Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Explained

Region:Sri Lanka, United States
Era:20th century
Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Birth Date:Unknown
Birth Place:Sri Lanka
Death Date:December 8, 1986
Death Place:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (died December 8, 1986), also known as Bawa, was a Tamil-speaking teacher[1] and Sufi mystic from Sri Lanka who came to the United States in 1971,[2] established a following, and founded the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia. He developed branches in the United States, Canada,[3] Australia and the UK - adding to existing groups in Jaffna and Colombo,[4] Sri Lanka. He is known for his teachings, discourses, songs, and artwork.

Bawa established vegetarianism as the norm for his followers[5] and meat products are not permitted at the legacy fellowship center or farm.[6]

Early life

Though little is known of his early personal life, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen's public career began in Sri Lanka in the early 1940s, when he emerged from the jungles of northern Sri Lanka. Bawa met pilgrims who were visiting shrines in the north, and gradually became more widely known. There were reports of dream or mystical meetings with Bawa that preceded physical contact. According to an account from the 1940s, Bawa had spent time in 'Kataragama', a jungle shrine in the south of the island, and in 'Jailani', a cliff shrine dedicated to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani of Baghdad, an association that links him to the Qadiri order of Sufism. Many of his followers who lived around the northern town of Jaffna were Hindus and addressed him as swami or guru, where he was a medical and spiritual faith healer - and cured demonic possession.

Subsequently, his followers formed an ashram in Jaffna, and a farm south of the city. After meeting business travelers from the south, he was invited to visit Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, at the time Ceylon. By 1967, the 'Serendib Sufi Study Circle' was formed by these Colombo predominantly Muslim students. Earlier in 1955, Bawa had set the foundations for a 'God's house' or mosque in the town of Mankumban, on the northern coast. This was the result of a "spiritual experience with Mary, Jesus' mother."[7] After two decades, the building was finished by students from the United States who were visiting the Jaffna ashram.[8] It officially opened and was dedicated in 1975.[9]

Bawa taught using stories and fables, reflecting the background of the student or listener and included Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious traditions; and welcomed persons from all traditions and backgrounds.

Work in the United States

In 1971, Bawa was invited to come to the United States and subsequently moved to Philadelphia, established a following, and formed the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in 1973. The fellowship meeting house offered weekly public gatherings.

As in Sri Lanka, Bawa developed a following among people of diverse religious, social and ethnic backgrounds, who came to Philadelphia to listen to him speak. In the United States, Canada and England, he was recognized by religious scholars, journalists, educators and leaders. The United Nations' Assistant Secretary General, Robert Muller, asked for Bawa's guidance on behalf of mankind during an interview in 1974.[10] During the Iranian hostage crisis of 1978–1980, he wrote letters to world leaders including Iran's Khomeini, Prime Minister Begin, President Sadat and President Carter to encourage a peaceful resolution to the conflict.[11] [12] Time magazine, during the crisis in 1980, quoted Bawa as saying that when the Iranians understand the Koran "they will release the hostages immediately."[13] Interviews with Bawa appeared in Psychology Today,[14] the Harvard Divinity Bulletin,[15] and in The Philadelphia Inquirer[16] and the Pittsburgh Press. He continued teaching until his death on December 8, 1986.

Legacy

In May, 1984, the Mosque of Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was completed on the Philadelphia property of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, on Overbrook Avenue. Construction took 6 months and nearly all the work was done by the members of the fellowship under Bawa's direction.[17]

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Farm (100acres) is in Chester County, Pennsylvania, south of Coatesville and prominently features Bawa's mausoleum, or mazar. Construction began shortly after his death and was completed in 1987. It is a destination for religious followers.[18]

Bawa created paintings and drawings symbolizing the relationship between man and God, describing his art work as "heart's work".[19] Two examples are reproduced in his book Wisdom of Man[20] [21] and another is the front cover of the book Four Steps to Pure Iman.[22] In 1976, Bawa recorded and released an album of meditation, on Folkways Records entitled, Into the Secret of the Heart by Guru Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.[23]

In the United States, from 1971 to 1986, Bawa authored over twenty-five books,[24] created from over 10,000 hours of audio and video transcriptions of his discourses and songs. Some titles originated from Sri Lanka before his arrival in the U.S. and were transcribed later. The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship continues to study and disseminate this repository of his teachings. It has not appointed a new leader or Sheikh to replace his role as teacher and personal guide.

Vegetarianism

Bawa established vegetarianism as the norm for his followers as he believed the only compassionate choice is to eat without slaughter.[25] He stated that "we must be aware of everything we do. All young animals have love and compassion. And if we remember that every creation was young once, we will never kill another life. We will not harm or attack any living creature".[25] Bawa authored The Tasty Economical Cookbook, a two-volume vegetarian cookbook.[26]

Titles and honorifics

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was referred to as Guru, Swami, Sheikh or 'His Holiness' depending on the background of the speaker or writer. He was also addressed as Bawangal by those Tamil speakers who were close to him and who wanted to use a respectful address. He often referred to himself as an 'ant man',[27] that is, a very small life in God's creation. After his arrival in the United States, he was most often addressed as Guru Bawa or simply Bawa, and he established the fellowship. By 1976, he felt that the title 'guru' had been abused by others who were not true teachers and dropped the title Guru, with the organization becoming the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship.[28]

By 2007, an honorific, Qutb, was used by his students in the publications of his talks.[29] Qutb means pole or axis, and signifies a spiritual center.[30] The name Muhaiyaddeen means 'the giver of life to true belief' and has been associated with previous Qutbs.

Quotes

Writings by students and others

Books by his followers and others about M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen include:

Coleman Barks, a poet and translator into English of the works of the 13th-century Sunni Muslim poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, described meeting Bawa Muhaiyaddeen in a dream in 1977.[36] After that experience he began to translate the poems of Rumi. Coleman finally met Bawa Muhaiyaddeen in September, 1978 and continued to have dreams where he would receive teachings. Coleman's likens Bawa Muhaiyaddeen to Rumi and Shams Tabrizi, the companion of Rumi.[37] Artist Michael Green worked with Coleman Barks to produce illustrated version of Rumi's works.[38] [39]

In "Blue-Eyed Devil", Michael Muhammad Knight attempts to receive a message from Bawa in a dream, in a Sufi practice called istikhara. He travels to the mazar and unsuccessfully tries to fall asleep on the cushions, but is awakened by the groundskeeper.[40]

The band mewithoutYou explored Bawa's teachings throughout their discography, most notably in their fourth album, It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright. The teacher's story of "The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie" from My Love You My Children: 101 Stories for Children is told as well as his story about the "King Beetle" from The Divine Luminous Wisdom that Dispels Darkness.

See also

References

External links

Websites

Scholarly articles and dissertations

Online books and videos

Other external links

Notes and References

  1. Malik and Hinnells, p. 90.
  2. Divine Luminous Wisdom, p. 254.
  3. Malik and Hinnells, p. 93.
  4. Malik and Hinnells, p. 91.
  5. God, His Prophets and His Children, pgs. 150–157
  6. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship web-site Farm page
  7. Malik and Hinnells, p. 92.
  8. Malik and Hinnells, p 92.
  9. The Tree That Fell to the West, p. 171.
  10. To Die Before Death, p. xix.
  11. Haddad and Smith, p 103.
  12. The Truth and Unity of Man: Letters in Response to a Crisis
  13. "Is the Ayatullah a Heretic?" Time. April 28, 1980.
  14. [Sam Keen|Keen, Sam]
  15. Harvard Divinity Bulletin. Harvard University Divinity School. December 1982 – January 1983, Volume XIII, Number 2
  16. Haddad and Smith, p 104.
  17. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship web-site.
  18. Xavier, M. Shobhana. "An American Sufi Shrine, Bawa's Mazar in Coatesville, Pennsylvania." Object Narrative. In Conversations: An Online Journal of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (2016). doi:10.22332/con.obj.2016.5 http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/object-narratives/american-sufi-shrine-bawa-s-mazar-coatesville-pennsylvania
  19. Acknowledgments page, Wisdom of Man
  20. Book: Muhaiyaddeen, M. R. Bawa. The Wisdom of Man: Selected Discourses. June 7, 1994. Fellowship Press. 9780914390459 . Google Books.
  21. Book: Muhaiyaddeen, M. R. Bawa. The Wisdom of Man: Selected Discourses. June 7, 1994. Fellowship Press. 9780914390459 . Google Books.
  22. https://books.google.com/books?id=4lyRWUR0WyQC Four Steps to Pure Iman, front cover
  23. https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW08905.pdf "Smithsonian Folkways recording FW08905"
  24. Islam and World Peace, pg.173.
  25. Kemmerer, Lisa. (2012). Animals and World Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 258.
  26. https://web.archive.org/web/20230208175113/https://rumisgarden.co.uk/blogs/recommended-reading-for-muslim-children-and-parents/x2018-tasty-economical-cookbook-vegetarian-recipes-x2019-160-by-m-r-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-author "Tasty, Economical Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen"
  27. The Tree That Fell to the West, p. 165.
  28. Truth and Light, p. 10.
  29. The Point Where God and Man Meet, p. xi.
  30. Resonance of Allah, p. 716.
  31. Sheikh and Disciple, p. 63.
  32. Islam and World Peace, p. 3.
  33. Questions of Life Answers of Wisdom, Vol.1, p. 220.
  34. Come to the Secret Garden, p. 188.
  35. My Love you My Children; p. 466.
  36. Rumi: the Book of Love, p. 140.
  37. Nov. 12, 2007 interview by Chitra Kalyani, IslamOnline.Net article
  38. Xavier, M. Shobhana. "From Illuminated Rumi to the Green Barn: The Art of Sufism in America." Object Narrative. In Conversations: An Online Journal of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (2016). doi:10.22332/con.obj.2016.4 http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/object-narratives/illuminated-rumi-green-barn-art-sufism-america
  39. Xavier, M. Shobhana. "Interview with American Sufi Artist Michael Green." Interview. In Conversations: An Online Journal of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (2016). doi:10.22332/con.int.2016.1 http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/interviews/interview-american-sufi-artist-michael-green
  40. "Blue-Eyed Devil", pg. 86-88.

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