“He who protects the Name of God in his heart, God protects him in the world.” Hadith “I have lost myself in God and now God is mine. Don’t look for him in every direction, for he is in my soul.” - Rumi
QUR’AN says, “One can see Allah SubhanwaTallahin Scriptures, one can see Him in Nature and you can see Him inside your own heart’” The love/ knowledge of God is summarized in the testimonyof Islam ‘La ilahaillaLiahMuḥammadunRasul Allah’ “There is no divinity but Allah and Muhammad (PBUH) is God’s Messenger.”
To realize its full meaning is to reach the highest degree of spirituality i.e. to act according to His Will, love Him only and be soaked in the love of God.
According to the Qur’an, God has manifested His signs upon the “horizons” themacrocosmic world)and within the soul of man. “He has breathed into man, His own Spirit.” (nafakhtufihi min ruḥi(Surah Al Hijr 15:29).To be fully human, one has to stand on the vertical axis of existence seek tauḥeedand see the reflection of the One in all that makes up the manifold order from the angelic to the mineral. Qur’an says, “They love Him and He loves them and that is a life of beauty, ecstasy and eternal bliss.” It is written in Islamic books, ‘Man arfanafs a huaarifa Raba huo.’ “He who understands his own self understands God.”
If you understand your servant hood, you understand the independence of God. If you understand your insignificance, you understand the significance of God. If you understand your place in the world, you would understand the place that God should have in your heart. Self-knowledge is essential to know your own self and your relationship with all others. IbnArabi says, “Then what you see what is around you, as not other than you and all and everything as the existence of the One, when you do not see anything else with Him, but see Him in everything as yourself at the same time, as the non-existence of yourself than what you see is the truth.”
There is place in the human heart where the divine world and human world merge and become one. Sufis live in the mystery of that moment:- “I am He who is my love and He who is my love is I. If Thou seeth me, thou seest Him. If Thou seeth Him thou seest us both.” This is the love, which Sufis understand the annihilation the incredibly sweet and bitter pill that makes you a lover of God. It is the love in which you desire nothing, a lovewhich puts your head onto the ground. “Take one sip from the wine of divine love and you are lost forever, because it is so portent. You become a participant in God’s love story, the mysterious way in which he creates love in creation and then draws it back to Himself.” Rumi says,
”In the end, the man tires of everything except heart desiring soul’s journey. Sultan, saints pickpockets, love has everyone by the ear dragging us to God by secret ways. I never knew God too desires us.” “He who suffers his his absence in me, who through me cries out to himself, love most strange most holy mystery, we are intimate beyond belief.” “All Sufi stories say the same thing, elaboration of the same mystery, drawn by longing, a knock on the heart telling you it wants you back to God. You don’t know who God is, you don’t even care where God is, you just want Him. The ego has no reason to long for God, but the heart does. As your heart wakes up, it starts to cry. It is an addictive poison you want more of it. A Sufi says, “Give me the pain of love and I will give any price you ask. Keep the joy of love for others, for me the pain of love is enough.”
Someone came to a Sufi master and said I have a terrible pain in my heart and I have come to you so that it can go away. She replied, “It will get worse, that’s what we do here, we work with longing.” It just not the pain of the body, it is the pain of the soul, and when it touches you, it grinds and grinds you down, tearing you out, thread by thread. More the love more the longing. Love is an ocean that has no limits. It is inside the heart and there is no protection against it. No psychological barriers work. Its love crafted by the masters of love to help humanity to go home. The human love we see in this world is like crumbs from the table of love.
Rumi narrates a story, “I tasted the beloved’s wine and the sweetness of the taste left me bereft. The longing was so great that my friends brought a doctor to see me. The Doctor said, “You need to take the medicine.” I took the medicine and it made no difference. My friends were getting worried. I was getting pale. I was weeping every night. They brought the Doctor back. The Doctor said, “You have to take pills.” I took the pills and it made no difference. I got worse. My friends brought the Doctor back. The Doctor said, “We have to take the taste of sweet wine from your lips.” I said ok, it is time to get rid of the doctor.” To be continue
—The writer is author of six books including “Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism, the Path and destination’ & ‘The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times.
