`AMALIYYAT Number 1

Before practicing psychic power, one must know the law of its operation and its moral.

The first thing that one must consider in this way of healing is that it is not necessary that one should try to heal every disease and every patient. There is no use in employing horses when an engine can serve the purpose, and it is not wise to let men carry a load when there are donkeys to answer the purpose. There are ailments that a little drug or herb can cure; to use the power of the mind of these would be nothing but waste. Therefore, healing is necessary in such cases especially where medicine is not required or where medicine has no power. Diseases of the nerves, particularly, are mostly caused by the mind, and medicine can never cure them completely. In such cases healing is necessary. In cases, also, where one word of suggestion can impress the patient, where one word of consolation can bring the patient cure, where a touch of the hand can relieve a patient from pain, it is not necessary to waste time in the pursuit of medicine.

But besides healing by psychic power, objects can be gained and affairs can be accomplished and minds can be controlled, and this is the time when we ought to be more cautious than ever. Every profit in the world has its disadvantages, to balance life; and the profit of psychic power being great, its dangers are great too. There is a time when an officer, a chief, a king rules all those under him, and there is a time when the wheel goes the other way, so that those whom he ruled begin to rule him. The Tsar, whose command was in the East and West, had to obey the Cossack who was his guard. And such a time comes when the psychic moral is disregarded.

Playing with psychic power is like playing with fire: your life is always in danger. He only is safe in using psychic power freely to whom the interest of another person comes first and his own after, who is unselfish and willing to sacrifice his own benefit for another. But one must not be afraid of developing this power and using this power. It is no sin to possess wealth; it is a sin when you make bad use of it. And so it is with psychic power. You must acquire it, you must develop it, and you must utilize it, as long as you are confident of yourself and you are sure that you will do no one harm and would rather benefit another person than yourself.

`AMALIYYAT Number 2

It was thought by the orthodox that psychic power and its use were both dangerous and it was considered as magic, and its practice was forbidden by the religious authorities. Saying that psychic power is undesirable is as absurd as saying that muscular strength is undesirable or that to be wealthy is undesirable or saying that strength of any kind or every kind is undesirable. The man who looks at psychic power with contempt, it would seem, has no right even to call God all-mighty, for might in its depth is in psychic power. It is psychic power which is the proof of God's might in man.

Yes, one must know, even before he possesses psychic power and should consider after he possesses the power, what manner he should adopt in using it -- with the thought of reason and justice, to what extent man has the right to use his power on another. There is a saying of a philosopher, "Exercise power when you have it." There is a quotation from Gilani, who says, "My Mureed, do not shrink from using power -- if thou hast any." With this liberty a knowledge is necessary of the outcome of the exercise of psychic power in every case. Sometimes man's own noose catches his throat; many times a net becomes a prison to the netter; many times man knocks his own head against the wall when trying to knock the head of another. There is no greater power than psychic power, and to play foolishly with it would be like playing with something worse than fire. Many, when trying to kill another, have killed themselves. Many, trying to separate two loving friends, have separated in the end their own body and soul. Therefore this law should be observed when using psychic power, that we must send with this power such a thought that, in the event of its returning to us it may bring a thousandfold more benefit to us than it brought to the one to whom we sent it.

`AMALIYYAT Number 3

The use of psychic power is allowable to those who have insight into the law of nature; but without this knowledge the use of psychic power would be most harmful. By psychic power one can heal oneself and another, one can construct one's own affairs as well as the affairs of others, one can acquire riches and position; also, one can destroy things. The difficulty is in this question: What is really beneficial? For man's fancies in life change at every moment, and what at one moment he thinks good and attainable at another moment he thinks useless; at one moment he thinks a certain thing profitable and the same thing after more reflection begins to seem disadvantageous. For instance, by psychic power a person attracts wealth and perhaps the same may have become harmful to his children, or one desired a position and occupied it by psychic power and situated himself in a position where there was danger to life. One always sees this by deep study of life, that one gain causes a loss of a certain thing and one loss brings about a gain of a certain kind. And this is the necessary thing in life; there would not be a balance if it were not so.

The first thing that is desirable, or that which is most desirable in life, is wisdom. The next is power. As a foolish man would not be able to make good use of his wealth, so a person with psychic power without wisdom is apt to harm himself with his own power rather than to do any good. Every atom in this world has its peculiar charm and attraction, and mankind, so attracted by things that seem for the moment attractive, whether wealth, power, position or a friend, does not necessarily know the outcome of their attainment. Every man is as blind in his desire of attainment as a child attracted to anything beautiful, be it a toy or a knife. And when man cannot attain to it he feels as disappointed as a child that is not allowed to play with the knife. And it is keen sight into life that makes man see what is really good for him in his life. Selfish both are, the wise and the foolish; only that the foolish with his selfishness meets with disappointment while the wise with his selfishness gets the benefit. The nature of power is to cover the eyes and hide from one's sight the true nature of the things he wishes to attain. When power leads and wisdom follows, the face of wisdom is veiled and one stumbles; but when wisdom leads and power follows, then they arrive safely at their destination.

`AMALIYYAT Number 4

There are stories existing in all nations of the wonderful things that are done by magic; to some they are amusing, but there seems to be no reality in them. But to some, this is a reality seen every moment. The working of the mind consciously or unconsciously has its effect upon another, and in due course of time the power rebounds, and therefore, consciously or unconsciously, every activity of mind turns into an arrow and it reaches the person who sent it out in some form or other, sometimes with and sometimes without his knowledge. Even a thing that one says behind a person, that is in the absence of a person. What one feels has a greater power than what one thinks, and what one says has a lesser power than what one thinks; but when feeling and thought are connected, the power is greater, and when speech is added to it, it is still greater, and with action it becomes perfect. But behind this arrow there is a power of good will or ill will. Good will strengthens the power of the arrow, and ill will weakens it. And the reaction of what one sends consciously or unconsciously to another person is like a ball thrown against a wall; it hits the wall and rebounds and comes to the sender. Working with psychic power is like playing with fire. No doubt it is delightful to see the heart's desire coming to fulfillment without external action, just as there is delight in looking at a firework. At the same time there lies danger in it, for fire is destructive. It is the first essential thing before using psychic power to develop love in one's heart, that there should be no other thought but that of good will to another, and forgiveness, and then to rise above selfish motives and to make a point to live for others. Then alone man is entitled to experiment with psychic power.

`AMALIYYAT Number 5

It is necessary to have insight into the laws of nature before one makes use of psychic power. Working with psychic power is like playing with fire. There are three stages of action: fancy, action, and result. Fancy is the infant stage. In this stage on hopes for a result and one forms a picture in his mind. In the action he is so engrossed in the effect that action produces that he thinks little of the result, yet he has some ideas about the result. But the third stage, which is the stage of result, shows its effects much clearer than ever before; and often one finds one has arrived at quite a different port from the one he has intended at the time of sailing.

This is a saying, "Man proposes, God disposes," which may be interpreted that there is one ray from man's mind working toward a certain destiny and perhaps a thousand rays or perhaps innumerable rays may be opposing. And how can this one ray stand against a thousand rays unless this one ray has developed a thousand rays? Even then, before innumerable rays it may fall. Therefore there are a thousand things one should consider when working with psychic power. Among them, two are most necessary. One thing, which begins from strength of character and culminates in the Might of God; the other is wisdom to begin with. When it has developed it is insight into things and their result. It is to swim with the tides, and that no one can see except the one who has gone through crucifixion in life and has experienced bitterness through patience and through sacrifices, renunciations, disheartenments and disappointments, and who has learnt by this the lesson of resignation and contentment with the Will of the Divine Being. He can see with open eyes the way the tides flow, and he swims with the tides, and his position in life is like the position of one swimming with the tide, in which he does not help himself much. . . it is the tides which take him in their arms. And imagine the position of one who is swimming against the tides, his two arms fighting a battle against a thousand strong arms of the sea!

`AMALIYYAT Number 6

The law of psychic power is like the law of all power. By power all things are accomplished. Creation, maintenance and destruction, all these are the outcome of power. Of all powers, psychic power is the most powerful and the most important, and as success and failure can be attained by the right use of power, so by psychic power also one may meet with great success or great failure. The scope of psychic power is much greater, and therefore the greatest success may be gained and the greatest damage may be done in one's own life and the life of others.

As the world is an illusion, every activity in it is an illusion, and when one tries to accomplish a thing by the help of psychic power he often does not know the consequences. The workings of life as a whole are a mystery to the individual and its knowledge is a mist. Man can know by his limited reason only that which he can know about what he wishes to accomplish and about its result. He does not know the result of his individual action and the effect upon the whole and upon the inner workings of the inner scheme of nature. Sometimes the loss to one individual is the gain to the whole; sometimes the gain to one individual is loss for the whole. And as everyone thinks of his own interest or of the interests of those whom he calls his own, he is not expected to know the inner scheme of nature nor what is good for the whole. With this ignorance, when man tries to accomplish something by psychic power he is often like a child playing with a machine upon which the mechanism of the whole factory depends.

`AMALIYYAT Number 7

Psychic power is like a spring of water -- ample water and constantly pouring; and motive forms a channel for this water and thereby limits it to a certain extent. As by the channel formed by water, the farms are supplied and the water can become useful, so by a motive psychic power can become useful; without a motive it is useless. As many motives, so many channels; and as many times the water divided, so many times the power divided. It is therefore that people with many motives have much less success, but with a single motive sure success is achieved. When a person has no motive it is no fault of psychic power if nothing is accomplished. Even in a motiveless person it is possible that there may be a store of psychic power. When psychic power is directed in a channel it becomes like sweet water of a river, for by motive several virtues are developed. When psychic power is stored up and there is no motive, perhaps it is as wide as an ocean, but it is brackish water. Without motive a person is indifferent in everything.

There are great souls in the east who are called "majdhub." In their fullness of spiritual perfection they naturally have no motive, for no motive seems to them worth caring for in life, and therefore, with ocean-like psychic power, they accomplish nothing. Those who know about their power get some benefit out of their power, but they consider it as dangerous to approach them as to play with fire. If anybody can get them to consent to his wish it is sure to be granted, for it is just like the whole ocean making waves to grant their desire, and yet from their part there is no movement. If they have said yes with the yes of another they have not meant it. The majdhub is a marvel, and in the form of the majdhub the secret of God is hidden; for if God ever walks on earth, he walks in the form of the majdhub.

`AMALIYYAT Number 8

It is a most important rule of psychology that every motive that takes it root in the mind must be watered and reared until it's flourishing, and if one neglects this duty one not only harms the motive, but by this willpower becomes less and the working of the mind becomes disordered. Even if the motive be small and unimportant, a steady pursuit after its attainment trains the mind, strengthens the will, and keeps the inner mechanism in order.

For instance, when a person tries to unravel a knot and then he thinks, "It is no use spending time in this," he loses an opportunity of strengthening the will and attaining the object desired. However small a thing may appear to be, when once it has been taken in hand one must accomplish it, not for the thing itself but for what benefit it brings.

Yes, thought must be given to its importance and value in the beginning, when the motive begins to take root in the mind, and one must prevent an undesirable or unimportant motive from taking root. But once the motive has taken root in the mind, one must try to accomplish the aim. If repressed or destroyed in some way or otherwise neglected, then it takes some other form for its accomplishment and the outcome is not the desired one, for the desired result can only be achieved by directing the motive through a certain channel.

`AMALIYYAT Number 9

Man's greatness and smallness depends upon his motive, not necessarily upon his conditions, environments and surroundings. No, the conditions, environments and surroundings of man are created by his motive. A man of noble motive is surely noble; a man with evil motives is certainly wicked. A man's form, movement, expression, voice, word, atmosphere, everything speaks aloud of the motive he holds in his mind, and it is impossible to hide the motive. The difference between the sane and an insane person is that the sane person knows his motive, holds fast his motive, and looks forward to its fulfillment and perseveres patiently in its path, whereas the insane person is not decided about his motive, he cannot hold his motive, and as he is undecided about his motive he does not know what he is pursuing. Something he desires, and something else he does, and still something else is done. That shows that the path of mastery is the path of attainment, which depends upon the quality of discrimination, the power of preservation, and the capability of accomplishment.

Motive is life, and in the absence of motive life is support-less. By a keen study of death one will find that most cases of death occur by the lack of motive, and again people live much longer than their mind or body could allow them to, merely by the power of motive. Motive is not life-giving but power-giving, for all power and influence belong to motive. As large as is the motive, so large a means it requires; and as Providence supplies food to every life according to its demand, so the means are provided to every motive.

There are right motives and wrong motives, and there are motives that are beneficial or unbeneficial. There are motives which are our friends and motives which are our enemies. Therefore, in studying motive according to the psychological point of view one should remember that in its practice the moral law must be considered first.

`AMALIYYAT Number 10

Man is progressive; so is a nation or a race or the world. But he progresses either forward or backward, and often man progresses forward and backward both; and this may be understood by studying the motive. A man who thinks, "I must rise to the position of prime minister of the state," and works for it, and when somebody says, "If you give up your perseverance in that direction it would be possible for you to have some decent post," ceases his activity in that direction and turns his activities to the other -- as soon as he has done so has progressed backward. And the one who progresses backward perhaps may not even fit himself for that situation; he may be trembling on his post, even to keep that up, for with the descent the willpower diminishes and with ascent the willpower increases.

Therefore, the best thing is to look forward and proceed on from a motive to a greater motive, and so conquering the affairs in life, to arrive at the destined goal. It is foolish to have an unwise motive, and it is more foolish to waver after having determined on a motive, and it is weak not to proceed with the motive for lack of means or talent, since means or talent are no doubt as wings to the bird, but they are man's natural inheritance; and it is the power of motive and the eagerness to carry it on which will produce in man talent and will create the means. If the optimistic is laughable the pessimistic is pitiable. The world may laugh at the hopeful, and yet he alone has the chance of gain; but the one whose lack of hope deprived him of holding fast to his motive is lost in the mist. Life is a struggle of gain and loss, and gain is always on the side of the one who even in his loss yet holds hope; and he has not lost who has the slightest degree of hope. And there may be every means on the side of man, and without hope he will never accomplish.

MURAQABA Number 1

Concentrations are of different kinds, and their difference is caused by the difference of the purpose.

There is a concentration on an object or a person, or on an affair which results in knowing all about the object or concentration. This is the concentration of a student who receives knowledge by concentration. It is such concentration as looking at a flower and thinking of it with closed eyes, and thinking what flower it is, what fragrance it has, what color it has, why it has this fragrance, what is its significance, what nature it has, what is its secret.

Another concentration is the concentration of a psychic, who concentrates upon a certain object in order to exercise his mind, and when the mind develops power then he utilizes it in all things he wishes to accomplish in life.

There is a concentration of the idealist, who admires a hero of the battlefield or a king in his grandeur or a leader, a teacher, a prophet, and by so idealizing he acquires in himself by the way of concentration the qualities of the idealized hero. By a close study of history you will verify this in the life of great people, for most of them became great by idealizing, admiring a great person and thinking of a great person.

There is the concentration of the lover. It is still stronger, because the lover, in his devotion to his beloved, naturally forgets himself, and the secret of all spiritual progress lies in this one thing, the forgetting of self, which a lover, a devotee, accomplishes without any special effort, because he cannot help but think of the object he loves. He need not hold his mind on a certain object by force of will; on the contrary, his difficulty is to get away from the thought. A wandering mind is natural in the average person, and that is difficult to the lover. Therefore the difficulty of which the average person complains, of keeping the mind steadily on one subject, is the simplest thing to the devotee. It is therefore that Sufis have recognized devotion as the best means of spiritual attainment, and many among them walk in the path of love.

Concentration upon a rock must naturally give the rock quality; the heart must in time become like a rock. Naturally, concentration on a flower should produce beauty in mind and body. So concentration on the brave gives bravery, on the great gives greatness, and concentration on the holy ones gives holiness. This proves that no common object can be recommended as the best for everyone to concentrate upon, as one medicine cannot be a prescription suitable for everybody. The object of concentration must be chosen according to the purpose one wishes to accomplish in life.

MURAQABA Number 2

When we think of creation, natural or artificial, we find its origin in the power of concentration. God is known by His nature, so the secret of nature can be studied by observation of the secret of art. All scientific inventions and artistic productions are nothing but the outcome of concentration. And so natural things, whose Creator is not seen, are also made by concentration. There is a Sanskrit saying that the whole creation is the dream of Brahma. The difference between dream and imagination is that imagination in the state of sleep is dream, and the dream of the wakeful state is called imagination. And dream or imagination with power of will behind is creative, and is, really speaking, concentration. This accounts for the effect of dreams, also the effect of imagination on the life of a person.

Prayer is a concentration and fear is a concentration, and as prayer brings things that are desired by the prayerful, so fear brings things that are feared, and in both cases mastery is absent. In the first case there is weakness owing to dependence upon another, and the other case, still greater weakness that makes one fear. Mastery lies in creative concentration of mind. The mind impressed by one's faults and by one's weaknesses becomes feeble and meets failures, and cannot hold a desired thought with hope and trust. In that case prayer alone comes to his rescue, when he thinks, "I am wicked and weak, but Thou art forgiving and almighty, my Lord. I have no power to accomplish my desire, but Thou are most powerful." In this way one can keep alive the flame of trust and hope, in spite of one's faults and weaknesses. Sometimes one can, and sometimes one cannot. One cannot when one's mind is too much impressed by one's weakness and faults, and when one thinks, "It is impossible that I shall be forgiven," and when one thinks, "God is too far away to listen to my prayers. I, the sinner, am living in the wicked world, and God, the Holy of Holies, is in Heaven." Still worse is the condition of that person whose mind is impressed by his faults and weaknesses and has no God-Ideal to hold on to. He is neither here nor there. But when man arrives at this conviction that he himself and God are not two, and if God is the sun that his soul is the ray, and if God is the root that he is the fruit, and if God is the sea, that he is its bubble, then he becomes part of nature's government. He is no more a machine, he is a man. He has a will of his own, which is not apart from the will of God, and according to his self-expansion and according to his self-confidence, and according to his power of concentration, he accomplishes things, even such things that appear above human limited power.

MURAQABA Number 3

Singlemindedness as a nature becomes a great help to concentration. People with a great many responsibilities and people with a great many interests in life cannot keep up singlemindedness, which indeed is a great power. This nature can be developed by concentration, but one can develop this nature by a great many things in everyday life which help towards its development. It is a first essential thing for one who practices concentration to allow one thought at a time, or one action at a time, and to keep mind and body busy together. When a person does something, he should not be thinking of another thing while doing it, and if one wishes to think out something he must not be doing something at the same time. Singlemindedness is complete absorption of one's whole being in a single thought, speech or action.

Also, there is another side to it. Singlemindedness can be developed by dwelling on a subject until the thought be finished, and while thinking on the subject, not allowing the mind to take up another subject. The same law should be observed in speech. One must not change the topic in the midst of the speech. And the same law should be observed in action; one must busy oneself in action without taking up anything else until the action undertaken be finished. In this way one can develop concentration at every moment of the day and night. And by acquiring this one acquires mastery over his own life as well as over life in general.

MURAQABA Number 4

When learning concentration, it is most essential to know first upon what to concentrate. If one thought, "Anything may do, as long as I exercise my mind," he must know that the object he keeps in his mind has a great deal to do with his life. If in his mind there is love, at least an attachment for an individual, it may be for his good or perhaps for his ill; it may perhaps not be the right thing. If it is hatred for someone, it may rebound and destroy all the affairs of the one who concentrates. If it is wealth, there is no doubt that one could become wealthy, but if it worked against one's health or one's friends or comfort, or peace in life, what would wealth be without peace? If it is fame upon which one concentrates, one may have to hold with both hands an empty reputation, which might fall down at any moment, like a piece of glass.

Therefore practice of mind, or concentration, is taught by Sufis with a religious view, not as a scientific exercise. If there is anything worth concentrating upon, it can be nothing else than God, but as man cannot fully grasp the idea of God, he can only picture Him as something that can be intelligible to him. Any name or form of this world would be an eligible form to adopt as a divine form, since all forms are His, but would man not choose as such a human form with the merits that he can attach to the Divine Being, and call it the ideal man, or divine man? That is Rasul. And yet man cannot picture any form that he has not seen in his life. Therefore, he seeks a picture or an ideal to make the form of Rasul perfect for him to visualize. But if he thought what marvel is hidden in the heart of the living man, would he deny this place that one gives to the idol made by a sculptor or a picture painted by an artist to his teacher, before whom he is face to face, and from whose lips comes the word of God which strikes his heart and awakens the divine spirit in him?

It is at this stage, therefore, that a mureed begins his concentration and calls it Tasawwuri Murshid, until he is so evolved that he no more needs a form for concentration -- the beauty of merit occupies his heart. But when he rises above this stage, then his concentration becomes contemplation, which is beyond forms and merit, in which the Name of God is held, which occupies the whole mind and culminates in that Perfection which is beyond man's comprehension.

MURAQABA Number 5

The first Murshid or teacher in life is the mother; then comes the father. And when a child is taught to do a certain thing, or not to do a certain thing, it depends upon the concentration of the child to act according to what he has learnt; but what personifies all he has learnt is the image of his mother. At the time of doing that which he ought not to do the thought that comes to the concentrated mind of the child is the image of the one who has warned him not to do it. Then one sees in life that one looks up to someone in life if one has even a small spark of that element burning in one which is called love. A lover may think of a beloved, and in this thought would do something beyond his power which he could not otherwise have done, be it a venture or a sacrifice. A person, in the admiration of a hero, would keep his image in mind constantly, which may clear his path towards that goal which was the throne of the hero.

Therefore, though every form of this world, natural or artificial, represents to a Sufi God, his Divine Ideal, yet he chooses a form for the exercise of his mind which may be elevating, which may lead him to the goal at which he wishes to arrive, at the same time a form which would raise him and his ideal from ordinary names and forms of this world of variety. As respect and good will is due to everybody in life who directs us to what we wish to attain, much more or perhaps most respect and love is due to the one who directs our soul to the ultimate goal, for that is the most that any friend could do. Therefore, a grateful thought of his image to a sincere mureed brings more power and inspiration than any other form of concentration, which is called Tasawwuri Murshid. Sympathy is the only bridge which brings knowledge from one soul to another soul.

Therefore, for every learning this is required to a certain extent, but the higher the knowledge, the greater the sympathy needed through which to receive it. It is clear in the words of Nárada, who says, "My treasure cannot be taken by robbers," and Mahadeva says, "It is the sincerity of the chela that opens his inspiration." Krishna says, "I live in the heart of my devotee." There is a story that a mureed said to his Murshid, "Before I submit my humble self to your spiritual guidance I wish to confess my faults." He said, "I have many vices, among them drinking, gambling, fighting, quarreling, and many others." The Murshid said, "It does not matter, I will accept you all the same. But will you agree to one condition that I would make with you? Do not commit any fault in my presence." He said, "That is easy." He gladly went home, and every time, going toward the committing of his usual faults he saw the face of the Murshid before the eyes of his mind, and as he had promised that he would not do any fault in the presence of the Murshid, he in time gave up all his faults.

MURAQABA Number 6

Among Buddhists, whose religion is full of reason and logic, who believe in things they can see and understand, there is a custom of sitting for their concentration before the feet of Buddha. It is not necessarily idolatry, if one thought about it deeply; it is getting into that state of repose in which the idol of stone is. And there is interest, for it is the idol of Buddha, their Teacher, who by that method attained his peace. There is a saying in Persian that an ill-fated mureed can never be benefited by the Murshid, however great the Murshid be. The real meaning of this is that the Truth cannot be taught nor can it be given; in that the teacher is helpless; and the teacher cannot give his experience, and if he gave it the pupil can never believe it. The mureed needs to adopt the same rhythm as the teacher. For instance, if two people started from here to go to the railway station and one walked slowly and the other ran, is it then possible for the one who ran to notice the same things, to understand and to think over them in the same way? In order to get the experience of the one who walked slowly the other must walk slowly too. When a Murshid has attained to his stage of development by certain practices and the same practices given to a mureed do not bring him the same results, who is to be blamed, the Murshid or the mureed? If the mureed has missed by walking instead of running the sightseeing that can be observed by a certain rhythm of walk, is it not his fault, is he not responsible for it? The right thing, then, for a mureed to do would be to take steps in the same rhythm. Study or practice will not be a help unless the life is first made fit for study. Therefore the rhythm of life should be brought closer to the rhythm of the Murshid. And that comes by close observation -- as a real chela always does in the East -- of his action in every capacity; then sympathy, without which there stands a wall between Murshid and mureed; and then, concentration.

MURAQABA Number 7

The power of mind upon matter is such an undeniable fact that the more one studies it the more one realizes the fact that there is no thought which comes for the hundredth part of a second that passes off without making an impression upon one's personality and without producing an effect. One can trace this too in the lives of great men, for no poet has become great without contemplating upon the life of some great poet and his work, nor has a musician been great without fully admiring the life and works of some great musician, no warrior has done a great work in life without being impressed by the life and work of some great warrior, nor has any reformer become great without having contemplated upon the life of some reformer. As a painter cannot paint a new form that does not exist, so man's mind cannot produce what it has not known or what it has not been impressed with.

Tasawwuri Murshid, the thought of Murshid that a mureed would hold with sympathy, cannot go in vain, without making some effect upon the personality of the mureed. In this the mureed contemplates upon a personality which is the outcome of divine wisdom which he is striving after, and according to the depth of the impression of the Murshid's personality upon the mind of the mureed, the personality of the mureed will be molded. There cannot be any personality so desirable for the seeker after Truth as the personality that has come out of divine Light. It is not only that the personality becomes that, but even the knowledge is inherited in this way without study or practice, since the whole life is constructed on the law of impression.

MURAQABA Number 8

Every object upon which one concentrates in time makes one like it, and therefore the concentration of a spiritual person is different from that of a material one. A material person may concentrate to strengthen his mind and will, using any object as an instrument for concentration, and would surely derive from that some benefit. But a spiritual person does two things in concentration: (1) He develops his direction to a spiritual ideal, to his Lord, Saviour or his Rasul, and (2) his love enables him to concentrate upon his ideal of devotion as fully as his devotion may be. The benefit of such a concentration is incomparably greater than the benefit that one derives from a concentration on an insignificant object.

In the life of Kalidasa, the very great sage and poet of India, it is said that he was an illiterate man, and by some that he was made to marry the princess of his country. And when she found that he was not only of ordinary birth, but also illiterate, she drove him away; and he in great disappointment and despair sat many years in the temple of the goddess Saraswati, the goddess of learning, the goddess of music and poetry. One day, after a long time's concentration, Saraswati appeared to him and granted him his wish. From that time knowledge came to him as revelation and he became the greatest poet of his time. There is a well known account of a leper poet who sang his song at the tomb of the Prophet and was cured of his leprosy.

Coming to the metaphysical point of view, we see that the mind is creation. In concentration it is more so; and as deep the concentration, so deep and divine is the power of mind. And when the mind touches the Divine through deep concentration, then it is not only this one who concentrates that creates, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that even God creates through him who concentrates. Therefore, apart from attracting the spirit of the Lord, of the Messiah, or of the Saviour, the soul creates the Divine Healer and Saviour, with all natural powers and blessings. A devotee's concentration has never been in vain.

No doubt the question, which must be the desirable ideal for such concentration, can be left to every individual to decide. Sufism, from beginning to end, recognizes One Ideal, One Light; and the umbral ray of that Light or the main ray of that Spring Divine, the Sufi recognizes as his ideal for concentration. Call him by whatever name you may, or trace his life in whichever period you may choose, picture him in whatever form you like, to a Sufi he is one and the same, his Rasul, his Saviour, and in the end his goal. And since the Sufi has realized this, he not only becomes tolerant of all religions and all religions of him, but there is no dispute of "mine and thine."

MURAQABA Number 9

The best ideal for spiritual concentration would be concentration upon a perfect soul. No doubt, no one with any spiritual perfection has ever been able to claim perfection, and therefore a claim of perfection cannot be relied upon. And the opinion that people have formed about a perfect soul has been formed by the help of some religious traditions or some old history which has the favors and disfavors of the narrator and writer. It becomes a part of one's faith and belief of one's ancestors, when one forms a perfect ideal in his mind and calls it by a certain accepted name.

If we were to point to a certain messenger or teacher as the most perfect, all the world would never agree on this point since the followers of each faith regard their teacher as the most perfect. Even with the broadest outlook on this problem as the Sufi holds, who considers all the great teachers of humanity to be one soul in many garbs, the question arises then in which garb he attained perfection. And there comes again a question of dispute and arguments on the life of the teachers, and everyone, even agreeing with this point of view, would be ready to point out his favored one as having reached perfection. And dispute on this matter will never bring about a proper understanding, and on this point there will always remain a difference of opinion.

No doubt, the one who rises above the ordinary conception of things certainly realizes, "It is not the man of tradition or history who is perfect, it is the soul whom my devotion makes perfect, who is perfect." And there remains no place for dispute, since in every soul there is the perfect Creator and every soul has the capability of creating the perfect ideal. It does not matter what name the ideal is given, but it is the same ideal of perfection whom others call by various names.

It is recognizing perfection that is necessary, although the condition is that perfection cannot become intelligible to us unless we make it imperfect by giving it a name or a form. It is necessary for concentration that there should be some name or form to begin with, and yet when concentration is developed, the Sufi begins to forget the name and form. It is the beauty of perfection in the form of virtues or merits that remains in his thought when he concentrates upon Rasul, his ideal of devotion.

MURAQABA Number 10

All goodness is, really speaking, beauty in thought, feeling, manner of action; and to concentrate on the perfection of this beauty as one's Lord, Saviour, this becomes concentration on Rasul. No one can concentrate on God, because God is beyond all limitations and any limitation, even goodness, limits God; and for ages people have made this mistake. They have idealized God as goodness. Then for all evil they have had to imagine a Satan, and therefore they have assigned a portion of the dominion to God and a portion to Satan, perhaps a larger portion, for goodness is so little to be found and evil seems to be everywhere.

The Sufi therefore looks upon God as the origin and end of all things, as within and without all things. He may consider it impertinence to say God is in evil, yet he does not exclude one single atom from the being of God. But goodness, which is the form of beauty, the Sufi idealizes in its perfection and personifies it in Rasul, and it is the concentration of Rasul which he holds in his thought.

Man's whole conduct in life depends upon what he holds in his thought. The thought of the wicked produces in him wickedness, and the thought of the good creates goodness. The love of Rasul, the divine ideal, enables one to concentrate upon this ideal. Since all in the garb of matter are to be separated one day in life, good or wicked, friends or foes, what alone is reliable is the ideal which man creates within himself, call it Christ, Buddha, Krishna or Mohammed. It is man's devotion that creates it, and the man of tradition who fits it, he regards with this ideal. Man is every means justified in doing so, for this is the best manner by which man attains perfection.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 1

There are different ways of knowing the unknown knowledge of things and affairs, but there is no better and easier way than the breath. Some people learn from a spirit, some through clairvoyance, some through clairaudience, some through inspiration and intuitions, but the mystic who perceives things by the help of the breath has a means in no wise less than the ways described above. There is nothing so positive as the breath, if only you can perceive it clearly, to tell you about things, their past, present and future. In the first place, `Uruj and Nuzul, inhalation and exhalation, tell you, but Jelal and Jemal, the direction of the breath on the right and left, can tell still more, but the detailed knowledge of things can be known by the element that predominates in the breath at the moment.

It is against the principle of the mystic, however much he knows the secret of the affairs of himself and others, to prophesy, to tell about it, to gain popularity or publicity from it, or in any way to make a profession or occupation of it. This knowledge is sacred, and it ought to be kept sacred, and those who do not observe this rule and practice it fail in the end, because it is against the natural law of this science. It is wrong for anybody to make a trade of it, and it is a degradation of mysticism when a person uses it to become a fortuneteller or a thoughtreader. A mystic must be nobler than the noblemen of the world, his heart must be wider than everybody's, that it can be trusted by himself and by others, that it can never diminish the sanctity of mysticism.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 2

The breath of a mystic answers him any question asked by himself or another. The way is simple and yet difficult. It is simple because the process of knowing the answer is not complex, and it is difficult because it would take a long-acquired mastery of the breath to enable one to distinguish clearly the condition of his breath. For instance, if a question came to a mystic's mind, "Shall I overcome the present difficulty that I am facing?" if the breath is Jelal, he answers, "Yes." If it is Jemal, the answer is "No," because to overcome the difficulty power is needed. But if the question came to his mind, "Shall I unravel the knot that has made the condition of my life at present subtle?" in this, if his breath at the moment happens to be Jemal, the answer is "Yes;" but if it happens to be Jelal, the answer is "No." Though the sense of the two questions is not far apart, yet the former requires power, while the latter requires wisdom. And as power destroys wisdom, so power would destroy the affairs that wisdom can manage. Wisdom, too, destroys power. Often the wise fail in that which the foolish, with power, can do. Therefore there are things that can be accomplished with power and there are things which it requires wisdom to accomplish. And since Jelal represents power and Jemal wisdom, so the moment of the Jelal breath gives power and Jemal wisdom.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 3

The mystic can answer the questions arising in his mind and asked by others by knowing the nature of the questions and comparing them with the nature of Jelal and Jemal. Of course it requires a delicate understanding and some wit; without that there is a great probability of mistake, for it is not easy to know the nature of Jelal and Jemal.

For instance, to the question of a child that is to be born, Jelal would answer a son and Jemal a daughter. In the question of a case going on in the court, Jelal would win and Jemal would lose; but when expecting an inheritance from a relation, Jemal would answer yes and Jelal would answer no, since it is not conquering, it is receiving.

If a robber would ask whether he would have success in his occupation, in Jelal you would say yes; and in Jemal, no. But if a philanthropic person is establishing a charitable institution and he asks, "Will it be successful?" Jemal will say yes; and Jelal, no. If a person says, "If I sent merchandise to some port in America, should I have success?" Jelal will say yes and Jemal will say no; but if a person says, "I have a few acres of land; I wish to cultivate them. Shall I be successful?" Jemal will say yes, Jelal will say no. If, in a country where there is unrest, a statesman is sent by the government to enquire into the matter, for him Jemal will be successful and Jelal will be a failure; and if to the same place a general is sent to keep peace and order, in this case Jemal will fail and Jelal will give success.

A thousand instances may be given and yet it may not be understood in what affair Jelal is promising and in what affairs Jemal gives success, and yet the intelligent can understand in one moment by realizing the nature of Jelal and Jemal and comparing the same with the nature of things. The real conception of this and a true perception of breath will never fail the questioner, but will always give the true answer.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 4

Kemal is a certain sign of destruction, and when a mystic is asked by anybody, "Shall I be successful in my business, profession, enterprise?" Kemal in the mystic will answer him, "No," except in one thing and that is, "Shall I finish my course at the university this year?" "Shall I be released from my present imprisonment?" "Shall I obtain a divorce in the divorce court?" "Shall I be able to rid myself of the present influence?" To all these questions he will answer, "Yes." In the question of spiritual advancement, in the question of union with God, or any union or assimilation or merging or annihilation, Kemal promises success.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 5

One wonders, "Though it is possible to know from one's own breath the condition of one's own affairs, of all that concerns one's own life, yet when one tells from one's own breath about another, how can that be accounted for?" In answer to this one must understand that as everyone is not the same in physical strength, so one is not the same as another in the illumination of his soul, and when one thinks about the affairs of another, if the other has more illumination, one partakes his color and if one is oneself more illuminated one throws one's color upon another and colors his conditions with one's own color. Therefore, in every case, to the seer the knowledge becomes clear, and it is this knowledge in its different aspects which may be called clairvoyance.

When one thinks about another person's past, present and future, there are two ways of knowing this by the help of the breath. One way is to know it by being expressive, the other way is to know it by being receptive. The former way is sometimes unclear, the latter way is always clear; because in the former one, so to speak, one imposes one's color upon another; in the latter one is passive, therefore receives another person's reflection in its clear form.

Breath is audible, tangible, fragrant, and in its visible aspect it manifests as colors. It surrounds man, and according to the direction in which he sits or stands, against or before light, its reflections appear on a certain side. With the clearness, development, strength and purity of the breath it becomes more perceptible. Partly it is the breath which becomes perceptible and partly it is the senses which become keen in perception. In this way, in the path of mysticism the vision becomes clear at each step with the progress of the mystic.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 6

One wonders what it is that gives vision to the master of the breath, or to the seer the vision of past, present and future. The answer is, the world is not what it looks like. For instance, the rise and fall, the failure and success of each individual has different effects upon different individuals, but has a common effect upon the whole when summed up. For instance, the joy and sorrow, the loss and gain, the credit and discredit, the success and failure that the late war has brought to different nations differently are so many effects, and so many causes may be traced as productive of each of these effects, and yet it can be summed up in one general effect, the origin of which can be traced from one single cause.

When a person thinks about many effects, to his view manifest many causes, but when he is capable of looking at one effect, then he is able to know the one single cause. It is the one single cause which is the evidence of God. How true it is as it is said in a song, "The night has a thousand eyes, the day has but one. The mind has a thousand eyes, the heart has but one." The mind has a thousand eyes because it produces a thousand reasons, perhaps, for each effect, and the heart overlooks the thousand effects, for it sees the sum total of a thousand effects in one effect. This is supported by a sura of the Qur'an, which says, "Every atom has its action directed by God," which may be expressed in other words as that every activity seen is directed by some unseen activity behind it. And nobody can deny the logic of this truth, that everything is directed by one activity and purposed for one effect. Therefore it is necessary that in attraction and in repulsion, in harmony and in faction, there is one activity which is the cause and each atom is working, affected by the others, harmoniously for the whole.

It is this knowledge, with conviction, that opens the eyes and makes man a seer, and this can account for it, that the palmist, the clairvoyant, the one who sees in the cards, the one who sees in the crystal, or even in a teacup, can see some glimpses of the past, present and future. For what is going on and what has passed and what is coming is stamped upon every form and is written by every motion and is reflected by every heart. Therefore to the seer his eyes become his searchlight, and on whatever part of life he casts his glance, it becomes illuminated and clear, and its secret and nature, and its past, present and future manifest to his view.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 7

The whole life, in other words the abstract, is one single life, and in its manifestation it manifests as many lives; but even in that, in each aspect one can study the one life. In Sanskrit it is called Brahma. There is a condition in manifestation, and that condition is to surround life with walls around it. It is by this condition that it becomes a manifested life. But even after surrounding this life with walls of matter, the inner life is covered within these walls. Although the same life is without, yet within these four walls it is more perceptible.

In order to perceive this, the mystics master the breath and practice meditation. By mastering the breath the vacua in the body become clearer, and both sound and light become clear. They manifest to the same sense which sees through the eyes and hears through the ears. When this sense perceives within it, perceives all that the ears can hear and the eyes can see, it perceives all from within, without the help of eyes and ears.

This light in the beginning appears as different colors, as a rule yellow, green, red, blue and grey, which suggest earth, water, fire, air, and ether. And these colors make the language of the seer. He sees the color and compares with the conditions, and he finds that they correspond with the conditions. Sometimes these conditions manifest long before the relative condition is to be vouchsafed; sometimes these colors remain even after the condition has passed. And there is such a relation between these inner conditions and outer affairs that it makes one marvel at the wisdom of nature. And though, how to read past, present and future by seeing these colors can be taught, yet it must be intuitively perceived.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 8

The more one searches after truth, the more one becomes convinced of the fact that man is a miniature of the universe externally, but perhaps the universe is a miniature compared with the true being of man. Within the four walls of his physical body there is land and sky and there is the air; and not only this, but the more one can see the vision that is within the more one realizes that there is the whole cosmos.

The sun is there, the moon is there, the planets are there, and even God Whom he worships, His seat is there. Once he has realized this, he begins to see that all things in this world move in one way or another in harmony with the activities within him. He then sees the truth of that mystical belief that there is no such thing as chance. It seems to be chance when a thing suddenly happens, and when we have no knowledge of its origin, cause or purpose.

There are many ways of perceiving some glimpse of this knowledge. Among them there is one that colors suggest. Perhaps everybody has experienced, when going from a bright light into a dark room, or when going out of a dark room into the light, that colors appear in some direction either in front of one or below on the earth or above in the sky or on one's right or left, near or far, and one seldom wonders what it suggests. One sees not always the same color, although red and purple are the colors that are often seen.

Then one sees colors when closing one's eyes, if not always, sometimes. Sometimes colors appear in the corner of the room or on the walls in the night, especially when one happens to be alone in the room, although one seldom thinks about them or about the purpose for which they are. To whose who practice the spiritual exercises, these colors appear more clearly and oftener than to the ordinary person. The mystic, knowing the language of these colors, sees their relation to the activity of the mind. This enables him to see whether he is swimming with the tides, or against the tides, whether he is working in harmony with nature or not.

For instance, he is thinking of starting a business and then he sees a red color which suggests to him the fire element, the nature of which is destruction. But if with his thought he happens to see yellow, then he will know that it is the earth element which suggests benefit, for earth is productive, solid and substantial. If he saw yellow and green both together or one after the other, instantly he will think it still more profitable, he will know that there is earth and water. What do we want more? But if a person was planning to destroy something and he saw yellow it would be bad for him, for earth to him would be paralyzing. If he saw green that would not help for the waves of the water element may take the object to be destroyed away from him. But if he saw red, he will be successful.

Blue is the color of the air. It speeds things. And for the one who wishes to bring about destruction, red and blue would be the ideal colors, for air helps fire. If one saw smoke color which suggests ether, it would be destruction too, for ether is all-absorbing and it is only profitable when one investigates and tries to center the mind within oneself.

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 9

There are some who see colors and others who do not see them. Those who see are generally ethereal, and those who do not see very often have more of the material element. People, by reason of being weak, ill, nervous, when they are in a negative state generally see colors, besides the mystics, who by the practices of the breath are able to see them. There are two things that enable a person to see colors: one is the development of the breath, the other keen sight.

Of course, it is difficult to know whether it is the color of one's own breath or of another when there are two persons in the room. No doubt when a person is alone the color is surely his, for spirits do not manifest in colors. When there are two people in the room the color of the developed person, whose breath is developed, will predominate over the color of the undeveloped. For instance, if red happens to be the color of the undeveloped person and green the color of the developed person, that red will become tinted with green and the green will absorb the red in time, until the green will become clear and the red will disappear. As one sees the impression of the developed person upon the undeveloped, that the joy of the former has the power to clear away the depression of the latter, so it is with the colors. As power has influence on the earthly plane, so it has influence on the ethereal plane also.

When one wishes to see the past, present, and future of one's life it is better to see it when there is nobody else in the room, but when one wishes to see about another person one must be careful whether one does not confuse one's own color with that of another. No doubt the future of another person is often influenced by the seer, which means it is not that he says what is going to be, but because he says it must be, it will be. The answer to the question why it should be so is that life is a continual motion, and one motion is caused by another motion, and the stronger motion is the cause, while the weaker motion is the effect. Breath, being the very life, which appears in different colors or forms, is the cause of many effects, though at the same time it is the effect of some cause. It is this cause that is called God. "The movement of every atom is caused by the will of God" (Qur'an).

ASRAR ul-ANSAR Number 10

There is one stage of psychic development which makes man capable of seeing color, but there is a further grade of advancement when the sight is still keener. The rays that come out from the form of man in a sort of line (around his head especially, but all around man's form) manifest to him, and these rays appear in the form of a line, thick or thin as the case may be. Many times it becomes like a background around the head. Mystics consider two parts in the body. One is the head and the other the body; the former is called the body of sense and the latter the body of action.

This line appears in different colors which make it easy to see the condition of a person at that time. All affairs in life depend upon the condition of the mind, and this enables a mystic to guess about the future of that person. The colors are nothing but different grades of light, and the variety of colors is caused by the various rhythms that keep the light, which means a certain rhythm of vibrations must produce a certain color.

Among rhythms there are three aspects recognized by the mystics: Inertia, the activity of which is insignificant, which is productive; mobile, which is progressive; and chaotic, which is destructive. Those who can see it in colors, in their advancement can even recognize it in light alone.

When death, disease or failure comes, this chaotic rhythm begins. When success is achieved it must be in the mobile rhythm. When there is an imperishable hope, its flame is kept alight by the rhythm which may be called inertia, which is shown in man's tranquility.

RIYAZAT Number 1

The object that the Sufi has in life is not necessarily the attainment of power or the achievement of inspiration, it is to touch the depth of life -- that plane of existence whence springs every activity manifesting through different channels. The physician who gets to the heart of the patient can know more and better about the general condition of his health than he who looks for the pain in the affected part. In the same way the Sufi by the practice of Shaghal gets to the heart of things, where he can see the seedling of the successes and failures, where he can see the signs of forthcoming joy or pain.

The question why he must know it and what it is that tells him can be answered thus: That by Shaghal the Sufi learns to see by his sight independently of the eyes, and he learns to hear by his hearing independently of the ears, and as soon as his senses get this independence from their limited instrument of experience, they begin to see and hear beyond the limitations of these physical instruments, and the area of vision becomes widened. The sight which can only be seen by the limited instrument of the eyes up to a limited horizon, now sees independently of that much further than before. So the hearing that could hear by the help of the ears so much and no more, now hears, after mastering Shaghal, much more than ever before. The seeing and hearing are on the abstract plane, and are called clairvoyance and clairaudience. It is this divine faculty which is often mentioned in the Qur'an as "Sami-un-Basir."

But the opening of hearing and sight is not sufficient for the purpose, because it is simply an opening; illumination is something else. With the development of those two faculties by Shaghal the necessity for illumination remains nevertheless. You must know the language of the voice that speaks from within, and you must recognize the letters that you find written on the record within. The mystics heard it and read it and kept quiet; the prophets on hearing and reading this gave it out but little; and this that was given is the only Scripture there is, call it Bible, Kabala, Vedanta or Qur'an.

RIYAZAT Number 2

Shaghal is a process that is contrary to the process that life has taken for its expression towards manifestation. There is no possibility of touching the inner world, of seeing or realizing the self within without the help of Shaghal. It is the tendency of the breath to proceed outward, which is the main source of all creation in thought, speech, word, and deed, and all experience of the external world that one perceives through the senses and by the mind. When the process is reversed, then the breath, instead of proceeding forward, withdraws backward.

The breath is likened to a snake that has two mouths. When it withdraws backward, its face is backward too. In other words, as the consciousness that, so to speak, rides upon the breath, which is its Buráq, its vehicle, experiences the external world, and the breath is the mystery of both. The breath may be called a bridge which connects the external world and the world within. But as the general tendency is to walk forward, and as it seems strange to take steps backward, and as one fears that he might tumble down and fall on something, or something might fall on him, so one feels in the practice of Shaghal. The consciousness, which has never taken a ride on a path which seems so strange to it, feels confused, and even the breath, the tendency of which is to go forward, feels it difficult to step backward. It is this mystery that is spoken in the story of Aladdin, who went to find the magic lantern. The magic lantern is the light within, and to get it there is only one process. And the confusion of Aladdin, after entering the cave where he found nothing but darkness, is the picture of the confusion of Shaghal. But the prize of courage that Aladdin received is a prize that every courageous Shaghil gets, for he receives by Shaghal the root of all power and inspiration.

RIYAZAT Number 3

Man's soul is always inclined to look outward for its experience, and therefore it remains unaware of the inner being; so to speak, it turns its back on the inner life, absorbed in the vision of the external through the five senses. In Shaghal the Sufi closes the door through which the soul is accustomed to look out, and as it finds the doors of its experience closed, a time comes when it turns its back to the external world on finding the doors closed for its experience. It is just like changing place for the soul. It sees before it a different sphere altogether, a sphere that has been within it. This sphere is abstract; in this sphere the individual soul is raised to a cosmic spirit. Here the soul has a wonderful and interesting vision, a vision both visible and audible, and the light and power of this vision lasts with the soul even after it has had this vision and illuminates the mental and physical planes for the soul, to see and understand more keen and clear knowledge that the soul then perceives by the same things it had seen before. It is like coming to the same room in the daytime which the soul had once visited in the darkness of night. Everything in life becomes clear to perception, to conception, and questions that once confused the soul are now solved by it without any difficulty.

RIYAZAT Number 4

The Sufi by the practice of Shaghal withdraws the breath from one direction and sends the breath to another direction, meaning instead of allowing the breath to work outwardly he directs the breath in Shaghal so as to let the breath work inwardly. Breath is life and light and sound in itself, therefore in the Vedantas breath is called Suram or Suara, meaning sound. The breath, therefore, in the practice of Shaghal produces its vibrations within, and the sense within, which may be called the root of all senses, which in reality is the spirit of all five senses, begins to hear; and as its hearing develops, so the breath becomes more audible. Also the clashing of the vibrations of the breath produces the light which is seen by the innermost sense, and so the inner vision becomes clear to the inner sense, even clearer than things are to the perception of the outer senses. There is no scripture of the ancient Teachers that does not speak in some way or other of this mysterious vision of the mystic. There are many benefits that the Sufi derives from Shaghal. Among them one, and the simplest, is that he gains control over all the senses, the senses that are slaves to every external call to them. By constant practice of Shaghal a Sufi is able to draw a blind over the senses which he may not wish to use for a certain time. By this control the senses become keen, more percipient, and every sense becomes a sight. By this the body becomes a fitting instrument for a fuller experience of life.

RIYAZAT Number 5

Man is constituted of three aspects of body. One is the finer aspect of body, which the senses and their organs represent; there is a gross aspect of the body, which actions and their organs represent; there is yet a third aspect, which is a causal body, or a controlling body, which directs activities, which stands as an impetus or an impulse behind every activity. The manifestations of the activity of this body are first reflected within and then they manifest without; and the one who has even the least little idea of this knowledge will never believe for one moment that there exists such a thing as chance. There are suras of the Qur'an in support of this: "Everything is appointed upon a certain time." "Not one single atom moves without the command of God." "God has His dominion over all things." And this part of his being is the divine part in man.

The effect of every activity that is started in this part of one's being manifests in the form of light and sound which is audible within. The one who has trained his senses by Shaghal is able to turn his senses, and the senses (which in the case of the average person see outward phenomena alone) in the case of the seer can see the external world as well as the inner world. The inner world can be seen to a great depth, even deeper than this world; this is only an intermediate step to the inner vision. One may say, "Where are the objects of perception for the inner vision?" One may say, "Where are the objects of perception for the senses within?" The answer is, everything is within, if only one can see it. Light is there, form is there, fragrance is there, sweet, sour, and bitter is there, and the inner world is more interesting than the external. There is a joy of Heaven and the agony of Hell. But two senses are the principal ones -- sight and hearing. Hearing is still higher, for it appeals to the first manifestation, that is the Word. First was the Word, then came Light, then all was created, as the Bible says. Therefore everything that happens is first audible to the hearer and then visible to the seer who can see and hear within.

There are ten sounds recognized by the mystics and vaguely described as the noise of humming bees, and the vina, and of bells ringing at a distance; and every sound denotes to a mystic that the activity is in a certain direction of the body. For there are twenty tubes, ten belonging to each side of one's body, through which these sounds manifest. On these tubes the Chinese instrument of ten reeds was made. When doubled they are twenty. Every direction of the activity of the breath suggests a certain cause and a certain effect to the hearer. From this he knows of failures and successes and of things hidden and unknown in their preparatory stage. This sound helps to rise higher and higher until one rises to a plane of abstract where there is a sound called "anáhat" or "sarmad," which is full of intoxication, joy and happiness. The hearer of this sound has no fear if he is in the depth of the sea or if he is floating in the clouds, no fear of any kind. The strength of the Almighty abides in his heart. He is in the world and above the world. He is in the crowd and far from it. He sees and does not see and hears and does not hear if he wants to. His happiness has no limit, his peace is indescribable.

RIYAZAT Number 6

"Alláh is the Light of Heaven and Earth," says the Qur'an. This may be understood thus, that heaven and earth are made of light and are light in themselves. That which we recognize as space or what we call vacuum is all light. It manifests when the vibrations unite together and when atoms group together. It is audible when it acts as vibrations and it is visible when it manifests as atoms. As the external world is made of light, so the inner being is made of light, and the best vision of the inner world becomes vouchsafed to the adept who practices Shaghal. The question how the secret of the universe could be found within oneself, in a drop which is like a drop in the ocean, may be answered thus, that the drop itself is nothing but ocean, and he who studies the drop can study the ocean. The saying of Christ, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way," speaks of the gate within the body, which seems a narrow gate compared with the external world which is so vast. But when one enters by the gate which is within oneself by the help of Shaghal one discovers gradually the whole process of the working of the whole universe. And when man touches the place of the abstract he has two senses with which to experience, the sense of hearing and the sense of sight. The Qur'an says, "God is pure, Who sees and Who hears," which may be understood that the soul which is the ray of God is pure, pure from earthly substances and pure from mortality, and without the help of the external organs it is capable of seeing and of hearing. There is another sura of the Qur'an where it says, "We showed him some of Our wonders which he knew not." Those wonders one sees through Shaghal when one masters it and when one dives deep within oneself and sees the light within, every particle of which is inspiring and its every flash and every change the expression of some secret of life.

RIYAZAT Number 7

Shaghal is a practice by which the life forces are drawn to a center. The construction of the light of Shaghal is like that of the light of the sun, for the sun is the light of the universe drawn into a center. The light has two tendencies -- to spread out and to draw in. In spreading out lies the weakness, for the atoms are scattered and spread about, which naturally causes dimness. When it is most spread it is that state which we call darkness. In reality there exists no such thing as darkness; life is light, and light is omnipotent and omnipresent. It is the comparison of the light that is concentrated or centered and of the light that is scattered and spread out.

Man is all light. His soul, his mind, his body are nothing but different grades of radiance focused in a limited form. This light expresses itself outward all the time; when man feels, when he thinks, when he acts, in all things he is throwing his light outward. The Sufi, by mastery of self, learns to draw in, so to speak, the outstretched rays of his being. When by the practice of Shaghal he has managed to draw them in, the light focuses itself in a center and begins to manifest to the extent to which it has been gathered. The idea of clasping the hands, of crossing the legs, of closing the lips, of shutting one's eyes, all suggest withdrawing the rays of one's light, but when one has mastered the breath, then one is capable of drawing in all forces; and when they are drawn in and focused in a center, the illumination comes. This becomes a torch of the mystic. In the light of this sun within he becomes able to see things clearly within and without.

RIYAZAT Number 8

The nature of sound is such that when the ears become accustomed to it, it becomes in time inaudible. For instance, when a person who is unaccustomed to the noise of a factory goes where the machines are working he feels the noise because he is unaccustomed to it. If we think of the noise of the works of the whole Universe which is continually going on, the noise of a factory in comparison to it would not be even as a drop compared with the ocean, and man never hears it. When sailing in a ship, at the beginning the noise becomes unbearable to the unaccustomed ears, but as one goes on hearing it the ears become so accustomed to it in time that man never notices it.

The workings of the mechanism of the body and especially the working of the breath in all the vacua of the body have a particular sound. The words "opening of the center" mean the clearing of the center and emptying of the veins and tubes of the body which enable the breath to move about freely in the body. In every center the breath makes a distinct sound, and in every tube the breath has a particular sound, and ten different sounds are recognized by a mystic. When these ten different sounds are distinctly audible to the Sufi then it is evident that his body is purified and the senses are keen. Then he is capable of contemplating upon sound. His body becomes a dome in which the breath echoes, and by this his innermost being is awakened and every part of his being is thrilled. The joy of this experience is incomparable with any earthly sensations. The whole being of the mystic becomes etherealized and uplifted. And when spiritual meditation is attached to it then it is like a fragrant gold. When a mystic is so etherealized as to be able to enjoy this contemplation, pain and diseases keep far away from him and his perception becomes keen. All things of the external world and of the inner world are perceived by him. Therefore Hindus call him Antarjnani, the Knower of the World Unseen. It is mastery of Shaghal which in time leads to this bliss.

RIYAZAT Number 9

The term spiritual progress means the raising of consciousness from the lower planes to the higher ones, and spiritual progress can be made by contemplating upon the higher sphere, when standing on the lower one, then holding it, and then walking upon that sphere and contemplating upon a still higher sphere. It is just like standing upon the floor and looking at the ceiling, then to catch the ceiling and to hold it and to cling to it, looking at the still higher ceiling. For those who master Shaghal, the process of progress they adopt is to contemplate upon that activity of the abstract which becomes audible and visible to a certain extent, and the process is exactly as explained above. During Shaghal one tries to see it and to hear it, then one listens to it and sees it without doing the actual exercise.

When one has contemplated upon both aspects of the abstract life and has gained mastery in holding them, then he becomes the master of affairs and his inspiration becomes keen, things appear to him as in the daylight, confusion seems to vanish. This contemplation breaks depressions and gives mastery over one's thoughts and feelings. To a poet, to a writer, to a musician it is the source of inspiration. To a worker it is a battery of power, because by this contemplation man masters the most uncontrollable activity within, each motion of which directs man's motions externally. Therefore the master of this, really speaking, is the master of fate, and the one who can master his own fate can alone be the master of another's fate.

RIYAZAT Number 10

There are two stages of progress when one has reached the abstract plane. One stage of progress is to rise at will to the abstract plane without the help of Shaghal and to attract the experience, audible or visible, by the will. The next stage of progress is after attracting that experience to hold it at will. In Sufic terms the first stage of Shaghal is called Sultani Nasurah, and the further stages are called Sultani Mahmuda and Sultani Laskar.

It is the work of a long time, with patience and perseverance, to attain to the later experiences of Shaghal. It is the usual way with Sufis to try and experience the visible conditions of the abstract, then the audible ones, because the audible part of the abstract plane is higher than the visible part, as it is plainly said in the Bible that first was the Word and then was created Light. That shows that the audible experience is the further plane than the plane of visible experience on the way from matter to spirit, in other words from earth to Heaven. The joy and peace of this practice is incomparable, and in this practice lies the secret of all power and inspiration.

KASHF Number 1

The first step on occult progress is clearness of impression -- impression of objects, of people and of affairs. To impressionable minds even objects speak, so to say, of their nature, of their origin, of their history, of their use and of their secret. The impression of living beings is felt still more.

Partly, the appearance of both objects and living beings speak, but mostly it is a disclosure of one's own spirit that unveils all things. When we trace the origin of medicine, we come to the same belief that mystics had, that all has been revealed to man. People will perhaps differ in explaining the source of all knowledge, but it is, after all, rooted in man's soul.

A seer, looking at an object, perceives -- sometimes without reason -- whence the object must have come, who must have used it, why it was made, of what use it is, no matter whether it be natural or artificial, for its origin is nowhere else than in the spirit. A man one meets gives an impression, not necessarily from his appearance, but even from his atmosphere. One sees whether he is favorably inclined or unfavorable, whether he is on the right track or on the wrong, whether he will meet with success or with failure. All this is felt by the man who can receive impressions aright. Then, about affairs, one's own affairs and the affairs of others, the appearance or even the thought of the affair has in it a hidden voice telling yes or no, right or wrong, success or failure, do it or do not do it.

But one may ask, "If that is so, we may never do wrong, we may never meet with failures, we may never be deceived by anyone, we may never be confused about anything." The answer is that we lack concentration and it is lack of stillness of mind that causes all confusion and ruin, for water disturbed never takes a clear impression; it is still water upon which impression is clear. Also, clearness of impression depends upon the purity of the water. So it is with the mind. A mind pure from all that keeps it disturbed or confused, that accounts for impurity of mind. The plain definition of pure and impure is that every outer element that destroys the element with which it is mixed makes the original element impure; and the spirit becomes impure, which is the cup of matter, when matter sticks to it and when this cup cannot be washed. All meditation and concentration is intended to still the activity of mind and to purify the spirit from all that destroys its purity.

KASHF Number 2

Intuition may be explained in plain words as an unintentional knowledge of truth, and to say whence it comes would be a difficult thing. Some think that it is from Heaven or a divine source, but really speaking, everything is from there. And some think it is a spirit that they picture in their mind. There is a possibility of that to a certain extent, but intuition can be described as a glimpse of knowledge that one has stored within oneself which comes at a time when it is needed by chance.

In a spiritual person it comes more, for the very reason that his mind is clear, and woman is more intuitive than man, for as man represents power, that power becomes a cover upon his heart. Again, people with a gentle disposition are more intuitive than those who have a desperate nature, because desperation is a force which upsets the physical and mental mechanism, and the knowledge that becomes reflected does not become clear. One develops intuition by gentleness of disposition, by calm, and by confidence in one's intuitions. The more you depend upon them the more they come, the more you trust them the more trustworthy they become. Reason destroys them and doubt weakens them. The importance of faith in the Bible shows that even in this direction faith becomes the protection and support of intuition, which has no material foundation whatever.

Sometimes intuitions are clear, sometimes they are unclear. It is lack of intelligence which makes them unclear. Intuitions come as a warning, and sometimes as an impression. It is an opening of the sight to a higher plane of one's being.

KASHF Number 3

Inspiration is the knowledge which pours out, so to speak, from within, without any special effort on the part of the mind; and yet it is not knowledge that comes from within. It may be called within only because it is within in the presence of the physical plane, and yet it is not from within because the soul is the self within and this knowledge is external to the soul. It is not gathered anywhere as a treasure that a spirit or angel comes and hands over to the inspirational person. If it were so, then without being lettered the poets would have been prophets, and without any knowledge of music the composers would have written music just by inspiration. In plain words it may be said that it is the searchlight of the soul that moves about in the spheres in which the soul is interested, throwing its light on the horizon in its range, and watching with interest what appears, and picking up what seems good, beautiful, interesting. That is inspiration. It may be pictured as a room full of interesting things with no light in it and someone coming into the room with a bull's-eye lantern and throwing its light all around, until the light happens to fall on the spot he was searching for, or in which he was interested, and what he picks up from there is his inspiration. Therefore a poet may not have the inspiration of a musician, a painter may not have the inspiration of a philosopher, for their words are different. They may throw their light on all things, but on the things in which they are interested they will hold their light. Therefore the sight of the inspirational person is keen in all things, that is why he takes interest in all things; an inspired person will not be bored to listen to conversation about something quite different from his line, for he may not understand so far as his experience goes and yet he will have some insight into it. I remember that, to my Murshid, no subject was quite foreign or so that it did not interest him.

But real inspiration comes from the subject of interest, and without the light within, however great the interest one may have in any study or practice, it will be with very little success. It is for this reason that among painters one painter comes out as a successful painter and among many sculptors there is perhaps one who has mastered his art. However realistic material life may seem to be, in the end one realizes the truth of the saying in the Bible, "The spirit quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing."

KASHF Number 4

Vision is generally vouchsafed to the keen-sighted. By keen-sighted I mean those whose heart can see. Vision mostly comes to the pious, to the innocent, to the loving, to those who have suffered in life, who have had patience and are tender-hearted, who are on the path of goodness. It generally comes when they are fast asleep, but sometimes it comes when a person is half asleep. Sometimes it comes through meditation. Sometimes when the eyes are closed it comes as a glimpse and disappears. It also comes to those who have gone through a long illness, who are perhaps abnormal in mind or weak in body.

The vision may be of anything. It may be a condition of the past, present or future seen as if produced on a stage. It could bring an appearance of a saint or a sage, master, living or on the other side. It could show symbols which tell something about one's life in different forms and colors. It could come as sound, as words, as a song, as poetry, as a written letter, or as a fragrance. During vision the condition of the person is negative, in other words, passive.

Those who talk about their vision to everybody or feel proud of their vision indeed abuse this spiritual gift. Then this passes away from them, and what remains with them is exaggeration and then falsehood. The wise thing is to keep one's vision secret to oneself, not to tell anybody about it, except one's most trusted friend who, one thinks, is wise and can help on the path, or one's teacher, who knows the state of one's development.

KASHF Number 5

There are times when visions are symbolical, and there are times when visions are clear. When the visions are clear it is the moment when the soul is clear from all earthly shadows, and therefore heavenly pictures, so to speak, appear upon the curtain of man's heart. One may see the vision of his Rasul, his Saviour, his Lord, Master or Prophet or Teacher. One may see the vision of one's friends, relations, past and present. One may see faces never seen before and yet faces that have once existed in the world. One may see djinns and angels. And no right pertains to any other person to judge of the truth of the vision.

The symbolical visions are very interesting because forms of things and beings, and their combination and the running course with changes, all tell of past, present and future, and to an intuitive person or to a seer it is an open book. Khadija said, "Before the declaration of the divine message Mohammed had visions in different forms which he told me, and exactly the same thing or something similar to what the symbols of his vision related happened." Every soul has visions at very important times in its life, but there comes a time of the clearness of the soul, when every dream becomes a vision, and it can increase to such an extent that a person may have twenty visions during the day.

Vision is not the only sign of spiritual progress. A person may have gone far on the spiritual path and he may not have visions. Visions are a temperament. There is a type of person, a visionary type, imaginative, dreamy, interested in dreams and whims, and if he is spiritual, the same type produces real visions.

KASHF Number 6

Vision is generally taken as a dream, and yet the traditions of the world are mostly based upon visions. The vision of Valmiki brought Rama, the great king and prophet of the Hindus. Solomon, Jamshyd, Joseph, even Abraham the Father of Religions, were known and accepted as prophets by reason of their visions. The foundation of the life of Jesus Christ was the vision of the Virgin Mary. The beginning of the prophethood of Mohammed was the vision of Amina, his mother. The Qur'an contains law and morals, and if mysticism and philosophy can be traced in it they are in the Miraj, the vision of the Prophet. In the Bible the most interesting part to a mystic is the Revelations, where there is a vision.

Vision may be described as the language of God, which is expressed not only in words but in a picture. That which cannot be audible, and that which cannot be intelligible when audible, is produced within a visible form. There are two different visions, a vision which descends and a vision that ascends. The former is from God, the latter is from man. There are two aspects of the former, in voice and in picture. There are two aspects of the latter, self-created and that which comes by response. For instance a devotee by the fullness of his devotion may create the picture of the Saviour in his heart, or one who is responsive, in his full response and waiting, may attract the spirit of the Saviour. And in both cases the benefit and blessing are the same, for it is not man that creates, if it were creation even by man, God alone is the Creator, and He creates whenever anything is created, as God and also as man.

KASHF Number 7

There is no greater sign nor more wonderful proof of the inner life than vision. Such appropriate symbols and forms appear to the visionary, to tell him of the past, present and future, that one can do nothing but marvel at the wisdom of the inner nature, and glorify the name of God. There is a language of forms and symbols. When one does not know this the visions to him make no meaning, and there cannot be made a standard of this language. Though many have written books on dreams, yet no book has been so successful as to be a general standard of dreams and visions.

Every vision springs from the heart of man with as fine and delicate a form as his own personality and in as picturesque a form as his artistic capabilities and in such metaphor or so symbolical as his poetic gift. Therefore the visions of prophets have always been interesting, for the prophets are the real poets, not poets necessarily prophets. A vision is the art of nature, it is a poetry of nature, it is a beautiful dream of nature. The purer the soul is, the clearer the vision becomes. It is the bowl of Jamshyd, the seven-ringed cup which is the head with seven openings, and in this head the vision rises and shows him all whose sight is keen.

KASHF Number 8

People think that one arrives in Heaven after death, but really Heaven is experienced from the first moment of revelation. As a matter of fact it is revelation that makes Heaven, and every stage of this revelation is a Heaven. And so when they say Heaven it means different stages of revelation.

The first stage is cleverness, the next is wisdom. In cleverness the intelligence is in confusion, since it is active, passionately active. In wisdom the intelligence is rhythmic. When a person says, "I will not allow you to take the best of me, if you are crooked I will show you ten times more crookedness," then he is clever. But when a person says, "Yes, I understand you, you need not play that game with me, let me alone," he is wise. When a person does not know the crookedness of the other person and so allows him to take the best of him, he is a fool. But when one sees clearly the roguery and crookedness of another person and yet allows him to take the best, he is the holy man, he is beyond the regions of humanity, he is beginning to climb the angelic planes, he sees all things, understands all things and tolerates all things. The mystics talk about the innocence of Jesus, and Sufis try to follow it as an example. This innocence is the same, and revelation comes to that person who sees all the falsehood and treachery of human nature and pities instead of accusing, and forgives because he has reached to that height that no falsehood, roguery, deceit or treachery of an ordinary human being can touch him -- he is above it.

KASHF Number 9

Revelation may be explained in plain words as discovery. The whole life is before us and we perceive it through our five senses, and yet there is confusion. It seems as if we see things and do not see them, and we understand and yet we do not understand, as if we see nuts in their shells, not knowing whether it is a decayed or a fresh nut, and mostly we make mistakes. That which is living is as dead to us and that part of life which may be called dead alone seems living.

Revelation has several grades of depth, and every stage of evolution makes a person capable of having a certain revelation. Revelation is greater than intuition, impression, or inspiration, because it is as plain as a written letter. It comes to a person who, so to speak, lives in the soul more than in the body or the mind. A person to whom things are revealed may be pictured as a man with a bull's-eye lantern in his hand. The world is like a dark room where there is everything and yet nothing can be seen, and on whichever object this lantern throws its light, that object becomes clear to the sight of the seer. And as they say in the old traditions, that the trees got tongues to speak to the saints and that the birds talked to Noah -- these tales of the past, to the soul having revelation, become the action of the present. All things that are speechless converse with the listener who has revelation. Before such a person the minds speak, the souls speak. If the lips are closed the eyes speak, if the mind is held fast the atmosphere tells all that one would hide. The Vedantists recognize this and call the person Antarjnani. The Sufis name him Sahibi-Dil, the "Master-Mind."

KASHF Number 10

The action of the mind pondering upon a certain thing is in itself a power. Mystics gain this power by concentrating their mind. The tendency of the mind is to go from one thought to another, and it is not its nature to be held on one thought. And when one is able to hold it on one thought then the mind becomes like a telescope and it sees not only the form of the thought but the soul of the thought. It makes, so to speak, the thought transparent.

There is revelation of form, which a gifted scientist may claim to a certain extent. When he looks at the object in which he is interested, it reveals to him things which are unknown to others, and it should not be an exaggeration to say that with the scientist the objects in which he is interested converse. So with the philosopher does every thought. When revelation begins with the philosopher, then he not only sees thought, he, so to speak, touches the soul of the thought. It is just as by seeing the plant one may get an idea of the root; and in this way things unknown are known and things unseen are perceived by the mystic, and he calls it revelation.

As the language of science is gibberish to an ordinary person, so is the language of the philosopher, and still more incomprehensible is the language of the mystic. Mystics have tried to tell of their revelation in parables, as did Jesus Christ. Some have tried to give the idea of what they have known in simple words, and people who are interested in subtlety have disregarded it for the very reason of its simplicity. But mostly the greatest subtlety is hidden in simplicity. You may say in two simple words what would mean more than perhaps a hundred words which would be like a hundred covers round the truth. However, it is human nature that the intellect is always attracted by subtlety, and it is the heart-quality to which simplicity appeals.

There are revelations of the mystics and prophets which cannot be justified by reason, which cannot be argued by logic, even they cannot be made really intelligible in words, such as the truth of the hereafter, Heaven and Hell, the angels and the djinns. The reason why they cannot be proved by reason is that reason is born of earth, not of Heaven -- for it is a store of impressions collected in the memory, and impressions which do not come from the earth have nothing to do with earthly reason.

No doubt in giving the revelations to another, the one to whom they are revealed has to garb them in some earthly words to make his ideas intelligible to him who can reach only so far. It is therefore that the angels are pictured in human form and djinns are supposed to be something like people. Heaven is supposed to have comforts similar to those on earth, and Hell is described as not different from earthly tortures. These are the interpretations given to people by those who have revelation, not the original revelation, for the original revelation every soul must experience for himself; no one else has the power to tell what it is and how it is.

Spiritual revelation tells you about life and nature, its secret, its condition, its origin, its end. It comes in a language of its own. Then he to whom it comes puts it through different processes in order to make the same intelligible to himself. If he is artistic he shapes it in a beautiful phrase, in a verse, in a song, in a form of beauty. If he is interested in experiencing beauty through the sense of hearing, he reproduces it on the disc of his heart and listens to its speaking, as Moses did on Mount Sinai. If he is accustomed to admire the beauty of form, he pictures the revelation in a beautiful form; he calls it an angel, as Gabriel came to Mohammed. The worshipper of God calls it the Word of God, the one who realizes the Self listens to it as the voice from within. It is the same thing in all cases, it is revelation.

Nothing in the world can give the joy it gives, and to the one who enjoys it there is nothing more precious than this. The sacred books of the world, be they Qur'an, Kabala, Bible, Gita or Gatha, are all one, an interpretation of the revelation. The prophets who gave them tried to the extent of their abilities to make it as comprehensible as possible to their followers. The joy of the original thing is different from an interpretation. The interpretation is for the beginners on the path, but the object in the spiritual pursuit is to arrive at the state where the original revelation is vouchsafed. That makes the life of a living soul worthwhile.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 1

The word "obsession" is generally used for an influence of a spirit upon a person, and this very idea keeps man in ignorance of the fact that everyone is liable to a momentary obsession, and obsession is more common than a cold or a cough. There are many times that the mood changes in man, his thoughts, his feelings, his actions, for which he cannot give any reason (although imagination can always find some reason, right or wrong). By this it should not be understood that every change during the day and night is caused by obsession. No, there are many different reasons, among them obsession, which is always ignored. Depressions, laughter, infatuations, love-madness, spells of wrath, virtuous spells, grief, quarrelsome moods, fighting moods, insulting and hurting moods, spells of kindness, all these changes are often influences of living minds, but still oftener they are the influence of spirits, which come and pass in a moment. As clouds hide the sun for a moment and clear away, so these influences of the spirit world cloud man's mind for a moment. They remain for a short time or a long time and pass away. And yet nobody ever thinks that they are spirit influences. Man always recognizes things in their extreme. When a spirit turns a person mad, then people begin to recognize, perhaps, that he is obsessed.

No doubt the oftener one gets these common and momentary obsessions, the more one becomes subject to their influences, and great influences and deeper influences of a spirit upon a person come afterwards, as obsessions, when man has become an easy subject for obsessions. One must remember that in man there are two aspects, Alláh and banda, the Server and the servant. And if the Server does not control the servant part, then it becomes weak, and the servant part is incapable of being a Server; and it is in that case that one becomes liable to obsessions. But when the servant part is in the hands of the Server, then there is little chance of any obsession.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 2

Spirit in the Sanskrit language is called "bhut," and it is the most appropriate name, which has the meaning "who was before," in other words, who has existed on this plane. The remainder of its existence that is left after its separation from the physical body is constantly desiring to express itself as it has done all its life on earth. And as every creature, not only human but animal, beast, bird or insect, seeks accommodation for rest and expression, the remaining part of one's being, which may be called spirit, seeks accommodation, and such accommodation where not only it may stay, but express itself.

There is a saying in the Bible, "Where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also." In life on earth, although the heart is with the treasure, yet often the treasure is far from the heart; but in the hereafter, when this physical world has fallen away, then the heart is capable of abiding by its treasure. "Death is a bridge which unites friend with friend." (Qur'an) Therefore a spirit is mostly attracted to the ones it has known, and not finding response in them, then turns to those who attract him, also accommodate him. Like attracts like. So the artist will be attracted to the artist, the scientist to the scientist, the good one to the good one, and an evil spirit to the wicked one. As Kabir says, "Satan is attracted to Satan, and Rahman will be attracted to Rahman." Besides this, there are many things that one becomes attracted to in life, such as comfort, wealth, fame, friend or beloved, and one feels inclined and feels drawn to them. The desire to love someone, the desire to hate someone, the desire to praise, hurt or harm someone continues after death, and one chooses a fitting vehicle to express that desire.

However a person disbelieves in spirit obsession, he cannot deny the fact that there are cases in this world where you see two distinct personalities in one person. When they are similar they are not much noticed, but when they are different they are astonishing. There are to be found cases of a person changing in one moment from a saint to a devil and again from a devil to a saint. Who can give an explanation of this, except one may call it obsession, which is often taken for a form of insanity. To a keen observer there will be a sufficient number of cases to support the idea of obsession.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 3

Man's external being may be called a form of gross substance, and the inner being may be considered a being made of the finer substance; call it spirit and matter or whatever you choose. Now, when this gross substance is plentiful the soul becomes fully involved in it. Therefore man becomes very material and has material tendencies. But when man lacks this gross substance by some reason or other, sickness or thoughtfulness, love or friendliness, then he becomes a better-suited vehicle to perceive outer impressions or to receive the impressions of the inner world, or what may be called the material world and the spirit world. It is therefore that among mediums and people who have spiritualistic tendencies, one seldom finds a strong, robust person; but, on the contrary, a strong person is less inclined to believe in the spirits, for his mind is incapable of thinking perhaps there is something fine. The grossness, so to speak, blinds him. Spirit to him is merely a belief. The reason is that he has not much spirit in him, while a person in illness sees visions, phantoms, and communicates with spirits sometimes, because much of his material part has been reduced. In plain words it may be said that it is the flame that gives light, not the glow; and that every atom of the body has a radiance, but when this atom is filled with a gross substance there is no flame. It is just like the fire in the stove being choked up by too much coal. So the radiance of man's body and mind is choked up by too much matter.

This explains why people of negative condition in life, nervous or at least very etherealized, seem to be obsessed, because that helps obsession; they become easy subjects to obsession. Spirits that are looking for a suitable subject for their love, for their companionship, for their service, for their help, choose them for their vehicle to live again in the external world, if not fully, even partially. A passive mind, a mind which lacks initiative, a confused mind, a puzzled mind, a downhearted person, a person who is as dead in life mostly becomes subject to the spirit; also a person who dabbles in things, without strong will, and a person who feels inclined to be obsessed. A person who is beautiful, who is loving, who is kindhearted, who is innocent, who is friendly, who is obliging, pious, visionary and contemplative also has a chance of obsession.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 4

As in life on earth, the attraction of the opposite sex is the greatest attraction there is, so even the impression upon a spirit that has been carried by him into the spirit world many times attracts him to the earth. This, when in a mild stage, keeps the person on earth in longing for the passed one, but in an advanced stage it appears as an obsession. It is obsession when for a time a person forgets himself, and shows in his thought, speech, and action a different personality from his real one. Then there are spirits who have not particularly loved a certain person, but are admirers of beauty and are attracted to the beauty of the opposite sex. They seek that beauty on earth after passing from this plane. This also appears in the form of the above-said two stages of obsession. Among the beautiful in form and person, especially among youths, such cases of obsession are to be found, though often they are taken for cases of insanity. There are, again, passionate and lustful spirits in whom there is no thought of love or beauty, who also take possession of souls as obsession. In the same way this kind of obsession has its two forms.

No doubt there are different desires and ambitions that the spirit takes away from the earth. Sometimes there is a longing to have a child, or to have a friend, a companion. These longings also make an effect upon souls. There are some kind spirits who desire to advise, to warn, to guide, to help man in some form or other. They do not necessarily obsess a person or want to possess his personality. They may sometimes, for a purpose; but mostly they work as warners, helpers, or guides, especially in the time of need.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 5

There are cases of obsession when the spirit obsesses for a certain purpose, either to attain spiritual perfection or to accomplish something that he had desired and could not accomplish during his life on earth. The question, "Can the spirit not progress spiritually in the spirit world without having to obsess another person in the world?" may be answered that when a person becomes habituated with the manner of acquiring knowledge on the earth, he then wishes to continue in the same manner, which necessitates that the spirit should acquire knowledge on the earth plane, which it can do by obsessing. The person whom he obsesses is his instrument. The obsessed acquires some part of this knowledge for himself, but if he happens to be of a different grade of evolution from the spirit, he cannot very well, so to speak, digest the knowledge, and therefore the obsessed ones are mostly unhappy, even if they were acquiring great things in the world. It is not what they want, it is what the spirit wants they get, and sometimes it is like pearls before swine. Even in commerce, in a scientific research or invention, in warfare, a person under the influence of a spirit may accomplish a wonderful thing, and yet he is not happy with it nor does he show capability with it. It is an impulse; through that impulse the spirit accomplishes a thing, and people think the man did it.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 6

The easiest way for a spiritualist to communicate with a spirit is by taking an obsessed person as a medium. Especially in curing one obsessed it is always necessary to communicate with the spirit. In India there was a custom that by means of some rite, which consists of flowers, fragrance, the idol of some deity, by singing and by playing on intense and exciting instruments, the spirit is aroused in the one obsessed, and when it is fully aroused the one obsessed forgets himself and begins to speak as the spirit. And when in this excitement the one obsessed has entirely lost the consciousness of his personal self, then the spiritualist is able to talk with the spirit face to face. There are moments, sometimes once in a day or in a week or in a month, when the one obsessed forgets his own personality and acts as quite a different person. It is this time that a spiritualist takes, for it is at this time that if by the help of thought or music or suggestion he is able to awaken the obsessing spirit, it not only gets the spirit, but he gets the spirit in hand; and once he has made the spirit in hand, he can command him and make him act as he likes.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 7

Communication through a master medium is perhaps a better way than that of trying to communicate through such mediums who by some reason or other, by illness or weakness, have become capable of acting as mediums. The master medium must be a person sound in mind and body, and able to put himself into a negative state, a passive condition of mind, so that he can become an instrument for a spirit for his expression. It is very rare to find a master medium, although this is the easiest way of communication with a spirit. In many cases there are false pretensions, and Satan has a great scope to work in the form of a medium, and therefore there is a great deal of falsehood and treachery in this profession.

It is not easy for every medium to communicate with any spirit. Generally, as they say, like attracts like, the medium attracts spirits of his own kind. He cannot reach the spirits who are above his reach, and sometimes the most powerful mediums seem to have been thrown into the depth of the earth whenever they have tried to pull down towards the earth the souls that soar towards the height. It is righteousness, purity and piety that is needed, besides the capability of communicating with spirits that makes a master medium.

(Note: Number 8 missing from files)

KASHF ul-QABR Number 9

By the word "medium" is meant a person who is capable of receiving communications from a spirit, but by a master medium is meant that the person is capable of communicating with any spirit.

There is a vast difference between these two mediums. Anybody who is chosen to become a medium by some spirit can become a medium, but anyone who is capable of communication with any spirit must be a master-mind, for in the first place there are spirits who are willing to communicate with anybody or everybody, and there are others who are not willing to communicate with any and everybody, as some people in the world. Again there are some great egos on the other side who are perhaps willing, but too powerful, too spiritual to be communicated with, and many have been disappointed when trying to communicate with them. It is impudence on the part of man, if he thinks that he may call or communicate with any spirit. It is just like an ordinary person trying to telephone to Buckingham Palace. Therefore the master-mind medium must be thoughtful and considerate in communicating with spirits. Spirit communication must not be thought a play or an amusement, or for light entertainment as many think. Besides, the master-mind must never try to get into communication with more powerful and spiritual egos than himself. The master-mind must be of a strong mind, a healthy body, sober, righteous, have balance in all things, then alone can he be a master medium.

KASHF ul-QABR Number 10

A direct spirit communication is more advisable than a spirit communication by the help of a medium. In the first place there is a likelihood of being fooled even if the medium told something that may seem true, for many thought-readers could pretend to be mediums and say in the name of the spirit what they read in the thought of a person at that moment. Spirit communication and thought-reading are not much different; a person who is capable of thought-reading can communicate with a spirit at his next step. A person who has mastered `Amal is capable of spirit communication. There are two kinds of spirit communications: Sohbat and Wasl. The former is to talk to the spirit as a second person would. This can be done by a great power of concentration, by which a person could attract the spirit. The latter is forgetting the self, so that at that moment one's own thoughts, feelings and speech and atmosphere would become that of the spirit. The first kind of communication is easier than the second one, because in the first the power of visualizing is necessary, but in the next the power of annihilation is necessary. The first kind of communication is useful for some information, for experience or for some instruction; but the next kind helps even spiritual evolution. The power of annihilation is like a boat sailing in life's sea, and if a person cannot lose the self in the thought of another person, dead or alive, he cannot lose himself in God, Who is beyond comprehension. The believer of God does not necessarily fulfil the purpose of his belief. It is the first step that a Sufi takes in the spiritual path that he trains himself to lose of a moment in the living person which enables him first to read the thought, then to partake of the condition of the one in whom he loses himself. The second step is that he tries to lose himself in the thought of a spirit when he partakes of the inspiration and power and condition of the spirit. A further step, then, is when he loses himself in God and the Spirit of all spirits. The first stage of communication with God may be called communication with God, and merging in God may be called atonement, in other words, at-one-ment.

Spirit communication is not, however, a necessary stage that the Sufi should experience; although as a natural course of development, to his surprise at times, it becomes vouchsafed.

There are two seekers, the one curious and the other in earnest. The curious one will always find sand in his hands when he is trying to catch the air. But the one in earnest will penetrate the wall that seems to keep the physical and spirit planes separate. It is the disbelief that stands as a wall and it is the belief which pushes man further in the path that leads to the goal.

SHAFAYAT Number 1

There is a great power hidden in the mystery of repetition of a sacred word, but there is a still greater power in writing a sacred word, because the time taken to write a sacred word carefully is perhaps five times or ten times as long as the time taken in repeating a sacred word. Besides that, action finishes the thought-power better than speech. In writing a sacred name it is the finishing of thought which is even more powerful than uttering the word. But when a person thinks, feels, speaks, and writes, he has developed the thought through four stages and made it powerful.

Sufis therefore give a charm to the faithful who they think believe in the healing power of the charm. They call it Tawiz. The patient keeps it with him night and day. He links his thought with the thought of the healer, and feels at every moment that he is being healed. In India they put a charm in a silver or gold plate, or keep an engraved charm upon a stone or metal; and the very fact of realizing that he possesses something in the form of a charm that has a healing influence upon him becomes such a help to the believer that he feels that every moment of the day and night he has the healer with him and that he is being healed.

Gain is nothing without a giver, so charm is nothing without a personality that gives confidence to the patient. Therefore a charm written by any person has no effect. The personality of the person who writes the charm should be impressive; his piety, his spirituality, his love, his kindness, all should help the charm that he gives, to make it valuable and effective.

SHAFAYAT Number 2

Water is the most responsive substance, which partakes the color and effect of everything. The magnetism that runs through the fingertips enters into everything that a healer holds in his hands, and thus water is charged with that electricity more than any other substance. Again, the breath that heals is powerful enough to produce an added life in all life-giving substances. Water especially, which is a most invigorating substance, partakes the life from the breath.

Among the ancient Hindus there was a custom of giving water as a benediction to guests, which is observed even now. A Brahmin as a rule will offer first to his guest water, which means not only to quench the thirst, but as life given to the guest. The Persians have called the water of life Aab-i Hayat, and in many verses one finds this word.

The sacrament of the Catholic Church also has this secret behind it. It is the healing power of the life that the priest is supposed to have by his divine contemplation. He imparts it to the other through the substance, the bread or wine that he holds. Among Sufis everywhere in the East there is a custom that the shaikh gives a loaf of bread or a glass of water, milk, syrup, or buttermilk, or a fruit or some sweet, which is accepted as something that heals both mind and body. No doubt it is not only the effect of the breath or touch, it has the power of mind with it, which is hidden as a soul in the substance which is its body.

SHAFAYAT Number 3

A healer must know in the first place that breath is the very life, and breath is the giver of life, and breath is the bringer of life. One can live without food for some time, but one cannot live without breath even for a few minutes. That shows that the sustenance that breath brings to man's life is much greater and much more important than any nourishment upon earth. Every atom of man's body is radiant; but if the body is a flame, the breath is the fire, and as flame belongs to fire so body belongs to breath. As long as breath dwells in it, it lives; and if breath leaves it, it is dead, with all its beauty, strength, and complicated mechanism.

Therefore the effect of the breath of a holy person can magnetize water, it can magnetize bread, it can magnetize milk or wine, fruit or flower. The breath that is developed spiritually will have a healing effect upon any painful part that it falls upon. If one knows how to direct the breath, there is no better process than healing with breath; and in all different methods of healing breath comes as the main thing, since in breath is hidden the current of life.

SHAFAYAT Number 4

All scriptures have explained in some way or other that life is like light. In the Muslim scriptures the word Nur is used; in the Vedanta it is called Chaitanya. The nature of this light is to express itself in a particular direction; and that accounts for the face and back in our form. At the same time the tendency of the light is to spread. That can be seen in the tendency of fire to spread, of water to spread. Air shows the same tendency; earth and all things on earth show the same tendency. A deep study of every form will show the nature of life to spread in four directions, which make North, South, East, and West, and form head, foot, right, and left.

Life and light has its center in the center of every form, but takes its expression through the directions in which it spreads. Therefore the power of the hand has been related in the ancient symbology. Hindus have pictured four hands of the divine incarnations. It means two hands of the mind and two hands of the body; when four hands work, the work is fully accomplished. Therefore, in healing the hands are most important; the physical hands are needed to help the hands of the mind. And when thought is directed from the mind through the hand, its power becomes double and its expression becomes fuller.

Every atom of man's being, mental or physical, is radiant and throws its rays outward, which is life itself and gives life. All illness and every kind of illness is, so to speak, lack of life, and it needs life to be given to it. The power of electricity has been discovered by the man of science, and he believes that it cures diseases when it is used for that purpose. The mystic discovered ages ago the power of this hidden electricity, the life of the mind and the life of the body, and he believes and knows that its application in healing is most beneficial. There are sores and wounds and painful parts which are too tender to touch. In such cases healing by magnetic passes, in other words by waving the hands over the affected part and so allowing thought to heal, brings about a successful cure.

SHAFAYAT Number 5

Every atom in man's body is in reality radiant, living, and powerful compared with other objects, herbs, or drugs. By the very fact of being a living body, besides the finest and most perfect compared to other living bodies, it has a great power. Besides this, shaking hands, speaking to a person by touching him, has a certain effect. In India, when a wrestler goes to a wrestling match and when he comes back his teacher pats him on the back, saying, "Shabash!" (Bravo!) In fact this gives him added strength and courage and power which otherwise he would not have had