Chapter 1

Balance

Everything has a limit. The sun has a limit, life has a limit, air has a limit, fire has a limit, hunger has a limit, food has a limit; everything has a limit. If the limit is altered in either direction, if there is too much or too little, there will be an accident. Everything should be done in a balanced manner. That is wisdom.

Whether it is the sexual arts, the sixty-four arts and sciences, or science itself, everything has a limit. Life has a limit. There is a balance. If you exceed that, it will break you. It will break your life, make you wander, and bring you difficulty, sorrow, and illness. The balance must be maintained as you proceed.

Prayer and devotion have a limit and should be pursued precisely in accordance with your growth and development. Proceed with balance in keeping with wisdom. Without wisdom, if you try to reach beyond the limit, something will snap. Everything requires balance. Reflect on this.

I am very old. At different times, in different countries, my age was perceived in different ways. There is no rascal like me in the world. I am the biggest rascal and the youngest one of all. I could change myself and assume a different age. I have changed myself eleven times. This is my twelfth change. After this, the period of destruction could come about. This is my final change.

From my experience, from the aspects I studied, from living through the different ages, I have learned much. I have to bring everything into balance in order to explain these learnings to others. In each period different things needed to be done, and they had to be revealed with balance.

Prayer has a balance. Balance it according to your own capacity. Wisdom has a balance consistent with your capacity, strength, and ability. Life has a balance consistent with your body and your wisdom. Sexual joys have a balance. The sixty-four arts and sciences have a balance. Science has a balance. Sight has a balance. Smell has a balance. Sound has a balance. If you exceed this balance, things will break. Speech has a balance; do not exceed it. The body has a balance; it cannot be sustained beyond a certain point. You have to proceed with balance according to your own capacity.

Balance is the only thing that will not attack you. Without this balance your mind will be ruined, your eyesight will be lost, your hearing will be impaired, your tongue will blabber because the nerves malfunction, your body will be ruined, and your heart will weaken. You should act with balance according to your own state.

What is your state? What is your balance? What is your life? What are your actions? They should be in balance with each other. Prayer (vanakkam), meditation (thiyänam), ritual prayers (tholuhai), prayer and service performed with a melting heart (‘ibädat), the remembrance of God with every breath (dhikr), and the constant contemplation of God (fikr) should be done in balance. Sound must be made where sounds must be made.

However, if the sound “Huuu” is to be made and instead the sound “Haaa” is made, the balance will be destroyed.

The lion has a particular balance in the sounds it can make. The elephant has a different kind of balance. If you try to trumpet like an elephant, you will die. If you roar like a lion, your heart will burst. God created each creature in a different way: the camel has no bile, the horse has a small lung (ïral) 1 and a small heart to enable it to run, and the whale is different in yet another way. Each is created differently for a specific purpose. You should understand each organ of the body. If you understand the four thousand, four hundred and forty-four nerves (narambu), 2 you will understand balance. If you understand the eightyfour kinds of air that dwell within the body, then you can maintain balance. As each air arises, you can balance yourself appropriately. If you understand what exists in the four thousand, four hundred and forty-four nerves you can continue forward with the appropriate balance.

Then your breath will flow in keeping with that, and the balance will be accurate. Otherwise, your balance will be lost and a nerve may snap, an artery or vein may burst, and your mind will be ruined.

There are ninety-nine kinds of bile—acid. If you understand which acid flows through which nerve, you can proceed with the appropriate balance. If you deviate from that balance, you will go crazy.

Wisdom disperses in a hundred ways. God’s miracles manifest in a hundred ways. That balance [that wisdom] knows what is needed at each time and at each season. It tells you, “At this time this is needed, at that moment that is needed,” and so on.

The ocean tides may rise in two and a half hours, and when the winds blow, they recede. In another two and a half hours, the winds may move to the north, and then to the south. You have to proceed with the appropriate balance. You have to move with the tide. If you go against it, it will break you and toss you about. The wind blows in four directions. When water recedes on one side, it swells on the other. And when it swells on the other side, it recedes on this side. The storms, waves, and billows all function in this manner. The blood and the air flow through the body in the same way. Water also flows through the organs like this. You should know the balance, the point, and the wisdom. You should understand what is flowing through each part of each nerve and balance yourself accordingly. If you go against the flow, these things will dash against you and hurl you around. Blood, air, fire, water, earth — everything changes course and turns around. If the water is moving in a particular direction, then pay heed to it and move with it. If the water is changing its course because of winds that change every two and a half hours, then you should also change course and move. If you do this, you will be able to maintain balance; otherwise you will be destroyed. This is also an aspect of prayer.

A perfected man, an Insän Kämil, will explain this and teach the Truth, and you should continue onward in accordance with your capacity. You should work toward attaining balance. You should attain that eminent state and know the nerves, the marrow, the two hundred and twelve bones, the forty-eight nerves of the brain, and the nerves of the teeth. You should know how many of these connect to each tooth, where the root is for each tooth, which of these roots are dead, what helps them to function, and how many arteries they have. You have to understand this. You have to know everything about each of the thirtytwo teeth. You should know the four segments of the skull. You should know how to position each of these two hundred and forty-eight pieces of bone. If you randomly pull at this and pull at that, it will ruin your balance.

In the inner heart (qalb) of man there are 18,000 universes. Within these 18,000 universes, God has placed one single point as His Kingdom. In that one point He has placed 124,000 prophets, His angels, His archangels, His enlightened beings (olis), His divinely wise beings (qutbs), His throne (dhähuth), and His judgment. Covering this point are fifteen realms, seven realms below and seven realms above, while in the middle there is a realm which is within that one point. The 18,000 universes and the fifteen realms do exist. But what will rule and pass judgment over all these realms is within that one point, as an atom within an atom. This wealth of grace (rahmat), this grace of God, is placed there as the mysterious morsel of flesh. Within it is Light.

When you attain the state in which you understand all of this, you can act with the necessary balance. You will know how to look at these things. You will know the 18,000 universes, you will know the prophets, the enlightened beings, and the qutbs. You will know Allah, His rahmat, His throne, His judgment, and His duty. Then you can unite with Him. When you go onward to join Him, you will understand right and wrong, good and evil. Then you can join God’s Messenger (Rasül) (Sal.) and the angels. You can unite with the Lord and with His rahmat. When you do that, that balance is correct.

Until you reach that state, you should understand what your capacity is, what your intention is, what your prayer is, what your sight is, and what your thoughts are. You should understand what state you are in and what causes you to change. Hunger changes you, illness changes you, disease changes you, pain changes you, ordinary desires change you, base desires (nafs) change you, sex changes you, lust changes you, karma changes you, and anger changes you. Therefore, when you are in a state where things can change you, when there are factors that influence and affect you, you should use the balance appropriate to that state. With patience, contentment, trust in God, and complete surrender to God (sabür, shakür, tawakkul, and al-hamdu lilläh), you should balance your life.

Without doing this, if you say, “I am seeing God, I am meditating, I am praying, I am doing the prescribed prayers,” it is of no use. What is the point of that? You cannot deviate from balance. Wisdom is a big ocean. You can copy another’s material and speak from it, read a book and speak about it, hear something and speak about it, but this is not wisdom. You should sift through all these things and extract the point. You should go to the other side, connect, and speak to Him. Attain the connection wherein He speaks to you. You see Him, and He sees you. You should attain that balance. Until you attain that balance, you should toil hard, make great effort, work laboriously, and dedicate yourself to God. You should dedicate yourself (thänam) to truth and resolute faith (ïmän). You should hold on to that resolution (nithänam) and maintain that balance. Then you should have total concentration (avathänam) and balance. When you go beyond, you will have divine wisdom (gnänam). Only then can you unite and converse with Him.

Without having achieved this state of being, without this balance, everything you set out to do will break you. Your mind will break you, desire will break you, lust will break you, anger will break you, sex will break you, sexual games will break you, maya will break you, hunger will break you, and illness will break you. All these things will break your faith. Lust will break you, hatred will break you, selfishness will break you, hastiness driven by anger will break you, treachery will break you, religion will break you, race will break you. They all are weapons that can destroy you.

Since you possess these weapons which can break you, you should understand the balance that is needed to proceed. You should maintain balance amidst the different kinds of air that flow through the different areas of your body. You should understand how to balance each thing and proceed. Advance without giving in to these things, without getting beaten by them, and without getting caught in them. Such is the balance you must have. Without this balance, whatever you set forth to do will break you. It will destroy your brain and your mind and make you crazy.

I am very old. Using my experience I scrutinize each vein and evaluate its condition — what its function is, how the blood flows through it, at which point the vein has shrunk, and at which point the vein is pressed down. I see that the blood is collecting at a particular point and understand why it hurts. I notice a pricking sensation and much more, but you will not understand this. When I look at the veins, I see many rays, and I observe, “These rays work. These rays do not work. The sun works in this manner. It is related to wisdom and it works like this. This vein relates to desire. This vein functions to create lust and passion. This vein relates to pride. This relates to Satan. This vein relates to gas. This is the vein that relates to earth ties. This relates to ether ties. This connects with maya. This is the vein that serves Satan’s anger; it is the vein of treachery. This is the vein of trickery. This is the vein of deceit.” You do not understand in which of these the lights, the rays, and the sun function. You should be able to look at them and understand. Until then you should have balance.

When a dog barks, it cries, “Woof, woof, woof.” It barks at the dark, it barks at a tree, it barks at a good man, and it barks at a robber. All these things make it bark. Similarly, if your mind and intellect continue to bark, you think, “I am praying, I am going, I am doing this, I am doing my duty.” But this is not so. You are doing the same thing as the dog. It does not know what is good and what is evil. It does not understand the point and barks at everything because of its hunger. In the same way, you should realize the point. You should know what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, what is man and what is beast, what is tree and what is shrub. You should know which is shade, which is light, and which is fire. You should understand this and say, “All right, let it come.” When a good man comes, you say, “Anbu, I greet you with love, come in.” To rogues you say, “Go away. You are a rogue,” and for Satan, you hold a light in front of him, and he will go away.

In each situation you must know what is to be pushed away, subdued, understood, or studied. If you act without understanding this, there is no use. It will be pointless. Until you come to that final state, you have to maintain balance. When the mind comes and jumps on you, you should find a way to balance it. Leave it alone. Go above it. When water comes to beat against you, observe it coming, balance yourself, rise above it and let it flow by. When the air, the anger, comes to attack you, say, “Oh, it is coming.” Quickly leave the branch and hold on to the tree. Let it shake the tree or bend it a little and go away. You should attain that kind of balance with everything. You must understand. This is why you have been given wisdom. This is why you are shown balance. This is why you are given explanations. This is why you are made to understand.

However, your ïmän is not strong. Your foundation is not strong. You still declare, “I,” “I.” If your taproot is not strong, you will fall. When your taproot is not strong, what then is your foundation? Your foundation is the secondary roots, the support roots. The taproot of ïmän, certitude, determination, and Allah is not present. What you have instead are the support roots provided by the mind. Therefore, hunger will come and knock you down. Gales will come and toss you about. Lust will come and roll you around. Passion will come and roll you around. Money will come and toss you around. Titles will come and hurl you about. The “I” will come and heave you around. Like this, many magnificent things will come. You could think, “I am a guru,” and that will hurl you around. You could think, “I am a sheikh,” and that will toss you about. Everything will come to knock you down. Wealth, praise, titles: these are all things that come and toss you around. They are all secondary roots that will be uprooted by one big storm.

Therefore, you cannot stay in balance.

At this time, you do not have the correct taproot that is absolutely firm and unshakable. Your taproot has not taken hold as yet. The supreme root has not yet been established. The support roots exist, but not the supreme root. Your thoughts exclaim, “I am studying, I am praying, I am doing prescribed prayers, I do this, I do that, I have desire, I have attachment.” This is all that you are doing. These are your support roots. They are of no use. They have no point. The supreme root has not yet developed. When this supreme root takes hold, it will support you. You will be able to bend in different directions whenever different breezes blow. When the wind blows from one direction, you can quickly bend to the other side, and when the wind blows from the other direction, you can bend the other way.

I am telling you about all these things so that you can begin to develop your taproot, so that you may not fall down when different things approach you. You have not firmly planted your taproot. It has developed very little. The support roots, however, have grown a lot. The mind, desires, thoughts, and intentions have spread and taken hold, but the tap root is only two inches to one foot long. Thoughts have taken hold, but the correct taproot, the supreme root, has not taken hold. When it does, you will be able to balance. You will be able to bend and let the winds blow by without getting caught or entangled. In this way, you will be able to evade sorrow, hunger, and illness. The tap root will show you the balance.

As each thing comes along, the tap root will enable you to be flexible and escape. This state will dawn in you. However, your taproot has not yet taken hold. For ten years now I have been shouting here so that the taproot can take hold. I have been trying to embed this taproot. But if you gain personal fame and begin to discriminate, saying, “I” and “You,” you will be hurled around. As soon as the “I” arises, it will knock you over. When you think, “I am a guru,” or, “I am a sheikh,” you will be hurled around. When you think, “I am learned,” you will be tumbled down. Money, learning, titles, lust, desire, and praise will all toss you down. All these things will knock you down. Then you have no balance, no root.

You will fall down on the ground. You will not be able to stand upright, so you will fall on the earth. You need balance. You should check on this and develop that root. Each child should do this. Religions will knock you down, caste will knock you down, and color will knock you down. Thoughts of “my family,” “my wealth,” “my freedom,” “my wife,” and “my child” will hurl you around and separate you from others. You should think about this. Contemplate what I am telling you. Faith must develop; the supreme root must grow.
Only then will our desires be controlled. Thank you. Reflect on this and act accordingly.

Do you understand?

When wisdom dawns it will be easy. Until wisdom dawns, it will be difficult. Faith, certitude, and determination should dawn; then the taproot will grow. The connection to the Sheikh should remain constant; wisdom should grow. The point of discrimination between right and wrong should grow; then it will be easy. The burden will be light, the connection will be easy, and balance can be attained. You can escape!

I am a big rascal, a clever rogue. Depending on how you come to me, I will have to give you what you want and escape. If you say, “I want this,” I will give it to you and escape. Then when you go and experience suffering, I will say, “That’s fine,” and escape. I will try to explain things to you, but if you insist that you are right, I will say, “All right, go ahead.” Then I have to watch you being tossed about, but I will escape. If you hold on firmly to what I give you, if you hold on to me, then I have to take you with me. But if you say, “I,” you will separate yourself. Then I will say, “All right, go, and come back.” But if you have fastened yourself to me, I will have to drag you along with me. If
you have not latched on, that is fine; the burden is less, and I will say, “Good, go, and come back.”

Anbu—love.

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)

Footnotes

1. Ïral: This Tamil word is used for all of the following: lungs, liver, spleen, and other viscera. A prefix is often used to denote the specific organ (e.g. kal-ïral for liver). In this context, however, without a specific prefix, ïral could refer to any of the organs mentioned above. Trans.
2. Narambu: In Tamil, the word narambu is used to refer to veins, arteries, nerves, blood vessels, and ducts in the body, which, in Eastern medicine, total 72,000. The author, however, talks about 4,444, or 4,448 narambu and it has not been ascertained whether he refers to veins, nerves, or arteries. We have chosen to use the word nerves in all such contexts. Trans.