Sufi-Master Sheikh Eşref Efendi's Visit to Krishnamurti Foundation during his "Peace Tour to India" is Remarkable!
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
31 December
2022
Sheikh
Eşref Efendi, the founder of World Peace Institute of Sufism based in Berlin,
Germany and Ambassador of the High Sufi Council of Jerusalem Holy Land, is
currently on what he calls the 'Sufi Peace Way to India'. This month-long visit
of a global Sufi Master who is also a recipient of several Peace Awards from
the EU and is the founder and head of Sufi Centre Rabbaniya, Germany, has been
sending out a strong message of peace and dialogue to several states in India.
The Sufi Master landed in India on 17th of December, 2022 and since then he has
been indefatigably travelling across the country to substantiate the two points
precisely: 'peace within and peace outside'.
Notably, he
has also been actively engaged in the dialogue in various interfaith and intercultural
events held recently in Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan), Hyderabad,
Odisha and West Bengal. Significantly, in Uttar Pradesh which is the heartland
of Hindus and Muslims living together in several pockets, the Sufi-Master chose
to visit the holy land of the River Ganges, historically known as
Kashi-Banaras-Varanasi in different periods.
On 28th of
December, Sheikh Eşref Efendi arrived at the Krishnamurti Foundation, an
acclaimed educational, cultural and spiritual institution of international
repute in Raj Ghat of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, which was established by an
Indian Mystic and Master of Realities, J Krishnamurti, popularly known as JK in
the West, especially in the European Countries and the UK, and more
particularly in Germany and Switzerland.
Accompanied
by an Urdu scholar and senior journalist, Dr. Afzal Hussain Misbahi (Assistant
Professor & Section Incharge of Urdu Section, MMV, Banaras Hindu
University), the Sufi delegation of Sheikh Effendi was accorded a warm welcome
at the Krishnamurti Foundation in Varanasi. On this occasion, Mr. Kumar
Radhakrishnan, the principal of the Krishnamurti School and his colleagues and
associates welcomed the seven-member Sufi delegation with great cordiality and
hospitality. The delegation included the Mufti of Darus Salam, Tanzania Sheikh
Al-Ahaad Musa Salim who is also the President of the Inter-Faith Council of
Tanzania.
As part of
their planned visit, the Sufi entourage found a willing host in Krishnamurti
Foundation India (KFI). Before we proceed ahead, it is important to know the
background of KFI, which has been present in the sacred city of Varanasi for
over 90 years. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) whose life and teachings spanned the
greater part of the 20th Century, is regarded by many as one who has had the
most profound impact on human consciousness in modern times. He was a Sage with
a unique way of communicating, which essentially unravels the human problems
for one to see clearly and overcome. In the words of Publishers Weekly: Few
modern thinkers have integrated psychology, philosophy, and religion so
seamlessly as Krishnamurti.
Breaking
away from organized religions, he spelt out his mission: 'to set man absolutely
and unconditionally free'. He travelled around the world giving talks, writing,
holding discussions. He talked of the things that concern all of us in our
everyday life; the problems of living in modern society, the individual’s
search for security, and the need for human beings to free themselves from
their inner burdens of violence, fear and sorrow. At the age of 14, he was
adopted by Annie Besant, the President
of the Theosophical Society, and was brought up and groomed to be the World
Teacher. Now the Krishnamurti Foundation in Varanasi, runs a fine CBSE boarding
school called Rajghat Besant School guided by the philosophy of J Krishnamurti.
The intent of the school is to develop an environment free of fear and
comparison that will allow the natural blossoming of children under the
watchful eyes of caring teachers. As succinctly put up by my friend and
thinker, Mr. Vishwanath Alluri, Director of the KFI, Krishnamurti was simply an
educator of life and a master of reality whose remarkable philosophy of
education and peace continues to add more significance to our spiritual life
and thoughts.
In his
dialogue at the KFI, Sufi-Master Sheikh Esref invoked the divine intent of
creation and the special place human beings occupy in the spiritual scheme of
things. He reflected upon humans being created in the image of God, endowed with
free will and allowed to choose between good and bad. He prevailed on the
listeners to not hurt others either physically or psychologically and to keep
away from things that corrupt human beings. To a listener’s query if belief in
almighty is necessary to love another human being, the Sheikh alluded to the
interconnectedness of everything including the cosmic powers and that one
cannot be seen in isolation of the other.
The mission
of the Sufis, he said, should be to bring people of all faith traditions
together through their travel and sermon should be seen juxtaposed to the
efforts of the school to educate young children in the spirit of goodness.
Education must endow a child with an ability to view the world with her or his
own eyes yet not prejudiced by others’ or ones own experiences. To relate
without a preconceived notion based on another’s identity is manifestation of
pure love. In that, the work of the Sufis and the school must be seen as
complementary to each other.
In his
conclusion, Sheikh Efendi said that the relationship of man with the Creator
and all His Creations is deeply connected and interrelated. If a person is
engaged in good deeds, there will be naturally abundance of peace and
prosperity, but if a person is indulged in wrongdoings, heavenly calamities
will fall on him. He emphasized that the difference between man and a beast is
that man is rational. So, he has to work with reason. If a person does not work
with reason and does not control the 'self', then he turns into a beast.
Remarkably,
Sheikh Eşref Efendi is also popularly known for his Zhikr sessions and
spiritual talks on the serious topics of eschatology, Ilm Akhir Az-Zamaan (knowledge of end
times) which relate to the Armageddon as mentioned in the primary Islamic
sources.
One could
be forgiven for feeling that the end of the world is nearer than ever. With
talks of a nuclear Armageddon rearing its head every now and then, one cannot
but help feel this way. No doubt, some observers like Steven Pinker, Harvard
Professor of Psychology point to the 21st Century being among the most peaceful
in a long time statistically. But anecdotally, an average person confronts
fault lines on the basis of religion, ideology, politics, caste, gender, sexual
orientation, nationality and many others in reaction to which he must choose
one way or the other. He is torn between his loyalties yet must choose. What
could he do?
It is in
times like these that sane and soothing voices are needed to help us hear our
inner voice. One such voice that has been preaching inter-religious harmony is
the Sufiland of Sheikh Esref Effendi situated on the boarders between Germany
and Switzerland. Inspired by oneness of God and unity of mankind, the Sufiland
is a harbinger of universal love and respect for all faith traditions, as
instructed in the Qur'an.
To sum up,
bringing the Sufi delegation to Rajghat School of Krishnamurti Foundation would
go down well in its history as J Krishnamurti himself was an ardent advocate of
dialogue. But his idea of dialogue was not conventional and it needs to be
heeded today. He says on Dialogue in 9th Chapter of his book ‘In the problem is
the solution’:
"In
investigating these questions we are going to have a dialogue, A dialogue is a
conversation between two people. You ask a question, the speaker answers it,
then you respond to that answer, and when you respond to that answer, the
speaker answers to your response. In this process of questioning and answering,
the very answer is being questioned. This keeps going till both the questioner
and the speaker disappear altogether and only the question remains. It is very
important that the question remains suspended as it were, and as the question
remains, it gains vitality, energy. What is important is that you must ask
questions, if you are at all serious. The answer may be correct or incorrect,
but you must respond to that answer, and when you respond, the speaker
questions what you have responded to. We generally want the answer to be
comfortable, suitable, convenient; but in questioning and answering, all that
disappears. We try to find out what is true, what is factual, what the correct
answer, the correct response is. To find that out, you and I must totally
disappear and only the question must remain. You get it?"
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/sufi-sheikh-esref-krishnamurti-peace-india/d/128761
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