The Secret of God's Heart

"You are the secret of God's heart."

The most valuable thing you can offer is your possible or potential spirit. This is what you have always available to offer, what you need to live your own love story. Like the seed watered, your love is without beginning and without end. Watering the seeds of your love, is a practice that makes you grow-- but it is only a practice, not an end. For, if your focus becomes the notion of "growing," then the end becomes just that--a pursuit and the way is obscured by what you pursue.

As Deepak Chopra relates in his book, The Path to Love,"... [it] is something that you consciously choose to follow, and everyone who has fallen in love has taken that first step." Pope John Paul II in his first public gathering, exhorted the crowd with the Bible verse, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you always."
Deepak continues, "In India, the spiritual path is called Sadhana, and as I've mentioned though a tiny majority of people give up normal life to wander the world as seekers of enlightenment, these monks, Sadhus, everyone, from those in the most ancient civilization of Vedic India until today, considers their life to be a Sadhana, a path to the Self. Although the Self seems separate from us, it is actually intertwined in everything a person thinks, feels, or does... 

As long as the Self has yet to be found, sadhana exists. The "goal" is to change your awareness from separation to unity." And while the inner work takes place, it must have something exterior to sustain it.
"In India, a person's nature leads him to the style of path appropriate to reaching fulfillment. Some people are naturally intellectual, and therefore are suited to the path of knowledge or Gyana. Some are more devotional and are suited to the path of worship, Bhakti. Some are more outwardly motivated and are suited to the path of action, or Karma. The three are not mutually exclusive; rather they may form a wholly integrated path.

"Ideally there are periods of study, worship and reflection, and service in a person's day." It is possible to be so taken by a particular practice that ones' whole existence centers upon that practice. Perhaps it is reading the Scriptures, contemplation or scholarly debate, living the life of Gyana; perhaps spending time meditating, chanting and participating in Temple rituals as the life of a Bhakti. Or you may focus yourself doing social work, teaching, serving, applying yourself to mental and physical purification doing God's bidding in daily life, the work of Karma.


"A path is just a way to open yourself to spirit, to God, to love. These are aims we may cherish, but our culture has given us no established way to reach them. Indeed, never in history has a seeker been confronted with such a disorganized and chaotic spiritual scene." Today what we are left with is the desire to love and be loved, a force and a power in the world too great to be extinguished; thus the path to love is not simply a pretty metaphor, it is a reality. And you are the greatest secret of god's heart. In India, the most ancient version of this is bhakti or devotion, from Vedic India in which all love is in the search for God. The Sufis of Islam, and the great teacher and poet, Rumi, testify to this.

Christ initiated another version of the Way in his teaching "Love your neighbor as yourself." He did not simply say like, rather he passionately intoned the word love as his great commandment. The Christian idea of the Way is about the relationship between a parent, a creator,  for his beloved child. God is seen as the great mother/father. In the Hebrew scriptures, there is the great love of God for his creation in the Song of Solomon.
However "since the advent of Freud, psychologists have assured us that falling in love is illusory; the sense of ecstasy that is part of falling in love isn't realistic. We must learn to accept the temporary nature of romance and disregard the "projected fantasy" that we might be as immortal and invulnerable as lovers often feel."
On the other hand, Chopra among others insists, the sense of uniqueness, blessing and delight felt by lovers has its own reality, but it must be found within; the world wishes no such part. The mystery that is love, joins us to a reality that we yearn for, and despite the "differences of a Sufi master, a yogi, a Christian saint, and a Chinese martial artist, all perceive spirit as clearly as seeing the earth and sky."

Spiritual Intuition within Sufism

"Rumi was fully aware that... spiritual awareness and comprehension had dimmed since the time of the Prophet[Mohammed]." -- Sufism: Love and Wisdom by Jean-Louis Michon & Roger Gaetani

Writing in his book, Sufism: Love and Wisdom, French scholar Jean-Louis Michon notes that "both the Sharia path and Tariqa path, the laws and spiritual path, existed from the beginning." He attributes a decline in practice during this period, the 13th century, to a tendancy towards forgetfulness and complacency in the collective minds of believers. Thus it became necessary in the minds of inspired believers in Rumi's day to institute more clearly discernable forms; making formulations more explicit, it was thought, would call those to renewed fervor in the Quran or Koran, and "breathe new life into spiritual intuition." The poet was inspired.

As spiritual matters, Truths and Faith may not easily be contained or systemized.  It is possible that within the writings of even a single author there may be seeming inconsistencies; viewed with the heart moreover the mind, many of these curiosities fade away.While elaborate and systemic forms of Islamic practice may not have been a feature in its earlier days, by the time of Rumi, it was increasingly present, contained within Islam. And while such formulations are not necessary for the spiritual life, its presence constituted a guide and a companion of sorts for those disciples of the Tariqa. If, in later years writes Michon, there are similarities between Sufism and other monotheistic traditions, it is because "in certain cases there are borrowings from other traditional sources."

In Sufism, a doctrine does not exist merely for its own sake. Rather it is because it may serve as a guide on the path, if you will. The author of this book, Michon concludes, "doctrine is the key to open the door... a guide to lead the traveler..." each one unique, and many, though all on one path. Once arrived, it may be discarded.

Sufism

"Whoever has no Master, has Satan as his Master."

Sufism has been part of the corporeal body of Islam for most of its history. The term sufi is known from at least the eighth century C.E.; it is from the word for wool (suf), a symbol of purity by the wearer of such a garment. The suf indicated also that there was an obvious degree of spiritual proximity to God. It is a representation of the ideal mode of worship towards God, with the whole of the heart, mind and body. Sufism is practiced throughout Islamic history as a way to access the divine love, wisdom and knowledge of the Creator which are the basis of mysticism. Sufism then has nothing to do with what authors of the book, Sufism: Love and Wisdom by Jean-Louis Michon, Roger Gaetani call, "the sectarian movements which mostly in the Western world, have used its name, fame, and even some psycho-spiritual practices to attract a naive clientele with the promise of quick spiritual advances."

"The Doctrine of Unity," writes the authors is central to Islamic revelation; 'unity is expressed by the testimony of Faith." Also accompanying the Doctrine of Unity are the concepts of the Universal Man, Mohammad the Prophet and Envoy. All who strive to imitate his virtues, and perfect intellect, pray so as to recover ones' own "pristine nature." Then there is the "Way of Recollection" without consideration or acknowledgment of human free will, places man in a garden, "naturally submitting to the Creator, and thus celebrating His praise..." What is generally known as "The Book of God," the Quran guides the believer to the paths of salvation through the sacred traditions bestowed upon every human community in history.

Finally the Sufis say,"whoever has no Master, has Satan as his Master..." Those who dare to travel to God by their own means are doomed to fail in the Islamic mind. Islam teaches that the "rebellion against God takes place on the level of the psyche, not on that of the body. The flesh is only an instrument for the tendencies originating within the psyche." So then it is the mind and spirit which must be lifted up and trained so as to go the way of truth. These are a few of the topics considered in this book of essays by various authors.

Nasrudin: The Lamp and the Key

Sufism, as a practice, emphasizes certain unique rituals for guiding spiritual seekers into a direct encounter with God. It comes from the Islamic traditions in places especially Persia or Iran.
Muhammad is considered the chief prophet; many consider Sufism to be a mystical practice of Islam. The following story by the great Sufi teacher, Nasrudin, illustrates a common experience for those along the Way.

His friend, Mansour, comes to visit him and sees Nasruddin on his hands and knees, crawling on the sidewalk under the street lamp, obviously searching for something, appearing frustrated.

Concerned for his friend, Mansour asks, "Nasruddin, what are you looking for? Did you lose something?"

"Yes, Mansour. I lost the key to my house, and I’m trying to find it, but I can’t."

"Let me help you," responds Mansour. Mansour joins his friend, kneels down on his hands and knees, and begins to crawl on the sidewalk under the street lamp, searching.

After a time, having looked everywhere on and around the sidewalk, neither Nasruddin nor Mansour can find the lost key. Puzzled, Mansour asks his friend to recall his steps when he last had the key, "Nasruddin, where did you lose the key? When did you last have it?"

"I lost the key in my house," Nasruddin responds.

"In your house?" repeats the astonished Mansour. "Then why are we looking for the key here, outside on the sidewalk under this street lamp?”

Without hesitation, Nasruddin explains, “Because there is more light here . . . !”

In his book At Home in the Muddy Water, by Ezra Bayda, Buddhist practitioner and teacher, recounts this story about a key and a light.
"In trying to uncover how to best proceed with practice, we're often like Nasrudin, looking in the wrong place. Sometimes we're looking in the wrong place for something that isn't even there. We think there is a magic key, some experience that will make the practice permanently clear, especially in the midst of everyday difficulties." In the simple mind, we realize there is no magic key, nor do we need one. What is needed is to persevere through the ups and downs of life. We hold our own key.