Spiritual Letter 50 - Text Only Version About Spiritual Letter 50 Title: "And The Truth Will Set You Free" Date: August 25, 2003 Written by: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) Written to: Mr. Thomas L. Friedman, Columnist for the New Your Times, and our dearest loving brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini in Iraq Page 1 of 2 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu kulluhu. Wa 'alaykum al-salam wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. May God help us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brothers and sisters - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). Outline of Spiritual Letter: Page 1 of 2 - which is the page you are reading 1. Introduction - to Spiritual Letter 50 2. The Essence - of the four religions and of man is Oneness 3. The Great Battle - within the four religions and within man is moving from our "separation & differences" to our Oneness 4. An Introduction - to the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) 5. What Is Truly Happening In The World Today? - God is happening, that's what's happening, not "us" as "separate from" God 6. The Life And Teaching of God For Our Age - is the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) 7. Why Does An Apple Seed Germinate? - because it becomes aware of the truth of itself, that it is an apple seed, that it is buried within the earth, and that the earth contains everything necessary for the apple tree within it to grow Page 2 of 2 - click HERE to go to Page 2 8. Comments - To Our Dear Brothers In Iraq 8-1. In Truth We Are All One - One within our faith, wisdom, and truth 8-2. The True Meaning of Islam - and of all other religions, is joining with God within us, not joining with each other "outside" of us 8-3. God Alone Is Sufficient - now we can really live this way 8-4. What Separates Us From God - is what separates us from each other 8-5. The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship - plus 2 on-line libraries 8-6. Lets Get Together - in the name of God, and let Wisdom teach us "What we do not know" 8-7. Why Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral)? - because God loves us, that is why 8-8. The True Significance of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral) - to the followers of Muhammad (Sal.), is God completing the last request of Muhammad (Sal.) 9. Closing Prayer & Comments - "Forgive me the wrong and accept the good." Text of Spiritual Letter: 1. Introduction - to Spiritual Letter 50 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu kulluhu. Wa 'alaykum al-salam wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. May God help us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brother - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman, you are a very good brother and child of God, and your work to bring together people of all religions and beliefs has certainly been and continues to be a comfort to my heart, and we are sure, to the hearts of many other people who you have never met, just like this child. This letter to you is specifically in response to your article, "Dinner With the Sayyids", published today in the on-line version of the New York Times, 8/9/03. However, we have been reading your "stuff" for the last year, and have seen you on TV several times, and am again moved to write you, to thank you for your good work. (Note: we have become so inspired by your work in Iraq, that after reading your article today, 8/18/03, "Telling the Truth in Iraq", we immediately sent our love and salams to the staff of Iraq-Today, the new on-line publication in Iraq, that you discussed in your article, which has the Web Address or URL of: www.Iraq-Today.com, and offered to help them in their new project. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar). And to share with you something that may be new to you, about the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), who came to America in 1971 and taught us for over 15 years, until His death in 1986, about the Oneness of God and Man, a life and teaching which from one perspective is all about transcending the 4 major religions of the world by finding the common essence within them, and moving on. Which is all about understanding the common essence, the Principle Tenet, of the Hindi, Zoroastrian, Christian, Islamic and Judaic Religions, and scriptures, and moving on. And in this way cutting the Gordian knot of religion, so to speak, allowing us to focus again, or perhaps for the first time, on how we accomplish what the 124,000 Prophets of God have brought to us from God, over and over again, throughout the ages, to every race, people, and to every corner of the world, rather than trying to re-establish and defend the validity of what we today call religion, which seems to have become more and more the exact opposite of what the Prophets of God have brought to us. And lastly, the purpose of this letter is to ask of you a favor. If it is at all possible please send this entire letter to the two brothers you recently interviewed, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini in Iraq, along with my brief comments to them, at the end of this letter to you, my dearest brother. Thank you very much, and God bless you. 2. The Essence of The Four Religions And of Man - is Oneness One day His Holiness, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God pleased with Him) gave us a riddle to answer, His Holiness said to us, "What has incredible movement so it can stand perfectly still?" None of us had a clue, and we all sat in front of His Holiness in silence. Then His Holiness looked at us and said, "A hummingbird. A hummingbird has incredible movement so it can stand perfectly still, and take its nourishment from deep within a flower." "Like this, God has incredible movement outside so He can stand perfectly still inside, and draw His Divine Knowledge or 'ilm from His Creation." In this way, my dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman, we are all One, God and man and the Creation of God are all One, and the difference between man and the Creation of God, is that God has given man the 6th level of wisdom or consciousness that allows man to understand "who he is", and "who God is", and through that understanding to join with God within him to complete what God is doing within man, within the Creation of God within man, which is to reveal Himself for the benefit of all of His Creation, by first revealing True Man within His Creation. But if man fails to realize his exalted birth, as a human being, before his death, then he is reborn again and again, again and again within himself, each time losing more and more of his divine consciousness, gradually becoming one with the Creation of God within him, rather than realizing his birth right, his true heritage, which is becoming One with God as True Man, in this way, becoming the Oneness of God and True Man, which in truth is God and True Man. This is the message that all of the 124,000 Prophets of God, including the Prophets Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (may God be pleased with all of His Prophets) brought to all of the people living in the age when they came into the world, to the level that the people living at that time, and to the level the Prophets who came to them, could or were instructed by God, to explain. So our life, and all life, is all about "God happening", not about "us" as "separate from" God happening. It is all about our joining in partnership with God within us, so God can complete what He has started within each of us, what He started within us even before we came to this earth world, which is to reveal Himself for the benefit of all of His Creation, by first revealing True Man within the Creation of God, like the apple seed reveals the apple, and the sweet taste of the apple, by first revealing the apple tree from within the apple seed that is hidden within the earth. In this way, our life is not truly about us living "separate from" God, "separate from" each other", and "separate from" the Creation of God within us, our life is not truly about "us" as "separate from" God working for wages to get into heaven. This idea, intention, and effort of "selfishness", of "self focus or worship", rather than of "selflessness", of "God focus or worship", is but the falsehood covering the truth of us, and will only lead to our destruction, to our becoming one with the Creation of God within us, leading us to an eternal life of "separation from" God, rather than of Oneness with God within us, rather than an eternal life of "Oneness with" God. 3. The Great Battle Within The Four Religions And Within Man - is moving from our "separation & differences" to our Oneness My dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman, what we are doing is also movement, movement between Oneness and Separation. This is the great battle within religion, as it is the great battle within man, which is transcending our "separation and differences". And we do this, by transcending the four separate religions or paths outside of us, and becoming the one religion or path of God within us, by transcending our life of "selfishness" outside of us, and becoming God's life of "selflessness" within us, by joining in partnership with God within us and with what He is doing within us, by becoming One with the Creation of God within us, and letting God reveal True Man from within us, and in this way, naturally and ever so gradually becoming True Man within the 18,000 universes within each of us, and the "Oneness of God and True Man" within all of us. 4. An Introduction To The Life And Teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) In the introduction to this letter we stated that the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), from one perspective, is all about understanding the common essence of the four religions, of the Hindi, Zoroastrian, Christian, Islamic and Judaic Religions, and scriptures, and moving on. Lets explore this a little more by presenting an brief overview of the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) from this perspective, of moving from "separation and differences" to Oneness. First, His Holiness, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), groups Judaism and Islam together as one, as two reflections of the same thing, of the One thing that is God and True Man, of the "Oneness of God and True Man", as two facets of the same gem. In addition, His Holiness describes the four religions that we currently see outside of us as representative of the four main parts of our body, with Hinduism being the section below our waist, or creation, the section of earth and water, Zoroastrianism as our stomach or the section of fire, Christianity as our chest or the section of air, and Islam and Judaism as our head, the section of light or ether. With the path of God within us, our spiritual awakening, moving from the womb through the stomach to the heart, and from the heart, to the head, eventually closing within us the world that we see and support through the current 7 openings in our head, by opening within us the 18,000 universes that we see through His eye of wisdom on our forehead, eventually joining with God in the next world within us, by becoming One with God within us, as the throne of God on the top of our head. In addition, His Holiness speaks of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon Him) as our wisdom or higher consciousness, the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon Him) as our soul or purity, and the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of God be upon Him) as our heart or true form or body, in this way, making us and the 124,000 Prophets of God one, with the 4 religions all defining "who we are" before we overcome them, before we overcome what is separating us from God by understanding them, one by one, as we journey back into the Oneness that is God, from which we have come. Using this as a brief introduction to the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), from one perspective, lets take a look at what is happening in the world today. 5. What Is Truly Happening In The World Today? - God is happening, that's what's happening, not "us" as "separate from" God Suppose we are all wrong, and nothing is happening the way we think it is happening, that instead there is an incredible beauty and perfection to everything, a beauty and perfection that we cannot see because instead we see "us" as "separate from" God, as "separate from" each other, and as "separate from" the Creation of God. Suppose we are much, much more than who we think we are, that instead of being what we are currently experiencing as "who we are", we are of God, and instead of being "where we think we are", we are within God, and instead of us understanding "what is happening", what in truth is happening is us. That we are what God is doing. And what if what God is doing is revealing Himself, for the benefit of all of His Creations. And what if He reveals Himself by first revealing True Man within His Creation, allowing True Man to then reveal God within the Creation of True Man, revealing in this way, the Oneness of God and True Man, which in truth is God and True Man. What if all this is the truth of "us", not what we are currently seeing as existing "outside" of us. And what if all we had to do to become this truth of us was to realize, understand, accept, and join with this truth of "us". That everything else naturally occurred, allowing True Man to appear within the Creation of God, and allowing God to appear within the Creation of True Man, revealing in this way the "Oneness of God and True Man." What if what is truly happening, in the world, within us, within everyone and everything is One thing, and One thing alone. What if what is truly happening is "God is happening", not "us" as "separate from" God. And what if for God to happen within us all we have to do is let it happen, not block it or prevent it from happening, by us holding onto the false idea of "us happening", of our life "separate from" God, but instead join Him, but instead realize, understand, accept, and join with the truth of us, which is "Him Happening" within us, for the benefit of all of the Creation of God within us. What if all we have to do for God to happen within us is for us to let "Him happen" within us, and to let "us end" outside of us, is for us to become peaceful in our own ending. And God will do everything else. From one perspective, this is the life and teaching of God for our age, which God has placed both within us, and outside of us, the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). 6. The Life And Teaching of God For Our Age - is the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) In truth, my dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman, this explanation is it, this is all we need, this Oneness of God, this transition of God from stillness to movement, this joining of our life with what God is already doing within us, this letting us end as "separate from" God so God can happen within us, so "us" as "One with" God within us, as True Man within the Creation of God within us, can happen within us, so God can complete what He is doing within us, within each of us, is all we need. This is the essence of Judaism and Islam, of Christianity, of Zoroastrianism, of Hinduism, of the four religions. This explanation is all we need, is what allows us to move forward, to move on to what lies beyond the four religions, if that be our true intention. This is the Principle Tenet of the four religions, the Affirmation of the Unity of God, which in Islam is called Tawhid, the Mystery of the Triple Flame of God - Ya Allah, Ya Rasul, Ya Muhaiyaddeen, which in truth is One, while in Christianity it is called the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Mystery of - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, which in truth is One, and in the religion of Fire Worship or Zoroastrianism it is also referred to as the "Three Flames that are One", and in Hinduism it is referred to in many way. For example, His Holiness, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him, on pages 72 to 76 in Chapter 21, "The Six Faces", in the beautiful book of wisdom, The Pearl of Wisdom, lovingly explains the true meaning of the Hindu God "Kandan", who is always shown in the Hindu tradition on the outside as a statue or figure with six faces, and called "Aaru-Muham". His Holiness explains in Chapter 21 that in the Hindu tradition "Kandan" represents the transformation of "false man", who outside shows one face but secretly shows inside the six faces of evil, of lust, hatred, miserliness, delusion, bigotry, and envy, into "True Man" who in maturity show the one face of faith, wisdom, and 'ilm or Diving Knowledge, the face of Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of God be upon Him), to God within us, distinguishing in His reflection for all to see, who can see, the truth that surrounds God, becoming in maturity the six wisdoms, the six faces of clarity within us, that are beyond estimation, beyond imagination, and beyond pleasure. (Note: please forgive my, my dearest loving brother, but this child doesn't know how this concept of Tawhid or "Affirmation of the Unity of God" is described in the beautiful Judaic tradition, but we are sure that within the 10,000 discourses and songs about God from His Holiness, that Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) has given us, He has beautifully described it for us, but this child has not yet heard it. Please remember, that we have only scratched the surface of reviewing and making available to the public the life and teaching of His Holiness, a task that will fall on many generations to come, God willing. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar). This is the Principle Tenet of Judaism and of Islam and of Christianity, and of all the religions of God, the Affirmation of the Unity of Allah, that the 124, 000 Prophets of God brought to us, over and over again, to each race, to each people, from the beginning of time until now, to the level that the people could understand it, and that the Prophet could or were permitted by God to explain it. This is the essence of the 4 religions of God. And this is the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) for this age, for the Children of God for this age, for the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us), if we but accept it as coming to us from God for our age, coming to all of us living in the world today, coming as the life and teaching of God for our age, on the outside of us, to help us realize and accept what God has placed within each of us, which is the essence of the life and teaching of God for our age, which is True Man within the Creation of God within each of us. For as His Holiness told us right before He died, on December 8th, 1986, that when He died that He would go into the hearts of all of His children. So now we have everything necessary to be successful in our life. So now as His Holiness teaches us, "Our wisdom can reason over our fate." And this finger pointing to God for our age, this outside version of the life and teaching of God for our age, has come on the outside of us to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, consisting of over 10,000 discourses about God, and songs to God, which have all been recorded on audio tape, with many of them on video tape, just waiting for us to hear it and see it, understand it, accept it, and join with it, if we like. What more can God do?. We know this to be true, my dearest loving brother, and we firmly believe that if you look into it with the pure and open heart that God has given you, my dearest loving brother, so will you, and so will all of the Children of God for this age. This is my firm belief. Next let us share a beautiful explanation given to us by His Holiness, the answer to a very simple question, which summarizes so beautifully what this child has been trying to share with his dearest loving brother in this letter. Which is the answer to the question, "Why does an apple seed germinate?" My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). May God help us all, and may God open each of our hearts to the following beautiful explanation of wisdom. Amen. 7. Why Does An Apple Seed Germinate? - because it becomes aware of the truth of itself, that it is an apple seed, that it is buried within the earth, and that the earth contains everything necessary for the apple tree within it to grow One day in the "room", which is what we affectionately called the room His Holiness lived in most of the time, when He was living in America, between 1971 and 1986, and is the room that He died in on December 8th, 1986, at His residence at 5820 Overbrook Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. One day in the "room" in the fall of 1986, during the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is the traditional month of fasting in Islam, a few months before He died, His Holiness, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), look at His Children, which is what He called all of us, and asked us a question. A question which changed the life of this child, and will change your life too, my dearest loving brother, and the life of all who hear His answer, whether they want to hear it or not, if we listen with our faith in God and with our wisdom, which is our original connection to God, that we all had in the world of souls, and for the first few years here, before we covered it over with what we now are and see. Such is the nature of truth and falsehood, my dearest loving brother. His Holiness asked the question, "Why does an apple seed germinate?" Now we all tried to answer the question, like all children will try to do when their father asks them a question, and all of our answer had to do with the elements, with the earth, fire, water, and air, and with the sky and colors, which His Holiness calls ether. His Holiness took in all of our answers, sitting on the bed where He spent most of His time, since He was well over 100 years old, and was very sick most of the time, though He told us that He was only sick because He was taking on all of our illnesses, not His. Then His Holiness looked up at us, with a smile that melted our heart, and said to us, "No my dearest loving children, that is not why an apple seed germinates." "An apple seed germinates because it becomes aware that it is an apple seed, that it is buried within the earth, and that the earth contains everything necessary for the apple tree within it to grow. Then the earth becomes aware that the apple seed is now aware that it is an apple seed, that it is buried within the earth, and that the earth contains everything necessary for the apple tree within it to grow." "Then out of that mutual awareness, the earth surrenders to the apple seed and the apple seed surrenders to the earth, and that is why an apple seed germinate." "That is why an apple seed germinates, my dearest loving children, through awareness, through the realization of the truth that emerges from within it, not because of any influence of the 5 elemental forces that it is buried within." "Like this, in truth man is the seed of God, and He is buried within God, and God contains everything necessary for that seed of God to grow into the Tree of God, which is True Man." "And when man comes to the point in his life when this truth of him emerges from within him, and if at that time he realizes, understands, accepts, and joins with that truth of him, then God within him will realize that man now knows "who he is", that he is the seed of God, and that man now knows "where he is", that he is within God, and God is within him, within the wisdom within him, like the apple fruit is hidden within the apple tree that is hidden within the apple seed that is buried within the earth." "And that man now knows "what is happening", that God is happening, by first allowing True Man to happen, first allowing True Man to be revealed within the Creation of God, first allowing the Tree of God to be revealed from within the Seed of God, so True Man can then reveal God within the Creation of True Man, so the Tree of God can then reveal the Fruit of God from within the Tree of God." "And that man now knows, that God contains everything necessary for that seed of God to grow into the Tree of God, into True Man within the Creation of God, and for the Tree of God to bear fruit, to reveal God within the Creation of True Man." "Then out of this mutual awareness, God surrenders to man and man surrenders to God, and True Man is revealed within the Creation of God, within the 18,000 universes within this world, and then God is revealed within the Creation of True Man, within the 99 qualities of God in the next world, and in this way revealing the Oneness of God and True Man, which in truth is God and True Man". Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. So be it, So be it, O Ruler of the Universes. So be it, So be it, O Most Merciful One. So be it, So be it, O Most Compassionate One. All praise and praising belong to God and to God alone. Only God is great. 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