Spiritual Mentor and his Disciple

Life has many aspects; each aspect possessing attraction. Living in the conscious world, when man peeks at the other side into the subconscious, the mystery that unfolds before him is that this world is divided into groups. Each group has its own point of view and each group is the voluntary prisoner in the web of its own particular desires. A gambler, although he knows that gambling is a waste of wealth, continues to gamble even in poverty. An alcoholic, although aware of the fact that alcohol is eating away at his lungs, does not give up drinking. Alcohol is taken to alleviate worries and hardships, but what kind of alleviation is it that ends up eating man from the inside, rendering him hollow.

The group consisting of the followers of a religion travels through the maze of beliefs and doctrines. Within this stormy world of beliefs, there are many sects and denominations. Each sect considers its own self delivered of sin, while it considers the others to be condemned to hell, but when inquiry is made of any individual of any of the sects, the lava of uncertainty and doubt can be seen boiling within him. When the life of comfort (heaven) and misery (hell) is mentioned to a person who had been busy in worship and spiritual exercise, from the age of 17 till that of 80, he is found to experience a level of uncertainty that can be called by no name other than hell. Religion persuades man towards a world of certainty. And certainty is not complete until it becomes an observation.

Religion negates excessiveness, arrogance and contempt, and feelings of superiority or inferiority, while these emotions dominate a religious person. Religion invites humankind to gather on one platform, whereas the religious intellectual spends his entire energy in the direction opposite to this.

The world of sufis, saints, spiritual leaders ['pir'], and successors to those leaders [sajjadah-nasheen'], is a strange and magical world. They all have their own view on life— their own direction. This group says that it is incumbent upon the disciple ['mureed'] to follow his spiritual mentor [‘murshid’]. That it is not right to discriminate and prioritize among the various commands of the mentor because a religious mentor a representative of God. That the spirit weakens, if the spiritual mentor is not obeyed. The disciple is like a wax figurine in the hands of the spiritual mentor—he may bend it any direction he may wish. Speaking, writing, reading, staying quiet, doing or not doing something, all should be left to the wishes of the religious mentor.

That the disciple, in the hands of the spiritual mentor, should be such as is a walking stick in the hands of an elderly and frail man—like a lifeless material object which the mentor may pick up and place anywhere he wishes. It is said that a religious mentor ordered his disciple to jump into a well. The disciple, in obedience to the command jumped into the well, but the thought occurred to him that the mentor would finally save him. In the estimate of that pir sahib ['religious guide'] the [occurrence of that thought] disqualified the disciple's action [of jumping into the well] as obedience to his command. The thing that is really strange is that all these secrets and symbolism are mentioned by these, whose own life is composed of doubt and uncertainty.

When we look at the puritanical [zahidaana'] life [of the self righteous], we see that [such a] puritanical life is, in fact, a war against nature, and it possesses a character that is diametrically opposed to nature. This group insists— in fact it is their belief—that against the superior emotions, the inferior, emotions should be incinerated; that, desires should be destroyed. Clothes that one wears should he thick, coarse and ugly; food that one eats should be stale and dry; pessimism should prevail through the days of one's life; and that man should live as one poor and destitute. Obviously, a destitute man will spend his life in poverty and starvation. And the misery and hardship of hunger, thirst, heat and cold will become his life's achievement. This group calls this self-made life of hardship by the name of acceptance and obedience to divine will.

Qalander Baba Auliya (RA) states that, 'Religion means that man must have faith within him. Faith is belief and certainty, and this certainty is not finalized without observation. Entering into the world of certainty, man realizes that the supreme ruler of the entire human brotherhood is Allah. Allah desires that men unite and hold tight to His rope, and that they not create disunity amongst themselves. Those who recognize the supreme ruler, Allah, are His friends. And a friend possesses the certainty that his friend will not cause him pain. For this reason, it is instilled within his soul that he will enter heaven.

Qalander Baba Auliya (RA) states that the relationship between disciple and his spiritual mentor is like that between and a student and a teacher and between a child and his father. The spiritual mentor is the beloved of the disciple. The spiritual mentor trains the disciple according to the disciple's particular nature. He covers his mistakes, large and small. He takes him through the ups and downs [of life], and the hardships of the journey, and brings him to that place where a peaceful life embraces him.

Qalander Baba Auliya (RA) states that a life of righteousness does not require that man should annihilate his desires and, in the process, destroy himself. If man shuns nice clothes and declares that wearing tattered and patched up clothes is the superior state of life, all the large and small industries and factories around the world will be shut down and hundreds of thousands of people would starve to death_. Allah has not brought forth resources from the belly of the earth for them to be left unappreciated and unutilized. If eating stale and dry food is the acme of life there would remain no need for rain—the earth might then turn barren. It is to beautify the earth that Allah has made the multi^-colored flowers and leaves, fruits and trees, and the mountain_s and waterfalls.

Qalander Baba Auliya (RA) states:

The righteous person ['zaahid] should happily utilize every blessing that has been bestowed by Allah, but he should not consider himself the owner of these blessings. If it is dry and stale bread that he receives from Allah, he should eat it happily, and if it is a grand feast provided by Allah, he should eat the happily as well. When everything is present, he should mi full use of it. He should consider Allah his provider at all times and should remain His grateful servant in all circumstance.