Religions Are Means of Excavating the Treasure of Consciousness and Mysticism Is Its Fragrance
By Dr Muhammad Maroof
Shah
03 Oct 2020
A treat,
already selling like sanitizer in the times of Corona, sanitizes the
pathological environment created by puffed up ego holding consciousness in
siege. The first book of its kind from Kashmir on a difficult but vital topic
by self-taught mystic scholar that any 8th grader can grasp.
“In the beginning was consciousness.” Chit
or Consciousness is, so to speak, the ultimate ground and end of all that is.
The study or enquiry concerning consciousness is the first and the last enquiry
concerning first and last ends of man. It is the science of consciousness that explains
all the weird, mysterious, miraculous things that rationalism often dismisses
without hearing. The sum and substance or objective of great art and poetry is
development/universalization of consciousness. Man is, so to speak,
consciousness. And God is the universal consciousness that lights up the world.
The world is a projection of consciousness. So are heaven and hell. Religions
are means of excavating the treasure of consciousness. Mysticism is its
fragrance. The science of miracles, dreams, visions, clairvoyance and healing
all involve consciousness. The book I Am Consciousness by self-taught mystic
scholar M. A Kawoosa is an attempt to explain key theoretical and practical
questions we encounter in life including its meaning and destiny besides possible
key to extraordinary claims made by mystics and prophets in as simple terms as
possible.
The book resurrects the hitherto largely
neglected or obfuscated core of Kashmiri Sufi poets. The author has embarked on
adventurous interpretative translations/explications of many an important
selection of Kashmiri Sufi poets seeking to achieve the basic aim of
communicating the core conceptions involved without much attention to literary
and other symbolic devices. The book succeeds in giving a new voice to the
Kashmiri Sufi poets, making them more accessible for modern readership which is
otherwise put off by what is perceived to be obscure, involved, mythological
language and occasionally evasive symbolism and arcane, densely allusive
language.
The author has been able to distil certain
abstruse debates on consciousness in an accessible idiom. He has been able to
present the key teaching of certain mystical traditions and religious teachings
of Islam in terms of their relationship to consciousness. The author does not
claim to be original but he does possess the knack of presenting in a
refreshingly novel way certain teachings of prophets, saints and sages as
constituting a unity. As he puts it on behalf of all of them:
“The
primary lesson to be picked up in life is to keep your consciousness, which
gives rise to mind, in as a pristine and pure form as it was given to us by
birth and not allow it to be conditioned. But, unfortunately, it gets
conditioned right from the time you are born through nurture and environment. A
Hadith says that we are all born on our consciousness (Fitra) and it is our
parents (nurture) that makes us Jews, Christians or polytheists. Consciousness
needs to be purified or cleaned, for it to be an excellent predator of the sins
that try to enter into it. You can start the process of cleaning your
consciousness at any time in life and it will never be too late because the
processes of purification may be arduous but it is highly rewarding in the
end.”
This
appropriates key teaching of world traditions regarding repentance and inward
discipline and cultivation of virtues without invoking technical jargon that
alienates a significant section of people.
The author has especially emphasized
affirmative transcendence of traditions including Sufism and Kashmir Shaivism.
To illustrate:
“The consciousness opens up as a formless
conscious space, when freed from its exclusive occupation with the forms. You
cannot seek and find it. The space opens up many times in you even in a day, without
you noticing it. All of a sudden, you come across a smiling child and you are
mesmerized for a moment; you are lost in a gushing stream of water, looking at
snowfall; a torrential downpour of a few seconds; the sight of a fully bloomed
tulip garden; sitting at peace with yourself; absorbed in some artistic work;
the bliss of listening to a mystic poetry (Sufiana
Kalam) of Shams Faqir rendered by Rashid Hafiz and best of all, doing a
kind act.”
The author has avoided niceties of academic
debates keeping in view requirements of average reader. However, even advanced
scholars of Sufism or consciousness studies would occasionally glean a gem of
insight illuminating many a point.
The author alerts us to the danger of
downplaying the role of religion or form in the name of spirituality or
supraformal religiosity in much of New Age Spirituality. He is critical of feel
good or “all is okay” spirituality that has been sold to, many eager for
spiritual diet. Without leaving the rigour of rational argumentation and
scientific precision, it forcefully presents Shariah conscious Sufi approach
without getting involved in finer theological quibbles.
To quote
the author:
“The answer lies in addressing your
consciousness before entering into the moment or meditation. If you have
stabbed a person in anger, you cannot run into meditation or ‘Now’ to find
peace. First you have to go through a process of purification that initially
led you to anger and its consequent fallout. It looks intriguing to me that
some spiritual teachers take you direct to the concept of being present in the
moment, without even looking at the state of consciousness one is operating at.
They sometimes call it a ‘direct path’ that does away with going through a
rigorous, lifelong purification process. The underlying idea is to train your
mind to sink into itself by coming out of its usual clutter, till it is pure
self i-e., consciousness. When you are used to remain in that condition, you
are truly in meditation.”
Questioning the belief of many who get
interested in spiritualism asserting that enlightenment awaits them shortly
after some lessons in meditation and assume that enlightenment is constituted
by some light shining on them or getting into some ecstatic state, the author
states “… they want to see some star like object shining through their forehead
or far off in the horizon during meditation. Many people seem frustrated not
finding such stars even when meditating for months. This is not what it is.
This is not what your consciousness wants you to get at. This is not the real
or the good purpose of life.” Instead, for the authentic traditions tracing
themselves to the original source in prophets/sages of first order, the
enlightenment means that “whatever you do day in day out, moment to moment, is
driven and empowered by the pure energy of your consciousness and not by the
waywardness and cunningness of your mind. It is this intelligence that radiates
the energy of love, joy, peace, compassion, beauty, and creativity that is
outside the domain of your mind.” And more pointedly:
“…just
sitting in meditation or bringing yourself in the Now and a ‘presence’ mode,
will take you nowhere. Such practices are just band aids on the wounds of
consciousness. What if you come to realize that all you did in your life was
focused on materiality that turned out to be futile and produced no peace for
you at the end but only pain. Mere realization, unless turned into a practice
of living the material world through the light of enlightened state of
consciousness, will have served no purpose.”
Distilling the technical debates about
necessity or otherwise of finding a Master, distinction of states and stations
in Sufism and complex relationship between exoteric and the esoteric aspects or
sciences, the author offers his no non-sense evaluation thus:
“Similarly,
those of the spiritual teachers who advocate accessing consciousness through a
process of presence and calming your mind also make it look simple. The shift
in consciousness from the egoistic to soul consciousness will only begin when
there is a real transformation at the soul level, which means that your soul
qualities emerge in you and take over your beastly self. In order that your
soul qualities emerge in you would require a certain guidance – a spiritual
trigger that necessitates treading a path of consciousness.. fear of God called
‘Taqwa’ in Sufi language.”
Indeed, the
Way is a serious business and demands whole of one’s life or commitment.
Insightful analysis of divine names in
relation to consciousness, critique of certain prevalent quasi-mystical cults
that make experiencing of certain states a commodity to be bragged about or
dabble with drugs and other shortcuts to transcendence without concomitant work
on the recalcitrant self, plea for more rational occasionally bordering on
rather problematic demythologizing interpretation of Sufi poetry that has been
a source of endless debate amongst disciples of Kashmiri Sufis, meditations on
commonly occurring psychological and existential issues and careful engagement
with self-understanding of Islamic tradition all constitute an attempt to take
mysticism from cloistered secretive mystifying spaces to streets and
laboratories for freer discussion and investigation mark this work by a self-taught
student of mysticism. His is a pleasant and provocative company worth our time.
Original Headline: On Consciousness
Source: The Greater Kashmir
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