Sumit Paul
Ghaib se jab hota hai irfaan
Khud hi badal jaata hai insaan
Na kar kaavish ke beja hai ye
Kar de band mazhabon ki dukaan
-Yaas Yagana Changezi
(When realization comes from heaven/ Man changes automatically/Don’t try too hard/ Shut down the shops of religions)
Do you know, when Sufis pray, they don’t follow the fixed rak’at (portions) of their namaaz, earmarked for all the nine namaaz (yes, there are nine namaaz. Five are indispensable and the rest four can be dispensed with by not so religious).
Rumi says,” While talking to my beloved (Allah), I’m unaware at times whether to speak or not. I often remain silent. Because my beloved doesn’t like much volubility.”
Silence is unspoken emptiness and is much more eloquent than any set or fixed prayer. The trouble with mankind is that we’ve set aside practices and rituals even for spirituality. One has to visit a Shani Mandir only on Saturdays or wear a certain stone on a specific day. This has no meaning. Every hour is auspicious and every day is lucky. Spontaneity’s spirituality. Blissful ignorance is divinity.
Only in a state of bekhudi (self-immersion), can one reach the stage of enlightenment, called ‘turiya avastha’ in the parlance of oriental spirituality.
Buddha never felt that he had the satori (enlightenment). It became integral to his mystic consciousness. Any effort to expedite the process of enlightenment is futile.
In his masterpiece, Ramz-e-bekhudi (Mystery of bekhudi), Allama Iqbal says, ” Tasawwuf or rabbaniyat (spirituality) is not something mundane to attain, the way we put all our efforts into achieving an object in life. It occurs like a bolt from the blue when you least expect it.”
The conscious endeavor cannot lead a seeker to his spiritual destination. Nor can the lifestyle of a monk be an assurance of achieving a state of perpetual bliss.
The moment the mind becomes decluttered of any wish, desire, or wistfulness, a divine consciousness descends from heaven.
Just think over it, why have almost all the prophets been simple folks, unaware of their divine sparkles till they left the earth? Christ was a carpenter’s son, Muhammad was unlettered, Moses was adopted and he was illiterate.
“God finds his way through unconscious and unpretentious people. Because divinity resides in a blissfully unaware mind,” Tagore opined in one of his 103 remarkable poems in Gitanjali.
Self is the greatest impediment to attaining the highest spiritual pedestal. As long as the self remains present in the form of a constant sentinel, a person can never expect to get what he set out to.
Be oblivious to your ever-officious self and your so-called progress in the sphere of spirituality. One’ll be enlightened ‘ere long. To be conscious of anything stops the progress of a human being.
Life can be enjoyed and self-realization is achieved when we’re least focused on our goals and objectives in the realms of realization. So, be natural and spontaneous. Wisdom or enlightenment shall subsume your whole entity and you’ll change from within. Always remember that self-transformation is like a flowing river. It’s never forceful.
 | Sumit Paul is an advanced scholar of ancient languages. He contributes to the world’s premier portals and publications in several languages. |
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