What form of friendship is this, in which at times you measure your spiritual guide on the scale of Shariah?
You analyse whether he conforms to the Shariah, whether he has a conventional beard, or whether he conforms to conventional worship.
At times you measure your spiritual guide on the scale of right and wrong, to judge whether his actions are right or wrong.
Break this scale!
Do not weigh your spiritual guide on the scale of right and wrong!
Your scale should be: my spiritual guide is the truth and I am falsehood.
My Spiritual Guide is the Truth,
My Spiritual Guide is the Truth and I am Falsehood
Can anyone tell me whether God obligated salah upon the Fakirs, the Aashiqeen, the Saints of God?
[No], the Qur’an only says one word, '[obligatory] upon a Momin'.
How far does the [stage of] Momin go?
The River Thames runs through London.
To one side is the North of London and on the other side is the South.
How do you get across?
They’ve made bridges, without which you cannot cross.
Similarly, there are six realms in this cosmos.
Three realms are Zaatiya and three are Konya.
There is Aalam e Nasut (Terrestrial Realm) which holds all the planets, the Moon, the Sun, and the Stars;
they're all in Aalam e Nasut.
Then there's Aalam e Malakut and then Aalam e Jabrut.
All three of these realms are known as 'Konya'.
Then there's a gap, and the following three realms are known as 'Zaatiya'.
So, these realms of 'Konya' - if your spirits roam within the three realms of Konya, then you are a Momin.
If you perform salah in Bait ul Mamoor, you are a momin.
Those who perform salah in Bait ul Mamoor are momin, and then there are those that don't even go to Bait ul Mamoor,
there's a spirit of Aalam e Malakut, known as Qalb (spiritual heart), it takes their salah up there.
So now there is a difference between the two salah.
One who performs salah here in the world and the qalb takes their salah to the higher realms - this is a Momin.
Then, there is a momin that travelled to Bait ul Mamoor and performed his prayers there. He is greater than the former, but he is still a momin.
He is void of God's system.
The system God has reserved for himself is beyond the River Thames.
And if one is to go there... If one is to go to North London, they have to cross over the River Thames.
There has to be a bridge to enable you to cross it.
Similarly, if someone has to go to the Zaatiya realms, there must be a bridge. What is that bridge?
That bridge is either the spiritual guide or Gabriel.
It would've been Gabriel prior to the arrival of Muhammad (s), Imam Mehdi (as) and Ghaus Pak (ra).
It was Gabriel prior to their arrivals.
However, after the Prophet (s) arrived then Gabriel was removed.
[God said], ‘Now that my Beloved has arrived, it rests with him who he chooses to send toward me’.
That’s why God revealed the following verse: wa daiyyan illallahi bi iznihee.
God has given [the Prophet (s)] the permission to allow anyone to cross the bridge into the Zaatiya realms.
Those that then crossed that bridge became saints.
Those that crossed the bridge and arrived at the other side, their salah transformed and became different.
It was about that salah that Bulleh Shah said, 'Since I have learnt the Salah of Ishq, I have forgotten the temples and mosques'.
Why was he talking about the temples and mosques?
It wasn't about the temples or mosques, it was about those that established those religions, the prophets.
He had forgotten those religions and their founders. He had adopted the religion of God.
Once you cross the bridge and arrive in the Zaatiya realms, your salah has transformed, it's different.
There are two salahs and two zikrs.
One zikr is permanent and one is temporary.
One salah is permanent and one is temporary.
It is performed at the allotted time [however] that salah [in Zaatiya] is the permanent salah.
You are a creation of the [konya] realms.
Your qalb belongs to Aalam e Malakut, it belongs here, and its permanent salah is to commemorate 'Allah Allah'.
And the souls [of Zaatiya], their permanent salah is to witness God.
It is the body's duty to prostrate, the ethereal spirits within us do not prostrate.
The salah of the Qalb is to do Zikr Allah.
The Qur'an states, 'The Qalb will only be content once it tastes the Personal Name of God'.
Then, once you have arrived there (Zaatiya), you are now under the laws of that realm.
Since you’re now under the laws of that realm, you are now under the salah, the fast [of that realm].
What is the fasting of that realm?
It is to not see anyone but the Lord, to not speak to anyone but the Lord, to not hear anyone but the Lord.
This is their Ramadan: to fast from the creation.
Can you make such a fast? You cannot, right? That is their fast.
God says to such personalities, 'When you sit amongst the creation, then perform their form of salah, and when you are in solitude, then do your own form of salah'.
What is their own form of salah?
When comes the time of salah, they witness God.
When comes the time of Salah, they witness God. That is their salah.
Then what happened?
The spiritual guide left for his abode, and a disciple spies on him and sees that it was time for the Isha prayers and the spiritual guide was not praying.
Seeing this gave birth to evil whispers and he says, ‘I saw him, he didn’t come out of his chambers’, and this was his downfall.
The spiritual guide is your guide for as long as he is before you in public, and when he is alone, he is not your spiritual guide, he is the Beloved of God.
‘Only a lover understands the secrets of love’. No one understands.
So, we then understood: whatsoever the spiritual guide says, that is what I must do.
One thing is what the spiritual guide does, and one thing is what the spiritual guide instructs.
We must be concerned about what the spiritual guide instructs, not what he does.
Why?
Because what he is doing is between him and God. We are unaware of his relationship with God.
He will act in accordance with his relationship with God.
So, we are not to do what the spiritual guide is doing, we must do what the spiritual guide is instructing.
For example, we have friends, relationships; our children, our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, etc.
We are attached to everyone and we have a limit for everyone.
For instance, there is a limit for our friends which, if crossed, ceased that friendship.
If my friends begin to loot and slander me, that would end the friendship, wouldn't it? So there’s a limit, right?
If my wife destroys my life, my relationship with her would end.
Or if the husband destroys the wife's life, it would end the relationship, right?
So there’s a limit for everyone.
Like a brother, if a brother remains to be like a brother, everything is fine, however, if he crosses those limits and begins to be oppressive, that relationship ends. Wouldn’t it end?
We give no one in the world the permission to do as they please with us, do we?
If I speak with you lovingly, you speak to me with love.
If I hit you, verbally and physically abuse you, degrade you, you'd have to be insane to give me respect, right?
It’s a give and take [situation]. You scratch my back, I will scratch your back.
If I am loving to you, you will have to oblige and be loving in return,
however, if one speaks lovingly and the other person is disrespectful, that limit is crossed and the friendship ends.
If a mother crosses her limits and tests your faith, you'd leave your mother too.
So, every single relationship has its limits.
You now must realise in spirituality that all the humans with whom you have a relationship, and all the limits that apply to them, you must not apply these limits upon your spiritual guide.
This is what must be understood.
If the spiritual guide says, 'eat', then eat.
If he says, 'starve to death', then starve to death.
If a friend says he will starve you, he’s crossing a limit.
No one else can do that.
However, if the spiritual guide says it then all the limits and boundaries you have applied on others,
don’t forget those limits are for your friends, not for your spiritual guide.
If the spiritual guide says, 'do not eat', then it is the spiritual guide that won't let you feel hungry.
Your parents and friends cannot do that for you.
If the spiritual guide says, 'do not sleep', it is the spiritual guide that makes sure that you won't feel sleepy.
If the spiritual guide says, 'do not eat', it is the spiritual guide that will make sure that you are still replenished without food.
Common people cannot do that.
Therefore, you cannot apply the limits for others upon the spiritual guide.
So, our relationship with the spiritual guide must be unique.
A relationship that cannot be established with any other.
If the mother tells you to starve, you’ll think she’s lost her mind.
If your wife or your friends tell you to starve, you'll say no.
If they try to force you and tape your mouth, you'll fight them and think they've lost the plot.
If a friend comes and tapes your mouth, saying, ‘I won’t let you eat’, you’ll think they’ve gone insane.
You might think they're joking at first, but if they are serious about not letting you eat, you'll become angry.
So, there are limits for every human being, limits that they cannot cross.
For example, with your friends - if you say, 'Shakeel, get me some food today', he will, he's your friend.
Or you say to Zahir Shah, ‘Take me to that charsi karahi place’, and he will.
However, what would happen if we began to loot our friends?
Whenever they come, we steal from them. Every day. One day they'll say, 'What on earth are you doing?’
Because there's a limit for friends; they can take you out to eat, and that’s it.
But if you expect a friend to give you money every single day
this is beyond the limits of a friend. That’s when they’d have to say, ‘No, are you crazy? Friendship doesn’t mean you steal from me’.
No friend can take money from your pocket, if they do, you'll ask them not to do that.
However, if your mother takes money from your pocket, you won't be as bothered. It's the mother's right.
So that means a mother has more rights [than your friends].
If the wife does it… well, then you're helpless, there's not much you can do.
However, if a friend does it, you'll ask them not to. So, everyone has limits.
However, all these limits that we apply to our human relations, we cannot apply these limits to the relationship with our spiritual guide.
These limits do not apply to the spiritual guide. We must remember this. If you do not remember this, you will be troubled.
Everything in the universe, no matter how valuable - place it all before you and say,
'I have placed this all here, before my spiritual guide. My spiritual guide may take whatsoever he pleases'.
[Having done this], how can the devil misguide you now?
And you see… What is my experience?
When I would get evil whispers - like, one day I heard a voice.
It was a very striking voice, Lord knows whose voice it was, and the words were even more striking than the voice.
When I repeat the words, you won’t think they are striking because you’re not at that stage, the stage in which I heard them.
What were the words? I was getting evil whispers, in the way that I told you: why did they drink from their left hand, etc.
a multitude of such thoughts, similar evil whispers to what the devil implants in one.
So then I heard the voice. 'You wish to establish a relationship with the spiritual guide, but then why do you weigh the rightfulness of your spiritual guide against the unlawfulness?
Why do you care if he is right or wrong? It should be enough that he is your spiritual guide.
Why do you measure him on a scale of right and wrong?
If he has awakened your heart with the name of God, then how can he now be wrong?
What form of friendship is this, in which at times you measure your spiritual guide on the scale of Shariah?
You analyse whether he conforms to the Shariah, whether he has a conventional beard, or whether he conforms to conventional worship.
At times you measure your spiritual guide on the scale of right and wrong, to judge whether his actions are right or wrong.
Break this scale!
Do not weigh your spiritual guide on the scale of right and wrong!
Your scale should be: my spiritual guide is the truth and I am falsehood.
'I existed for as long as you had not manifested yourself. I am the wrong that is smitten by the manifestation of the essence of the Truth', said Allama Iqbal.
The spiritual guide is the truth and I am falsehood. The spiritual guide is the truth and I am falsehood.