=kit079.txt

KIT 79 - TURNING WITHIN - PART I        

PRACTICES BASED ON PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN'S TEACHING

            "There are two directions or dimensions in which to
expand. The one is the outward, the other the inward."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

            I have used Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's insight to
develop the following visualization and concentration practices.
These practices, and the ones in the next KIT, are preparation for
the development of intuition.

            The Initiator must give to one's pupils one's own
meaning of the Sufi teachings, with added definitions, in order to
make that teaching fully comprehensible to the pupil. Pupils must
be told not to study the teachings but to meditate upon them. This
way the teachings become a living experience, not only a book
knowledge. The oral teachings given in Gathekas, Gathas, Githas,
Sangathas, Sangithas of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan are as a line to
tread upon.

            "As one goes along the line, one observes different
things which are necessary to be observed on the spiritual path."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

            The following are models of the way the focus of
consciousness can be modulated, accompanied by the corresponding
practices to strengthen one's mind in exercising mastery over
one's thoughts. This serves as a first step in learning to
meditate. To achieve this, one needs to train one's mind and
consciousness consistently in daily practices staggered from the
elementary ones to the more advanced ones.

            The effect of spiritual practices is gained like
interest on capital. The practices do not always produce effect
when a person is doing them, but practices once done are never
lost. They are seeds sown on the soil of one's subconscious mind
and must bear fruit in due course of time. No doubt, conditions
may be against unfoldment, which may delay the result of
practices.

ATTUNEMENT

            Ordinarily, the impressions accruing from the
environment, both physical and psychological, force themselves
upon one's attention, leaving one little chance of getting in
touch with one's deeper feelings and motivations. Hence, the
urgent need to learn how to turn within.

            "Each person in everyday life gives out their energies
through the activity of life and, therefore, meditation is taught
by the wise with posture so that the energy which is always spent
in activities may be spared for some moments, and during these
moments some additional energy may be taken in by the help of the
breath."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

            Sit in an upright position and perform some of the
breathing practices with which you are familiar. Or simply be
aware of your breath, this will suffice to make your breath slow
down.

            As you do this, you will notice that your mode of
thinking is very different. In contrast with the way your mind
works when turned towards 'outside', you will find that your
thoughts, rather than flickering from one thought to another, seem
to intermesh and blur. In the physical world, you are here and
everything else is without you, you are contained in space. In the
dream, all that you see is contained within you. Therefore, to
prepare yourself for this unusual perspective, you need to be
clear about how your mind functions, then train your mind.

            "If you are unable to control your thoughts, you
cannot hold them."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

            Therefore, start from scratch by simply visualizing an
object. I suggest choosing an inspiring object: a flower, or a
star, or a crystal - eventually the face of a master or angel.

            The first thing that may be given to pupils is an
object to concentrate upon which will centralize their thoughts
and make their minds still. However the mind functions in a
dynamic rather than static way. Therefore, let us start with a
little mind drill to get your thoughts under control:

            1) STEREOSCOPIC VISION. Suppose you were encompassing
a wide span of the field of your consciousness, a wide panorama.
You will notice that you combine lots of pictures into a composite
one. Now observe how your mind in its ordinary setting is
continually considering several thoughts that are not very well
integrated.

            2) DISCRETE THOUGHTS. You will find that since your
mind has difficulty in integrating disparate thoughts, it is more
effective to consider each thought or thought-package separately
in turn. Here is the first step in meditation: disciplining the
mind.

            There are three things which those who follow the
inner path use as exercises for spiritual attainment:
concentration, contemplation, and meditation. Concentration is an
exercise to train the mind to hold a certain object steady,
without wavering, and by the power of concentration there is
nothing in the world that cannot be attained. But concentration is
a very difficult exercise to accomplish; for the nature of the
mind is such that when the mind takes by itself something such as
worry, or trouble, or a grudge against someone, or an insult, it
holds it without any effort; but when one desires to hold an
object in mind for the sake of concentration, the mind acts like a
restive horse. Once concentration is mastered, one has mastered
life on earth.

            Contemplation is not much different from
concentration, the difference being only that in concentration the
mind holds an object, in contemplation the object holds the mind.
Concentration itself, when mastered, turns into contemplation. The
contemplative person is one who easily holds in mind all he or she
thinks about.

 Meditation is something different. It is a training of the mind,
not in activity but in passivity, the training of the mind to
receive some inspiration, power or blessing from within.

            3) SUPERIMPOSED THOUGHTS. Envision your thoughts as
illustrated by a double exposure of two superimposed pictures.
They are blurred. Try highlighting one picture rather than
another. Now try combining them. This will prove difficult if not
well-nigh impossible.

            4) INTERCONNECTIVENESS. Now that you have gained some
control over your thoughts, make a first attempt at relating two
thoughts. See how their combination triggers off a meaning not
present in each separately. This is illustrated by the classical
intelligence test for monkeys to determine if they see the
relationship between a stick in the cage and the nut outside!
Grasp the meaning that the interconnectiveness between two
thoughts conveys to you. At first, alternate slowly between one
and the other, then toggle to and fro; if you are in control, you
will enjoy the ease with which this takes place.

            5) SIMILARITY. If two pictures were organically
related, for example, if they resembled one another, yet differed
slightly, you could extrapolate between them somewhat. This is
indeed precisely what the brain does extrapolating between the
pictures perceived by both eyes which differ slightly owing to
parallax by ordering them in a three-dimensional composite
picture. Therefore, at first, select thoughts that are closely
related. Consider them both simultaneously. Gradually, you will be
able to do this with thoughts whose relationship was difficult to
grasp at first.

            6) SPACE. Extrapolate between the objects closer to
you with those placed in the background. Now you can see that
pictures that would be difficult to fit in a two-dimensional
composite, can be represented by your brain more easily when
distributed in a three-dimensional framework, whereas thanks to
the lens of a camera they could be disposed in a two-dimensional
picture, albeit at the cost of much detail.

            7) TIME. Pan as you scan the horizon. Note that in
order to combine the components of the composite picture, you had
to remember the past ones and combine them with the new ones. You
will find that your present thoughts do incorporate in an implicit
way previous thoughts. However, the habits of one's thinking tend
to pull one back into one's commonplace thinking and, therefore,
one needs to reconnoiter the way the mind functions and learn how
to shunt into the internal mode of thinking.

            You will find that both the physical and psychological
environment exercise a pull upon your consciousness, forcing it
into the commonplace focus. To turn within, you need to dismiss
the usual perspective on things. This can be achieved by
devalidating it.

            "The surface of human intelligence is intellect; when
it is turned outside-in, it becomes the source of all revelation."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

            Actually, if you think of yourself on the model of the
holistic paradigm: (that inasmuch as one can fraction a hologram,
each fraction carries the whole picture, albeit the smaller the
fraction, the less well it describes the whole), rather than
thinking of yourself as a portion cut out of the whole, then you
clinch the clue to turning within, because then you can visualize
that the totality of the universe lies potentially latent within
you. (Incidentally, Pir-o-Murshid had already anticipated the
holistic paradigm.)

            For instance, a modern brain specialist may perhaps
say that every part of the body is represented in each nerve
center, and that the condition of each is relative to the
condition of the whole body. The whole is in every part.

            PIR-O-MURSHID gives a clue to this by describing how
he feels:

            "When I open my eyes to the outer world, I feel myself
as a drop in the sea; but when I close my eyes and turn within, I
see the whole universe as a bubble raised in the ocean of my
heart."
(HIK)

"In a drop, the sea is as small as the drop; in the sea a drop is
so large as the sea."
(HIK)
            "And if one is to see that one is a bubble, then one
becomes part of nature's government."
(HIK)
    
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