Six Powers of the Heart Continued - Part II When someone tries to disguise the disparity between their inner and outer realities, they make their outward demeanor appear noble to others. That person may claim to have permission to represent a saint and give guidance, or they may claim to have had a dream and received permission from the Prophet(s) to guide people. Others may say, “I don’t need a dream. I received permission by direct telepathy from the Prophet(s) to give guidance to people.” These are people whose pride and arrogance forces them to pretend they are leaders. Everyone has a different ego problem, but these are examples of polishing one’s outside while the inside remains bad. Such a person is a hypocrite and a liar. He is like someone whose inner core is iron, completely dark and cold, but who coats it with silver. That person has a heart that is silver-plated. If you knew that, you would never buy what he is selling. You would discard it because you would then know that you had been cheated. Others look and buy it because they are fooled and think that what is only silver-plated is really silver. How many Masters/Shaykhs do we have like that around the world today, pretending to be something they are not? They are going to be questioned by God about how they cheated and deceived people. That is why a master/ shaykh must be very careful to always say, “I am nothing.” If you do not know about something, admit that you do not know. There was once was a son of a great master/shaykh who, when his father died, began to also don the garb of a master/shaykh so that everyone would come to him for advice. He never admitted, “I am not a scholar.” When people would come to him with a problem, he would nod his head as if contemplating the answer and say, “hmmm.” The student would wait and then ask, “What is the answer, O master?” He usually responded, “There are two opinions on that.” Everyone was impressed by this answer and would never bother to find out what those two opinions were. They would hear this and go. However, one of the clever ones knew that the man was a charlatan. He asked the man a question in front of others, to which he gave his usual response, saying again, “There are two opinions.” This time, however, the answer exposed him, for the question that had been put to him was, “Is there any doubt in God’s existence?” This is an example of the state of scholars today. Do not fall into that trap of lying, or being a hypocrite. Do not be silver-plated, or you will be lost. Do not give lectures on the love of the Prophet(s) or on remembrance of the Divine when, in reality, you know nothing about these things. So many are like this; do not be fooled. While the silver-plated person has an inner identity that is ugly, but maintains a nice exterior, there also people who do everything they can to clean their inner-selves, but who fail to improve their external appearance. Such a person may say, “I know that my appearance is ugly, but what can I do? At least my inner character is good. I do not lie. I might make mistakes, but I am careful not to do anything wrong.” This person has an interior that is silver, and an exterior that is iron. He is iron-plated. He is humble, and he does not cheat. He says, “I belong with the shoes that are left at the door. I know nothing.” However, the best people are those who have polished their interior and their exterior completely. Such a person is one of the Righteous ones (siddiq). That person is not even like silver, but is like gold—inwardly and outwardly unchanging. That is the perfect one. That is what you achieve when you move through these ten steps of discipleship, clearing one level and then another, and manage to make your inner and outer realities equal. At that time, the volcano of the heart erupts to release the six powers, and the fragrance of them comes out. As soon as you smell this fragrance, you begin to see what people cannot see and hear what people cannot hear. By smelling the fragrance of a flower, the bee can travel very great distances to reach what it needs and return. What makes the bee unique is that it receives inspiration, unlike any other creature. When the fragrance of the six powers opens, all kinds of inspiration will come to you and these powers will dress your external reality. Taken from Sufi Meditation Center
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:37:03 +0000
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