Chapter 12 - The Haqiqah (Truth) And The Ma’raifah (The Illuminative Knowledge)
The formal prayer helps to purify the heart to a certain degree. When the self has passed through and completed the phase of Shariah, it begins to experience the joyful dreams, in which it visualises (astrally), as if it is travelling high up in space to the luminous planets like the moon, the sun and the stars. Similarly, in his dreams, he is often graced by the visits from the Prophets and other Holy Persons. After the Over-self has perfected the Shariah, it enters the dimension of the Tariqah, the state that has been discussed previously. We shall now explore the Dimensions of the Haqiqah.
The Over-self in its passage through the Tariqah feels that its all of its achievements and acquirements are due to some Hidden Power operating invisibly, that is, all the Blessings are through the Divine Grace. If these feelings are analysed, then the Over-self comes to realise that it is neither the perpetual owner of its possessions, nor does it feel secure or independent in the employment of their pleasures. The basic reason for this attitude is that in some small or large measure, the Over-self has the consciousness, that as if it is separate from God. But God to this soul, who has attained such a level, nearer to Him, and shows infinite affection, hence, the soul’s concentration and attention begins to intensify and are directed to Divinity. When this inner consciousness reaches a certain level of intensity, it achieves detachment and purity. And Mind, being the reflection of the Over-self. On becoming pure, generates Light, that is – God (Beloved) through certain of its decorative aspects – like the lightening, the moon, the Sun and the stars – without revealing true Divinity, appear to the Momin in the form of Light, and draws the Over-self still nearer.
As one’s concentration intensifies onto the Dhikr (Zikr), certain transformation begins to take place in the organic movements of the body. Firstly, the breath is filtered and purified, and will become rarefied.
As this pure breath fills up the lungs, we feel as if our ears have numb i.e. we feel something akin to deafness. This experience may be compared to the mental state of a diver, who becomes deaf to all exterior sounds, and feels a soft murmur of natural sound in his ears. This is our experience in the early phases of meditation, and when the lungs are filled with pure Nurani (spiritual) breath, the Over-self, which has been a prisoner of ages of this world’s illusionary (Maya) webs, is liberated and lifts up like a
ship beginning to float with the rising waters of a high tide. But if in these moments, the Over-self continues to concentrate its inner vision onto the Dhikr (Zikr) only, ignoring all these psychic changes, then the Over-self begins to undergo to a higher, spiritual experience – the un-foldment of the innermost recess of the Heart – it is the revelation and un-foldment of the “FLOWER OF THE HEART,” whose petals had remained folded for so long (and now they begin to spread ecstatic fragrance through the entire BEING). Pir Shamsh has described this experience in the following words: “My Beloved Master (God) has planted a fragrant garden into my heart (i.e. the presence of the Over-self), and five petals (of my heart – solar plexus, i.e. the five virtues of Truth, Tolerance, Forgivence,
Faith, Contemplation) have bloomed into fifty, and on every blossom there is the beauty of a garden, where blows perpetually the breeze and where eternally there showers the Light Divine.”
This is such a moment of joyous destiny, when the Over-self, separated for the countless ages from its Beloved (God) and withered and enfolded, now meets its Beloved in the springtime of Life and the Garden of Heart unfolds and blooms (into a million fragrances). Pir Saddardin Saheb describes this supreme experience in His Ginan-e-Shariff: “The Beloved Master has awakened His Momin by unfolding the Flower of His Heart, where He (the Master) has enkindled the Flame Divine.”
In these moments, there awakens in the Heart a deep feeling of conviction that a joyful event of meeting the Beloved, who had been lost (for ages) is approaching nearer, and this emotion makes the heart so
overflowing with joy that it’s folds (wrinkles) vanish and the entire Being vibrates with the sweetness of Supreme Ecstasy. Pir Saddardin describing his passage through this state of experience writes:
“My Beloved Master has come from the West,
And for whom I have Eternal Hopes;
The Night (of the soul) is gone,
And the sun is shining,
The springtime of my Life has come,
Which has transformed the Season of my life,
Into a Period of harvests;
Oh! My Dear brothers! Wake up and watch
For the times to come are critical
And there is no moment to delay.”
Let us now study the power of concentration and consciousness through certain physical phenomenon. A flame shaking in the air does not pierce through the metal, but a continuous steady flame will pierce and cut the metal. Similarly, the power of concentration does not focus on to the Dhikr and does not create the required results, until it stops vibrating with the thought waves. But when the power of concentration steadies onto the Dhikr, then are pierced the secrets (Spiracle) of the Over-self, and then
there begins the experience of Nature’s invisible mysteries. Pir Shamsh has described these in His Ginan-e-Shariff: “By reciting the Name of the Beloved (Isme Azzam), I experienced the emotional excitement (of light) which gave my Heart the vibration of reality. Oh! My Brothers! What are
the virtues of Love? I shall reveal the Hidden Mysteries of Love to you. As the Power of Reality strikes the Heart, the emotionally excited Heart experiences explosion (as if a bolt of lightning has struck the heart), and then the true taste of Reality is experienced. Oh! What an ecstatic
experience with the Beloved, which is beyond revelation and beyond mind and yet He (Momin) is stuck within his heart by his desires. What a vast esoteric pleasure this experience is? I have no praise worthy in my humble heart to express it!”
When the spiracle of the Over-self is pierced, there flows from it the stream of Love (Aab-e-Haya), which on mingling with the circulating blood of the Heart, spreads through the entire Being, creating a limitless effect of joyous exhalation. Pir Saddardin Saheb, describing this state speaks: “That Guru (Master) whom I shall call the True Master, He is eternally residing in the Heart (the in-dwelling Over-self). If He were to manifest Himself, then each and every atom will feel His ecstatic Powers. No power can ever destroy the Ego in man except the Divine Love. We have referred previously to the Holy Farmans of Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah that “Love is Nur, and it is associated with the Over-self.”
When the Over-self enters into this state, the power of Love is so intense that the Over-self does not have the strength to hold and absorb this Love. Pir Shamsh describing this state says in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “When there is a fusion of two lovers, there flows a stream of unbroken, emotional love, and they get intoxicated with this wine of Love. In this excitement of Love, the two lovers are indescribable, and madly egoistic, which are the signs of their eternal destiny.”
Under the influence of Love, the Ego now begins to dissolve and surrenders to the Over-self. And the same power of Love takes the Ego back to the Over-self, and thus brings to an end the1 transitory
mental existence of the Ego, and with its annihilation dawns the Spiritual life, Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, describing this spiritual state says in this Holy Farmans: “One can not evaluate between the spiritual life of a young man and an old man.”
In the opening phrases of this spiritual life, the Beloved (God) reveals Himself to the Over-self through certain illuminative signs, for which Pir Saddardin has said in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “Who can realise the state of a Momin who has been revealed the illuminating glow of the Divine Light”.
In the illumination of this Divine Nur (Light), there is any ocean of varied coloured rays, as described by Pir Saddardin. “The illumination like the Moon, which seems to be filled with great tranquil Light, and in these sparkle the limitless waters of the Nectar; and one who has seen these i.e.
have had Deedar (Illumination) of the Master (Imam), is liberated from the torturous cycles of the Four Ages.”
This then is the Reality of the Deedar. This is the true meaning of the Deedar, and when the Over-self is blessed with such Deedar, the experience lends it to the self-realisation the Over-self itself is one of the
most powerful and ecstatic Relation of life and that it is in perpetual communication with the allpervading Divinity. The soul that has reached this state never gets even a dream of unhappiness, and then it comes to realise that its all sufferings were due to its illusions, and its all desires to achieve happiness were like the misguided notions of the Sun itself hoping to beg some light from a mall Lamp.
The Great Sufi Omar sings in his Rubayat:
“I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some letter of that after-life to spell:
By and by my soul returned to me,
And answered i myself am heaven and hell.”
When the soul reaches this limit, it instinctively feels attuned to the blessings, which strengthen his heart and make it unshakeable. In this state, the Over-self has a perpetual yearning of Love, hence in this
Psychic State, the Divine Vision of the Beloved (God) seems to be very tantalising i.e. the Beloved seems to torment with the hopes of the Deedar that seem continually on the point of fulfilment, but which
alas never materialises. Then the lover’s heart continues to feel these torments of separation. Describing the state of experiences Pir Saddardin Saheb writes as follows: “The life of a spiritual lover is of an
intensely emotional nature. In that path, the Beloved draws him nearer and sometimes He repels him: rarely, does Reality absorb him.
In these moments of strain and stress sometimes he weeps, sometimes he smiles. In emotional exhaustion, he sometimes sleeps at the Master’s feet, when he becomes conscious of this Spiritual Reality, and comprehends the value of Self-Realisation, and when he sees in the mirror of his heart, he sees no other than Reality, (Real-Self).
I have eternally dedicated my life to my Beloved, who alas, has forgotten me completely; and in the pangs of separation, I weep day and night, and yearn that one-day my Beloved shall return to me. And when that fateful day of reunion with my Beloved shall come, then in that moment all
the agonies from my heart shall dissolve and I shall feel limitless ecstasies of Love. Oh! My Beloved, Oh my Master! I beg you to return to me. And if I meet my Beloved, I shall meet him in the companionship (HARMONY) of Nur, and forsaking all other, I shall prepare for Him an
eternal abode in my Heart.”
(The reader should note that the Pir Saheb has been inspired with those verses in that mental state, which can be described as the pure intonation, resulting from high degree of Divine Love. The following
lines also indicate the same emotionally excited state)
Oh! My kind friends. Look at my body – how weak it has become from the tortures of separation. Because, since my heart has felt the Love of my Beloved, I have pined away in the memory of my Beloved, (i.e. I have constantly prayed and yearned and wept that my Beloved may not be separated from me.)”
Thus in this manner, the Overself continues to be attracted in the Ocean of Love, towards its Beloved (God). As the worldly lovers ceaselessly crave for each other, so does the Overself yearn for God, - but intensity of that attraction is infinite, limitless and beyond measure. This attraction remains throughout the devotee’s life, and when that life comes to an end, then the soul which is the creation and reflection of the infinite, merges into and unites with God. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans in this respect: “Whilst you are alive (whilst you are in the body), the waters of the Divine Ocean shall not come into your hands, but on the detachment of the soul from the body, it shall unite with God”.
This is the state of Wasl-e-Haq, which Sayyad Mohammed Shah describes as; (In that ultimate state of Ibadat) there comes that ecstatic moment when mind unites with mind. It is in this state that the mind withdraws itself into the Overself, where it enjoys a supreme position and has the joys at its command.
In this state, the Overself has fused into the ultimate and has achieved its origin. Thus, it is only through losing one’s Overself into God that one unravels the mystery and one sees and shows God eveywhere. Thus, it is though this process (of Ibadat) that the disiple (Momin) meets and unites with His Master.
Similarly, Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said in his sacred KALAMS: “Leave aside the thoughts of the duality of you and I. See everywhere the “oneness” (the Unity) of creation, nothing is dual. With this understanding you should be “FanaH” – reunited with your Beloved (God), for verily see that there is nothing but Oneness between you and God”.
This is the climax of the true stage of Haqiqah, but to describe the state of Ma’rifah, there are no words to utter or write. Pir Saddardin Saheb describes this state in the following words:
“Oh my friends, I have no expression to describe the Beauty of the Beloved. It is only his Deedar which can reveal His true Identity, for He is beyond all languages and words. He is the Nameless. I found this
undescribeable, Nameless Beloved alluring and enchanting, for verily I say that I have seen Him with my own eyes”.
Prayer of our holy Prophet Muhammad.
“O Lord! Grant to me the love of Thee; grant that I love those that love Thee; grant that I may do the deeds that win Thy love; make Thy love dearer to me than self, family or wealth.”
1 In other words, the Creative Force of the Over-self that had created and sustained the Ego for a certain cosmic period, has now drawn back into itself again.
MA’RIFAT NA PHOOL - Flowers of Divine Knowledge
13 - The Barriers In The Path Of Shariah And Tariqah
We have studied in the earlier chapters the four dimensions of Religion. We shall now try to study some of the barriers and difficulties in developing through these dimensions.
The four dimensions of Religion – the Shar'ia, the Tariqah, the Haqiqah and the Ma’rifah – have been linked by nature in such continuos harmonious chain that when a person perfects Shariah according to its natural laws, then he spontaneously enters into Tariqah whose fulfilment leads him into Haqiqah and ultimately in Ma’rifah, where the Over-self merges into God. Pir Mursheed explains this (psychic evolution) in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “As soon as we perfect the Shariah, we achieve Tariqah, and if in our Over-self we reach the understanding of Reality (in our heart is imprinted Haqiqah), then we merge into Ma’rifah the ultimate Illuminative Knowledge”.
Now, when we observe our own state, it becomes quite obvious to us that inspite of our obedience to the laws of the Shar'ia, the observation of the prayers, the submission of the “the Malle-Vajibat,” the giving of alms – very few amongst us – the bravest amongst us evolve onto the stage of Tariqah . This should make us think seriously of the causes of our stagnation.
The observation of the prayers:
A prayer is a Dialogue with God and this if dialogue is not being carried out with, as much concentration of the mind and love in heart as it should be, then the heart and mind seem to wonder in the worldly thoughts. With what love and the concentration should the prayers be observed has been explained in the following Holy Farman: “If you say your prayers with love and tenderness – a thousand times greater than the softness and sweetness, you show to your beloved, then verily you shall receive
the results from these prayers a thousand fold.” It is obvious therefore that if one enters into meditation with an unstable mind, one cannot derive the desired benefit.
Alms and charity:
This type of religious deeds creates these barriers: firstly, people practising this expect rewards from God, and such an expectation nullifies the effects of a possible reward. There is also a sense of pride on the part of the donor, and this feeling too tends to minimise the positive reaction of generous deeds. In all cases, the generous person must generate noble feelings and he should feel that whatever he is doing is purely out of love for God. This approach will brighten his charitable and religious deeds, and make them more meaningful.
Service to humanity:
It is essential for every human being to do something good for his fellowmen. The rich should do through wealth, the wise through knowledge, and the strong through their physical strength, and if one is
incapable of doing any of these deeds, then one should try to lighten the hearts of the suffering humanity through some words of consolation.
Thus, a person deciding his life for the sake of others becomes the recipient of a very high status – i.e. he becomes very happy. But one who does not embrace this supreme virtue and moves in the opposite
direction i.e. for his selfish purposes, he harms others and shall fail to receive the rewards of the religious deeds.
A person who aims to obtain the benefit or the blessings of religious deeds should take that sacred path, to which he should cling to the last moment of his life. In this connection, we shall show some simple or
easy laws. Every night before retiring, try to talk with infinite love for at least 5 minutes with God. During this dialogue, try to create the consciousness of God in your heart, as if God is present in front of your
eyes and that you are speaking to Him with all the tenderness, sweetness and affection. The theme of this dialogue should be love between you and God. Thus, this sacred practise will take a seed into the soul, which ultimately results into a fruitful tree; that is, it takes us nearer to God.
To abolish the passions of the five senses, and to create the four noble Virtues of Truth, Patience, Tolerance and Mercy is the duty of every being.
If a person completely into his life absorbs any one of these Virtues, then the rest of the three Virtues are spontaneously generated into his heart and thus becoming the recipient of all the four virtues, the person becomes liberated from the vices. The person of these virtues is now privileged to enter the Tariqah (Path).
The necessity of submitting “malle-vajibat”:
To strengthen the link of Love with God, it is absolutely essential to submit religious dues (To the Imam of the Age). One cannot emphasise adequately the supreme importance of this, because, the submission
of the dues creates Love, and through Love the Over-self, passing through Tariqah and Haqiqah enters into Ma'rifah.
The causes delaying the process on Tariqah:
A person’s status in life – the high, the middle or the lower depends upon his thinking. There is no power greater than knowledge to make one’s thinking superior. Sayyed Gulamali Shah has said in his Ginan that a human being has physical body and a little knowledge, but without knowledge, man is a beast. Similarly, Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali, in his Kalam Mubarak has commended us in the following manner. “The importance of knowledge is such that it is above or higher than any other
activity, because one who has illumined his heart with knowledge has indeed recognised or realised his creator. But its supreme importance is in facing the reckoning at the moment of death, when mother, father, brothers will all withdraw and neither wife nor children shall come
near.”
Many people believe superficially in the existence of God, and lacking in the Knowledge of God’s Omni-presence, they do not have the trust in the all-pervading existence of God. If they sincerely believe that God is everywhere, then obviously knowing that God sees them, they would neither nourish evil thoughts nor do bad deeds. If a man truly believes in God’s Omni-presence, then they would resist from committing sins. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has made the following Holy Farman in this respect:
“No one dare do bad deeds in the presence of one’s parents, similarly, Momin will not do evil deeds knowing that God sees him. The Momin knows that God is able to see him, then how can he commit sins in the presence of his Creator? He will obviously do good deeds and refrain from
the bad ones.”
To create the feelings of God’s all-pervading existence and His Divine presence, One should seriously read and think over such spiritual wisdom as the Holy Farmans of Hazrat Mowlana Shah Karim al-Hussaini Hazer Imam, Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Mathnavi Mowlana Rumi, and the Holy Ginans of Pir Shamas Pir Saddardin and Pir Hassan Kabirdin.
The Holy Farmans of our Imams and the Holy Ginans of our Great Pirs are always being read (in Jamatkhanas), but very few of us try to think seriously of the deep philosophy, underlying these expressions. Imam Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has said that Pir Saddardin, Mowlana Rumi and Pir Shamash had deep study of Philosophy, and if you read the philosophical works, then you shall be like them.
We fail to understand God’s Omni-presence because of our ignorance or illusions, (maya), therefore we should try to approach reality through Knowledge.
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans: “You want everything to be manifest and clear. You do not attempt to see the hidden truths, but when you try to explore the hidden Divine Mysteries, only then you shall reach the goal.” Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said the following: “All that is manifest and unmanifest and all that is audible and inaudible, there is no void for Reality fills everything you should recognise this deep truth.”
A person lacking in knowledge of Divine mysteries is confused in creating Communication with God, and this confusion and difficulties can be overcome through knowledge. Some people receiving the training in meditation and through their pure (Angelic) nature receive the benefit (Deedar) in Ibadat by the Grace of Mowlana Hazer Imam, but lacking in the knowledge of Ilm-e-Ruhani (the knowledge of Divine mysteries) lose this advantage because according to natural law, the result of one’s struggles depends upon one’s feelings. When the self receives certain signs in the Ibadat, it is essential that this is received with certain definite feelings, and if through ignorance, this is not done, then the benefit is lost,
as Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said that; if a foolish person suddenly receives a gem, he might lose it immediately.
There are exceptions to this rule. A person may be of ordinary, common intelligence, but if he is highly cultured, and if he is virtuous, as well as, has deep faith (Iman) in Mowlana Hazar Imam, then by his blessings, he will progress in the path of Ibadat (Meditation). That is, he shall achieve wisdom born of his experiences in Ibadat; the wisdom that cannot be derived from books, onto such a privileged soul descends the Divine Grace. And in some mysterious way, the heart is enlightened with the essential spiritual knowledge, which enables the Momin to advance in his spiritual practise. This is supported by the following Holy Verse from Mowlana Ali’s Kalam: “The one who receives the Divine Grace is
self-enlightened, and this self-Enlightenment becomes as his wisdom, his guide and his master and leads him on to Truth.”1 Further, in praise of wisdom, Mowlana Murtaza Ali says: “Wisdom in its status can be compared to ocean, which is unfathomable and limitless. It is very deep and mysteries, (mysterious?) and there are myriad’s of creations in its depths. But one who dives deep and loses himself (Fanah) into its fathomless depths, that man verily is his own master and it is he who ultimately brings up the pearls”.2
Knowledge too is like a Vision. An ignorant person moving on this path is confused and struggles for the true path. In the praise of Knowledge, Pir Satgur Nur Saheb writes in the Holy Ginan-e-Shariff: “Every man has two eyes, but knowledge is the Third Eye, whilst Religion Seven Eyes. Oh, my brothers! Think over this fact. But Wisdom has million eyes, the VISION, whose dimensions are beyond measure. One who recognises the spiritual essence (of life), the essence of all essences, is indeed a true philosopher of the Three Worlds, and with his limitless eyes, his inner Vision moves and sees everything.”
(Thus against the background of above facts) we can say that there are two controlling Psychic Centres in Man: one is the Heart, which is pure and sacred, and the second is Mind, whose structure is partly material, and which helps through our senses to comprehend the exterior material world but to which our senses remain enslaved. Thus greater the attraction towards the possession of the material things (Maya), greater becomes the gap between the Mind and the Heart, and this as Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has said in his Holy Farmans: “How long will you remain dual-hearted?” Purify your Mind and let it be unified with the Heart!
In the manner, that through ignorance, one loses the fruits achieved in the Tariqah (true path), similarly, the mind which remains attached for long to the sensual pleasures, will find it difficult to enter the higher
dimension of Tariqah, that is, one will find it impossible for his MIND to be closer to or in communication with the Heart.
The giving up of the world’s sensual attachments (Maya) does not mean that a person should remain poor, renounces the world, the family and the worldly achievements, or that the body should be made to suffer physical tortures. These, on the contrary may lead the soul to lower births. In all the creation, God is Omnipresent, hence, it is not necessary to renounce the world to go to search God in the forests.
Further, the world’s renunciation does not permit one to attain one’s legitimate ambitions and desires. This contention is supported by Mowlana Murtaza Ali’s words: “If you leave the world, you shall still be dependent upon the world and remain obliged to it.” One does reach a degree of spiritual enlightenment expected to be gained by the sacrifice of this world, but this achievement is not equal in intensity to that one which a person attains by living in this world, and by his endeavours to face the
supreme test of the world’s attractions – the tests that would strengthen and intensify his will power. Moreover there are no barriers to the enjoyment of anything if a person uses it within the limits of Natural Laws, and with due regard to the consciousness of God’s Existence and the feelings of love; nor can he be considered a defaulter or a delinquent. There are no feelings of egoism and pride in the heart of those that are conscious of God’s presence in everything, even in the tiniest atoms, and
therefore are immune to the emotional disturbances resulting from the ups and downs of life.
History proves that many of the ancient prophets were the rulers of large kingdoms, but were not affected by the illusions of their worldly power in terms of having pride or greed. This proves that the possession of world’s wealth or luxuries is not barriers for those who want to be near God. But it is the intoxication of one’s false pride, born out of ignorance, which frustrates one’s progress to Reality. Thus, the person who does not have the erroneous illusions of worldly wealth and if he can see with his
spiritual inner vision, the presence of God in everything, then he immediately deserves the right to enter the Tariqah.
1 That is, in higher dimensions of Ibadat, the INNER LIGHT guides the Momin in Truth
2 Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali, speaking of Wisdom compares its dimensions to ocean, which is so deep, vast and mysterious that its true dimensions and depths nor its treasures are within the comprehension of man. Wisdom, too has no boundaries or frontiers and no man can know everything within a single lifetime, but one who delves deep into its mysteries and becomes a part of it and is absorbed into it. Verily, he is the real master of his destiny and achieves the self-enlightenment, which are the precious pearls of life
We have studied in the earlier chapters the four dimensions of Religion. We shall now try to study some of the barriers and difficulties in developing through these dimensions.
The four dimensions of Religion – the Shar'ia, the Tariqah, the Haqiqah and the Ma’rifah – have been linked by nature in such continuos harmonious chain that when a person perfects Shariah according to its natural laws, then he spontaneously enters into Tariqah whose fulfilment leads him into Haqiqah and ultimately in Ma’rifah, where the Over-self merges into God. Pir Mursheed explains this (psychic evolution) in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “As soon as we perfect the Shariah, we achieve Tariqah, and if in our Over-self we reach the understanding of Reality (in our heart is imprinted Haqiqah), then we merge into Ma’rifah the ultimate Illuminative Knowledge”.
Now, when we observe our own state, it becomes quite obvious to us that inspite of our obedience to the laws of the Shar'ia, the observation of the prayers, the submission of the “the Malle-Vajibat,” the giving of alms – very few amongst us – the bravest amongst us evolve onto the stage of Tariqah . This should make us think seriously of the causes of our stagnation.
The observation of the prayers:
A prayer is a Dialogue with God and this if dialogue is not being carried out with, as much concentration of the mind and love in heart as it should be, then the heart and mind seem to wonder in the worldly thoughts. With what love and the concentration should the prayers be observed has been explained in the following Holy Farman: “If you say your prayers with love and tenderness – a thousand times greater than the softness and sweetness, you show to your beloved, then verily you shall receive
the results from these prayers a thousand fold.” It is obvious therefore that if one enters into meditation with an unstable mind, one cannot derive the desired benefit.
Alms and charity:
This type of religious deeds creates these barriers: firstly, people practising this expect rewards from God, and such an expectation nullifies the effects of a possible reward. There is also a sense of pride on the part of the donor, and this feeling too tends to minimise the positive reaction of generous deeds. In all cases, the generous person must generate noble feelings and he should feel that whatever he is doing is purely out of love for God. This approach will brighten his charitable and religious deeds, and make them more meaningful.
Service to humanity:
It is essential for every human being to do something good for his fellowmen. The rich should do through wealth, the wise through knowledge, and the strong through their physical strength, and if one is
incapable of doing any of these deeds, then one should try to lighten the hearts of the suffering humanity through some words of consolation.
Thus, a person deciding his life for the sake of others becomes the recipient of a very high status – i.e. he becomes very happy. But one who does not embrace this supreme virtue and moves in the opposite
direction i.e. for his selfish purposes, he harms others and shall fail to receive the rewards of the religious deeds.
A person who aims to obtain the benefit or the blessings of religious deeds should take that sacred path, to which he should cling to the last moment of his life. In this connection, we shall show some simple or
easy laws. Every night before retiring, try to talk with infinite love for at least 5 minutes with God. During this dialogue, try to create the consciousness of God in your heart, as if God is present in front of your
eyes and that you are speaking to Him with all the tenderness, sweetness and affection. The theme of this dialogue should be love between you and God. Thus, this sacred practise will take a seed into the soul, which ultimately results into a fruitful tree; that is, it takes us nearer to God.
To abolish the passions of the five senses, and to create the four noble Virtues of Truth, Patience, Tolerance and Mercy is the duty of every being.
If a person completely into his life absorbs any one of these Virtues, then the rest of the three Virtues are spontaneously generated into his heart and thus becoming the recipient of all the four virtues, the person becomes liberated from the vices. The person of these virtues is now privileged to enter the Tariqah (Path).
The necessity of submitting “malle-vajibat”:
To strengthen the link of Love with God, it is absolutely essential to submit religious dues (To the Imam of the Age). One cannot emphasise adequately the supreme importance of this, because, the submission
of the dues creates Love, and through Love the Over-self, passing through Tariqah and Haqiqah enters into Ma'rifah.
The causes delaying the process on Tariqah:
A person’s status in life – the high, the middle or the lower depends upon his thinking. There is no power greater than knowledge to make one’s thinking superior. Sayyed Gulamali Shah has said in his Ginan that a human being has physical body and a little knowledge, but without knowledge, man is a beast. Similarly, Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali, in his Kalam Mubarak has commended us in the following manner. “The importance of knowledge is such that it is above or higher than any other
activity, because one who has illumined his heart with knowledge has indeed recognised or realised his creator. But its supreme importance is in facing the reckoning at the moment of death, when mother, father, brothers will all withdraw and neither wife nor children shall come
near.”
Many people believe superficially in the existence of God, and lacking in the Knowledge of God’s Omni-presence, they do not have the trust in the all-pervading existence of God. If they sincerely believe that God is everywhere, then obviously knowing that God sees them, they would neither nourish evil thoughts nor do bad deeds. If a man truly believes in God’s Omni-presence, then they would resist from committing sins. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has made the following Holy Farman in this respect:
“No one dare do bad deeds in the presence of one’s parents, similarly, Momin will not do evil deeds knowing that God sees him. The Momin knows that God is able to see him, then how can he commit sins in the presence of his Creator? He will obviously do good deeds and refrain from
the bad ones.”
To create the feelings of God’s all-pervading existence and His Divine presence, One should seriously read and think over such spiritual wisdom as the Holy Farmans of Hazrat Mowlana Shah Karim al-Hussaini Hazer Imam, Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah, Mathnavi Mowlana Rumi, and the Holy Ginans of Pir Shamas Pir Saddardin and Pir Hassan Kabirdin.
The Holy Farmans of our Imams and the Holy Ginans of our Great Pirs are always being read (in Jamatkhanas), but very few of us try to think seriously of the deep philosophy, underlying these expressions. Imam Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has said that Pir Saddardin, Mowlana Rumi and Pir Shamash had deep study of Philosophy, and if you read the philosophical works, then you shall be like them.
We fail to understand God’s Omni-presence because of our ignorance or illusions, (maya), therefore we should try to approach reality through Knowledge.
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans: “You want everything to be manifest and clear. You do not attempt to see the hidden truths, but when you try to explore the hidden Divine Mysteries, only then you shall reach the goal.” Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said the following: “All that is manifest and unmanifest and all that is audible and inaudible, there is no void for Reality fills everything you should recognise this deep truth.”
A person lacking in knowledge of Divine mysteries is confused in creating Communication with God, and this confusion and difficulties can be overcome through knowledge. Some people receiving the training in meditation and through their pure (Angelic) nature receive the benefit (Deedar) in Ibadat by the Grace of Mowlana Hazer Imam, but lacking in the knowledge of Ilm-e-Ruhani (the knowledge of Divine mysteries) lose this advantage because according to natural law, the result of one’s struggles depends upon one’s feelings. When the self receives certain signs in the Ibadat, it is essential that this is received with certain definite feelings, and if through ignorance, this is not done, then the benefit is lost,
as Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said that; if a foolish person suddenly receives a gem, he might lose it immediately.
There are exceptions to this rule. A person may be of ordinary, common intelligence, but if he is highly cultured, and if he is virtuous, as well as, has deep faith (Iman) in Mowlana Hazar Imam, then by his blessings, he will progress in the path of Ibadat (Meditation). That is, he shall achieve wisdom born of his experiences in Ibadat; the wisdom that cannot be derived from books, onto such a privileged soul descends the Divine Grace. And in some mysterious way, the heart is enlightened with the essential spiritual knowledge, which enables the Momin to advance in his spiritual practise. This is supported by the following Holy Verse from Mowlana Ali’s Kalam: “The one who receives the Divine Grace is
self-enlightened, and this self-Enlightenment becomes as his wisdom, his guide and his master and leads him on to Truth.”1 Further, in praise of wisdom, Mowlana Murtaza Ali says: “Wisdom in its status can be compared to ocean, which is unfathomable and limitless. It is very deep and mysteries, (mysterious?) and there are myriad’s of creations in its depths. But one who dives deep and loses himself (Fanah) into its fathomless depths, that man verily is his own master and it is he who ultimately brings up the pearls”.2
Knowledge too is like a Vision. An ignorant person moving on this path is confused and struggles for the true path. In the praise of Knowledge, Pir Satgur Nur Saheb writes in the Holy Ginan-e-Shariff: “Every man has two eyes, but knowledge is the Third Eye, whilst Religion Seven Eyes. Oh, my brothers! Think over this fact. But Wisdom has million eyes, the VISION, whose dimensions are beyond measure. One who recognises the spiritual essence (of life), the essence of all essences, is indeed a true philosopher of the Three Worlds, and with his limitless eyes, his inner Vision moves and sees everything.”
(Thus against the background of above facts) we can say that there are two controlling Psychic Centres in Man: one is the Heart, which is pure and sacred, and the second is Mind, whose structure is partly material, and which helps through our senses to comprehend the exterior material world but to which our senses remain enslaved. Thus greater the attraction towards the possession of the material things (Maya), greater becomes the gap between the Mind and the Heart, and this as Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has said in his Holy Farmans: “How long will you remain dual-hearted?” Purify your Mind and let it be unified with the Heart!
In the manner, that through ignorance, one loses the fruits achieved in the Tariqah (true path), similarly, the mind which remains attached for long to the sensual pleasures, will find it difficult to enter the higher
dimension of Tariqah, that is, one will find it impossible for his MIND to be closer to or in communication with the Heart.
The giving up of the world’s sensual attachments (Maya) does not mean that a person should remain poor, renounces the world, the family and the worldly achievements, or that the body should be made to suffer physical tortures. These, on the contrary may lead the soul to lower births. In all the creation, God is Omnipresent, hence, it is not necessary to renounce the world to go to search God in the forests.
Further, the world’s renunciation does not permit one to attain one’s legitimate ambitions and desires. This contention is supported by Mowlana Murtaza Ali’s words: “If you leave the world, you shall still be dependent upon the world and remain obliged to it.” One does reach a degree of spiritual enlightenment expected to be gained by the sacrifice of this world, but this achievement is not equal in intensity to that one which a person attains by living in this world, and by his endeavours to face the
supreme test of the world’s attractions – the tests that would strengthen and intensify his will power. Moreover there are no barriers to the enjoyment of anything if a person uses it within the limits of Natural Laws, and with due regard to the consciousness of God’s Existence and the feelings of love; nor can he be considered a defaulter or a delinquent. There are no feelings of egoism and pride in the heart of those that are conscious of God’s presence in everything, even in the tiniest atoms, and
therefore are immune to the emotional disturbances resulting from the ups and downs of life.
History proves that many of the ancient prophets were the rulers of large kingdoms, but were not affected by the illusions of their worldly power in terms of having pride or greed. This proves that the possession of world’s wealth or luxuries is not barriers for those who want to be near God. But it is the intoxication of one’s false pride, born out of ignorance, which frustrates one’s progress to Reality. Thus, the person who does not have the erroneous illusions of worldly wealth and if he can see with his
spiritual inner vision, the presence of God in everything, then he immediately deserves the right to enter the Tariqah.
1 That is, in higher dimensions of Ibadat, the INNER LIGHT guides the Momin in Truth
2 Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali, speaking of Wisdom compares its dimensions to ocean, which is so deep, vast and mysterious that its true dimensions and depths nor its treasures are within the comprehension of man. Wisdom, too has no boundaries or frontiers and no man can know everything within a single lifetime, but one who delves deep into its mysteries and becomes a part of it and is absorbed into it. Verily, he is the real master of his destiny and achieves the self-enlightenment, which are the precious pearls of life
14 - The Barriers In The Path Of Haqiqah
We have studied about the four basic dimensions of our Religion, and how a human being evolves through the dimensions of Shariah, and then onwards to Tariqah . We shall now try to study the causes that bar the human personality from evolving into the third dimension of Haqiqah.
The third Dimension of Haqiqah is the Dimension of Love, the Love Divine – Love for God, Love for truth and until the moment the Heart does not feel the tenderness of this Love Divine, there shall be no concentration in meditation (Ibadat), and until one achieves absolute focus, the spiracle of the Over-self is not raptured, and without this rapture the stream of the Ecstatic Nectar does not flow, that is, the Nur is not revealed. In the praise of meditation and Love, Pir Saddardin Saheb, in his holy Ginan-e-Shariff, says: “Let us plant the seeds of Love, and water them with the waters of wisdom, and if thou shalt cultivate these with thy power of concentration, the result will be the emergence
(unfoldment) of the fruits of Noor.”
There are many people who practise Meditation (Ibadat), but being unaware of its method and technique, do not follow definite rules. Before entering into Meditation, the first step is to “catch-hold” of one’s Heart. We will give an example to illustrate this point. How deep is the yearning of our heart when we see our beloved? What is the emotional state of our heart when we behold an innocent beautiful child? There aspire a flow of love in our heart and yearn for an embrace. The supreme love felt or generated in these moments “holds the heart,” that is, all the stray feelings and consciousness are unified at one’s one centre,” the Heart. If Ibadat is practised with this state of Heart, then one immediately achieves results.
The second important point is that one should practise Meditation by endeavouring to keep mind (Concentration) as near as possible to the “Centre” i.e. the Heart. But one does not succeed in his attempts to search his Beloved (God) whilst permitting the concentration to shift or waver away from the “Heart.” Then, the “Dhikr” vanishes from the attention and one begins to feel Ibadat as a boredom and a burden. Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has explained this principle in the following words: “until one’s mind or concentration is diffused or dispersed through one’s body i.e. until one in not mentally calm. One continues to be restless, but as soon as one’s consciousness becomes unified with the Heart (the Over-self). And if its (the Heart’s) radiation’s are focused in the Peshani (the Centre of the forehead – The Third Eye”)1, then according to the Holy Farmans of Mowlana Hazer Imam, the “Dhikr” (Noor) will manifest immediately.”
For example, when we try to remember our beloved, in the first instance, his or her personality appears in our imagination, and becomes directly visible when he or she is present physically with us. Similarly, Dhikr, which we are now able to visualise in our imagination only, will become directly manifests, as soon as our concentration becomes steady.
How to achieve success in Ibadat?
Success in Meditation depends basically on the power of Concentration. Those who cannot advance in the practise of Meditation should realise that the main cause of their failure is the lack of concentration. There are many ways of attaining concentration, but before we discuss these, it is primarily important that to achieve success in any work, a dominating unwavering desire is essential. If one has absolute desire and enthusiasm, then any attempted effort will be crowned with success. To achieve concentration during meditation, before commencing practise, try to relax completely. We experience this type of relaxation just before we are beginning to go into sleep. We feel our limbs relaxing and the
thought becoming still and we immediately fall asleep. Similarly, during the practise of meditation, relaxation will bring about the stillness of thoughts, and when this state is reached, one should remain awake and enter into meditation.
Another solution is to bring the Dhikr (Ism-E-Azam) next to the “Centre” (i.e. as if it is attached to the Heart) and recite it mentally with deepest tenderness, patience and calm concentration. This method would be clear if you know that when we are talking with someone in confidence, we go nearest to him and whisper with extra caution and concentration. This method will make the way for the “Mind” to return to “Heart” and the “Dhikr” will come into the focus with greater definition. Emphasising this point, Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans: “In your Heart there is a stockpile of fuel, and until you ignite it with a match, how will you generate Light?”
This, in terms of the experiences of meditation means that when the purified breath (of love) stimulates the Heart (by a friction over it). There comes a moment of revelation of Nur, but if the match is not properly struck against matchbox, then it does not enkindle, similarly if “Dhikr” is not done with concentration, then one does not reach the ecstatic state.
In final attempts, if all the above solutions fail to create concentration, then the “Dhikr” should be done by pronouncing it inaudibly (i.e. in very soft whisper). After some days when sufficient practise has been achieved, the “Dhikr” would gradually shift from the “Tongue” to the “Larynx” (Voice Box), and after some day’s practise, it will appear and echo in the “Heart”. The analogy of this practise is that when a student is found below average of a certain standard, he is demoted to study into a lower form, and is made to begin with simpler lessons. But in whatever spiritual state we are. And if we find that we cannot advance on account of certain reasons, then the foremost and most beneficial solution is to do “Dhikr” as much as possible. Because it is the sacred name of Allah – and the recitation of this “holy word” is one of the noblest duties of religion and as Pir Saddardin Saheb has said in holy Ginan-e-Shariff: “The
recitation of God’s name destroys egoism and it also conquers the fears of the Karmic Rhythm of the Three Cycles of Time;2 its constant remembrance leads a person of a lower status be up-lifted to a nobler status.” And again: By constant remembrance of the Name, one embraces the ‘Nature of the Name,’ the idea of the ‘I’ vanishes and it merges into the Over-self, which permeates and holds your Being and whose Creative Energy fills the minutes atom to the mightiest Universe (or
in other sense, from microcosm).3
Thus the constant remembrance of the “Name” (Ism-e-Azam) leads to the removal of the veils of Sin, the characteristics of Tamas and Rajas are destroyed and the qualities of Sativa4 predominate the Mind. Further remembrance of the “Name” calms the disturbed mind, and this concentration generates love for God, the Divine Love which breaks asunder the barriers of the ego – thought of “I” and “You” – and with the disappearance of these separative tendencies, the Over-self merges into God – that Highest stage Fanah Fihhah, which is the supreme Dimension of Ma’rifah.
Footnotes
1 of: “THE THIRD EYE” by T. LOBSANG RAMPA, Library Edition, Illustrated, London: SECKER & WARBURG, 1956, CH: Seven
2 “The Karmic Rhythm of the Three Cycles of Time” – This literal expression can be interpreted to mean that man, having been born into this three-dimensional world, is bound by Time, the three dimensions of Time, Past, Present and Future, and their respective Karmic Rhythms i.e. the present life is the reaction of the past deeds, and the present
deeds become the seeds of the future life or the next birth.
3 That is, all the false and illusionary layers and sections of our personality melt and merge into the Central Point, the
innermost living core of our being.
4 These indicate the threefold nature of the mind, the highest, the mean and the lowest degree. One shall cultivate the
disposition of the highest degree and reject the other two. The possession of true ideas by the soul is declared to be
an indication of SATTVA. Ignorance betokens TAMAS. Passion of love and hatred signify RAJAS.
3
We have studied about the four basic dimensions of our Religion, and how a human being evolves through the dimensions of Shariah, and then onwards to Tariqah . We shall now try to study the causes that bar the human personality from evolving into the third dimension of Haqiqah.
The third Dimension of Haqiqah is the Dimension of Love, the Love Divine – Love for God, Love for truth and until the moment the Heart does not feel the tenderness of this Love Divine, there shall be no concentration in meditation (Ibadat), and until one achieves absolute focus, the spiracle of the Over-self is not raptured, and without this rapture the stream of the Ecstatic Nectar does not flow, that is, the Nur is not revealed. In the praise of meditation and Love, Pir Saddardin Saheb, in his holy Ginan-e-Shariff, says: “Let us plant the seeds of Love, and water them with the waters of wisdom, and if thou shalt cultivate these with thy power of concentration, the result will be the emergence
(unfoldment) of the fruits of Noor.”
There are many people who practise Meditation (Ibadat), but being unaware of its method and technique, do not follow definite rules. Before entering into Meditation, the first step is to “catch-hold” of one’s Heart. We will give an example to illustrate this point. How deep is the yearning of our heart when we see our beloved? What is the emotional state of our heart when we behold an innocent beautiful child? There aspire a flow of love in our heart and yearn for an embrace. The supreme love felt or generated in these moments “holds the heart,” that is, all the stray feelings and consciousness are unified at one’s one centre,” the Heart. If Ibadat is practised with this state of Heart, then one immediately achieves results.
The second important point is that one should practise Meditation by endeavouring to keep mind (Concentration) as near as possible to the “Centre” i.e. the Heart. But one does not succeed in his attempts to search his Beloved (God) whilst permitting the concentration to shift or waver away from the “Heart.” Then, the “Dhikr” vanishes from the attention and one begins to feel Ibadat as a boredom and a burden. Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has explained this principle in the following words: “until one’s mind or concentration is diffused or dispersed through one’s body i.e. until one in not mentally calm. One continues to be restless, but as soon as one’s consciousness becomes unified with the Heart (the Over-self). And if its (the Heart’s) radiation’s are focused in the Peshani (the Centre of the forehead – The Third Eye”)1, then according to the Holy Farmans of Mowlana Hazer Imam, the “Dhikr” (Noor) will manifest immediately.”
For example, when we try to remember our beloved, in the first instance, his or her personality appears in our imagination, and becomes directly visible when he or she is present physically with us. Similarly, Dhikr, which we are now able to visualise in our imagination only, will become directly manifests, as soon as our concentration becomes steady.
How to achieve success in Ibadat?
Success in Meditation depends basically on the power of Concentration. Those who cannot advance in the practise of Meditation should realise that the main cause of their failure is the lack of concentration. There are many ways of attaining concentration, but before we discuss these, it is primarily important that to achieve success in any work, a dominating unwavering desire is essential. If one has absolute desire and enthusiasm, then any attempted effort will be crowned with success. To achieve concentration during meditation, before commencing practise, try to relax completely. We experience this type of relaxation just before we are beginning to go into sleep. We feel our limbs relaxing and the
thought becoming still and we immediately fall asleep. Similarly, during the practise of meditation, relaxation will bring about the stillness of thoughts, and when this state is reached, one should remain awake and enter into meditation.
Another solution is to bring the Dhikr (Ism-E-Azam) next to the “Centre” (i.e. as if it is attached to the Heart) and recite it mentally with deepest tenderness, patience and calm concentration. This method would be clear if you know that when we are talking with someone in confidence, we go nearest to him and whisper with extra caution and concentration. This method will make the way for the “Mind” to return to “Heart” and the “Dhikr” will come into the focus with greater definition. Emphasising this point, Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans: “In your Heart there is a stockpile of fuel, and until you ignite it with a match, how will you generate Light?”
This, in terms of the experiences of meditation means that when the purified breath (of love) stimulates the Heart (by a friction over it). There comes a moment of revelation of Nur, but if the match is not properly struck against matchbox, then it does not enkindle, similarly if “Dhikr” is not done with concentration, then one does not reach the ecstatic state.
In final attempts, if all the above solutions fail to create concentration, then the “Dhikr” should be done by pronouncing it inaudibly (i.e. in very soft whisper). After some days when sufficient practise has been achieved, the “Dhikr” would gradually shift from the “Tongue” to the “Larynx” (Voice Box), and after some day’s practise, it will appear and echo in the “Heart”. The analogy of this practise is that when a student is found below average of a certain standard, he is demoted to study into a lower form, and is made to begin with simpler lessons. But in whatever spiritual state we are. And if we find that we cannot advance on account of certain reasons, then the foremost and most beneficial solution is to do “Dhikr” as much as possible. Because it is the sacred name of Allah – and the recitation of this “holy word” is one of the noblest duties of religion and as Pir Saddardin Saheb has said in holy Ginan-e-Shariff: “The
recitation of God’s name destroys egoism and it also conquers the fears of the Karmic Rhythm of the Three Cycles of Time;2 its constant remembrance leads a person of a lower status be up-lifted to a nobler status.” And again: By constant remembrance of the Name, one embraces the ‘Nature of the Name,’ the idea of the ‘I’ vanishes and it merges into the Over-self, which permeates and holds your Being and whose Creative Energy fills the minutes atom to the mightiest Universe (or
in other sense, from microcosm).3
Thus the constant remembrance of the “Name” (Ism-e-Azam) leads to the removal of the veils of Sin, the characteristics of Tamas and Rajas are destroyed and the qualities of Sativa4 predominate the Mind. Further remembrance of the “Name” calms the disturbed mind, and this concentration generates love for God, the Divine Love which breaks asunder the barriers of the ego – thought of “I” and “You” – and with the disappearance of these separative tendencies, the Over-self merges into God – that Highest stage Fanah Fihhah, which is the supreme Dimension of Ma’rifah.
Footnotes
1 of: “THE THIRD EYE” by T. LOBSANG RAMPA, Library Edition, Illustrated, London: SECKER & WARBURG, 1956, CH: Seven
2 “The Karmic Rhythm of the Three Cycles of Time” – This literal expression can be interpreted to mean that man, having been born into this three-dimensional world, is bound by Time, the three dimensions of Time, Past, Present and Future, and their respective Karmic Rhythms i.e. the present life is the reaction of the past deeds, and the present
deeds become the seeds of the future life or the next birth.
3 That is, all the false and illusionary layers and sections of our personality melt and merge into the Central Point, the
innermost living core of our being.
4 These indicate the threefold nature of the mind, the highest, the mean and the lowest degree. One shall cultivate the
disposition of the highest degree and reject the other two. The possession of true ideas by the soul is declared to be
an indication of SATTVA. Ignorance betokens TAMAS. Passion of love and hatred signify RAJAS.
3
Last edited by kmaherali on Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
15 - Ibadat— Meditation
Ibadat is an exercise of the soul. Life’s fundamental objective and duty is Ibadat, and is the finest path, the supreme duty leading the Over-self to the Union with God. But to be successful any vocation, it is essential that a particular work be practised according of its scientific technique. The vocation may be an industry requiring varied experimentation, and a sacrifice of time and money. It may also entail considerable enterprise absolute tolerance and concentration, and thus as the experimenter continues with his experiments, he would achieve greater and greater efficiency and finally reaches the fruition when his experiments are perfected. In the similar manner through the meditative process, one attains Spiritual Perfection, the Vasl-E-Haq (the Union with God). Before experimenting with or venturing into this extremely delicate process. It is especially essential to have Mursheed-e-Kamil, the Spiritual Leader
a Perfect Guide. And also to learn these Meditative Practises. It is absolutely necessary to have immense courage, endless patience and pure heart. Because, the over-self, which is the prisoner in the cage of blood, flesh and bones, and it is indeed an extraordinary transformation for the Self to be liberated from its prison and to attain its source i.e. to be merged into the Nur.
It is a natural law that the human destiny is moulded by the concepts and ideas (and Emotions) nourished by the Mind. A proverb says that “where there is a will there is a way.” Pir Mursheed explains this idea by the following analogy. “Satgur says that there is a vast difference between the
caterpillar and the wasp. The wasp takes the caterpillar into a sheltered place and stings it constantly, and if the caterpillar bears these stings, then it emerges as a perfect insect with wings.”1
All thoughts are emanations of the red transcendent self, the Over-self. It is the thought movement (receiving its support and sanctions from the Creative force of the Over-self) in man that is really responsible for the transformation of life. Man’s wondering through the cycles of birth and death are caused by his thoughts absorbed, imprisoned or enmeshed in the Karmic Illusion (Maya) of this world.2
Even whilst sitting in meditation, some persons’ minds continue to remain engaged in the world’s thought—vibration and it is this fact, the attachment of the thoughts to the world’s attractions, which make this life an Ocean of endless births and deaths. The human heart could recapture its pristine purity and be detached only if the carnal illusions of the material quest are banished from its innermost recess, and then it has no more to wander through the ocean of endless re-incarnations. But it is extremely difficult in the primary phases of Ibadat (Meditation) to make the heart detached from the attractions of the world because it is in these instinctive characteristics of the human mind that when it is attracted to a
certain thing, the mind remains attached to it, unless it finds something better and happier. Thus when the meditator enters into Ibadat under this mental state, his mind continues to wrestle between the world and the Ibadat and thus psychological struggle does not permit him to derive pleasures and feeling disinterested, gets bored with the Ibadat and thinks it is a burden.
Before the commencement of Ibadat, it is essential, therefore, to train the mind to concentrate on the Dhikr. The mind wavers, basically because of its attachments to the world. If the concentration continues to fluctuate, it is best to beseech God, as if He is intimately present near you. “Oh God! You are Merciful and Gracious! My mind continues to waver. Oh God! Bestow your peace on it. A prayer in these words will certainly still the mind but if it shows signs of giving way, try to bring it under control and steady it with Dhikr – thus such efforts from time to time will make the mind firm. As the mind attains concentration, the filtered breath begins to accumulate into the lungs. But the meditator will not be aware of this, as he is absorbed in the Dhikr. When a person dives into the sea, his sense of hearing becomes detached from the external world (of sounds). In the same way, the meditator absorbed in Ibadat becomes immune to all the sounds of the external world. Thus, within man’s being, there takes place fusion of Concentration, Breath and Dhikr, and because Dhikr is a form of love or is one of the expressions of Divine Love (because it is basically the Name Allah), through Dhikr, the characteristics of Love begin to permeate the Breath, by the Power of Dhikr. Love and Breath begin to mingle, whereby the Breath begins to be purer (full of Love) and sweeter. The following lines of Ginan-e-Shariff explain this:
“One who is the Beloved of God, his breath is true and genuine, and his Inner Vision is focused on to the Dhikr and he communicates with the Divine Over-self. In his Destiny comes Divine Love, breaking asunder the dark veils of ignorance (due to flesh).”
The effect of meditation is felt in two ways and in two places. Ibadat generates sweetness in the heart from where it begins to permeate into the blood. Blood circulating through the blood vessels spreads the effect of power of Love through the entire body, and each and every cell begins to experience the sweetness of Love. And at that moment, the evil characteristics, mental discord and bitterness are transformed into goodness, harmony and sweetness. Describing this spiritual condition, Pir Mursheed in the Holy Ginan-e-Shariff, says: “The bitter oceans shall be transformed into the waters of sweetness. Verily, my master (God) shows such wonders.” (During Ibadat, a miraculous transformation takes
place, whereby the negative thoughts of bitterness are transformed into sweetness and ecstasy that is, with one’s approach to Eternity, one begins to experience true happiness).
The second characteristic effect in Ibadat experience is that of the illumination (Nur) or the spiritual enlightenment. In the earlier stages, one begins to behold the flashes like the spark of the lightening. If the meditator continues to remain steady in his concentration, than he might have the illumination like those of the Moon and the Sun, but whose lights are far more attractive and magnetising than the sun and the moon of our solar system and they appear and vanish in the form of flashes Pir Mursheed in the Ginan-e-Shariff describes this experience in the following words:
“What spiritual Experiences or Vision do you behold (during the meditation) on the Bhamar Gufa (Peshani)3. There you see the vibrant, radiantly brilliant flames and one experiences the Divine Nur.”
The revelation of this divine radiance is clearer during the early morning prayers (i.e. the time of Nur). Even by ordinary attempts, one may experience the flashes of lightening, but what the meditator does not experience is the effect of love latent in these flashes of radiance. The brief psychic experience can be compared to that when one passes his hand rapidly through the flames, but without burning, in the same way, the radiance in Ibadat comes as a transient flash, and hence, the meditator does not feel the effect of Love underlying this radiant current.
We have seen earlier that if during one of the moments of Ibadat, the meditator has the spiritual experience of the fountain of love flowing from the heart, this can be considered a supreme experience, but in the second phase of meditation, this spiritual experience be considered of a slightly inferior quality. It is a natural law that to acquire anything of the Invisible World, it is necessary to remember it again and again to create its presence of existence in the consciousness, and if the person continues to concentrate upon it, the thing begins to approach closer and closer, that is, it will finally materialise. This is clearly understood by the exercises used by the students in the memorisation of their lessons, which manifest in their consciousness, and are not easily forgotten. In our former Daily Prayer, Pir Saddardin Saheb has arranged for us to say PUNJ PATI five times. If it is not said five times, but only two or three times, and thus if the prayer is shortened, then its effectiveness is reduced.
There are no Holy Farmans to shorten the Punj Pati, hence, it must be said five times. Similarly, there are 101 beads in the Rosary (Tasbir), and have the same purpose of helping us to remember of the Holy Names (of God), and create its consciousness in our Mind.
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made the Holy Farman: “The object you have to achieve is in your hands.”
If we have desire to derive immediate benefits in the Ibadat (Meditation), then we have to generate sincere yearning in the heart. In the achievement of that goal, the external appearances pretentious
ostentation’s or limitations are not necessary, but one needs to produce in heart, love and anticipations, for which Pir Mursheed says: “The beloved is found by Perfect Love. But without Love, He (God) would drift further away. Like the Lotus which is of and in the water, although the water never touches it.”
It is the heart, which really does the meditation and these meditative practises are in reality done in the heart. Thus, when the meditator practises meditation by creating a gulf between his “heart” (the seat of
the Over-self) and the meditation (the Dhikr), than his thoughts—concentration drift away into the veils of forgetfulness. And thus the gap between the two grows still wider, and the LINK between the two is
broken. Keeping it very close to the “heart” should do the Dhikr of the Ism-E-Azam and this would help to steady the concentration.
Those, who do Ibadat (meditation) by concentrating on the Imam’s face, have to generate God’s Nur within their consciousness. When “Heart” (the Over-self) and Peshani (Mind) become infused, only then it is considered that the Ibadat has been done in accordance with the Imam’s Guidance. When “mind” links up with the “heart” there begins a psychic, mysterious process in the “heart” to generate Nur, for which Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Aly has said:
“Until the “Spirit” permeates the entire body, the body will continue to be restless, but soon as the Mind and the Heart are united, then one begins to concentrate on the Dhikr, which we have been directed to
follow.”
“Thus when concentration begins to intensify into the INNER Vision (Peshani), God’s Nur will manifest from the veils surrounding the meditator, like the Moon, emerging from the clouds, and shining forth it its
brilliance. This is such an ecstatic moment, that it is impossible to describe its glory. Pir Saddardin Saheb describes this state in the following words:
“The one who has been struck by the radiance of the Nur,
Oh Verily! How can we know his state.”
The “heart entering into this psychic state, as we have seen earlier, instead of experiencing “light” and “love” from two different “sources,” now begins to experience from a unified source and Love that used to influence the “heart” only, now begins to Manifest as a living reality, and Love and Light become one. In this moment of supreme joy and high spiritual destiny, the “lotus of the heart” repressed and withered by the world, bitterness and evils, reaches a fresh level of re-un-foldment, its wrinkles vanish and the protracted poverty of the heart comes to an end.
Hazrat Mowlana Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans, as with what heart one should enter into the meditation? You should enter into meditation with a heart, a thousand times loving and tender than the love tenderness and sweetness shown to your beloved.” If you enter into Meditation with this state, it will generate Love and once if this is done, then you will never feel like giving up the Ibadat.
When fragrant flowers are spread onto a bed sheet, their scent makes the bed sheet fragrant, similarly, the heart that constantly does the Dhikr, can but generate the sweet effects of love.
In the Holy Ginans of our Pir Mursheed, it is mentioned that if the Dhikr is done spontaneously, only then one attains the Deedar of God, whilst our present Dhikr is set in “process” only when we start its utterance i.e. it is Not Spontaneous. It should be said in clarification that the Dhikr is spontaneous, i.e. it is a continues process, but we have no consciousness of its operation. It is essential in Ibadat, therefore, to unify our Consciousness with the Dhikr, and this “Link Up” should be to that degree that the selfconsciousness should be absorbed completely in “Dhikr” and should be fused into the natural, spontaneous Dhikr. One, who has reached this spiritual station, has not to recite the Dhikr mechanically,
because his consciousness is perpetually and insolubly linked to the Dhikr, which permeates each and every fibber of his being. Describing this state, Pir Saheb says: “From each and every cell of my body, there echoes forth the name of My Beloved, when the evil forces begin to hide (in fear). In that moment when my INNER Vision reached its most exalted Psychic Dimension, (the CLIMAX) and when from its “Centre” the radiation’s emanated (in all directions), I lost all Self Consciousness.”
Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah describing the same spiritual state in his Holy Farman says: “You should love God in the manner Mansur Loved him, that when he was exalted, even the blooddrops
from his body echoed forth “Ana’l Haqq”.
(We can retrace the unfoldment of the SPONTANEOUS Dhikr ‘Ajampya Jamp’ through the following spiritual evolution)
In the first statge, the meditator begins to enter into Ibadat (Meditation) by reciting the Ism-E-Azam with his tongue and as he advances in this path, the Dhikr comes to his larynx (the vioce box) and there the process continues. Subsequently, the Dhikr gradually descends into the “heart” and when the meditator reaches perfection, the Dhikr begins, to “link up” with that Dhikr which is operating as a spontaneous process (Rhythm) in the innermost “Centres” of the heart (the Overself). And in that
moment of the fusion of consciousness and heart, -- the moment of sacred Nurani Deeedar, the moment when the process of the Spontaneous Dhikr is realised, and the overself attains Self Realisation.
When the Momin’s Concentration is absorbed in Dhikr to that supreme limit, a degree that intense that his Dhikr forever remains linked to i.e. natural spontaneous Dhikr of his INNER BEING (the Overself), then this Psychic State is that of AJAMPYA JAMP i.e. continous, ceaseless, unbroken Dhikr like the ocean-waves, which rise the ocean with the breeze, swing or vibrate rhythmetically and again vanish into the ocean, but never are they separated from the ocean. Similarly, when concentration becomes `linked with the ocean of natural Dhikr,4 – (i.e. Ego merges into the Overself) which means that like the perpetual rhythmic motion of the ocean, the Perpetual Throb of the ISME-AZAM (AJAMPYA JAMP) springs from the heart and again subsides into that heart. Pir Mursheed explains this in his Gnan-e-Shariff: “Satgur says that the “name” of God should be recited with every breath, and the beloved name should be in constant remembrance. Never for a momnet the beloved be separated, but like the waves, one should remain merged into the ocean (of Reality)”.
When the meditator reaches this spiritual state, he is not conscious of the pure breath filling up his lungs. But as a slit bound bond begins to rise and float with an incoming tide, similarly, the HEART stuck for so long in the slimes of the world’s illusions, is liberated by the pure breath of love and the “heart” projects onto supreme dimensions of Heaven.
Pir Hassan Kabirdin Saheb explains this experience in the following words: “The Chariot (the Heart) armed by the power of the breath is the KING and can daily wake up (in Ibadat) and can journey to the heavenly abodes and return.” “The world does not have that power to penetrate those (supreme goals of Reality), but the heart can reach there.”
Today, we behold this mundane world in our consciousness, and until the world’s illusions are present in our Ego, the Reality will not manifest, because the two aspects, the Illusion of the world and the Reality of the Truth can never be present together at the same time in Mind. Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said that you cannot keep two swords in the same sheath. Where there is Illusion, Reality cannot exist, and where there is Reality, Illusion must disappear. Where Darkness (of ignorance) predominates, Light (of Knowledge) cannot reach, and where knowledge reigns supreme, ignorance must vanish. How is it possible therefore to balance these opposing forces of Reality and Illusion, Light and Darkness in the same place at the same time? In the same way as it is impossible during Ibadat to harmonise the yearning to embrace God with the attachment of the world. Therefore, the concentration during the Ibadat should be so firm, so completely merged into the Ism-E-Azam that this world should disappear from the memory, and then should remain only God’s sacred remembrance in the heart.
That person who is convinced that it is the world’s Illusiionary Maya which is responsible for his countless births and rebirths on this earth, casting him into the pits of darkness, that person indeed gradually reaches (the pinnacle of) self-realisation, and only then does he lose the (attachments) to the false, transient sweetness of this world. This means that to that person, the world’s highest happiness seems dull and insignificant, and then his heart becomes steadfast on God. A minute’s sincere deep
Ibadat by which such a steadfast heart is greater in value and in power than the years of Ibadat, (which is not oriented to God).
A person who absolutely dedicated his heart to God may in the earlier stage feel a deep sense of hopelessness, but God, who is his Beloved and who is so Holy and Omnipotent, never keeps him in that frustrated state for long and He by His Power and Love, transforms Momin’s frustration into meaningful visions and hopes. Let us see how this is achieved.
Matter is composed of fine elements, earth, water, air, fire and space. Man’s mind is attracted to the sounds, smells, touch, tastes, fascinations and varied other charms, emanating from the various products of this world. The underlying natures of these attractions are not visibly manifest for us, but imperceptibly, we experience them and obviously their effects reach the “heart.” Now as the meditator begins to approach God, closer and closer, the power of Ibadat dissolves the “materiality” of these elements and their hidden natures become manifest (for the enjoyment of the meditator) and their sweetness and charms bestow happiness and tastes far above those given by the worldly products.
Let us now study in detail how sound, touch, beauty, taste and smell and such similar charms of life are experienced during Ibadat.
The Power of Speech (Sound, Words and Music):
During Ibadat (meditation) when the purified breath fills up the lungs (and thus affects the heart), the “Over-self” is liberated and freed from its bonds. The vein and arteries in this meditative state become taut, and in the same way as a highly tuned musical instrument would produce melodious music when the fingers play upon its stings, similarly, the highly strung blood-vessels, enforced by the power of breath of love produce spontaneous music, whose melodious sweetness is so wonderful, so miraculous that the melody of this divine natural instrument is incomparably higher than the melody produced by a musical
instrument considered to be the world’s best. Pir Shamash has said “In the Over-self there eternally rains the Nectar of Nur (Divine Light) and with this you (the Momins) should have the natural sport. Natural sport. Your Surti (focus concentration) on the “Bol” should be like the fingers playing perpetually on the strings of an instrument – this will produce the limitless Eternal Music and you shall hear the echoes of “Sohang”.5 (In this Manner) you shall conquer the Universe, (i.e. reach the Reality),
where shines the Sun. And if one is asked to sacrifice one’s head (the Ego) for this Divine Grace, one should consider this sacrifice to be valueless for (far more painful) are the cycles of births and rebirths
the soul has to take on this Earth.”
The Sense of Touch:
When tow bodies come in contact, the hearts experience the emotion of joy, which is due to the fact that the spirit permeates both the bodies. But if the hidden spirits itself were to become manifest, and were to touch the Divine Over-self, then their ecstasy that would generate is beyond one’s imagination. Pir Hassan Kabirdin describes this state in the following words:
“If the Hans Purush (i.e. the Over-self) were to manifest to us (Nurani Deedar) than our being is purified of the elements of matter with which it is now blended, and attaining its true self-hood embraces the Divine Over-self that moment of embrace and mingling is beyond the power of speech to describe.” This means that the spiritual experience of that touch brings limitless happiness far above and beyond anything of this world."
The Sense Of Beauty:
Body is basically composed of matter, yet because of the effect of the soul, the facial beauty (and the physical beauty) attracts the world but if this Divine overself were to reveal himself to us, then how supremely fascinating will it be? In the supreme moment of Self-Realisation and in its happiness so many kings have forgotten their crowns and kingdoms and have sacrificed the luxurious comforts of their palaces. Those who were guided towards the miraculous realm of Divine Love, they left behind all the wealth and limitless glory which was at their feet. This is an evidence of supreme and immortal joy hidden in the remembrance of our beloved (God). In the beauty of the over-self is the beauty of the matchless, the joys of whose illumination is experienced by a meditator in Ibadat, and for which Pir Mursheed explains in the following manner: “The Momin who has embraced the Deedar of his Beloved, he experiences the Moon with its tranquil Divine Light, shining and shedding its limitless nectar – Light; and for him vanish the sufferings of our epochs.”
The Sense Of Taste:
The sweetness we enjoy through the sense of taste is also characteristic of the spirit, which hidden in all matter, feeds the whole world with its essence of sweetness. The meditator (meditativeness?) on reaching the supreme level of contemplation experiences the unfoldment of the Over-self and the lotus of the heart blooms in full fragrance. In this moment of the fountain of extreme sweetness begins to flow, whose sweetness is beyond the sweetness of all the tastiest things of this world and which bestows great happiness and ecstasy. Pir Mursheed describes this experience in the following words: “The Essence of Love is extremely sweet and one who tastes, feels its sweetness permeating into his entire
being and indeed his heart gives him testimony of this spiritual experience.”
The Sense Of Smell:
In the path of God’s Love during Ibadat, when the meditaor’s lotus of the heart unfolds, there generate such fragrance, which is beyond the sweetest flowers of perfumes of the world as testified by Pir. Mursheed’s Ginan: “There unfolds the petals, and the lotus of the heart blooms forth in all its glory whose fragrance reaches the heaven.”
Thus a Momin sacrificing the illusionary (illusive) happiness and attractions for the sake of God’s Love and goes nearer and still nearer to God, then this psychic state God does not deny him worldly happiness but bestows upon him the joys of the world, but in purer form, multiplied countless times more supreme, more sweet, and through the experience of these joys, God brings him contentment. This experience is based on the fact that God Himself is all joy and happiness and in His Path, there are no possibilities of disappointment and frustration. Thus it is in these diverse ways that the Master’s Grace is bestowed upon the Momin, who, sacrificing the illusionary joys of this temporal world, achieves the
heavenly ecstasies.
Another characteristic and the beauty of Ibadat are that it liberates the soul from the imprisonment of the body and gives it freedom from re-births. How and when is this achieved is explained by Pir Mursheed in the following Ginan: “Satgur says that all the people of this world know to die the false deaths, but no one really achieves the true death. But the one who knows how to die by the Divine Knowledge, for him there is no more deaths.”
This means that the deaths we die are false, for after each death is a re-birth and death, but one who achieves the ultimate annihilation by the power of his Divine Understanding, for him there are no more cycles of births and re-births.
Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has also made the following Farman in His Kalam Mubarak: “Those who know to die before their deaths, they indeed achieve Eternity in their deaths.”
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah has also made the following Holy Farmans: “If you habituate your soul to perform the noble practise of Ibadat then gradually the characteristics of the beastliness and baser instincts will disappear from the body and before death, your soul will
leave the body in angelic form.”
Now we shall discuss how man can experience death during this lifetime. This does not mean to commit suicide, but as the spirit is separated from the body during the process of a natural death. Similarly, during Ibadat the Astral Body can be separated from its physical counterpart. There is however a difference in these two types of death, the spirit is reluctant to give up the body and because its attachments are connected to the body, nevertheless the spirit is compelled to be detached from the body. In this moment of death, the Ego (Jivatma’s) sufferings are equal to its attachments to the body and the world; and the Ego is forcibly detached from its shell in a state of extreme dependence (unwillingness) and dejection. But a momin’s heart, practised to concrete its focus on the Dhikr, does not have the world’s attachments.
By the power of Ibadat, it has gathered (concentrated) all its life-current permeating the body into itself (i.e. into the Over-self). The meditator (the Ibadati), thus by concentrating the life-current at the Overself,
experiences the biological death and his body becomes cold.
Within the human heart, there is Akashik6 Segment, where two emotional characteristics become manifest Fear7, Love8. In the natural biological death in the case of a dying person, this segment of the heart generates fear, whilst in the case of death experienced during Ibadat; this action of the heart generates Love. In the former case, the spirit leaves its body under duress, but the Ibadati absorbed in his meditation, projects his “astral body” by his own free-will and proceeds towards its source or
centre. And indeed that spirit has understood the mysteries of life and death. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah has made the following Holy Farman to this effect: “A Momin in the moment of death is like a brave lion, he has nothing to fear. His path is straight and smooth. When such a Momin is dead, he has nothing to worry. The moment he leaves the world, he moves to his destination comfortably.”
Pir Mursheed supports the same idea in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “There is no other exit or escape in swimming (passing through this world). This (death) is the only escape (window) to salvation; and the Momin who has experienced death, for him, there is no death and Messengers of Death are powerless against such Momins.”
It is destined that this frail vessel of the human body shall sink one day in the ocean of life. Before that moment arrives, it is essential to have the training to swim through the ocean of life during one’s lifetime, so that with the doom of the vessel, the Over-self too may not be destroyed. All the industries, knowledge, art, intellect, money or wealth and materials are with us during our lifetime only, but in the moment of death, none of these worldly things come to our assistance. In that only one knowledge
supports us: The knowledge of God and our Love for Him. Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said: “All knowledge shall vanish, only god’s realisation shall remain: listen, understand and remember this fact for ever. This is the divine commandment.”
A man suffers and struggles to make his brief life span, 50-75 years, a happy one. To create a cultural image of his public-life, he has to study thousands of words to achieve knowledge, but we show utter disregard and apathy in meditating over God’s Sacred Name, which is the very incarnation of Love. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah has said: “On one side, there is all the wealth of the world and on the other side, there is Ibadat – such is the tremendous weight of Ibadat. If you remain
absorbed in Ibadat, than God’s Nur will illuminate your life, and the hold of evil deeds on you will be broken, but if you have not formed the habit to meditate, then your world and religion shall both be ruined.
God has brought us into the human birth, giving us knowledge and intellect. Which instead of being used for the satisfaction of hunger or other sensuous joys, should be dedicated to the generation of heroic
courage in the heart, and with the help of Dhikr as the “Zulficar Sword” the baser instincts be destroyed. The chains of our age-old spiritual slavery are broken and all the weapons at our disposal utilised to
conquer that Divine Realm, which is our home and thus achieve freedom. Pir Ahmadshah in the Ginane-Shariff in the following words describes this spiritual challenge: “Those who are heroic and perfect in the path (of religion) they will never surrender their understanding or consciousness; he, indeed is a brave hero who rides to the battlefield and conquers it.”
If a human being reaches an inner conviction in his heart, there is no power on earth, which can stop him from advancing to God.
Blessed indeed is such a soul, and blessed indeed are the parents who gave birth to such a Holy Spirit which triumphed over its lower self and by liberating itself from the slavery of its tagged physical tenement attained its pristine glory and become free. Only such a person’s life is indeed real, the Life which is Eternal, Infinite and Ecstatic.
Finally to conclude with references from the Holy Kalam-e-Pir and Holy Farmans:
Tame luni lejo lunwa kaj ke,
Ahonish jaggo re lol.
Tame amiras peeyo din ne raat,
Ke Nur Nurania re lol.
Mahen varaseh chhe amrut Nur ke,
Kudrati Kheljo re lol.
Janki surti lagi brahamand ke,
Amrut kheljo re lol.
Jeva tadeena Chhute taar ke,
Surti Bandhjo re lol.
Anhad vaaja vaaje saar ke,
Neet so-hung uthe re lol.
Janki Surti laagi aye brahamand ke,
Nur manhe kheljo re lol.
Brahamand Askho kerjo re haath ke,
Jaan ravi chamkar.
Seer aalethi jo Aave haath ke,
To bhi shongha janajo re lol.
Aeva fari fari janamo kahen dunia Mahen ke,
Fera shun faro re lol.
(Literal Translation into English)
My Momins, harvest for the sake of the harvest,
And remain constantly awake.
My Momins, drink day and night the Nectar (of Light),
For verily there is nothing but all light Divine,
Within (the Over-self) there (ceaselessly) rains the Nectar of Light,
And there you have natural sport (with your beloved).
One, whose inner vision is focussed onto His Beloved God,
He has a sport with the Nectar (from the Beloved’s Embraces).
O Momins, as there is harmony between the sound and the chord,
So should you bind your SURTI (INNER VISION) on to the (Dhikr).
There (within the Over-self) is heard the music of limitless instruments,
And there perpetually rises the sound of “SOHANG”
The one, whose SURTI is bound unto this Beloved God,
Plays with the Eternal Light.
And conquers the whole Universe (of Light),
Where there (as if) the Brilliance of millions of Suns.
(Such is my Beloved) that if He could be attained by sacrificing your head;
You should feel that you have got him easily.
So O my Momins! Why are you born again and again in this world,
And why forced through the cycles of birth.
A general explanation of the “Garbi” is as follows:
Pir Saheb in this “Garbi” exposes the reader to an experience of a sublimed plane but being aware of the limitations of a written word. Pir Shamsh employs the techniques of symbolism and analogies to
transmit to his listeners. The Reality of the meaning of that experiences which is far beyond the dimensions of human experience. It should also be noted that historically, our Pirs actually sung and dramatised the Ginans and Garbis in a variety of situations and especially the visual communication to create an impact on their audiences.
It is against the background of the above concepts that we shall now look at the quotation:
1. The “harvest” in this context I think is the “harvest of Divine Light” “the Nurani Deedar” of the beloved, and for which the Momin (the devotees) must remain awake day and night. Deedar is associated with the Inner Concentration, and the inner vision of the Momin must continuously be
aware of and searching the Beloved – the Quest on to the harvest, the attainment of Divine Light.
2. “Ami-Ras” is a word, with multi layered meanings. In its Shariatic – exoteric dimension, it is one of the high rituals of Ab-E-Safa, it can be considered as a source of light. In its esoteric dimensions, Ami-Ras means the reaching or the Realm of Divine Light, where eternally there is
nothing but all Nur. The reality of this interpretation is clearly demonstrated in the stanza that follows.
3. The inner core of man is his Over-Self, where truly there is always light Divine and the natural “sport” of life is the development and recognition of this heavenly source of Light in us. The inner life of man is illuminated with this light.
4. This is another complex concept Pir Saheb says that the Momin, whose inner eyes are focussed onto the Brahamand i.e. the Cosmos – the awareness of the Cosmos. There within the Overself, the Momin enjoys the flow of the Nectar, i.e. a deeply intense spiritual experience, which is
beyond all the worlds.
5. A very difficult stage in Ibadat is reached, where inner concentration is supremely necessary to create a unity between the Momin’s inner focus (Surti) and his Bol or a Naksh. The sacred form of the word. So the Surti and the Bol should blend in such a harmony that they should lose their
individual personal identities (i.e. give up the Ego-Self)
6. From a purely analogical or allegorical interpretation in the verse above, we have come to the reality of the spiritual experience, where in from this blending between the Surti and the Bol the eternal, limitless music from the heart. (Heart with its complex structure of nerves. Blood vessels and valves Resembles a musical instrument. Which when in harmony with its Beloved, upholds to reveal that its function in unison with the breathing system produces the eternal sound of “Sohang” – this is the name of the Beloved, which the heart seems to echo forth eternally. This
then is the perfect music of the Over-self – see footnote 8.)
7. Now as the blending between the Surti and the Beloved intensifies as it deepens, the Momin feels the sublime ecstasy of playing with and in the Light Divine.
8. And then, finally, one merges into and becomes part of the very Source of this Light. One achieves the Ultimate Reality. Pir Saheb says that the brilliance and the glory of this source are like that of millions of suns.
9. Such is my Beloved Master – God says Pir Saheb and so precious that if one has to sacrifice one’s life to reach Him, one should feel that one has got Him cheaply. Of course the “sacrifice of the Head” has a deeper meaning. That is the control of thoughts and finally the complete
destruction of mind, which comes between the Heart and the Beloved. The struggle between the Head (Logic and Thought process) and the Heart (Emotions, Intuition, Love and its mysteries) are beautifully and mysteriously concealed in these lines.
10. To conclude, the Pir Saheb appeals that if such are the mysteries of our Beloved, why do you take births and re-births on this Earth and move in eternal cycles? (Note that the Ten afro mentioned verses if carefully analysed, present Ten phases of man’s spiritual evolution and
ascend to the climax – from the gathering of the spiritual harvest to the liberation from the cycles of births and the Union with the Beloved).
Finally, the Holy Farmans of Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah: “You dry (safe—direct) path is on Seventh Heaven. When you shall reach there, then you shall enter the dry land (i.e. safe and secure) and your heart shall feel the certitude of this experience.”
To die once during one’s lifetime is really a great fortune, but to die twice in one’s lifetime is still a great fortune. But only the heroes can die thrice in their lives – and this too is necessary; whilst a person who dies for the fourth time, for him again…indeed such (mysteries) are beyond description.
Footnotes
1 Biologically, this metamorphosis takes place as follows: The life history of a tropical insect is divided into four stages: the egg, the larva, the pupa and the image (or the perfect insect). From the egg hatches out a larva, which constitutes the feeding stage. As the larva (caterpillar) grows, it moults its skin several times, and which when fully grown, changes into a dormant pupa sheltered in various ways. Within the skin of the pupa, there is a considerable breakdown and re-organisation of structure i.e. a complete re-construction of the traces of the larva takes place and
finally, there emerges from the pupae (pupa) skin, which cracks open, a perfect insect (an image), whose wings soon unfold and expand. This change from larva to image is an example of metamorphosis. But Pir Saheb has used the explanation given above in accordance with the understanding of those times.
2 Pir Saddardin’s Ginan: “MayaNO BANDHHIO JIWADO, BHAMIYO PAR GHER JAI” – Bound by the Maya, the spirit goes on wandering to home (i.e. birth after birth) i.e. from one re-incarnation to another.
On the detachment from the Over-self, the atom of vital energy; like the earth separates from the blazing parent sunmass, becomes the personal Ego, reaching the mind, it is transformed from Cosmic Consciousness into restricted entity of the thinking consciousness, and passing out through the five sensory organs, becomes associated to and bound with the external world. Thus, the Ego loses itself utterly in the biochemical and material life, forgetting its divine birth-place, (become enmeshed in Maya)
3 BHAMAR GUFA (Peshani) – literally their Inner Vision within the forehead physically and spiritually, the most exalted or the supremely elevated place in the Universe, hence it is the supremely uplifted centre in man, for man, the MICROCOSM is an epitome of the Universe, the MACROCOSM.
4 This means that in initial stages, the Dhikr is mental i.e. it is done with the help of the MIND. Subsequently, it becomes part of the rhythm of the “Heart”, the seat of Over-self where the SPONTANEOUS, INSTINCTIVE
(INTUITIVE) RYHTHM is immortally present. This harmony creates the Divine RHYTHM. Basically, the throbbing of the heart is really the rhythm of the ISME-AZAM
5 “SOHANG” is the sound from the natural breath-rhythm. In the highest state, it echoes the name of God and refers to AJAMPYA -JAMP the eternal recitation of Beloved Sacred Name.
6 Akashik from “akash” literally sky space; hence it refers to pure consciousness, which is the real-hood of human and resides in heart and not brain.
“The common notion that consciousness has its seat in the brain is but a relative truth. The brain is but the seat of reflected consciousness, a reflection that has been derived from the true centre – The Heart.
Intellectual light is but borrowed light, like that of moon. Intellectual consciousness is secondary. Heart consciousness is primary, and is the sun which imparts its own light to the moon of intellect.”
(“The Quest of the Over-self” by Paul Brunton. PhD. D. Rider & Co. London, 1961 Impression). AMEN.
7 The focus of the vision, which during contemplation is brought to bear upon, the sacred word from HAZER IMAM. This, as the melodious music flows from the harmony of the sound and the chords and these two become inseparably bound so should SURTI and the Dhikr be linked in Harmony.
8 SOHANG: The sound of the LIVING BREATH, i.e. the fine subtle sound of “SO-HANG” made during exh alation and inhalation respectively. Esoterically, the heart, the Over-self Core perpetually sings the name of its Beloved – this is clearly indicated in close link between the palpitation of the heart and the breathing system
Ibadat is an exercise of the soul. Life’s fundamental objective and duty is Ibadat, and is the finest path, the supreme duty leading the Over-self to the Union with God. But to be successful any vocation, it is essential that a particular work be practised according of its scientific technique. The vocation may be an industry requiring varied experimentation, and a sacrifice of time and money. It may also entail considerable enterprise absolute tolerance and concentration, and thus as the experimenter continues with his experiments, he would achieve greater and greater efficiency and finally reaches the fruition when his experiments are perfected. In the similar manner through the meditative process, one attains Spiritual Perfection, the Vasl-E-Haq (the Union with God). Before experimenting with or venturing into this extremely delicate process. It is especially essential to have Mursheed-e-Kamil, the Spiritual Leader
a Perfect Guide. And also to learn these Meditative Practises. It is absolutely necessary to have immense courage, endless patience and pure heart. Because, the over-self, which is the prisoner in the cage of blood, flesh and bones, and it is indeed an extraordinary transformation for the Self to be liberated from its prison and to attain its source i.e. to be merged into the Nur.
It is a natural law that the human destiny is moulded by the concepts and ideas (and Emotions) nourished by the Mind. A proverb says that “where there is a will there is a way.” Pir Mursheed explains this idea by the following analogy. “Satgur says that there is a vast difference between the
caterpillar and the wasp. The wasp takes the caterpillar into a sheltered place and stings it constantly, and if the caterpillar bears these stings, then it emerges as a perfect insect with wings.”1
All thoughts are emanations of the red transcendent self, the Over-self. It is the thought movement (receiving its support and sanctions from the Creative force of the Over-self) in man that is really responsible for the transformation of life. Man’s wondering through the cycles of birth and death are caused by his thoughts absorbed, imprisoned or enmeshed in the Karmic Illusion (Maya) of this world.2
Even whilst sitting in meditation, some persons’ minds continue to remain engaged in the world’s thought—vibration and it is this fact, the attachment of the thoughts to the world’s attractions, which make this life an Ocean of endless births and deaths. The human heart could recapture its pristine purity and be detached only if the carnal illusions of the material quest are banished from its innermost recess, and then it has no more to wander through the ocean of endless re-incarnations. But it is extremely difficult in the primary phases of Ibadat (Meditation) to make the heart detached from the attractions of the world because it is in these instinctive characteristics of the human mind that when it is attracted to a
certain thing, the mind remains attached to it, unless it finds something better and happier. Thus when the meditator enters into Ibadat under this mental state, his mind continues to wrestle between the world and the Ibadat and thus psychological struggle does not permit him to derive pleasures and feeling disinterested, gets bored with the Ibadat and thinks it is a burden.
Before the commencement of Ibadat, it is essential, therefore, to train the mind to concentrate on the Dhikr. The mind wavers, basically because of its attachments to the world. If the concentration continues to fluctuate, it is best to beseech God, as if He is intimately present near you. “Oh God! You are Merciful and Gracious! My mind continues to waver. Oh God! Bestow your peace on it. A prayer in these words will certainly still the mind but if it shows signs of giving way, try to bring it under control and steady it with Dhikr – thus such efforts from time to time will make the mind firm. As the mind attains concentration, the filtered breath begins to accumulate into the lungs. But the meditator will not be aware of this, as he is absorbed in the Dhikr. When a person dives into the sea, his sense of hearing becomes detached from the external world (of sounds). In the same way, the meditator absorbed in Ibadat becomes immune to all the sounds of the external world. Thus, within man’s being, there takes place fusion of Concentration, Breath and Dhikr, and because Dhikr is a form of love or is one of the expressions of Divine Love (because it is basically the Name Allah), through Dhikr, the characteristics of Love begin to permeate the Breath, by the Power of Dhikr. Love and Breath begin to mingle, whereby the Breath begins to be purer (full of Love) and sweeter. The following lines of Ginan-e-Shariff explain this:
“One who is the Beloved of God, his breath is true and genuine, and his Inner Vision is focused on to the Dhikr and he communicates with the Divine Over-self. In his Destiny comes Divine Love, breaking asunder the dark veils of ignorance (due to flesh).”
The effect of meditation is felt in two ways and in two places. Ibadat generates sweetness in the heart from where it begins to permeate into the blood. Blood circulating through the blood vessels spreads the effect of power of Love through the entire body, and each and every cell begins to experience the sweetness of Love. And at that moment, the evil characteristics, mental discord and bitterness are transformed into goodness, harmony and sweetness. Describing this spiritual condition, Pir Mursheed in the Holy Ginan-e-Shariff, says: “The bitter oceans shall be transformed into the waters of sweetness. Verily, my master (God) shows such wonders.” (During Ibadat, a miraculous transformation takes
place, whereby the negative thoughts of bitterness are transformed into sweetness and ecstasy that is, with one’s approach to Eternity, one begins to experience true happiness).
The second characteristic effect in Ibadat experience is that of the illumination (Nur) or the spiritual enlightenment. In the earlier stages, one begins to behold the flashes like the spark of the lightening. If the meditator continues to remain steady in his concentration, than he might have the illumination like those of the Moon and the Sun, but whose lights are far more attractive and magnetising than the sun and the moon of our solar system and they appear and vanish in the form of flashes Pir Mursheed in the Ginan-e-Shariff describes this experience in the following words:
“What spiritual Experiences or Vision do you behold (during the meditation) on the Bhamar Gufa (Peshani)3. There you see the vibrant, radiantly brilliant flames and one experiences the Divine Nur.”
The revelation of this divine radiance is clearer during the early morning prayers (i.e. the time of Nur). Even by ordinary attempts, one may experience the flashes of lightening, but what the meditator does not experience is the effect of love latent in these flashes of radiance. The brief psychic experience can be compared to that when one passes his hand rapidly through the flames, but without burning, in the same way, the radiance in Ibadat comes as a transient flash, and hence, the meditator does not feel the effect of Love underlying this radiant current.
We have seen earlier that if during one of the moments of Ibadat, the meditator has the spiritual experience of the fountain of love flowing from the heart, this can be considered a supreme experience, but in the second phase of meditation, this spiritual experience be considered of a slightly inferior quality. It is a natural law that to acquire anything of the Invisible World, it is necessary to remember it again and again to create its presence of existence in the consciousness, and if the person continues to concentrate upon it, the thing begins to approach closer and closer, that is, it will finally materialise. This is clearly understood by the exercises used by the students in the memorisation of their lessons, which manifest in their consciousness, and are not easily forgotten. In our former Daily Prayer, Pir Saddardin Saheb has arranged for us to say PUNJ PATI five times. If it is not said five times, but only two or three times, and thus if the prayer is shortened, then its effectiveness is reduced.
There are no Holy Farmans to shorten the Punj Pati, hence, it must be said five times. Similarly, there are 101 beads in the Rosary (Tasbir), and have the same purpose of helping us to remember of the Holy Names (of God), and create its consciousness in our Mind.
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made the Holy Farman: “The object you have to achieve is in your hands.”
If we have desire to derive immediate benefits in the Ibadat (Meditation), then we have to generate sincere yearning in the heart. In the achievement of that goal, the external appearances pretentious
ostentation’s or limitations are not necessary, but one needs to produce in heart, love and anticipations, for which Pir Mursheed says: “The beloved is found by Perfect Love. But without Love, He (God) would drift further away. Like the Lotus which is of and in the water, although the water never touches it.”
It is the heart, which really does the meditation and these meditative practises are in reality done in the heart. Thus, when the meditator practises meditation by creating a gulf between his “heart” (the seat of
the Over-self) and the meditation (the Dhikr), than his thoughts—concentration drift away into the veils of forgetfulness. And thus the gap between the two grows still wider, and the LINK between the two is
broken. Keeping it very close to the “heart” should do the Dhikr of the Ism-E-Azam and this would help to steady the concentration.
Those, who do Ibadat (meditation) by concentrating on the Imam’s face, have to generate God’s Nur within their consciousness. When “Heart” (the Over-self) and Peshani (Mind) become infused, only then it is considered that the Ibadat has been done in accordance with the Imam’s Guidance. When “mind” links up with the “heart” there begins a psychic, mysterious process in the “heart” to generate Nur, for which Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Aly has said:
“Until the “Spirit” permeates the entire body, the body will continue to be restless, but soon as the Mind and the Heart are united, then one begins to concentrate on the Dhikr, which we have been directed to
follow.”
“Thus when concentration begins to intensify into the INNER Vision (Peshani), God’s Nur will manifest from the veils surrounding the meditator, like the Moon, emerging from the clouds, and shining forth it its
brilliance. This is such an ecstatic moment, that it is impossible to describe its glory. Pir Saddardin Saheb describes this state in the following words:
“The one who has been struck by the radiance of the Nur,
Oh Verily! How can we know his state.”
The “heart entering into this psychic state, as we have seen earlier, instead of experiencing “light” and “love” from two different “sources,” now begins to experience from a unified source and Love that used to influence the “heart” only, now begins to Manifest as a living reality, and Love and Light become one. In this moment of supreme joy and high spiritual destiny, the “lotus of the heart” repressed and withered by the world, bitterness and evils, reaches a fresh level of re-un-foldment, its wrinkles vanish and the protracted poverty of the heart comes to an end.
Hazrat Mowlana Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah has made Holy Farmans, as with what heart one should enter into the meditation? You should enter into meditation with a heart, a thousand times loving and tender than the love tenderness and sweetness shown to your beloved.” If you enter into Meditation with this state, it will generate Love and once if this is done, then you will never feel like giving up the Ibadat.
When fragrant flowers are spread onto a bed sheet, their scent makes the bed sheet fragrant, similarly, the heart that constantly does the Dhikr, can but generate the sweet effects of love.
In the Holy Ginans of our Pir Mursheed, it is mentioned that if the Dhikr is done spontaneously, only then one attains the Deedar of God, whilst our present Dhikr is set in “process” only when we start its utterance i.e. it is Not Spontaneous. It should be said in clarification that the Dhikr is spontaneous, i.e. it is a continues process, but we have no consciousness of its operation. It is essential in Ibadat, therefore, to unify our Consciousness with the Dhikr, and this “Link Up” should be to that degree that the selfconsciousness should be absorbed completely in “Dhikr” and should be fused into the natural, spontaneous Dhikr. One, who has reached this spiritual station, has not to recite the Dhikr mechanically,
because his consciousness is perpetually and insolubly linked to the Dhikr, which permeates each and every fibber of his being. Describing this state, Pir Saheb says: “From each and every cell of my body, there echoes forth the name of My Beloved, when the evil forces begin to hide (in fear). In that moment when my INNER Vision reached its most exalted Psychic Dimension, (the CLIMAX) and when from its “Centre” the radiation’s emanated (in all directions), I lost all Self Consciousness.”
Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohammed Shah describing the same spiritual state in his Holy Farman says: “You should love God in the manner Mansur Loved him, that when he was exalted, even the blooddrops
from his body echoed forth “Ana’l Haqq”.
(We can retrace the unfoldment of the SPONTANEOUS Dhikr ‘Ajampya Jamp’ through the following spiritual evolution)
In the first statge, the meditator begins to enter into Ibadat (Meditation) by reciting the Ism-E-Azam with his tongue and as he advances in this path, the Dhikr comes to his larynx (the vioce box) and there the process continues. Subsequently, the Dhikr gradually descends into the “heart” and when the meditator reaches perfection, the Dhikr begins, to “link up” with that Dhikr which is operating as a spontaneous process (Rhythm) in the innermost “Centres” of the heart (the Overself). And in that
moment of the fusion of consciousness and heart, -- the moment of sacred Nurani Deeedar, the moment when the process of the Spontaneous Dhikr is realised, and the overself attains Self Realisation.
When the Momin’s Concentration is absorbed in Dhikr to that supreme limit, a degree that intense that his Dhikr forever remains linked to i.e. natural spontaneous Dhikr of his INNER BEING (the Overself), then this Psychic State is that of AJAMPYA JAMP i.e. continous, ceaseless, unbroken Dhikr like the ocean-waves, which rise the ocean with the breeze, swing or vibrate rhythmetically and again vanish into the ocean, but never are they separated from the ocean. Similarly, when concentration becomes `linked with the ocean of natural Dhikr,4 – (i.e. Ego merges into the Overself) which means that like the perpetual rhythmic motion of the ocean, the Perpetual Throb of the ISME-AZAM (AJAMPYA JAMP) springs from the heart and again subsides into that heart. Pir Mursheed explains this in his Gnan-e-Shariff: “Satgur says that the “name” of God should be recited with every breath, and the beloved name should be in constant remembrance. Never for a momnet the beloved be separated, but like the waves, one should remain merged into the ocean (of Reality)”.
When the meditator reaches this spiritual state, he is not conscious of the pure breath filling up his lungs. But as a slit bound bond begins to rise and float with an incoming tide, similarly, the HEART stuck for so long in the slimes of the world’s illusions, is liberated by the pure breath of love and the “heart” projects onto supreme dimensions of Heaven.
Pir Hassan Kabirdin Saheb explains this experience in the following words: “The Chariot (the Heart) armed by the power of the breath is the KING and can daily wake up (in Ibadat) and can journey to the heavenly abodes and return.” “The world does not have that power to penetrate those (supreme goals of Reality), but the heart can reach there.”
Today, we behold this mundane world in our consciousness, and until the world’s illusions are present in our Ego, the Reality will not manifest, because the two aspects, the Illusion of the world and the Reality of the Truth can never be present together at the same time in Mind. Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said that you cannot keep two swords in the same sheath. Where there is Illusion, Reality cannot exist, and where there is Reality, Illusion must disappear. Where Darkness (of ignorance) predominates, Light (of Knowledge) cannot reach, and where knowledge reigns supreme, ignorance must vanish. How is it possible therefore to balance these opposing forces of Reality and Illusion, Light and Darkness in the same place at the same time? In the same way as it is impossible during Ibadat to harmonise the yearning to embrace God with the attachment of the world. Therefore, the concentration during the Ibadat should be so firm, so completely merged into the Ism-E-Azam that this world should disappear from the memory, and then should remain only God’s sacred remembrance in the heart.
That person who is convinced that it is the world’s Illusiionary Maya which is responsible for his countless births and rebirths on this earth, casting him into the pits of darkness, that person indeed gradually reaches (the pinnacle of) self-realisation, and only then does he lose the (attachments) to the false, transient sweetness of this world. This means that to that person, the world’s highest happiness seems dull and insignificant, and then his heart becomes steadfast on God. A minute’s sincere deep
Ibadat by which such a steadfast heart is greater in value and in power than the years of Ibadat, (which is not oriented to God).
A person who absolutely dedicated his heart to God may in the earlier stage feel a deep sense of hopelessness, but God, who is his Beloved and who is so Holy and Omnipotent, never keeps him in that frustrated state for long and He by His Power and Love, transforms Momin’s frustration into meaningful visions and hopes. Let us see how this is achieved.
Matter is composed of fine elements, earth, water, air, fire and space. Man’s mind is attracted to the sounds, smells, touch, tastes, fascinations and varied other charms, emanating from the various products of this world. The underlying natures of these attractions are not visibly manifest for us, but imperceptibly, we experience them and obviously their effects reach the “heart.” Now as the meditator begins to approach God, closer and closer, the power of Ibadat dissolves the “materiality” of these elements and their hidden natures become manifest (for the enjoyment of the meditator) and their sweetness and charms bestow happiness and tastes far above those given by the worldly products.
Let us now study in detail how sound, touch, beauty, taste and smell and such similar charms of life are experienced during Ibadat.
The Power of Speech (Sound, Words and Music):
During Ibadat (meditation) when the purified breath fills up the lungs (and thus affects the heart), the “Over-self” is liberated and freed from its bonds. The vein and arteries in this meditative state become taut, and in the same way as a highly tuned musical instrument would produce melodious music when the fingers play upon its stings, similarly, the highly strung blood-vessels, enforced by the power of breath of love produce spontaneous music, whose melodious sweetness is so wonderful, so miraculous that the melody of this divine natural instrument is incomparably higher than the melody produced by a musical
instrument considered to be the world’s best. Pir Shamash has said “In the Over-self there eternally rains the Nectar of Nur (Divine Light) and with this you (the Momins) should have the natural sport. Natural sport. Your Surti (focus concentration) on the “Bol” should be like the fingers playing perpetually on the strings of an instrument – this will produce the limitless Eternal Music and you shall hear the echoes of “Sohang”.5 (In this Manner) you shall conquer the Universe, (i.e. reach the Reality),
where shines the Sun. And if one is asked to sacrifice one’s head (the Ego) for this Divine Grace, one should consider this sacrifice to be valueless for (far more painful) are the cycles of births and rebirths
the soul has to take on this Earth.”
The Sense of Touch:
When tow bodies come in contact, the hearts experience the emotion of joy, which is due to the fact that the spirit permeates both the bodies. But if the hidden spirits itself were to become manifest, and were to touch the Divine Over-self, then their ecstasy that would generate is beyond one’s imagination. Pir Hassan Kabirdin describes this state in the following words:
“If the Hans Purush (i.e. the Over-self) were to manifest to us (Nurani Deedar) than our being is purified of the elements of matter with which it is now blended, and attaining its true self-hood embraces the Divine Over-self that moment of embrace and mingling is beyond the power of speech to describe.” This means that the spiritual experience of that touch brings limitless happiness far above and beyond anything of this world."
The Sense Of Beauty:
Body is basically composed of matter, yet because of the effect of the soul, the facial beauty (and the physical beauty) attracts the world but if this Divine overself were to reveal himself to us, then how supremely fascinating will it be? In the supreme moment of Self-Realisation and in its happiness so many kings have forgotten their crowns and kingdoms and have sacrificed the luxurious comforts of their palaces. Those who were guided towards the miraculous realm of Divine Love, they left behind all the wealth and limitless glory which was at their feet. This is an evidence of supreme and immortal joy hidden in the remembrance of our beloved (God). In the beauty of the over-self is the beauty of the matchless, the joys of whose illumination is experienced by a meditator in Ibadat, and for which Pir Mursheed explains in the following manner: “The Momin who has embraced the Deedar of his Beloved, he experiences the Moon with its tranquil Divine Light, shining and shedding its limitless nectar – Light; and for him vanish the sufferings of our epochs.”
The Sense Of Taste:
The sweetness we enjoy through the sense of taste is also characteristic of the spirit, which hidden in all matter, feeds the whole world with its essence of sweetness. The meditator (meditativeness?) on reaching the supreme level of contemplation experiences the unfoldment of the Over-self and the lotus of the heart blooms in full fragrance. In this moment of the fountain of extreme sweetness begins to flow, whose sweetness is beyond the sweetness of all the tastiest things of this world and which bestows great happiness and ecstasy. Pir Mursheed describes this experience in the following words: “The Essence of Love is extremely sweet and one who tastes, feels its sweetness permeating into his entire
being and indeed his heart gives him testimony of this spiritual experience.”
The Sense Of Smell:
In the path of God’s Love during Ibadat, when the meditaor’s lotus of the heart unfolds, there generate such fragrance, which is beyond the sweetest flowers of perfumes of the world as testified by Pir. Mursheed’s Ginan: “There unfolds the petals, and the lotus of the heart blooms forth in all its glory whose fragrance reaches the heaven.”
Thus a Momin sacrificing the illusionary (illusive) happiness and attractions for the sake of God’s Love and goes nearer and still nearer to God, then this psychic state God does not deny him worldly happiness but bestows upon him the joys of the world, but in purer form, multiplied countless times more supreme, more sweet, and through the experience of these joys, God brings him contentment. This experience is based on the fact that God Himself is all joy and happiness and in His Path, there are no possibilities of disappointment and frustration. Thus it is in these diverse ways that the Master’s Grace is bestowed upon the Momin, who, sacrificing the illusionary joys of this temporal world, achieves the
heavenly ecstasies.
Another characteristic and the beauty of Ibadat are that it liberates the soul from the imprisonment of the body and gives it freedom from re-births. How and when is this achieved is explained by Pir Mursheed in the following Ginan: “Satgur says that all the people of this world know to die the false deaths, but no one really achieves the true death. But the one who knows how to die by the Divine Knowledge, for him there is no more deaths.”
This means that the deaths we die are false, for after each death is a re-birth and death, but one who achieves the ultimate annihilation by the power of his Divine Understanding, for him there are no more cycles of births and re-births.
Hazrat Mowlana Murtaza Ali has also made the following Farman in His Kalam Mubarak: “Those who know to die before their deaths, they indeed achieve Eternity in their deaths.”
Hazrat Imam Sultan Mohamed Shah has also made the following Holy Farmans: “If you habituate your soul to perform the noble practise of Ibadat then gradually the characteristics of the beastliness and baser instincts will disappear from the body and before death, your soul will
leave the body in angelic form.”
Now we shall discuss how man can experience death during this lifetime. This does not mean to commit suicide, but as the spirit is separated from the body during the process of a natural death. Similarly, during Ibadat the Astral Body can be separated from its physical counterpart. There is however a difference in these two types of death, the spirit is reluctant to give up the body and because its attachments are connected to the body, nevertheless the spirit is compelled to be detached from the body. In this moment of death, the Ego (Jivatma’s) sufferings are equal to its attachments to the body and the world; and the Ego is forcibly detached from its shell in a state of extreme dependence (unwillingness) and dejection. But a momin’s heart, practised to concrete its focus on the Dhikr, does not have the world’s attachments.
By the power of Ibadat, it has gathered (concentrated) all its life-current permeating the body into itself (i.e. into the Over-self). The meditator (the Ibadati), thus by concentrating the life-current at the Overself,
experiences the biological death and his body becomes cold.
Within the human heart, there is Akashik6 Segment, where two emotional characteristics become manifest Fear7, Love8. In the natural biological death in the case of a dying person, this segment of the heart generates fear, whilst in the case of death experienced during Ibadat; this action of the heart generates Love. In the former case, the spirit leaves its body under duress, but the Ibadati absorbed in his meditation, projects his “astral body” by his own free-will and proceeds towards its source or
centre. And indeed that spirit has understood the mysteries of life and death. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah has made the following Holy Farman to this effect: “A Momin in the moment of death is like a brave lion, he has nothing to fear. His path is straight and smooth. When such a Momin is dead, he has nothing to worry. The moment he leaves the world, he moves to his destination comfortably.”
Pir Mursheed supports the same idea in his Ginan-e-Shariff: “There is no other exit or escape in swimming (passing through this world). This (death) is the only escape (window) to salvation; and the Momin who has experienced death, for him, there is no death and Messengers of Death are powerless against such Momins.”
It is destined that this frail vessel of the human body shall sink one day in the ocean of life. Before that moment arrives, it is essential to have the training to swim through the ocean of life during one’s lifetime, so that with the doom of the vessel, the Over-self too may not be destroyed. All the industries, knowledge, art, intellect, money or wealth and materials are with us during our lifetime only, but in the moment of death, none of these worldly things come to our assistance. In that only one knowledge
supports us: The knowledge of God and our Love for Him. Mowlana Murtaza Ali has said: “All knowledge shall vanish, only god’s realisation shall remain: listen, understand and remember this fact for ever. This is the divine commandment.”
A man suffers and struggles to make his brief life span, 50-75 years, a happy one. To create a cultural image of his public-life, he has to study thousands of words to achieve knowledge, but we show utter disregard and apathy in meditating over God’s Sacred Name, which is the very incarnation of Love. Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah has said: “On one side, there is all the wealth of the world and on the other side, there is Ibadat – such is the tremendous weight of Ibadat. If you remain
absorbed in Ibadat, than God’s Nur will illuminate your life, and the hold of evil deeds on you will be broken, but if you have not formed the habit to meditate, then your world and religion shall both be ruined.
God has brought us into the human birth, giving us knowledge and intellect. Which instead of being used for the satisfaction of hunger or other sensuous joys, should be dedicated to the generation of heroic
courage in the heart, and with the help of Dhikr as the “Zulficar Sword” the baser instincts be destroyed. The chains of our age-old spiritual slavery are broken and all the weapons at our disposal utilised to
conquer that Divine Realm, which is our home and thus achieve freedom. Pir Ahmadshah in the Ginane-Shariff in the following words describes this spiritual challenge: “Those who are heroic and perfect in the path (of religion) they will never surrender their understanding or consciousness; he, indeed is a brave hero who rides to the battlefield and conquers it.”
If a human being reaches an inner conviction in his heart, there is no power on earth, which can stop him from advancing to God.
Blessed indeed is such a soul, and blessed indeed are the parents who gave birth to such a Holy Spirit which triumphed over its lower self and by liberating itself from the slavery of its tagged physical tenement attained its pristine glory and become free. Only such a person’s life is indeed real, the Life which is Eternal, Infinite and Ecstatic.
Finally to conclude with references from the Holy Kalam-e-Pir and Holy Farmans:
Tame luni lejo lunwa kaj ke,
Ahonish jaggo re lol.
Tame amiras peeyo din ne raat,
Ke Nur Nurania re lol.
Mahen varaseh chhe amrut Nur ke,
Kudrati Kheljo re lol.
Janki surti lagi brahamand ke,
Amrut kheljo re lol.
Jeva tadeena Chhute taar ke,
Surti Bandhjo re lol.
Anhad vaaja vaaje saar ke,
Neet so-hung uthe re lol.
Janki Surti laagi aye brahamand ke,
Nur manhe kheljo re lol.
Brahamand Askho kerjo re haath ke,
Jaan ravi chamkar.
Seer aalethi jo Aave haath ke,
To bhi shongha janajo re lol.
Aeva fari fari janamo kahen dunia Mahen ke,
Fera shun faro re lol.
(Literal Translation into English)
My Momins, harvest for the sake of the harvest,
And remain constantly awake.
My Momins, drink day and night the Nectar (of Light),
For verily there is nothing but all light Divine,
Within (the Over-self) there (ceaselessly) rains the Nectar of Light,
And there you have natural sport (with your beloved).
One, whose inner vision is focussed onto His Beloved God,
He has a sport with the Nectar (from the Beloved’s Embraces).
O Momins, as there is harmony between the sound and the chord,
So should you bind your SURTI (INNER VISION) on to the (Dhikr).
There (within the Over-self) is heard the music of limitless instruments,
And there perpetually rises the sound of “SOHANG”
The one, whose SURTI is bound unto this Beloved God,
Plays with the Eternal Light.
And conquers the whole Universe (of Light),
Where there (as if) the Brilliance of millions of Suns.
(Such is my Beloved) that if He could be attained by sacrificing your head;
You should feel that you have got him easily.
So O my Momins! Why are you born again and again in this world,
And why forced through the cycles of birth.
A general explanation of the “Garbi” is as follows:
Pir Saheb in this “Garbi” exposes the reader to an experience of a sublimed plane but being aware of the limitations of a written word. Pir Shamsh employs the techniques of symbolism and analogies to
transmit to his listeners. The Reality of the meaning of that experiences which is far beyond the dimensions of human experience. It should also be noted that historically, our Pirs actually sung and dramatised the Ginans and Garbis in a variety of situations and especially the visual communication to create an impact on their audiences.
It is against the background of the above concepts that we shall now look at the quotation:
1. The “harvest” in this context I think is the “harvest of Divine Light” “the Nurani Deedar” of the beloved, and for which the Momin (the devotees) must remain awake day and night. Deedar is associated with the Inner Concentration, and the inner vision of the Momin must continuously be
aware of and searching the Beloved – the Quest on to the harvest, the attainment of Divine Light.
2. “Ami-Ras” is a word, with multi layered meanings. In its Shariatic – exoteric dimension, it is one of the high rituals of Ab-E-Safa, it can be considered as a source of light. In its esoteric dimensions, Ami-Ras means the reaching or the Realm of Divine Light, where eternally there is
nothing but all Nur. The reality of this interpretation is clearly demonstrated in the stanza that follows.
3. The inner core of man is his Over-Self, where truly there is always light Divine and the natural “sport” of life is the development and recognition of this heavenly source of Light in us. The inner life of man is illuminated with this light.
4. This is another complex concept Pir Saheb says that the Momin, whose inner eyes are focussed onto the Brahamand i.e. the Cosmos – the awareness of the Cosmos. There within the Overself, the Momin enjoys the flow of the Nectar, i.e. a deeply intense spiritual experience, which is
beyond all the worlds.
5. A very difficult stage in Ibadat is reached, where inner concentration is supremely necessary to create a unity between the Momin’s inner focus (Surti) and his Bol or a Naksh. The sacred form of the word. So the Surti and the Bol should blend in such a harmony that they should lose their
individual personal identities (i.e. give up the Ego-Self)
6. From a purely analogical or allegorical interpretation in the verse above, we have come to the reality of the spiritual experience, where in from this blending between the Surti and the Bol the eternal, limitless music from the heart. (Heart with its complex structure of nerves. Blood vessels and valves Resembles a musical instrument. Which when in harmony with its Beloved, upholds to reveal that its function in unison with the breathing system produces the eternal sound of “Sohang” – this is the name of the Beloved, which the heart seems to echo forth eternally. This
then is the perfect music of the Over-self – see footnote 8.)
7. Now as the blending between the Surti and the Beloved intensifies as it deepens, the Momin feels the sublime ecstasy of playing with and in the Light Divine.
8. And then, finally, one merges into and becomes part of the very Source of this Light. One achieves the Ultimate Reality. Pir Saheb says that the brilliance and the glory of this source are like that of millions of suns.
9. Such is my Beloved Master – God says Pir Saheb and so precious that if one has to sacrifice one’s life to reach Him, one should feel that one has got Him cheaply. Of course the “sacrifice of the Head” has a deeper meaning. That is the control of thoughts and finally the complete
destruction of mind, which comes between the Heart and the Beloved. The struggle between the Head (Logic and Thought process) and the Heart (Emotions, Intuition, Love and its mysteries) are beautifully and mysteriously concealed in these lines.
10. To conclude, the Pir Saheb appeals that if such are the mysteries of our Beloved, why do you take births and re-births on this Earth and move in eternal cycles? (Note that the Ten afro mentioned verses if carefully analysed, present Ten phases of man’s spiritual evolution and
ascend to the climax – from the gathering of the spiritual harvest to the liberation from the cycles of births and the Union with the Beloved).
Finally, the Holy Farmans of Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah: “You dry (safe—direct) path is on Seventh Heaven. When you shall reach there, then you shall enter the dry land (i.e. safe and secure) and your heart shall feel the certitude of this experience.”
To die once during one’s lifetime is really a great fortune, but to die twice in one’s lifetime is still a great fortune. But only the heroes can die thrice in their lives – and this too is necessary; whilst a person who dies for the fourth time, for him again…indeed such (mysteries) are beyond description.
Footnotes
1 Biologically, this metamorphosis takes place as follows: The life history of a tropical insect is divided into four stages: the egg, the larva, the pupa and the image (or the perfect insect). From the egg hatches out a larva, which constitutes the feeding stage. As the larva (caterpillar) grows, it moults its skin several times, and which when fully grown, changes into a dormant pupa sheltered in various ways. Within the skin of the pupa, there is a considerable breakdown and re-organisation of structure i.e. a complete re-construction of the traces of the larva takes place and
finally, there emerges from the pupae (pupa) skin, which cracks open, a perfect insect (an image), whose wings soon unfold and expand. This change from larva to image is an example of metamorphosis. But Pir Saheb has used the explanation given above in accordance with the understanding of those times.
2 Pir Saddardin’s Ginan: “MayaNO BANDHHIO JIWADO, BHAMIYO PAR GHER JAI” – Bound by the Maya, the spirit goes on wandering to home (i.e. birth after birth) i.e. from one re-incarnation to another.
On the detachment from the Over-self, the atom of vital energy; like the earth separates from the blazing parent sunmass, becomes the personal Ego, reaching the mind, it is transformed from Cosmic Consciousness into restricted entity of the thinking consciousness, and passing out through the five sensory organs, becomes associated to and bound with the external world. Thus, the Ego loses itself utterly in the biochemical and material life, forgetting its divine birth-place, (become enmeshed in Maya)
3 BHAMAR GUFA (Peshani) – literally their Inner Vision within the forehead physically and spiritually, the most exalted or the supremely elevated place in the Universe, hence it is the supremely uplifted centre in man, for man, the MICROCOSM is an epitome of the Universe, the MACROCOSM.
4 This means that in initial stages, the Dhikr is mental i.e. it is done with the help of the MIND. Subsequently, it becomes part of the rhythm of the “Heart”, the seat of Over-self where the SPONTANEOUS, INSTINCTIVE
(INTUITIVE) RYHTHM is immortally present. This harmony creates the Divine RHYTHM. Basically, the throbbing of the heart is really the rhythm of the ISME-AZAM
5 “SOHANG” is the sound from the natural breath-rhythm. In the highest state, it echoes the name of God and refers to AJAMPYA -JAMP the eternal recitation of Beloved Sacred Name.
6 Akashik from “akash” literally sky space; hence it refers to pure consciousness, which is the real-hood of human and resides in heart and not brain.
“The common notion that consciousness has its seat in the brain is but a relative truth. The brain is but the seat of reflected consciousness, a reflection that has been derived from the true centre – The Heart.
Intellectual light is but borrowed light, like that of moon. Intellectual consciousness is secondary. Heart consciousness is primary, and is the sun which imparts its own light to the moon of intellect.”
(“The Quest of the Over-self” by Paul Brunton. PhD. D. Rider & Co. London, 1961 Impression). AMEN.
7 The focus of the vision, which during contemplation is brought to bear upon, the sacred word from HAZER IMAM. This, as the melodious music flows from the harmony of the sound and the chords and these two become inseparably bound so should SURTI and the Dhikr be linked in Harmony.
8 SOHANG: The sound of the LIVING BREATH, i.e. the fine subtle sound of “SO-HANG” made during exh alation and inhalation respectively. Esoterically, the heart, the Over-self Core perpetually sings the name of its Beloved – this is clearly indicated in close link between the palpitation of the heart and the breathing system
16 - The Evolution Of Humanity
An appendix by Alwaez R. D. Shariff:
“Oh. I swear by the after-glow of the sunset, and by the night and all it enshrouded, and by the moon when she is at the full, that ye shall journey from plane to plane.” Holy Qur’an, 84 X 16.19.
Chapter 1 unfolded some of the ideas about “Consciousness,” and we saw that the gradually evolving consciousness can lead the human mind to freedom from limitations. This section will take us still further in our studies of self-consciousness, and we shall particularly follow an evolutionary approach to this problem. Now this evolutionary approach to the problem of self-consciousness, which truly bestows upon man a creative personality, requires for its understanding and better appreciation a brief review here of the process of the evolution of life upon this planet.
Someone has said very beautifully that the Cosmic Energy slept in matter, dreamt in animals, and waked in man. The expression precisely states the essence of evolution of life. But the first problem that we have to face here is: How did life originate on this earth? This question is vitally essential to our study, for a very important reason that these studies are primarily in reference to the human destiny, that is, where we are going, and quite obviously we cannot answer this question, until we know the human origin, or where we came from? A few amongst the readers may ask a further question: What shall we become? Thus there are three distinct questions: The origin of life upon this planet, its evolution and
destiny upon this Earth, and finally its ultimate goal. Now what may become of us, is conditioned by what we have been.
Before we embark upon the scientific solutions of these questions, let us ask what the Universal Religions of the world have to say about this. Religions, all religions agree upon one simple answer to the two questions of Human Origin and Human Destiny – We Came From God And We Return To God. If we continued our search through orthodox religions, as what do they mean by: We Came From God, we are told that God breathed the breath of life into an image He had made out of the dust of the earth. But this does not satisfy scientific curiosity of modern generations. Further, it is quite possible to believe that the story of man’s creation was a parable, as supported by many of the Qur’anic verses.
These stories had placed man in a central position, a unique position of the pinnacle of Creation, but the discoveries of the 19th century concerning life by Lamarck and Darwin and other great naturalist’s finally
dethroned Man from this claim. At the same time, these scientists introduced us to the idea of universal law in biology, by demonstrating that all plants and animals, including man himself, share many of the
biological fundamental similarities, and that the origin of human species is due to the general law of evolution, which operates as automatically as gravity. Thus, the process of evolution, starting with dead matter, at some point of time, passed into the realm of living organism. Life appeared in its simple form on the universe. From the angle of an evolutionary approach to these studies, the appearance of life itself, the development of life energy was in a way a first crisis in the path of evolution.
Let us leave aside the problem of the origin of life, in all likelihood connected with that of the origin of proteins, and much more mysterious still, and let us only consider the evolutional point of view. It is
impossible, nowadays, to imagine how evolution began. Was there an initial cell? We do not know. It is very unlikely that evolution had an extremely elementary point of departure from matter or non-living
things, -- the point, which is common to all-living beings, animals and vegetables. But from the very beginning we observe a relationship, and yet at the same time, a profound difference existing between “living” matter and matter that is, the line of demarcation between non-living matter and “living” matter is very vague and indistinct. The question, therefore, arises: How was the chemical transition from one to the other accomplished? Speaking honestly, it is impossible to conceive it, and yet the hypothesis of sudden appearance of life or its spontaneous generation is nor satisfactory. Some kind of transition must have taken place, but we do not know how?
It is hardly probable that we will ever discover the original being, or his slightly modified descendent amongst the elementary organisms, which have perished through millions of centuries. They are hard to classify as either plants or animals. Thus, we are actually confronted with a dilemma. We are forced to the conclusion that, actually, it is totally impossible to account scientifically for the entire phenomenon pertaining to Life, its development and progressive evolution. We are faced by a hiatus in our
knowledge. There is a gap between living and non-living matter which science has not been able to bridge. Thus, we leave science of the future to bridge this gulf and look further, and if we cannot say for certain that somebody put life into matter, we have to say that another matter became alive. This is, long, long, millions of years ago, then, there came a point in the process of evolution when the gradually changing combinations of chemical elements on the surface of the earth began to live and move and have being, that is life appeared in its first simplest form. If we cannot conceive here the problem of the origin of life, we can try and define life. We can say, at least, that it is a principle, which is irreducible to matter. If found, at a certain evolutionary stage, surrounded by restrictive material environment which limited its freedom of movement. Therefore, the life energy had to contend and fight against it. In this struggle Life permeated or entered into matter and animated it.
The second earth crisis occurred countless millions of years later, when this life had evolved trough many, many forms, from primitive protoplasmic unicellular organisms, through mollusc an, piscine,
reptilian, amphibian, and mammalian forms, until a creature has developed which by contact with its environment had reached a precision of adjustment between its brain and its body which enabled it to
become conscious.
It must be noted here that the development of the life-energy from matter was a critical phase in the evaluative transformation, similarly, the gradual evolution of an animal form into a human form, a form
capable of sheltering spirit, was another definite crisis. A very common question in many minds is to ask for the missing “link” between the animal world and the purely human chain of evolution. I will call upon
a leading scientist in this connection: “In the history of living being, the word “link” is a dangerous word. It can never be affirmed that a certain form is a real link. That sometimes, is possible. It is never sure in
any case it can be stated that no actually living form is the direct ancestor of another. Man does not descend from the monkeys.” Further, he says, “Evolution is comprehensible only if we admit that it is
dominated by a finality, a precise and distant goal. If we do not accept the reality of this orienting pole, not only are we forced to recognise that evolution is rigorously incompatible with our laws of matter, but that the appearance of moral and spiritual ideas remain an absolute mystery.”1 That is if we accept the principle of evolution, then we must recognise the fact, that on an average, evolution since the beginning of the Universe has followed a definite creative direction, or even claim that there has been a conscious, creative evolution, tending to develop a being endowed with consciousness, a conscience, -- a being who is morally and spiritually, a perfect being. Of course, before the appearance of man, there were innumerable transformations. Trials and experiments, but it seems quite self-evident that the intervention of an Idea, a Will, a Supreme Intelligence seemed to be leading all these combined transformations through an unbroken line to Man. Finally, several trials resulted in the Primates, and after a long and series of unknown intermediary stages. In the Piltdown Man, often called only in a poetic sense, a “Dawn Man”. He had only a very dim awareness of his own experiences of his own separateness from the binding “cocoon” or shell of his material environment, and the idea of individuality was still hazy in his
mind. But here was a “human personality”, and it is through him alone evolution marches on.
Today, the evolution continues, no longer on the physical or biological plane, but on the spiritual and moral plane. To believe that man’s present structure, mental as well as anatomical is the last word in evolution, has no constructive attitude. The human today needs a Rumi to enkindle its heart with vision and hope. Listen to these inspiring lines of the prophet:
First man appeared in the class of inorganic things,
Next he passed there from into that of plants.
For years he lived as one of the plants,
Remembering nought of his inorganic state so different,
And when he passed from vegetative to animal state,
He had no remembrance of his state as a plant,
Except the inclination he felt to the world of plants,
Especially at the time of spring and sweet flowers,
Like the inclination of infants towards their mothers
Which we know not the cause of their inclination to the breast,
Again the great creator, as you know,
Drew man out of the animal into the human state.
Thus man passed from one order of nature, to another.
Till he became wise and knowing and strong as he is now.
Of his first souls he has now no remembrance,
And he will be again changed from his present soul.
1 “Human Destiny” – Du Novy – Longmans
An appendix by Alwaez R. D. Shariff:
“Oh. I swear by the after-glow of the sunset, and by the night and all it enshrouded, and by the moon when she is at the full, that ye shall journey from plane to plane.” Holy Qur’an, 84 X 16.19.
Chapter 1 unfolded some of the ideas about “Consciousness,” and we saw that the gradually evolving consciousness can lead the human mind to freedom from limitations. This section will take us still further in our studies of self-consciousness, and we shall particularly follow an evolutionary approach to this problem. Now this evolutionary approach to the problem of self-consciousness, which truly bestows upon man a creative personality, requires for its understanding and better appreciation a brief review here of the process of the evolution of life upon this planet.
Someone has said very beautifully that the Cosmic Energy slept in matter, dreamt in animals, and waked in man. The expression precisely states the essence of evolution of life. But the first problem that we have to face here is: How did life originate on this earth? This question is vitally essential to our study, for a very important reason that these studies are primarily in reference to the human destiny, that is, where we are going, and quite obviously we cannot answer this question, until we know the human origin, or where we came from? A few amongst the readers may ask a further question: What shall we become? Thus there are three distinct questions: The origin of life upon this planet, its evolution and
destiny upon this Earth, and finally its ultimate goal. Now what may become of us, is conditioned by what we have been.
Before we embark upon the scientific solutions of these questions, let us ask what the Universal Religions of the world have to say about this. Religions, all religions agree upon one simple answer to the two questions of Human Origin and Human Destiny – We Came From God And We Return To God. If we continued our search through orthodox religions, as what do they mean by: We Came From God, we are told that God breathed the breath of life into an image He had made out of the dust of the earth. But this does not satisfy scientific curiosity of modern generations. Further, it is quite possible to believe that the story of man’s creation was a parable, as supported by many of the Qur’anic verses.
These stories had placed man in a central position, a unique position of the pinnacle of Creation, but the discoveries of the 19th century concerning life by Lamarck and Darwin and other great naturalist’s finally
dethroned Man from this claim. At the same time, these scientists introduced us to the idea of universal law in biology, by demonstrating that all plants and animals, including man himself, share many of the
biological fundamental similarities, and that the origin of human species is due to the general law of evolution, which operates as automatically as gravity. Thus, the process of evolution, starting with dead matter, at some point of time, passed into the realm of living organism. Life appeared in its simple form on the universe. From the angle of an evolutionary approach to these studies, the appearance of life itself, the development of life energy was in a way a first crisis in the path of evolution.
Let us leave aside the problem of the origin of life, in all likelihood connected with that of the origin of proteins, and much more mysterious still, and let us only consider the evolutional point of view. It is
impossible, nowadays, to imagine how evolution began. Was there an initial cell? We do not know. It is very unlikely that evolution had an extremely elementary point of departure from matter or non-living
things, -- the point, which is common to all-living beings, animals and vegetables. But from the very beginning we observe a relationship, and yet at the same time, a profound difference existing between “living” matter and matter that is, the line of demarcation between non-living matter and “living” matter is very vague and indistinct. The question, therefore, arises: How was the chemical transition from one to the other accomplished? Speaking honestly, it is impossible to conceive it, and yet the hypothesis of sudden appearance of life or its spontaneous generation is nor satisfactory. Some kind of transition must have taken place, but we do not know how?
It is hardly probable that we will ever discover the original being, or his slightly modified descendent amongst the elementary organisms, which have perished through millions of centuries. They are hard to classify as either plants or animals. Thus, we are actually confronted with a dilemma. We are forced to the conclusion that, actually, it is totally impossible to account scientifically for the entire phenomenon pertaining to Life, its development and progressive evolution. We are faced by a hiatus in our
knowledge. There is a gap between living and non-living matter which science has not been able to bridge. Thus, we leave science of the future to bridge this gulf and look further, and if we cannot say for certain that somebody put life into matter, we have to say that another matter became alive. This is, long, long, millions of years ago, then, there came a point in the process of evolution when the gradually changing combinations of chemical elements on the surface of the earth began to live and move and have being, that is life appeared in its first simplest form. If we cannot conceive here the problem of the origin of life, we can try and define life. We can say, at least, that it is a principle, which is irreducible to matter. If found, at a certain evolutionary stage, surrounded by restrictive material environment which limited its freedom of movement. Therefore, the life energy had to contend and fight against it. In this struggle Life permeated or entered into matter and animated it.
The second earth crisis occurred countless millions of years later, when this life had evolved trough many, many forms, from primitive protoplasmic unicellular organisms, through mollusc an, piscine,
reptilian, amphibian, and mammalian forms, until a creature has developed which by contact with its environment had reached a precision of adjustment between its brain and its body which enabled it to
become conscious.
It must be noted here that the development of the life-energy from matter was a critical phase in the evaluative transformation, similarly, the gradual evolution of an animal form into a human form, a form
capable of sheltering spirit, was another definite crisis. A very common question in many minds is to ask for the missing “link” between the animal world and the purely human chain of evolution. I will call upon
a leading scientist in this connection: “In the history of living being, the word “link” is a dangerous word. It can never be affirmed that a certain form is a real link. That sometimes, is possible. It is never sure in
any case it can be stated that no actually living form is the direct ancestor of another. Man does not descend from the monkeys.” Further, he says, “Evolution is comprehensible only if we admit that it is
dominated by a finality, a precise and distant goal. If we do not accept the reality of this orienting pole, not only are we forced to recognise that evolution is rigorously incompatible with our laws of matter, but that the appearance of moral and spiritual ideas remain an absolute mystery.”1 That is if we accept the principle of evolution, then we must recognise the fact, that on an average, evolution since the beginning of the Universe has followed a definite creative direction, or even claim that there has been a conscious, creative evolution, tending to develop a being endowed with consciousness, a conscience, -- a being who is morally and spiritually, a perfect being. Of course, before the appearance of man, there were innumerable transformations. Trials and experiments, but it seems quite self-evident that the intervention of an Idea, a Will, a Supreme Intelligence seemed to be leading all these combined transformations through an unbroken line to Man. Finally, several trials resulted in the Primates, and after a long and series of unknown intermediary stages. In the Piltdown Man, often called only in a poetic sense, a “Dawn Man”. He had only a very dim awareness of his own experiences of his own separateness from the binding “cocoon” or shell of his material environment, and the idea of individuality was still hazy in his
mind. But here was a “human personality”, and it is through him alone evolution marches on.
Today, the evolution continues, no longer on the physical or biological plane, but on the spiritual and moral plane. To believe that man’s present structure, mental as well as anatomical is the last word in evolution, has no constructive attitude. The human today needs a Rumi to enkindle its heart with vision and hope. Listen to these inspiring lines of the prophet:
First man appeared in the class of inorganic things,
Next he passed there from into that of plants.
For years he lived as one of the plants,
Remembering nought of his inorganic state so different,
And when he passed from vegetative to animal state,
He had no remembrance of his state as a plant,
Except the inclination he felt to the world of plants,
Especially at the time of spring and sweet flowers,
Like the inclination of infants towards their mothers
Which we know not the cause of their inclination to the breast,
Again the great creator, as you know,
Drew man out of the animal into the human state.
Thus man passed from one order of nature, to another.
Till he became wise and knowing and strong as he is now.
Of his first souls he has now no remembrance,
And he will be again changed from his present soul.
1 “Human Destiny” – Du Novy – Longmans
Marifat na Phool
What an excellent book. Can some please let me know who has originally written this book.
Nasarbhai Abdullah Kasmani.Can some please let me know who has originally written this book.
Originally it was written in Gujarati language but I think now its available English also.
Actually this books is a collection of various lectures delivered to the students but it is very informative book specially the last few chapters are great for "Ruhani Progress''.
Marifat na phool
Thank You for you prompt reply. Any idea where can I buy the English version of the book. Does Itreb sell it.
You can check with your local ITREB, if they don't sell then please e-mail me at agakhani_78660@yahoo.com
agakhani underscore 78660 at yahoo dot com
Note:- I am not book seller but I will give you telephone # of the shop owner who sell this and many other Ismailis books from Houston, Texas.
agakhani underscore 78660 at yahoo dot com
Note:- I am not book seller but I will give you telephone # of the shop owner who sell this and many other Ismailis books from Houston, Texas.
Last edited by agakhani on Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Marifat na Phool
Thank You. I will enquire with Itreb and if I don't find it then I'll get back to you.
Marifat na moti
Are Marifat na phool and marifat na moti the same book. If not then please can we have marifat na moti to read in the books section of this forum.
"Marfatna Fool" and "marftna Moti" are different books.
Not only this but I found that there are 3 different books with the same title "MARFATNA MOTI' written by3 different authors has been published before!! now I dont know which book and author you are refering?
If you need the names of all 3 difft authors then please let me know.
Not only this but I found that there are 3 different books with the same title "MARFATNA MOTI' written by3 different authors has been published before!! now I dont know which book and author you are refering?
If you need the names of all 3 difft authors then please let me know.