the great crocodile

bahauddin zakariya

 

I tell those around me

that if you turn away from the core,

your soul, you will fall into an unliving stupor.

The great crocodile comes and crushes your ship.

Eyes go one way, ears another; your intelligence

skews beyond reason. This disaster

can visit anyone.

 

When your ability

to choose comes back, your identity

will strengthen; ear and eye will realign;

and you can again be a friend,

a lover, a devotee.

 

Bahauddin, father of Rumi

the drowned book

 

collect and keep happy experiences

natural mystic

 

The ideal of a mystic

is never to think of disagreeable things.

What one does not want to happen one should not

think about. A mystic erases from his mind all the disagreeable

things of the past. He collects and keeps his happy experiences, and

out of them, he makes a paradise. Are there not many unhappy

people who keep part of the past before them, causing

them pain in their heart? Past is past; it is gone.

There is eternity before us.

 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

the nature and work of a mystic

 

friendship among brothers and sisters

a buddha was born

 
Real friendship among brothers and sisters on the Sufi path includes the following eight responsibilities:

  1.  Material aid. Help your companions with food, or money, or other things they need for their own survival or development.
  2. Personal support. If they are sick, visit them; if they are busy, help them, if they have forgotten, remind them.
  3. Respect. Do not complain of their faults to them or to others. Do not give advice when you know it can not be acted upon.
  4. Praise and attention. Praise the good qualities of your companions, and let them know that you care for them.
  5. Forgiveness. Forgive your companions for their failings.
  6. Prayer. Pray for the well-being of your companions with the same fervor you pray for your own well-being.
  7. Loyalty. Be firm in your friendships so that you can be depended on by those who put their trust in you.
  8. Relief from discomfort. Do not create awkward or difficult situations that involve your companions. Do not be a burden to others.

 

al-Ghazali

stanford encyclopedia of philosophy