|
Main Index
|
| |
| | | Book Name: Sufis - The People of the Path, Vol 2 | Previous Next | |
|
|
|
| |
is what Christians call the state of being a Christ. This is what Jainas call Jinahood -- becoming victorious. There are many names, but the basic idea is that unless man becomes God he remains in anxiety. And to become God these seven valleys have to be crossed.
And each valley has its own allurements. It is very, very possible that you may get attached to something and you will not be able to leave the valley. You have to leave it if you want to enter the second valley. And after each valley there is a peak, a great mountain peak. After each valley there is jubilation and the jubilation goes on becoming more and more intense. And then finally, in the seventh valley, you attain to the cosmic orgasm -- you disperse. Then only God is.
Listen to these seven valleys and try to understand them. And don't think Al-Ghazzali is talking about something philosophical. Sufis are not interested in philosophy at all. They are very practical people. If they say something they mean it. If they say something, it is said for the seeker. It is not said for the curious ones, not for intellectuals, but for those who are on the path, those who are really working hard to have a glimpse of the truth. It is for the seekers.
The first valley.... The first valley is called the valley of knowledge.
Naturally, knowledge has to be the first because man starts by knowing. No other animal has knowledge; only man knows, only man collects knowledge. Only man writes, reads, talks. Only man has language, scriptures, theories. So knowledge has to be the first valley.
The negative part of the valley is that you can become knowledgeable, you can get hooked on knowledge. You can forget the real purpose of knowing and you can become attached to knowledge itself. Then you will be accumulating more and more knowledge and you can go on for lives together accumulating knowledge. You will become a great scholar, a pundit, but you will not become a knower.
The way of the knower is utterly different from the way of knowledge.
There are two things when knowledge happens: the content of knowledge -- you know something -- and the consciousness, the mirror, you who
|
|
|
|
| |