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Please give us a systematic and practical program to gain spiritual perfection and taste the joy of nearness to God
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Wednesday, 21 July 2010 00:00
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Sayyed Roohullah Musavi
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ويرايش عنوان، تغيير سؤال براي جذابيت بيشتر، ويرايش متن و تصحيح آوانگاري، تکميل کليدواژه
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nearness to God, spiritual journy, repentance, devotee, presence of heart, prostration, night prayer, 40 days, contemplation, invocation, reckoning of deeds, ablution
a forty-day (period of) seclusion, mystical stations, mystical wayfaring, negation of astray thoughts
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\viewkind4\uc1\pard\ltrpar\fi720\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1\lang1033\f0\fs28 Some of the enlightened gnostics have recommended the following instructions for a wayfarer before starting his spiritual journey:
\par i. First: Before everything else a devotee must purify himself from sins and moral abjectnesses by means of repentance. In the beginning, take a bath (ghusl) with the intention of repentance (tawbah) and during bathing, think about your past sins and esoteric contamination and then with a feeling of shame, present yourself before the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate Lord, saying: "Oh Lord! I have repented and have returned to you. I have taken a firm decision never to sin again. As I cleansed my body with water, I have also cleansed my heart from sins and moral abjectnesses."
\par ii. Second: Consider yourself all the time under the presence of God-Almighty. Try your best to remember God in all circumstances and if once in a while negligence overtakes you try to return to the previous state immediately.
\par iii. Third: A devotee must be strict in guarding himself against contamination with sins. During a period of twenty-four hours he must fix a time for self-scrutiny and with extreme accuracy should review his daily deeds and should seriously remonstrate himself.
\par iv. Fourth: A devotee should remain silent and should only speak whenever it is absolutely necessary to speak.
\par v. Fifth: A devotee should eat moderately to meet his physical needs and should strictly avoid over-eating and becoming a slave of his belly.
\par vi. Sixth: A devotee should maintain his ablution at all times, i.e., whenever he terminates ablution, he should perform it again. The Holy Prophet (S) narrated a tradition:
\par \pard\ltrpar\li1440\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1 "God-Almighty said: "Whoever after termination of ablution does not perform it again has been oppressed me [i.e. has not observed my right perfectly], whoever after performance of ablution does not offer two units of prayer has done oppression to me, and whoever after performance of ablution offers prayer and requests for his worldly and spiritual needs, if I don't grant them, I have oppressed him. But I am not the oppressor God."" (1)
\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1 vii. Seventh: A devotee should fix some time during a 24 hour period, preferably during the night before the appearance of dawn, for practicing concentration and presence of heart by sitting alone in an isolated place, lowering his head upon his knees, concentrating all the senses towards his face and strictly avoiding the entrance of all external thoughts and memories. One should remain in this state for a while. This action could possibly result in some spiritual contemplation for the wayfarer.
\par viii. Eight: The invocation 'O Eternal, O Self-Existent, there is no god save Thee (Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyum, Ya Man La Ilaha Illa Ant),' should be recited continuously by tongue, together with the heart's presence, as whatever is being chanted by the tongue is also comprehended by the heart.
\par ix. Ninth: During a period of 24 hours one must perform a prolonged prostration with concentration and presence of heart in proportion to one's strength and should repeat the invocation: "There is no god save Thee. Be Thou Glorified. Lo! I have been a wrongdoer. (La ilaha illallahu. Subhanaka. Inni kuntu min az-zalimeen)." The prolongation of prostration has been proven to be very effective and produces good spiritual revelations. Some of the devoted wayfarers are reported to have repeated this invocation as much as four thousand times during a single prolonged prostration.
\par x. Tenth: Fix a certain time during a 24 hour period and with presence of heart repeat the invocation: "O Thou Who is free from needs! O Thou Who is the Granter of Our needs! (Ya Ghani! Ya Mughni!)"
\par xi. Eleventh: Recite the Holy Quran daily with presence of mind, preferably in a standing position, and ponder over the meanings of its verses.
\par xii. Twelfth: Awake a little before the call of adhan for the morning prayer. After performing the required ablutions, offer Night Prayer (\i Namaz-e-shab\i0 or \i Salatul-layl\i0 ), and after finishing recite the following verses of Surah al-A'raf (The Heights)\i \i0 with presence of heart, which is useful for attaining certainty and the negation of external thoughts.
\par \pard\ltrpar\li1440\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1 'Indeed your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then settled on the Throne. He draws the night's cover over the day, which pursues it swiftly, and [He created] the sun, the moon, and the stars,[ all of them ] disposed by His command. Look! All creation and command belong to Him. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. \i
\par \i0 Supplicate your Lord, beseechingly and secretly. Indeed, He does not like the transgressors. And do not cause corruption on the earth after its restoration, and supplicate Him with fear and hope. Indeed Allah's mercy is close to the virtuous.' (2)
\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1 In order to achieve the desired result, the above-mentioned instructions should be practiced for a period of 40 days. It is possible that the wayfarer may succeed in receiving God's attention and might be blessed with spiritual contemplation. But if, after passing forty days, one is not fortunate enough to receive such blessings, instead of becoming disappointed, the program should be repeated again and again till the desired results are accomplished. Without giving up seriousness, action and struggle, the wayfarer should remain seriously committed towards his spiritual migration and seek favor from the Most Merciful Lord. Whenever he develops the required graciousness and competency to receive God's special blessing, it will be bestowed upon him.
\par In case a wayfarer does not have the strength to perform all of the above-mentioned guidelines in the beginning of his journey, he may begin with a few of them, gradually adding others. But most important among these deeds are contemplation, self-control, the presence of the heart, and attention towards God-Almighty. It is crucial that a wayfarer should thoroughly negate all sort of external thoughts and should pay absolute attention towards God-Almighty, which, indeed, is a difficult task. The negation of other than God could be achieved gradually in three steps:
\par 1. In the first stage, while reciting an invocation, try your best to concentrate all your thoughts towards the invocation while strictly preventing the entrance of all external thoughts.
\par 2. During this stage one should recite the invocation exactly like the first stage with the exception that while reciting, complete attention should be paid towards its meanings and its contents, in such a manner that the mind should become clearly aware of this occurrence. At the same time efforts should be made to strictly prevent the attack of all sorts of external thoughts and memories. This program should be exercised until one is able to prevent the attacks of all external thoughts during the entire period of invocation while remaining attentive to their meanings and contents.
\par 3. During the third stage, try your best to first memorize the meanings of the invocation inside your heart, and then, when it has accepted their meanings and believes in them, orders the tongue to recite them. In this case the tongue actually follows the heart.
\par 4. At this stage, try your best to negate all the meanings, content, interpretations and even the imaginations of invocations from the heart, thus, making it ready for receiving Divine blessings and illuminations. Try to pay absolute attention towards God-Almighty with your entire existence cleansing your heart thoroughly from all sorts of external existence, opening its gate for the entrance of God's-Celestial Light. At this stage it is quite possible that one might succeed in receiving God's special attention and utilize His grace and illuminations, and submerged with His attraction, may ascend higher and higher upon the ladder of perfection in his spiritual migration towards God-Almighty.
\par At this station of his gnostic journey the wayfarer might become so absorbed in the All-Merciful that he would be seeing nothing except God-Almighty, even forgetting his own self and actions.
\par
\par ---------------
\par References:
\par \pard\ltrpar\sa200\sl276\slmult1 (1)- Wasa'il al-Shi'a, vol. 1, p. 268.
\par (2)-the Holy Quran (7:54-56), al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 344.\f1\fs22
\par \pard\ltrpar\li360\sa200\sl276\slmult1
\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\sb100\sa100\sl276\slmult1\f0\fs28
\par \lang1065\f2\fs20
\par }
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Self Building-Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini- chapter20
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nearness to God

Some of the enlightened gnostics have recommended the following instructions for a wayfarer before starting his spiritual journey: i. First: Before everything else a devotee must purify himself from sins and moral abjectnesses by means of repentance. In the beginning, take a bath (ghusl) with the intention of repentance (tawbah) and during bathing, think about your past sins and esoteric contamination and then with a feeling of shame, present yourself before the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate Lord, saying: "Oh Lord! I have repented and have returned to you. I have taken a firm decision never to sin again. As I cleansed my body with water, I have also cleansed my heart from sins and moral abjectnesses." ii. Second: Consider yourself all the time under the presence of God-Almighty. Try your best to remember God in all circumstances and if once in a while negligence overtakes you try to return to the previous state immediately. iii. Third: A devotee must be strict in guarding himself against contamination with sins. During a period of twenty-four hours he must fix a time for self-scrutiny and with extreme accuracy should review his daily deeds and should seriously remonstrate himself. iv. Fourth: A devotee should remain silent and should only speak whenever it is absolutely necessary to speak. v. Fifth: A devotee should eat moderately to meet his physical needs and should strictly avoid over-eating and becoming a slave of his belly. vi. Sixth: A devotee should maintain his ablution at all times, i.e., whenever he terminates ablution, he should perform it again. The Holy Prophet (S) narrated a tradition: "God-Almighty said: "Whoever after termination of ablution does not perform it again has been oppressed me [i.e. has not observed my right perfectly], whoever after performance of ablution does not offer two units of prayer has done oppression to me, and whoever after performance of ablution offers prayer and requests for his worldly and spiritual needs, if I don't grant them, I have oppressed him. But I am not the oppressor God."" (1) vii. Seventh: A devotee should fix some time during a 24 hour period, preferably during the night before the appearance of dawn, for practicing concentration and presence of heart by sitting alone in an isolated place, lowering his head upon his knees, concentrating all the senses towards his face and strictly avoiding the entrance of all external thoughts and memories. One should remain in this state for a while. This action could possibly result in some spiritual contemplation for the wayfarer. viii. Eight: The invocation 'O Eternal, O Self-Existent, there is no god save Thee (Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyum, Ya Man La Ilaha Illa Ant),' should be recited continuously by tongue, together with the heart's presence, as whatever is being chanted by the tongue is also comprehended by the heart. ix. Ninth: During a period of 24 hours one must perform a prolonged prostration with concentration and presence of heart in proportion to one's strength and should repeat the invocation: "There is no god save Thee. Be Thou Glorified. Lo! I have been a wrongdoer. (La ilaha illallahu. Subhanaka. Inni kuntu min az-zalimeen)." The prolongation of prostration has been proven to be very effective and produces good spiritual revelations. Some of the devoted wayfarers are reported to have repeated this invocation as much as four thousand times during a single prolonged prostration. x. Tenth: Fix a certain time during a 24 hour period and with presence of heart repeat the invocation: "O Thou Who is free from needs! O Thou Who is the Granter of Our needs! (Ya Ghani! Ya Mughni!)" xi. Eleventh: Recite the Holy Quran daily with presence of mind, preferably in a standing position, and ponder over the meanings of its verses. xii. Twelfth: Awake a little before the call of adhan for the morning prayer. After performing the required ablutions, offer Night Prayer (Namaz-e-shab or Salatul-layl), and after finishing recite the following verses of Surah al-A'raf (The Heights) with presence of heart, which is useful for attaining certainty and the negation of external thoughts. 'Indeed your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then settled on the Throne. He draws the night's cover over the day, which pursues it swiftly, and [He created] the sun, the moon, and the stars,[ all of them ] disposed by His command. Look! All creation and command belong to Him. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. Supplicate your Lord, beseechingly and secretly. Indeed, He does not like the transgressors. And do not cause corruption on the earth after its restoration, and supplicate Him with fear and hope. Indeed Allah's mercy is close to the virtuous.' (2) In order to achieve the desired result, the above-mentioned instructions should be practiced for a period of 40 days. It is possible that the wayfarer may succeed in receiving God's attention and might be blessed with spiritual contemplation. But if, after passing forty days, one is not fortunate enough to receive such blessings, instead of becoming disappointed, the program should be repeated again and again till the desired results are accomplished. Without giving up seriousness, action and struggle, the wayfarer should remain seriously committed towards his spiritual migration and seek favor from the Most Merciful Lord. Whenever he develops the required graciousness and competency to receive God's special blessing, it will be bestowed upon him. In case a wayfarer does not have the strength to perform all of the above-mentioned guidelines in the beginning of his journey, he may begin with a few of them, gradually adding others. But most important among these deeds are contemplation, self-control, the presence of the heart, and attention towards God-Almighty. It is crucial that a wayfarer should thoroughly negate all sort of external thoughts and should pay absolute attention towards God-Almighty, which, indeed, is a difficult task. The negation of other than God could be achieved gradually in three steps: 1. In the first stage, while reciting an invocation, try your best to concentrate all your thoughts towards the invocation while strictly preventing the entrance of all external thoughts. 2. During this stage one should recite the invocation exactly like the first stage with the exception that while reciting, complete attention should be paid towards its meanings and its contents, in such a manner that the mind should become clearly aware of this occurrence. At the same time efforts should be made to strictly prevent the attack of all sorts of external thoughts and memories. This program should be exercised until one is able to prevent the attacks of all external thoughts during the entire period of invocation while remaining attentive to their meanings and contents. 3. During the third stage, try your best to first memorize the meanings of the invocation inside your heart, and then, when it has accepted their meanings and believes in them, orders the tongue to recite them. In this case the tongue actually follows the heart. 4. At this stage, try your best to negate all the meanings, content, interpretations and even the imaginations of invocations from the heart, thus, making it ready for receiving Divine blessings and illuminations. Try to pay absolute attention towards God-Almighty with your entire existence cleansing your heart thoroughly from all sorts of external existence, opening its gate for the entrance of God's-Celestial Light. At this stage it is quite possible that one might succeed in receiving God's special attention and utilize His grace and illuminations, and submerged with His attraction, may ascend higher and higher upon the ladder of perfection in his spiritual migration towards God-Almighty. At this station of his gnostic journey the wayfarer might become so absorbed in the All-Merciful that he would be seeing nothing except God-Almighty, even forgetting his own self and actions.

---------------

References: (1)- Wasa'il al-Shi'a, vol. 1, p. 268. (2)-the Holy Quran (7:54-56), al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 344.

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