If the Elohistic Knowledge dominates the thinking approach and the human conscious functions under the prophetic knowledge then a supernatural thing can be made to happen in this state of the consciousness then it is known as wonder-working or karamat. And, if the prophets of God initiate the supernatural activity, then it is called Miracle but if a person who is under the spell of evil spirits, has a dubious approach of thinking, initiates the same thing then it is termed as magic, sorcery, or witchcraft.
God has elaborated this thing in the story of Moses. The grand court of Pharaoh is in session. On one side are the magicians of Pharaoh and on the other, Moses; the prophet of God. The magicians cast their ropes and sticks on the ground to make them appear as snakes and serpentines but when Moses throw his staff, it turns into a large snake and swallows all the other snakes made by the magicians of the court.
When the magicians performed their tricks, their aim was to win the pleasure of Pharaoh, that is, the worldly ambition and the desire of getting closer to Pharaoh was their main objective behind this performance. Contrary to them is the holy person; Moses, who demonstrates not to convince people that he is an artist nor he is desirous of receiving any reward from Pharaoh, he is only interested in delivering the message of God to the people.
This historic event clarifies the difference between spirituality and sorcery. If a supernatural thing is demonstrated for worldly gains and contains an element of aversion from God then it is sorcery, witchcraft, or magic but if it is based upon the only desire of seeking the holy pleasure of God then it is the Miracle or Wonderworking.
The question is how sorcery, which cannot be named anything other than destruction came into practice?
As you all know, Beatific Vision is the actual root cause of the universe. The origin of the universe is the Beatific Vision, which circulates through every particle of every creation in the universe in such a manner that it even passes through the innermost confined center of the objects.
‘God is the Light of the Earth and the Heavens’ means that the Beatific Vision of God is circulating through all the particles of every element used in the creations of this universe. Or to say, a perpetual movement is taking place in every particle of this universe. If this movement suffers any unpleasant incident while it is passing through the center of the particles, it gets excited, which results in unbalancing of the movement. This unbalanced movement causes alteration in the specific quantities, which disrupts the system made by God. This disruption of the system is demonstrated as one or the other destructive effect.
Blood circulates in the human body and thoughts and thinking has a direct bearing upon this circulation and the human body. If the thoughts are perverted and disgusting the blood circulation is affected accordingly. The conscious activities of life and the physical system of a person are bound to be affected if he uses putrid or stale foods or lives in such thoughts for which his conscience pricks him.
If the whims and uncertainty mix with the Beatific Vision, its powers start functioning destructively instead of working positively.
Sadhoos clog their skin pores by rubbing ashes on their bodies. Choking of skin pores pollutes the delicate lights circulating in the human body and these lights become liquefied. These very polluted lights flow from one body towards the others and their destructive effects are produced in those bodies as well.
Bathing or ablution before worshipping rites and rituals are considered mandatory almost in every religion of the world. It demands profound deliberation that worships are related with the mind and not with the body then what is the need for bathing or ablution? Bathing or ablution is necessary because they purify and give a refreshing effect which helps in having undivided concentration during worship.
Law of Attraction
The Beatific Vision descends to take the form of Noor and the Noor descents to become light or the manifestation and it is an ongoing process that is taking place since Eternity.
The collective program pertaining to the species is located in the Persona Major. And, when this program is activated in the form of different species separately it is called the Persona Minor.
Every species is produced from specific quantities; it lives with those quantities and ends up its cycle on particular fixed quantities. If these specific fix quantities are associated with the Persona Major, the life of every species is linked up with the collective point; the Persona major and the individuals of the species are connected with the Persona Minor. When the individuals of the species are studied in their species’ perspective and the urges of the species’ life are analyzed, it is observed that urges, feelings, needs, and activities of life are common in all the species. This commonality of the urges is proof of the fact that the entire universe is set in one single point.
Man, in actual effect, is a manifestation of the information and the information is the knowledge. To wit, the universe is the knowledge and this knowledge is spread at four levels of consciousness.
1. The Cosmic Unconscious
2. The Cosmic Conscious
3. The Cosmic Will and,
4. The Cosmic Movement.
The Cosmic Unconscious is the Beatific Vision. The Cosmic Conscious is the characteristic (attribute) of the Beatific Vision, which is the Will and the movement of the will is the manifestation. These very four conscious are the basis of the universe.
During our conversations, we say that I wrote, I ate, we went there or we came here, etc, etc. Whereas the more appropriate words to express these actions should have been something like this that my hand wrote, food was taken by my mouth, my feet covered the distance from there to here. But, this is not the way of our speech and the prevailing manner of speech cannot be termed as the real mode of speech.
In religious terms, actually God is the Creator of good and bad, virtue and evil. But still, God cannot be held responsible for any act or deed committed by human beings because, besides creating them, God has granted man the right to exercise his will and choose right or wrong
This thing has been elaborated in the story of Adam. God made Adam reside in Paradise and gave him freedom from the Spatiotemporal restraints. Showed him the Forbidden Tree and told him not to go near that tree. Before forbidding Adam from nearing the tree, Adam was duly empowered to decide whether he should do as told or do otherwise. Therefore, anything done good or bad, virtuous or evil is the personal act of Adam.
This knowledge defines the fact that nothing in this universe is beyond God’s reach. The entire universe is the record of the knowledge of God. Ability to know this record and peruse it is the real cognition of God. Cognition of God is as old as God Himself is. God’s Attributes are ever existing just as God is Ever Existing. One of the Attributes of God is the Knowledge and when the Attributes become a movement as God Wills, it takes the form of holy command of God. The Attributes of knowledge of God is known as the Knowledge of the Pen and the Attribute of the Command is called the Preserved Scripturum. Both the records hint upon one thing that the Beginning of this universe and the Last Ending of the universe are based upon the Unseen. All the commands that exist in an unseen format keep on showering in this material world according to the Attribute and the Will of God. These four conscious are also known as channels. These channels and their originating points are: –
1. The Channel of Black Draught (Nehr-e-tasweed) ranges up to the limits of the Realm of Divinity (Alam-e-Lahoot).
2. The Channel of Abstraction (Nehr-e-tajreed) ranges up to the Realm of Omnipotency (Alam-e-Jabroot).
3. The Channel of Evidence (Nehr-e-tashheed) range up to the Angelic Realm (Alam-e-Malakoot) and,
4. The Channel of Manifestation (Nahr-e-tazheer) rages up to the limits of the World of Matter (Alam-e-Nasoot).
The realm of Divinity is that where the Knowledge of God exists in the form of incalculable unseen tinny dots that emerge and expand to such large circles that engulf the entire universe. This Realm is also known as the Beatific Vision or the Circle of the Beatific Vision. Every expanding dot of Beatific Vision is bigger than the first one. These countless circles are the basis of all the root causes of the universe. These very circles give rise to the species of the universe. This whole circle is known as the Unseen of the Unseen (Ghaib-ul-ghaib).
The soul is the basis of creation is and the origin of the soul is the Beatific Vision. The Channel of Black Draft, which is also known as Realm of Divinity, is the basis of the Unseen. The stage when the universe is constituted into features is known as the Realm of Abstraction or the Realm of Omnipotency.
When the characteristics of the species and their individuals descend from the Realm of Omnipotency, another separate consciousness comes into being, which is the Channel of Evidence or the Angelic Realm. When the features further descend and come out of the limits of the angelic realm, foundations of the tangible world of matter are being laid.
Now, few words that seem necessary about the locations of the Subtleties. The Subtlety in the human body. The subtlety of the self is located at the navel point, the subtlety of the Heart is where the heart is, and the subtlety of the Spirit is in the middle of the chest, Arcanum Subtlety under the right-hand side of the chest, the Obscure Subtlety is in the forehead and the Latent Subtlety is situated at the crown of the head. All these subtleties resemble the rings of light when these are witnessed in the light of the gifted Knowledge of God.
Philosophy of Ego
Abraham managed to have his access to God by means of ponderous deliberations. It has been reported in the holy books that he saw a star when the night fell over him and seeing the brightness of the star he considered it to be his Lord God. But, when the star sat down, he concluded that one that sets down and disappears couldn’t be my Lord. And, when he saw the moon at its full bloom, which also sat down. Then he saw the sun, which was the brightest of all the things that he had seen so far. When the sun also disappeared and sat down he eventually concluded that anything that sets down couldn’t are his Lord God and he turned towards Him who is the Creator of the earth and the heavens.
Besides providing guidance about the thinking approach of the prophets, this thing has also been highlighted in this story of Abraham that any variant and changeable thing cannot be worthy of worship. Experiences of life are evident upon the fact that life is ever-renewing at every moment and it does not stop.
God has stated, “Glory to Him who created everything in pairs of twos.” For having a proper understanding of these pairs, we have to develop our understanding of the Conscious and the Unconscious senses. When we take the conscious things into consideration we have to face a non-lord at every step of our life and for spending our life, we associate ourselves with so many things other than our Lord God. Whereas, on the other hand, we are constrained to have an association with the One who is the Provider of the life, whether we want it or not. These very unconscious senses help in negating the non-lords and provide a basis for the maintenance of life and are the chief constituents of life.
Overall half of the life is spent under the Conscious and the rest of it is spent in the Unconscious. After one’s birth, most of the time is lived in the Unconscious because up to the twelfth year of one’s life one does not have the understanding or comprehension of things. If the period spent sleeping at that age is also added to that, it comes to more than the time of awakening. For the rest of man’s life, one-third of his life is also spent in an Unconscious state of sleeping. The Unconscious part of life negates the non-lords and man has the power to use his right of negating the non-lords. If a person could spend his life in the unconscious more than that, which he spends in the conscious life, control over the unconscious life is obtained.
“ O’ thou wrapped in clothes! Stand to prayer by night, but not all night, half of it – or a little less or a little more; and recite the Quran in a slow measured rhythmic tone. Truly the rising by night is most potent for governing the soul and most suitable for framing the words of prayer and praise.” (Quran: Surah Muzzammil)
In this verse, we have been invited to enter the Unconscious state remaining in our conscious senses, and to become attentive towards our Lord God, who is the Lord of the East and the West and no one is worthy of worship except Him.
In one phase of our life, we become inactive when we are unconscious and make use of our limbs and body parts when we are awake. In this life we remain dominated by the Spatio-temporal restraints, that is, we remain in the clutches of Time and Space at every step. In the state of Unconscious, we are liberated from the ties of Time and Space whether it is in the form of sleep or otherwise.
The mid-night prayer is suggested for the very reason. It is that time when the confined conscious becomes liberated. This is the law that has been explained in the Surah Muzzammil.
One advances in the spiritual life when the non-lords are negated consciously because as the unconscious negation of the non-lords and the acknowledgment of the Lord Creator constructs the physical life, the Conscious negation helps us in developing our spiritual life.