The life of the Sufi in the East is the life of a true disciple of Christ. People may recognize the teachings of Christ in a scripture or a church or a chapel, yet to the Sufi nothing of that is Christ. The only true disciple of Christ is the one who sees God as Father, God as Mother, in all his fellow men and women. So in India, Arabia, Persia, they call a fakir, a sage, a dervish -- "bawa," "father," or a lady, "mother," seeing both aspects of God in all things. Naturally there are degrees -- fana-fi-sheikh, fana-fi-rasul, fana-fi-Allah -- but they recognize their teacher in everyone. That is the first step.