whether one is aware of it or not. Prayer is not verbal, it is from the heart. To merge into the heart is prayer.

RAMANA MAHARSHI

This book BEADS OF FAITH, which comes with a DVD of the documentary film that was previously released under the same title, examines both the “outer” and “inner” meanings of the use and function of prayer beads that have been instrumental in prayer, recitation, invocation, and meditation found throughout all of the world religions. The book begins by confirming that prayer beads have their origin in the divine, and simultaneously acknowledges the uses of prayer beads across spiritual traditions:
“The use of prayer beads is not a practice recently invented or introduced, but is archetypal in nature, and common to every great faith tradition.” It will interest readers to learn that the etymology of the word “bead” reinforces the transcendent function of prayer beads, taken from the Sanskrit buddh, which means “to awaken,” referring to the Buddha or “The Awakened One,” and simultaneously connected to the Saxon verb bidden—“to pray.”

This work acknowledges the universal and perennial uses of prayer beads and guides the seeker into the sacred dimensions of varied faiths by introducing the spiritual methods employed with prayer beads. The allegory of terrestrial existence is likened to “a rope thrown by God to a drowning man,” much like this “rope” of prayer beads comes from the spiritual domain and offers a spiritual method acting as a sacred funiculus umbilicalis or umbilical cord connecting the practitioner to the divine via revelation—“from Himself to Himself”—that is from the Divine to the Divine. The myriad practitioners are said to be as diverse as the paths leading up a mountain or points around the circumference of a circle traveling like radii to the center, yet they all converge at the summit or the center, confirming the true purpose of sapiential existence—union with the Self or the Divine.

This “summit,” which is transcendent, is analogous to the “center” that is immanent, described in the text as it pertains to prayer beads “…the very act of pausing on a bead brings you back to the centre of where you are and who you are.” Both the book and
the DVD are filled with beautiful and contemplative imagery depicting the diverse ways that prayer beads are employed by spiritual practitioners of all traditions. The comparative approach of both mediums assists the reader in understanding each tradition via the wisdom found in the other.

The book begins with “The Universal Rosary” and then continues to explore the different uses of prayer beads through the world religions: “Catholic Rosaries,” “Orthodox Rosaries,” “The Jewish Tefillin.” “Hindu Malas,” “Buddhist Malas.” “The Muslim Tasbih,” “Native American Beads.” And “Amulets and Meditation.”

Prayer beads known as rosaries have been integral to the act of prayer within the Christian West or the Roman Catholic Church since the Middle Ages. Some possible origins of the Catholic rosary, from the Latin rosarium or “rose garden,” date back to the twelfth century during the Holy Crusades or in Moorish Spain and stem from Islamic uses of prayer beads. Another origin is thought to be connected to St. Dominic. who received the Holy Rosary from the Blessed Virgin Mary, as affirmed by Pope Leo XIII. It was during the sixteenth century that rosaries took their current form that they are known today by. The rosary allows the practitioner to pray throughout the day no matter what activity is being engaged in, thus creating a divine precinct within the heart. St. Augustine writes, “Do thou all within. And if perchance thou seekest some high place, some holy place, make thee a temple for God within.” The text also explains the recitation of Hail Mary (Latin: Ave Maria), meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary, and other key prayers.
The rosary within the Christian East known as the Eastern Orthodox Church is a woolen rope of knots that is used to recite the Jesus Prayer or the Prayer of the Heart. Quintessential to the Prayer of the Heart is the command of St. Paul, “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). The text also describes how to enact the Jesus Prayer—“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”—which is continuously repeated while integrating the breath and can also incorporate prostrations that resemble yogic postures or asanas. In the film, one can observe a monk of Mount Athos performing this practice of the Prayer of the Heart.

The Jewish tradition uses prayer straps known as the tefillin, rather than prayer beads, which are worn on the head and the arm. The tefillin contain passages from the Torah that when worn on the forehead and the arm closest to the heart sublimate the desires of the heart, body,and mind as mandated by King Solomon, “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart” (Proverbs 7:3). The text also explains the methods of praying with the tefillin in order to bind the words of God to man.
In Hinduism (sanatana dharma) prayer beads are known as malas, and are used to repeat a mantra or Divine names, which is a devotional practice known as japamala. The purpose of repeating the Divine names is articulated by Swami Ramdas, “Om tunes the entire human being with the eternal music of the Divine, bringing the soul in direct contact with the in-dwelling and all-pervading Reality.” The book elucidates the spiritual method of japamala as used by three spiritual masters of the Vedanta: Ramakrishna (1836–86), Swami Ramdas (1884–1963), and Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950). The DVD takes one into the presence of some of the great spiritual masters and sannyasin of India, including the sounds of that world.
The book describes how prayer beads or malas and chanting are used by the different schools of Buddhism known as the three “vehicles” or yanas— Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana. The text provides details on how one of the most widely used invocations is practiced: Om Mani Padme Hum—“O, thou ewel in the Lotus, Hail”—and how constant repetition of this invocation offered to the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara or Chenrezig can release the practitioner from the clenches of samsara—the cycles of birth and death leading to liberation.
There is also an introduction to Jain Malas at the end of the section. Some of the exquisite footage in the DVD takes us on a visit to Burma—to Pagan, a city of temples, and to the great stupa of Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, and it also invites the viewer to enter the world of a Burmese Buddhist master, among other sacred sites.

The Islamic tradition as well as Sufism, its mystical expression, refers to prayer beads as the tasbih, which is reaffirmed in the prophetic traditions, “Repeat the Tasbih a hundred times, and a thousand virtues shall be recorded by God for you, ten virtuous deeds for each repetition.”
In Sufism this process of remembrance or dhikr allows the seeker of truth to reside with God whenever and wherever God is remembered. A common recitation is: la ilaha il-Allah, “There is nodivinity but the Divinity,” illuminating the quintessential Sufi doctrine of the “Unity of Being” (wahdat al-wujud). Found at the end of the section are useful pointers for praying with the tasbih.
The DVD takes us into the world of remembrance (dhikr), sound, and imagery of some of the great Sufi saints as well.
The uses of beads have a primordial origin for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Huichol Indians of Mexico, the Ojibwin of Canada, and the Iroquois of North America (Turtle Island) use beads as a spiritual vocation, which is similar to the use of the rosary.
Beading allows the artist to experience the “heartbeat of creation” while simultaneously participating in the craft or sacred art that connects the individual with the spiritual realm. The various forms of traditional prayer are described, such as: the sweat lodge (Inipi), the vision quest (Hanblecheyapi), and the act of praying with the sacred pipe (Chanupa).
The last section devoted to amulets and meditation draws attention to the ancient uses of beads not only as a form of religious devotion, but as a way of centering and quieting the mind to assist with worldly concerns and dispel fear.
The film concludes with a demonstration showing step by step how to make a rosary from rose petals by Brother Paul Quenon, a monk from the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky, who was a novice under Thomas Merton. We welcome BEADS OF FAITH as an addition to other works dedicated to inter-religious dialogue in order to better understand the world’s religions in an age where diverse traditions are asked to peacefully coexist. It is through the “transcendent unity of religions” that an authentic understanding and mutual respect for different spiritual traditions can take place, which this book acknowledges.

May Day (May 1) is a holiday rich in history and folklore, celebrating the return of spring! Learn about some of the fun traditions, from May Day baskets to dancing around the maypole.

Origins of May Day

Did you know that May Day has its roots in astronomy? Traditionally, it was the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice! In ancient times, this was one of the Celtic cross-quarter days, which mark the midway points between the (four) solstices and equinoxes of the year.

As with many early holidays, May Day was rooted in agriculture. Springtime festivities filled with song and dance celebrated the sown fields starting to sprout. Cattle were driven to pasture, special bonfires were lit, and doors of houses as well as livestock were decorated with yellow May flowers. In the Middle Ages, the Gaelic people celebrated the festival of Beltane. Beltane means “Day of Fire.” People created large bonfires and danced at night to celebrate. 

May Day has a long history and tradition in England, some of which eventually came to America. Children would dance around the Maypole holding onto colorful ribbons. People would “bring in the May” by gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving of floral hoops and hair garlands, and crowning a May king and queen. 

The Maypole Dance

Did you ever dance around the Maypole as a child? Wrapping a Maypole with colorful ribbons is a joyous tradition that still exists in some schools and communities.

• Originally, the Maypole was a living tree chosen from the woods with much merrymaking. Ancient Celts danced around the tree, praying for the fertility of their crops and all living things! For younger people, there was the possibility of courtship. If a young woman and man paired by sundown, their courtship continued so that the couple could get to know each other and, possibly, marry 6 weeks later on June’s Midsummer’s Day. This is how the “June wedding” became a tradition.
• In the Middle Ages, all villages had Maypoles. Towns would compete to see who had the tallest or best Maypole. Over time, this Old English festival incorporated dance performances, plays, and literature. People would crown a “May Queen” for the day’s festivities. 

The strict Puritans of New England considered the celebrations of May Day to be licentious and pagan, so they forbade its observance, and the springtime holiday never became an important part of American culture as it was in many European countries.

Interestingly, from the late 19th century through the 1950s, the Maypole dance and festivities became a rite of spring at some U.S. colleges. Seen as a wholesome tradition, this celebration often included class plays, Scottish dancing, Morris dancing, a cappella concerts, and cultural dancing and music displays.

In the 1960s and 1970s, interest waned; the May Queen and her court became more of a popularity contest. Today, the Maypole dance is mainly celebrated in schools (from elementary though college) as a fun spring activity.

The Maypole Festival: Courting and Declarations of Love

In Germany it is still celebrated: the Maypole festival. The tree is planted in the village square or the market at the end of April or on May 1. In Limburg and the Achterhoek, a maypole is still placed at the highest point of new houses. In this case too, the maypole symbolizes prosperity and fertility.

Read more about the old traditions and courtship during the Dutch Maypole festivities here:

The Maypole festival occurred in Western Europe, but the festival was also known among the Germanic and West Slavic peoples. The festival heralds the beginning of summer with the accompanying growth and blossoming of nature. The maypole symbolizes fertility. The tradition got a Christian touch during the Middle Ages, according to the church the maypole symbolized Mary, but the original Germanic version survived. That is why there was mainly partying and drinking during the Maypole festival. In the Netherlands, the tradition lasted until the 19th century.

The May Guild and the May Count

The May Guild organized the party, this guild was led by the May Count. He could be recognized by his green crown. The day was dominated by may fires, may songs, parades (‘Meynachten’) and waldhorns made from the bark of a willow or alder. Horns (but also whistles) were blown to chase away the witches and evil spirits.

The green crown

The maypole was colorfully decorated with ribbons, wreaths, crowns, green branches and flowers. It was tradition for the mayor to sit at the maypole, whereupon the girls of the town or village stood in a circle around the tree and sang a maysong. The Maygrave then decided who was his May Countess (also known as May Queen) by throwing his green crown at a girl.

Courtship and Rejection in the 18th and 19th Centuries

In addition to the symbol of prosperity and fertility, the maypole was also seen as a symbol of love. Boys therefore planted maypoles ( maybranch) in front of the houses of the girls they liked. The way the tree was decorated expressed exactly how the boy felt about the girl. This could sometimes be disappointing: if the tree was decorated with thorny flowers, this meant that he thought the girl was haughty. Read Here Jonkheid, venstersvrijen, spinnen ( Importance of social cohesionn for community) – in Dutch

Riotous girls

An elder in the maypole meant that the girl was seen as licentious. The cherry branch meant that the girl in question wasn’t particularly picky. A straw doll meant that the girl had fooled a previous love and there were many more symbols. However, the premise of the maypole planting was to declare love.

Well in front of my sweetheart door

I plant, as a lover’s pawn,

The Maypole, sweet with fragrance,

And offer her heart and hand;

And tell her, “Sweet! come happy

Now standing in front of your window;

The sweet May tide,

Oh! done so quickly.”

A new spring and a new sound

A new spring and a new sound: I want this song to sound like the whistle, That I often heard before a summer night In an old town, along the water canal – It was dark in the house, but the quiet street Collected twilight, the sky shone late Still light, a golden white shine fell About the facades in my window frame. Then a boy blew like an organ pipe, The sounds shake in the air so ripe Like young cherries, get used to a spring wind disappears into the bush and begins his journey. (p. 11)

Een nieuwe lente en een nieuw geluid:
Ik wil dat dit lied klinkt als het gefluit,
Dat ik vaak hoorde voor een zomernacht
In een oud stadje, langs de watergracht –
In huis was ’t donker, maar de stille straat
Vergaarde schemer, aan de lucht blonk laat
Nog licht, er viel een gouden blanke schijn
Over de gevels in mijn raamkozijn.
Dan blies een jongen als een orgelpijp,
De klanken schudden in de lucht zoo rijp
Als jonge kersen, wen een lentewind
In ’t boschje opgaat en zijn reis begint.
(p. 11)

….This is the beginning of Herman Gorter’s great epic Mei, which appeared in March 1889. The first line is perhaps the most famous line in Dutch literature. Herman Gorter had been working on his May in solitude for months. The great narrative poem Mei has no fewer than 4381 lines of verse. Although he had already written some poems and a shorter epic, ‘Lucifer’, the May was his official debut. It was pre-published in De Nieuwe Gids, the magazine of the Eighties, and made a huge impression at the time. Read here in Dutch

Here the poem in Dutch

When we begin to look at some of the other elements of the George myth a completely different picture begins to emerge. One of the most telling clues to the genuine mystery behind the George phenomenon is in the name itself.

The word begins and ends with the root Ge. This is one of the oldest words known, occurring in Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek and Indo-European languages. It means Earth. Everyday words still in common use such as Ge-ology or Ge-ography show how persistent this root has been over at least the last six thousand years.

The etymology of George thus appears to show that he may originally have been an Earth-God connected with fertility, whose widespread worship in the ancient world was absorbed by Constantine’s attempts to make early Christianity into an all-inclusive religion that would become a vehicle for Roman bureaucracy. To reinforce this view the Greek translation of the name means ‘Earth-worker’ or ‘Tiller of the soil’.

look here: The Green Man, St George and the Dragon Power of Nature

St george / St Joris – Self knowlegde/ Zelf kennis ( in Dutch) an interview

see also: Time of Spring in Sufism and folklores

St. George and the Miracle of Mons– Belgium

St. George and the Miracle of Mons– Belgium here the story

Dragon-slaying in Beersel – Holland

A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE IS THREATENED BY A FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON. HUMAN SACRIFICE APPEARS TO BE THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THE MONSTER AT BAY. LOTS ARE DRAWN TO DECIDE WHO IS TO SUFFER THIS DREADFUL DEATH. AND THEN, ONE DAY, IT IS THE TURN OF THE KING’S OWN DAUGHTER…THAT IS, UNTIL A BRAVE KNIGHT APPEARS…”

This thrilling and engrossing legend about good and evil is brought to life in a visually theatrical way in an immense open-air spectacle in Beesel in Limburg on the 12-13-14-18-19-20th August 2016.

Snorting steeds; a rebel-rousing rabble and , of course, a terrifying dragon take you back to a mythical age in the past. Different storylines guarantee a varied, fascinating and lively performance with music, song, fights, drama and comedy. With more than 400 actors taking part you will be immersed in the Middle Ages. Share the experiences of the villagers, the army and the royal court – will they be able to defeat the poisonous dragon?

History
The legend of St. George and the Dragon has been performed in Beesel since 1736. Once every seven years the entire village finds itself involved in the eternal battle between Good and Evil. What began as a short play performed by a small cast has evolved over the years into an Open-Air Pageant enjoyed by 15,000 spectators on six occasions during the month of August. A mature theatre production with a rich background.

Historical Procession
On Sunday 21st August, for the third time, a colourful historical parade will thread its way through the streets of Beesel.  The parade starts at 14.00 hours and the costs are €3,50 per person. Spectators will find themselves “time-warped” into bygone days – entirely in the atmosphere of “Dragon-slaying”. Thanks to the interactive nature of this historical parade it’s as if you are actually back there in the Middle–Ages.

THE SEVEN YEARS OUTDOOR GAME of ST. JORIS AND THE DRAGON /HET ZEVENJAARLIJKSCHE OPENLUCHTSPEL VAN ST. JORIS EN DEN DRAAK ( in Dutch)

Tarasque – France and Spain

Throughout Provence, the most southerly part of France, there was a strong medieval tradition that the region was converted to Christianity soon after the death of Jesus, not by one of the apostles but by his personal friends – the family from Bethany, consisting of Mary Magdalene, Martha, and their brother Lazarus, together with two unrelated Marys mentioned in the gospels (the mother of James and John, and Mary Salome). They had all come to live there, fleeing from persecution. At Tarascon, a town near the Spanish border, attention was focused on St Martha, to whom the local church is dedicated. Read more here

The earliest Life of St Martha was written in Latin at some time between 1187 and 1212. One episode tells how, soon after coming to Tarascon, she heard that people there were terrorised by ‘a huge dragon, part land animal and part fish’ which lived in a forest beside the Rhône and had killed many people passing the spot or crossing the river. Attempts to destroy it always failed, since it would hide underwater. The description of the monster is vivid and detailed, and by no means that of a conventional dragon:

It was fatter than an ox, longer than a horse, with a lion’s face and head, teeth as sharp as swords, a horse’s mane, its back as sharp as an axe, bristling and piercing scales, six feet with bear’s claws, a serpent’s tail, and a shell on either side like a tortoise.

La Tarasca (del francés Tarasque, y éste del topónimo de la localidad de Tarascón, en Ariege, Francia) es una criatura mitológica cuyo origen se encuentra en una leyenda sobre Santa Marta. See here

More than four others – Frisian Folkstale

 At that time there lived in the Grinzer Pein (Friesland) a young man who was called out  that he was not afraid of anything. When a ferry had to be dug, he got a job there. He joined the team with twenty westerners. Those twenty westerners were as lazy as duckweed. They wanted him to do the work, so he got into trouble with them. Then they said, “If you don’t work, we’ll cut you in pieces.” But the young man laughed and said, “You should try that first.” And then those twenty westerners came up to him with open knives , but he knocked them down one by one, for he was not afraid. And that same evening, near the new ferry, one of the Westerners was found cut into strips. But that joung man had not done that, his own comrades wanted to get rid of that westerner. And because the young servant  had fought with him, they thought, he will be blamed.

That turned out to be the case, because the nineteen westerners testified that he must have been the murderer of their comrade. He went to court, and because he would not confess, he was put on the rack, but he maintained his innocence, for he was not afraid of anything, not even the pain. Desesperate, they called a wizard, a real wizard. He had to scare him so he confessed. The wizard had him tied on a chair; then he was powerless. But they had tortured him so much that he could hardly speak.

And then he was given a cup of warm milk to drink. The magician looked straight at him and said, ‘Look at the ground in front of you!’ And then the young man noticed that his ten toes had turned into ten snakes. They grew out of his toes, they grew bigger and bigger and came closer and closer to his head. But he made those snakes drink one by one from the hot milk from the cup he had in his hands. The snakes writhed together again and fell asleep at his feet.

The wizard asked, “Aren’t you scared yet?” But he replied, “You haven’t got any of those beasts yet, because my cup isn’t empty yet.” Then the wizard turned the boy’s hair into flames and said that he would be consumed by these flames. But the young man asked: ‘Do you have tobacco in your pocket? I don’t have any tobacco with me, but my pipe does. Stop it in front of me for a moment, so I can at least light it on the flames and don’t have to use a match’.

And the third was that the sorcerer sat before him and said: If you will not confess, you will be sent to hell. ‘But the young servant laughed, for he was not afraid. The wizard looked straight at him and then the young man noticed that his body was turning into a skeleton. The magician said:

“Aren’t you scared yet? Remember – this is how you go to hell and stay there!” “Oh,” he said, “why should I be afraid? Such an old charnel house as I am now – there is no one in hell who knows me.” And he did not bow the neck.

However, he was sentenced to death. The executioner appeared and he was to be cut into four. He was already on the block to be chopped in four, then they asked him if he wasn’t scared yet. “No,” he said, “why should I be afraid? Our father always said I was worth more than four others. And if you cut me in four here, you’ll be dealing with not one, but four men in a minute.’ And he was not quartered, but they took him back to the cell.

That same night the devil came to him and left nothing to frighten him. He told him the most horrible stories and transformed himself into the most horrible forms. The devil became an old woman, with teeth as large and as sharp as razors, and threatened to bite his throat. The devil became a dragon with seven heads that spewed fire at him. He became a very large snake, with a mouth so wide that it could eat it in one sitting. But the young servant was not afraid. Only when the devil finally asked him if he felt any fear at all did he say, “No, I don’t, but you do!

And he began to tease him so furiously, he made such hideous noises, and he drew such crooked faces, that even the devil became frightened and threw himself to the ground and blew the retreat.

The judges came to the conclusion that a person that even the devil fears can never be a murderer. And he was acquitted…

Spring Festivity at Steigra – Germany

One of the four historical labyrinths in Germany is situated at Steigra in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt. It is also named Sweden Ring or Troy Town.

The layout is the classical type with 11 circuits. The exact time of origin is uncertain. Much points to the 17th century, in addition, an older origin would be conceivable. It lies beside a hill grave.

In the neighborhood one made world-wide unique archaeologically finds in the last years: The 7000 years old sun observatory of Goseck, the 3600 years old sky disk of Nebra.

The turf labyrinth of Steigra kept over centuries. Nowadays it is maintained annually by the confirmands of the locality. The patron saint of the parish church is St George, and there is even a tavern St George.

Annually on Saturday after April 23, the day of St George, takes place a spring celebration at the labyrinth. This year that was on April 26, 2008. Read more here

Sun Dance of the Native Spirits

The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individuals make personal sacrifices on behalf of the community

See more here.

The Ultimate Ritual of Pain, Renewal & Sacrifice

Read hereTHE SPIRITUAL LEGACY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Read here : American Indian Religious Traditions

Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way Home Page

Kill your Dragon

“Our only purpose is to give our love, respect and service to God but if given the opportunity every person would be a pharaoh. His ego would declare itself the highest lord. We must kill the dragon that is our ego and then we will find Allah with us and around us and within us” Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani

look also here

Looking to the Spiritual vertical way, as the Maypole do, gives us an opportunity of discerning an understanding between Non-Virtues and Virtues,  developing Spiritual values needed in our times :. Read here: Maypole the Principle of verticality

Ash-Shams (Arabic: الشمس, “The Sun”) is the 91st surah of the Qur’an, with 15 ayat or verses.

BY the Sun, and its rising brightness۝^[18]

by the moon when she followeth him۝

by the day, when it showeth its splendor۝

by the night, when it covereth him with darkness۝

by the heaven, and him who built it۝

by the earth, and him who spread it forth۝

by the soul, and him who completely formed it۝

and inspired into the same its faculty of distinguishing, and power of choosing, wickedness and piety: now is he who hath purified the same, happy۝

but he who hath corrupted the same, is miserable.

— Q91:1-10^[19]

1-10 Good and evil

BY the Sun, and its rising brightness۝^[18] by the moon when she followeth him۝by the day, when it showeth its splendor۝by the night, when it covereth him with darkness۝by the heaven, and him who built it۝by the earth, and him who spread it forth۝by the soul, and him who completely formed it۝and inspired into the same its faculty of distinguishing, and power of choosing, wickedness and piety: now is he who hath purified the same, happy۝but he who hath corrupted the same, is miserable.

— Q91:1-10^[19]

The first part deals with three things:-:

1-That just as the sun and the moon, the day and the night, the earth and the sky, are different from each other and contradictory in their effects and results, so are the good and the evil different front each other and contradictory in their effects and results; they are neither alike in their outward appearance nor can they be alike in their results.

2-That God after giving the human self powers of the body, sense and mind has not left it uninformed in the world, but has instilled into his unconscious by means of a natural inspiration the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, and the sense of the good to be good and of the evil to be evil.

3-That the future of man depends on how by using the powers of discrimination, will and judgement that Allah has endowed him with, he develops the good and suppresses the evil tendencies of the self. If he develops the good inclination and frees his self of the evil inclinations, he will attain to eternal success, and if, on the contrary, he suppresses the good and promotes the evil, he will meet with disappointment and failure. Sahl al-Tustari (d. 896), a Sufi and scholar of the Qur’an, mentions, “By the day when it reveals her [the sun],He said:This means: the light of faith removes the darkness of ignorance and extinguishes the flames of the Fire.^[20][21]

The spiritual influence of Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) is increasing among people of diverse beliefs throughout the western world. Rumi is now recognized here in the West, as he has been for seven centuries in the Middle East and Western Asia, as one of the greatest literary and spiritual figures of all time. Rumi is a spokesman for the religion of love in the language of the heart. Recent translations of Rumi’s work have brought forth a variety of different qualities, exploring the subtlety, grace, and electricity of his verse. This book presents his spiritual teachings concisely and comprehensively, in a translation that touches heart and mind.

The Mathnawi, from which these selections have been taken, is one of the greatest spiritual masterpieces ever written. Its content includes the full spectrum of life on earth, as well as the vertical dimension to the highest levels of metaphysics and cosmic awareness.

AFTER eleven years of turning to the Mathnawi of Jelaluddin Rumi for “light,” the idea came that this light might be made more readily available to more people in the format of a “daybook.” Rumi: Daylight comes to you as an offering, as a tool, as a possible source of insight and refreshment, support and encouragement. It may be used from the first day of the year to the last to deepen a whole cycle or at special moments, opened randomly.

May your hand be guided as you turn the pages; and may the voice within these words soothe and strengthen your soul. For the way is only difficult until it becomes easy. Moments of ease, though, may come and go numerous times before one arrives and learns to live in a new land. The verses are presented here in the order in which they would be found within Books I and II, which hold roughly a third of the 25,632 lines of the whole six books of the Mathnawi.

Although other possibilities presented themselves, keeping true to the pattern woven in the Mathnawi seemed best. As when one walks along the shore of the ocean, one finds treasures in the sand, so here, too, one may look down and discover a precious piece to hold close for awhile. In making this selection, I attempted to choose short sections that would stand alone and elucidate our lives. I recognize though that any selection is limited to time and place, and that were I to journey through the same two books of the Mathnawi now, I might surface with different lines to share with you, or if you made that journey yourself, you might choose different words. Those published here are a beginning and will, I hope, give a strong taste of the guidance and wisdom that comes through the vehicle of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, may God preserve his secret, and help us all to recognize

the shop of Oneness, the Ocean that has many harbors, yet where there is no division between man and man, or woman, but only a unity of souls in the process of return to their Creator, Whose breath lives inside each one and helps to guide us home.

Many thanks flow out to all who have lent support to this project—many helping hands and hearts have been involved in the process, among them are Lora Gobel, Tom Goldberg and George Witterschein who helped in editing.

What a blessing it has been to work together with my husband, Kabir. We are grateful for the extensive groundwork established by R.A. Nicholson in his full translation of the six books of the Mathnawi. Kabir and I hope to continue our work with the Mathnawi and bring kernels from the remaining four books to you soon. Continually sustaining us has been the presence of Sheikh Suleyman Hayati Dede, may God preserve his secret. He mirrored to us in reality the beauty and breadth of Mevlana Jelauluddin Rumi, witness of God. May we take Mevlana as an example and open to the whisper of God in our own hearts that our words, too, may become fragrant and full of nourishment.

Camille Adams Helminski Putney, Vermont

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The Crucified Monk | Icon of the Monastic Life

Around the entrance of refectories in Orthodox monasteries, there can sometimes be seen a shocking image of a monk being crucified. The unnamed monk silently reposes on the cross, whilst around him he is assailed by terrifying demons and skeletal figures. Just as shocking as the image itself is the inscription which accompanies it: The True Life of a Monk

Monasticism is an ancient Christian practice which developed in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., around the time when Christianity became legalized in the Roman Empire and persecutions practically ceased. This has sometimes been given as a reason for the rise of monasticism: the desire for zealous Christians to flee from the world where living the Christian life was suddenly comfortable, “easier”, and even fashionable. However, all the greatest monastic saints, in their writings, give one source for their motivation for entering a monastery: the Gospels.

A perfect example of this is from the life of St Anthony the Great. In his hometown church, Anthony heard the Gospel reading proclaimed, as if spoken to him directly: “If you would be perfect, go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and come and follow me.” And so Anthony was inspired to live a life which became the foundation for monasticism, putting forward the basic motivation for monks and nuns ever since.

With such a basic Scriptural motivation for monasticism, this way of life becomes a lot more interesting for every Christian.

The Icon: “True Life of a Monk”

The image of the crucified monk is didactic: an icon for contemplation, not veneration. The subject of the icon is not a named Saint, but an unnamed, generic figure of a monk – or a nun if it is found in a female monastery. In its fullest form, the image looks as it does in the picture above from an Athonite fresco. Initially quite confusing, the image is replete with inscriptions which fully explain what is going on, and the only barrier to understanding is not being able to read the language of these inscriptions.

I can give no better explanation of the icon than to reproduce an extract from the The “Painter’s Manual” of Dionysius of Fourna, an 18th century Greek text for iconographers:

Draw a monk crucified on a cross, clothed in a tunic and a monk’s hat, barefoot and with his feet nailed to the footrest of the cross; his eyes are closed and his mouth shut. Just above his head is this inscription: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips”.

In his hands he holds lighted candles, and next to the candles is this inscription: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which [is in heaven]“.

On his chest he has a tablet like a hassock, which says: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

On his stomach is another scroll, like a title, with these words: “Do not be led astray, O monk, by a full belly.”

Lower down on his body is another scroll which says: “Mortify your members which are upon the earth.”

Lower down again, below his knees, is another scroll which says: “Prepare your feet in the way of the Gospel of peace.”

Above, in the top arm of the cross, make a title nailed on with this inscription: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord.” On the three arms of the cross make seals, and in the right one write this: “He that endures to the end shall be saved.” In the left-hand one: “He who does not renounce everything is not able to be a disciple of Christ.” On the seal above the footrest of the cross: “Strait and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.”

To the right side of the cross paint a dark cavern with a big dragon in it coiled up, and write: “The all-devouring Hell.” Over the mouth of the dragon is a naked young man with his eyes bound by a cloth, he holds a bow and shoots at the monk. On his bow is a scroll which says: “Maker of lust.” Write this inscription above him: “The love of harlotry.” Above the cave put many snakes and write: “The cares.” Near to Hades put a devil dragging at the cross with a rope and saying: “The flesh is weak and cannot resist.” At the right-hand end of the footrest put a spear with a cross and a flag and write on it: “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”

To the left of the cross make a tower with a door, out of which comes a man sitting on a white horse, wearing a fur hat and robes woven with gold and trimmed with fur. In his right hand he holds a cup full of wine and in his left a lance on the end of which is a sponge; a scroll is wrapped around the lance which says: “Take delight in the pleasures of the world.” He shows them to the monk. Write this inscription above him: “The vainglorious world.” Below him put a grave out of which Death is coming holding a large scythe on his shoulder and an hour-glass in his hand, and looking at the monk. Above him is the inscription: “Death and the grave.”

Below the hands of the monk on either side put two angels holding scrolls; write on the scroll of that on the right: “The Lord has sent me to help you.” And on that on the left: “Do good and fear not.”

Above the cross represent heaven with Christ in it, holding the Gospels on his breast open at the words: “Whosoever will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” In his right hand he holds a king’s crown, and in his left a crown [of flowers]. Below him to either side are two angels, looking at the monk and showing him to Christ, and holding between them a long scroll with these words: “Fight that you may receive the crown of righteousness, and the Lord will give you a crown of precious stones.”

Then write this title: The life of the true monk.

Some versions of this icon will be simplified, or will show demons surrounding the crucified monk firing arrows at him (see the first image of this post). The arrows and spears directed against the monk will be identified by inscriptions as various “passions” (vainglory, lust, gluttony etc). see The seven deadly sins

The image painted for monastics to contemplate and therefore properly belongs in a monastery. The “true life of a monk” is not necessarily the true, Christian, life for all of us. If we are not monks or nuns, we should not pretend to be so. Yet insofar as the monastic life is based in the Gospel and instructs all Christians on how to live a Christian life, the icon of the Crucified Monk can be useful. While ever “lay” Christians read monastic literature like “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”, retreat temporarily to monasteries, or in other ways draw on the monastic experience, they can also gain benefit from this icon.

Especially during Lent, when the life of all Christians becomes that little more ascetic, we can see the image of the “True Life of a Monk” as the image of the “True Life of a Christian”.

• The birth of Jesus in man

In Sufism, the four traditional forms (white, black, red and green) of this initiatory death represent the practices which aim to extinguish spiritual lusts as well as carnal concupiscences read here in French

The Green death: Death to the universe. 
Death thus understood, death with regard to the universe, becomes, with the desire to enter the path, the first step of the itinerants towards God. In Sufi thought, it has four aspects: a white death, a black death, a red death and a green death.
The white death is hunger, which is akin to enlightenment. The black death is realized when the Sufi practices and succeeds in enduring the evils caused by men or even all evil in an absolute way, which is likely to sadden the self/ego which becomes darkened. The Red Death consists of subduing him, which ends up killing him.

Finally, the green death consists of wearing the dress which becomes, by dint of being patched, variegated like the earth in spring.
Spiritual death here below is therefore the supreme privation. But, for Sufism, there exists, here below also, another death, this one eminently positive: death with regard to the universe, which is rebirth and which is access to the first home of the other. -of the. Such death results in life, it is itself life.
The words of Hallâj are eloquent in this regard: 
“Kill me, my comrades, it is in my murder that my life lies! My death, it is to (over)live; and my life is to die!”

We change Reality by changing our Perception of it

There is much to be learn about Eternity by living in Time

There is much to be learn about Time by living in Eternity

Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani al Rabbani

Islam and the Transformative Power of  Love

Before the modern-day obsession with social and political issues, the strand of learning often called Sufism played a major if not predominant role in all Muslim societies. What distinguishes Sufism from other approaches to the Islamic tradition is the fact that it considers the transformation of the soul the goal of human life, while looking at dogma, ritual, and law as means to this end, not ends in themselves. (Sufism is a problematic and controversial term, but probably more adequate than “mysticism” or “esotericism”, both of which carry too much baggage to apply in any more than superficial ways to the vastly diverse assortment of teachings and practices that are directed toward spiritual transformation in the Islamic tradition). In keeping with the worldview established by the Koran, Muslim scholars addressed three major issues: activity, understanding, and transformation.

Activity became the specialty of the jurists, the experts in the Shariah, who took it upon themselves to define right and wrong deeds. Understanding was the spe­cialty of various schools of theology and philosophy, ranging from the dogmatic to the mystical and metaphysical. Transformation was the specialty of spiri­tual guides, many but not all of whom came to be called Sufis.

If we want to choose one word to designate the process and goal of transformation, we can not do better than “love.”

To explain why this is so, I will summarize the understanding of love as it was discussed from early times. Specifically, I want to look at two issues that run through all the discussions, namely the ontological and moral imperatives.

The ontological imperative means that all things love by nature.

The moral imperative means that human beings, by virtue of their own specific nature, must refine and perfect their love or suffer the consequences.

Any thinking that can be called Islamic grounds itself in tawhīd, the notion of unity. Briefly, tawhīd means that all reality is utterly contingent upon the one supreme reality, called God by theologians and the Necessary Being by philosophers. What imparts a specifically Islamic color to this universal notion is the idea that Muhammad was the last in a series of 124,000 prophets sent by God.

Strict attention to unity brings us face to face with the ontological imperative:

Everything is exactly what it must be, for all things are under the control of the One. Among the many Koranic proof texts cited in support of this imperative is the verse «His only command, when He desires a thing, is to say to it “Be!”, and it comes to be» (36: 82).

Theologians called this word “Be” the creative command (al-amr al-khalqī).It is eternal, which is to say that, from the human point of view, it is re-uttered at every moment. As a result, the universe and all things within it are constantly renewed. Read more here

Stupid that everyone in his case
Is praising his particular opinion!
If Islam means submission to God,
We all live and die in Islam.”
Goethe (West-East Divan)

Goethe, the “refugee” and his Message for our times

As Paul Kingsnorth in 50 Holy Wells say: “Who knows what the future holds? Not me. But as the chaos of the Void accelerates, a parallel spiritual longing deepens. We need truth. We need God. People still come to the wells to speak to Him. I can see, if only in my dreams, a future in which more and more people come looking here. A future in which the wells are still tended and the prayers grow in numbers, the well rounds revive and the sacred landscape of ancient Ireland begins to awaken from its slumber. A future in which we remember that all things are soaked in God. A future in which the lessons of the modern hermit St Joseph the Hesychast are remembered by us worldly Christians today:

God is everywhere. There is no place where He cannot be found. Within and without, above and below, wherever you turn all things cry out: “God.” We live and move in Him. We breathe God, we eat God, we clothe ourselves in God. All things praise and bless God. The whole creation cries out. All things, living or inanimate, speak with wonder and glorify the Creator.

Verily He is the One Who will revive the dead…

“The body is like Mary, and each of us has a Jesus inside.
Who is not in labour, holy labour? Every creature is.”

Rumi

Note:Sufism is different from monasticism. Sufism is based on Quran and Sunna. Allah says in Quran:

Then in the footsteps of these Messengers, We sent (other) Messengers and We sent ‘Isa, the son of Maryam (Jesus, the son of Mary) after them and gave him the Injil (the Gospel). And We created kindness and mercy in the hearts of those who were (the true) followers (of ‘Isa [Jesus]). And they themselves invented the innovation of monasticism. We did not prescribe it for them. But they (introduced this innovation of monasticism) merely to seek Allah’s pleasure. Then they could not practically keep and maintain that check which was its due (i.e., could not continue its spirit and discipline). So We paid those of them who believed (and continued the innovation of monasticism to seek the pleasure of Allah) their reward. And most of them (who left it and changed their ways) are disobedient. (57: 27)

In the aforementioned verse, word “Rahbaniya” (monasticism) is used which means fear. Rahbaniya means the religion of fear. It means that a person, due to fear (regardless of whether it is the fear of someone’s cruelty or the fear of his own weakness), flees from the worldly life and takes refuge in the forests and mountains. 

Monasticism in Christianity

Monasticism is deeply rooted in Christianity. The Christian church did not adopt monasticism for about two centuries after Jesus. But it would not be wrong to say that the germs of monasticism were present in Christianity from the beginning. They considered asceticism and dervish life to be superior and preferable to married and business life. It was considered undesirable for those who performed religious services in the church to be married, have children and maintain a household.  By the third century, monasticism had taken the form of a contagion and it started to spread around like a pandemic.

The main reason for the popularity of monasticism in the ancient polytheistic Christian society was moral depravity, lasciviousness and worldliness. In order to break this growing wickedness, the Christian Church preferred intensity and extremism instead of adopting the path of moderation and imposed a way of life in which worldly relationships, marriage, wife and children, business, even drinking and eating was reduced to bear minimum. Some of the things that Christian ascetics used to adopt included: 

• Torture one’s body
• Staying dirty, avoiding cleanliness and water
• Prohibiting marriage
• Severing ties with relatives
• Going against human nature
• Sectarianism

Due to sectarianism, many sects and groups started to arise in the Christian community. All these sects had strong differences and hatred towards other sects. By the fourth century, around 90 sects had born in Christianity. A brief history of some of Christian priests is described here:

 Incidents of Christian Ascetics

St. Macarius used to carry a weight of 80lbs at all times. For 6 months he slept in a swamp and poisonous flies kept biting his body. It is written about a group of 130 nuns that they never washed their feet. Taking shower was like death for them.

St. Vitus was the father of two children.  When he became an ascetic, his wife wept, but he separated from her.  According to St. Jerome, severing marital relations was the foremost duty of a Christian ascetic.  The darkest reality of Christian monasticism was that it separated blood relations. According to the priests, it was a sin to have soft feelings for blood relations.  St. Jerome says about it, “If your nephew puts his arms around your neck and clings to you, if your mother tries to stop you, if your father lies down in front of you to stop you, even then, leave everything behind, run towards the flag of the cross without shedding a single tear.  On this path, ruthlessness is piety.  

St. Simeon Stylites spent 27 years away from his parents.  His father died from the shock of separation. When his mother found out about him, she went to see him but he refused to meet her.  For three days and three nights she kept waiting there and finally she died lying there.

The religion that goes against human nature, nature takes its revenge.  The Christian religion is a prime example of this.

What is Renunciation of World in Sufism?

Mostly people incorrectly portray the concept of ‘Tark-e-Dunia’ (renunciation of world) in Sufism and try to link it with monasticism. Thus, diverting people from Sufism. Sultan ul Ashiqeen Sultan Muhammad Najib ur Rehman says in his book Sufism – The Soul of Islam:

“The critics and deniers of Sufism heavily scandalised the term ‘renunciation’ and labelled it as monasticism and un-Islamic. In fact, the term renunciation has never been understood in its true sense. According to the philosophy of Sufism, renunciation means renouncing the lust of worldly pleasures inwardly.”

Daata Ganj Bakhsh Ali ibn Usman al-Hajveri says:

The more a man gets fed up with the world, the stronger becomes his relation with Allah. It does not mean that he must leave his home and family to start living in a jungle. Rather, it means that he should remove the love of the world from the inward. Live in the world but do not become worldly. It is the very excellence of Sufism, not to be drenched while remaining in the river. This is not courageous to avoid going near a river and keep boasting about not getting wet. To the Sufis, renunciation of the world is in fact spiritual rather than physical. The excellence is to live physically among the creation being spiritually away from it. (Kashf-ul-Mahjub) 

Sultan ul Faqr VI Sultan Muhammad Asghar Ali says:

Live in the world like a boat floats on water. Consider the boat as your esoteric self and the water as the world. The boat is safe until the water enters it. When water enters the boat, it definitely sinks. You are like a boat and the water is like the world. Save yourself from the world and its love. 

If you have wealth but you do not foster love for it and spend it generously for the sake of Allah, it is not worldliness. However, if you make worldly things your priority then all these things would become worldliness. Thus, evade yourself from the appetite of material things while living in this world, just as a wild duck lives in water but does not drown. Get your destiny from the world like a crane who while living on a riverside gets livelihood from it but does not drown.

Do your business of the world but for the sake of Allah; eat from your livelihood but for the sake of Allah and move in the world but again for Allah. I do not suggest alienate yourself from the world but you must continue to remember Allah while doing everything. Your inward should be attentive towards Him while your hands are busy in the worldly affairs. (Sultan-ul-Faqr VI Sultan Mohammad Asghar Ali-Life and Teachings)

Sufism Discourages Monastic Life

Monasticism means to leave the worldly life in a way that you go to jungle or in isolation, away from the people. Whereas, Islam is the religion which is complete and perfect way of life because it satisfies all the needs and aspects of life. It gives perfect guidance to every individual and social affair.

Islam teaches rights of Allah as well as the rights of human beings. That is the reason there is no concept of things like monasticism in Islam. 

The life of our Prophet (pbuh) is perfect example and guide for us. He used to remain intensely engaged in spreading the message of Islam and at the same time he gave lessons on excellent and fruitful ways of spending our worldly life whether it’s individual or collective.

Cutting ties with worldly means is against the nature. The essence of renouncing the world is to fulfil the worldly responsibilities and duties whilst keeping one’s inward enlightened with the remembrance of Allah. This is what renunciation of world means according to Sufism. Allah says in Quran:

The life of this world is nothing but sport and pastime and the Home of the Hereafter is the only (true) life. Would that they knew (this secret)! (29: 64)

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) also declared the love of the world a danger for faith. He said “The love of this world is the root of all evil”. (Ibn Majah 4112)

The System of Khanqah in Sufism

(Khanqah is the Arabized form of the Persian compound noun “Khan-gah” made up of two parts of “khana” (house) and “gah” (place). The term “khanqah” means a house where Sufis, dervishes and shaykhs live and worship. Khanqah is also called “sawmi’a”, “ibadatgah”, “ribat”, “tikiya”, “zawiya”, “qalandar”, “dergahg”,”langar”, “duwayra” and “jama’at khana”. Also, the name of some villages in Iran is Khanqah.

Residing in Khanqah for training has some commonality between Islam and Christian monasticism. However, they are fundamentally different to each other. The key difference is that in Christian monasticism, people who reside in a Khanqah sever all kinds of family ties and worldly affairs. Whereas the Sufi Khanqah which flourishes under the supervision of a perfect spiritual guide does not teach the seekers to leave worldly life. Instead, they are inculcated to renounce the world inwardly whilst discharging their worldly duties and responsibilities. And this is accomplished under the supervision of a perfect spiritual guide. By the blessings of his spiritual sight and esoteric attention, the spiritual guide, cleanses the spiritual self of sincere seekers.

By gaining closeness to the perfect spiritual guide, his blessings and favour, his inspired knowledge (ilm-e-Ludduni), the seeker gains freedom from attachments, love of this world and its lusts. There is no room for heresy, monasticism or anything that goes against Sharia in a Sufi Khanqah. The importance of Khanqah is proven from Quran. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) laid the foundation of the system of Khanqah from the platform of al-Suffa. Allah says in Quran:

(O Beloved Prophet!) Stay tenaciously in the companionship of those who remember their Lord morning and evening, ardently seeking His pleasure. (18: 28)

Companions of al-Suffah

Shaikh Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi writes in his renowned work Auarif-Al-Ma’araf:

The Companions of al-Suffah have a special place in Islam who stayed and got trained at the platform of al-Suffah. For them, this was their first school, where faith (Iman) was entered into their inwards and Islam spread in the whole world.

The rank of Companions of al-Suffah is so exalted that Allah mentioned them in Quran. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) gave them glad tidings. He said: “O Ashab al-Suffah, glad tidings to you that those of you who remain steadfast on these qualities that you have adopted here and would remain content on this state, would be raised and remain closest to me on the day of Judgement (Auarif-Al-Ma’araf).

Khanqah is the only place where people of same point of view and thoughts live and remember Allah. They don’t become oblivious to remembrance of Allah even for a moment. They live there day and night. Whilst residing there, they fulfill the tasks and duties assigned to them by their spiritual guide which in turn cleanses their inwards. By being in Khanqah it is not at all meant that the seeker will turn away from his duties towards his mother, father, sisters and brothers nor will he become negligent towards the family. Rather, Khanqah teaches beautiful way of life of Islam and the golden rules which when seeker applies to his life will succeed in both the worlds.

Khanqahs in Sufism are according to Mohammadan Sharia

Following the Sunna of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), the perfect Fakirs in every era established Khanqah for enlightening the souls of the seekers of Allah.

Here, the seekers of Allah get their inwards cleansed and enlightened under the spiritual guidance of the spiritual guide. Their (inner) self progresses from an-nafs al-ʾammārah (inciting self) to an-nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah (self at peace). By remaining in blessed company of our Perfect Spiritual Guide, the seeker’s inner (self) and outward being is enlightened with Divine light.

Monasticism in Islam  

There is no concept of monasticism in Islam as the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said in a hadith:    

There is no monasticism in Islam. 

In another hadith, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) emphasised that Islam prefers Jihad over monasticism.

Abu Saeed al-Khudri (r.a) narrates that a man came to me and asked for advice. I said: I had asked the Holy Prophet (pbuh) the same question and he said, “I advise you to fear Allah Almighty because this is the foundation of everything. Hold Jihad firmly since it is the monasticism of Islam. And remember Allah and recite Quran. Since it is the source of blessings in the sky and the remembrance for you on the earth. (Masnad Ahmad bin Hambal: 8982) 

We can infer from the aforementioned hadith that monasticism in Islam means Jihad in the way of Allah and the best Jihad is ‘Jihad with one’s self’ i.e. training and purifying one’s inward. In order to achieve this goal, sitting in company of a perfect spiritual guide became permissible for the seekers in Khanqah because the main purpose of the Khanqah is to purge seekers’ inciting self.  

In the end, we mention this beautiful saying of Ghawth al-Azam Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani:

“O servant of Allah! Adopt the company of Saints, because their glory is that when they look and pay attention to someone, they revive and enlighten their inward. Whether that person is a Jew, Christian or worshiper of fire.” (Al-Fath Al-Rabbani)

You are invited to adopt the company of the perfect spiritual guide of this age. So that you may purify your soul, attain the closeness and gnosis of Divine Essence and presence in Mohammadan Assembly which is real success in this world and hereafter.

What is the difference between Sufism and Monasticism?

The main difference between Sufism and monasticism is that in monasticism the monks sever their ties with blood relations. They stop all kinds of engagements with worldly life such as business, family etc. and subject their bodies to torturous endeavours. 

Whereas in Sufism, the perfect spiritual guide trains the seekers to remove the world and its desires from their inward whilst still living a normal life. They discharge their duties as a son, father, husband etc. but inwardly they remain attached to Allah Almighty every moment. The source of guidance and example to follow is the life of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) in Sufism. 

– Questions to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim

Sultanul Awliya as-Sayyid Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim ‘Adil Al-Haqqani An-Naqshbandi ق sohbat, 14 December 1994

GUEST: Mawlana I see that among our brothers, there are some foreign people. There is for sure a wisdom in opening your arms to these people. How come? How do you win a non-Muslim person? How are they honoured with Islam?

MAWLANA: Are they not Allah’s servants? I don’t collect them from the moon and stars. They are the people of the Earth. They are servants of Allah. Not people of the heavens. If you don’t appreciate Islam, Allah makes the Europeans to appreciate it. He takes out the sword and disciplines you. They will teach you Islam. The manifestation is on them now. There is a hadith: “The sun will rise from the West.” Its meaning is authentic. No need to translate it but if we translate it, it is a sign that Islam’s sun will rise from the West again. These are the new seeds of Islam blooming in Europe. They will come here in waves. They will insult people, who insult Islam here. Guidance is from Allah, not from us. We are a means.

GUEST: I asked because in other jamaats, among the brothers, the followers, I had never seen foreigners. Is it that you have an exceptional quality? How is it?

MAWLANA: It doesn’t belong to me, Allah gave me that quality. If I talk with the Pope, he becomes a Muslim. If I talk to a preacher, he becomes a Muslim. If I talk to Jesuit, he becomes a Muslim. If I talk to a Wahhabi, he gets more stubborn. I can’t communicate with arrogant Muslims. I can’t make them leave their arrogance. But these people (non-muslims) are inclined to Haqq (Truth). When you talk about Haqq their conscience immediately runs to accept it. It is not difficult. There is nothing easier than making them Muslim.

People who come to Europe for inviting (to Islam), either from here or other Muslim countries, they are arrogant. So these people don’t listen to them. If you approach these people humbly, respectfully, with love they give their lives for you. They too are Allah’s servants. He isn’t an ordinary man, he is a professor. This man is a German professor, doctor. A gentleman. He has high education. Jamaladdin also. Each one of them is a university graduate. They have professions. They aren’t ordinary people. We can’t deceive them and draw them to religion. No!

GUEST: Mawlana, there are various jamaats in Turkey. What do you advise the followers? What is your view on them?

MAWLANA: I’m tired of this variety. This variety is like partly cloudy. Each cloud is loaded with blessing. Divine order doesn’t let them rain. When they unite, blessing descends. I have no other advice. They should leave these names, unite under the name of the everlasting empire that their ancestors established. Our ancestors the Ottomans united all the Muslim nations under one identity. They succeeded in uniting them. Unfortunately now, there are Arabs, Saudis, Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Egyptians, Sudanese, Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans. All sorts. Even the Arabs can’t own their identities. They can’t say we are the Muslim Arabs. They are divided under fake names, titles. That’s why they have no value.

GUEST: By the way, Mawlana some people are busy preparing. Very busy preparing, as you may well know.

MAWLANA: Is it yellow fever?

GUEST: New year is coming. They celebrate the birth of ‘Isa ‘alaihi salam. They mark it as the first year and they celebrate the new year. What do you think about New Year?

MAWLANA: There is nothing to think. What can you expect from a community forced in this direction for 70 years? Expect them to approve the integrity of our Prophet’s ﷺ birthday? For 70 years, they say it is brain washing, not brain washing but brain spoiling. Each suggestion made makes people away from Islam, meaning, spoils their brains instead of washing their brains. Unfortunately their brains are spoiled with Christmas for over 70 years.

Let alone being religious, there is no religious tradition left. Now they adopted these Christian traditions. Tradition, new tradition. They intend to continue it. Headache. It is certainly unacceptable. “I celebrate it at home.” Don’t. “I eat chicken instead of turkey.” Don’t eat turkey either. Eat bread and olives that night. At least if we look at it from a religious perspective, when his mother gave birth to ‘Isa ‘alaihi salam she became hungry. With Allah’s order she shook the branch of the date tree and the dates fell down. At least if they put dates on their tables it would be consistent with the Holy Quran. They can calculate it and if it is ‘Isa’s ‘alaihi salam birthday, they can eat dates. I’m not saying that they should do this, but if they did it might be accepted.

We, Muslims don’t believe in the correctness of the day that Christians claim is the birthday of ‘Isa ‘alaihi salam. It is absolutely incorrect. That isn’t the day. But Christians have made this religion fake. It is a religion of showing off. They haven’t left anything related to reality so we can say, do this, do that. No need. Because the Saudis, whom you assume to be practicing sharia, reject the celebration of our Prophet’s ﷺ birthday. It is prohibited by the Saudis. So many ignorant ones, with titles of ‘Doctor’ are educated by Saudis.

They also reject the Mawlid. They prohibit the Mawlid-i Sharif reciting in the month of Mawlid. They say it is prohibited, bid’a (innovation), etc. They are the ones making bid’a. For this reason within this year this yellow fever won’t leave them. But this yellow fever makes them uncomfortable. These people busy with New Year preparations, should be ready for yellow fever within that year, that they call ‘New Year’.

Look also 99 Sohbets of Maulana Sheikh Nazim Adil al Haqqani ar Rabbani

“Love is beautiful for our Lord and His servants. Do everything with love, it must be accepted by your lord and he will do it with pleasure. Allah says; I don’t need your worship, I only seek the Love with which it is offered. Now we are trying to do all the practices but forgetting to ask for Divine Love, so we are becoming like robots, or like doing gymnastics.

If our worship makes the love for Allah grow in our hearts, then we should keep that practice and continue.”

~ Sultan-ul-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim

Passover is the “Passing By” Feast

On the Origin of Easter

The undeniable truth is that  for Christianity Jesus is the personification of the central sun of our solar system. Perceived from the northern hemisphere, and particularly from between the latitudes of the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle, the celestial arc-shape path of our Light Bringer becomes in the fall each day a little smaller. But on (about) December 21, this daily shrinkage comes to stand still. In other words, the daily changing in the size of the Risen Savior’s arc has then stopped, or “died”. However, after three natural days, in which the nights lasted the longest of the year, this heavenly motion comes back to life again, starting with the sunrise on December 25. We celebrate this annual rebirth of Jesus with the Light Feast as a continuation of the Germanic Midwinter Festival.

As the Roman deceivers want this to be hidden from the uninitiated, they moved Jesus’ day of death from December 21st to “Good Friday”, that is, the Friday before Easter, which is today. Furthermore, they changed the meaning of this Passover to the resurrection of the Savior, which in reality occurs every year on December 25th.

Just like Christmas, also the Passover is originally a Germanic feast. As we celebrate during the Midwinter Feast our survival of the year’s darkest part, we celebrate during the Eostre Festival the fact that within a natural day the day time period has again become longer than the night time period. In other words, the light of the day has again overtaken or passed by the darkness of the night. The official version of the origin of the name “Passover” tries to fool us by pointing to the Hebrew word “Pesach”, but that is like putting the world upside down. In reality, the name “Passover” originates from the old Germanic verb for ‘passing by’. Somehow ‘passing by’ and ‘taking over’ merged into “Passover”. Another myth is that the name “Easter” is referring to the East. This is nonsense, as it is derived from the Old English “Eostre”. Actually, it is all quite straightforward, only by examining these names.

This (long) weekend, we celebrate the fact that the daily lighter period has taken over or passed by the nightly darker period. In other words, the entire period of natural day is again ruled by Light, and no longer by Darkness. We can also examine the way we still use the verb ‘pass’ in our contemporary language. For instance, we pass a deed. After this deed is passed, the previous owner passed it on to the following one. Similarly, we also pass a ball from the previous player to the next in various ball sports.

When we imagine a full year as a circle, then the straight lines that connect the starting points of opposing seasons form a cross within that circle. This is the true Cross of Jesus, as shown in the figure on the right-hand side. Opposite to the beginning of winter on (about) December 21st lies on this circle the beginning of summer on (about) June 21st. These two points are called ‘solstices’ from solstitium in Latin, literally meaning ‘solar standstill’. However, it is not the standing still of the Light Bringer, but the standstill of the daily growing (or shrinking) of its arc-like path. Likewise, opposite to the beginning of spring on (about) March 21st lies on this circle the beginning of autumn on (about) September 23rd. These two points are called equinoxes from aequinoctium in Latin, literally meaning ‘night getting even’ (with day). On these two days a year, the nocturnal darker period and the diurnal lighter period indeed get even.

Furthermore, in case you want to learn more about the original Germanic holidays, then study the Germanic Moon Calendar.

Resurrection and the Feminine Divine
The Christian holiday of Easter is the archetypal summit of the year, where rebirth and
resurrection are venerated in the mystery of Jesus Christ’s awakening from the tomb. In Christian orthodoxy, Easter is known as pascha, the Greek and Latin term referring to the Jewish Passover.
The Apostle Paul uses this word as a title for Christ, “For Christ our Passover lamb [pascha], has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5.7). By the end of the first century CE early Christians had reinterpreted the Exodus story and the Passover ritual as a prototype for the sacrifice of Christ.

The word “Easter” itself, however, is Old English, from Eastre or Eostre, a title derived from an old English month now known as April. Christian Easter is celebrated on the first Sabbath after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This holy-specific day most often occurs in April and is representative of the most fertile time of the year, when sun, moon, and earth are all in their phases of rebirth and awakening. Easter is therefore the day of resurrection, in heaven and on earth. And this heaven-earth relationship is only an archetypal symbol for the heaven-earth awakening that occurs in the soul of God, or in the spirit and breath of each mortal man and woman. In Christian rite and belief, every soul will arise like the sun, moon, and earth, to a new immortal dwelling.
Despite this traditional context, historically, Easter had feminine roots.  Significantly, the old English month of Eostre was itself named after a goddess whose rites of rebirth were celebrated at the same time among the early inhabitants of Britain and Northern Europe. Eostre was a Germanic goddess whose name is cognate with the Proto-Germanic austrôn, meaning dawn or to shine. This deity belongs to a long line of female divinities who are goddesses of the dawn, and are found in various forms throughout Indo-European cultures as beings who bring light and life to the world. For thousands of years before Christianity the divine being who brought forth resurrection was represented as a goddess. Inanna, Isis, Rhea, Cybele, and Demeter are beings with the divine stewardship over rebirth.

The Japanese Amaterasu is a goddess of the dawn who also brings light and life to the world. While these deities were seen as the powers behind the fertility of all things on earth, they also held stewardship over the mysterious cosmic principle of heavenly life. In the Greco-Roman mystery religions, the revitalization of the initiate was promised via the gifts and boons of the goddess. This should make sense as in fact it is only woman who can bring forth life from her womb. In many respects, the rites of rebirth analogized the tomb with the womb, so that those going into the beyond could be reborn by a Heavenly Mother whose womb was the cosmic precinct of immortality.

The Goddess in Prehistory
“As far back as the Paleolithic Age,” writes Maarten J. Varmaseren, “one finds in the countries around the Mediterranean a goddess who is universally worshiped as the Mighty Mother” . From 30,000 to 10,000 BCE, adds Joseph Campbell, “the [Goddess] is represented in those now well-known little ‘Venus’ figurines” . A limestone relief found in southwestern France in the Pyrenees is illustrative in this regard. Dating to 25,000 BCE, an engraved Venus image is shown holding a bison horn inscribed with thirteen vertical strokes. This is the number of nights between the first crescent and the full moon .

The Goddess figure is holding her swollen belly with her other hand, suggesting that at this early date, the lunar and menstrual cycles were connected, and that the Goddess figure was symbolic of the whole archetypal complex of the feminine divine: life, birth, and death.

According to Joseph Campbell, the goddess has three functions:

“one, to give us life; two, to be the one who receives us in death; and three, to inspire our spiritual, poetic realization” Read more here

 

– The Forgotten Craftsmen Who Built Europe’s Medieval Monuments

Who really built Europe’s finest Romanesque monuments? Clergymen presiding over holy sites are credited throughout history, while highly skilled creators remain anonymous. But the buildings speak for themselves.

This groundbreaking book explores the evidence embedded in medieval monasteries, churches and castles, from Mont Saint-Michel and the Leaning Tower of Pisa to Durham Cathedral and the Basilica of Santiago de Compostela. Tracing the origins of key design innovations from this pre-Gothic period—acknowledged as the essential foundation of all future European construction styles—Diana Darke sheds startling new light on the masons, carpenters and sculptors behind these masterpieces.

At a time when Christendom lacked such expertise, Muslim craftsmen had advanced understanding of geometry and complex ornamentation. They dominated high-end construction in Islamic Spain, Sicily and North Africa, spreading knowledge and techniques across Western Europe. Challenging Euro-centric assumptions, Darke uncovers the profound influence of the Islamic world in ‘Christian’ Europe, and argues that ‘Romanesque’ architecture, a nineteenth-century art historians’ fiction, should be recognised for what it truly is: Islamesque.

– the diverse roots of medieval architecture

A beautifully-illustrated account of the Middle Eastern influence on Europe’s great buildings

From Cairo to Istanbul, the ancient cities of the eastern Mediterranean tell a story of conquest, trade and coexistence written in stone. Jerusalem’s seventh-century Dome of the Rock and its surroundings are dotted with recycled Persian, Greek, Hasmonean and Roman stonework, along with choice fragments from churches. In Damascus, the eighth-century Umayyad Mosque features intricately carved capitals from a Roman temple and relics of St John the Baptist transferred from the church it replaced. The cross-pollination extended from design and materials to people – the shimmering gold mosaics that cover the interiors of both buildings are attributed to the Byzantine master craftsmen whose forerunners decorated the churches of Constantinople and Ravenna.

This sun-drenched historical patchwork could seem a long way from the gloom of early medieval Europe. But in Islamesque, cultural historian Diana Darke sets out to show Islamic art’s influence on Europe’s Romanesque monasteries, churches and castles, via a very similar story of surprising borrowings and occasional thefts. It is a companion to Darke’s previous book, Stealing from the Saracens, which argued that European masterpieces from Notre-Dame to St Paul’s took inspiration from the Muslim world, and whose eye-catching examples included Big Ben’s resemblance to the 11th-century minaret of the Great Mosque of Aleppo.

Islamesque begins with equally sweeping claims of a “controversial, revolutionary” thesis: that Islamic influence has been less “forgotten” than deliberately suppressed by chauvinists and culture warriors. But the true focus of the book lies at the other end of the scale, in the micro-details of archivolts and muqarnas, squinches and joggled voussoirs.

To research it, Darke covered a staggering amount of ground, visiting “hundreds of Romanesque buildings scattered across England, Wales, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Sicily, not to mention scores of sites across North Africa, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey” – many of them shown in 150 beautiful colour illustrations.

Darke’s starting point is an exploration of a zigzag motif she traces from the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for “water” through Coptic (Egyptian Christian), Islamic and western architectural traditions to the courtyard of the Ottoman merchant’s house she bought and restored in Damascus. The book then itself zigzags – sometimes disorientingly – through space and time. There is a fascinating chapter on the Fatimid architecture of Cairo: the buildings created by the Isma’ili Shia dynasty that founded the city and made it the centre of a caliphate that in the 11th century stretched from Sicily to the Hejaz in the Arabian peninsula. Darke is clearly an enthusiast and it is a pleasure to follow her from the exquisite shell-like facade of Cairo’s tiny al-Aqmar (“Moonlit”) Mosque, rich in esoteric symbolism, to the defensive bulk of the Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr city gates. (The book is loaded with intriguing digressions including, here, one on the highly decorated Coptic desert monasteries that inspired Celtic Christian art. By the sixth century, so many Irish monks were travelling to visit Egypt’s monks and hermits, Darke writes, that a guidebook was written for them, today preserved in Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale.)

So how did the advanced geometry, engineering and artistry needed to create buildings like these make its way to comparatively backward Europe? Darke identifies several portals, first among them Sicily. By the end of the 11th century the island had been seized from its Muslim rulers by the Normans, who razed its palaces and mosques and constructed hybrid Arab-Norman-Byzantine replacements.

In Spain, meanwhile, as the extent of Christian and Muslim territories waxed and waned, buildings such as Córdoba’s Mezquita changed hands and the boundaries between languages and cultures blurred. Through these routes – along with the Crusades and trade with the Italian entrepots of Venice, Genoa and Amalfi – Christian Europe drew on the superior knowledge and skills of the Islamic world and its craftworkers to create its own monuments.

The results spread even to the damp islands at the other end of the continent: Darke cites Wells Cathedral, where 13th-century stonemasons labelled sculptures with Arabic numerals centuries before their use became widespread, and Peterborough Cathedral, where carpenters created an intricately jointed and decorated wooden ceiling using techniques then unknown in Europe. Islamesque doesn’t need to be “revolutionary”; it offers an enjoyable and eye-opening reminder that Europe’s heritage has far more diverse roots than we assume.

 See also : Wisdom of Craftmanship Versus Modernity

• “Rebel in the Soul”

To start our Migration to the Spiritual Land of Peace ,  we look  at an old text  known as papyrus 3024 from the Berlin Museum, known  as “Man arguing with his Soul” or the “Rebel in the Soul” we can perhaps study one of the earliest accounts of the confrontation with the ego.

 – Rebel in the Soul: An ancient Egyptian dialogue between a Man and his Soul

This controversial text, that was meant for initiates at the threshold of the Ancient Egyptian Inner Temple, speaks to us with intriguing relevance to the problems of today. Taking the form of a dialogue between a man and his soul, this sacred text explores the inner discourse between doubt and mystical knowledge and deals with the rebellion and despair of the intellect at a crucial stage of spiritual development.
The first complete and consistent translation of the Berlin Papyrus 3024, which is thought to be nearly 4,000 years old:

“The man’s soul tells him that men of greater value than he have suffered from the world, and advises him to gain an insight from his attitude and search to overcome his despair.

It is An Egyptian temple text, related with the God IAI, an aspect of the Solar God, the stubborn donkey. It shows the intellectual rebellion of our Ego.

“The stubborn, passionate, long-suffering ass is the perfect natural symbol of our rational personality. It bears, like the ass, the weight of all our suffering, and carries us through life. It is stubborn, selfish and refuses to go where we think we best…

Carrot and stick:

….Yet paradoxically, it is the same stubborn ass, and only the ass, that can carry the Rebel to salvation; mounted upon the ass, man is mounted upon his own rebellion. The ass is the father of all rebels, but also the carrier of redemption.”

In Ancient Egypt, Iai, the Great Ass, is the aspect of the Sun God with Ass’s ears.  This is Osiris in his listening state; listening equalled wisdom to the Ancient Egyptians. The Book of the Gates depicts the progression of the sun through the night. The Twelve Hours of Night are depicted as regions of the Underworld. Each region is an Hour, and each Hour has its gate through which to pass. To pass, we must know the name of the gatekeeper, or guardian.

This is the same as identifying the layers of egos we each have within – an ego is what others might call one of the deadly sins, Pride, Envy, Greed…all those different aspects of the personality that can prevent us from progressing through the gates or stages of spiritual development.  When we look inwardly at the aspects of our personality that rule or affect our lives, we need to recognise what is affecting our spiritual progress; if we learn to use it wisely and become its master, instead of it being master over us, we then recognise the Guardian of that Gate – can name the Guardian, and can “pass through the Gate”. Consciousness moves from Gate to Gate.

In the argument with his Soul, the man is bargaining for the right to die because he can no longer face the suffering of living in this world without his mentor. In Ancient Egypt, it was believed that a man and his Soul would be judged together in the afterlife; the Soul can make appeals on his behalf.  So the man is arguing with his Soul to persuade it that killing himself is the correct thing to do, as he wants it to accept his reasons, and agree with him so that it will stay with him after death and make favourable appeals. However, his Soul has other ideas..

“I spoke to my soul that I might answer what it said:

To whom shall I speak today?

Brothers and sisters are evil and friends today are not worth loving.

Hearts are great with greed and everyone seizes his or her neigh­bor’s goods.

Kindness has passed away and violence is imposed on everyone.

To whom shall I speak today?

People willingly accept evil and goodness is cast to the ground everywhere.

Those who should enrage people by their wrongdoing

make them laugh at their evil deeds.

People plunder and everyone seizes _his or her neighbour’s goods.

To whom shall I speak today?

The one doing wrong is an intimate friend and the brother with whom one used to deal is an enemy.

No one remembers the past and none return the good deed that is done.

Brothers and sisters are evil

and people turn to strangers for righteousness or affection.

To whom shall I speak today?

Faces are empty and all turn their faces from their brothers and sisters.

Hearts are great with greed

and there is no heart of a man or woman upon which one might lean.

None are just or righteous and the land is left to the doers of evil.

To whom shall I speak today?

There are no intimate friends

and the people turn to strangers to tell their troubles.

None are content and those with whom one used to walk no longer exist.

I am burdened with grief and have no one to comfort me.

There is no end to the wrong which roams the earth.

When we consider the age of this text, from  XII Dynasty  Egypt (approx 1991-1783 BC), we can see that the nature of the woes and troubles of humankind have changed very little.

The man’s soul tells him that men of greater value than he have suffered from the world, and advises him to gain an insight from his attitude and search to overcome his despair.  It tells him some allegorical stories – the first being the “mythical field of transformations”; both the field AND the plough are to be found within man. The field is the ground; the earth, where the soul of the man dwells, and is to be cultivated by the ploughman – the man must “cultivate” himself.

The harvest is what is then offered back to the soul. The “harvest”, what is left of the man after his life, is in dangerous hands if left uncultivated. It is exposed to a “storm from the North” said to indicate the Head (Reason); the storm is consciousness threatened by intellectual rebellion.

The man at this point in the story, when his Rebel/ego is arguing for survival, is not yet ready to let the wisdom of his heart rule his intellect, and this is symbolised by the crocodile. The man’s heirs, in the story he is told by his soul, are eaten by a crocodile whilst still in the egg, before they are fully formed, before they have lived, and will never realise their potential. See The Rebel in Soul by Bika Reed and here The Rebel in The Soul: The Wisdom of Ordinariness

• Brueghel : the apocalypse within

The Fall of the Rebel Angels or The Archangel Michael Slaying the Apocalyptic Dragon, Dulle Griet or Mad Meg, and The Triumph of Death.All three panels are again the same overall size. The link is provided by the Apocalypse.

see also Analyse of the 3 paintings here

Notwithstanding the “predilection of his age for symbolism and allegory”, the eulogy of Ortelius that Bruegel ‘depicted many things that cannot be depicted’, the search for hidden truths, and the idea that this artist was deliberately obscure and cryptic, considering the dangers inherent in being openly critical, a degree of circumspection is only to be expected. With these three works, here we also have Bruegel’s major excursion into the world of Jheronimus Bosch. The first, the Rebel Angels, was at one time attributed to Bosch, the formal language of the second, Dulle Griet, is distinctly reminiscent of Bosch and the third, the Triumph of Death, has all the apocalyptic power of Bosch – and more; a landscape of death, one where the promise of redemption and resurrection is absent. God is nowhere to be seen. Or is it more we, our ego denies the existence of God?

Is the Message of Brueghel more like this:  There is no God … But God?  Recognising the eternal struggle in the soul of man between the sinful earthly being or nature, dominated by earthly wisdom, and the divine nature of God,Brueghel asks us a total submission.

The 1560s was no time for children’s games. Amused by each of these spectacles of humanity, people miss the underlying seriousness of Bruegel in everything he does. Bruegel transports us back over four centuries to a time when everyone looks to be having fun. Where did all the good times go? Within 50 years of this painting the European world appears to be have been struck by an epidemic of depression that plunged young and old into months and even years of morbid lethargy and relentless terrors. We seem to have been living with it ever since. The decline in opportunities for traditional pleasures is later reflected in John Bunyan’s march to a life free of fun. In Pilgrim’s Progress carnival is the portal to Hell, just as pleasure in any form, sexual, gustatory, convivial, is the devil’s snare. It seems that while the medieval peasant enjoyed the festivities as an escape from work, the Puritan embraced work as an escape from terror.

Progress came with a price. The new world had not yet made a Faustian pact with the Devil to gain its brilliant advances in science, exploration and industry but it had swept away some of the traditional cures for the depression that those achievements brought in tow.

But still, the old world had its own demons to fight. As visitors to the museums where this group of three pictures hang, smile, laugh even, and check those inventories of activity, the link between laughter and spirituality goes unnoticed.

The ability to laugh can help us through the best and worst of times. Its importance for our spiritual wellbeing is generally neglected.

Brueghel used the personnage of “Dulle Griet’ to express this kind of stubbornness  as the stubborn donkey of the Egyptian papyrus from 4000 years ago. It shows the intellectual rebellion of our Ego.

Modern Man with all his “economical grow- energy” knowledge and scientifical research based on rebellion against his Soul, wants to find (without his soul) the solutions to all the problems he createdand  is landed in an apocalyptic “theather” prophesying the complete destruction of the world.

an as stubbornness of the intellectual rebellion of our Ego so acting  as “Whore of Babylon” discribed in the Book of Revelation.

Only by killing earthly wisdom and the lusts and properties in his soul would man enable Christ to be reborn within himself and be united with God, thereby restoring that `oneness’ referred to at the beginning of the Theologia Germanica: 

• “Sin is selfishness:Godliness is unselfishness:A godly life is the steadfast working out of inward freeness from self:To become thus Godlike is the bringing back of man’s first nature”.
• Christ as Child in the Heart of the true believer.

What does love look like?
It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like.

Saint Augustine

In the 5 cirkels is written: “Gave van Barmhartigheid“: Gift of Mercy , “Gave van Genade’: Gift of Grace, “Gave des Levens” ( in the heart): Gift of Life, ” Gave van Medelijden”: Gift of Compassion, “Gave van sterkte“: Gift of strength.

• The Spiritual Message of Bruegel for our Times

Bruegel’s Philosophical Circle

Bruegel the man – as opposed to his paintings – remains more or less invisible to history. There is nothing written by him and, with one exception – Abraham Ortelius’ remarks in his Album Amicorum which will be discussed below – there is nothing by his contemporaries that provides a glimpse into his intellectual, psychological, philosophical or spiritual outlook. But those with whom he is known to have associated are among the most brilliant and outstanding men of their time; many of them were men of renown in the world. The writers, artists and religious thinkers whose names are linked with Bruegel were men of the humanist movement who, inwardly at least, rejected the politics and dogmatic rigidities of conventional religion in favour of a search for such philosophical and mystical truths as can be approached through methods of contemplative spirituality.

Like the gnostics before them they cultivated the art of complete inner freedom from conventions and preconceptions. Outwardly, like Lipsius, they could maintain the appearance of conformity, even if lightly. Others like Niclaes, the founder of the House of Love, more openly declared themselves ^„filled with God‟ and set themselves up as teachers, though Niclaes himself encouraged his followers to disguise their innermost convictions and let themselves be counted among the Church’s faithful.( A practice known as Nicodemism, a position whereby Christians could hide their dissenting beliefs while conforming to mainstream religious rituals).

Theirs was a form of gnosticism in that they gave priority to the action of knowledge granted by the Spirit over the disciplines of conformity to church regulations. It can be argued that they were students of esoteric Christianity and heirs of the Perennial Philosophy. Read more here

• Mutiny of the Soul

Depression, anxiety, and fatigue are an essential part of a process of metamorphosis that is unfolding on the planet today, and highly significant for the light they shed on the transition from an old world to a new.

When a growing fatigue or depression becomes serious, and we get a diagnosis of Epstein-Barr or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or hypothyroid or low serotonin, we typically feel relief and alarm. Alarm: something is wrong with me. Relief: at least I know I’m not imagining things; now that I have a diagnosis, I can be cured, and life can go back to normal. But of course, a cure for these conditions is elusive.

The notion of a cure starts with the question, “What has gone wrong?” But there is another, radically different way of seeing fatigue and depression that starts by asking, “What is the body, in its perfect wisdom, responding to?” When would it be the wisest choice for someone to be unable to summon the energy to fully participate in life?

The answer is staring us in the face. When our soul-body is saying No to life, through fatigue or depression, the first thing to ask is, “Is life as I am living it the right life for me right now?” When the soul-body is saying No to participation in the world, the first thing to ask is, “Does the world as it is presented me merit my full participation?” Read More Here

• The Spiritual Land of Peace:

Look and behold: there is in the world a very unpeaceable Land and it is the wildernessed land wherein the most part of all  impenitent and ignorant people do dwell and in which is, the first of all needful for the man; to the end that he may come to the Land of Peace and the City of Life and Rest. ( from Terra Pacis  by Hendrik Niclaes of the Family of Love,)

The same unpeaceable land has also a City, the name of which they that dwell therein do not know, but only those who are come out of it, and it is named Ignorance.

The “Dulle Griet” as “whore of Babylon” ,  in the land of Ignorance by Brueghel:

Dulle griet is the representation of the  Whore of Babylon living in a land of Ignorance.

The Whore of Babylon in the The Apocalypse Tapestry of Angers

The Whore of Babylon or Babylon the Great is a symbolic female figure and also place of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17 (verse 5) as Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth.

The word “Whore” can also be translated metaphorically as “Idolatress“.^[1] The Whore’s apocalyptic downfall is prophesied to take place in the hands of the image of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. There is much speculation within Christian eschatology on what the Whore and beast symbolize as well as the possible implications for contemporary interpretation.

Dulle Griet is the model of modern man’s  Rebellion  against his soul and  Anger against it. How can Dulle Griet find  a way to calm her anger?

She can looks in  the mirror and see herself,making more “selfies”, so  seeing more anger as the portait of vanity of Hans Memling shows us. The lady see only more vanity  The message of Memling is in his Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation  focuses on the idea of “Memento mori,” a Latin phrase that translates to “Remember your mortality.” Memling’s triptych shockingly contrasts the beauty, luxury and vanity of the mortal earth with images of death and hell. In the time of Breughel and in our times  the message is  that  Vanity is not the solution. see: Nothing Good without Pain: Hans Memling”s earthly Vanity and  Divine Salation

All Is Vanity by Charles Allan Gilbert (September 3, 1873 – April 20, 1929)

The phrase “All is vanity” comes from Ecclesiastes 1:2 (Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Don’t change the world in hopes of changing yourself,

change yourself so the world changes because of you.

• In this land of Ignorance, for the food of men, there grows neither corn nor grass.

The people that dwell therein know not their original or first beginning;  neither do they know from whence, or how, they came into the same. And moreover then, that they are altogether blind, and blind-born.

The forementioned city, named Ignorance, has two Gates. The one stands in the North, or Midnight, through the which men go into the city of darkness or ignorance.

This gate now, that stands to the North, is very large and great, and has also a great door, because there is much passage through the same; and it has likewise his name, according to the nature of the same city.

Foreasmuch as that men do come into Ignorance through the same gate, therefore it is named Men Do Not Know How to Do. And the great door, where through the multitude do run is named Unknown Error; and there is else no coming into the City named Ignorance.

The other gate stands on the one side of the City, towards the East or Spring of the Day, and the name is the Narrow Gate, through the which, men travel out of the city and do enter into the Straight Way which leads to Righteousness.

Now when one travells out through the same Gate, then does he immediately espie some Light, and that same reachs to the Rising of the Sun.

Here the symbolism, taking up the theme of the ‘bread of life’, i.e. spiritual nourishment, employs the images of ‘corn’ and ‘seed’ whose esoteric meaning was discussed earlier and which will be met again in the paintings by Bruegel of the Harvest and the   Ploughman (Fall of Icarus).

The importance of spiritual nourishment – or rather the lack of it – is discussed in the section dealing with the Peasant Wedding Feast( in construction) (Marriage at Cana) where the lack of wine is shown to correspond, by rhetorical imitation, with famine imagery in the Old Testament where the sense is that of ‘famine for the word of God’.

‘Landscape With The Fall of Icarus.‘ It is the only painting Bruegel did with a non-Biblical mythological subject. W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’ describes it:

About suffering they were never wrong,

The Old Masters: how well they understood

Its human position; how it takes place

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just

walking dully a long; …

In Bruegel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may

Have heard the splash. the forsaken cry,

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky.

Had somewhere to go and sailed calmly on.

The painting shows Icarus, barely discernible, already submerged but for his legs. The ploughman in the foreground, the fisherman with his back to us, the shepherd leaning on his crook staring at the blank sky , his back to Icarus, the ship sailing away from Icarus to the horizon as the tones of earth and water fade toward the splashing pastels of a setting sun on the horizon, all underline Bruegel’s comment on the folly of human ambitions.

He had , as other Northern intellectuals, been familiar with Erasmus’ The Praise of Folly and the tradition of the “fool literature’ of the time, especially Brandt’s ·Ship of Fools’ (The Narrenschiff, 1494).

The painting represents a rendering of the German proverb: ‘No plough comes to a standstill because a man dies.’ As such, it establishes a continuity of myth and the times, but rather than make the event tragic he makes it inconsequential next to the mundane pursuits at hand. We come upon the actors in tableau , frozen as in a movie still about to come into action; the splash frozen too – creates a tension but one soon to be exhausted and consumed by the natural splendor of the sunset.

Here the painter has produced an eidetic effect: he has captured the event’s meaning while at the same time debunking its grandiosity.

The mundane elements of work and subsistence capture our attention, until as an afterthought we notice pale Icarus about to disappear. All of this is cradled in nature so that the painting becomes a pageant of indifference with a sense of cosmic irony. It is the scale of nature which makes the scene great though the actors in both harmony and tension with nature are unaware of the forces at work.

Hence, Bruegel’s ‘throwing away of the title ,’ a technique borrowed from the mannerists whom this painting debunks as well. Here Bruegel has entered a controversy over the desirability of Italian painting that raged among Flemish painters at the time. The realism of the Flemish plowman, anticipating in style and flavor Thomas Hart Benton’s rural apotheosis, the barely discernible corpse in the wooded area in the left middle ground , the theme of the fall, and the fragile make-believe classicized buildings moving toward the horizon to which all goes and from which everything comes, all point to a rejection of the hegemony of classicism, the debunking (relativizing) of mythologies superimposed from the outside, and an identification with indigenous Netherlandish elements represented by the peasantry.

• When we consider the age of this text ( The Rebel in the soul), from  XII Dynasty  Egypt (approx 1991-1783 bc), we can see that the nature of the woes and troubles of humankind have changed very little. This is where the text can also be read as a text of initiation.

The man’s soul tells him that men of greater value than he have suffered from the world, and advises him to gain an insight from his attitude and search to overcome his despair.  It tells him some allegorical stories – the first being the “mythical field of transformations”; both the field AND the plough are to be found within man. The field is the ground; the earth, where the soul of the man dwells, and is to be cultivated by the ploughman – the man must “cultivate” himself.

The harvest is what is then offered back to the soul. The “harvest”, what is left of the man after his life, is in dangerous hands if left uncultivated. It is exposed to a “storm from the North” said to indicate the Head (Reason); the storm is consciousness threatened by intellectual rebellion.
The man at this point in the story, when his Rebel/ego is arguing for survival, is not yet ready to let the wisdom of his heart rule his intellect, and this is symbolised by the crocodile. The man’s heirs, in the story he is told by his soul, are eaten by a crocodile whilst still in the egg, before they are fully formed, before they have lived, and will never realise their potential.

The ‘heir’ in the egg symbolises what the cultivated man could become. Here we can see it as an unborn Akh.

The Man’s Ba is teaching him that The Great Ass, the ego and False Self,  must be sacrificed to the crocodile. Unless this sacrifice is made, the man cannot travel further through the Hours of the Night to the light of dawn;  he will never integrate with his mystical body and be re-born.

Anubis, the god of the Underworld, is also the god of helping us realise our full potential, as protector of the Soul in its journey through the Underworld.

Reed tells us:

“The Ancient Egyptian Myth which describes the birth of the redeemer, Anubis, gives us an insight into this dramatic turning, or birth into higher consciousness. In this myth, the jackal god is pursuing Seth, the Enemy of Light, who takes the form of a panther and escapes the dog.

But the mother dog, Isis, sees the panther and catches up. Terrified of the wild bitch, the panther transforms himself into the dog, his own pursuer. But Isis digs her teeth into his back. Caught, Seth cries, “Why are you pursuing this poor dog who does not exist?” The myth then says “And this is how he became. HE BECAME (IN PU) is the Egyptian name for Anubis, the first Priest of Osiris. The Redeemer (IN PU) only comes to life by seeing his own “inexistence”

In other words, we will only reach our full potential when we ‘pursue’ ourselves, and by doing this – the Work on the Self: cultivation, we will understand the need to sacrifice our false identity. Our ego will argue for its own survival, and this Rebel will put up the greatest fight, until we recognise it for what it is – a false non-existent self – and are born into higher consciousness, as our own “heir”.

The man shows he has understood:

In truth, he who is yonder will be a living god,
punishing the crime of him who does it.

In truth, he who is yonder will stand in the Bark of the Sun,
making its bounty flow  to the temples.

In truth, he who is yonder will be a wise man,
who cannot, when he speaks, be stopped
from appealing to Re !

His Ba answers:

Throw complaint over the fence,
you my comrade, my brother!
May you make offering upon the brazier,  and cling to life by the means you describe! Yet love me here, having put aside the West! [the West is where the deceased goin the Ancient Egyptian belief system]

But when it is wished that you attain the West, that your body joins the earth, then I shall alight after you have become weary, and then we shall dwell together!”