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The Golden Chain of Naqshbandi Sufis (Prophet Muhammad to Indian Sufis)

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The Golden Chain of Naqshbandi Sufis (Prophet Muhammad to Indian Sufis) The Golden Chain Of Naqshbandi Sufis (Prophet Muhammad to Indian Sufis) R.K.Gupta 1 “Everything is pervaded by God, But still ‘He’ remains unseen, If one could annihilate ‘self’, Immediately one would reach Him” 2 Dedicated to the Great Revolutionary Saint Maulana Fazl Ahmad Khan Sahab (Huzur Maharaj) 3 Preface “In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful” The treasure of all attributes and qualities, All the praise be upon You, Whatever is there in all the universes, It has all been given by You; The most Gracious, the most Merciful, Lord of all the universes is You, It is You, we worship and call, Our Guide to straight path is You; Lead us to the path of blessed ones, Not of those, who are misguided, We seek Your Grace and Mercy, Let us be protected and be guided. O the most Gracious and Merciful! Shower a part of the Mercy and Grace on Your this humble servant, which You have showered on the elders of this Silsila-e-Aaliya Naqshbandiya Mujaddidiya Mazhariya Ramchandriya. Amen! Amen! Amen! Sufism is no ism; it is neither any cult nor any creed. Simply stated it is ancient wisdom. Sufism is as old as humanity. Traditionally, however, Sufism has been associated with Islam. Although Sufi saints existed even before Prophet Muhammad, but before the Prophet they were not called Sufis. It was only after a few centuries that they were called Sufis. Sufism means acquiring inner knowledge, the enlightenment that could enable one to realise the Truth, which is also the underlying objective of all the religions. This being central to all religions, the Sufi fundamentals existed in all religions and, therefore, Sufism travelled beyond the borders of religion. The Sufis have been assimilating the best of various practices and thoughts in order to attain perfection. Sufism is spiritual activation and evolution through participation, practice and self-experience. The essence of Sufism lies in keeping to the right path and attaining perfection. Hajrat Abu Yazid al-Bistami (Bayazid) has said that the only way to the Almighty is to ‘leave yourself and come’, which means to leave one’s self interest in this world and the Hereafter, leaving everything other than the Almighty behind. The Sufi is one, who has emptied himself of everything, who has left everything behind, except what he really is. He has removed all the dust and the rusting from the mirror of his heart, which now shines with Divine Glory and reflects God’s Presence. The Sufis want to be nothing. It is their ideal to lose all their identity i.e. the complete sacrifice of the self, the ego. But then the Sufi is a complete man, with his essential personality reflecting from deep within. Sirajudin, a scholar from Kashmir has said, the Sufi is a rose among roses and a thorn among thorns. Khwaja Hasan Sani Nizami, Sajjadanashin 4 of Hajrat Nizamuddin’s Dargah has said: ‘A Sufi is liberal like the ocean, kind like the Sun and humble like a river.’ As Maulana Rumi has said, the Sufi is drunk without wine; he is lost in his Master’s love. He is sated without food; shows opulence in poverty; joy in sorrow and loves even his enemies. They are the people from this world but still not of this world. Their ideal is to be free from ego manifested in various forms such as ambition or pride. They live for social harmony with equal respect for all religions, for they see the same quest for the Truth underlying all religious practices but at the same time not having blind obedience to customs and rituals. Sufis, therefore, lay stress on the unity of inner teachings of all religions rather than on their outer form. Conforming to the outer form of religion is important for Sufis only to the extent that it does not inhibit their spiritual progress. Their real objective is to grow beyond religion, to understand the real meaning of the religion and to realize the Truth through their own experience. The spiritual progress is based on knowledge, which in turn is based on movement. The capability to act lies in the soul. Contact of soul with the physical matter is, therefore, necessary so that on the basis of experience, it may acquire knowledge of the world and thereafter the knowledge of the Truth. A physical body is necessary for realisation. The soul needs an outer covering, the physical body; just as for a seed the outer shell is necessary. If a seed is sown without its outer covering, it will not sprout; it will not grow into a tree. Similarly, the soul also cannot realise the Truth without a physical body. The experience of pain and suffering enables one to understand pain and suffering of others and develop sympathy and kindness for them. It is a process of constant evolution and achieving perfection as a true human being. This desire to become perfect, to remove all imperfection is love. Spiritual perfection lies in removing imperfection of one’s conduct. The love for the saints of God is explained because of their perfection in conduct and, therefore, people are attracted towards them. The love for God is also explained similarly, because the God is the most Perfect. He has created the universe and He runs it perfectly. One, who does not understand it, lives in the world with anguish, pain, suffering and sorrow; he lives miserably. One, who has this knowledge, also lives like an ordinary person in the world, but he lives with the understanding that the world has been created by the God, the Lord of the universe, who is running it perfectly. This understanding makes him live happily in the world in accordance with His desire and it results in love for God, reflecting in universal love. Sufis are lovers; they are Beloved of God and for lovers observing proper etiquettes (Adab ) is the first necessity. Sufis, therefore, attach a lot of importance for respect towards their Master and believe in a very strong Master-disciple relationship. For Sufis the existence of God is reflected in the existence of their Master and in the form of their Master it is the God, who guides them on the way. Mahatma Radha Mohan Lalji has said that ‘the way of training of Sufis is not exclusive to them alone; in Gita it is described in a similar way. Except that the Sufis developed a system of Tavajjoh (transmission of spiritual energy from heart to heart by focusing one’s attention), which is the only difference.’ Through Tavajjoh, 5 the spiritual experiences of the Master and other elders of the chain and secrets are revealed in the heart of the disciple and he makes very fast progress. While in other systems seekers generally have to make effort themselves, Sufi seekers receive their spiritual nourishment through their Masters, which helps them to grow and bloom fast. Various Sufi Orders adopt different practices for Sadhana (effort) and for transmission of spiritual vitality and based on that they are known to belonging to different Orders, which are about forty-one, the main being Naqshbandi, Chishti, Qadri and Suhuravardi. The first Sufi to visit the undivided India was Hajrat Ali al-Hujviri (Data Ganj Bakhsh). Sufism, however, entered in the present day India with Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (Khwaja Garib Nawaj), who came to India in the middle of twelfth century AD. It is said that pleased with Khwaja Muinuddin, Sheikh Ibrahim Qandozi transmitted to him his spiritual energy. This sacramental act of ‘transmission’ of spiritual energy was symbolized by an outward act of handing over a piece of bread, which Sheikh Ibrahim first chewed it himself and then gave it to Khwaja Muinuddin for him to eat. This caused in one moment, a complete and lasting transformation in Khwaja Muinuddin’s life. Khwaja Muinuddin thereafter sold all that belonged to him and distributed the money so realized among the poor and needy and entered India through Samarqand and Bukhara, taking initiation on the way at the hands of Sheikh Uthaman Haruni. Chishti saints observe ‘ Chilla’ of forty days, during which they try to observe silence, eat little and try to spend most of their time in prayers and meditation. Music (Qawwali ) also forms an important part of their Sadhana, through which they enter in a state of ecstasy. Some of the other famous saints of this Order are Sheikh Qutubuddin Kaki, Baba Farid, Hajrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Sheikh Nasiruddin (Chirag Delhi), whose followers run into millions and this is now the most popular Sufi Order in India. The other main Sufi Orders to enter India after Chishti were Suhuravardi, Qadri and Naqshbandi. Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya introduced Suhuravardi Order in India. He was a contemporary of Sheikh Qutubuddin Kaki and maternal grandson of Hajrat Abdul Qadir Jilani, the founder of the Qadri Order of Sufis. The Qadri Order was introduced by Sayyed Muhammad Ghawth in the beginning of the fifteenth century AD. Hajrat Miya Mir (1550- 1635) of this Order acquired great fame in Punjab. It is well known that the Sikh saint Guru Ramdas had requested Hajrat Miya Mir to lay the foundation stone of Hari-Mandir Sahib in Amritsar and Hajrat Bulleh Shah is one of the most famous saints of the Qadri Order, whose songs and verses have captured everyone’s heart in India. Naqshbandi Sufi saints were the last to enter India. They moved from Mecca-Medina to Iran, Uzbekistan and from there to India. Samadhis (tombs) of many of the great saints of this Order namely Hajrat Ghujdawani, Hajrat Ajijan, Shah Baha’udin Naqshband and others are located in Uzbekistan, which during the last two decades have been renovated by the President of Uzbekistan and made beautiful.
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