LECTURE - 28 : VARIABLE AND INVARIABLE

One of the two aspects of the universe is known as Time and the other one is called Space. Where the universe is manifested in Time, is the descending movement and where the Space goes into the background, from there the movement becomes ascending. This chain of ascent and descent is established with the Preserved Scripturum. When the features ascribed upon the Preserved Scripturum descend towards the material world these have to pass through a screen, which is known as Erebus (Burzakh). The pictures of the Preserved Scripturum after these are manifested in the material world they start ascending back. During their ascent they again pass through a screen, known as Purgatory (Airaf). Thus the total stages to complete a cycle of descent and ascent starting from the Preserved Scripturum are seven in all.

The Point of Unity or the Unified Self is also dihedral. On one side it is associated with God and is known as the Knowledge of the Pen also known as the Beatific Vision of the Being. The very same side is termed as the Ultra-achromatic or the Ultra-unconscious. Qalander Baba Auliya says that there are twenty-three sections of the Pen and the Scripturum. Although he has not mentioned the details of these twenty-three sections, he has discussed only that section of Knowledge of the Pen that deals with that point of the Unconscious whose one side is the Memory and the other one is the Thinking. Both of these are two sides of the same one movement. The Memory side is the vast, deep and engulfing Void of Noor whereas the Thinking side is the Noor only, which flows from the Void of Noor, or to say, it descends from the infinitude towards the finitude.

Understanding of this thing demands profound deliberation. Now we shall delve into the Void of Noor, Noor, Memory and Thinking as we see them.

When there was nothing, God was there. God is a Being who is All-seeing, All-knowing, Omniscient, the Affectionate and the Creator. He is well aware of all the needs of His creatures. He has a Mind as well. It came to His Mind that He should be creating such a creation because of which He could be known and recognized. Therefore, the creation was fashioned with memory, prudence and the ability to think and learn knowledge so that He could be recognized in its proper perspective.

This idea made Him to create such a universe that is perfect in all respects and that there are such selected people who could have an intimate affinity with God and, therefore, are able of cognizing God. This thought took the form of an idea that had all the details, forms and features in the Mind of God. When God wished to materialize this idea, He commanded it to be, i.e., He said, ‘kun’. All that was there in the Mind of God came into being. The place where this action took place is called as the Realm of the Souls. The next stage to the Realm of the Souls is the Preserved Scripturum where every moment and movement of the universe and the shapes and form of all the species of the universe were inscribed. The name of all these inscriptions or the cosmic film to be displayed is known as the Preserved Scripturum.

According to the laws of God, this program was put into motion and the whole universe became a manifested phenomenon. The place where the universe classified and manifested itself into the form of species, that is, the collective program of the film was separated species-wise, is known as the Illustrative Realm (alam-e-misal) and the realm where the species are displayed in the form of their individuals is known as the Physical world.

Everything is descending on the one hand and is ascending on the other means that everything is traveling from the infinitude towards the finitude and this tantamount to testifying by everything that God is Limitless, Flawless and Holy.

For the proper comprehension of variable and invariable we have to name them as limitude and limitlessness, respectively. When some variation takes place, first of all limits is demarcated, that is, without demarcation of limits no variation can be exhibited. If limits are not there the movement cannot take place. Therefore, the creatures are limitude and variable but the Creator is free from any variation, which means He is free from wants and needs of any type. Infinitude and limitlessness is the property of the Creator and the confinement in limits and finitude is the characteristics of the creatures.

True Knowledge-Exact Truth

Ladeis and gentlemen!

After settling upon this thing that the basis of everything is the infinitude and everything descends down from a state of limitlessness and exhibits itself within the confines of limitude. Every individual of the universe virtually testify this fact that God is an unlimited and Limitless Being. The limits are found only in the creation but the creator is limitless and invariable.

When the will of God (The Point of Unity) is activated it displays the Void of Noor in the form of Noor. The Will of God that created the universe saying ‘kun’ is not indigent of any resources because God is the Creator and being a Creator He does not need any resources and means of creation. When God commanded ‘kun’, forms and shapes were produced in the Void of Noor although the means and resources were non-existent there. This proves that the Will of God and the Void of Noor is one and the same thing and this very factual reality is the basis of the formation of the universe. This very reality has been named as ‘taddalla’ in the holy Quran.

God says, “It is a Command sent down by the One Mighty in Power; endued with wisdom, appeared in a stately form while he was in the highest part of the horizon; then he came closer and Inclined towards him. And, was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or even nearer. Then Revelation was sent down upon the servant of God who saw what he wanted to see and his heart did not falsify.” (Quran)

This all is said about the observations and incidents experienced by the holy Prophet (PBUH) during the journey of Ascension in the heavens. In these verses of the Quran those Realities and Exalted Ranks are indicated, which God bestowed upon him directly. The Insinuated Knowledge (Ilm-e-ladunni) can be classified into three sections.

1. Abridgement

2. Details and,

3. Mysteries.

God teaches directly that part of the Insinuated Knowledge, which is termed as the Knowledge of Mysteries. This section contains the realities of the knowledge about the Beatific Visions. These very realities are known as the Knowledge of the Pen. It is that chapter of the Divine Knowledge, which comes before the Preserved Scriptorium, or in other words, Preserved Scriptorium is the reflection of the very Knowledge that has priority over its commands. When a person versed with the Knowledge of the Pen issues orders, all these orders are inscribed upon the Preserved Scriptorium and the very inscriptions of the Preserved Scriptorium descend to fashion the universe and are expressed in the form of features of the universe.

This thing was described elaborately in the prayers of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). One of such prayers is: -

“O, God! I beseech of Thee through those Names of Thine that Thou have revealed upon me, or upon the people who were before me. And, I beseech of Thee through those Names which Thou hast preserved in Thine Knowledge for Thyself and I beseech of Thee through those Names that Thou would ever reveal upon anybody after me.”

The words ‘that would ever reveal upon anybody after me’ are to be noted very carefully.

Another similar prayer is: -

“O, God! I supplicate Thee through every such noun hat is Thy Holy Name and Thou hast adopted it as Thy Name or it hast been revealed in Thy Holy Book, or have indoctrinated Thy creatures with its knowledge or have specified its knowledge for Thyself.”

In these prayers the Void of Noor, i.e., the Attributes and Excellences of Consummate Powers, Habits, Customs and Traditions of God and the Laws governing the Beatific Vision have been termed as the Names of Allah. Rank wise, this knowledge comes after the Supreme Being of God but before the abdaa (Innovation). Cognition of this status enables a person to exercise the creative and administrative powers without any obligation of resources and means.

In short every Name of God is a collection of countless consummate qualities, which after emerging from the Void of Noor are inscribed upon the Preserved Scripturum and from there, these impressions descent down to become manifestations in the Created Realm. The Void of Noor is the Ultra-achromatic but this does not means negation or non-existence rather it is that state, which is devoid of Noor and is a collection of laws pertaining to Noor. This is a sort of the subtlest form of Noor from which the Noor is created.

The Void of Noor is not the Supreme Being of God. The Void of Noor is the Ultra-achromatic and the Supreme Being of God is Far Above than that of the Ultra-achromatic. In actual effect, we are at loss to express the Supreme Being of God, which is far above from any form of fantasy, imagination, words and phrases and every other manner of perception. God cannot be defined using any amount of words.

One may cognize God in two ways. One, to know of His Attributes and secondly, is to directly know the Supreme Being of God. When a person is acquainted with the Attributes of God, he witnesses God in His Attributes. Witnessing God in His Attributes is beholding God in veils.

 Opposite to this situation when a person manages to witness the Supreme Being of God, he just has the feeling of Exalted Presence of God through his intuitive contemplation. Even a person worthy of feeling God by intuitive contemplation cannot describe God in words or features. Intuitive contemplation enables a person to have access to such a place from where he witnesses the Beatific Vision of the Supreme Being of God, that is, when a person witnesses the Being, he only cognizes the Beatific Vision of the Being. At this point he gets chances of having a conversation with God Almighty. This again demands careful noticing that this conversation does not take place directly with God but he converses with God through the medium of the Beatific Vision of the Supreme Being of God.

It is the statement of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that he couldn’t do justice with the cognition of God, as was the requirement of the cognition of God. Words of another prayer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) are:

“O’ God! Get me to the Company of the Highest Friend”

This also means that nobody can witness God directly nor can converse with Him. Beholding God, Having conversation with Him or feeling the Exalted Presence of God is through the medium of the Beatific Vision of the Being.

When we happen to be in front of the looking glass, we see our image in the mirror but we say we are witnessing ourselves. This is a fact that we cannot see ourselves in the mirror if the mirror does not accommodate our reflection, that is, nobody can witness himself in a mirror it is only sighting that what the mirror is beholding. Similar is case of the senses.

When an object is looked at, first of all that object finds its way into our sight, then a realization of that object penetrates our perception and causes us to know it. If something could not find its way into our sight or an understanding about it is not perceived, we cannot ascribe meanings to it. For example, when the word ‘sun’ is uttered, the listener perceives the sun within himself. After that the meanings of the word are felt in the conscious.

The sun that we witness daily is altogether different from the sun found within ourselves. It is opposite to the one witnessed spiritually. When we see the sun by means of the physical eyes it appears that the light and heat is coming from the sun whereas, in actual effect, it is not the case.

When we see around on our planet earth, the lights that we see here are declared to be coming from the sun whereas, according to the spiritual observations, every planet is radiating lights of its own. And, when the planet faces the sun, the lights of the planet are reflected upon the sun. The brightness witnessed by the physical eyes in the sun, actually, is the reflection of the lights of the planet.

People who happen to hear or think about the sun all over the world conceive the sun in the same one way, i.e., the sun witnessed by means of spiritual sight is such a Reality in which there is no variation. Similar thing happens when we hear the name of such a thing, which we have never seen before. After hearing the name of an unseen thing a certain shape of that object is formed in our mind or an outline of that object is felt by our perception even if we have never seen that object before.

Nobody has ever seen God but when a person hears the name of God a Reality, which cannot be ignored crystallizes within the listener. For instance, a person denies to accept the Holy Being of God but then the question is that what does he is trying to deny?

God is an Established Reality that enters the inner recesses of a person and the perception feels the pressure that it exerts upon the conscious. If the meanings of that reality are not fully comprehended by the conscious, man tends to deny God altogether. What actually he intends to say is that his conscious understanding is at loss to comprehend God that is mentioned.

Crystallization of a reality is associated with the same one Cosmic Point, which not only includes the cosmos but the ultra-cosmos is also present in it. This very Cosmic Point is known as the ain-ul-yaqeen (Exact Truth) and when the Ultra-cosmos is also includes in this point, this state is called Haq-ul-yaqeen (True Reality).