People have often asked me: What does the Sufi say about reincarnation? My silence at times and my 'yes' and 'no' at times have made it vague. Some perhaps thought that I did not believe in it and that if I did not believe, then the Sufis do not believe, naturally. This is not the case. Every Sufi is free to believe what he or she understands as right and what he or she can understand. One is not nailed to any particular belief. By believing in any doctrine the Sufi does not go out of their Sufism, just as by not believing one does not go out of the Order of Sufis. There is perfect freedom of belief.

For my 'yes' there was a reason and for my 'no' there was a reason, a reason not for myself, but for the person who asked me the question. People in the world wish to make things rigid, things which are of the finest nature which words cannot explain. When a person describes the hereafter, it is just like wanting to weigh the soul or photograph the spirit. I personally think that you must be able to realize yourself what the hereafter is. You must not depend upon my words. Self-realization is the aim. Beliefs in doctrines are pills given to ill people for their cure.

In fact all things are true to a certain point, but when compared with the ultimate truth, they fall short in proving themselves existent. Things appear different from every different plane from which you look at them, and when a person standing on flat earth asks a person standing on top of a mountain, "Do you also believe something?" the person cannot tell much. The questioner must come to the top of the mountain and see. There can be no link of conversation between them until that time.

The method of the Sufi is quietude and silent progress, in order to arrive at the stage where you can see for yourself. You may say that patience is needed. Yes, but the spiritual path is for the patient; patience is the most difficult thing.

Social Gathekas

9. Reincarnation

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Social Gathekas

9. Reincarnation