His first teacher was his mother. She pushed him to seek spiritual guidance from Hadrat Shah Habib Gilani, whose shrine still remains in the village of Garh Bagdad, near Abdul Hakeem Around 1668, Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) moved to Delhi for further training under the guidance of Syed Abdul Rehman Jilani Dehlvi, a notable Sufi saint of the Qadria Order.
Even though he was young and handsome, he adopted a life of contemplation and meditation. His intense devotion to Allah made him choose asceticism, and he became a wandering dervish. This was an attempt to detach from worldly passions, ambitions, pride, and greed. Living each day as it comes with no sense of attachment and no burden releases one’s soul from the bondage of this world. As a wanderer and a dervish he was free of the shadows of the past.
Journey and destination became one, and life flowed like a river that could not be stopped in its course.
As suggested by the mother, he embarked on his quest for a Murshid. Thus, he decided to be a wandering dervish. He bade farewell to his mother and left home. In his mind he had completely renounced this world. He had no possessions. He preferred to go on foot. He headed for the desert to seek silence and inner peace. He passed through many barren fields and dense jungles, stopping only for his ritual prayers. He performed his dhikr and recited the Qur’an all the way and at all times. His heart was alive with the remembrance of Allah. All his attention was fixed on one goal: union with Allah. During this while, he visited tombs of saints, martyrs, and pious persons.
Interaction with Shah Habib Gillani (RA)
In his search for Murshid, Hadrat Sultan (RA) arrived at the Khanqah of Shah Habib Gillani (RA). His quest was purely spiritual and his soul was burning by an inward fire. The Khanqah consisted of a mosque with a courtyard. At the opposite end of the mosque was a water pond, an ablution tank. Dervishes would fill them by bringing water from the river in goatskins. It would take hundreds of goatskins full of water to fill the pond and the tank. This was done every other day to keep it full.
There was a hearth in the Khanqah where a water pot was always kept boiling on the fire. New aspirants were asked to put their hands in the hot water pot. Putting their hands in the hot water resulted in instant spiritual illumination and revelation of many esoteric mysteries. When Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) presented himself to Shah Habib Gillani, the Sheikh asked him to put his hand into the water pot.
“Allah blessed me with spiritual treasures and esoteric knowledge as an infant. Putting my hand in the hot water pot would have not quenched my spiritual thirst,” Sultan Bahu (RA) replied with humility. He further said, “Dear Master, such spiritual states were accomplished in my childhood.”
It was Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA)’s turn to bring water from the river and fill the pond and tank in the Khanqah. He asked for a goatskin and headed towards the river. When he reached the river, he filled the goatskin, tied its neck, and retraced his footsteps to the land. When he returned to the Khanqah, he loosened the tie around the goatskin neck, crystal clear water gushed into the pond until it overflowed. He then poured water into the ablution tank. At the end the goatskin was still full of water. As the other dervishes looked on, they were dazed.
Then Shah Habib Gillani (RA) asked Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) if he wanted to embark on the path to enlightenment, he must embrace a life of renunciation as he could either serve Allah or the world. No one could serve two opposite ideals with equal devotion. His words moved Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) who took leave of the Sheikh to return home with the intention to give away all belongings to the poor and therefore be free of any attachments. By now he had fully realized the transience of worldly pleasures.
Hadrat Sultan Bahu’s mother, Bibi Rasti, became aware of his intentions through divine inspiration and advised his daughters-in-law accordingly. When the Sultan Bahu (RA) reached home, he called his wives and asked them to bring all their jewelry, money, and other valuables to be distributed among the poor. They carried out his instructions. By chance he recognized a golden ring on the finger of his son Noor Muhammad. He also gave it away in charity.
He returned to the service of Shah Habib Gillani and said, “Dear Master, I have done what you advised me to do. I have come to ask your blessing, for my heart is so filled with divine intoxication.”
The Sheikh then told Sultan Bahu (RA), “Although you have gotten rid of material goods and valuables, what about your obligation to your wives? They are still your responsibility. Two different responsibilities cannot be shouldered at the same time. How can you hope to achieve union with Allah if you remain tied even by a slightest thread to this world?”
On hearing this, Sultan Bahu (RA) hurried back to Shorekot to set free his wives from marital obligations. His mother, Bibi Rasti, perceived his intentions. She reassured her daughters-in-law to remain calm and patient. She then told Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) that her daughters-in-law set him free from all obligations so he could be present with Allah. The obedient son heeded the mother’s advice. He called upon Shah Habib Gillani and stayed in the Khanqah for some time. The Sheikh was observing his spiritual states and stations.
To test his claim, Shah Habib Gillani put Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) to a challenge by suddenly vanishing from the scene without any warning. Hadrat Sultan Bahu (RA) went into a deep trance to find the Sheikh. He seemed to be streaming upward into the heavens and soon reached a limitless land up in the Himalayas. He saw an elderly peasant who, with the help of a pair of bullocks, was ploughing the field. The old man had an air of quiet calm and dignity. Hadrat Sultan Bahu appeared from behind and bowed in a gesture of respect and said, “Baba ji (father), let me help you with the ploughing.” As their eyes met, the old man smiled and transformed into Shah Habib Gillani, who chuckled and said, “You found me.”
After saying this he disappeared instantly. Sultan Bahu (RA) chased the Sheikh up till a bazaar in the South Indian city of Bangalore that was teeming with life. At one end of the bazaar, he saw an elderly Brahman holding a plate of red dye and applying tilak marks on the foreheads of saffron-clad devotees. Sultan Bahu (RA) disguised himself as a young sadhu with a shaven head and a yellow robe and came close and peered into the Brahman’s eyes. A mysterious smile played on the Brahman’s face, and he quickly transformed into Shah Habib Gillani. He held Hadrat Sultan Bahu’s hand and started walking in the strange land. Then swiftly the Sheikh disappeared again.
One more time Sultan Bahu (RA)’s spirit flew on and landed outside a small mosque in a remote village near Kabul in the Paghman Valley. Inside the mosque Shah Habib Gillani was teaching the Qur’an to young children. Sultan Bahu (RA) transformed into a five-year-old boy. Holding the first part of the Qur’an in hand, he presented himself to the Sheikh and said in an innocent voice, “Sir, please teach me the Word of Allah as well.”
As he gazed at the boy with fathomless eyes, Shah Habib Gillani recognized the power of omnipresence in Sultan Bahu’s soul. He brought back Sultan Bahu to the Khanqah in Garh Baghdad. The sheikh spoke tenderly with an angelic smile:
“What you desire is far beyond my strength. You must go beyond anything I can teach you. I will direct you to my spiritual master, Hazrat Pir Abdul Rahman Qadri, in Delhi who can take you to the threshold of Beyond the Beyond and can bestow you treasure beyond all treasures.”