Tasawwuf: Metaphysics - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Tasawwuf: Metaphysics—Gatha with Commentary Series I
Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
the Only Being, United with All the Illuminated Souls
Who Form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance.
Gatha with Commentary Series I: Number 3
Hope
GATHA: Hope is a quality sometimes dependent on its object, sometimes independent of it, and
these two different aspects of hope are the cause of two different natures, the optimistic and the pessimistic.
TASAWWUF: St. Paul presented that Faith, Hope, and Love were the fundamentals of religion. But
in history Faith, often blind faith, has taken over the reins entirely; love has been given a second
place and hope is omitted. You can pass all kinds of theological tests without being hopeful, indeed
the opposite.
If it were not for hope, man, from the age of early studying throughout life might become a living
corpse. This is the attitude of Tamas, which is found in some places, and then people attribute everything
to destiny or karma and do nothing about it. This is doubly defeating.
GATHA: When the dependent nature is developed it makes man a pessimist, and when hope stands
alone, without dependence, this develops optimism. The optimistic person compared to the pessimistic
may seem blind, and no doubt, he is at times blind. But without doubt, as blind people
develop a faculty of doing things without sight which people with seeing cannot do, so the optimist
can accomplish things without knowing how or why.
TASAWWUF: It is not enough to ascribe Love and Intelligence to a Supreme Being. How would such
a Supreme Being act How would a Loving God behave toward His offspring Therefore the very
being of God instills a power in the heart of man; this power operates independently of time and
conditions. And so it has been that heroes like Robert Bruce or Babar, the Mogul invader of India,
were instilled with a great innate power which brought all victory in the end.
In Sufism all the positive qualities are encouraged. It is not of much value to know the philosophy of
it. It is to build up the faculty. Therefore meditation may be used to improve man’s status at all times.
GATHA: Hope cannot be called sureness or certainty, but it is a feeling which, almost by its own
force, may bring sureness and certainty.
TASAWWUF: There is one central power in the heart of man and that operates through Kashf or
Insight. But Kashf is like the sun, radiating strength and light. But it is more than the sun in that
it works with wisdom, and the one whose heart-faculties are operative progresses in and through
wisdom.
GATHA: Hope dependent upon reason is weak, and the more dependent the weaker it is. No doubt
hope together with reason is strong, perhaps stronger than hope alone, but in proportion as reason
supports hope, so hope depends on reason, and as in many cases in life reason cannot reach the
object of hope—hope then sinks.
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