Shaykh Samnani Outer Life has an Inner Correlative The Latā if associated with Prophets (Qalb and Ruh)

Transcription

1 Shaykh Samnani Outer Life has an Inner Correlative The Latā if associated with Prophets (Qalb and Ruh) I want to tell you about a Shaykh Samnani today, from Samnan, about 200 klm east of Tehran. He was born in the 13 th century of the Hijra. He entered the service of the Moghul ruler of Iran at the time, as a page at the age of 15. When he was 24, while camping with the ruler s army, he had this profound spiritual catharsis. He asked to be relieved of his duties and went into a khanaqah, and became a Sufi. He got his khalifat and many murīds came to him. His khilwa, and his maqam, and the musala are still there. One of the things he was very famous for was the descriptions of the seven spheres of light on the esoteric path. He was taken by the hadith of Prophet Muhammed (sal) that said the Qur an has an esoteric and an exoteric meaning, an outer appearance in a literal sense, and an inner depth or hidden spiritual sense. The esoteric meaning also has an esoteric meaning, into to seven levels. In this esoteric hermanuetic of Sufism, much of the influence was from Suh rawardi, the early saint of Tasawwuf who wrote the Alf al-mā ruf. He spoke in terms of the physiology of the organs of life, which we know as the latā if, and the mystical, anthropological connection between light and the physical world. Even his works throw light (to make a metaphor) on optics and perception. He s talking about the light of seeing the latā if. He spoke about the seven esoteric meanings of the Qur an. I won t get into the detail of those complex writings and teachings of his, but I think it is important to us in our discussions of the circles. 1

2 He is referring to these subtle organs of perception, the latā if, the colors we talked about, and the prophets we referred to (the prophets of the Torah like Musa (as)) as being reflective. I think one of the most important things for us, and something that parallels a lot of what I ve taught over the years, is a homology between these events taking place in the outer world, and the inner events of the soul.the relationship between the outer and the inner is critical to understanding how to live your own life, and what the meaning of life is. In Samnani s cosmology of the world, there was this homologous relationship between what he called zaman a faq, as the time of horizons, or the horizontal time (what we know as physical or linear time, historical time) governed by the movement in his case of the visible stars, and the zaman anfusi, psychic time, these being the transmission of the first circle. This is the time of the world of the soul, which is quite different than the time of the physical world. That s reflected in many other teachings, too, for example the life of the human being in a year being a blink of an eye for the soul. He spoke of the pole/qutb which governs the inner heavens. That s why each outer fact of life, according to Samnani, and certainly according to my understanding and what I ve taught over the years, leads back literally, not just figuratively, not analogically, to the inner region that corresponds to that outer reality. Every aspect of life in the outer has an inner correlative. Everyone think about that for a second. Don t think about it in general terms; think about it in specific terms. How do you feel today? What s on your mind? What kind of decisions do you make? What is your attitude? What circumstances are you coming into contact with? This literal meaning of the word tahwil used technically to describe a kind of spiritual exegesis or tafsir, that life in the inner is like a tafsir of what is happening in the outer. 2

3 Or you can reverse it and say the opposite: your outer life is a tafsir of a moment or circumstance in the inner life an exegesis. What is the inner region it corresponds to? That inner region is the doorway to the latā if: qalb, rūh, sirr, khafī, akhfā. The series of the subtle organs of perception, each of which is reflected in this homologousness or is a reflection in the inner, is typified by, as you know, a prophet. Like qalb is the Prophet Adam (as). Each region it is not just a thing, but a region is also typified by a color or light. All light is white comprised of many frequencies different colors of light. One of these regions marked by light, or any one of them, which the seeker is able to visualize in tafakkur / contemplation and in muraqabah / meditation, will bear its fruit only when a person learns how to be attentive. If you learn how to be attentive and if you pay attention / main mutawajjuh, it informs you of your own spiritual state. You have, not just an anthropomorphical relationship with a prophet (like Sidna Adam or Sidna Nūh or Sidna Ibrahim or Musa), but it is a prophetic commentary that is available to you on your own spiritual state. I find Samnani s description of that is one of the most complete I have ever found. Just to say those few words at least is really valuable to anyone on the spiritual path. Not only are you informed of your spiritual state, but you have the madad / assistance of that prophet and that prophetic spirit on your journey. The first of these subtle organs is the latifa qalb, or qalabiyya: to turn or to mold. Unlike the physical body, it is constituted by an influx emanating from the inner spheres of light, what he calls the soul of the worlds, without passing through other spheres, planes, or elements. It s very, very pure. From the source of all light, Allah, through that Source that creates the souls, the light comes to the heart directly. It doesn t pass through any other filter or form. That light cannot enter the human body until the physical body is fully complete. When Allah builds the body of dark, 3

4 sticky, black clay Does anyone remember how long it took for the body to be ready for the soul? (40 years). Here s the number 40 again this is the development of the receptacle of qalb / heart, which we know is the receptacle of life itself. As you know, you can live brain dead, but you can t live heart dead. Having the form of a body, but in its most subtle state, it is kind of the embryonic mold of the new or subtle body, which is refined inside of us through the latā if, and which is the body that will pass out of this world into the akhirat / the Hereafter. We have this structure of the physical body. Then you have the heart being created, which is the doorway to all the latā if, which in the process of life should be refined, and this embryonic mold (qalab) which is in the heart, is turned and re-turned and turned and turned until the soul within it returns to its source. This is why in the mystical tradition, the association of the forty years, the heart/qalb being developed over forty years for the first creation (Adam) is called the Adam of your being. This is the Adamic reality in each one of us. It has only its existence. It, itself, has no name until Adam names things. Nothing has any name; only its reality. The second organ, which corresponds to the latifa nafsiya (self), the one which is the seat of the physical processes, not the spiritual processes, which gives the animal nature to the human being, the life, the vitality. It is the center of uncontrolled desires and evil passions, nafs ammāra. It was described in many ways as the lowest nature of the human being, and corresponds on a subtle plane to what is the foundation upon which we learn. We learn upon a foundation of this lower nature of uncontrolled desires, tests and trials, passions, and distractions. As we confront our lower self, we find ourselves in the same position as Nūh found himself in, facing the hostility of the people, even his own family. When he overcomes it, this subtle organ becomes the ruhiya, the Nūh of your soul, of your being. 4

5 You have this pure, unadulterated, unnamed reality which is the Adam of your soul, qalab, the mold that is created for everything in the heart. Now nafs ammāra comes in because Adam and Hawa break the rule. I spoke about that the other day in detail. Now what happens is there must be a process by which a person returns toward Allah Swt and refines himself. There is a parallel between this first stage of the ālam al-khalq / nafsi, the world of command (earth, air, fire, water, and self) and the rūh, the vital self that has to struggle now to lift itself back. Adam repents and Hawa repents; they are equal, and Allah accepts their repentance, but nonetheless, they are cast into the physical world from the paradisical world, the garden. Try to remember. Nūh (as) struggles. There are two prophets that go along with that latifa rūh: Sidna Ibrahim and Sidna Nūh. Sidna Nūh (as) fails in his mission. For 950 years he struggles to convince people. Sidna Ibrahim (as) fails also, in a sense. He doesn t really fail, he s about to fail. He s questioning. But what happens? His progeny get it. Ishmael says to him, Follow what your Lord says. Don t worry about me, Pop. I m okay. You see a progression also, through the latā if the Nūh of your soul and the Ibrahim of your soul. Why is that important? When you are sitting in muraqabah, if you want, there is companionship. Asalaam aleikum. 5