Why hast thou sent my servant away? - Part 2 of 2
December 3, 2015
“I created not humans to gain a profit from them,
But to shower my beneficence upon them.
...
I am not purified by their praises,
‘Tis they who become pure and shining thereby.
I regard not the outside and the words,
I regard the inside and the state of heart.
I look at the heart if it be humble,
Though the words may be the reverse of humble.
Because the heart is substance, and words accidents,
Accidents are only a means, substance is the final cause.
How long wilt thou dwell on words and superficialities?
A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning!
Kindle in thy heart the flame of Love,
And burn up utterly thoughts and fine expressions.
Oh Muusaa! the lovers of fair rites are one class,
They whose hearts and souls burn with Love are another.
Lovers must burn every moment,
As tax and tithe are levied on a ruined village.
...
The sect of lovers is distinct from all others,
Lovers have a religion and a faith of their own.”
(adapted from Masnavi i Ma’navi,
translated by E.H. Whinfield, p. 123 - 124)
* * *
We continue from the last post with the words the Beloved spoke to Muusaa (a.s.) after he drove the shepherd away with his chastisement.
The Beloved speaks to the fruits (profit) of prayer, which is part of a larger flow of beneficence: I created not humans to gain a profit from them, / But to shower my beneficence upon them. As stated in the last post, there is absolutely nothing we can do for the Beloved: It doesn’t need us for anything. Instead, we are the ones in need. Even more than this need, part of the intention for our creation is the Beloved’s will to shower Its beneficence upon us. To this end, the Beloved provides guidance to humanity that we may live in ways that are in harmony with receiving this beneficence -- prayer plays a part in serving this purpose. And neither should we limit such beneficence to the things of this world, as the end of this story illustrates.
One of the intentions of prayer is to draw us into the flow of receiving beneficence from the Beloved. But when the ego is not restrained, we often confuse this intention and the dynamics of our prayers can get messy. The wise do not encourage us to pray for divine beneficence since often the driving force of such petitioning is selfishness, which is impure. This informs why many traditional prayers often set prescribed words and direction, to avoid the selfish petitioning that can reduce prayer to a business transaction: I make my prayer to “purchase” and receive things from the Beloved.
Simply adhering to the prescribed manners of prayers doesn’t guarantee purity. If we wish to become pure and shining thereby, we must look to the heart. The Beloved is explicit in saying:
I regard not the outside and the words,
I regard the inside and the state of heart.
I look at the heart if it be humble,
Though the words may be the reverse of humble.
When we pray, is our prayer outward-oriented, dwelling on words and expressions inclined toward receiving or “feeling” something (external stimuli)? Or is it a turning within whereby we may be drawn -- not moved by our own efforts -- to the heart wherein the Beloved dwells? As that famous hadith says, “Neither My heavens nor My earth contain me, but the heart of My faithful servant contains and embraces Me.” Will we be humble enough, a humility emanating from the heart, to allow and dwell within such embrace? Within such embrace is (the essence of) prayer. In this state, the Beloved prays through us -- even if the mind, which is external, is moved in ways that seem counter to humility and the prescribed manners of prayer. In this state, the heart is substance: the origin, cause, and determining force of the prayer. The words and expressions are accidents: things caused, outflows of the substance.
When prayer humbly emanates from the Beloved within the heart, a burning occurs. The Beloved calls for this: A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning! The fire is Love -- Kindle in thy heart the flame of Love; the spark of such fire being surrender. Here, we turn away from the ego, contrived conceptions of “self,” and attachments -- all externally-based -- to the inner calling of the heart. Heeding this calling ,we allow the Beloved to use this calling to shape us to be as It wills for us to be. Within such surrender there is an effortless restraining of duality -- in which there is “I,” the Beloved, and often more -- to allow the dissolution of duality. This dissolution will often be a burning upon the heart. And it will burn everything not in harmony with Love: the ego, our false sense of “I” and even the words and superficialities, the thoughts and fine expressions we contrive through the mind to serve this “I.” When this burning has served its purpose to perfection, there is only the flame of Love, only Oneness, only the Beloved.
A divine intention of prescribed prayer is to turn the one praying in the direction of this burning. Making repeated prayers daily in