Candle Posts :: Motivational Gems for Higher Spiritual Enlightenment

:: Candle Post #99 :: Illumination and the Glorious Radiance of Eternity ::

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Ya Ali Madad and belated Imamat Day Mubarak! In this posting, I would like to present four wisdoms on the topics of precedence, shallowness, dreams (illusions) and thought from the book entitled, 'One Minute Wisdom' by S. J. Anthony de Mello, An Image Book edition published in 1988 [ISBN 0-385-24290-5 (pbk)]. I would also like to present wisdoms on the topics of illumination, union with Reality, power of mediation, and radiance of Eternity from the book entitled, 'The Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time' by His Highness the Aga Khan III [also known as Noor Mowlana Shah Sultan Muhammad Shah Al-Hussaini (a.s.)], first published in 1954 by Cassell & Co Ltd, London. I will augment these wisdoms with knowledge developed on SalmanSpiritual.com.

Wisdom 1: Anthony de Mello's Gem on the Topic of Precedence

The Master welcomed the advances of technology but was keenly aware of its limitations.
 
When an industrialist asked what his occupation was, he replied, "I'm in the people industry."
 
"And what, pray, would that be?" said the industrialist.
 
"Take yourself," said the Master. "Your efforts produce better things; mine, better people."
 
To his disciples he later said, "The aim of life is the flowering of persons. Nowadays people seem concerned mostly with perfection of things."
 
Source: 'One Minute Wisdom', p.163

Wisdom 2: Anthony de Mello's Gem on the Topic of Shallowness

A journalist one asked the Master to name one thing that characterizes the Modern World.
 
The Master unhesitatingly replied, "People every day know more and more about the Cosmos and less and less about themselves."
 
And to an astronomer who held him spellbound with the wonders of modern astronomy the Master suddenly said, "Of all the millions of strange objects in the universe—the black holes and quasars and pulsars—the strangest, unquestionable, is the self!"
 
Source: 'One Minute Wisdom', p.155

Wisdom 3: Anthony de Mello's Gem on the Topic of Dreams (Illusions)

""When will I be Enlightened?"
 
"When you see," the Master said.
 
"See what?"
 
"Trees and flowers and moon and stars."
 
"But I see these every day."
 
"No. What you see is paper trees, paper flowers, paper moons and paper stars. For you live not in reality but in your words and thoughts."
 
And for a good measure, he added gently, "You live a paper life, alas, and will die a paper death."
 
Source: 'One Minute Wisdom', p.37

Wisdom 4: Anthony de Mello's Gem on the Topic of Thought

"Why are you so wary of thought?" said the philosopher. "Thought is one tool we have for organizing the world."
 
"True. But thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it."
 
To his disciples he later said, "A thought is an opaque screen, not a mirror; this is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality."
 
Source: 'One Minute Wisdom', p.113

Wisdom 5: Noor Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah's Gems on the Topics of Illumination and Union with Reality

"I can only say to everyone who reads this book of mine that it is my profound conviction that man must never ignore and leave untended and undeveloped that spark of the Divine which is in him. The way to personal fulfillment, to individual reconciliation with the Universe that is about us, is comparatively easy for anyone who firmly and sincerely believes, as I do, that Divine Grace has given man in his own heart the possibilities of illumination and of union with Reality. It is, however, far more important to attempt to offer some hope of spiritual sustenance to those many who, in this age in which the capacity of faith is nonexistent in the majority, long for something beyond themselves, even if it seems second-best. For them there is the possibility of finding strength of the spirit, comfort, and happiness in contemplation of the infinite variety and beauty of the Universe."
 
Source: 'Memoirs of Aga Khan', p.334

Wisdom 6: Noor Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah's Gems on the Topics of Meditation and the Radiance of Eternity

"Life in ultimate analysis has taught me one enduring lesson. The subject should always disappear in the object. In our ordinary affections one for another, in our daily work with hand or brain, we most of us discover soon enough that any lasting satisfaction, any contentment that we can achieve, is the result of forgetting self, of merging subject with object in a harmony that is of body, mind, and spirit. And in the highest realms of consciousness all who believe in a Higher Being are liberated from all clogging and hampering bonds of the subjective self in prayer, in rapt meditation upon and in the face of the glorious radiance of eternity, in which all temporal and earthly consciousness is swallowed up and itself becomes the eternal."
 
Source: 'Memoirs of Aga Khan', p.335

In the Shia Imami Ismaili Tariqah, we have the Institution of Baitul Khyal. The sole purpose of the practice of bandagi (meditation), which is performed with a Luminous Word at a Luminous Time, is to go beyond the world of thoughts into the worlds of Soul, Light and Oneness. Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam has been very clear about this and has consistently taught us that what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch will disappear one day but the soul will remain because it is eternally alive. In this context, the material world is an illusion and unless we break away from it during the luminous time every morning, we will not have any concept, understanding or experience of the reality of the soul and the Spirit as described in Wisdom 6 presented above. Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam has also taught us that with consistent practice, we can have a spiritual experience while we are still physically alive. May I request you to read or re-read the following items for further clarification?

Links:

Ardent Supplications:
Ya Ali, Ya NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam, create Sunshine in our hearts, light in our foreheads, and bless us all with the inner vision of the Truth!

Ya Ali, Ya NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam, grant the global Jamat luminous (noorani) and spiritual (ruhani) tayid (help) to advance materially, spiritually and intellectually. Ameen.

Rakh Mowla je Noor te Yaqeen (Certainly, we trust in Mowla's Light only),
Noorallah Juma
SalmanSpiritual.com
Thursday, July 14, 2011

Candle Posts Quick Links:

 
 

 
Article by Dr. Noorallah Juma