The Thought of Ostad Elahi

A lecture by James Morris, Professor of Religious History, presented on the occasion of the symposium "Spirituality: Plurality and Unity" and published in the "Cahiers d'Antropologie Religieuse" Number 5, Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, 1996.

Since the spiritual teaching of Ostad Elahi is so inseparable from his own life, we must begin by recalling a few biographical facts to help situate the context of his teaching and the personal experiences he often used to express his ideas. To begin with, the outward course of Ostad Elahi’s life clearly falls into three distinct periods. For the first twenty-five years of his life, he led an ascetic, secluded life of rigorous spiritual discipline under his father’s careful guidance, a life completely devoted to the forms of contemplation and the classical religious studies developed over centuries of mystical tradition in that area. Ten years after his father’s death in 1920, however, Ostad Elahi left his traditional contemplative life for a much more active career as a magistrate and judge, a radical change that was necessary to broaden his experience and test his ethical and religious principles in the crucible of all the challenges of social and professional life. As he himself later described it,

"God made me enter the public administration and government work despite my own aversion for that. He made me a judge by force and gave me difficult judicial assignments. But afterwards I discovered that in each of these posts were concealed thousands of nuggets of wisdom, such that even a multitude of philosophers and sages gathered together couldn’t have designed such plans..."

Thus it was only after his retirement from public service in 1957 (until his passing in 1974), that Ostad Elahi actually published his written works and began his more visible activity as a spiritual teacher, meeting frequently at his home in Tehran with students from all walks of life and the most diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Our focus in today’s lecture is on his personal, oral spiritual teaching developed in that setting, since it is most universal and widely accessible in its form of expression.

Ostad Elahi’s oral teachings, which were set forth in discussions and explanations for the many people of all ages and backgrounds who came to him for guidance during the later years of his life, were carefully recorded and transcribed by several of those close to him. To date, two voluminous Persian collections of those sayings have been published, and all the passages quoted in today’s talk are taken from those two collections. The fact that these were originally oral teachings does not at all mean that they are somehow "minor" or unsystematic, in comparison with Ostad Elahi’s own philosophic and theological writings. In fact, as those of you familiar with other mystical traditions well know, the open, less symbolic expression of many of the most central spiritual teachings have most often been reserved for an intimate circle of trusted disciples. And in any event, many of Ostad Elahi’s own remarks make it quite clear that he was very aware of the lasting importance of his spoken words, and that he definitely intended for them to be recorded and transmitted to wider circles in the future.

Before describing some of the key systematic principles of Ostad Elahi’s spiritual teaching, though, it is helpful to highlight some of the essential characteristics of the very form and expression of that teaching. Not only does this help convey some of the distinctive "flavor" and humanity of Ostad’s personality, but these particular sayings also contain important practical lessons for our own tasks of spiritual learning and communication.

First of all, Ostad Elahi’s teaching is typically based directly on his own lifelong personal experience and "testing" of his principles, often expressed in openly autobiographical stories. As he once put it,

When I tell you all these things my purpose is not just to recount stories, but to convey on spiritual wisdom. I’m not able to advise anyone about something until I've put it into practice for myself. I don’t mention anything that I haven’t explored completely. I have not imitated anyone: my ideas are the result of my own discoveries and my own personal experiences. I have summarized the very essence of the foundation of all the true religions in these few words that I've left for those traveling the path of God. Throughout my life, whenever I didn't know something I’ve never been ashamed to say so. And I’ve always tried to speak truthfully and precisely.

Or expressed as a more general principle: "Every word that comes from lived experience and personal observation has an immediate spiritual influence."

Secondly, if the form of Ostad Elahi’s teaching is often apparently "simple" (such as recounting a dream or an outwardly "mundane" personal experience), that reflects his constant stress on the fact that the process of spiritual teaching and learning, for each of us, necessarily takes place through our reflection on the deeper meaning and challenges of spiritual "lessons" grounded in everyday life:

It is in everyday life that I’ve learned the most lessons about the underlying order of the universe. This world becomes a place for spiritual edification once we discover how to draw those lessons from it--even from the flight of a mosquito.

In fact, the deeper reality evoked in such outwardly simple stories and sayings is often inexhaustible, and that reality will continue to be understood and realized in new ways at all the levels of spiritual realization:

The revelations of the spiritual world are like a fruit that one opens and discovers within it ten seeds; then within each of those seeds are ten seeds, and within each one of those ten more, and so on to infinity....

Finally, the implication of this focus on the spiritual lessons to be found in all aspects of life is that the "truth" intended for each person can only be found and realized through our own spiritual practice--not through the elaboration of a special "theory" or system of beliefs:

Everything that has marked a person’s heart and faith has a spiritual effect, however they may speak about it. Forget about fancy words, faith is what matters--I mean, what has an effect is that in which we have faith and which we put into practice.... Because when we practice something, we don’t even need to talk about it: our actions and behavior will have an effect all by themselves.

Having sketched out these basic facts about Ostad Elahi’s life and teachings, I would like to add a few personal observations about the unique connection between his religious ideas and the special challenges facing people of every religious background today. In short, it seems that the distinctive features of Ostad Elahi’s teaching on the essential nature of religion--that is to say, his repeated emphasis on universality, tolerance, unity, and human rights and responsibilities--all correspond almost providentially to the unique situation in which we find ourselves today.

This worldwide transformation is clearly mirrored in the course of Ostad Elahi’s own biography. He was born into a traditional agrarian society that is vividly described in his reminiscences of his father and his own childhood. The people of that time rarely left their own village, and their actual religious life was almost entirely defined by local customs and teachers who passed on traditional models of action and belief little changed over many centuries. The devotion to spiritual life was typically limited to a handful of mystics and their disciples who lived in retreat from the troubling concerns of this world.

Yet by the latter years of Ostad Elahi’s life, those millennial conditions of human life and religion had been transformed beyond recognition, even in regions as remote as his native Kurdistan. Now-familiar revolutions in technology, communications and economic and social life had come together to create a new sort of "global village" where no one’s religious ideas and practices can be unconsciously taken for granted--or thoughtlessly rejected. Instead, it becomes increasingly clear that the unifying spiritual nature and ends of human beings cannot be neglected, in any sphere of our common existence, without leading us to our own visible self-destruction.

Throughout Ostad Elahi’s lifetime, and down to our own day, people of every religion and culture have repeatedly tried out two possible responses to this radically new situation. Either they have tried to reject all previous religious traditions and to forge a new, "merely" human moral world, or they have intentionally tried to flee this host of new challenges in the effort to re-create artificially closed religious communities that would imitate the reassuring certainties of pre-modern religious life. To see the ongoing and most extreme consequences of either of those two options, we have only to pick up a newspaper or turn on the evening news....

Now in the face of those global transformations and the challenges they pose, Ostad Elahi proposes a completely different way. That way is based on a comprehensive understanding of our novel religious situation and many religious heritages that respects their common, unifying spiritual core, as well as their necessarily diverse practical and ethical functions. In response to the individual questions of those who came to him from all religions and nationalities, Ostad Elahi gradually articulated what we could call a "global vision of the spiritual patrimony of humanity."

In explaining to questioners his comprehensive vision of religion, Ostad Elahi always began by distinguishing between the unifying, "esoteric" spiritual core and goal shared by all the revealed religions, and the necessarily differing "exoteric" dimension that concerns only our material and social life. For example,

The basis of esotericism [of the common spiritual aim] is the same for all the religions, and they only differ concerning the aspects connected with social life. But the true prescriptions directed toward purifying the soul and ethical perfection are identical in all the religions....

We shall return to Ostad Elahi’s emphasis on this spiritual and ethical aim shared by all the revealed religions, which is the key to the unity and universality of his whole outlook. But let us stop for a moment and consider a few of its essential practical, concrete implications regarding our life in society.

The first and most obvious of those principles is the necessity of tolerance and mutual understanding in every area of life. Without that essential tolerance--and the consequent multiplicity of religious ways and perspectives--no one would really be free to pursue his own spiritual path, or even to appreciate fully the authenticity of his own spiritual experience. And an essential condition for genuine tolerance and understanding, Ostad Elahi points out, is the difficult actual practice of one’s own religious path:

The pre-condition of religious life for every human being is, first, to respect all religions, without rejecting others (than your own); and secondly, whatever religion you choose, to put it into practice, not just (repeating its) words. Because what God is concerned with is our heart and our deeds.

Now one of his most striking and explicit applications of this same basic principle--especially given the inherited social attitudes of his own cultural milieu--was his repeated insistence on the equality of women and men:

Women are equal to men in every respect...and many women have attained spiritual ranks higher than those of certain prophets....

For Ostad Elahi, this was not simply a vague ideal or theoretical commitment, but a far-reaching spiritual principle that he applied concretely in ways illustrated in many of his sayings, including the following remark:

(I recommend to my family and my friends) to not make any distinction between their sons and daughters, and to share their inheritance equally among all of them.

Frequently in Ostad Elahi’s teaching, a principle that is initially expressed in a concrete, very practical form will lead us back--if we only put that advice into practice--to more profound spiritual realities. In this case, for example, the deeper ground of his insistence on the ethical necessity of religious tolerance and equality leads us on to the ultimate spiritual aim of universal love and compassion, a goal expressed by all religious traditions. Thus, in response to the naive question "What is mysticism (or real spiritual understanding)?", he replied:

When you realize that every person you happen to see is a mystic, then you will have understood the meaning of this. When you've come to see all of the prophets and saints as true, and you no longer distinguish between the different religions, then you will have reached that stage of true spiritual understanding.

Or even more simply:

The religion of the Truth is One...and all the religions (and prophets) have said it: that you should love and do for others what you wish for yourself.... That is the essential principle of religion.

A third fundamental principle is implicit in this last point of universal love and respect for all other creatures. Ostad Elahi insists on the practical and spiritual necessity of every person’s ethical involvement in the wider social life of the human community. We shall return to some of the deeper spiritual roots of that insistence--already foreshadowed in his own mid-life turning from a contemplative life to a demanding judicial career--later in this talk.

Finally, a fourth and far-reaching practical implication of Ostad Elahi’s religious outlook is his persistent emphasis on our integral and inalienable individual responsibility in every area of our life. This last point may also help answer a question that is often asked by those who have become aware of the wider relevance of Ostad Elahi’s thought: why didn’t he undertake to spread his teachings publicly and collectively, organizing followers, popularizing his teachings and so on? One key to that answer is surely his lifelong insistence on this necessity of each individual’s own search for the Truth, a responsibility which--in his view--none of us can avoid or hand over to anyone else.

Thus all the points we have just mentioned are only applications of the deeper metaphysical principle that, as he puts it: The Truth has no need for proofs and arguments; It is Its own proof." In fact, nothing more readily sums up Ostad Elahi’s teaching than to say it is about "the soul’s quest for Truth"--and that quest, as he so often reiterates, comes down to three equally essential questions:

Truth, for every human being, consists in knowing who we are, where we have come from, what we must do, and where we should be going.... When that search has become the guiding principle for our actions, when we have put it into practice and discover the answers, then we will reach the truth.

While the answers to all three of these basic metaphysical questions can be developed to infinity, it is characteristic of the practical focus of his spiritual teaching that what is most essential and immediate is the focus on what we should be doing here and now, in this world and this life:

If a person understands, through his faith and inner certainty, these three principles--that there is one God, that the soul lives on, and that there is another accounting than what we can see in this world--then that is enough.

Ostad Elahi constantly reminds us that our human situation, while it carries unique spiritual responsibilities and challenges, is necessarily part of a much larger, truly universal process of perfection:

The process of perfection that passes from the mineral to the vegetal state, from the vegetal to the animal, and from the animal to the human state is a natural and predetermined movement. The minerals, plants and animals don’t have the power of reason, and their development takes place...in a way that is natural and automatic. But the process of perfection in human beings takes place according to a different set of rules, since we have an angelic soul. Each human being is endowed with reason, and it is through our own efforts that we can eventually reach perfection...

For Ostad Elahi, therefore, the embodied human soul, or "self," is the unique meeting-point of two very different dimensions: first, of the individual "angelic soul," or immortal spirit, which is derived from the divine "Breath" and always remains directly connected to God--even if we are not aware of that inner connection; and secondly, of a specific, mortal, human-animal soul, which is a uniquely individual combination of earlier animal, vegetal and mineral souls connected to this particular body. For Ostad Elahi, the connection and combination of these two equally essential dimensions of our soul and self is not some sort of "trap" or "prison" to be escaped. On the contrary, it is their complex interaction that creates the unique earthly situation through which the angelic soul or spirit is gradually able to learn and develop to its full spiritual potential. As he summarizes it,

The mineral, vegetal, animal and basharic souls are all material; only the angelic soul or spirit is included among the incorporeal, immortal beings. When a person dies, it is the angelic soul that carries with it the lasting impressions of those four [material] souls.

For this reason, Ostad Elahi always insists that the way leading to a true realization of our own spiritual nature and relation to God--and ultimately to all the spiritual worlds and realms of Perfection--necessarily begins through seeking and developing a true awareness of our soul and true self. Or in other words,

The angelic soul (or ‘spirit’) is the true being, and the body is only the instrument of that being, not the true being itself. Whoever reaches the final stage of Perfection enters the ocean of Unicity of the Soul--but each particle still conserves its own individuality.

Of course, saying this is one thing, and actually doing it--as we all know--is quite another! So before going on to quote more of Ostad Elahi’s teaching concerning this unfolding path of spiritual Perfection, it is essential to explain what might at first look like a paradoxical contrast between this metaphysical outlook and his practical ethical and religious teaching. Why, in fact, does Ostad Elahi go on to insist that an active, responsible social life of involvement in this world is so absolutely essential to this process of self-awareness? The key lies in this short and simple saying:

Everyone sees the external world through the prism of his own heart. What we see is the image of what is in our heart reflected in the world outside us.

In other words, we can only come to know our selves--and to polish the mirror of our hearts--through the conflicts and challenges of life in this world among others. Or as he puts it in another equally succinct saying:

As long as we have not polished our own heart like a mirror, we cannot see God, because God isn’t separate from us.... Thus the knowledge of our duty becomes our knowledge of God.

The decisive practical importance, in that journey, of right action and attentiveness toward God is well summarized in another memorable saying:

Once we succeed in penetrating within our self, everything is unveiled and revealed to us.... In order to find that connection, we must always have our attention focused on God, to such an extent that we spontaneously do what is good and avoid doing anything evil. Really putting these two principles into practice is the key to all those spiritual discoveries and intuitions that will gradually come to guide us later on.

We can hardly begin to undertake any journey without some notion of our goal. The following saying of Ostad Elahi beautifully summarizes the inner relations between that spiritual goal and the ongoing concrete, practical facets of our ethical and religious existence that actually constitute "our" intentional, active contribution to this spiritual journey:

The more a person manages to overcome the desires and passions of his carnal-animal self, and the closer he comes to the stages and sentiments of true humanity and full human dignity, the more ‘perfect’ he becomes.... It’s easy to state these in theory, but the practical conditions themselves are extremely difficult. The ‘perfect human being’ is the person who treats everyone else the same way he would like to be treated, and who also defends others against whatever he would not like for themself. That’s easy to say, but very difficult to put into practice. Yet the more you actually apply it in your life, the closer you come to a real human being. You have to watch and control yourself at every instant, day and night, and become your own judge.

There are a number of other, even more concise sayings in which Ostad Elahi summarizes that spiritual goal in equally visible and practical--and equally difficult--terms. Here are a few of them:

A true human being is someone who is pleased at the happiness of others and who has sincere compassion for their suffering.

The key to life in this world is respecting the rights of others.

The voyager on the spiritual Path must always preserve the proper equilibrium in each of these four areas: the balance of the angelic soul, the body, family, and society.

Working toward this goal, however one describes it, is so difficult that dejection and disappointment are constant dangers. Thus, before turning to some of Ostad Elahi’s key practical prescriptions for those traveling this Path, it may be helpful to keep in mind what he says about the constant importance of faith, spiritual self-confidence, and self-mastery:

Everyone’s life has its ups and downs. We must try to acquire self-mastery. When a person has become master of his inner states, everything becomes easy. We mustn’t "endure" our destiny, but rather we must take it in hand: in light of our relation to God and His providential caring, we should be so confident and so detached from everything that the decrees of destiny seem insignificant. We shouldn’t let upsets and disturbances dominate us....

In his own practical teaching and guidance, Ostad Elahi always sought to bring his students back to the spiritual essentials, to making the inner connection between their religious practice and its ultimate spiritual aim in the purification and perfection of the soul. Some of the most central common practical spiritual teachings shared by all the religions are aptly summarized in the following saying:

The principles of the religions are all based on a few unshakable foundations: self-mastery; charity; prayer and invocation; and purity of intention and sincerity toward God....

With prayer and invocations, the essential condition is to focus one’s attention on the divine Source, not simply to repeat certain phrases. Purity of intention and sincerity toward God, in practical terms, means that we should want for all creatures those benefits we want for ourself, and that we should not wish for others what we don’t want for ourself.

When a person truly practices those four basic principles, then he will be purified and moves from an animal state to that of a true human being.... When a person becomes truly ‘human,’ his natural inclination always prompts him to act for what is good and right.

One of the most characteristic features of Ostad Elahi’s own teaching is his constant insistence on the practical spiritual importance of an active, engaged social life in the world as the most fruitful and productive "school" for discovering and purifying the inner realities of the soul. The deeper reasons why active life in this world is so conducive to attaining greater knowledge of our true self--and ultimately of God and our deeper spiritual duties--become quite clear when we consider the basic principles underlying Ostad Elahi’s constantly repeated practical advice to those setting out on this Path. Those basic principles of right action come down to three essential points: first, seeing, saying and wanting what is good, or purifying our moral intentions; second, struggling against the hidden impulses and visible constraints of our carnal, animal self; and third, constantly keeping our attention on God. In fact, these are each inseparable aspects of the same ongoing spiritual "work" along the path of perfection; working on any one of these elements inevitably brings into relief the integral role of the other two as well.

The first of these practical spiritual principles, to which Ostad Elahi constantly returns, is that of gradually coming to say and want what is good--and ultimately even to see everything as good.

Those who consider themselves travelers on the spiritual Path should adopt these three principles:

• "To say what is good": this means not to gossip or put down others, not to swear and curse, and so on.
• "To see what is good": this means not seeing anything or anyone as evil in themselves, but rather to see the good in every thing....
• "To want and think what is good": this means that whatever we want for ourselves, we should also want it for everyone; and it means not to feel hatred, jealousy and bitterness, not to think of vengeance, and so on.

Again, it is crucially important to keep in mind that the perception of what is truly "good" here must be taken in a profoundly spiritual sense--ultimately inseparable from the task of attention to God. The "good" in each of these domains cannot be effortlessly taken from some external source, but can only be discerned and discovered through the process of spiritual purification itself, as the following saying makes clear:

To see what is good, think what is good, and say what is good all have an effect whose benefit can be felt by the person who actually practices those principles. That person’s heart becomes illuminated, so that he is able to see with full clarity, rather than through the fog of bitterness and resentment.

This basic principle, so often reiterated by the prophets and saints, may sound simple in itself, but even the slightest attempt to put it into practice immediately brings us face to face with the next central theme of Ostad Elahi’s spiritual teaching, the difficult struggle between our angelic soul or spirit and the carnal-animal self, with its endless masks and ruses. Of course the unavoidable struggle to master that dimension of ourselves which naturally opposes our higher, divine nature is a central theme in every religious tradition, but Ostad Elahi’s treatment of this subject involves certain important clarifications and distinctive emphases which recur throughout his spiritual teaching.

To begin with, he constantly stresses the importance--whether in our own spiritual work, or in the spiritual education of our children and others--of ultimately strengthening the mastery of our higher self, the angelic soul or spirit, rather than simply weakening or undermining (much less "destroying") the forces of the carnal self:

The stronger the angelic soul becomes, the more it will be able to dominate the carnal self. The method to strengthen our soul is to recognize its real dignity and worth, and to come to love the soul. As a result of that you will acquire the higher, noble qualities, and will come to feel an immediate aversion for everything that is unworthy of the soul...

Thus for Ostad Elahi the process of learning to recognize and master the carnal self does not involve heroic efforts of mindless asceticism, but rather a much more demanding, highly reflective process of self-discovery and self-mastery through strengthening our conscience and self-awareness:

The way to combat the carnal-animal self is as follows: whatever the carnal self wants with great desire and passion, we must not give it, because in that state it has no respect for religion, reason, or honor. The only thing it wants is to satisfy its desires! But when the carnal self wants something that is in accordance with the rules of religion and the judgment of right reason, then we should respect it and give it that.

The third essential aspect of Ostad Elahi’s practical spiritual teaching is "attention--and intention--toward God." And of course that principle is present at the core of every stage of our religious and spiritual life, as he constantly reminds us. To begin with, in every religion,

All prayers, invocations and all the rest--(the aim of) all of these can be summed up as maintaining that state of continual attention on God, and trying to learn what we must do in order to please God.

For the very principle of prayer is purpose and intention. Whatever the religion or form of worship, to have your attention on God, to whatever degree, is accepted--whatever the words may be.

But if attention toward God is already central at even the most elementary and external forms of religious life, how much more essential and active it must become as the soul moves along the path of self-knowledge leading to ever deeper and more operative awareness of God. The absolute importance of attention to God at the higher stages of the path is beautifully summarized in a passage which also draws together virtually all the points of Ostad Elahi’s teaching we have considered today:

Following the path of spiritual perfection necessarily requires a connection (with God), and that spiritual rank cannot be acquired through artificial methods.... Eventually each person must experience for himself a state of illumination; then, through that illumination, he will grasp the manifestation of the Truth.

That (higher spiritual) world is not concerned with the body, but with the angelic soul. So we must orient our soul toward that world, and once we have done that, the divine Source Itself will arrange the rest....

It is sufficient for us to realize that we must have this Attention (toward the Source), and then the rest will take care of itself. But the essential thing is this initial Attention. Once a person has fulfilled all the (divine) orders, the right ways will naturally open for them, and those ways will bring this Attention.

In conclusion, I hope that all of you, whatever your own background and confession, have recognized much that was already familiar in the spiritual teachings of Ostad Elahi outlined here today. If that is so, I hope that you will credit that sense of familiarity not to this small selection from his wider writings, but to the those basic qualities of directness, simplicity, and explicit universality which are indeed essential characteristics of his way of teaching. As he himself put it during the last years of his life:

I have not passed over any subject in silence: all that is needed is a grasp of the question and the aspiration (to understand). And that aspiration comes from the angelic soul.

So if this brief summary of his teachings has frequently reminded you of scriptures and other spiritual teachings from any number of other religious traditions, that also should not be surprising, since one of Ostad Elahi’s most iterated points is that the basic principles of religious and spiritual reality are indeed the same and universal, constantly repeated by all the prophets and saints in ways adapted to their own time and audiences. Yet those classical formulations of the same Truth can often become obscured by the inevitable processes of transmission and interpretation, and by the use of unfamiliar or intentionally symbolic forms of expression.

As more of Ostad Elahi’s teaching and writings become accessible in translation, you should be able to verify for yourselves how he was able to point more directly to that one Truth, without problematic symbols and allusions; to bring out explicitly and universally what was often opaque or missing in earlier traditions; and to focus our attention on the universal "quintessence" of the revealed religions, on their essential common ground of Truth.

And finally, we must not forget that there are other powerful ways of spiritual teaching and communication, where Ostad Elahi was also a master, which we have not even mentioned in this lecture today. Perhaps the special magic of his unique music might help, in deeper ways beyond these words, to open up another of his final and most enigmatic sayings:

I have spoken with each person to the extent they could understand. But I have still not told anyone all there is in my heart.