Silsilah
A silsilah gives expression to the chain of spiritual authority
and transmission which links a present day shaykh with all of
the spiritual guides preceding that shaykh in the spiritual
lineage. People come to belong to the silsilah through taking
initiation with the current shaykh.
Initiates do not always appreciate the difficulties, struggles
and sacrifices which others have had to endure in order to
make their spiritual journey possible. The truth of the matter
is, however, there would be no path to step on to if those who
came before had not been willing to die to their false selves
and become the servants of God.
Moreover, the people of the past who, by the grace of God,
were able to complete the spiritual journey and reach their
destination, did something else besides finish their personal
duty to God. They came back to this realm of existence in
order to help others reach their spiritual destination as well.
Although the story of every spiritual guide is unique,
nonetheless, there are two things which remain fairly
constant in each of these stories. First, every shaykh
succeeded because he or she had the appropriate kind of
support, protection and assistance.
In other words, there are no self-made shaykhs on the Sufi
path. If people were supposed to succeed spiritually on their
own, silsilahs never would have come in to being, anymore
than there would have been a need for a Prophetic tradition.
One's dependence on the lineage of spiritual transmission of
the silsilahs and the Prophets is an outer manifestation of
one's ultimate dependence on God. This is because the
spiritual authority and transmission which come through the
silsilah come from nowhere else but God.
The second theme which remains constant in the life stories
of the shaykhs is the following. Despite the support and help
which is received, every shaykh had to suffer in one way or
another.
The suffering which comes from trials, tests, challenges,
difficulties and struggles is the food which makes spiritual
growth possible. At the same time, the only one who truly
knows the nature and extent of the suffering is the spiritual
guide of the individual.
Complaining about, or demonstrations of, suffering are not in
the spirit of the spiritual etiquette of the path. The suffering is
to be endured in silence, with acceptance and without regret.
The reasons for this have nothing to do with being "tough"
or "macho" or masochistic. Rather, one remains silent
because the ego will quickly make a cause celebre of the
suffering in order to entrench its own sense of pride and in
order to enhance its public image.
In fact, one needs to remain not only outwardly silent, one
also needs to remain inwardly silent. To indulge oneself
inwardly in this regard is as bad, if not worse, than to do so
outwardly.
The reason why carrying on with suffering inwardly may be
worse than doing so publicly is due to the following. When
problems are driven underground into the darkness and
shadows of the false self, the faults become more difficult to
detect and deal with.
In addition, if one is not inwardly silent, the ego may begin to
congratulate itself on how well it is suffering in silence.
Therefore, one is getting rid of one kind of problem (i.e.,
public complaining) and taking on a more subtle and complex
form of the same problem.
The spiritual guide of the individual is aware, of course, of all
the foregoing. Through the help and support of the shaykh,
then, God willing, these problems do become resolved in
time. However, before these problems, as well as many other
problems, get resolved, there is much internal struggle,
conflict and suffering.
The lessons of: repentance, faith, patience, trust,
forbearance, sincerity, gratitude, forgiveness, and love, do
not come freely or cheaply. There is a price involved - a price
which not everyone may be willing to pay.
Even with spiritual help, the business of overcoming passion
and anger is very difficult. Even with spiritual support, the
task of purifying the heart is extremely demanding. Even with
the love of the shaykh, the challenge of perfecting the spirit
requires a lot of effort and dedication.
If there were not people in every generation who were willing
to go through the tribulations of the path, a silsilah would die
out. Spiritual continuity in a silsilah is paid for in the
suffering and tears, silent though these may be, of those who
have been blessed by God.
The shaykhs come back from the spiritual heights for the
rest of us because of their love and compassion. They want to
do whatever they can to ease the pain and suffering of people
who step onto the path.
However, the shaykhs know all too well from their
experiences with their own spiritual guide, there is a limit to
how much the suffering on the spiritual path can be reduced.
If the spiritual guide were to eliminate the suffering
altogether, an initiate's opportunities for undergoing spiritual
transformation might be compromised.
Like a physician, the Sufi shaykh understands healing comes
with pain. Indeed, certain kinds of pain are often an
indication healing is going on.
An initiate can never repay the shaykh for the suffering
which the latter has undergone in order to give the initiate
the chance to realize herself or himself spiritually. Of course,
the shaykh really is not looking to be re-paid by anyone.
Furthermore, the shaykh would feel uncomfortable if such
suffering were to become an issue of discussion.
Nonetheless, while, for the most part, the difficulties
undergone by the current shaykh usually are not explored,
the suffering of previous shaykhs may be discussed. There
may be a variety of reasons for this, but almost all of these
reasons have to do, in one way or another, with bringing
important spiritual lessons to the attention of initiates.
Every silsilah is filled with accounts of the: heroism, bravery,
humility, strength, insight, wisdom, faith, love, compassion,
kindness, difficulties, trials, challenges, and so on, of
previous spiritual guides of the silsilah. These stories inspire,
intrigue, instruct, warn and comfort the initiates of the Sufi
path.
These stories often allude to the issue of suffering without
necessarily making that the focus. Nonetheless, one should
spend some time pondering on this issue of suffering
undergone by others which has produced uncountable
benefits for people of later generations.
Those individuals have suffered, and through this suffering,
other people have been provided with an opportunity for
spiritual growth. Consequently, we need to ask ourselves:
would we be prepared to suffer in a manner similar to the
spiritual guides of a silsilah so that others who come after us
may have the same kind of opportunity as that from which
we have benefited? Only the addictive hold which the false
self has over us would prevent us from answering this
question in the affirmative.
An initiate can never repay the spiritual guides of the silsilah
for what, by the grace of God, has come through them to the
initiate. However, the initiate, perhaps, might bring a smile of
happiness to the hearts of the shaykhs if the initiate were
prepared to struggle in an attempt to show that the efforts of
the spiritual guides, on behalf of those who follow, had not
been wasted.
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