Mystical Connections in Sufism and Hinduism by Taylor Copus Grade 11 St. Albans School Washington D.C. Mysticism can be defined as an immediate, direct, intuitive knowledge of God or of ultimate reality attained through personal religious experience. It is the impassioned, spiritual quest for consciousness of the One Reality. Mystics are driven by a hunger for meaning, for knowledge, and inner peace. Mysticism is the great spiritual current which goes through all religions. The mysticism of all religions is similar in that they are quests for the ultimate reality. Sufism, the mysticism of Islam, shares many of the same attributes as the mysticism the Hinduism incorporates. Each arose out of an attempt to obtain more spiritual gratification. They often use similar metaphors in their explanations of their path. Moreover, they both try to find this consciousness of the One Reality by looking in themselves. Sufism arose out of the quest for some Muslims to find greater meaning in life, God and in Islam itself. The spiritless legalism that existed throughout Islam detracted from the overall spiritual value. The search for a personal union with God led many Muslims to follow the tariqah, or the path of the mystic, in which the relationship with God was stressed more than Shariah, or the traditional law. The goal of tariqah is tawhid, or divine unity (oneness). Shariah is considered the outer journey of a Muslim. Many Sufis said that to follow the path of the mystic, one must first be a good Muslim. The inner journey provides greater fulfillment that the mystic is determined to find. The goal of the mystic is to achieve a divine unity with God in which they experience an-nafs al-mutminna, or soul at peace. This inner peace comes with the knowledge of God. Ibn al-Arabi, the great Sufi writer, said, Knowledge of Him is inferred in knowledge of ourselves. Therefore a Sufi must have self-knowledge before he can truly have knowledge of God. Ibn al-Arabi goes on to say, This [knowledge] cannot be arrived at by the intellect by means of any rational thought process, for this kind of perception comes only by a divine disclosure... This rationality of thought exists as an obstacle for Sufis to overcome on their path to tawhid. Sufis would agree that the rational thought process is part of the nafs, or the lower base self, the ego-consciousness. Sufis believe that nafs must be broken down in order that one may find God in their heart. This self-annihilation, is best represented in the metaphor of finding treasure in a ruined house. Where ever there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure; why do you not seek the treasure of God in the wasted heart? One must destroy the foundations to allow God to build a new mansion. The process of destroying nafs, is called fana, and that which exists after the nullification of the ego-consciousness is called baqa. Baqa is also defined as the persistence in God, or in other words the new foundation for Gods Mansion.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 15:51:37 +0000
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