Volume
Social Gathekas
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5. Different Schools of Sufism
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Sub-Heading
The Sufi Order
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Social Gathekas
5. Different Schools of Sufism
The Sufi Order
The Sufi Order is a school which represents the embodiment of all the schools and is answering the need of the present day. The Sufi Order, therefore, is the body composed of those interested in spiritual attainment who have been initiated in the Sufi Order which was formed in 1910, when the Sufi message was brought to the Western world.
The Sufi Order has the three objects and ten thoughts which you know. The rights of membership in the Sufi Order are the same all over the world. The Sufi Order is constituted of an outer body as well as of an inner spirit. As an outer body it has its Khankah, its branches (Organizations), and its Lodges (Centers).
The inner working of the Order is regulated in this way: there are four circles of initiates: the study circle, the advanced circle, the inner circle, the higher circle. One passes gradually through these by initiations. There is one initiation called the Sufi, where the obligation to the Order is finished. Then if one wishes to continue to help humanity, one is authorized and initiated to work in that direction as a Khalif or a Murshid.
The condition of initiation is that every mureed is trusted with certain exercises or teachings. The mureed is expected to keep the vow of secrecy and to keep these not only from non-members but also from other initiates, because an exercise is a prescription meant for a particular person and that person cannot pass it on to another.
Initiation is a trust that the Murshid gives to his mureeds; he expects sincerity from them. Trust and confidence become a power in the mureed, which enables one to proceed in one's spiritual journey. The study of a certain philosophy alone is not enough, there must be sincerity in life behind it all. Sincerity must be the first thing in the path of spirituality. Jesus Christ termed this faith.
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