Nakshbandi recollection (Islam)

The states of awareness and recollection (dhikr) cultivated by the Nakshbandi Order in Islam contains the following elements: oral and mental repetition of the Name of God (using the name received); pronunciation of the sacred formula "La ilaha illa'llah..."; regulation of breath; and fixing of attention; all this to eliminate distractions in the beginning. The fourth stage (yad dast) is termed [fixation of the presence of truth]

(the Saviour) in the mind. The fifth stage (hus dar dan) is termed [breath-knowing]

, in which the single object of consciousness is the vital wind. The sixth stage (safar dar vatan) is the [journey to the true homeland]

in which one acquires the angel's powers in place of one's own. The seventh stage (nazar bar qadam) is [attention to direction or orientation]

in which the pilgrim's consciousness is never distracted from the origin and goal of each footstep. The eighth stage (originally, in the Nakshbandi system, the last), is the mystery of the dual presence of the Self, apparently only going about in the affairs of men, but also internally being in a spiritual retreat attended by truth. As the comment on the first stage of this dhikr put it, "the heart is always conscious of truth". The eighth stage, for these reasons is called, "alone in a crowd" (xalvat dar anjoinan), a state in which a man can be a moral influence in his time, and with undistracted mind help others toward the goal.