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.

In a drop, the sea is as small as the drop; in the sea a drop is so large as the sea.

            And if one is to see that one is a bubble, then one becomes part of nature's government.
