Week of March 4, 2018…
Spiritual Care – 5 of 8 Powerful Spiritual Heart Practices of Sufi Meditation
There are many forms of meditation that quiet the mind, open the heart and elevate the soul. The Sufis, like many other disciplines, have a practice of meditation that is as effective as several other meditation forms.
Below, is the Fifth out of Eight Spiritual Heart Practices of Meditation offered as a facet of the Sufis spiritual discipline. Throughout the next few weeks you will receive additional meditations that together, as a practice, will help you connect your heart self with the Divine.
Enjoy these meditations I share them with you one at a time.
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Bond of Love Meditation
In Sufism, the master-disciple relationship plays an essential role in the advancement of the aspirant. The master, called Pir (‘guide’, ‘old one’), is highly regarded and loved reverently.
In fact, in some Sufi practices, the master is the object of meditation. The objective is to dissolve any sense of duality between the disciple and the master so that the aspirant can see with the eyes of the master, and possess his virtues, wisdom, and purity.
To develop this bond of love between the disciple and his master is a cornerstone meditation technique in the Naqshbandi Sufi order. Here are four ways it is practiced—through the heart, attention (contemplation), visualization, and gazing:
- Heart – The seeker pictures in his heart, the face of his master and annihilates himself in it. As the lover sees the face of his beloved in his own face and loses himself in it, so does the seeker look upon his master. Through the bond they made, he takes on the very being of his master. The seeker’s soul is lighted up and shines with the light of his master. If the seeker perseveres in this way, in a short time he becomes a perfected man, like his sheikh.
- Attention – He fixes his attention lovingly upon the spirituality of his master. He ascribes so exalted a rank to him that he separates him from the rest of creation. At this moment, the spirituality of the master manifests interiorly within the seeker. It raises the seeker above the creation. Slowly, slowly the seeker begins to acquire the state of the sheikh.
- Visualization – The seeker represents, in his mind’s eye, the spirituality of his guide as a circle of light and pictures himself in the center of that circle. Such an ecstasy takes possession of him that he goes out of himself. At that moment, the spirituality of his sheikh is reflected in the light of the heart. From this reflection, a light appears in the heart of the seeker and draws him on towards perfection.
- Purity – The seeker seats himself as though he were in the presence of his master. He brings an image of his master before his eyes. But here, the seeker must know that the spirituality of the master never separates from his image and whenever and wherever he calls on it, that spiritual image will help him. If the seeker, coming into the presence of the master, annihilates his own self-hood and binds himself to that presence, the master can, in a single instant, raise him to the degree of Illumination.
UPLIFT – http://upliftconnect.com/8-powerful-spiritual-heart-practices-of-sufi-meditation/