The following is a translation of His Holiness Younus AlGohar's speech.
In spirituality, the Spiritual Guide maintains
a stern tone when dealing with the seekers and it helps keep their Nafs (Self) really
low and fearful. Currently, people have zero tolerance and they argue over
everything. However, this behaviour is completely against spirituality. Those
who argue have forgotten who they are addressing. I wanted to give spiritual knowledge
in a friendly manner, but people did not value it. Sweet talk and leniency spoils
the Nafs, whereas a stern tone keeps the Nafs humble.
Some disciples were sitting in the company of
Junaid Baghdadi (a saint) when Abu Bakr Shibli (a disciple) came. The other disciples
sitting there praised Abu Bakr Shibli and said, 'He is one of your perfect
disciples (Kamil Mureed).' Junaid Baghdadi immediately sat Abu Bakr Shibli where
the shoes of all other disciples were. He did this so the praise would not
spoil the Nafs of Abu Bakr Shibli.
When His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi would stay
in my home, HDE maintained such a stern tone. Two weeks would pass without even
speaking to HDE whilst living in the same home. When I would go for mission
activities, HDE Gohar Shahi would show no reaction and would not praise me.
Once I made a request to HDE Gohar Shahi, 'May my entire life be spent in
servitude to your mission.' The Lord replied, 'God will take as much work from
you as he desires.' Upon hearing this, my Nafs felt low.
Because of my soft tone, love, brotherhood and
respect, peoples’ Nafoos (Selves) became spoiled. If the one appointed to
purify your Nafs has to respect and please your Nafs, how will your Nafs become
purified? A few stern words from the Spiritual Guide sets off your mood and you
stop coming to see him. This is not spirituality - nor do you understand spirituality.
The Nafs must first be hurt before it is purified.
When the Nafs is hurt, it sits quietly and becomes discouraged. Then the
Spiritual Guide adopts a cold attitude towards the seeker. Spirituality is not
for those who have to be pleased every minute, for those who get upset over
everything or for those whom the Spiritual Guide has to apologise to.
That is
not spirituality! A Spiritual Guide will have to keep a very stern behaviour
with the seeker and that will help them purify their Nafs. If my words are
sweet and I have to respect you, then I can guarantee to you that you can never
ever be able to purify your Nafs, no matter how many years you spend here in my
company.
When people hear stern words, they become
angry. Their tongues may be quiet, but I can hear the barking of their Nafs.
When Divine Light (Noor) enters the heart, the heart becomes satisfied; this is
very easy. But the Nafs must be satisfied in the stern tone of the Spiritual
Guide. The Laws of spirituality are different. The Nafs is not simply purified
through Divine Light; rather, many ingredients are necessary to complete this
dish. A stern tone makes the Nafs feel low. As soon as the Nafs feels low, the
Guide feeds the Nafs of the seekers with Divine Light and this is how the Nafs
is cleansed.
If a baby insists on eating a kebab, the father
tells the baby sternly to eat its own food. If the baby does not listen, the
father forces the baby. The Nafs is the same way. If a strong Nafs is given the
food of Divine Light, it does not accept it. But when a stern tone is used and
the Nafs is scolded over petty things, the Nafs becomes weak and fearful. At
this point, if Divine Light is given to the Nafs, it accepts it quietly because
the Nafs is fearful of being humiliated in front of people. The Nafs fears
humiliation.
Because of the stern tone of His Divine
Eminence Gohar Shahi, I often had the conjecture that I was a Munafiq
(hypocrite). I understood at the end that the stern tone of HDE Gohar Shahi was
a blessing through which the Nafs was kept low and purified; it was the means
to shatter the ego. People do not understand spirituality. If they are spoken
to in a stern tone, they get angry. They might not say anything with their
tongue, but they are constantly grumbling and justifying themselves inside.
It is said in spirituality that when
you sit in front of a scholar, control your tongue and when you sit in the
company of Dervish, control your heart.
Hadith: Beware of the sight of a man of God,
for he sees with the Light of God (Noor).
There were many reasons why I kept a soft tone
with people after the Occultation of HDE Gohar Shahi. Those who intended to
love HDE Gohar Shahi, I did not want to say anything to turn them away because
I wanted to unite them. I thought the Nafs could be dealt with later on; but
because of my soft tone over the last 12 years, people became accustomed to it.
If someone always speaks to you in a soft tone and then suddenly, one day his
tone becomes stern, you won’t like it. If someone always speaks to you in a
stern tone and once in 10 years he speaks to you in a soft tone, you would
really like it. Adaptability is in the nature of the Nafs. If you do not make
your Nafs accustomed to respect, then the Nafs becomes patient with being
insulted.
If the Nafs is always insulted and suddenly someone gives it respect,
the Nafs would have difficulty believing it. The Nafs would feel it is not
worthy of respect. We did not keep a stern tone and therefore the Nafoos of
people became argumentative and so impatient that if they are slightly scolded,
they cry and beg for forgiveness. However, this is confined to their tongues
only and the incentive behind this 99% of the time is to hush the matter so
that they are not humiliated any further.
To control the anger of the Nafs inside after
being scolded is a miracle in my eyes. Do you think that one who His Divine
Eminence Gohar Shahi has shown Riaz al Jannah (Kingdom of Lord Ra Riaz in the
Unseen World) and one in whose heart knowledge is transferred from the heart of
HDE Gohar Shahi without any medium or Gabriel - would he not be aware of the
anger inside of you? Would he not be aware of the plans that are being made
against him? The conspiracies that women make against me, am I not able to see
them? Keeping quiet despite knowing all is great endurance. Shun this habit of arguing
and you will reform your character - not only with your Spiritual Guide, but
with everyone.
After spending time in the company of HDE Gohar
Shahi, if anyone asks me to do anything, it doesn’t cross my mind who is saying
it. I will do it for them. If in front of me you agree to do something, but
because of your ego you refuse to do the same thing for anyone else when they
ask you, then this is hypocrisy. By doing so, you are taking yourself away from
the Lord. If you break somebody’s heart, your Nafs will become stronger and the
Nafs will compel you to believe that you are not lesser than anybody else.
However this attitude is not acceptable in spirituality - although it may be in
this world. Those who bring a worldly approach into spirituality can never be
successful.
People think they do not sin, so their
character is pure. But, HDE Gohar Shahi has said, 'There are two types of
devils. One is the real devil and the other is an imposter.' The imposter devil
engages you in exoteric sins such as consuming alcohol, adultery, etc. and the
real devil destroys your heart by engaging your heart in esoteric sins such as
enmity, jealousy, greed and false pride.
Prophet Mohammad said, 'One who has even the
slightest amount of false pride in his heart is not worthy of entering the
paradise.'
Believe me: the pleasure in adopting humility
is far greater than having false pride. If you say something full of arrogance,
you will feel you have committed. If you adopt humility, you will feel as if
you have done a good deed. Test it for yourself. If someone comes and insults
you, keep quiet. There will be no mischief because it takes two to argue; if
you keep quiet and do not react, the issue will die down. Then, a time will
come when your Nafs will begin to pray for those who insult you. HDE Gohar Shahi
is my witness: you begin to pray for them and feels sorry for their naivety,
because your Nafs became more humble thanks to their stern behaviour. A soft
tone will not work to purify the Nafs!
In 1995, the voice of HDE Gohar Shahi came out
from my mouth unintentionally. I was very worried; it is impossible to imitate
the voice of the Lord. I called HDE in Kotri ,
Pakistan
His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi said to me, 'I
live in your heart, so you can never be misguided.' Upon hearing this, I became
worried. Would the Lord only come into my heart to stop me from being
misguided? I thought that if the Lord came into my heart, the Rapturous Love of
the Lord would increase in my heart. HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'There comes a time
when even a Dhakir-e-Qalbi (one whose heart has been initiated with the name of
the Lord) is misguided. A times comes when even one whose seven Lataif
(subtleties) are enlightened becomes misguided. There even comes a time when those
in the process of becoming saints are misguided. But one who has obtained
Divine Union (Wasal) is never misguided.' I said to HDE, 'One whose heart is
initiated by the will of God, it means that God has given him guidance.' HDE
replied, 'If God does not grant you guidance, what can you do? Is the
initiation of the heart a guarantee that you cannot be misguided?'
The Quran states:
رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغۡ قُلُوبَنَا بَعۡدَ إِذۡ هَدَيۡتَنَا وَهَبۡ
لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحۡمَةً
[3:8]
O' God, after granting
guidance to our hearts, do not turn our hearts away from you.
Even if the heart is initiated or purified,
there is no guarantee.
HDE said, 'A time will come when only
those will be protected from misguidance who have Gohar in their hearts.'
I saw this practically at the time of
Occultation. My heart was full of evil whispers. Even having an enlightened
heart did not make me satisfied. Then I remembered the words of the Lord, 'I
live in your heart, so you can never be misguided.' I was relieved and realised
that this phrase from the Lord was for this time.
We have seen the sainthood of many saints taken
back from them. If their sainthood can be cancelled, would they have any Emaan
(faith) left? Those who possess Divine Light in their hearts can lose it by
blaspheming a saint or a prophet. If someone keeps a grudge for the
Representative of Imam Mehdi in his heart, would he still have any Divine Light
in his heart?
The reason for the decline in the characters of
people around us, day by day, is mentioned in the Hadith and in the
Deen-e-Ilahi (Religion of God) also. God says, 'And I declare was against those
who bear animosity towards my friends/saints.' God declares war against those
who give pain to and blaspheme his saints and God’s declaration of war is not
beheading or putting someone in jail. Rather, God’s wrath and curse fall upon
those hearts and their Emaan is further destroyed with each passing day. The
Divine Light is taken from their hearts and such people become more and more
blasphemous; this is the Divine Law. You will see it in their character.
After Occultation, I repeated this phrase
often: 'We do not have the power to save ourselves from misguidance. It is the
Merciful Glance of HDE Gohar Shahi that has kept all of our Emaan alive.' This
is the sheer truth. A human being is not capable at any stage to protect his
Emaan because the one who has decided to guide or misguide a person is God. If
God decides to misguide you, all your knowledge and sacrifices would be
useless, all your Divine Light would be confiscated and you would be helpless.
You can remain on the path of guidance only
when the Lord of the Lords is merciful upon you, the one who can convince God
in your favour. Because you do not have the power to save yourselves, you must
stay connected to the one who has obtained Divine Union.
The Quran says,
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ
وَكُونُواْ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ
[9:119]
The spiritual status of a Sadiq (Truthful One)
is greater than that of a Momin and this is why even the Quran has ordered a
Momin to keep the company of a Sadiq.
Therefore, those who are connected to the
Spiritual Guide do not go against his will. If the sun is out and the Spiritual
Guide says it is night, then the seeker should believe that it is night. The
best way to please the Guide is to be in obedience to him.
After Occultation, I said to people, 'HDE Gohar
Shahi has given the guarantee for my guidance. Hence, if you do as I do, your
guidance is guaranteed because one who has the sub-spirits of the Lord in him
cannot go astray; the Lord resides within him.'
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