spiritual journey, the beginning

1) HOSH DAR DAM- Conscious breathing:
You must not inhale or exhale heedlessly. Every breath should be associated with an awareness of the Divine Presence, because it then is alive and connected with the Divine Presence.
Through the breathing of the creatures the sound of ‘Huwa’ of the Divine Name of Allah is made, and this is a sign of the Unseen Divine Essence in all creatures, pointing to the Uniqueness of Allah.

2) NAZAR BAR QADAM- Watching one’s steps:
While walking you must watch your steps keeping the eyes on your feet, and not looking here and there. Unnecessary sights and images create veils on the heart which block the Light of the Divine Presence. Don’t let your ego distract you, but move steadfastly toward your goal - the Divine Presence. That is the way of the Holy Prophet Muhammad [sws]- only to look for the Divine Presence.

3) SAFAR DAR WATAN- Journey homeward:
There is two kinds of travel. The first is the external journey, the travel from one land to another searching for a perfect guide to take and direct you to your destination. This enables you to to go on the second journey which is internal. It involves a journey from human to divine attributes. You must leave bad characteristics, move to the praiseworthy ones, and throw all worldly desires out of your heart to purify it. Through unceasing effort especially during the early stages of the way the mirror of the heart must be polished: ‘Ad-dawamu-taufiq’ - Perseverence brings success.

4) KHALWAT DAR ANJUMAN- Solitude in the crowd:
It means to be outwardly with people while remaining inwardly with Allah. Your outward activities must not affect your inward state of remembrance of Allah, the Dhikru’llah.
There is also two kinds of seclusion. The external seclusion requires that the seeker must seclude himself in a private place and stay there by himself, pray and make Dhikr. He chains his ego, his external senses, for his internal senses to become free to reach to the heavenly realm. This will bring him to the state of internal seclusion, wherein his heart is present with his Lord and absent from the creatures while remaining physically present among them. In the state of Dhikr the manifestation of the Divine Presence envelops him. When it overcomes him, it makes him unaware of all but his Lord. The Prophet said sws: “I have one face which is facing my Creator, and I have another face which is facing the creation.”

5) YAD KARD- Remembrance, ‘Making mention’:
Remember Allah both with the tongue and with the heart, by making loud and silent Dhikr. The Dhikr by negation and affirmation is: ‘La ilaha ill’Allah’. The Dhikr of the Name of Allah’s Essence is: ‘Allah, Allah...’. By these forms of Dhikr you deny everything in this world and affirm the existence of Allah Almighty only. This brings you into the Divine Presence of Allah.

6) BAZ GASHT- Returning:
The Holy Prophet used to say: “Ilahi Anta Maqsoudi wa ridhaka matloudi”- “Oh Allah, You are my goal and Your satisfaction is what I am seeking.” To utter this phrase every now and then during the Dhikr helps you to expel all thoughts from the heart, and to open yourself to the awareness of the Oneness of Allah, until you reach the state that wherever you look you will see the Absolute One.
Return to Allah by complete surrender and submission to Hi Will, and complete humbleness in giving Him all due praise. The seeker cannot come to the Presence of God in his Dhikr except by the help and support, and the permission of Allah. It is really Allah, the One, who is reciting the Dhikr through him. Sheikh Abu Yazid al Bistami said: “When I reached Allah I saw that His remembering of me had preceded my remembrance of Him.” And the Holy Prophet used to say: “We did not remember You as You deserve to be remembered, Oh our Lord!”

7) NIGAH DASHT- Attentiveness:
Watch your heart during the contemplation. It will help you to prevent egoistic and evil thoughts from entering it. Bad inclinations keep the heart from joining with the Divine.

8) YAD DASHT- Recollection:
Always safeguard your heart with Dhikr and be in permanent awareness of the Divine Presence. Then you will also discard angelic thoughts and imaginings and keep and affirm only the real truthful thoughts.

9) WUQUF-I-ZAMANI- Awareness of time:
You must be aware of how you spend your time- ‘the Sufi is the son of his time’. Stop every now and then in your activities to remember Allah.
You must spend all your time making your one and only goal the arrival at the station of Divine Love and Divine Presence. You must become aware that Allah witnesses the smallest detail. Make an account of your actions and intentions every day and every night and analyse them. If they are good, and if you were in Allah’s Presence, thank Allah for them. If they are bad, and you were in the presence of your ego, you must repent and ask Him for forgiveness.

10) WUQUF-I-ADADI- Awareness of the numbers:
Count and be aware of the exact number of repetitions comprising the silent Dhikr of the heart, to secure your heart from bad thoughts and to deepen the concentration. The pillar of Dhikr through counting is to bring the heart into the Presence of the One who is mentioned in that Dhikr and to realize the creation’s need of Him.

11) WUQUF-I-QALBI- Awareness of the heart:
The heart is the centre of power. All thoughts and inspirations, good or bad, are felt and appear inside the heart, circling and alternating, moving between light and darkness. Dhikr is required to control and reduce that turbulence of the heart.
The state of awareness of the heart is the state of being present in the Divine Presence in such a way that you don’t see other than Allah.
You can form a mental picture of your heart with the name of Allah engraved on it, to emphasize that the heart has no consciousness or goal other than Him.

Tags|Sufism|Naqshbandi|Malaysian|Hatzputra

Starting on the Journey!

" There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah "

The first thing that is done when you seek a guide is for that person to assess your suitability to the path or approach he or she is offering. To do this one can act in an inner and direct manner by means of perception that is deeper than outward, ask questions, do a combination of both, assign duties or work, allow you to associate to some degree and sort yourself out, provide tests or obstacles for you to overcome, or any combination of these or other methods.
For you, certainly, it could be important and valuable to understand the methods or approaches to a certain degree, but really this is not necessary at all. More valuable is for you to understand what it is that you want, that you are seeking. In this manner, through being aware of that, you may more readily access those things or situations. It is, therefore, one of the first areas in which a guide may be of assistance. That is, to help point you toward what you are seeking or to provide the preliminaries so you may sort this out for yourself. This may mean you are rejected outwardly or subtly from the guidance until you are more ready and it is more appropriate. Or you could be pointed in the direction of others with whom you might associate and learn enough to go further. Or it also could mean not doing either but let you find your own way. In any case, it will be up to the guide to decide how to handle it. Just because you show up at the door does not mean you are ready to become part of the "household". There may be more preparation needed first.

Here is another approach to this process. It also many times should be or is a second major stage in assistance prior to guidance. This is to give you an opportunity to learn more about what is being offered and something about the approaches taken. This may be through a combination of readings, discussions, association, or work. Here you will find yourself sorting out your applicability to the process.

Yet all these stages of association with a real teaching are dependent upon you being in the presence of a true "teacher" or guide. How and what you get first depends upon you: your capacity and your real intention. So first, before you try to associate with a spiritual guide, would it not make sense to find - really assess - what you are seeking and what you want to give to reach that goal? In addition, would it not be reasonable for you to find out more about what so-called spiritual realization is all about?

There are many groups and organizations and so-called teachers and assistors, by all sorts of names. Most would welcome you with open arms in "their" processes, what "they" do and how they do it. The assumption is that you have gotten to the door, so you know about what they are doing and how they do it. And further, that you are ready for the "truth" as they see it.

A story of some relevance comes to mind. A seeker came to a person who really knew and asked that person what he could look for in finding a real teacher. The one who knew responded by saying something like: "It is difficult and subtle to discern and for me to tell you how to find a real guide. But I can tell you how to find one who is not". "How", replied the "seeker". The man then said, "If you find someone who will accept you now, in your current condition, then you will know that person is not a real teacher or guide."

Here is another perspective to consider. "Spiritual" has nothing to do with organizations, people telling you how to do something, or even religions. It has to do with learning to live again as you really are. It is about unfolding the potential of yourself as a person, not learning anything new. Further, it is more about remembering and regaining the capacity to be what you already truly are but simply have forgotten. There in nothing "new" to learn but how to reconnect with, perceive, and act knowingly with what already exists, what you already have "come from" and where you already are "going". In addition, it is mostly recognizing and remembering what you already have gone through, and Truth, being That Which Is, of which you also are. Then it is to application, so you become assisted in how to go further in life and do what you intended to do in fulfilment of yourself - not a trip for someone else. It would be very wise indeed for you to explore more of what is real and what is called the spiritual path and realization prior to becoming associated with some group, organization, or teaching simply because it is there, or feels good, or satisfies superficial desires.