There is one right which deserves to be respected.
It is Bankruptcy of foresight that this right has not been given due recognition. Every country in the world should have incorporated it in its constitution; and that is a right to Happiness.
Utilitarianism has advocated the doctrine of the greatest good to the greatest number and moreover,”Greatest good” and happiness are not identical terms; pursuit of happiness to the mystic, is an inalienable right.
“Man does not live by bread alone” is an old adage; this means that something more is needed to make the man live instead of to merely exist.
Every right has corresponding duties.
An individual,then, should not pursue his own happiness but also allow others to do the same.
Pursuit of happiness is not a selfish claim. It is an inward urge, born of the ‘drive’ or ‘desire’ to be of use to others, and an epitaph of a life nobly lived, and dedicated to service, sharing and sacrifice.
Happiness, it should be remembered,is a state of mind; it comes from within; it is not a commodity which a person can buy in the market; it cannot be had for any amount of money.
A Sufi mystic knows the techniques and has learnt the secret of being happy.
A Sufi Mystic refuses to be influenced by external life and external circumstances; he “Stoops to conquer” happiness by his old devices and implements which he has been taught to rely upon.
A Sufi Mystic does not believe in modern tools for modern jobs; he adopts the same technique of hope, belief, faith, Contentment, self-surrender, and trust in God! These are the weapons which win for a Sufi Mystic and the battle of life, and which thus enable him to overcome the vicissitudes of life.
A Mystic holds firmly that he has attained puberty, i.e attained the age of majority, and he is in a position to exercise his discrimination freely and voluntarily.
Elimination of desires and widening the scope of dis-interested service, which asks nothing and gives every-thing, confers upon him peace and tranquillity, leading to the fountain of happiness.
A man in chains cannot be said to be Happy
The Mystics treat the people of the world as enchained and enslaved. There are no iron bars it is true, and there are no stony walls it is equally true; outward things have very little to do with enslaving a person.
Slavery consists in obeying the will of another, which is opposed to the will of the individual.
An individual’s desire constitute his chains, and his self-interest and his expectations from the people put him in servile slavery.
To be engrossed in the world means and implies to be living in the prison-house of the world.
The Sufi mystics have freed them-self from the shackles and burdens of slavery by expecting nothing from the people of the world. TO GIVE is their code of conduct; TO TAKE is the way of the people of this world.
A person who takes, naturally feels indebted to the person who gives; this means he owes a debt to him. A person, who is in debt, is not a free man; a man, who is not free, is not a happy man.
A Sufi Mystic has nothing to do with the people.
People look to him to provide satisfaction to their inward needs, and beseech him to respond to their rising expectations. The mystic,on his part, does not disappoint them; he cuts across caste and class lines and helps them.
The Mystics hold that people of the world are not to be relied upon; they are fickle-minded, egotistic, selfish and self-interested; they want to serve both God and Mammon.
(This is a series of postings to come on the subject of Sufi Mysticism. The postings will give in depth knowledge in the complete world & ultimate sphere of Sufi spirituality).