Introduction By A Disciple
By His Holiness M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
(may God be pleased with Him, and with Us)
His Holiness, Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, may Allah be pleased with Him, is an Islamic Sufi mystic.
Little is known of his personal history until the early 1900's, when a few people caught a glimpse of a holy man in the jungles of Sri Lanka. Sometime later a pilgrim invited him to a nearby village, and with that began his public life as a teacher of wisdom.
In 1971 he was given an invitation, this time to the United States. He accepted, and until his death on December 8, 1986, he traveled throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Sri Lanka.
Wherever he went, he tirelessly answered the many personal and mystical questions people brought to him.
The name "Muhaiyaddeen" (Ral.) literally means, "The Giver of Life Back to True Belief" (that Is, literally means "The Reviver of The Deen of God, of "The True Life of Man" within God within you, if you like, all of which is "Just Waiting To Happen", within God within you, if you like, and that is for sure. Ok?).
And indeed His Holiness Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) did spend his life awakening and strengthening people's faith in God.
A simple, unlettered man, he inspired people from all walks of life and came to be recognized as a true saint by many scholars and leaders from the Hindu, Christian, Judaic, and Islamic communities.
Although he rarely spoke of himself, saying that only God's history was important, he did share freely of the experiences he had in his search for God. Some of these experiences took the form of mystical journeys, a small number of which were related to scribes in Sri Lanka and recorded in a document, titled, "The Ten Mystical Experiences".
These are yet to be published in English.
The journeys described in this book, "A Mystical Journey", are much simpler and easier to understand. They were related to us by His Holiness in 1982, and were originally meant to be part of a collection of short stories for children.
However, because they were so unique they were publish separately as this book.
In 1975, during a radio interview on WBAI in New York City, His Holiness Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) was asked about his mystical experiences by Lex Hixon (a devoted disciple of His Holiness, and the radio show host).
His answer to this question helps put these mystical journeys (as described in the unpublished document, "The Ten Mystical Experiences" as well as described in this book) into the proper perspective.
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Note: For the purpose of this on-line library we have made this part of the
Introduction by the Disciple, that is, of the question by Lex Hixon, and of the answer by His Holiness, which is very special, into a separate document and have given it the Title: "Introduction - By His Holiness", and the Subtitle: "The Nature of Mystical Experiences".
You can access this document, "Introduction - By His Holiness", from the Table of Contents for this book, or, if you like, click HERE and go directly to that document.
End of "Introduction By A Disciple"
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