THE Seven Valleys. The birds began their journey in thousands and the first is:-Valley of the Quest. Have you ever thought what was that put you on this path or join the quest? In the disastrous circumstances of life, an unexpected turn of events, we become seekers. Hafiz says, “Something missing in my heart tonight has made my eyes so soft, my voice so tender, my need for God absolutely clear.” Rabindernath Tagore says, ‘We spend our lives stringing and unstringing our instruments, but the song I came here to sing remains unsung. Quran says, “You will reach a point in your life, when you say, “My prayers, my sacrifice my living and dying, are all for you my Creator. “In Surah Younas, Quran says, “We cause you to go around in the land and sea and when the good wind comes everyone rejoices. Then they see a storm and the waves begin to pile up, they think they are going to be destroyed and they call on God with absolute sincerity, just save us from this calamity and we will be grateful.”
Valley of Love. The second valley is of love, compassion, gentleness. The story of any life is being loved, not being loved and wanting to be loved. Love Rumi says is, “Degrees of domination and servitude, the limitless area in which the seeker is completely consumed by a thirst for Beloved and reason is abandoned for the sake of love.” Attar says, “Let none dare to enter the Valley of Love without the fire of yearning lighted in Him. Love does not welcome, who burns not like a flame.” Hafez says, “Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, you owe me. Look, what happens with love like that it lights the whole sky.
Valley of Knowledge/Understanding. Quran says, “Of the knowledge we have given you but a little.” Everything created by God has an opposite and only God is One.” The Prophet (PBUH) said, “Move from the knowledge of tongue to the knowledge of heart.” Quran says, “The heart never falsifies of what it saw.” The mystics say, “God showed us the dust but concealed the wind.” Quran says, “There is within each of us a different kind of knowing, for example the birds know when they make the nest.” This deep inner knowing, Rumi calls it ‘being able to hear a bird’s song in the egg.’ The heart receives directly the illumination of truth and an experience of God, whereby worldly knowledge becomes useless. Hajveri says, “It is the custom of God, to let the heart of those who love him have a vision of Him, in order that delight thereof may enable them to endure every tribulation and they say in their orisons, we deem all torments more desirable than to be veiled from thee.”
Valley of Independence and Detachment. It means letting go. Buddha says, “You attain a certain spiritual state, if you find yourself in the centre of the wheel. The wheel goes up and down, but it does not matter, as you remain in the centre. Sufis say, don’t get too attached with your theology.’ All the theologies of the world are nothing in comparison to one whisper of the beloved.’
Valley of Unity. Where the Wayfarer realizes that everything is connected including harmony, multiplicity and eternity. The Beloved though is beyond everything, yet we we are all one.
The Valley of Bewilderment. Rumi says, “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. “If a drop of the wine of vision could rinse your eyes, everywhere you look, you could weep with wonder.” Here entranced by the beauty of the Beloved, the Wayfarer is perplexed and steeped in awe. Quran says, “If all the trees in the universe became pens, all the seven oceans became ink and if you begin to write up the mysteries of God and even if the oceans were depleted and you replenish them, you will not even come close to describing the fraction of the fraction of God mysteries.”
Valley of Poverty and Annihilation . The self disappears into the Universe and the Wayfarer becomes timeless, existing in both past and future. The Sufis say, “You become one and merge with nothingness.” In Sufi term, it is called fana. Here the things don’t end, but continue in another domain Quran says, “Oh serene soul, return to your lord pleased and pleasing to his sight, join his righteous servants and enter his paradise.” Every single death is intrinsically magical and beautiful, if you know where you are being transported. Rumi says, “How marvellous was the way you quit this world, the way you ruffled your feathers and breaking free of the cage you took off with the soul of the world.”
The Culmination. Many of the birds vanquished in the journey and only 30 reached the celestial gate. As they came closer to the rose garden, someone greeted them, and veil after veils were lifted and lights upon lights manifested and finally they were ushered into the Presence, the presence of Simourgh (Divinity).They felt unspeakable spaciousness, joy and fulfillment. The thirty birds saw thirty birds being reflected in the mirror. An inner knowing says, “The sun of my Majesty is a mirror; it’s a reflection of you.” They are stunned by what they see and the shadow was lost in the mirror and that was all. The journey continues in those indescribable realms and there is no end to this story. Extracts of book ‘Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism (Sufism) -The Path and Destination.’
—The writer is author of various books based in Rawalpindi.
