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Traveling in the free world of the Unseen,
consciously or unconsciously, is Muraqbah. As a matter of law before sleeping
one experiences three states. First is to grow calm, second is to feel
drowsiness and the last is sleep itself. When someone remaining awake practices
Muraqbah he also experiences these three states. Initially a light slumber is
set over the one who is performing Muraqbah. This state, in terms of Sufism, is
called 'Ganood' (drowse). In this state one, remaining in the senses of
wakefulness, witnesses something extra-ordinary which a common man cannot see
with open eyes, but something; a sort of hindering veil, causes it to forget.
Regular practice of Muraqbah enables the conscious mind to keep track of the
seen things and the things seen with closed eyes in the diurnal senses are
remembered, comparatively, more vividly. Because of the accelerated speed of
mind the conscious mind fails to relate different things with one another.
Mind, on one hand, observes something of this world and on the other it
witnesses something of the heavens. This state is technically called 'warood'
(Reminiscence). In this state the things observed appear to be more bright and
vivid and remembered but mind cannot grasp the meanings actually underlying the
seen things. Later on, using the common sense, the seen objects are attempted
to be interpreted. These interpretations can be right and can be wrong. But the
chances to make mistake in interpretation are more. This faculty is termed as
'mukashifa' (apocalypse). When meanings of the things seen in Muraqbah also
come to mind it is called apocalypse. This state can also be experienced when
one is not performing Muraqbah. If someone, intentionally or unintentionally
gets the concentrative focusing of mind he can start witnessing the things at
far off distances. But in this way, display of scenes on the mental screen
causes pressure on the conscious mind and the spiritual associate finds it
difficult to withstand this pressure and becomes unconscious. Gradually this
apocalyptic faculty grows stronger and stronger, with the growth of strength of
conscious mind and its ability to accommodate such apocalyptic information.
When the conscious is strong enough to
withstand the pressure resulting from the perception of unconscious stimuli and
the nerves keep on functioning as they do during the wakefulness the next stage
to apocalypse termed as 'mushahida' (observation) is experienced. In this state
of observation, one remaining busy in mundane affairs, like seeing things with
open eyes, enjoying worldly activities, having food and participating in the worldly
affairs, at the same time peregrinates the extraterrestrial worlds spiritually
at the same time. During the observation state one enters the Purgatory
(Alam-e-Aaraf) the realm where the earthlings go to reside in life hereafter.
It is witnessed that there is no difference between the life of this world and
that life of Aaraf. Just as one drinks, eats, sleeps, wakes up, expresses
delight or grief, laughs and cries, feels love or hatred, needs the company of
friends, wants to favors his friends and gets favor from the friends, requires
means to protect oneself from cold or hot weather in this world in the same way
in the life in Aaraf, too, he drinks, eats, sleeps, wakes up and fulfills all
the needs of life. One lives under the shelter of a roof in the life of Aaraf
just as one is used to living in this phenomenal world. The only difference is
that one is not required to strive, individually or collectively, for the means
and resources over there as is done here.
The world existing in Aaraf is so enchanting
and beautiful that the beauty of the world of matter is nothing as compared to
that. When someone, after entering the state of observations, witnesses the
Aaraf he is liberated from the gravity. Liberation from the gravity does not
purport that one starts flying in the air but it means that he is purged from
the density of thoughts, lust, greed, evilness, pride and false vanity
resulting from accumulation of wealth etc. This fact that one day one has to
leave this world to go to world of eternal life is believed with certitude. It
would not be out of place to mention that the occult sciences based on
sorceress knowledge can, at the most, excel to the limits of 'Ganood' and
'Warood' only in their meditating practices. They manage to arouse the
abilities of 'Ganood' and 'Warood' by continuous and regular exercises enabling
them to perform supernatural activities.
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
When any branch of knowledge is taken into
consideration, two things, because of their significance, immediately become
important. The first one is theoretical knowledge, which we possess about that
particular branch of knowledge and in its final stage practical demonstration
and implementation of that branch of knowledge is observed. In other words,
knowledge is the name given to the combination of theory and practice. Like any
other branch of knowledge, the spiritual sciences, too, are no exception to this
rule, that is, after learning and Rules, Laws, Principle and Formulae
Theoretically; they are tested, analyzed and examined practically. There are
two possible ways of learning and acquiring knowledge. One method is to learn
the theory first and then to use the learnt formulae, principles and laws
practically. The other method is to start learning through practical
experiments directly.
