Every Moment
By Ben Leichtling
Babur and Humayun
Now, in 1530, when Humayun, eldest and most beloved son, heir to the empire that his father, Babur, had taken by his own sword from the many princes, shahs, sheikhs, khans and kings of northern India, had conquered by untiring effort and force from the Cutch and Rajputana in the west to the mouths of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra in the east; now, when Humayun lay dying, Babur the Conqueror offered Allah—Allah, God of the six directions, God of the North and the South, God of the East and the West, God of that which is above and that which is below – Babur the Conqueror offered his usual deal.
Just as he had earlier promised Allah that he would give up wine if he won the battle of Ghaghra— and Allah indeed had inclined his head in assent to Babur’s offer—Babur now offered his own life in exchange if Allah would spare the life of his beloved son and heir, Humayun. And again, Allah the Merciful, or Ahriman the trickster, inclined his head in assent to Babur’s offer. Humayun recovered his strength and Babur declined and died.
How easily we offer our lives and possessions, our deaths to the God of the six directions in order to save our loved ones. But what do we offer in order to find the God of the seventh direction, the God in us? How can we find the God of the seventh direction—who calls us, who calls us to our hearts every moment of our lives?
Meister Eckhart says, “The seed of God is in us. If the seed had a good, wise and industrious cultivator, it would thrive all the more and grow up to God whose seed it is, and the fruit would be equal to the nature of God. Now the seed of a pear tree grows into a pear tree, a hazel seed into a hazel tree, and the seed of God into God. If the seal is pressed completely through the wax so that no wax remains without being impressed by the seal, then it becomes indistinguishably one with the seal. Similarly the soul becomes completely united with God.”
But how to begin? How to progress?
Kabir says, “Seekers, listen: Wherever you are, is the entry point” and “Why does the Mullah climb the minaret? Allah is not outside!” and “Friends: Plunge into God!”
O beloved friends: By ourselves, by the Method of Successive Approximations we learn what matters most to us. By ourselves, we learn to crawl, to walk and to talk: By ourselves, we find God and the Christos; we find our Origos.
Our own way is not the way found in any discovered treasure maps—in books, Gurus, parents, friends, lovers, children. All helpful secrets, lovingly shared, will not save us the trouble of making our own journey in our own way.
We can learn with and from them, but our own way is found by ourselves or not at all. We must enter the thicket of possibilities ourselves; we must blaze our own paths.
Mary Oliver says,
God, rest in my heart
and fortify me,
take away my hunger for answers,
let the hours play upon my body.
O beloved seekers: Dressing up in protective costumes—Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Christuman—and carrying protective equipment—yoga, health food, prayer, kirtan, beads, candles, jazzercise, sama, chanting, meditation cushions, bells, chimes, churches, temples, mosques, pilgrimages—can help us press on through the rough regions, can keep us from despair and can steady our efforts, but they don’t get us there. Only by pressing inward on our own, only by seeking the source of God’s call can we get there. Kabir says, “Him for whom you shout the call to prayer, you should recognize in your heart.”
As anam cara, we can leave warnings for each other—quicksand ahead, indolence and comfort ahead, answers ahead—we can leave food and water caches for each other, but only by pressing inward on our own, only by seeking the source of God’s call can we get there. Get where? The Buddha said, “All is dukka” – suffering and disappointment.
The Buddha said, “The cause of dukka is tanha”—desire to craving to thirst. The Buddha said, “End dukka by ending tanha; end tanha by ending the endless round of lives.” Salvation at death, salvation by the end of reincarnations? No! God’s call is to the living. Living in mystical union with God in the seventh direction ends dukka, ends tanha.
The source of the deep call of God to come to Him is in this living body and for the delicious opportunity to answer this call in my life, I say “Thank you, O my God!”
Mary Oliver says,
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
Kabir says, “He who knows Him through Experience, His soul possesses seventy Kaabas” and “O friend! Hope for him whilst you live, know whilst you live, understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.”
O beloved lovers and worshippers of God: If I don’t find my God now, in this life, I won’t find him after death. Heaven is now or nowhere.
Ben, hear God’s call this moment; the God of the seventh direction. Come to God. Hear the music. Become entranced by God’s siren call. Don’t tie yourself to a mast.
Ben, fall into God; jump in completely. Become a willing captive of God. Let go; lose yourself completely. You may never recover; you may never find yourself again. So what? No offers; no bargains. Jump in; jump in.
Ben, now is the moment, life is the place!
—Message from Mystery of God Communal Service (2010)