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Mysticism
The Universal Mystery
by Anwar Shaikh |
The mysterious nature of the universe is its
major quality which also happens to be the fountain of what we call
"mysticism." The mystery of free will is its integral part.
Irrespective of whether one believes in a super being
or not, there is a universal principle behind the phenomenal world, which we may
term as God or Nature. Mysticism, is all about discovering this mystery or the
ultimate truth and becoming a part of it.
As stated in the first chapter, the reigning principle
of the universe is mystery or uncertainty. Since it is only man who can ponder
over the complexities of the world and indulge in uncovering the truth for
himself, the universal mystery exists in relation to man, and nothing else.
However, before man can undertake this task, he must have sufficient awareness
and well-developed power of thinking to realize that he has a purpose of life.
Man's search for the truth is intensified by the wonder, wizardry and wisdom of
the universal principle. It fills him with timidity, tremor and terror, on the
one hand, and determination, dare and devotion, on the other, to find out the
truth for himself. This cosmic stratagem to arouse human interest in the
ultimate reality, is highly successful. This is the reason that about 90% of all
people, no matter where they live, believe in a final goal. The tiny minority
which denies the existence of such a reality, exists to prove that the fate and
operation of the world, are not determined but based on free will.
Free will implies not only the power to choose or
refuse but also the will to seek and succeed through suffering, supplication or
suzerainty. To maintain the dignity of free will and to make the reward of
probing significant, superb and super, the cosmic principle places a barrier of
curiosity between itself and man. This is what creates a relationship of lover
and beloved between the two, and the excitement of exploration and hope for
finding the object of passion, makes the seeker sometime sad, sometime mad and
sometime glad, depending upon the progress of his search, yet the fire of love
keeps driving him like a locomotive engine towards its goal. It is for this
reason that in all world literature, the mystical language, especially in
poetry, happens to be the language of love. Regardless of the purity of motive,
which is essentially there, a mystic approaches the ultimate reality as a lover
and expresses the intensity of his desire, the torture of loneliness, the pain
of separation, the effect of prolonged nights and days, and the extreme need for
an assignation like a passionate lover, versed in poetic language, having the
power to convey his purpose and arouse the awful, arrogant and apathetic
disposition of the beloved. This is the reason that God, the beloved, cannot,
and must not reveal himself. He has got to be found. The God who is not the
object of a determined search, ceases to be God for being cheap and frivolous;
secondly, such a God is driven by a purpose that is, search for followers. Thus,
He is not independent, and therefore, not God.
The nature of this love is neither stupid nor
supercilious. It is natural because love is a strictly private affair between
two people, and admits no arbitration from a third party. Therefore, quest for
the reality is a direct attempt of the seeker, and needs no messianic and
prophetic assistance. Those who need grace or intercession through the force of
faith to reach their spiritual goal, find nothing in the mystical approach.
There is no room for recommendation or chicanery in this field; either you are a
lover or you are not. If you are a lover, it is the sincerity of your passion
and effort which will win the day, and not the good word that a messiah or
prophet may put in for you. As you can see from this discussion this approach is
totally irrelevant, and even derogatory to the concept of love. Of course, it is
good for the "spiritual" business and the ego of those who pine for
having a following; it is absolutely detrimental to the seeker, who is dazzled
by the spurious lustre of his so-called guide and loses his way; instead of
seeking the Reality, he ends up worshipping his supposed messiah or prophet.
One should also bear in mind that it is against the
principle of love that the beloved should look for the lover. Someone ranks as a
beloved only because she (he) is fancied or desired by someone. Therefore, it is
for the lover to seek her (him) to establish his (her) love. What has grace or
intercession got to do with it? Again, it is only whores who look for customers;
a beloved wants to be coaxed, cajoled and complimented. The Reality that can be
realised through intercession and grace is something trivial, trifling and
tasteless; precious things always cost a good deal, and if they did not, they
would not be precious.
Again, the feeling and appreciation of Reality is
relevant to an individual's perception. I have given its physical explanation in
the first chapter. Now, I may add that though we have an average threshold of
feeling and understanding, every human is different in feeling and understanding
according to his perception. Both these facts i.e. the average threshold and the
individual understanding are essential to maintain the mystical, which also
happens to be the universal law of unity in diversity and diversity in unity, or
explained in simple terms: all in one, and one in all. It follows that mysticism
being a personal quest for the truth is strictly an individual affair, and the
insistence that unless a person acknowledges the hegemony of a certain prophet
or messiah, he will not achieve salvation, is a false notion.
Quest for the reality is aroused by the wondrous nature
of the universe, which is both alluring and aweful, frightening and felicitous,
trustworthy and tantalising. Since man cannot fathom the depth of the universe,
he finds himself awe-stricken, baffled and lost. Thus he feels afraid. As
anthropology confirms it, in his primitive state, he began to believe that there
is a power hidden behind every phenomenon such as the sun, the moon, the stars,
the sky, the air, the wind, the fire, the cloud, the thunder the lightning, the
rain, and so on. He thought of such powers as gods and goddesses who wield
considerable power on the destiny of man in terms of life and death and grief
and happiness. Instinctively, he realised the demands of power, that is, the
powerful wants to be respected and obeyed. This primitive psychology of brute
power holds as good today as it did in the beginning of humanity. So, the
primitive man, out of fear, started worshipping the imaginary gods and
goddesses. As time went on, there arose the idea of organised priesthood. Clever
men, who wanted to dominate their frightened fellow-beings and hoodwink them of
their possessions, launched the idea of knowing the special magical formulas or
mantras which could easily appease and please these deities, but they were not
willing to disclose these sacred words to the ordinary people unless they became
their followers and paid them homage with suitable gifts such as money, rood,
and even women. These priests invented not only "sacred" writings but
also symbolism, that is, idols of different gods and goddesses as well as a host
of rites, ceremonies, taboos, spiritual manners, and laid a special emphasis on
the sanctity of the priest himself whose pleasure or displeasure could be
delightful or doleful to the worshipper. The frightened man, who sought
appeasement of these mystical powers, surrendered.
As time gathered momentum, there arose another class of
preachers, especially in the Middle Eastern countries; they called themselves
prophets and messiahs. These holy men were determined to replace the existing
idols with their own divinity, to be adored and implored. Every prophet claimed
that he was the nnessenger of God, had an especially revealed message for
mankind as the Holy Scripture, and people could contact the Almighty through his
agency only. There was one basic requirement: they must believe in him as the
messenger or messiah of God and acknowledge him as their final arbitrator. The
frightened people were further scared by the threat of hell, and also made
greedy by the offer of paradise replete with most beautiful virgins anxiously
waiting to oblige the faithfuls with their appetising bounties.
Besides fear, humans appear to have a built-in quest
for the Unknown or Reality. This can be termed as Homing Instinct. It means,
there is an unconscious feeling in every man that he is part or a much greater
reality which is occult. Staying away from that Reality is like being away from
home. Ask a man on a long and tedious journey who feels homesick an wants to
return home; as an arctic tern may fly 12,000 miles to return home or as a tiny
bunting may cross the oceans to come to the same branches where he was hatched,
man as long as his conscience is not blurred, pines for returning home, that is,
to the Reality, of which he feels destined to be a part. This is why the
ultimate goal of true mysticism has always been man's union with God.
Yet another cause of man's search for Reality is the
evolutionary nature of the universe, which is constantly exhibiting new forms,
new formulas and unexpected cosmological events. These all are emanations of
Change, the underlying principle of the cosmos. It goes without saying that a
created world would have been drab, dour and distasteful for lacking the power
to change, which is responsible for all the diversity and complexity - the true
attraction of the phenomenal process.
In fact, Change is:
a. the fountain of existence and evolution,
b. the source of mysticism, and
c. the means of ultimate stability, which defies death and further change.
I shall discuss these issues later to satisfy the
curiosity of the reader. At this stage, however I may add as mysticism or quest
for the hidden truth, leading man's union with God appears to be the natural
religion of man, I ought to state the difference between mysticism and the
traditional religion such as based on "revelation."
The main difference between the two is that mysticism
has a philosophical approach and is chiefly based on reason though sometime we
do find sediments of superstition and bigotry affecting its fabric. On the other
hand, religion. especially the revealed one is mythological in essence, and is
founded on one man's desire to topple other gods to raise himself as the God of
all times. In other words, mysticism is an expression of the divine philosophy
whereas an ordinary or revealed religion is divorced from reason and founded on
faith. which discourdges thinking, reasoning and probing, and demands of the
faithful to believe in and practise what he is told, else he is not a believer.
In defining religion on these lines, priestly hand is at work because the
religion has come to be associated with the faithtul repeated and determined
attempts have been made over centuries to keep it opposed to intelligence and
reason, though without these two qualities man is no better than an animal. The
reason for this trickery is simple: it is an attempt to downgrade the
significance of philosophy and reason and upgrade the value of myth and
suoerstition for the benefit of the priestly pomp, prestige and power .
Treating myth as a religion is contempt of humanity.
What is a myth ?
A myth is an untrue belief generally held to be true.
It is fiction given the status of fact through the force of story- telling and
tradition and made sacred by the undue reverence shown io it over a period of
time. This is the reason that a myth is usually a traditional story of a god or
hero and offers an explanation of some event or phenomenon.
This definition accords with the fact already stated,
that is, man is afraid of natural phenomena and out of curiosity wants to know
the cause of cloud, rain, thunder, lightning, wind, moon and sun. Through
curiosity and fear he believes that there is a power behind each phenomenon,
which he calls "god" or "goddess.'' The priest exploits the
curiosity and fear of the seeker and also makes the most of his own ignorance
and invents a story of a god or hero to satisfy the questioner through a tale of
falsehood. Most nations have a mythological or religious background which has a
stunning effect on their individual and social behaviour. It serves as a
fountain of brainwashing, compelling its adherent to adopt a way of thinking
which is usually opposed to their pattern of behaviour.
Myths might have helped in explaining, to some extent,
natural, social, cultural and biological facts in the beginning of human
culture. They also played a part in propounding the ritual and cultic customs.
Though the saccharine force of mythology did offer solace to the seekers through
ignorance and a nneasure of bliss through brainwashing, it remained a tool of
man's dominance-urge to raise certain individuals and their families above the
rest. This is the reason that there existed strong myths which enabled many
dynasties to claim that they were children of certain gods and thus endowed with
the divine rights to rule their fellow-beings as they wished. In fact, this
served as the pillar of ruling dynasties in the ancient civilisations. One has
only to look at the histories of Egypt, China, Babylon and Inca empires. India
and Arabia provide us with even more amazing examples. The Brahmin promulgated
the myth of Purusa to create the most horrendous society based on caste system,
which raised him (Brahmin) to a godly status lowering millions to the
everlasting humiliation of untouchability, and the Arabian Prophet exalted his
own tribe Quresh over the rest of mankind including the Arabs, and thus
restricted the right of governing to the Quresh, and created the special honour
of being a 'Sayyad" to his own progeny.
However, exploitation of mythology for one's personal
or dynastic gain does not alter the fact that human race has a predisposition
toward discovering the truth even if it is presented in the form of mythology.
This fact is vouched for by what is called "Mystery Religions." Since
state or public religions did not satisfy everyone, the people who believed in
different set of doctrines but could not practise them for fear of public
condemnation and state persecution, resorted to secret cults or mystery
religions. Their basic principles and rituals originated in tribal ceremonies.
It is interesting to know that they were performed by the primitive people in
different parts of the world. As a devotion, almost every member of the clan
offered himself to be initiated into the secret cult. These mystery religions
peaked in popularity during the three centuries A.D. and are supposed to have
originated in the ancient Greek though I believe that their roots can be traced
to India. Some of the peculiarities of a mystery society consisted of a
hierophant, the revealer of holy things, eating together and common dances.
Above all, they experienced a strong bond of togetherness as an established
brotherhood.
What gives mystery religions their Greek flavour is the
fact that Dionysus, who was the Greek god of fruitfulness, vegetation, and
especially of wine, was worshipped by the secret communities, which participated
in eating food, drinking wine, sexual activities, choral singing and mimes;
since both men an women were members of these societies, initiation into sexual
life was a special attraction. This ceremony was a means of introducing
mysticism into the societies. The act of copulation led to the birth of
children, and the birth as an inevitable association of death reminded them of
their parted ancestors, thus suggesting a mystical communion with them, as well
of the present generation with the future members.
Of course, everybody did not appreciate the mystical
purpose of the secret societies. Most ot them joined them for belonging to an
occult group where activities were kept hidden from the gaze of general public
by the oath of secrecy taken by the members. Even greater attraction was offered
by the fact that they had the privilege of enjoying good food, good wine and an
opportunity of having sex with someone else's wife or paramour. These
indiscretions made the oath of secrecy a serious matter, and as betrayal meant
disgrace to the entire fraternity, it carried high penalties for the traitor.
Yet, the re-enactment of all Eleusinian ceremony had a mystical message for all
the members irrespective of the motives, which drove them to become members of
the secret societies.
The re-enactment of the Eleusinian ceremony involved a
theatrical representation of the myth of Kore (Persephone), who was carried away
by Hades (Pluto), the god of the underworld, for a wife. Her mother, Demeter,
the goddess of agriculture was grieved by the event so much that she refused to
make the grain grow, threatening humanity with a famine. Despite all her efforts
she could not have her daughter freed permanently; according to a compromise,
she had to spend one third of the year with her husband (Hades) and the rest
with her mother. Kore failed to regain full freedom because she had eaten a
pomegranate seed, a symbol of death and birth. Thus it had mystical message; in
matrimonial terms, it meant that a girl is taken from her parents' home and her
virginity is "strangled' to bring forth a new child. Similarly, burial of a
person in the ground implied a mystical partaking in the cyclical renewal of
life. The true mystical message, however, lay in the fact that all allegories
and ceremonial re-enactments sought to assure the initiates that there was a
good chance of their gaining immortality after death.
Besides Dionysus, the god of wine and the patron of
sexuality, there were other Greek philosophers who influenced mystery cults thus
advancing the cause of mysticism. They cannot be ignored in depicting the
development of mysticism:
a. There was a Greek cult called Orphic, named after
Orpheus, a Greek hero of supernatural musical skills, who was supposed to have
composed certain sacred writings which, amongst other things, emphasised:
1. Soul is the divine part which is entombed in the
body, and purpose of man's life is ta liberate soul from this material prison.
2. A person can achieve this goal by abstaining from
meat, wine and women. This was the righteous path which led to salvation.
3. After death, the soul would be judged. If a man
had done good deeds, he would enter paradise i.e. the meadows of the blessed
Elysium. If he had been unrighteous, he would be sent to hell for torture.
However, hell and heaven were not the final reward or punishment for one
life-time virtuous or vicious deeds; a soul was to be reincarnated after its
dessert. A soul had to live at least three righteous lives before it could be
liberated from the cycle of rebirth.
b. Pythagoreans:
This was a psychological sect of the 6th Century B.C.
They combined most of the Orphic views with music, geometry and astronomy.
However; their march into the mystical field was especially innovative. They
attached specific spiritual values to numbers. They believed that souls
originally dwelt in stars whence they fell down to the earth and mingled with
bodies. Thus man's real nome was stars, and he was a total stranger on earth.
His sole task was to liberate himself from the bondage of the body.
c. Platonists:
One of the major factors that contributed to the spread
of the mystical influence was that of Plato (C428-348 B.C.) whose philosophical
language resembled closely to that of the mysterious or secret cults.
Explaining his theory of the universe, he concluded
that the earth is surrounded by the seven planets; above it stands the realm of
the fixed stars which also happens to be the original home of souls. Repeating
the Pygthagorean doctrine, he emphasised that souls fell down to the earth
through planetary spheres and united with bodies. Thus it became the destiny of
every soul to liberate itself from the body and go back to the stars. Plato also
adopted the concepts of reward and punishment for souls, doctrine of
transmigration, final release and soul's ability to remembers its celestial
origin.
As Alexander the Great, marched into Asia to seize the
Persian empire, he carried with him all the mystical traditions of Greece
derived from rnysteries and exalted by the Greek philosophical thinking.
However, as he entered the Punjab (India), he found that mysticism was already
rooted there. In view of its antiquity, depth and influence, the Greek mysticism
appeared as an offshoot of the Indian mystical philosophy.
Mysticism, in fact, is the product or India. This is
where it originated and then mingled with other creeds of the world to rank as
the true religion of mankind.
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