AS IS fitting in the field of a religion based upon the revelations through the Prophet Muhammad, the practices (or yogas) and fulfilments of the Sufis were and are entirely saturated with the doctrine of Islam, which is resignation to God, or rather delighted union of the will of man with the will of God. This fundamental principle of acceptance of God's will among the religious becomes the reception of God's being among the mystics. In the efforts and attainments of these mystics must be recognized therefore two operators—God who is trying to give himself to man, and man who is trying to give himself to God. The second of these factors, the human efforts, naturally takes on the aspect of yoga practice—purification of the self from worldly desires, mental defects and selfish motives, often by The foundations of the contrast between material riches and the presence of God which has had great influence in the Sufi life were laid by Muhammad himself, when he said "Poverty is my pride," and rejected the personal use of riches, as well as in the example of earlier Prophets, including Moses, David and Jesus. Many were the Sufi ascetics and mystics who gave up wealth and pursued the simple life. It was, however, always the constant thought or remembrance (dhikr) of God that was considered the means to Union (tauhid) with Him, in which there was the passing away (fana) of all the human qualities or human nature, the only continuity (bava) being then the continuity of God Himself. Students of comparative yoga will see in this a similarity to Buddha's doctrine of Nibbanna, or Nirvāna, in the achievement of which every vestige of what man can think or feel himself to be entirely disappears. ThisTHE SUFI YOGAS
In this sort of meditativeness or lovefull attentiveness there is experience above reason, above expression in words. This was usual with Emerson, so he could write:
Wonderful verse of the gods,
Of one import, of varied tone;
They chant the bliss of their abodes
To man imprisoned in his own.
Ever the words of the gods resound;
But the porches of man's ear
Seldom in this low life's round
Are unsealed, that he may hear.
Moulana Rūmī expressed the longing of Love in the following verses translated by R. A. Nicholson in his book Rūmī, Poet and Mystic:
The secret of my song, though near,
None can see and none can hear.
Oh, for a friend to know the sign
And mingle all his soul with mine!
’Tis the flame of Love that fired me,
’Tis the wine of Love inspired me.
Woulds’t thou learn how lovers bleed,
Hearken, hearken to the Reed!
Into my heart's night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.
This awareness of the real man is put in less direct terms in the poem on Body and Soul by another Persian poet, Enweri—translated in Emerson's essay on Persian Poetry:
"Beware" means, of course, "be aware."
We may find room in this short introduction to Sufi yoga for two verses, vi 17-18—very percipient—from Richard Burton's Kasīdah:
The part played by music in the devotional yoga of the Sufis has been told very beautifully by Inayat Khan in his Mysticism of Sound. Moulana Rūmī especially valued the help of music, so it came strongly into the devotions of the Mevlavi Order of Sufis. A branch of this order came to India, and was carried to great heights by Khaja Moinudin Chisti. For many centuries at his tomb in Ajmere there has always been and still is the best of music and singing to be heard. At some of the assemblies of this order, the ecstasy (Wajad) of union has three degrees of attainment—objective, ideal and ecstatic. When this ecstasy
The durweeshes, who formed the large ring (which enclosed four of the marble columns of the portico) now commenced their zikr; exclaiming over and over again, "Allah!" and, at each exclamation, bowing the head and body, and taking a step to the right; so that the whole ring moved rapidly round. As soon as they commenced this exercise, another durweesh, a Turk, of the order of Mowlawees, in the middle of the circle, began to whirl; using both his feet to effect this motion, and extending his arms; the motion increasing in velocity until his dress spread out like an umbrella. He continued whirling thus for about ten minutes; after which he bowed to his superior, who stood within the great ring; and then, without showing any signs of fatigue or giddiness, joined the durweeshes in the great ring; who had now begun to ejaculate the name of God with greater vehemence, and to jump to the right, instead of stepping. After whirling, six other durweeshes, within the great ring, formed another ring; but a very small one; each placing his arms upon the shoulders of those next him; and thus disposed, they performed a revolution similar to that of the larger ring, except in being much more rapid; repeating, also, the same exclamation of "Allah!" but with a rapidity proportionately greater. This motion they maintained for about the same length of time that the whirling of the single durweesh before had occupied; after which, the whole party sat down to rest. They rose again after the lapse of about a quarter of an hour; and performed the same exercises a second time. 2
160:1 See Sufism, by A. J. Arberry, and Mystics of Islam, by R. A. Nicholson. Pub. Macmillan Co.
162:2 Quoted in A. J. Arberry's Sufism.