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Sufi Grand Master
Our group is visiting a place
located between two clear brooks in birch forest.
Along the brooks, willow bushes grow thickly
together. The forest is filled with the moist aroma
of autumn morning and odor of birches.
We build a fire of dry branches and
fallen birch trunks. The smell of birch smoke from
the fire enhances the feeling of tender forest
coziness…
Apart from us, no other people visit
this place. But it is inhabited by snipes and
woodcocks, displaying in spring. In winter, one may
come across traces of hares, wild boars, and foxes.
Along the banks of the larger brook, one may see
beaver teeth marks on the trees.
Yet we have come now not to them,
but to the Divine Teacher Who calls Himself Sufi
Grand Master — Grand Master of Sufism.
He says that He is one of the
founders of Islam, the creator of its main — Sufic —
branch. In the first century of the Muslim calendar,
living in Arabia, He accepted fully the Teaching
about God given through prophet Muhammad and
fulfilled it.
“I cognized Allah and became His
Integral Part. In that sense, I am Allah,” He says
about Himself.
This is true indeed: the
Consciousness of Grand Master immensely comes out
from the Abode of the Creator, remaining
indissolubly connected with Him.
Inside the Mahadouble of Grand
Master, the space is filled Divinely subtle
energies; this is one of the remarkable places of
power for cleansing the chakras and meridians,
for crystallization of the consciousness and
further growing of the developed consciousness into
the Creator.
The Tenderness of Allah is
dominating here.
We ask Him to relate the methods
which He used to attain the state of Divinity and
which He imparted later to His students.
He began narrating:
“My Path is the Path of Heart.
Allah taught it to Me. I accepted this Path and
under Allah’s guidance developed and imparted it to
others.
“The Path of Heart implies
embracing the principles of Love and
Quietness.
“… He taught Me to listen to the
quietness…
“First, one has to learn listening
to the sounds around: sound of the wind, lapping of
waves, calls of birds, crackle of a fire… After
that, one can start listening to the quietness…
“I came to know that all various
sounds are local and transient, while the
quietness is omnipresent and eternal. Beneath
all sounds existing in the universe, there spreads
infinitely the Great Quietness.
“For hours I could listen to the
sounds of the world — beautiful and diverse, and
then I would ‘release’ Myself and ‘sink’ into it —
into the quietness. There I could see the
clear transparence of the quietness, hear its
silence. I could freely and easily swim in
it, submerge to the very Depths of it…
Gradually the Great Quietness became My home…
“From there, I saw that all sounds
of the worlds are as if created by the Great
Quietness. I saw how its breathing fills from
within all forms of life — and they sound as a
well-trained choir of various musical instruments.
Like flowers, sounds unfold for a moment in the
eternity of the Great Quietness…”
“Why did You listen to the
world? Were you born blind?”
“This, of course, would be a
beautiful version, but no — I was sighted. Someone
is born a painter; someone is born a musician.
Someone sees and someone hears the world. I heard
it.
“By the way, for beginners it is
more beneficial to listen to the space
around. By listening, you can embrace much larger
volume of space; you can even hear that which
you can not see.
“He who has learned to listen
can become the Master of Quietness.
“The quietness gives you
calm.
“The peculiar feature of the
quietness is that it gets filled with you.
“The quietness — as a result
of studying and cognizing it — becomes filled with
you and God…
“Allah suggests cognizing Him
through this method.”
“But You missed an essential point:
one has to listen to the quietness not with ears
which are on the head, but with the hearing of the
spiritual heart…”
“Yes, you understand it correctly.
But I told about this in the beginning of My story…
“Indeed, I developed the anahata
earlier: before the incarnation among Arabs. And
earlier yet, I was one of the first
Christians-Hesychasts…
It is then that I learned to listen.
“Moreover, by the time of
incarnating among Arabs, I was a sufficiently
developed soul, and thus I could choose where to
incarnate. I became not a nomad, who breeds cattle,
but placed Myself in an oasis.
“Peach trees among date palms, wheat
fields, and abundance of other boons… — all this
provided Me with adequate nourishment. And this is
an essential condition for one’s being able to
retain and to develop further the best qualities of
the soul. Every one of you knows this very well:
formerly your Master received this information from
Me…
“… Thus I began My service on the
Arabian Peninsula. Among the deserts of Arabia, I
had to create one more spiritual hearth on the
Earth.
“… In the West, the way of life is
quite different from the one in Arabia. In Arabia,
most of the population were free nomads whose life
was not bound by a certain place of living. They
breed cattle and moved with their herds from one
place to another… This way of life made them freer
compared with the people of the western world. They
less willingly accepted any power over themselves;
the very idea that some person can hold power in
their lands was strange to them…
“To make them listen to Me, I had to
capture their interest, to propose them an idea that
would captivate their free minds.
“I captivated them with ideas about
the Higher Justice. I taught them about
walking the path of good toward the Supreme,
Which represents the Higher Justice.
“The Supreme is the source of
all ideals, the origin of every virtue. The
Supreme depends on no one and no thing, and no
power has a hold on It; therefore, It is the
Foundation of the true justice.
“The Higher Justice, taught
I, will always prevail. And though somewhere among
people there is injustice, it cannot last forever.
The Supreme will set a limit to it and judge: what
was just and what was unjust.
“The Supreme shines like the
sun, said I. In Its Light, everything is seen in its
true nature. Thus, no tricks can help the untruth to
appear as the truth, when it comes to the judgment
of the Supreme.
“I taught not to seek revenge on
offenders, not to search for the thief in order to
punish him and return the stolen items. I taught not
to judge others, because such a judgment can be but
an illusion of justice: it is only the Supreme that
can judge justly — and in due time It will judge
everyone and everything. I said that no court on the
Earth can judge on behalf of the Supreme, and no
ruler has a right to declare that his judgment is
the judgment from the Supreme. A virtuous
heart aspiring to the Supreme can directly perceive
the Higher Justice — and then such a person
will live according to Its laws and under Its
protection.
“… But the most confidential thing
which I taught and which alone opens the gate to the
Allah’s Abode is what is the anahata chakra, how to
develop oneself through it, how to learn to go
outside of it in order to settle and live in the new
Home — the Abode of Allah. All this I have shown you
already during the years of the work of our common
School — the School of Allah, the School of the
Creator. And now I spread your knowledge — using
your bodies — throughout the planet.”
“Could You tell us more detail about
Your childhood? This would be useful from the
pedagogical standpoint: how to educate children in
order to create the most favorable conditions for
development in them the qualities which are
important for their evolutionary growth?”
“Well, listen.
“… Once My father took Me — a little
boy — with Him on a caravan journey to Mecca. It was
the strongest impression of My childhood! The
awareness of the soul awakened! And I looked at the
world around not with eyes of a child, but beheld
the Earth as the Creation of Allah! Since that
moment, He became real for Me!
“… Once we stood on the edge of a
high plateau; it seemed to Me that I could see the
whole world from there! I could look down from
bird’s eye view!
“The sun was rising. Caravans in the
valley below looked as tiny figures of people and
camels. Flocks of birds were passing below Me…
“At that moment I felt how Great is
the One Who created all this! For the first time, I
realized: ‘Allah is Great! There is no one superior
to Him! His Power is unlimited!’
“Allah, Who created this world,
filled then My being with wonderful joy of feeling
His Greatness!
“I praised Allah, the Lord of the
worlds!
“… Seeing My rapturous devotion to
Allah, which was growing year by year, the father
sent Me to one of the first madrasah for studying.
“It was not only about religious
education. I had a possibility to became acquainted
with heritage of many centuries of Arabian wisdom…
“… When reading the Quran, I felt as
if Allah Himself was present with Me, reading it
with Me and explaining the meaning of every word…
“Yet sometimes… I was just looking
through the lines and could not feel His presence…
“I asked the preceptors:
‘Why does it happen like this?’
“They answered that Allah wills so…
“Then I begin asking Allah and
studying Myself. I understood that when My heart is
full of love for Allah — He comes to Me, He stays
with Me, He fills My heart with Himself. And then
the words of the Quran sound like Celestial hymns!
“Then I started learning entering
the state of exalted love to Him, the Lord of the
worlds! At that, My chest would fill with warmth,
and tears sprang to My eyes — so great was the joy
of feeling Him, so immense was the gratitude to Him
for His Love, for He’s being with Me!
“This adolescent experience allowed
Me later to create zikr: a meditative method
that creates a field of love and attunes all
participants to openness to Allah. I studied its
mechanisms later; but at that time, it was the first
occasion when I felt the power of meditations
performed from the spiritual heart — and the Joy of
Allah filled My life!
“… I was already a big,
crystallized consciousness by the time I came to
this incarnation. Thus, when I read or talked to
others, it had a profound effect: people would fall
in the state of love and feel God. Seeing this power
in Myself, after completing My education, I went to
preach the Teaching of Allah, and I felt that He
blessed Me to go this Path! I preached and taught
that which I knew at that time…
“… But once an unexpected delay
happened to Me on this journey… It taught Me a lot…
“I met a girl… She was filling a jug
with water… I asked her to give Me to drink. She
gave Me some water… I felt fire enveloping Me.
Tenderness filled My hands, and My tongue began to
speak in verse… Her joyful laugh was like a purling
brook; her figure was grace incarnate… In her eyes,
behind long thick eyelashes, was an ocean of
tenderness… When a flick of these eyelashes opened
for a moment her look, I saw shining of stars in the
depth… I touched her hand. The flame of love flared
up in Me and reddened her cheeks. Her lips opened
toward the feeling, which captivated us both…
“I thanked Allah for this Love! I
cognized the greatness of love between two souls!
“… We got married and were happy
together.
“… Time passed by… I got a home… My
life became more and more filled with earthly cares,
and… I had less and less time for God…
“I got two more wives, as is
customary in the East…
“Had it lasted little longer — and
My life would have became completely subject to
earthly concerns…
“… And then Allah sent Me an
illness. Death was looking Me in the eyes and
telling that I had not fulfilled that which I made
the purpose of My life, when decided to go — with
Allah in My heart — to people after completing the
madrasah…
“Then I began to realize the truths
about monasticism. I realized that a servant of
Allah has to be always turned with the soul,
that is with his attention and aspiration, toward
Allah, striving to cognize Him! And I understood
that… I realized this too late!…
“… They sent Me to a famous healer
on a stretcher… On the way, our caravan was attacked
by warlike Bedouins… They counted Me dead; other
people were killed…
“An Indian, who was travelling with
a caravan, picked Me up… He took Me, half-dead, to a
village nearby and stayed there with Me for some
time. He healed Me partially and then began to teach
Me the knowledge about the human organism, about
chakras and meridians… He taught Me the basics of
meditation — the work with the consciousness. It is
from Him that I learned about the ethics of
killing-free nutrition.
“… I did not use bodies of killed
animals for food since childhood: I pitied them.
Yet, I violated this principle once, and this caused
My serious illness…
“I realized My mistakes, and
repentance helped Me to cleanse the soul. Thanks to
the methods of work learned from the Indian, I could
continue healing the body…
“He left before I recovered. He told
Me that I would recover Myself and that great
service to God awaited Me…
“… And then Allah filled with
Himself every day of My newly obtained life — the
life with Him!
“I was allowed to touch again the
Light which I felt in Myself formerly as Allah’s
presence — and touch, now beyond the limits of the
body, that Depth of multidimensionality where
He abides!
“Then it was easy. Allah could lead
Me: now I was able to hear and comprehend His Will
very clearly!
“I submerged in His Depths in
His Great Quietness! I cognized Him!
“Now I was able to see Him — My
Beloved!
“The hands of the soul touched His
Light and His Shining in Me became more and more
bright!
‘Enter into Me, submerge in the
Ocean of My Light deeper! That what you feel now is
but My surface, go deeper into Me!’ He was telling
Me.
“And, full of reverence, I submerged
into Him — and He embraced Me from all sides! We
merged together! I was in Him, and He was in Me; We
were One!
‘O Allah, O My Lord! How can it be
that I am merging with You, yet I do not burn down
of love, which overfills Me? How can it be that I
submerge My hands into Your Depths to embrace
You? How can it be that I see Your Light with the
eyes of the soul, and yet I remain alive?’ I was
asking Him in the ecstasy of love.
‘You know now very well that I
exist! And I love you! And Him who loves Me I let
into My Depths! I live in him, and he lives
in Me!’ He was answering Me.
“… Since that moment, I did nothing
without Him. He was in Me. He manifested Himself in
everything around; He filled everything with
Himself!
“I started to teach people and
create methods that would allow one to become closer
to Him, to cognize Him. I did it by combining all
the best that I had learned in the course of My
life. They were the methods of the Straight Path,
which were shown by Him. I had students striving for
cognition of the Supreme. The Teaching became known
to more and more people. My students were young as
well as mature men… Their number was growing…”
“Tell us please how You taught the
work with chakras to Your students.”
“These methods of this work are well
known to you. But it makes sense to relate them once
again, because there is a great confusion in the
minds of people about this matter.”
“In total, chakras are seven. The
chakras of a successfully evolving person — healthy
and harmonious — are developed and full of light and
pure energy. In weak or sick people, or in those
indulging in vices, the chakras can be undeveloped
or, if developed, full of coarse dark energy.
“It is designed by Allah that the
chakras are an integral part of the human organism.
In the chakras, in particular, emotions are born.
They are regulators of the activity of the
consciousness inside the body. The chakras are also
passages to the depths of the multidimensional
universe. But in order to enter these subtle worlds,
one has to develop the chakras, cleanse them and
fill with pure, subtle light. Yet, such work can be
done provided one observes killing-free
nourishment and actively works on ethical
transformation of oneself.
“The main one of all chakras is the
anahata. It is from this chakra that one has to
start developing oneself as a consciousness.
“The Light of Allah enters in
the souls of people only through cleansed and
developed chakras.
“There are only seven notes — yet
there is no measure of the number of beautiful
musical compositions. There are only seven chakras —
but what a wealth of various subtlest states of
consciousness the Light of Allah can give us
when it enters the chakras!
“Allah, as a Great Musician, can
play the Divine melody of Love on this ‘instrument’
created by Him — the human organism. Yet this Divine
melody can sound only if the ‘instrument’ functions
properly.
“… But let Me continue My story…
“Once I sent one of My students to
My former home to find out what had happened to My
wives. He came back and told Me that when the wives
came to know about My death, two of them got married
again, but My first beloved went to search for Me
and since then no one had seen her…
“… I traveled and taught a lot. In
one of the oases a center of the School was
established… My students went from there to various
parts of the world describing to people the Path to
Allah illuminated by His Love.
“Once a man eager to study came to
Me… And when he lifted his eyelashes, in the depth
of his eyes familiar stars flared up and looked at
Me. I recognized her… — My first beloved…
‘I knew that Allah would bring me to
You!’ she said. ‘He told Me that when I would go to
seek Him, I would meet You too. I thought that it
would happen after death, when Allah allows the
loving souls to meet in paradise!… He is truly
omnipotent, our Lord! I even did not dare to believe
that I can meet you before death! Allow me to stay
and to learn that which You teach!’
“Great was My joy! The design of
Allah was marvelous! I asked her to change her men’s
clothes: Allah had never forbidden women to cognize
His Love!
“She became My fist female student.
And she cognized Him in all fullness!
“She wrote wonderful poetry devoted
to the Great Beloved. She helped many to realize
that God brings people closer to Him not on the
basis of sex, but on the basis of aspiration of the
heart. And women’s hearts, with their natural
tenderness and subtlety, are capable of coming to
the Heavenly Beloved and merging with Him even more
quickly than the hearts of men. And after crossing
the threshold of His dissolving Love — both men and
women become equally One with Him!
“… I give neither My nor her name
here, so that no one of those who worship only names
begin to worship the names of ours…”
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