The International Journal of Naqshbandi Tariqat Hafez is right when he says, "Do not travel through these stations without the company of a Perfect Master. There is darkness. Beware of the danger of getting lost!" In the outside world there is no danger of getting lost. There are milestones on every road, maps are available, guides are available, and there are millions of people always there who can help you. But in the inner world there are no maps. Each individual‘s subjectivity is different and unique. No maps can be made. And each individual's growth is so unique that milestones cannot be made. Each individual follows such different labyrinths that you will need somebody who is tremendously alert, aware, and enlightened to help you at each step. Otherwise from each step there is a possibility of getting lost. And the greatest problem is: when you lose the outer world you are left utterly alone. And you will not be able to make any distinction between what is fact and what is fiction. The boundaries between fact and fiction start dissolving. For example, in the morning when you wake up you relate a dream to your wife. You know it is a dream. How do you know it is a dream? You are certain because it is only you who dreamt it. Your wife was sleeping on the same bed in her own world. She had no awareness that you had been to the Himalayas, and you had been travelling in the mountains, and you had been visiting places. She had no awareness, and she was sleeping just by your side. In the morning if your wife says that she has also dreamt the same dream; that yes, the journey was beautiful and the mountains were beautiful, and ―Think of that dark bungalow where we stayed.‖ you will become suspicious about whether it was a dream or a reality. And if your son comes in same time and says, ―Daddy, where have you been the whole night? I came twice. Both of you were not in the room.‖ In this case you will become more suspicious. ―Maybe it was real?‖ How do you judge reality? If others agree then you know it is a fact. If nobody agrees then you know it is a fiction. This is the only criterion. The others' agreement makes it a fact. But in the inner world you will be alone, totally alone. There will be nobody to agree or disagree. How will you know what is fact and what is fiction? If you see Buddha in your meditations, how will you ascertain whether he has really appeared or you have simply been dreaming? This is the problem. And one can easily get lost in one's own fictions, and to be lost in one's own fictions is madness. Such is the danger on the inner path. You will need somebody who can be present in your innerness. That is the meaning of trust. Trust creates such a strong bridge Vol: 1 Issue 2 April- June 2011 – The Quarterly Publication
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