Spiritual Chat 23 - Original Version About Spiritual Chat 23 Title: "Learning To Pray For The Right Thing", Date: August 29, 2002 Chat Between: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) and Rumi Smith Home Page - Spiriutal Chats Go To Spiritual Chat 24 Chat 23: Outline & Summary Library Navigation Tree Go To Spiritual Chat 22 Chat 23: Expanded Version Go To Table of Contents - Spiritual Chat 23 Go To Related Material Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon all of us. May God help us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest brothers and sisters, Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum, my dearest sister Rumi. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). Do you have time to share some wisdom? Rumismith: Wa 'alaikum al-salam, dear Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. Yes please, the time best spent is to share wisdom. Rumismith: We have been thinking about our talk from last night all day. MuhaiyaddeenLB: We have been working on our last chat. Bawa told me to edit it, make a Web Page out of it, and then send it to you and to the people on the Fellowship Mailing List. So far the Web Page is done. You can access it as, Spiritual Chat 22. Check it out. It is a very nice sharing. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. MuhaiyaddeenLB: We just checked it out and it didn't come up. Then I realized that I didn't publish it yet. What a wonder is this God of ours, and how He takes care of us. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Well, how is my dear sister, we are developing into quite a team, this Rumi and Louie, pretty soon we won't exist. Rumismith: Yes it didn't come up for us either. We are so grateful for that exchange. Rumismith: Yes, God willing, you said it "pretty soon we won't exist". MuhaiyaddeenLB: But along with that, God will exist within us, and we will have become One with Him within us, as Him, as the Oneness of God and True Man, for the benefit of all of the Creation of God and the Creation of True Man within us. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: About our talk last night, we feel if one shines light on those misconceptions clarity and wisdom can open up. Also it is like when Bawa would scold us, in this child's understanding, that was just the outer thing, while He than was changing things inside the person who He scolded. And when we talk about these misconceptions something changes inside. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, that is because in truth He is correcting Himself, not you or I, not you or I as "separate from" Him, and who He is, within Him, that is being corrected, is you and I as "one with" God. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is the truth of our life, that allows us to let end all that has grown within us, that in truth is not us, like "us" living in the world with our brothers and sisters, or like "us" as "separate from" God trying to do the work of God, or like "us" as "separate from" God trying to be good, or kind, or wise, or anything. Rumismith: Yes, this point is starting to dawn, what a grace. Thank you for the previous point: "But along with that, God will exist within us, and we will have become One with Him within us, as Him, as the Oneness of God and True Man, for the benefit of all of the Creation of God and the Creation of True Man within us." Ameen, Ameen. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. That is the Ideal of God that we talked about last night, the Ideal of God within us that only through Bawa in partnership with God within us, and "us" in partnership with Bawa within us, can be accomplished within us. Certainly not accomplished by "us" as "separate from" God, as "separate from" each other, and as "separate from" the Creation of God, that God has personally and so very lovingly placed within each of us, before we came to this earth world or dunya. MuhaiyaddeenLB: That is the target, the Ideal of God that we shoot for, through our love and trust in the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen within us (may God be pleased with Him), not by "you or I" living in the world with our brothers and sisters trying to be good, or be Bawa, or be helpful, or do anything in the world. MuhaiyaddeenLB: But if you are not clear on this point, on this Ideal of God, then your life is scattered, and moves from focusing on the world to focusing on the teaching of Bawa, and nothing gets done. Only when you are clear, and your focus is only on this Ideal of God, in everything that comes before you, can your life move toward the implementation of this Ideal of God. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is the major problem in life, for the Children of God for this age, lack of clarity, and as a result, even if they have met Bawa, and know of His life and teaching, and even it they try to move in that direction, because they are not clear on the role of the world in their life, their effort is weakened and they fail to progress in their life. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In this way, we must realize, without the slightest doubt, that everything in the world is forbidden, is haram, and only what is within our Shaikh within us, is permissible or halal. MuhaiyaddeenLB: And we can only gain access to what is within our Shaikh in His presence, when we have properly invited Him into our life, in each thing that comes before us in our day, in our week, in our month, in our year, by intending as God intends within us, by becoming the life and teaching of our Shaikh within us, of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). And by inviting our wisdom, which is our Shaikh within us, to come out of our innermost heart within us, which is where He lives within us, and come into our mind and desire, which is were we currently live within us, and complete God's intention within us. And we invite Him into what we are doing, or seeing, or saying, or thinking, or intending, by saying the word, "Bawa", or the words, "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen", or "Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen" (may God be pleased with Him), before we do, or see, or say, or think, or intend anything. For as He told us, right before He died, "Don't forget Me, don't forget Me, don't forget Me." MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bawa explains this beautifully in the book, "A Mystical Journey", in Chapter 1, "The Shepherd And The Tree", and in Chapter 2, "The Wondrous City". Rumismith: We will read it up. That is one of our favorite book, but we never quite understood chapter 1. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bawa teaches us about the meaning of Chapter 1, when He says at the beginning of the book, at the top of page 9, in Chapter 1, "My Children, come with Me. I have walked this path before. On this journey there are 10 tests for cutting illusion, or maya, and for severing the attachments to the world." "The ninth test, which you must now pass (which is described in Chapter 1 - "The Shepherd and The Tree"), concerns the world and the nature of the world. My Shaikh, the light form called Nur Muhammad, explained this test to Me long ago. Now it is time to show you what He showed Me." So, Chapter 1 is about passing the 9th test, about cutting illusion or maya within us. And Bawa tells us at the end of Chapter 1, at the bottom of page 18, about successfully passing the 9th test, and the nature of the 10th test (which begins with Chapter 2 - The Wondrous City), "Listen! The light which enveloped us (the Tree of Life, the Katpaha Virudcham, which contains the Power of God, the light of the grace-awakened wisdom of gnanam, which gives us whatever we ask for, whatever we think of), has opened and is speaking to us, 'You have transformed your qualities and passed the 9th test, and you must study for the 10th examination. In this next experience (the 10th test) you must learn about death and how to die before death. This is something you must understand.'" MuhaiyaddeenLB: And Bawa teaches about what is permissible or halal for the Children of God for this age, which is only what is within the heart of our Shaikh, only what is within our Shaikh within us, when He says in the second paragraph of page 31, in Chapter 2, "The Wondrous City", of the same book, "My children, now let us enter this wondrous house. This is the house of the Qutb, Muhaiyaddeen Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (may God be pleased with Him), the House of wisdom (within us). This is the sixth level of wisdom, the state of the Qutbiyyat, the wisdom which explains. This is the wisdom of 'ilm, the state of divine analytic wisdom (within us). Here you can find Allah, the soul and goodness. Here will be the food that is good for you, and all that is permissible, or halal." MuhaiyaddeenLB: So only what is within the house of the Qutb, the heart of our Shaikh, is permissible, or halal. Everything else is forbidden, is haram, is what God has discarded. This is the 7 heavens, which is the sirr or essence or secret of the dunya, and all that we have experience living in the world with our brothers and sisters is the sifat or the form of the dunya, which is a reflection of the 7 hells within us. This is the way we must treat the world and everything within us, including our brothers and sisters living with us in the world, as but a refection of the 7 hells within us, and the world of jinns and fairies within us, not as a place to live, not as our "brothers and sisters" of the heart, not as "our fellowship" of the heart, not as "our family" of the heart, or "our friends" of the heart, or "our country" of the heart, etc., but as the reflection of the 7 hells within us, of the life of "separation and differences" that we in our ignorance have grown within us, and in our ignorance see as existing "outside" of us. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. MuhaiyaddeenLB: And if we live this way, within the heart of our Shaikh, if we learn to live within our Shaikh within us, then, and only then, will we have become clear, and our effort within the heart of our Shaikh will move our life forward, and then and only then, will what God has discarded be discarded from us, but none of this will happen within us if we are trying to straddle the fence, not if we are trying to live with Bawa in your heart and also live with your brothers and sisters in the world. We must know this truth about us, without the slightest doubt, my dearest loving sister Rumi. If we fail to live within the heart of our Shaikh, if we fail to live within our Shaikh within us, then nothing will change in your life, and if we die in this state of "separation from" God in this temporary school of the dunya, then we will get an eternal life of "separation from" God. May we both know this now and act accordingly, my dearest loving sister Rumi. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: Yes, God willing may we start doing this right now and never stop or waver. On page 32, in Chapter 2, "The Wondrous City", of the book, "A Mystical Journey" Bawa says: "These 18,000 universes (within you) are yours, and the eight heavens are yours. Whenever you wish, you may come and go, to and fro, among them. You have been given the freedom to do this. Yet man continues to live confined within this tiny dot, which is the world. How difficult he finds it to live there! How terrified he is, imprisoned in such a small place! You must think about this." MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, now you got, now you really got it. Once you are willing to discard all that is in front of you, which includes yourself as "separate from" God, and all of your brothers and sisters living in the world with you as "separate from" God, then your life really starts to move forward, because all of this stuff of "separation and differences" within you, that we currently see in our ignorance as existing "outside" of us, is really the only thing separating you from God, and from the stuff of God within God. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: What about what Bawa teaches us on page 34 in Chapter 2, "The Wondrous City", of the book, "A Mystical Journey", about, "The complete and faultless treasure of absolute wealth which has been given to us by God before we came here, to this earth world or dunya". Which is Allah's grace of Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim, which is, "The water which Allah made to be exalted in the world of pure souls, in 'alamul-arwah, and placed in the goblet of iman, within the faith of the Kalimah (within us)." And His clarification of what we must do to find this water within us, when He says, in the last paragraph of page 34, in the same Chapter and book as referenced above, "To find this water you must come here to the secret house of wisdom (which is the heart of our Shaikh within us). Only then will you receive completeness." MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, and if you don't come into the heart of the Shaikh within you, before you die, to receive this, "Complete and faultless treasure of absolute wealth which has been given to you", Which was given to each of us by God, as your birthright, as your heritage, before we came into this world, then, then as Bawa teaches us in the last paragraph on page 34, in the same Chapter and book as referenced above, "If you fail to come (into the heart of your Shaikh within you to receive God's gift for this age to the Children of God for this age), you will be left with only what you can see on the 'outside' (for eternity). You must understand this. I love you, my Children." That says it all. Now you can access, Spiritual Chat 22. We just published it. Check it out. Rumismith: Explorer, (the Web Page Browser), has caused an error and we will have to restart the computer to access Spiritual Chat 22. We will do it when our talk is over. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Ok. We just tried out accessing Spiritual Chat 22 as a Web Page and it is now working Ok. Also, the letter version of Spiritual Chat 22 should be coming to you tonight, if that be God's intention for the life of this child. You can read it as an E-mail, if you can't get it as a Web Page. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: Al hamdu lillah, Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. The understanding of Bawa's teachings and how to live it has really opened up for this child since we started dialoging. For so many years we tried to be "good" and got stuck over and over. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes. Now instead of being "good" as "separate from" God, you can now become "Great" as "one with" God. Time for a short story? Rumismith: Yes please. MuhaiyaddeenLB: One day at the ship they were having a celebration and everyone had gathered, and Louie was making his rounds, giving salaam's to everyone that had come in from out of town. Then Louie saw "Bert" from Boston, and we started to go over to him, but Bawa stopped me, and we asked Bawa why. And Bawa said, "Wait for a while. It is not time yet". So we waited, and went on to give salams and talk to some other brothers and sisters. And sometime later Bawa said to me, "Now! Go see Bert." So we went to see Bert, and immediately saw why Bawa had me wait. Bert was in a very unhappy state, and something definitely was bothering him. After giving salams to Bert and talking for a while the problem that Bert had started to become clear, something was not going the way Bert wanted it to go, even though he had been praying to God and asking for help from God. Once we realized the problem that Bert was having, to the level we could, we stepped back, said the word "Bawa", inviting His Holiness in this dialogue between Bert and Louie, and handed the problem to Bawa with the intention that He help us, not just Bert, because the problem, all problems, is always ours, not just his, or hers, or mine, since in truth we are all One, simply reflections of the One, of the One problem, which is "separation from" God, and of the One solution, which is "Oneness with" God. Immediate the solution started to come. We looked at Bert and said, "What have you been praying for, how do you want God to help you?" Then Bert immediately told me the problem, and what he was praying for, which was for the problem to go away, to end, to no longer be there, so he could have some peace. We again said the word, "Bawa", and handed Bert's answer to Bawa, with the same intention, that He help us, not just Bert, and the solution immediately came again. And we said to Bert, "We know the solution to your problem." And Bert looked very surprised, because it was obvious that he had been struggling with this particular problem for a very, very long time, and nothing that he did, up to that point, seemed to help in any way, including his prayers to God. And Bert immediately became very interested, and even a little excited, at the possibility of solving this problem, this problem that up to then was an unsolvable problem. And he said to this child, "Tell me. Please tell me the solution to my problem." And we said the word "Bawa", and again asked Bawa to please help us, and the following was said to Bert. "The problem is that you are praying for the wrong thing. You are praying that the problem end, or go away, or cease to exist, so you can be peaceful. That is the wrong prayer. That is not a prayer worthy of God or of one of the Children of God for this age, of one of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him)." Now Bert was really interested, and with even more excitement, and he said to this child, "Well what should I have prayed for, if not for the problem to be solved, for it to go away, so I could have some peace." And again this child said the word, "Bawa", and asked Bawa to help us, and then said to Bert, "First, you should have realized that only God can successfully bear the burden of any of the problems that any of us face in our life, certainly not us as separate from God." "Secondly, you should have realized that what has come to you as a burden, as a problem, is not really a burden, or a problem, but is a gift from God, for your life and for all of our lives, and should be accepted in that way." "Thirdly, you should have realized that you have God within you, and that all you need to do in any situation is to properly task God to successfully deal with any situation within us, by bringing the situation or problem that you are facing into the presence of God within you, so God within you can successfully deal with it." "Fourthly, you should have realized that the only real problem that any of us face in our life is really the state that we are in, not anything that is happening to us, that we have fallen out of the state of "Oneness with" God, that we were all in before coming into the world, because we failed to understand that state, and have taken on the state of "separation from" God, which is the dream of "self existence", making us "separate from" God, and "separate from" each other, and "separate from" the Creation of God, that God has personally and ever so lovingly placed with each of us." "In this way, the problem that needs to be solved is not the problem that you are trying to solve, which is really but a manifestation of your mind and desire. The problem that you should be trying to solve is the state you are in, the condition of your life, not whether something that you want through your mind and desire should come or go." "Therefore, put down everything that you have been doing, related to solving this problem, and say the following prayer to God, 'O God, please help me endure the cure, please help me bear the burden of what You have given me, of what you have lovingly placed before me, to move my life out of the hell of separation and differences and back into Your life of "oneness and unity", of "justice and truth", and of "compassion and unity'". Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah Allahu Akbar." Rumismith: Al-hamdu lillah, Allahu Akbar. We know why Bawa made you share that story. Bert is not the only one who prays for the wrong thing. What a beautiful explanation. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. My love you my dearest loving, and "living", sister Rumi. Is there anything else we need to share, or is this enough? Rumismith: Enough, we feel satiated. Al hamdu lillah, Allahu Akbar. My love you Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. Rumi MuhaiyaddeenLB: May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon all of us. May God help us all. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) End of Spiritual Chat 23 - original version - ...................... or Go To Spiritual Chat 23: Table of Contents Expanded Version Outline & Summary Version Related Material or ( a top-down version of the Library Home Page) (a bottom-up version of the Library Home Page) |
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