La Illaha Ill Allah
11 October 1978 am in Buddha Hall
A MAN CAME TO BAHAUDIN NAQSHBAND, AND SAID, ”I HAVE TRAVELED FROM ONE
TEACHER TO ANOTHER, AND I HAVE STUDIED MANY PATHS, ALL OF WHICH HAVE GIVEN
ME GREAT BENEFITS AND MANY ADVANTAGES OF ALL KINDS.
”I NOW WISH TO BE ENROLLED AS ONE OF YOUR DISCIPLES, SO THAT I MAY DRINK FROM
THE WELL OF KNOWLEDGE, AND THUS MAKE MYSELF MORE AND MORE ADVANCED IN
THE TARIQA, THE MYSTIC WAY.”
BAHAUDIN, INSTEAD OF ANSWERING THE QUESTION DIRECTLY, CALLED FOR DINNER TO
BE SERVED. WHEN THE DISH OF RICE AND MEAT STEW WAS BROUGHT, HE PRESSED
PLATEFUL AFTER PLATEFUL UPON HIS GUEST. THEN HE GAVE HIM FRUITS AND PASTRIES,
AND THEN HE CALLED FOR MORE PILAU, AND MORE AND MORE COURSES OF FOOD,
VEGETABLES, SALADS, CONFITURES.
AT FIRST THE MAN WAS FLATTERED, AND AS BAHAUDIN SHOWED PLEASURE AT EVERY
MOUTHFUL HE SWALLOWED, HE ATE AS MUCH AS HE COULD. WHEN HIS EATING SLOWED
DOWN, THE SUFI SHEIKH SEEMED VERY ANNOYED, AND TO AVOID HIS DISPLEASURE, THE
UNFORTUNATE MAN ATE VIRTUALLY ANOTHER MEAL.
WHEN HE COULD NOT SWALLOW ANOTHER GRAIN OF RICE, AND ROLLED IN GREAT
DISCOMFORT UPON A CUSHION, BAHAUDIN ADDRESSED HIM IN HIS MANNER.
”WHEN YOU CAME TO SEE ME, YOU WERE AS FULL OF UNDIGESTED TEACHINGS AS YOU
NOW ARE WITH MEAT, RICE, AND FRUIT. YOU FELT DISCOMFORT, AND, BECAUSE YOU AREUNACCUSTOMED TO SPIRITUAL DISCOMFORT OF THIS REAL KIND, YOU INTERPRETED
THIS AS A HUNGER FOR MORE KNOWLEDGE. INDIGESTION WAS YOUR REAL CONDITION.
”I CAN TEACH YOU IF YOU WILL NOWFOLLOWMY INSTRUCTIONS AND STAY HERE WITH ME
DIGESTING BY MEANS OF ACTIVITIES WHICH WILL NOT SEEM TO YOU TO BE INITIATORY,
BUT WHICH WILL BE EQUAL TO THE EATING OF SOMETHING WHICH WILL ENABLE YOUR
MEAL TO BE DIGESTED AND TRANSFORMED INTO NUTRITION AND, NOT WEIGHT.”
THE MAN AGREED. HE TOLD HIS STORY MANY DECADES LATER, WHEN HE BECAME
FAMOUS AS THE GREAT TEACHER SUFI KHALIL ASHRAFZADA.
LA ILLAHA ILL ALLAH – There is no god but God. This is the fundamental essence of the way
of the Sufis. This is the seed. Out of this seed has grown the Bodhi Tree of Sufism. In this small
proclamation, all that is valuable in all the religions is contained: God is and only God is.
This statement makes God synonymous with existence. God is the very isness of all that is. God
is not separate from his creation. The creator is in his creation; there is no duality, there is no
distance, so whatsoever you come across is God. The trees and the rivers and the mountains, all are
manifestations of God. You and the people you love, and the people you hate, all are manifestations
of God.
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