Earning ones powers - a story; -
If an unprepared person were to receive spiritual power they would only wreak destruction upon themself and others. A little boy may admire the large horse the police ride but if we were to mount him on such a horse do you think that he would be able to control it? Sometimes a father may put his small son on his lap while he drives down a quiet street and let him steer but do you think that the father is really letting him drive?
Only those who have subdued their egos may be given any power. A rocket is not launched until all of its systems have been checked many times over; - and the flight of each soul to its heavenly destination is much more important than launching a rocket - so don’t imagine that Grandshiekhs empower their murids easily.
Once Ubaydullah al-Ahrari called one of his murids and said; “Oh Abdullah go climb that mountain and wait there for me. I am coming after you.”
The murid climbed the mountain and began to wait. The morning passed, then the afternoon. The sun set and there was still no sign of the Sheikh. The next day the dervish waited patiently but still the Sheikh did not come. But his orders were clear, so he waited – a week, a month, a year, five years, seven years He survived on that mountain as a beast would survive . In summer he fed himself with berries and in the winter from the bark of trees. When he prayed the birds would alight on his shoulders, and at night, when he chanted his Dhikr, the animals would gather around him in a circle.
There he waited for seven years without any news from his Grandsheikh. The Grandsheikh had originally received the order to send that murid to the mountain from the Holy Prophet and he was waiting for the order to go up after him.
When the order arrived the Sheikh went up to the murid’s perch in the blink of an eye and said to him. “Oh my son why have you been waiting here so long? I told you that I was coming, so when I didn’t come why didn’t you come and see what had happened to me? I could have died or been hurt. I could have been lost on the mountain - why didn’t you search for me?”
The murid answered “Oh my master I was ordered to wait for you, not to look for you. You ordered me to wait here until you came and as the saying goes -Whatever a noble person promises he will fulfil - . So what about you – oh most noble of mankind? Was it possible for you to promise something and then fail to fulfil it? I would have waited here for you even until the Last Day. A dog will wait for you if you tell him to, so how shall I be less loyal and obedient? Besides it was not too difficult to me to wait here. At least you came before I died. You could have left me until that time too. I relied on your word not on my mind’s judgement as I know that you are caring for me.” The murid had understood that his Sheikh was not really scolding him for staying there, but was testing him by repeating the same arguments and objections that his ego had brought forward when the Sheikh had not appeared when expected.
That murid had attained the level of reliance upon his Sheikh, - (and through his Sheikh, on the Prophet, and ultimately on his Lord) – the same level of reliance that Abraham* attained on his Lord. When Abraham was thrown in the fire by Nimrod and Angel Gabriel came and asked him “Are you in need of help?” “I am in need of my Lord’s help, not yours.” replied Abraham. Then Gabriel said “Then ask your Lord for help.” “There is no need for me to ask. He sees me, looks after me and knows well where I am and of what I am in need.”
The murid was on exactly the same level of trust to his Sheikh. He knew that his Grandsheikh was not a ‘blind’ person and that therefore he must be aware of his condition. This is why he answered his Sheikh’s questions by saying “oh my Sheikh I have no doubt that you are keeping me within the scope of your spiritual vision so why should I apply my mind and will when I have given the reins of my will to you, trusting that you will guide me to my Lord’s pleasure. I am in your hands like a dead body in the hand of those who wash it before burial.”
Then there appeared a flock of wild doves as an escort to a very large green bird, a bird which appears to murids who have successfully complete their seclusion. That is a sign that the murid is ready to be escorted to the presence of the Holy Prophet and the Grandsheikhs of his assembly. The Holy Prophet ordered Ubaydullah “Now you have witnessed that your murid is absolutely in control of his ego you may give him his powers.”
The powers received at this point are six
1) Haqiqat ul-Jadhbah; the Secret of Attraction
2) Haqiqat ul-Fayd; the Secret of Emanation, or Outpouring
3) Haqiqat ut-Tawassul; the Secret of Connection
4) Haqiqatut ut-Tawajjuh; The secret of Alignment
5) Haqiqat ul Irshad; the Secret of Guidance
6) Haqiqat ut-Tayy the Secret of Folding Space.
Until the holy Prophet appears to the Grandsheikh and takes upon himself responsibility for the murid, no powers are given; but at that time the floodgates are thrown open.
In our way we must never claim to know anything or to be anything because dissolution in Unity Oceans requires the abandonment of all pretentiousness. Most people, on the contrary, spend their life energy in futile attempts to grasp something in their hands. However when they open their hands to see what they have, they realize that they never caught it; or even if they did, it flies away as soon as they open their hands. Even seekers of truth sometimes attempt a ‘catch’ by trying to reach a spiritual station for the sake of their egos. In this case seekers have not completely renounced self aggrandisement, but in accordance with their level they may attain good in this life and the next, but not that ultimate station of Ahadiyya.
Only the one who abandons the covetousness of this life and the next will be given pleasure that no one can imagine.
A murid becomes eligible for these powers when he becomes free of his ego’s tyranny. When they are granted he is a free man, forever free of the limitation of time and space. Time and space are the illusions which now bind us. When we are free they are at our command.
{Insha'allah we may put more about these powers in the Guide section of the website]
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