Spiritual Letter 15 - Text Only Version About Spiritual Letter 15 Title: "About The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library", Date: March 20, 2002 Written by: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) to Asma (Rick) Hacket
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum. My love you, my dearest brothers and sisters.
1. Introduction - to the letter to Asma
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum, my dearest loving brother Asma.
It was very nice to see and talk to you yesterday. We need to be in front of each other more. Thank you again for the rides. It was very helpful, and the day at the Ship was very beneficial for me, especially seeing all of our brothers and sisters up close again. It never fails to amaze me how much we are all alike. We are truly one life.
You asked about the web site that this child has been developing over the last few years. This is also a wonder and is quite a blessings for my life.
2. A Little Bit About Louie
Developing this web site has become one of the major activities of my life, and a lot of my time is spent working on this web site, other than my time in prayer and meditation, which is usually about 2 hours in the morning, or when I first wake up, then about 1 hour done 4 or 5 times throughout the day, with my day ending usually between 2 or 4 AM.
And a lot of the time left is spent on the computer, other than my house work, which is regularly assigned to me by Crisi. And other than my TV time, which in some cases is quite large. All of this mixed together, in varying proportions, has become my day, with an occasional visit to the Ship.
3. Spiritual Chats With Rumi Using "AIM IM" And "Juno"
Lately this routine has been beautifully interrupted by the Spiritual Chats that Rumi Smith and this child have been having for the last 3 months using the new IM or Instant Messaging Service that is now available to anyone who has access to the internet.
This new IM service allows us to chat directly via the keyboard with anyone in the world who has installed on his computer the free AIM IM software. And anyone in the world can now download and install this free AIM IM software on his computer in about 10 minutes. It is a real blessing.
And in addition to chatting via the keyboard, the software also allows us to directly talk to anyone in the world through our computer as well as exchange computer files, all for free. The internet address or URL to download this free AIM IM Software is: www.AIM.com
Add to this the new free Internet Services that are now available, that allow us to connect to the Internet free of charge, through companies life "Juno", which can also be downloaded free, and we have all become connected on the "outside" like we never were before, just like with the coming of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) into our life we have become connected on the "inside" like we never were before. The internet address or URL to download this free Juno Software is: www.Juno.com
What a gift from God and what a beautiful way to increase our ability to share with the world the life and teaching of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar.
For example, while we were at the Ship yesterday we helped set Rumi Smith up with this combination, that is with "Juno" as her free internet service and "AIM IM" as her free Instant Messaging Service. Her new E-mail address at "Juno" is RumiSmith@juno.com and her new "AIM IM" Screen Name is RumiSmith786.
And my E-mail address at "Juno" is Muhaiyaddeen@juno.com and my "AIM IM" Screen Name is MuhaiyaddeenLB. We also have signed up with AOL where my E-mail address there is Muhaiyaddeen786@aol.com. Use the AOL E-mail address, Muhaiyaddeen786@aol.com, when sending us material since we check it more often.
This child would be more than happy to help anyone else set up their computer in the same way, so we can Chat about Bawa, about how Bawa has changed our lives, and about what we have learned from being with Bawa on the "outside" and on the "inside".
4. Building The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library Using "Homestead"
The web site that this child has been building with Bawa over the last 4 years has been built using the internet web building and hosting service called "Homestead". This service only costs $5.00 a month and it is quite powerful and very easy to us.
Some important features of the Homestead service, beyond the price, is that they allow us to have an unlimited number of web sites with one account, as well as 25 MB of storage, which is a lot if we just store text not pictures, which is perfect for sharing the teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) since it is mostly text, and 30 GB of monthly traffic, which means a lot of people can view the same web site at the same time.
Also, the feature of unlimited web sites for each account at "Homestead" allows us to provide direct access to each thing that we put out on the internet, through one Homestead account.
This means that each thing that we put on the internet, like a discourse by Bawa or a Spiritual Letter by one of the Children of Bawa, can have its own internet address or URL and can be accessed directly, and we don't have to go though a series of web pages to get to our destination. For example, to a discourse by Bawa or a Spiritual Letter by one of the Children of Bawa, which is normally the case.
If you would like to look into this web page hosting service, the internet address or URL for checking out "Homestead" or for signing up for a Homestead account is: www.homestead.com.
In our case, when trying to share the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), this feature of "Homestead" of unlimited web sites translates into a separate URL or internet address for each chapter in one of Bawa's books, or for each one of Bawa's discourses or songs, or for each one of the Children's Spiritual Letters or Spiritual Chats.
This feature allows us to directly access a specific chapter in one of Bawa's books, within an on-line Spiritual Letter that we are writing, or within an on-line Spritual Chat that we are having, without having to first go to the on-line Home Page of the Library that contains the book, or to the Home Page of the book that contains the chapter. You will see how this works out to our advantage when we next describe our web site below.
5. Organization of The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library
The Web Site that this child has been building with Bawa has evolved over the years into what is now called "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library".
It is divided into two sections, the Father's Library and the Children's Library, and can be accessed using the URL for the Library Home Page or by directly accessing each section of the Library, the Father's Part of the Library and the Children's Part of the Library, using the URL for each part.
6. Content of The Father's Part of The Library
The Father's Part of the Library includes material provided by His Holiness, which currently includes a Glossary of Terms from one of Bawa's books, a List of Quotations from His Holiness, some Books from the life and teaching of His Holiness, some Chapters from each of these Books by His Holiness, and some Transcripts of some of the discourses and songs given by His Holiness (currently only one 1 transcript is available).
Some of the Father's material in the library can be accessed directly using a URL for a specific piece of material, like a specific Chapter in a book, and some of the material can only be accessed using the URL for a category of material, like a specific Book. While all of the material can be accessed using the URL for the Father's Library.
For example:
www.ThePearlOfWisdomForward.homestead.com www.ThePearlOfWisdomInvAllah.homestead.com www.ThePearlOfWisdomInvGuru.homestead.com www.ThePearlOfWisdomChap01.homestead.com www.The99NamesOfGod.homestead.com
Also the Father's Part of the Library has other material from the life and teaching of His Holiness that can be accessed directly.
For example, we have started to develop A Glossary of Terms for the Library. We have started with the Glossary from the book "Islam & World Peace: Explanations of A Sufi", which can be access using: www.spiritualglossary.homestead.com.
We plan to develop a Glossary "Home Page" for this and other Glossaries from the books by His Holiness, and from them gradually develop a Master Glossary of Terms for the Library.
When using the Glossary of Terms, we give people the option to access this "Glossary of Terms" with the current version of their Web Browser or by starting it up using a new version of their Web Browser, so it will stay up as they use the Library, and not go down when they access a new page in the Library, which will happen when they access it using the current version of their Web Browser.
Also, we have started to develop different lists of quotations form the life and teaching of His Holiness, and have created a "Home Page" for all of these quotation lists, which you can access by using the following URL Home Page www.bawamuhaiyaddeenquotes.homestead.com. To date we have 1 list of quotations available from this Home Page. In addition, we have started to make available transcripts of discourses and songs by His Holiness and we plan to create a separate "Home Page" for discourses and for songs.
However, so far we only have 1 transcript of a discourse by His Holiness in the Library, which is "How To Merge With The Guru", which can be accessed directly, or from either the Father's Library or the Library Navigation Tree, using the following URL: www.SpiriutalDiscourse001.homestead.com.
7. Content of The Children's Part of The Library
The Children's Part of the Library includes material written by the Children of His Holiness, material written about the life and teaching of His Holiness by the Children of His Holiness. Currently, the Children's Library only includes material written by this child, material written by Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler).
However, all of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Us) are welcome to participate in this on-line library, contributing material to either the Father's Part of the Library or to the Children's Part of the Library.
If you, or anyone else, would like to participate in developing this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library", just E-mail us what you have, and we will add the material to the Library.
This could be something for the Father's Part of the Library, like the transcript of a favorite discourse or song by His Holiness, or a copy of a Chapter from one of Bawa's book
This could also be something for the Children's Part of the Library, like something you have written about the life and teaching of His Holiness, like a Testimonial (how meeting Bawa has changed my life), or a Spiritual Letter written to a brother or sister helping them with a problem they are having, or a Spiritual Article that you or another brother has written or would like to write about Bawa.
For example, this could be an article that addresses the following questions:
a. Who is Bawa Muhaiyaddeen? b. Who are the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen? c. What does it all mean, or what is the purpose of life?
In this way, just send us what you have and we will add the material to the Library.
8. Material "Bundled" Within The Children's Part of The Library
Currently some of the Children's material can only be accessed by using the URL for the Children's Library, and then by selecting a topic within the Children's Library.
For example, the following material can only be accessed by first accessing the "The Children's Library", that is, by first using the web address or URL of the Children's Library which is: www.LibraryChildren.homestead.com.
Once within the Children's Library, then you must select one of the following topics. For example by selecting the topic "Testimonial". And finally by selecting one of the examples within that topic, like the Testimonial from Louie Beutler which has been given the title in the library "Only God Is Not Crazy".
a. Testimonials 1) Only God Is Not Crazy b. In-The-Room Stories 1) The Exaltedness of Our Life c. Spiritual Secrets - not yet available 1) The Real Work of The Fellowship Is Bawa Curing Himself of Us 2) The Three Stages In The True Shaikh-Disciple Relationship d. Spiritual Questions & Answers - not yet available 1) Why Can't I Do The Zikr While I Am Studying Algebra? 2) Why Does The Soul Need Wisdom? 3) What Is The Difference Between Iman And Wisdom? e. Wisdom Stories 1) The Happy Apple Tree And The Golden Apple 2) The Fort People And The Mysterious Treasure Within - not yet available f. Spiritual Analysis 1) The Most Exalted of God Creations
We now call this type of material "bundled" material, or material that is bundled within the library, and then bundled even further within headings or topics within the library, material that cannot be accessed directly, material which does not have its own web address or URL.
Please note that not all of the material list above is currently available in the Library. All of it has been developed but not all of it is yet available in the Library. Only the items above that have been highlighted in bold and colored green are currently available. The items above in plain text are not currently available.
9. Unbundling The Material In The Children's Part of the Library
This is how this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" was first developed. All of the material, both the Father's and the Children's material, were bundled within the library and could not be accessed directly.
However, we gradually realized the burden that this type of organization placed upon us, mainly when we were writing an on-line Spiritual Letters or conducting an on-line Spiritual Chat, and we wanted to reference in the letter or chat some material that was bundled within the Library, like the beautiful "Forward" to the book "The Pearl of Wisdom", or the beautiful "Introduction" to the book, "Shaikh And Disciple".
Therefore, when we were forced to rebuild this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" about a year ago, when the free "Homestead Service" that we were using became no longer available through the Juno Service that we were using, we started to unbundle all of the material within the library as we rebuilt it using the "Homestead Service" that we are now using, which is the "Homestead Service" that we had to pay for, at the fee of $5.00 a month.
To date most of the items in the Father's Library have been unbundled and have their own URL, while only some of the material in the Children's Library have been unbundled.
The Children's material listed above, that can only be accessed through the Children's Library URL (www.LibraryChildren.homestead.com) represent those items that still need to be unbundled.
10. Children's Material - making it partially unbundled and then fully unbundled
As an intermediate step in this unbundling process, some types of material in the Children's Library have been partially unbundled, which means that they can be accessed more directly than before by using the URL for a specific type of material, like for Spiritual Letters or Spiritual Chats.
We have called these web addresses or URLs "Home Pages" for the different types of material in the Children's Library, like the Home Page - Spiritual Letters and the
Also some material in the Children's Library has been fully unbundled, for some types of material, and can be accessed directly using their own URL, that is a URL for a specific piece of material, like a specific Spiritual Letter or Spiritual Chat, like
11. Spiritual Insights - an example of one type of children's material with its own "Home Page", but with no items fully unbundled
For example, we have developed a "Home Page" for all of the Spiritual Insights which have been developed and written by this Child from April 1989 to the Present. They can now be access using Home Page - Spiritual Insights which has the web address or URL: www.SpiritualLetters.homestead.com.
None of the following individual spiritual insights have yet been unbundled, and can only be accessed using the Home Page - Spiritual Insights URL or web address:
About Spiritual Insights a. The Justice of God b. The Gift of Understanding c. The Spiritual Child - First Encounter d. The Spiritual Child - Second Encounter e. The Name of Our Spiritual Guardian f. The Spiritual Child - Becoming the Prayer Mat of the Shaikh g. The Spiritual Child - Becoming the Farm of the Shaikh - not yet available
12. Spiritual Letters - an example of another type of children's material, given its own "Home Page", but with only a few items fully unbundled
Also, we have developed a "Home Page" for all of the Spiritual Letters which have been written by this Child from April 1989 to the Present can now be access using
This Home Page currently includes access to the following Spiritual Letters, some of which you can also access directly using their own URL or web address, that is, Spiritual Letter 09, 14 - version 2, and 15, can be accessed directly.
Spiritual Letter 14 .... The Why, Where, How, and What of God and True Man (January 2002) Spiritual Letter 13 ....Doing "Nothing" Correctly Is Doing Everything Right (January 2002) Spiritual Letter 12 .... Overcoming The "Enemy of The Soul (January 2002) Spiritual Letter 11 .... Another View of The Five Kalimahs (January 2002) Spiritual Letter 10 .... The Sound of God (January 2002) Spiritual Letter 08 .... Only God is Good ( November 2001) - partial, page 1 of 7 Spiritual Letter 07 .... The Meaning of Life (October 2001) Spiritual Letter 06 .... The Life of Deception Within Us (October 2001) Spiritual Letter 05 .... The Great Difficulty of Our Life (October 2001) Spiritual Letter 04 .... Start Everything With The Word "Bawa" (May 2001) - not avail. Spiritual Letter 03 .... The Heart of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (November 1996) - not avail. Spiritual Letter 02 .... Everything Is Perfect (November 1996) - not yet available Spiritual Letter 01 .... Who Are We? Who Is God? And What Is The Relationship Between Us? (April 1989) - not yet available
Please also note that all of these Spiritual Letters have been written and are complete. However, we are still in the process of putting them on the internet. So some of them are only partially available (i.e., Spiritual Letters 8 and 9), and some are not yet available at all (i.e., Spiritual Letters 1, 2, 3, and 4).
But all of them contain a wealth of wisdom and are worth reading, and represent what has grown within the heart of this child sitting on the lap of God as Bawa teaches us "what we do not know".
Also, a revised version of "Spiritual Letter 14 - version 2" can be accessed directly using the following web address or URL: www.SpiritualLetter14.homestead.com, and "Spiritual Letter 09" is now completely unbundled, and can be accessed directly using the following URL: www.SpiritualLetter09.homestead.com.
13. Spiritual Chats - an example of another type of children's material, given its own "Home Page", but with most Items fully unbundled
In addition, we have developed a "Home Page" for all of the Spiritual Chats between this child and our sister Rumi Smith, that happened over the last three months, can be accessed directly using Home Page - Spiritual Chats which has the web address or URL: www.SpiritualChats.homestead.com.
And each of the individual Spiritual Chats, with the exception of Spiritual Chat 1, can also be accessed directly using their own web address or URL. Spiritual Chat 1 is very short and will stay bundled as part of the Home Page for Spiritual Chats.
The standard format for the URL for each of the individual Spiritual Chats is as follows: www.SpiritualChatXXX.homestead.com. For example, the URL for Spiritual Chat 3 is: www.SpiritualChat003.homestead.com.
The following individual Spiritual Chats, with the excepting of Spiritual Chat 1, can be accessed directly using this standard format.
Spiritual Chat 1 .... Ask For The Remedy To Shine Everywhere (January 07, 2002) Spiritual Chat 2 .... Learning How To Join In Partnership With Bawa (January 12, 2002) (February 14, 2002) Spiritual Chat 7 .... Only True Man Is Good, & Only God Is Love (March 11, 2002)
14. Future Plans & "Work-In-Process" For The Library - includes a Master Glossary, Spiritual Topics, Discourses, And Songs, And Wisdom Quizzes & Wisdom Adventures, all with fully unbundled items
Our Future Plans for "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" includes the following areas.
A. Master Glossary B. Spiritual Topics C. Spiritual Discourses D. Spiritual Songs E. Wisdom Quizzes F. Wisdom Adventures
Our "work in process" is developing a "Home Page" for some of these, and to make each item fully unbundled, that is, giving each item its own URL or web address so it can be accessed directly:
A brief discussing of each of these and the current status of our effort in developing them follows:
A. Master Glossary
We plan to develop a Glossary "Home Page" for some of the Glossaries currently found in the books by His Holiness, and from them gradually develop a Master Glossary of Terms for the Library.
To date we have a partial Glossary of Terms from one of the books by His Holiness, "Islam And World Peace: Explanations of a Sufi", which can be accessed from the Father's and Children's Library, from the Library Home Page, and from the Library Navigation Tree, as follows:
Home Page - Glossary of Terms - not yet available a. Glossary - "Islam and World Peace: Explanations of a Sufi" - partially available (through Father's & Children's Library, Library Home Page, & through Library Navigation Tree)
B. Spiritual Topics
We have already developed a "Home Page" for a new type of Children's material called "Spiritual Topics" and have developed one fully unbundled items within it called "Spiritual Topic 1", and given it the title, "Fathoming The God We Worship", which we can access directly, as follows:
C. Spiritual Discourses
Also, we are in the process of developing a "Home Page" for a new type of Father's material called "Spiritual Discourses" and have developed one fully unbundled item within it called "Spiritual Discourse 1", which is a beautiful discourse given by His Holiness on April 26, 1972, with the title, "How To Merge With The Guru", which we can currently access directly from the Library Home Page, from the Library Navigation Tree, or from the Father's Library, but not yet from its own "Home Page".
And we are in the process of making transcripts of other discourses by His Holiness available through this new "Home Page", that is, through "Home Page - Spiritual Discourses", as follows:
Home Page - Spiritual Discourse - not yet available b. Become The Ruler of The 3 Worlds Within (1974) - not yet available
D. Spiritual Songs
In addition, we are in the process of making transcripts of the following songs by His Holiness available through the "Home Page - Spiritual Songs":
Home Page - Spiritual Songs - not yet available a. The Kalimah Song (April 26, 1972) - not yet available b. The Allah Muhammad Song (February 9, 1974) - not yet available
E. Wisdom Quizzes
We plan to develop a set of interactive material called Wisdom Quizzes & Wisdom Adventures which are spread throughout the Library.
In the Wisdom Quizzes we ask a question, for example, about a book, a chapter in a book, adiscourse, or a song by His Holiness and then provide an answer using a quote from His Holiness.
We have already started to do this in our Analysis of some of our Spiritual Insights. To see what progress we have made in this direction go to the Home Page - Spiritual Insights, then click on the second Spiritual Analysis called, "Losing Oneself Into Nothingness". Then click on item 9 and 10 in the outline provided, called "What Have We learned? - Wisdom Quiz", and "Answers to Wisdom Quiz", as follows:
a. Spiritual Analysis - Losing Oneself Into Nothingness 9. What Have We Learned? - Wisdom Quiz 10. Answers to Wisdom Quiz
F. Wisdom Adventures
In the Wisdom Adventures, which we have not started yet, we pose a problem or questin that we all encounter while living in the world, like the following, and then answer it through our personal experience with the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), explaining how this experience has change our life.
a. How do we dispel the darkness in the world? b. What is the world? c. How do we improve ourselves while living in the world?
15. The Library Navigation Tree
Finally, we have recently developed an Alternate Library Home Page called the "Library Navigation Tree" to try and make the material in the library even more accessible, which has the URL: www.LibraryTree.homestead.com, and it can be found and accessed from most of the main Web Pages in the Library.
We do this by differentiating between the material within the library that is bundled and unbundled, showing how all of the material in the library can be best accessed, either directly using its own URL, or indirectly using the URL of that type of material, or in the case of some of the Children's material, using the URL of the Children's Part of the Library.
16. The Library Home Page
Also, we have recently updated the Library Home Page to include a List of URLs or Web Addresses for both the Children's Part and the Father's Part of the Library.
17. The Goal Is "Top-Down" And "Bottom-Up" Access To The Library
Putting all of this together, we are moving closer to our goal, which is to provide access to this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" either "Top-down" or "Bottom-up".
With "Top-down" meaning starting with the Library Home Page, or the Library Navigation Tree, and working our way down, accessing either the Father's Library or the Children's Library, then accessing one of the Topics in the Father's or Children's Library, and finally accessing one of the Examples within one of the Topics.
And "Bottom-up" meaning directly accessing the specific piece of material in the Library that one is looking for, like a Chapter in a book, a discourse or song by His Holiness, or a Spiritual Letter or Spiritual Chat by one of the Children of His Holiness, without having to go through a series of web pages to get to it, as one has to do in the traditional "Top-down" approach.
By providing both methods of access we provide the best of both worlds, allowing people to access "Top-down" as they learn to use the Library and learn about the type of material the Library provides, and allowing people to access "Bottom-up" when they know what they want and would like to go directly to it.
In this way, if people have nothing specific in mind they can access the Home Page of the Library, or the Library Navigation Tree, and make selection choices as they walk through the Library, or people can directly access the type of material that they want in the Library. For example, by accessing a specific book in the Father's Library, or all of the Spiritual Letters or Spiritual Chats in the Children's Library, by directly accessing the Home Page for Spiritual Letters or Spiritual Chats.
Or if they know exactly what they want, they can directly access what they want. For example, by directly accessing a specific Chapter in a book in the Father's Library or a specific Spiritual Letter or a specific Spiritual Chat in the Children's Library.
In this way, our goal is to make everything in this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" unbundled, allowing us to directly access everything in the Library using its own web address or URL, allowing us to gain full use of the life and teaching of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), and full use of the life and teaching of His Children, as documented in this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library".
18. Lets All Join Together To Get Out The Word of Our Shaikh - only then will we become successful in our life, only then will our fate turn to dust
That is about it. Your use, comments about, and participation in this on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library" would be greatly appreciated by all of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Us), and most certainly by this child.
Also, if you would prefer to start your own on-line version of "The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library", using the Homestead Service, or any another service, or start any other project of this nature, or of any other nature, we would be happy to help you and participate.
My love you, my dearest loving brother Asma, you are certainly a blessing to my life and to the path that we walk together as the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Us). Amen.
We must all join together to get the word of our Shaikh out. This has to become the focus of our life. Only then will we become victorious in our life. For as His Holiness teaches us in the "Invocation To The Guru", on page 11, in the beautiful book, "The Pearl of Wisdom or Guru Mani",
"Spread the Guru's words with delightful heart, Unfurl the flag of the Guru's words everywhere, Then the fate that accompanies three Shall turn into dust."
Please give my love and salams to your wife, and to all of your family and friends, and share this letter with them if you like.
My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler).
End of Spiritual Letter 15 - text only version - ...........................
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