The Hidden Faculties
The purification of the hidden faculties is accomplished through the
sciences of symbolism and ultimate realities.
Before launching into an enquiry concerning the hidden faculties, it
should be understood that the real nature and the effects of these faculties are unfamiliar to most minds and that most people do not benefit from being told of them. In fact, there are only two types of person who stand to gain by hearing of these things:
The first is someone who has already come close to developing them completely and who has acquired the capacity to purify them.
The second type is someone who has been blessed with the general knowledge of these hidden faculties but lacks the capacity to understand them in detail ... His general knowledge will be transformed into a detailed one, and his acquired learning will combine with that which is God-given, and the two will become as one.
... Briefly, when the seeker has dealt with the five faculties which have already been mentioned, he then has to concern himself with the sublime spirit...
The sublime spirit is composed of two parts : The rational soul & the celestial spirit.
The Rational Soul
The rational soul [is] a bubble in the ocean of the universal soul, or an image formed from its wax, or it is an individual within the universal, or it is in some way a part of reality...
Every soul, whether it be mineral, vegetable, animal, angelic or satanic, is a bubble or a miniature image of the universal soul. Every soul, however, has its own sphere of influence. The perfect souls are the final cycle of souls, while the heavenly souls constitute the first cycle. Thus, just as in one sense the heavenly souls are nearest to the universal soul, in another sense the perfected souls are also the nearest to it; however there is a vast gulf between the one type of nearness and the other.
Every soul has its own particular substance, and ...the universal soul is manifested according to the capacity of that substance...
For each separate substance the universal soul appeared dressed in a particular raiment [mineral, vegetable, animal, human, etc...]
... when through fresh enhancement it became further purified it inevitably became fit to receive a soul which was subtler, purer and more intelligent than the first....
The Perfected Human
The universal soul clothed itself in a particular form and appeared in all its splendour in the finest of human beings. The effect of this effulgence was the appearance within an individual selfhood of the impulses of the universal soul-- which is the administrator of all that exists in the universe-- and the influx, into this bubble and likeness, of knowledge and spiritual attainments.
... The perfect man is, in our view, just as much a separate species among the various kinds of men as man is a separate species within his own genus. Just as man is deemed superior to the animals by virtue of his universal outlook, so too the perfect man is superior to other men by virtue of the systematic refinement of his five faculties which took place when the universal soul made its appearance in his particular selfhood and made the latter an appendage of its will.
There are many such qualities in the perfect man and to give a full account of them all would take too long. Briefly, the perfect man is the nearest of all individual souls to the universal soul. The difference in degree of proximity depends on the individuals capacity to receive the abundant grace which is poured down on it from the universal soul.
The Celestial Spirit
The second part of the sublime spirit is known as the celestial spirit. This too is a bubble in the ocean of the universal soul, but after the universal soul was stirred into agitation, it brought into existence a world which was an offshoot of that of the heavenly souls and which is known as the 'world of ideas'. Initially, a bubble of the universal human form appeared; and after a long period had elapsed, that one form became fragmented into a great many forms.
The truth about the human form is that, in its essence, it is not universal, rather it is an individual represented in the substance of the world of ideas. However, that individual is formed in such a way that it matches whoever is placed in front of it. From this point of view, we may call it Universal Man. These myriad human forms, because of their own specific properties, are attracted towards the supreme manifestation, residing at the heart of the universal soul. The reason for this attraction is that, compared to all the other souls in the three kingdoms of nature, human souls are closest to the universal soul.
To sum up, there are two parts to the sublime spirit and both are blended and mixed together. One part constitutes its substance and the other its form. The rational soul , which is a bubble that has come to the surface of souls in the physical world, is of the nature of substance; while the celestial spirit , which is likewise a bubble on the surface of the world of ideas, partakes of the nature of form.
It is in this way that a sculptor may form an image in his mind and beyond that image there is revealed a real image, existing an absolutely independent existence. It is neither conceptual nor external, but has an existence which it is beyond the scope of the framework laid down by the universal expediency to eliminate, and which is firmly rooted in the universal soul itself. Then the sculptor simply models his material from one shape to another, until he has made it correspond with the image imprinted in his mind.
... souls [are transformed] from one state to another until the rational soul has achieved a condition that corresponds with the ideal form, which appeared long before the rational soul first came into existence.
Journeys of the Gnostic
The first journey of the gnostic is to the supreme manifestation; while his final journey is to absolute selfhood.
At the very heart of this sublime spirit an extremely bright point has been placed. It is as it were a soul of this soul and this soul is like a body for it. That shining point is named the pure intellect. It would be outside of the scope of this treaties to give a detailed account of it; however, we might say this much: that the Pure Essence, God, has left a sample of itself. Alternatively, we could say that it is a characteristic of the Pure Essence that at one stage it is entirely engrossed in self-contemplation; while at other stages, despite its purity, it descends; however, in the course of that descent it loses none of its purity...
Or else we could say that when the gnostic turns his gaze upon himself and plunges deep into contemplation of the ultimate source of his arising, then the utmost limit of his vision is that essential shining point. He imagines that this point is in the middle of his own spirit; whereas in fact it dwells, in its unalloyed simplicity, in an illustrious abode. How is it possible for man, this handful of dust, to think of that most rare and treasured being as his guest? But because his vision has penetrated to the reality of realities, it appears to him as if this point existed in the very center of his spirit.
At this point three possible interpretations emerge. The first is more disciplined and is advocated by the man whose pure intellect is enveloped in the veil of his sublime spirit and inherently bound up in it. Such bonding is analogous to that of metal and liquid in quicksilver. Thus when this man turns to ecstasy he finds, in the ensuing revelation, a sample of the essence and a legacy from the primal being which are more appropriate to him.
The second is closer to intoxication. Its proponent is the type of man whose pure intellect is by nature separated from the veil of the spirit and whose subtle faculties are all annihilated in that pure intellect.
The third possibility is associated rather with pure sobriety of mind, complete establishment, and absolute permanence. Its advocate is someone in whom one faculty does not dominate another. "Oh God, show us the realities of things as they really are!" (attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) -- is the language appropriate to this state.
In short these differences in interpretation have arisen out of differences in capacity among individual seekers. This is a point which should constantly be borne in mind when considering the great variation among them.
Likewise, when Lord Jesus saw these three parts and perceived their origin in all its glory and simplicity he proceeded to establish the evangelical knowledge of the three persons of the trinity. To one of these he gave the name "Father", and that is the central core of the essence of God. The second he called the "Son" and that is the universal soul. And the third one he called the "Holy Spirit" and that is the supreme manifestation, which is established in the heart of the heavenly fold. However, the Christians totally failed to understand what is an extremely obscure topic...
When these three sources have been clearly understood, it should also be plain that the influences of the hidden faculties, i.e. the Concealed, the Sacred Light, the Deeply Concealed and the Ego, are all derived from these three sources.
When the gnostic's journey passes beyond the minor sainthood, which has already been explained in our discussion of the path of Junayd, then one of two states will inevitably ensue:
The first alternative is that the influence of the celestial spirit is dominant, in which case the gnostic is attracted to the supreme manifestation and attains a wonderfully close communion with it. While his communion is actually taking place, his pure intellect joins with the supreme manifestation; after which he starts on an indescribable ascent towards the Pure Essence, from which he receives something which cannot be interpreted. If it is called a contemplative vision, it is not really that; if it is called union, it cannot be said to partake of the nature of union either. It is simply a forgotten dream. However, this much we do know: it really is something, but it cannot be explained. This path is named the path of the prophetic inheritance.
The second alternative is that the influence of the rational soul is dominant; and this bubble loses itself in the ocean of the universal soul. The mark of this bubble's obliteration is seen in the welling up in the soul of the universal influence. This characteristic can have an overall effect, though sometimes it is only knowledge that is affected, in which case the gnostic's view culminates in absolute reality, in which every particular is established. But sometimes certain universal influences are also transmitted with the result that one of the following states arises:
Either the individual may see himself as the primary objective, with absolute reality included within himself as the secondary objective; or else he may perceive absolute reality as the primary objective, with himself and the whole world established within it-- just as contingent existence stands within essence, or just as organic manifestations stand in external existence, from which they arise; or just as the accidental forms, which come in and out of existence, stand in matter.
A third possibility is that the vision of the rational soul is completely diverted from its own existence and nothing remains except absolute reality. This in turn gives rise to two further possibilities: Either the absolute selfhood may replace the individual selfhood, and the gnostic may regard the individual selfhood as being the absolute selfhood; or else he may become oblivious of the individual selfhood, neither confirming it nor denying it nor interfering with it. He neither replaces it with the absolute selfhood, nor does he remember it as a separate entity. In Sufi parlance, this is called illumination of the essence. Here, the ultimate vision of the gnostic is the universal soul. From there, he ascends towards the Pure Essence and gains something from it, but does not know how to interpret it, or how to explain that forgotten dream, or how to conceive that which lies so far beyond. This path is named the major sainthood.
However, whatever the path may be, prophetic inheritance or major sainthood, it makes little difference.
from The Altaf al-Quds of Shah Waliullah
Shah Waliullah of Delhi
TRANSLATED BY G. N. JALBANI
REVISED AND EDITED BY David Pendlebury
The Sacred Knowledge is regarded as a fundamental text in both East and West by students of Sufi thought. Through Professor Jalbani’s rendering, the book shows how the 18th century mystic of Delhi discharged his task. In Waliullah’s own words, ‘The purpose behind writing this discourse is that only those problems pertaining to perception and the mystical unveiling are mentioned.’
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