Sayings

By M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Arising from the limitless ocean of wealth given to us by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.), Sayings is a valuable new treasury of clear wisdom that somehow manages to be universal and specific, timeless and timely, old and new, complex and simple, yet able to speak directly to every open heart. This book lightly carries us into the realm of wisdom by asking innocent questions with obvious answers: "If you bite into a hot chili pepper, what will happen? Shhhh, aghhh. It will burn your mouth." When we are told how this example applies to our own lives: "If you bite on something that can burn you, it will cause you to suffer," we suddenly realize we have been given a memorable safeguard. Consisting of sayings of all lengths and kinds, the adages in this book appear simple, at first. As we think about them, we see that these sayings are filled with inner meanings and brimming with priceless truths we can chuckle over: "Evil is like a tail that keeps on growing;" ponder about: "Too intimate a friendship will blind you and be a danger to your life;" and reflect upon: "Time…changes with the seasons. If a man becomes Yaman, the Angel of Death (A.S), he will destroy himself." As always, the compassionate wisdom of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) never fails to nurture the soul while bringing comfort to the mind and inspiration to our everyday lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781943388554

Book preview

A‘udhu billahi minash-shaitanir-rajim.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan.

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim.

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

About the cover art

This original Heart’s Work was painted by Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.).

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938157

Muhaiyaddeen, M. R. Bawa.

Sayings / M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)

Philadelphia, PA: Fellowship Press, 2020

p. cm.

Includes index.

Trade paperback: 978-1-943388-52-3

Hardcover: 978-1-943388-53-0

Mobipocket: 978-1-943388-54-7

ePub: 978-1-943388-55-4

1. God. 2. Wisdom. 3. Truth. 4. Examples from nature. 5. Good and evil. 6. Mind and desire. 7. Justice. 8. Duty. 9. Death. 10. Conscience. 11. Heaven and hell. I. Title.

Copyright © 2020 by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

5820 Overbrook Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This volume of Sayings is unabridged and comes to these pages directly from the recorded words of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.). Every effort has been made to keep the purity of his words intact.

Printed in the United States of America by FELLOWSHIP PRESS

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

First Printing

Table of Contents

Editor’s Note

Session One

1. The crab has ten legs.

2. The baby's mind is clear.

3. The honeybee and the honeysucker.

4. The signal of wisdom.

5. Good qualities precede wisdom.

6. Wisdom must go in front.

7. Be aware of your conscience.

8. Squeeze your mind.

Session Two

9. Friendship.

10. Desire.

11. Lust.

12. Blood ties.

13. Evil.

14. Falsehood.

15. Trickery.

16. Pride

17. Vengeance.

18. Jealousy.

19. Fecal arrogance.

20. Racial divisions

21. True learning.

Session Three

22. The magnifying glass of wisdom.

Session Four

23. How do you catch a fish?

24. How do you rule a country?

25. How do you rule a kingdom?

26. Should you rule a kingdom based on religion?

27. The snake within.

28. Train your horse before a journey.

29. Free yourself from separation.

30. The world is not your enemy.

31. The work of a dog.

32. The wisdom of certitude.

33. How do you comfort others?

34. Do not keep doubt within you.

35. Speak to God.

36. The elephant of arrogance.

37. Backbiting.

38. Do not do duty for selfish reasons.

39. Do not allow the world to live within you.

40. What is eternal?

41. Time and the Angel of Death (A.S.).

42. Do not find fault.

43. Cause and effect.

44. Search for the wisdom to realize God.

45. Do not let your mind become tired.

46. God alone is eternal.

47. How should you conduct your life?

48. Justice and victory.

49. The words of truth.

50. What should we nurture?

51. How to understand the world.

52. Cure your own illnesses.

53. Procrastination.

54. Do not be hasty.

Session Five

55. The cat and the rat.

56. What is the head for man's soul?

57. The cow and the bull.

58. The eye of wisdom.

59. What needs to be discarded.

60. The true smile.

61. The qualities of a snake.

62. The final taste.

63. Can you not do the work of a honeybee?

64. The openings.

65. The atom of truth.

66. God is great. Man is small.

67. A fish out of water.

68. Filter and distill.

69. Refine and change your sections.

70. All lives are like your own life.

71. Destroy what separates unity.

72. The mirror of truth and wisdom.

73. An elephant has three kinds of arrogance.

74. At least do the work that a tree does.

75. A tree does not need an umbrella.

Session Six

76. One who wants to fight.

77. Understand truth and compassion.

78. Conscience does not need any other witness.

79. Justice and injustice.

80. A human being will not kill other lives.

81. Understand the joys and sorrows of others.

82. God's qualitites.

83. Ignorance.

84. Greed and pride.

85. A speck of dust.

86. Discard impurity.

87. The enmity within.

88. Correct your life.

89. Stop angry speech.

90. Understand your hunger.

91. Establish God's qualities.

92. Do not hold onto satan's qualities.

93. The evil within.

94. Evil destroys itself.

95. The fog of sorrows.

96. The tree of love.

97. God is love.

98. Truth is eternal.

99. The hearts of a man and a woman.

100. Push away the dust of karma.

101. Remove what is opposite to God.

102. The assembly within man's mind.

103. Can a dog become a vegetarian?

104. Can a cat obtain gnanam?

105. A pig does not reject anything.

106. A goat never eats anything fully.

107. Children and a leaky bucket.

108. Good and evil.

109. Who is man's enemy?

110. Salamah.

111. Permanent and impermanent.

112. Compassion.

113. Do not hold on to evil.

114. No one has ever been ruined by God.

115. The decaying garbage in your heart.

Session Seven

116. Our life-companion.

117. Suffering and difficulty.

118. Who is the enemy to truth?

119. God has painted His creations with different colors.

120. Goodness is original.

121. Only one point exists in the soul.

122. What is the strength for your life?

123. What is the vehicle for the journey of your life?

124. Who is the commander who steers the vehicle of iman?

125. Are you a human being or an animal?

126. The two marriages.

127. True learning within.

128. Praise and blame.

129. The pond of your mind.

130. Each tongue is different.

131. Do your duty and escape.

132. Is the world holding on to you?

133. Look at your own faults.

134. Burn the grass of your ignorance.

135. Destroy mind and desire.

136. Wisdom finds clarity.

137. Wisdom is needed for any kind of journey.

138. What is not a dream?

139. Heal your own sores.

Session Eight

140. Appeasing hunger.

141. The banana tree.

142. A cow changes its blood into milk.

143. The doubtful crow.

144. The frightened crow.

145. Death is certain.

146. The dog that keeps barking.

147. Escape from the bite of the man-snake.

148. The crab does not walk straight.

149. Rule your own kingdom.

150. Who is man's enemy?

151. What gives comfort and peace?

152. What do we need for the journey of our life?

153. When will our journey be finished?

154. What is good and what is bad?

155. The ocean of illusion of the mind.

156. What is tiyanam meditation?

157. What is the benefit of tavam?

158. What is the meaning of samadi?

159. The true astrologer.

Session Nine

160. Who is good and who is bad?

161. The turbine of wisdom.

162. The heart within the heart.

163. Man has two bodies.

164. Fana' and baqa'.

165. The souls within yourself.

166. The bigger fish eat the smaller fish.

167. What happens if you do not have thoughts?

168. A tree gives shade.

169. Justice has no blood ties.

170. Cut the connection to the world.

171. The connection to the mother, in the womb.

172. Say la ilaha illAllahu correctly.

173. Do not wait for tomorrow.

Session Ten

174. The inner psychology.

175. Teach children good qualities.

176. Sorrows can easily be pushed aside.

177. The waves of the mind.

178. Escape from the animals within.

179. Overcome the maya within.

180. The snake of the five senses.

181. Pluck the fruit of grace.

182. Understand one state of wisdom through another.

183. The two deaths.

184. The nafsaniyyah and the shaitaniyyah.

185. The heart is like a farm.

186. Winnow the chaff.

187. Do not carry all that you see.

188. Build the house of prayer.

Session Eleven

189. Tomorrow we will be questioned.

190. A man who has one eye.

191. A man who has one ear.

192. A bee extracts honey from a flower.

193. Water in the ocean will not quench your thirst.

194. Do not harm others.

195. The termite builds its house.

196. Eliminate birth and death.

197. The two kinds of stench.

Session Twelve

198. Truth and love never change.

199. Man roams in three worlds.

200. The duty of the sun and the moon.

201. The unity of the hearts of a male and a female is beautiful.

202. The ant searches for the sweet taste.

203. The two types of breath.

204. The turtle carries everything on its back.

205. The bite of the man-snake.

206. The unity of the seeds in a pomegranate.

207. The rose gives joy.

208. Experience the taste of the corn by removing the husk.

209. The hen scratches for its food.

210. The woodpecker.

Session Thirteen

211. There are no brokers for truth.

212. The majority and the minority.

213. Truth cannot be sold.

214. The story of four people accused of stealing.

215. A chili pepper can burn your mouth.

216. The coolness of water.

217. Salt gives taste.

218. The instrument of justice.

219. Do not use the mind to dig the mud.

220. Control the bull of the mind.

221. Do not do the work of a bull.

222. Do not eat like a cow.

223. Complete your work before the darkness comes.

224. Truth will not die.

225. Search for the spring of wisdom.

226. The right conditions for rain.

Session Fourteen

227. The hummingbird.

228. In the ocean of maya, swim with wisdom.

229. What is the beauty of man?

230. The one who sang the song.

231. Our One relative.

232. When hunger comes, the ten will fly away.

233. Permanent and impermanent.

234. The tongue understands taste.

235. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of hell.

236. What is heaven? What is hell?

237. True duty.

238. Does water feel pain?

239. The true Wonder.

240. Who is a real child?

241. The inner clock.

Glossary

About M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Publications

Contact

Editor’s Note

A‘udhu billahi minash-shaitanir-rajim.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan.

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim.

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

As-salamu alaikum, dear reader. May the peace and compassion of God be with you.

These beautiful sayings were spoken in Tamil by Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) while he was residing in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1981/1982, and were preserved on audio tape.

At that time Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) asked us to make them into a book. But circumstances intervened, and they have been in the archives until now. For this first volume, we have edited and chronologically assembled fourteen sessions.

These wise sayings are filled with wonderful, practical advice on how to live our lives and come closer to God. Although the advice may seem simple, the deep inner meanings provide a path of clear guidance to those who choose to embrace it.

May Almighty Allah forgive us for any mistakes we might have made, and may all who read this book live with the wisdom, beautiful morality, and divine qualities that are engendered therein. Please accept our loving and heartfelt greetings.

The Editors.

April 12, 2020

Session One

December 19, 1981, 9:00 A.M.

1. The crab has ten legs.

2. The baby’s mind is clear.

3. The honeybee and the honeysucker.

4. The signal of wisdom.

5. Good qualities precede wisdom.

6. Wisdom must go in front.

7. Be aware of your conscience.

8. Squeeze your mind.

A‘udhu billahi minash-shaitanir-rajim.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan.

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim.

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

1

Wisdom is very deep.

There are many subtle points in life. Take, for instance, a crab. Its eyes are located on the outside, and they are always looking here and there. The mind and maya are also located on the outside, and they too are always looking here and there. The mind and maya do not go on the right path. Ignorance does not walk straight.

The crab has ten legs; the two front legs, its claws, act like hands. The ten legs represent the ten sins.¹ These ten sins do not go straight, padapadapadapada, bridabridabridabrida. Their eyes are on the outside, and they look here and there, this way and that way. They cannot see inside but go to many different outer sections and catch hold of those sections.

The ten sins cannot go straight since they do not live on the inside. One who has this kind of life will have many accidents.

In this way, man’s life is like that of a crab. He does not look inside, he just looks outside with the eye of maya, and because of this, he does not go on the true path, the right path. His entire life is difficult; he goes here, he goes there, back and forth, here and there. His time is wasted, and in the end he dies.

The true path is short, while the path of the ten sins zigzags back and forth, here and there, off to one side, off to the other side, then back again. Ten, ten, ten, ten!—the ten do not go straight, they go round and round. Finally, man’s time is over. This is not the true path, it is the path of the mind. We have to think about this.

A human being must find the path that is subtle. The ten sins are ten legs, and man dies because of these, he dies in sin. But the life of a human being is very subtle, it has only one point. His life is on the inside, not like the life of a crab. The true path is inside.

There is no true path for a person who is like a scorpion or a crab. That person has a certain kind of poison within him, and his time will be wasted. If you try to keep a crab in one place, it will not stay