The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

The History of the Fellowship

Little is known of the personal history of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen prior to his emergence from the jungles of Sri Lanka over fifty years ago at which time he was asked to teach. He rarely spoke of himself in any way, never deviating from his focus on the one God.

Since Truth has no limits or boundaries or compartments, it can never be confined to or owned by any religion. Thus, although totally unlettered, to a Hindu he would talk about God in detailed terms of Hinduism; to a Jew or Catholic he would talk about God in detailed terms of Judaism or Catholicism, to a Muslim in terms of Islam. But to an atheist who was a car mechanic, he might talk about God in terms of cars - in whatever terms the individual could best grasp the explanation. His actions were a living example of the Truth about which he spoke. He was the example of that Truth, in whatever form might be needed for the moment. He sometimes described himself as an "ant man," or as a being tinier than the tiniest ant.

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is no longer physically with us. He passed away December 8, 1986. However, the real essence of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is alive and very well. To find a teacher who is a true and absolutely pure guide is to find the rarest of the rare, one who is completely surrendered to God's qualities, one in whom there is no gap between what he is and what he says, one who is the truth about which he speaks. To find such a one is to find a pure mirror through whom we can see and be transformed into our true selves. Such a perfect Guide lives in his connection to God throughout all time. This connection is never born and can never die. This connection is the Sheikh and the teachings of God's Truth.

The living presence of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is very much here and at his resting place at the Fellowship Cemetery which is about an hour outside the city. In Philadelphia there are thousands of video and audio tapes which can be helpful to one's growth. And also there is the loving support of the Fellowship family. The people who are here now had years of close personal access to M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen — formally during the discourses which were open to the public, and informally during the numerous spontaneous song or question and answer sessions, during cooking, farming, construction, or just relaxed chatting of the "children" with the Father of their Wisdom.