Friday, October 17, 2014

Writing letters | Separation & detachment

Bismillah.

May he/she who has been waiting, be appeased. May he/she who has been looking, find.  

***
Letter writing among Sufis in the old days were common. Sharafuddin Maneri, an Indian Sufi saint of the 13th century was one of them. He is well known for The Hundred Letters.

Nowadays, people rarely write intelligent letters to one another. Perhaps, one century from now, future citizens of the world would look back at us and say "they busy themselves with not-so-clever writing like blogging and tweeting."

Anyway, in Letter #61 of The Hundred Letters by Maneri, I found two short but loaded lessons.

Shaykh Sharafuddin Maneri says:
Separation means you should come freely out of everything you find today.
Detachment means you should not be enslaved by what is to come, as it's said:
"Today, the day before yesterday, yesterday, tomorrow,
all four will be one in the life to come!"

***

Can't help but wonder, what will the ONE look like in the life to come?



Dear self,

It's time to pause and reflect. What have you found today, which you need to leave it at that. That which you need to separate yourself from. Are you still attached to that which took place day before yesterday, yesterday and today? Do you think you would be able to detach yourself from what is going to happen tomorrow? Separate and detach. Come out of everything you find today. And do not be enslaved by what is to come.



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