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Sufi Parables/Parable about the Sufi Path and the Life in the Embrace of Allah

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Parable about the Sufi Path
and the Life in the Embrace of Allah

“Everything that you see, taste, touch,
and hear is I!

Yet I am much bigger than all this!

I am — Boundless!

When you — being in the great love for Me — disappear in My Primordial Calm,

you are born again
and become One with Me!”

Grand Master of Sufism

In the house of the Master casting no shadows, there were different disciples — boys and mature men. Yet only one girl was among them. Her name was Sufy, and she had lived with the Master since a very early age.

One day the male disciples began to talk about the place of women on the spiritual Path. They were saying that women undoubtedly could follow the Sufi Path but that none of them would ever become a Master who can teach others. Having heard this, Sufy became slightly sad.

The Master Himself was not present during that conversation and, seemingly, did not hear their statements.

However, the next day He began to tell the disciples a story about the Beloved of Allah:

“An unusual girl was born in one village from quite ordinary parents. When she grew up a little, it became clear that she did not resemble in any way to her parents or to her brothers and sisters.

That girl had a gift of prophecy and could easily read other people’s thoughts.

Once, when guests were in her father’s house, the girl came close to one of them and said:

“I feel sorry for you, since they are going to cut off your arm!”

The guests were so surprised to hear this that they even forgot to scold the girl for entering a room and breaking into the conversation without permission.

They asked her:

“What are you talking about?”

“He took the box with someone else’s jewels and pretended that robbers had done this.”

A few moments before, the guests had just been discussing that incident.

“What nonsense you are saying! Apologize immediately! How can you insult like this my honorable guest?!” — the girl’s father exclaimed in anger.

“How can I apologize if I am telling the truth? The box is buried in his garden under the plum tree, on that side where the sun rises!”

… Of course, they decided to verify this and… found the box!

This story caused quite a stir in that village.

After some similar cases, in which the girl, having been asked by adults, named easily those who had committed a theft or fraud or in which she said to the faces of influential people about their evil thoughts and intentions, everyone became afraid of her and started avoiding her.

Soon her parents began even to lock her in their house so that she could not create any additional problems for them. Only occasionally they tried to use her insights for their own sake.

All people feared her and almost no one loved her.

Growing up, the girl gradually realized what a stranger she was in her family and in the entire surrounding world…

One day a Sufi Master came to their village and had a long talk with that girl.

Since then she changed, and her parents could not be happier with their daughter. She did not lose her abilities but did not create any problems for people around her anymore. Calm and stable light of heart love flared up in her and burnt brighter and brighter day after day. From that moment on, she helped only those who had asked her for help and only sometimes warned good people about future undesirable events...

Yet no one knew about her inner life.

… When her parents decided to marry her off, she suddenly refused point-blank and then even left her home.

She moved to a secluded place. Here only Allah was her Beloved, and she began to compose poems about her love for Him.

Having loved the spiritual heights inaccessible to ordinary people, she started living as a hermitess.

Enraptured by the Divine, she was not alone in her solitude: her Beloved was always there with her!

She cognized that the life of the soul can be… like a smooth dance in the Embrace of Allah.

She cognized how wonderful it is to live in the ecstasy of Union with the Beloved or in the tender calm of being dissolved in Him.

In this case, the corporal container of the soul becomes filled with His Love and Light so fully that no room remains inside it for the former “I”!

When the life of the soul reaches this limit, the Divine Light begins to flow through the body of such a person.

Here are her words with which she expressed what she felt, but only being the spiritual heart, you will be able to perceive the One Who is behind them.

Amazed by this story and ashamed of their yesterday’s conversation, the disciples asked the Master:

“Whose words are these? Are You telling us a made-up story to heal our arrogance or such a Sufi woman actually lived?”

“Do you really need to see to be sure? Well, you will have this possibility. Her name is Sulia. She asked Me to send someone of My disciples after the book that she wrote down listening to the words of her Master — Grand Master of Sufism — Who isn’t embodied right now.”

* * *

The next day those disciples who had wished so went on a journey to learn from the Sufi woman whose name was Sulia. The girl Sufy was also among them.

The path promised to be long.

On their way to those lands, the disciples asked sheikhs and murids about this Sufi woman but did not find out much. They were only told that she lived a solitary life and that sometimes people came to her for advice and healing.

After a long travel, they came to the village that was, as they found out, the closest one to the house of Sulia. Here they began to ask how to find a way to her house. One local female dweller said to them:

“Why are you looking for this woman? She has neither husband nor children and lives all alone. What can a lonely woman understand in life? Perhaps, she is not too happy, since her destiny and the circumstances of her life weren’t good, as it seems.

“You look healthy. Usually sick people come to her, and she can heal their illnesses.

“She gathers herbs and prepares remedies. Or maybe you too want to become healers like she?”

In spite of everything, this woman, keeping wondering, led them to the path to the house of Sulia.

When they came, she joyfully welcomed them:

“I’m so glad to see you, friends! This is so great that you have come!”

… They had lunch. Even the most ordinary activities seemed to be sacred in the marvelous harmony of her house. Sulia gave them very simple and modest food she had: honey, nuts, and dried fruits.

The disciples themselves brought with them all kinds of eatables that they bought, but very simple food of Sulia was much more delicious!

When they had taken a rest and then gathered near the hearth, Sulia began to tell them about the book:

“My Grand Master dictated me a book about the Sufi Path. I will pass it on to your Master through you. Once, in my childhood, your Master helped me a lot! I know that He is a Great Teacher and will be able to use and guard this knowledge, which was given to people from the One Who has maintained the purity and wisdom of Sufi teachings for centuries.”

Sulia gave them the book.

The disciples passed it around carefully and read from it aloud as much as every one of them felt by the inner desire:

“Love for all that exists in the Creation of Allah is the first stage of the ascension of the soul to the Path.

“Let the one who had the courage to start this Path become a brother or sister to each tree growing on earth, to each bird singing in branches or flying in the celestial expanse, to each lizard scurrying in desert sands, and to each flower blossoming in a garden!

“Every living creature of Allah begins to have meaning in the lives of such spiritual seekers and is perceived by them as a great miracle created by Allah for His and our own development!

“Every person then is seen not just as a relative or a stranger, a friend or an outsider, but as a child of the Creator!”

“The one who wishes no evil to anyone and commits no evil acts is worthy of rising over the vanity of momentary needs and desires and begins going to the Light!

“On the contrary, the one who causes intentional harm to other beings wounds in this way the Almighty, Who is present in each of His creatures by a small Part of Himself!

“Having realized this, a Sufi causes no evil to anyone either by act, word, or even thought!”

«Accept gifts with gratitude! And let this gratitude be not just words on your lips but the love song of your hearts!

“Give also from the heart!

“If there is no love in what you give, then this gift is useless!

“Any stone in a desert is more valuable than the gift that is not filled with love!”

“Help others in such a way that they do not feel as your debtors!

“Be grateful to Allah for the opportunity to help that He gives you!

“Be grateful to whom you give for the opportunity to manifest your love! If they had not agreed to accept your help, you would not have acquired new skills in giving the good!

“You need to learn to be grateful to everyone for the lessons of wisdom that this person — consciously or unconsciously — brings to your life. You also should be thankful to Allah for all events that fill every day of your life with these lessons!”

“Beauty can teach the soul many things! It is so, because beauty is the bridge from the world that is visible through the eyes of the body — to the world that is Divine and perceived by the heart love only.

“Blessed are those who create true beauty! They help the Light of Allah to be seen by those who were previously blind to It!”

“One should grow as the soul before becoming worthy of Freedom.

“Only one alone makes oneself a slave or free person!

“While one is a slave of one’s own emotions and desires, one can only dream about Freedom.

“There is external and internal freedom.

“Internal freedom is much more important for the soul than external one.

“When a soul attains total internal freedom, the external does not affect it negatively anymore. Then this person becomes truly FREE!

“Other people will not be able to limit the freedom of such a person anymore.

“Internal freedom begins in the silence of the spiritual heart. While one is not free from the crowds of thoughts and the perturbing sea of emotions, all these torturers will be with one wherever one goes.

“Only when the mind has stopped talking and there is only the silence of the heart, a possibility to gain Freedom emerges!

“Freedom is necessary, among other things, to be able to spread the wings of the soul in the Light!

“When one becomes so strong that one can gain freedom from a former oneself — oneself as a worthless slave of one’s fate and circumstances, desires and passions — and, more importantly, when one becomes really loving, only then can one begin to cognize the Divine Oneself!”

“Silence that exists in the expanded spiritual heart is not empty! It is full of Love! It is possible to feel Allah there, and then the soul becomes aware of His Boundlessness!

“The death of the lower ‘I’ is not the end but the beginning of a different life of the soul.

“A river, having flowed into the Ocean, does not die but only begins its new life in the Unity with the Ocean!”

“What can be more beautiful than dissolution in love?

“About the Grand Dissolution, My word will be today.

“If the heart of a Sufi is flooded with love for the Almighty and the Loving One, then such a little heart can cognize the Unity with the Great Heart!

“Small love, having cognized the Great Love, forgets its previous smallness and attains the Omnipresence and Calm of Allah!

“Just as a river should surrender to the ocean, when, having lost its shores and moderated its pace, it sinks in its waters, so the soul should lose its limiting shells and learn to dissolve itself in the Love of Allah!

“In the same way, the coastal sand surrenders to the ocean tide and allows it to flood itself with gentle waves. And then this is not the shore anymore but the ocean floor, which extends to the greatest depths!

“Similarly, a Sufi should allow the Greatness of Allah to absorb the separateness of the soul!

“The one who has been able to surrender oneself to the authority of Allah and aspires — inside Him — to the cognition of His Boundlessness is so beautiful!”

“Men and women who revere Allah, what do you do to show Him your devotion?

“Does He need your praises?

“Does He need your prayers and material offerings?

“Or is this a way in which you — in your weakness and naivety — want to approach Him by bringing donations to the temples and asking for mercy for yourselves?

“There is only one gift that delights the Almighty: this is the gift from the soul, the gift that is called HEART LOVE!

“It is not enough for this just to utter some words!

“Think deeply about which of your today’s deeds will please the Almighty!”

“Today My word will be about the heart, but not about that heart which beats in your chest and pumps blood through your body! I will speak about that heart which should become home for the Almighty. This is the spiritual heart, the heart of the soul!

“Do you know your spiritual heart?

“Do you know how to clothe yourself in the quietness by submerging in the silence of this heart?

“Do you hear — in the silence of this heart — the voice of the One Who wants to tell you about His Love?

“He is always there! He is where your body is, where your heart is, where billions of stars shine in the eternal spaciousness of the universe!

“Beneath everything, He, the invisible One, abides forever!

“The one who can open for Him one’s expanded spiritual heart will be able to see Him!

“Let the soul take off all its coarse and vicious shells stained by the sins of a former life!

“Let the soul cleanse itself of all vices and become pure and transparent!

“Then it will not be ashamed before its Beloved and Friend!”

“Let human bodies become like vessels filled with the Light of Life of the All-creating One!

“Whose fault is this that your vessel is dirty?

“If, on the other hand, Allah began to live in your heart, then guard this Lamp and don’t let the winds of life blow it out and the torrents of human malice extinguish it!

“If one always keeps the Fire of Allah’s Love in one’s heart, then one’s entire life becomes transformed!

“Such one becomes similar to a new star that ignited in the universe and should allow the Light of Allah to shine with all Its fullness and power!”

“Allah loves all His children!

“The sun equally caresses mighty trees and small flowers.

“Rain makes no difference between vineyard and small blades of grass when it shares its life-giving moisture.

“The one who receives the Love of Allah as food for the growth and maturation of the soul can bear great fruits with time!”

“The Love of Allah is like the light of the sun: the one who looks at it sees its source, but the one who does not look at it does not see it.

“The one who is not spiritually awakened does not know the causes of all that happens. That person also does not see the One Who gives life to everything.

“On the contrary, the one who has come close to Allah burns out completely in His Love and becomes Him!

“It is so, because there is no room for two there!

“Thus one becomes a Part of the Shining Source of Life!”

“Divine Wisdom is like water.

“Some receive it with joy and gratitude, but some avoid its cleansing and nourishing streams.

“When the soul reaches the Creator of everything in His Universal Abode, it — like a river that flowed into the ocean — gives Him everything valuable that it has accumulated during many lives. In return, the soul receives all the Wisdom, Love and Power of the Ocean!

“Thus the Ocean — the Great United We — is enriched over and over again!”

“All external love that nourishes you can quench your thirst only temporarily, since you wish more of it after some time!

“Your thirst for love can be completely slaked only in the Great Source, the entrance to which is in your spiritual heart!

“Only there the soul can merge with the Love of Allah!”

“The Higher Divine I abides in the world of the Great Silence.

“The silence of your mouth does not give a possibility to touch It. Only the silence of the mind uncovers the Infinity of the Silence of Allah!

“His thoughts then acquire sound and become words on your lips.

“His Silence embraces your heart with calm.

“Oh, how beautiful He is, the One Who dwells in everything! See His countless Faces in the world where you live — and then this world will shine with Love and Light!”

“Behind all the beauty of the world, beauty that was created by Allah, He Himself — the Primordial Beauty — is shining!

“His Silence has no boundaries, but His Voice sounds in It!

“His loving Eyes are everywhere and see you always!

“He hears each of your thoughts!

“Don’t try to hide anything from the Beloved because there are no secrets for Him!

“In your spiritual heart, there is the Door to the world of your Beloved!

“While your heart is pure, the Beloved does not leave it!

“So purify the temple of your heart, and then Allah will be able to look from it into the world of His Creation!”

… They finished reading and kept sitting without saying a word for a long time. The silence was filled with the Presence of non-incarnate Grand Master.

Then Sulia passed the book to Sufy:

“Take it, my girl! The time will come and you will fulfill all this!”

“Tell us a little more about Yourself, about Your Path!” — asked the disciples.

“Your Master has already told you almost everything about me!

“It took me many lives to traverse this Path. Yet everything was quite easy in my last incarnation:

“In the beginning, there lived on earth a girl who felt like a stranger in this world. She lived among people who were interested only in futilities of life...

“Then your Master opened for me a life in the Light of Love and taught me to see and hear the disembodied One Who was my Teacher in my several past lives. At that time, I found again my Grand Master!

“Since then my life became filled with the love for Him.

“During the first meetings of this kind, every contact of the developed Consciousnesses gives the greatest happiness to both!

“Later on the Mergence interrupts only to say one to another about love over and over again and after this to lose oneself again in the Embrace of the Beloved!

“As the lovers separate their lips only to unite them again in a kiss, in the same way the soul seeks for the Unity again and again to experience the ecstasy of Mergence!

“This is the most enjoyable stage of the Path when all around give the Bliss of the Connection with the Divine!

“The body then seems to be soaring in the transparent Fire of Allah! This Fire does not burn, since It almost coincides with the fire of your love.

“However, the soul attains complete happiness only when it has submerged into the Depths of the Almighty, and even the memory of its separateness abandons it.

“I asked Allah: ‘Oh Allah shining in my heart! Take my entire body and use it so that this receptacle belonging to You can let Your Love manifest Itself and shine in Your Creation!

“‘Let Your Eyes look through my eyes at this world! Let Your Lips tell people with my lips what You want to tell!’

“In this way, my life was passing.

“One day my Grand Master said that once He had written a book about the Sufi Path, but it did not remain on paper so that people could read it. Those thoughts and sayings about the Truth asked again and again to be manifested in the form of words and lines on paper.

“I saw Him sitting at a table over the book and writing those words. The rays of the sun were falling on it. The book was shining! The lines under His hand were lying on the pages. Allah was in Him and the Words of Allah were becoming visible.

“I took a pen and paper then and began to rewrite this Book.

“Now I give you this major work of my life. Guard it not only as words written on paper, but as the Path of Heart, which is waiting to be traversed by each of you!”

… Then Sulia stopped talking and continued Her story without words.

They were sitting in silence. Each one perceived what he or she could perceive from the infinite Source of Wisdom called Sulia:

“I feel each of you as Allah feels!

“I know about you that which is still hidden even from you yourselves, because His Love opened for Me all secrets.

“You, as souls, are naked before Me!

“I know your past, all your burdens and sorrows!

“I know your accomplishments and your desires!

“Even your innermost thoughts are not hidden from Me!

“Allah lives in Me, shines with His Flame through My Heart, and looks through My eyes! My lips utter His Words!

“We have not separated for so long that I even forgot about how it is to be separated!

“I am the One Who left ‘myself’, and therefore only Allah abides here now!

“My thoughts are filled with His wisdom!

“My arms are united with His Power, and My heart is merged with the Boundless Ocean of His Love, Which has no limits in the universe!

“I gave Him My life entirely and in return received His Life in Me!

“I am like the bottomless Vessel that is full of Love of Allah! You can drink from It!

“It will never be empty! I want to bring it to the lips of everyone who is thirsty!

“I am like the Lamp in which His tenderest and infinite Flame is burning! You can also light your lamps from It!

“Everyone needs to find God within himself or herself! Carry the Flame of His Love in your hearts! Let the heart be filled with the Flame of Love of Allah!

“I am one of Those Who cognized His Infinity!

“We all in Him are equal and merged!

“The cognition of His Love awaits each of you!”

… A few days later, when the disciples were returning home, they were recalling the Greatness of the One with Whom they had spoken.

They remembered how the Almighty had smiled with Her smile and looked with Her eyes! They remembered how the Ocean of His Love had flowed from Her spiritual heart, how Her hands had served and keep serving Him through every action, and how Their united Light had embraced them from all sides!