Loh o Qalam [4]

Lecture 4

The Invisible Controls

God mentioning His Attributes tells that Unity and plurality are also amongst His attributes. The creatures are in plurality, they are indigent of resources, they have to be the offspring of other creatures like themselves, they have to reproduce themselves as well and they also have to have a family, whereas, the Creator is above from all such things.

Since the creatures are many in numbers, therefore, possessing the individual and the collective conscious becomes necessary for them and that the individual conscious must be of various grades and the collective conscious must be representing the species [اللهم صل على محمد و ال محمد و عجل فرجهم و اهلك عدوهم من الجن و الانس من الاولين و الاخرين]. The collective nature of the conscious depends upon the relations between the individuals of a species such as the relationship of a father or mother and other relations of the family. The system to maintain and fulfill the obligations of these relations operating in the universe is functioning in the Ethereal Realm. The connotation of Ethereal Realm is suggestive of the fact that the whole universe is established upon the Elohistic Attributes of God.

The universe did not start existing at its own. Someone must have created it and therefore it becomes necessary that the creation must have an affinity with its creator. This very affinity tells us that God is the one who has brought us to life and, He is the provider of resources for maintaining our life. The universe, including man, is indigent of God at every step of its life. We enter into the individual limits after passing through the limits of species and universality, that is, every one of us enjoys one’s own individual conscious. In the third stage of the Ethereal Realm, it is known by every one consciously that, ‘I am’ or to say, he/she is. Knowing the status of one’s being in terms of second and third stages of Ethereal Realm i.e., species and the universe comes under the stimuli of the Unconscious. At the forth stage of Ethereal Realm, an individual is acquainted with his/her own features, shape, feelings and the senses. Yet at another step down, in the fifth stage, it is perceived that the existence of the universe and its individuals is because of their affinity with that One Who is closer to them than their jugular vein. When a person perceives with a species and collective consciousness, that his/her existence is subjected to such a Being who is closer than the jugular vein then it is realized by him/her that he/she is existing somewhere in the universe. A person with such a perception notices that how the movements of one person or a particle are associated with the movements of other people or the particles. This thing can be exemplified with a chain that has many links in it and every link has its own individual name, for instance, one is mankind, another is the jinn, the other is an angel and yet another is a celestial body, a star or a planet. When a person would look at the links of the chain collectively, he would be grasping all the creatures of the universe just like the links of a chain. Or to say, when one would be exercising the collective vision, he would not only be grasping the mankind, jinns and angels but would also be able to witness the systems of galaxies, stars and planets and other systems operative in the heavens.

The Preserved Scripturum is such a screen or the film where the whole collective program of the universe is preserved in all details of every movement. A person who has the realization of the Ethereal Realm can see, understand and feel the impressions of the Preserved Scripturum and, since the Preserved Scripturum is the record of past, present and future, therefore, such a person can also see anything happening thousands of years ago or that will ever happen thousands of years hence. We exemplified the Preserved Scripturum as a film. If such a camera could be invented, which could shoot the pictures of the activities of the whole world collectively, then the film thus prepared would be containing in it all the things that are existing in the world and when this film would be displayed upon a screen, all those things would become live separately in their  respective forms, shapes, features and complexions etc.

For the sake of understanding we can say that the universe is a film produced by God and when this filmed program is displayed different types of senses become operative. Collective or the universal senses make us to see the whole universe in one place simultaneously, that is, it is witnessed that all the species; be it a monkey, cat, cow, plant, tree, river, mountain, man, jinn or angel, are saved in a film. This collective perception gives rise to the species’ conscious, that is, a person becomes aware that he belongs to the homo sapiens and the other things belong to such and such species.

An Organisational consciousness is produced in a person when the senses descend down further. This consciousness produces the perception about one’s own species and he comes to know about his creation and the senses that have been given to him. When a spiritual associate is acquainted with the individual and the species’ conscious, he witnesses that all the species are related to with one another and are seen in a mixed form, that is, he sees that there is a cow having a goat within, the goat has a pigeon, the pigeon has a man in it, the man includes an ant. It means that the whole program appears to be a mixture of different things but when the conscious of the spiritual associate develops enough to comprehend these impressions separately, this mixed program becomes clear enough and the species are identified separately. For instance, a pigeon is seen on the Preserved Scripturum, this one pigeon contains all the shades or the reflections of billions and trillions of individuals of the pigeon species. Similarly it happens in the case of jinn, angel, man, animal, vegetables, inanimate, star or a planet. When the vision is developed further and the conceptual powers increase, the conscious can explain the details of the mixed species’ program. At this stage the program pertaining to the individuals of a species become visible for the sight. When the species’ program is divided into individual program every individual of the species perceives him individually. At this stage the conscious is strengthen this much that man becomes aware of his birth stage, i.e. it comes into his knowledge that what are the factors that are responsible for the birth of an individual. After that every individual becomes acquainted with his typical form, shape and senses. The ability of grasping the whole universal system, in terms of Sufism, is called the Invisible Controls. A person enjoying this faculty has such an expanded vision that he can witness and grasps the details of all the events and happenings that have taken place thousands of years ago, are taking place presently or will ever take place thousands of years from now.