“Religion is community centric, comes to divide and kill people, but Mysticism is universal, unites people and teaches to love everybody”, retorted a professor to my question as to why the mysticism teaches love but the religious scriptures of each religion also contain the stories of punishments of previous nations which have gone astray as well as dire warnings for people not to rebel against God’s commandments, hence be a object of his wrath. Similar deliberations like this were a part of the 13 day Workshop on “Mystic Thought of Kashmir” held from 1-13 August, 2011 at UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies(IKS), Kashmir University as a part of its programmes which it holds from time to time and I happened to be one of the participants of this Workshop. It was one of the most vibrant and academic workshops that I have ever encountered on mysticism with the only apparent flaw that the name Mystic Thought Of Kashmir gave an impression that only Kashmiri Mysticism was discussed, whereas the matter of fact is that Mysticism of all leading religions was discussed, which exposed the participants to various rich traditions of mysticism as espoused in different religions, for which the IKS and its Director M.H Zaffar alongwith Prof Gulshan Majeed must be congratulated.
In the present day world of corporate, capitalist, and casino culture, mysticism really is an endangered species as is religion which is fountainhead of mysticism. This fact was decried by various resource persons and speakers who made their presentations on various aspects of Mysticism, though very little was talked about Kashmiri Sufism or Rishism which is wrongly attributed as Kashmiriyat, and our indigenous Sufis and Rishis were least talked of, but surely next time the organizers would be cautious about the fact, because our own Sufis and Rishis like Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, Mahbubul Alam, weren’t even touched by the learned scholars and speakers. But the presentations and scholarly deliberations on Hindu, Christian, Jewish and Islamic mysticism were really superb and I learnt a lot about these traditions. Also to add beauty to the workshop most of the speakers were practicing mystics because mysticism is to be least talked and read about, but its essence lies and opens up to the seeker through practice and experience, it makes the seeker more practical than theoretical arm chair thinker.
The story of all religions is same, in the manner that Prophets who brought and preached and to whom religious scriptures were revealed did their job selflessly preaching the core values of every religion i.e. Justice, compassion, human dignity, truth, love for humanity, but after their deaths, a section of their followers developed vested, economic and political interests and exploited the religion for gratification of instincts of lower self and in the process religion became a scapegoat and its teachings got distorted and many a times it became a tool for violence against people, which even prompted many philosophers and men of thinking to rebel against religion and hold it responsible for the miseries afflicting mankind, but a section of people got disassociated with the mainstream distorted version of religions and tried to go back to the pristine, humanistic and genuine teachings of their religion, hence we got Mystic version of every religion, though mystic tendency is present in every religion. These mystics preached love for humanity, fraternity and harmony irrespective of religion, gender, race or color, hence they appealed to people of every hue and faith, who still throng their graves, shrines and other places attributed or related to them in vast numbers. But later on as happened with religion, mysticism too got exploited or distorted at the hands of some vested interests, who used it for attaining more worldly pleasures and materialistic wealth instead of helping people realize and long for the transcendental reality. In the present day, daily news about numerous scandals and money swindling by the babas, yogis and God men bear a testimony to this fact. The ‘mystics’ too haven’t been able to save themselves from the influence of materialism. The Tazkiya e Nafs(self purification) of these ‘upholders’ of mysticism many a times remains incomplete, hence leading people astray and towards doom, because if your heart, soul and spirit hasn’t been purified from the instincts of baser self, you fail to reflect the attributes of Divine. There is a famous story of a Muslim Sufi mystic Sarmad who was contemporary of Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor. He had supported Dara Shikoh who was elder brother of Aurangzeb and inclined towards Sufism, hence Aurangzeb wanted to kill him. He obtained a Fatwa form the ‘ulama on the grounds that he did not recite the Kalimah(profession of Islamic faith) fully. Instead of saying La ilaha illallah(there is no God, except one God), he would only say la ilaha( there is no God).
On the basis of the fatwa Aurangzeb ordered his execution and when the executioner raised his sword, one of Sarmad’s disciples rushed and whispered in his ear: ‘now at least say illallah and save your life!’ To this, Sarmad replied, ‘do you want me to tell a lie to save my life?’ The disciple, surprised at his answer, had said, ‘is it a lie to say illallah?’ “No”, said Sarmad, ‘it is the highest truth. But for me it would be a lie’. “What is that?’ the disciple had questioned. “Because, I have not been able to really deny the many gods of desire still sitting in my heart. How can I then say illallah? I am still worshipping so many idols of desire and not free of them’, was Sarmad’s answer. He was then beheaded. So mysticism is a very difficult path to traverse on.
The mystics who concentrate on esoteric aspect of religion unlike the doctors of divinity and theologians who are entangled with the exoteric aspect of religion and resort to unnecessary hairsplitting have more mass appeal and are real adherents of religious tradition, as they always try to unite people than divide in the name of God. Also the proximity of the theologians to the power centers and exploiting religion at the behest of rulers also rebuffed and alienated them from the masses, whereas the mystics were always accessible to the masses and masses themselves could relate to mystics, who weren’t corrupted by power or materialist ambitions, though this fact can’t be generalized for all because every theologian isn’t materialistic and every soul adopting the garb of mysticism isn’t free of moral corruption.
Mysticism as was emphasized by all the speakers isn’t a route for escapism from the brutal hostile realities of the world, but once you attained the mystical experiences you have to become more involved with the world and help it change towards betterment by inculcating the values of Peace, Love and Brotherhood among the masses, but here the mystics have utterly failed as nowhere in Kashmir or any part of India do we see the mystics grossly involved with the problems of masses or trying to actively intervene against corruption, communalism and terrorism and host of other diseases afflicting our society. In this manner some socially engaged theologians have contributed a lot and still are practically involved in resisting the demons of communalism, capitalism and terrorism.
The practical implementation and relevance of mysticism wasn’t too deliberated in this workshop, though it may be a shortcoming with the mysticism itself because it has to be practically experienced, but even if after practical experience remains individualistic and fails to be fruitful for the humanity at large then what is the need of that mysticism? Mysticism like religion fails to uphold the divine values of peace, justice, compassion and brotherhood when it strikes the political, social and economic realities of life, and our Kashmiri society is the best example of the same, and in broader context partition of sub-continent can be understood in the similar manner, despite the fact that Hindus and Muslims were an inseparable part of the Ganga-Jamuna civilization. The syncretic inclusive and pluralistic culture of Sufism and Rishism is still prevalent in each soul of Kashmir, but time and again politicians and alien invaders have tried to disrupt the same, but some lessons must be learnt from these which are
1. The pluralistic Sufi culture of inclusiveness fails in the face of economic interests, national interests and rights of any community.
2. This culture of pluralism and Peace can’t be maintained in absence of equality and justice.
3. The politics of appeasement can have a negative effect on this culture and can communalize the whole atmosphere.
In Kashmir known as Pir Vare(the Valley of mystics) thousands of mystics are present some genuine and others fake, since the inception of armed insurgency which brought in its wake numerous problems afflicting society, the mystics have gone in hiding and opted for escapism, and in some corner are guiding their disciples, but the fruit of this guidance has still not ripened. The valley and its inhabitants are in deep morass of moral turpitude, immense corruption and scores of social evils have afflicted them. The mystics and mysticism has failed to make Kashmiris a better nation, and it is grossly incorrect and wrong to say that Kashmiris are the best nation, meek and humble, the reality however is that Kashmiris didn’t have means to indulge in moral waywardness and corruption and alien rule and slavery had deprived them of any humane quality, hence when the means of wrong were made available, we are a witness to the fact that Kashmiris are more hedonist and people with beastly instincts than any other nation on the surface of the earth. The Mystic way or method of conflict resolution too needs to be discovered as well as Mystic fundamental principles of all religions to be deliberated which can pave way for dialogue among various religions. Overall if Mysticism can’t help feed an orphan and wipe the tears of a widow then what is the need of the same?
Many speakers and even some participants gave the impression that mysticism in all religions leads to the same Absolute reality and some participants even talked of freelance spiritualism. It is also time and again claimed that all religions lead to same God, hence one can follow any religion, but this thinking has a serious flaw, as those who espouse such statements are never themselves ready to give up their religion and religious identity. If they were truthful towards their statement they would have opted for freelance identity. The better and more realistic way is to honor and tolerate all but follow only one, while following one we can respect and dialogue with others.
Overall the workshop was a humble beginning and the participants benefitted immensely from the same, and the need for organizing more such workshops is the need of the hour, though only a few soul get attracted to it, but it is always a minority which is the harbinger of change, but here I would again differ with the learned Professor who said that Mysticism is universal and religion divides people, with humble request I wish to submit that without religion mysticism is dead but not vice versa. Also don’t try to mix the religion and use of religion by some vested interests, mysticism like religion too has been exploited by various people for their own mean interests. Unlike in mysticism, religious scholars and theologians have been able to articulate alternative interpretation of religions and Liberation Theology is one such example, but Mystics are yet to compartmentalize their teachings and surely they can’t as mystic experience is individualistic for everyone, hence anything can be justified in mysticism, which has its own problems.
The need of the hour and such workshops is that Mysticism should help us in preparing better individuals for our tomorrow.
Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com
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