Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare,
But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.

—Saadi

Today, Sufism is known more for its Creed of Love and the dance of Dervishes. We need to delve deeper to grasp the essence. The word sufi implies wise, devout, spiritual, etc., derived from sefa meaning purity, clearness; hence saf, pure, clear, sincere, candid. Some consider that the word sufi is derived from suf, wool, on account of this peculiar order wearing woollen apparel, as a mark of contempt of luxury and worldly grandeur, while adhering to rigid austerity of manners. Sufism means fervour, wisdom or ardent devotion. However, when one studies the doctrines and tenets of Sufism, one feels that mysticism or quietism is a more appropriate term.

Mysticism may be difined as the rising of an individual soul to awareness wherein it sees itself identical with the Universal Whole and bows in reverence to THAT. Today, mysticism has degenerated into psychic emotionalism. Jalaluddin Rumi, Fariduddin Attar, El-Ghazali of Persia, Omar Khayyam, Ibn El-Arabi, were some of the rare pearls among Sufi mystics. Can there really be a Christian mystic, Jewish mystic or Mohammedan mystic? Some scholars are of the view that the Kaballah of the Jews and the Sufism of the Mohammedan are derived from the same source.

What is Sufism? There is a traditional Sufi story about four travellers—a Persian, a Turk, an Arab, and a Greek, arguing as to how they should spend a single coin they possessed. The Persian suggested buying angur, the Turk wanted uzum, the Arab wanted inab, while the Greek suggested buying stafil. Another traveller, who was a linguist, asked them to give him the coin and promised to satisfy the desires of all of them. When he was given the coin, he bought grapes and gave them, seeing which the Persian recognized them to be his angur, the Turk his uzum, the Arab his inab and the Greek said that in his language they were called stafil. "The travellers are the ordinary people of the world. The linguist is the Sufi. People know that they want something, because there is an inner need existing in them. They may give it different names, but it is the same thing. Those who call it religion have different names for it, and even different ideas as to what it might be," explained a Sufi teacher (The Sufis by Idries Shah, p. 24). The author points out that the grape is the raw form of the wine, while wine is the real essence of that fruit. Since the travellers were ordinary people belonging to different religions, the Sufi shows them that the basis of all religions is the same. He does not impart the "wine" or essence, "which is the inner doctrine waiting to be produced and used in mysticism." Robert Graves describes Sufism as the essence or secret teaching within all religions.

H.P.B. points to the Magian and Chaldean origin of Sufism and shows that the Sufis taught the grand idea of one universal creed. Thus:

Plato states that the mystic Magian religion...is the most uncorrupted form of worship in things divine. Later, the Mysteries of Chaldean sanctuaries were added to it by one of the Zoroasters and Darius Hystaspes. The latter completed and perfected it still more with the help of the knowledge obtained by him from the learned ascetics of India, whose rites were identical with those of initiated Magi...."Instructed by them in the science of the motions of the world and of the heavenly bodies, and in pure religious rites...he transfused them into the creed of the Magi. The latter, coupling these doctrines with their own peculiar science of foretelling the future have handed down the whole through their descendants to the succeeding ages." It is from these descendants that the Sufis, chiefly composed of Persians and Syrians, acquired their proficient knowledge in astrology, medicine, and the esoteric doctrine of the ages. "The Sufi doctrine...involved the grand idea of one universal creed which could be secretly held under any profession of an outward faith; and, in fact, took virtually the same view of the religious systems as that in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such matters." (Isis Unveiled, II, 306)

A person of any religion or sect can be a Sufi. Sufism is not restricted to the East. Anyone who is willing to follow Sufi discipline and shun ambition, greed, pride, vanity, arrogance, blind obedience to people and custom, treads the way of Sufism. Anyone who desires to become a Sufi has gradually to renounce worldly pursuits, i.e., learn to be in the world, but not be of the world. The emphasis is on actual experience, more than on philosophical argument. In this, the Sufi teachers adopted methods to suit the people and the environment. For instance, Jalaluddin Rumi used a combination of dance and music. "The body-mind movements of the Whirling Dervishes, coupled with the reed-pipe music to which they were performed, is the product of a special method designed to bring the Seeker into affinity with the mystical current, in order to be transformed by it. Everything which the unregenerate man understands has a use and a meaning within the special context of Sufism which may be invisible until it is experienced" (The Sufis, p. 133). We know of the importance given to "Music" in the schools of Pythagoras and Plato. Sufi teachers made use of the basic elements in human nature, from which the ordinary person can take his next higher step. One such element is Love, Rumi said: "Whatever you are, whatever your condition is, always try to be a lover." Similarly, The Voice of the Silence also teaches us to begin with ordinary human love, expand it, and transform it into the love of the Divine. The first Paramita or Virtue is Dana, "the key of charity and love immortal." Since it seems easy to begin the spiritual life from natural goodness, the disciple is told, "The portal that faceth thee is high and wide, seems easy of access. The road that leads therethrough is straight and smooth and green." Sufi teachers made use of legends, myths, poetry and even subtle humour—as is found in the subtleties of Mulla Nasruddin, a Sufi teacher.

In the context of Islam, Sufism is considered to be the esoteric teaching of the Prophet Mohammed, communicated by him to his son-in-law, Hazarat Ali, and a few select disciples. The Sufis interpret the Koran allegorically. Sufism is essentially a practical way of life. It involves for a spiritual aspirant (salik) a transition from the "shell" to the "kernel" of the religion.

The aspirant has to give up all doubt, superstition, practical modes of worship, i.e., rituals and ceremonies laid down by his religion. All this, the Mohammedan law terms as Sheryat, or Canonical Law. The disciple has to engage in mental abstraction and contemplation of the Soul of the Deity. In other words, it is seeking communion with the Divine, and giving up fasts, prayers, pilgrimages, ablutions, rites ceremonies, etc., which are termed as Jismani Amul or practical worship. He is not attached to coming and going of worldly wealth and possession. As Job says: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return."

There are five basic practices or "pillars" in Islam: bearing witness or confession of faith, daily prayers, fasting during the month of Ramadan, charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca.

One comes across terms like Sufi, Dervish and Fakir in Sufi literature. Different scholars have defined them differently. A Dervish is a good, simple person devoted to truth. A Fakir is one who struggles to improve himself with humility. A Sufi is one who follows the Sufi Way or one who has attained progress in the Way (The Sufis, p. 318). In Isis Unveiled, H.P.B. points out the distinctions between a Dervish and Hindu fakir thus:

Dervishes, or the "whirling charmers," as they are called. Apart from the austerities of life, prayer and contemplation, the Mahommedan devotee presents but little similarity with the Hindu fakir. The latter may become a sannyasi, or saint and holy mendicant; the former will never reach beyond his second class of occult manifestations. The dervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never voluntarily submit to the abominable and almost incredible self-punishment which the fakir invents for himself with an ever-increasing avidity, until nature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. (p. xxviii)

There are four main Orders or Ways of Sufism—Rifa'i (nicknamed "Howling Dervishes"), Qualandaris (nicknamed "Shaven"), Christis (nicknamed "Musicians") and Naqshbandis (nicknamed "Silent").

The Dervishes are divided into two sections—dwellers and travellers. Being a Dervish is considered to be a certain phase or condition of being a Sufi, not a vocation or permanent state. Among the community considered dwellers, there are three stages or conditions. In the earliest stage, they are called the People of Service (Ahl-i-Khidmat). They have to make themselves worthy by serving the regular dwellers, before they can be given inner exercises. The People of Society (Ahl-i-Suhbat) spend time in sitting at house assemblies and carrying out activities designed to provide knowledge. The People of Retirement (Ahl-i-Khilwat) are generally senior people who spend their time in solitude. Such assembly of Dervishes has to cultivate trust, patience and contemplation and live in a state of complete equality. The travellers, on the other hand, follow detailed programmes for travel, known as Twelve Rules of Travel, in such a way that the dervish can utilize its experiences. Travel—both physically and metaphysically—forms an important part of Dervish activity. (The Sufis, pp. 301-2)

(To be continued)

Conquerors are a class of men with whom, for most part, the world could well dispense; nor can the hard intellect, the unsympathizing loftiness and high but selfish enthusiasm of such persons inspire us in general with any affection; at best it may excite amazement....But a true POET, a man in whose heart resides some effluence of Wisdom, some tone of the "Eternal Melodies," is the most precious gift that can be bestowed on a generation: we see in him a freer, purer development of whatever is noblest in ourselves; his life is a rich lesson to us; and we mourn his death as that of a benefactor who loved and taught us.

—Thomas Carlyle