Monday, June 3, 2013

LIVING UNDER THE CONSTANT THREAT OF SUCCESS - convergence of the saint and the sinner

Hey, Mr. Spiritual Aspirant. What are you having? A tea break?

10. Not That Drunk
You say you are drunk in His Ocean
Besotted in His Love,
But yea, still sober enough to request for intermissions,

While treading the Path.
..........................

Almost 10 years ago, this prose was recorded by me. And it is as true today as it was all those many years and many kilograms ago (I am still well-filled, but less so now. He he he).

...steady ...steady there...

And I am still crawling down the Path. With one foot firmly planted in this world, while the other foot is barely maintaining a foothold in the spiritual mountain. And like it or not, I sometimes let slip and fall, or even more embarrassingly, the seam of my pants bursts open due to the titanic struggle between my heart and my ego...

6. Seams
With one foot on the path
And the other on this world
Is it any wonder that your trousers
Constantly burst at its seam?
............................

Living under the constant threat of success. Failure, and the constant threat of failure is our inevitable lot. But success, and the constant threat of succeeding is also our lot. And I think that often, we are in fact succeeding, but we hesitate because we cannot comprehend the incomprehensible nor fully know the unknowable - by which I mean the Infinite Sea of Mercy and Generosity that is God's grant for humanity. So we falter when we need not have faltered, and we hesitate when the Door of Forgiveness is shining unhesitatingly in brilliant green and purple neon lights... "Come in! Come in! You are forgiven! But then you pause, you turn around and you beat a hasty retreat... Hey?! Hey, come in! Where are you running off to now?!"

I am off for a tea break, o' Door of Forgiveness, I am entitled to it! It is there in my collective agreement with the Murshids and Mashaikhs (Masters) of the tariqa (path), negotiated by the Confederated Union of Amalgamated and Assorted Sinners (C.U.A.A.S.). But I will be back, don't go anywhere (please).

Divine Accidents on the Saints' Autobahn. This is the life in the slow-heavy-goods-lane of the spiritual highway. The only danger is inadvertently losing your focus and drifting into the fast-lane of the saintly or the super-fast-autobahn lanes of the saints, then heaven knows where we would end up. There is no speed-limit you see, on the Saints' path. The only speed and mileage being set by the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) himself. But insyaAllah (Godwilling) we are all hoping for this divine accident one day... only Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.) can make this convergence of the saint and the sinner happen.

15. Ali’s Prayer (or Groupies 2)
We, groupies of Naqshband
Cling to the Saidis’ coat tails
On our way to the Sun of the sun
While being peppered by snow, rain and hail.
....................................

Ah. So this is us... an accident waiting to happen. Or is the divine accident happening already, drawn out across an extended measure of the autobahn until we breath our last? Hu knows... (He knows)


Have a lovely Monday, sunshine. I am told that Monday is the day on which the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), God's anointed Mercy to all the worlds was born all those years ago. So it is a good day to say Alhamdulillah (God be praised)!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way

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