In this Patch the realized Masters
Are protectors and guides
In this section, Shabestari first talks about Prophets, Ascended Masters, and Gurus as guides and then he says each one of them according to their level of perception, explained things in a different way, and because of this diversity people can become confused, then in the next section, he will start with a story and then goes on to clarify the spiritual concepts one by one.
Let’s start by explaining who the Guides and Masters are.
In the most of spiritual traditions, a spiritual master is someone who has already journeyed the way to the ultimate enlightenment and freedom, and can guide others to that place. But not always people who are considered Masters are fully enlightened.
What is Enlightenment?
By the way, let me explain a little about the relative meaning of Enlightenment because you’ll hear this word a lot in this series. Enlightenment can never be explained or understood by theory, but we can talk around it and how that affects one who achieves it
Enlightenment or Awakening is a state of consciousness beyond normal human consciousness, when one realizes his/her true nature, and becomes free from duality and bondage of this world.
One archive total freedom from suffering and achieve the ultimate joy and peace. According to countless spiritual traditions, our real nature is one pure consciousness beyond limitations of body and mind, and once one is enlightened, he or she goes beyond he or she! Got it?
What I wanted to say is that he or she can never become enlightened! Body can never become enlightenment, body is just a vehicle that you temporarily ride in this life, it is not you, one die it will cease to exist, but you won’t!
Enlightenment is something that happens in consciousness, it is just like waking up from a dream or illusion. Here the illusion is that you are the mortal body, mind or personality, and when you realize you are beyond all these, eternal, unchangeable, you’ll achieve the ultimate freedom and joy.
Enlightenment has been explained in different ways in different systems. In Buddhism, it is called “Nirvana”, it literally means something like “being blown out” just like a candle flame that will disappear into nothingness, but that nothingness is not really nothing, it is something beyond all things that can be imagined, or we know by our material understanding. Because there’s no thing, concept, or idea that can explain it, and it can never be defined, it is called nothingness.
Sufis usually call Enlightenment “Fana Fillah” it means dissolving into the cosmic consciousness (God), it is where you become awakened and realize you were always one with the cosmic consciousness, so your small i (identity, ego) disappears into your real “I”.
Getting back to the part about Spiritual Masters…
The truth is that those Masters who have achieved the ultimate are very rare. Of course, there are some who have achieved some higher states of consciousness or have some spiritual powers, but they cannot be considered as an Enlightened Spiritual Master. Logically depending on where they are, they can only guide people to where they are!
If you notice in the poems Shabestari talks about different classes of Masters and their level of realization:
When they realized their own greatness
They talked about knower and known
One drowned in the ocean of unity and said “I AM GOD”
Another talked about dimensions and details of the ship
One only acquired the superficial knowledge
So he talked about the beach and dry land…
This is the story of different type of religious and spiritual teaching who was expanded by different teachers in history, according to their level of perception.
A religious teacher should not be confused with a Spiritual Master, a Teacher is usually referred to someone who knows stuff in theory and can teach others the information. but a Spiritual Master is someone who has achieved a certain level of Mastery on a higher state of consciousness, by experience.
A Master almost always belongs to a tradition and comes from an authentic lineage of masters.
A teacher can only give you information, but a Master can guide your inner spiritual journey in the inner spiritual realms, because not only he has knowledge but also spiritual capabilities that a philosopher lack.
How can you find one?
A Spiritual Master or Guru is not someone you can easily find unless you are somehow destined to find one. It’s been always said that it’s the Master who finds the student, not the other way.
You may have heard “When the student is ready, the Master will appear” This is very true, if you are not ready, no matter how much you search, you won’t find one! Even if you see one, you won’t be able to follow him.
How can you become ready? It’s simple
Commit yourself to the spiritual practices and meditation, that you probably already know, or start learning some. Do the things that you already know are the right things, commit yourself to follow and apply the teachings of great Masters and Saints, things like honesty, forgiveness, patience, compassion, service, and selflessness. Remember, before you can become a Spiritual person, you need to become a good human.
Need more on this? I’ll give you a quote from Swami Sivananda Saraswati, a great Master:
“There is only one religion – the religion of love, the religion of unity and oneness.
The essentials of all religions are the same:
Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize;
Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate;
Enquire ‘who am I’ know the Self and be free.
Love all, serve all, serve the Lord in all.
Speak the truth, be pure, be humble,
Concentrate, meditate, attain Self-realization.
These are the essentials of all religions.
Customs, conventions, ceremonies are non-essentials.
Do not fight over petty non-essentials.
Be tolerant, be catholic, have a broad outlook.
Respect all Prophets, all Saints, all Messengers.
All Saints speak the same language.”
If you feel you need a Guru or Spiritual Master in your life, purify yourself every day, follow the formula above and keep asking the universe to give you one.
What is consciousness?
You may have noticed I mentioned “the higher states of consciousness“ multiple times. Let’s talk a little about that.
Consciousness is the true nature of human beings. before everything else including the mind, and thinking exists, consciousness IS.
Consciousness is pure awareness, it is beyond and before body and mind, and identity.
Consciousness is sometimes called the Witness. Because it is the real witness of all other things, including the mind. That’s why with a little progress in meditation (Achieve a higher state of consciousness) you can clearly see that you are separate and beyond your mind and thoughts.
As one grows spiritually and in consciousness, one realizes more that he or she is not made of mortal flesh and the ever-changing mind, but pure consciousness that is beyond all these, and the more one experiences this, the more is he free from suffering of body and mind.
Consciousness can not be known by the mind, because it is the real knower of all things. Consciousness is not the known, but the knower. Remember that poem from previous sections that say “I am your eyes, no wonder you can’t see. I’m your soul, no one sees the soul!” ?
That’s exactly what this means, Consciousness is the divine in man. One who knows his true self, knows God.
Shabestari says:
On drowned in the ocean of unity and said “I AM GOD”
Another talked about dimensions and details of the ship
He refers to a great Sufi named “Mansour Halaj” who achieved a high state of self-realization and said “I am God” and the extremist Islamic leaders of his time who considered his expression as blasphemy, executed him very much like in the way Jesus was crucified, maybe even worse.
Not every nation or tribe has the awareness to welcome such great beings, that’s why in the past, there have been certain countries and areas that more of great Masters were concentrated.
This True Self or consciousness cannot be known by thinking about it, because IT IS YOU, before you can think about any secondary thing, if you can stay long enough in your True Self, the Pure Consciousness, in the inner silence, without any thought, you’ll realize who you are.
Consciousness sometimes is called IS-Ness, because it is pure existence, it’s just the IS, just pure awareness. There is no difference between divine spirit and consciousness in man.
When Moses asked God “Who are you?” , God said “I AM THAT I AM”
That I AM, in man, is God. Sometimes consciousness is also called “the I AM PRESENCE”
You may have heard that according to Judo-Christian tradition when God created man’s body, he blew his spirit into him, and he became alive. and that man was made in the image of God. This is not about physical likeness to God!
This just means that God or the highest consciousness, is present in man, as his true self. And this can be realized by anyone if one strives for it!
When one sees God as his or her true nature, he sees it as the true nature of everything. No one needs to tell him that he should respect others and not harm. This is the true religion.
Realizing your true nature is the real aim of every authentic spiritual process, if it doesn’t teach you that, it’s not an authentic spiritual process. It might be a good religion but it’s not a Spiritual / self-realization practice.
“Your real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness — unattached to anything, desireless and at peace. It is from illusion that you seem to be involved in world of suffering.” ~Ashtavakra Gita
What does achieving a higher state of consciousness mean?
A higher state of consciousness simply means realizing more of this truth of your true nature by experience and in turn becoming more free, peaceful, and joyful.
According to Hindu cosmology, nature Consciousness is Truth, Awareness, and Bliss. (“Sat Chit Ananada”) which means Consciousness is the only Truth in existence, it is pure consciousness and when someone realizes this, he or she becomes Blissful!
One who Drinks off your Cup of Love, One drop
Till the Last Day He will be Wonderfully Drunk!
~Aṭṭār of Nishapur
Stay tuned for the next parts, where things get more interesting. And if you liked this, please share it with others!