(In response to a miraculous healing story connected with Kirpal Singh) Impressive stories and I have no reason to challenge their veracity.However,after having treated and known personally several people who follow this way coming from Bawa Sawan Singh and usually known as Radhaswami or Santmat ,I can tell you that there is an important flaw in this spiritual teaching-something not uncommon in many of the Indian subcontinent transmissions .It is unbalanced in the direction of otherworldliness and the rejection of the needs of our embodied souls in this world.The disciples are taught to follow essentially a vegan diet which does not suit many people and even the naturopaths let alone regular doctors consider unhealthy.Secondly they are strongly encouraged to be celibate.They will vehemently deny this but if you read the writings of Kirpal Singh and other teachers in this lineage it is very clear.They are taught that sexual activity destroys the ‘ojas’ and thus one’s spiritual energy.The vast majority of us are not like Baba Sawan Singh or Kirpal Singh for that matter but have basic bodily needs.Denying these needs leads to couple break-ups(even if the individual is able to maintain his asceticism,often the partner becomes resentful) and sexual activity unbecoming to anyone on the spiritual path let alone satsangis.This is a parallel phenomenon to the Catholic priests who became pedophiles because their ‘normal’ sexual needs were repressed.The amount of suffering thus created is considerable.
Category Archives: Spiritual Practice
Life-according to Ahmad Ibn Hanbal
If [Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal] is a saint … he is one who finds his own sainthood exasperating. Unlike the ethereal creatures of hagiography, Ibn Ḥanbal is not only a man of God but also a husband, a father, and a landlord—possibly the only saintly landlord in world literature. Instead of wrestling with demons, he struggles with the problems of daily life…. and, no matter how harsh the choices he eventually makes, he remains convinced that his efforts are never good enough. On one occasion, asked how he was, he launched into a tirade: “How can a man be,” he answered, “with his Lord imposing obligations, his Prophet demanding that he follow the sunnah, his two angels waiting for good deeds, his nafs clamoring for what it wants, the Devil goading him to lust, the Angel of Death seeking his life, and his family asking for money?”
Priorities-1
It’s hard to help people who have spent their whole life on the wrong path.That path is the path of ‘shirk'(idolatry- where something other than God is the priority).It can be wealth and financial security,the arts,science,chasing the opposite sex or even caring about the family which is good in itself but bad if it becomes a higher priority than our relationship with our Creator.I pray that peoples eyes and hearts open more to what the Real priorities are.
My Personal Process
Contemplation in progress:One of the few people who understood what I was up to was my conservative,female French psychoanalyst.In the midst of an intense analysis she out of nowhere interjected the following: “Oh,I see what you’re up to.You are trying to develop ” le Grand Synthèse! ” How did she know?! Much better than my Jewish psychiatrist,who confounded by the material I was coming up with and it not corresponding to what he knew of neurosis,could only hypothesize that I was a “personality disorder”! There are people out there who would no doubt agree with him lol but what can I do?I will take solace in the fact that two of my greatest heroes,Mohammed saws and Jesus a.s. were respectively considered crazy and socially disruptive by their contemporaries! Pretty good company,I would say!
Eloquence
Eloquence (balagha in Arabic) has to do with the beauty of language-its sounds and its flow. It is not the same as Truth. Truth can be beautiful or ugly or neither.It just states what is. There is often confusion between the two. Something can sound beautiful and be wrong or it can sound ugly and be True. Staying lucid is what is most important.
Worldly Life
Portraits of dunniya from today’s rounding:1) A 75 year-old overweight white-haired woman in the Natural Foods store pulling this thin man behind her who is not protesting.At first I think it’s her docile husband and then I realize it’s her 55-yr. old grey-haired handicapped son(? serious cerebral palsy with mental retardation).What misery! 2) On the drive home a bilaterally amputated middle-aged man,the stumps still bandaged, in an electric wheelchair with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth! I’m not making this up! It just happened.Yes,life IS suffering.The Buddha got that one right.But then he deviated when he said”There is a way out of this suffering” Wrong! There is a way to accept the suffering and not to add to it through mental elaboration.But there is no way out.Did you know that the Buddha,himself, died from food poisoning from eating spoiled meat!? So he too had suffering to the very end.Only death ends the suffering and that only in some cases.We will leave that contentious question for a later date.
Ramadan Jewels
Ramadan lessons: I get “patience” (from the hadith).That is obvious and Ramadan requires a lot of it.So much for those ornery Muslims who like to say:”It was so easy.It passed so quickly”.Then tell them they missed the point! But what about “taqwa”(from the Quran) -translated as piety or God-consciousness.The Christians would say God-fearing?If you look at the root of the word ‘taqwa’ it is ‘waqaa’ which has to do with protecting and safeguarding’.So we are safeguarding our relationship with God by not indulging our desires.Sometimes I think of Ramadan as a form of death-the death of the ego that feeds on worldly pleasures.A true blessing, in the guise of a hardship! Eid Mubarak to all.
Which tariqat?
I am often asked which tariqat we represent.I have thought about this for a while and came to the conclusion that we are Chisthi,Naqshbandi and Shadhili.That means that we are carrying simultaneously the open-mindedness of the Indian Chisthi tradition(Pir Vilayat Khan),the balance between worldly duties and otherworldly aspirations of the Naqshbandis (Sheikh Nazim)and the single-minded focus on marifat(God-consciousness) of the Shadhili tariqat(Sheikh Abu-Qassim and Sheikh Nuh).A potent combo I must say!I feel both a sense of pride and humility at the grandeur of this transmission.Alhumdulillah.
Statement of Purpose
Statement of Purpose:
Sufi Pilgrim’s Progress is designed to provide a context and tools for the path(As-sair) of self-improvement and self-knowledge in all its dimensions(biological,social,psychological and spiritual).The ultimate goal is to attain the pleasure of Allah(God) and the knowledge of God experientially.Although the former is reachable through the outward religion of Islam ,the latter requires the practice of Sufism.
(Anyone interested in pursuing this path should join our Facebook closed group at Sufi Pilgrim’s Progress.Ahlan .)
Slogan for the Pilgrim’s Progress Process
(From an nde experience)
“I am continuously witnessing beautiful transformations in loved ones who are willing to explore this deeper essence(love). The depth of their transformation is in direct relationship with their openness to look anew. Each person’s transformation is authentically unique!”