Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
The Delphic oracle proclaimed: “Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Cosmos.”
Christianity tells us that: “the Kingdom of Heaven in within you.”
Saint Clement says: “He who knows himself knows God.”
Buddhism says: “Look within. Thou art Buddha.”
In Siddha Yoga: “God dwells within you as you.”
And in Islam: “He who knows himself knows his Lord.”
Alhamdulillah! All praise is God’s alone, who reveals himself every moment to our eyes, on the horizons and in ourselves.
Ya Haqq!
From the excellent and spiritual Kozi Wolf blog.
It is not enough to be like the Son. You have to become the Son himself.
Meister Eckhardt
True, dear Brother Lulando. My Master, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh writes this on the saying:
If we understand ‘Lord’ to mean God, however, then the literal interpretation of the Tradition would be that whoever knows one’s self knows one’s God. Yet, as philosophers and gnostics have pointed out, humankind is transitory and knowledge of one’s transitory nature does not amount to knowledge of the eternal. Furthermore, a transitory being can never come to know the eternal.
Sufis, however, strive to throw away the garment of transitoriness by the aid of love and annihilate themselves in God. In this way, through Him they come to know Him. Thus, in interpreting this tradition they say:
1. One who knows oneself in annihilation knows one’s Lord in Subsistence.
2. One who knows oneself in non-existence knows one’s Lord in Existence.
3. One who knows oneself as non-being knows one’s Lord as Absolute Being.
4. One who knows oneself as poor knows one’s Lord as Rich.
5. One who knows oneself as nothing knows one’s Lord as Everything.
However, becoming nothing is a difficult task indeed, for as long as any trace of being remains, you have not lost yourself in your Lord, who is everything.
Ya Haqq!
Salaam
Thank you very much for republish this wonderful post.
St. Anthony :”The prayer of the monk is not perfect until he no longer recognizes himself or the fact that he is praying. ”
Ya Haqq!
Mashallah and visiting kozi’s blog helped glimpse into more of the sublime truth.
Thank you for your kind comments at my Blog of the Grateful Bear. I have added a link to your Darvish blog under “Cyberfriends in the Blogosphere.” Many blessings ~
Hamza
Salaams Irving bhai (and everyone else too),
Thank you for an inspiring post (as usual). Al hamdu lillah.
Abdur Rahman
Salaam,
Yes, they are all saying the same thing essentially. We are more united than we think in our spiritual beliefs and paths. Thanks for bringing these words to our attention.