Loh o Qalam [27]

Lecture 27

Erebus and Purgatory

When God wanted to put an end to the state of ignorance and lostfulness, He addressed the universe. The hearing produced as soon as the Voice of God was heard and with that the ability to become attentive towards something was also became functioning. With the activation of the faculty of paying attention the universe looked at the addressing deity. The sight enabled the creatures to have realization of another being beside them. This made them to become aware of two things: Creator and the creation.

Both are specified with the Realm of Behest. All the movements of the Realm of Behest are the unitary movements because the Creator and the creation both are singular units. The Realm of Behest consists of these two movements that have no color and both are the negative movements, i.e., it is such a state where does not exist anything except nescience. Both these movements pertain to Latifa-e-akhfa and Latifa-e-Khafi (The Latent and Obscure Subtleties respectively). Latifa-e-akhfa is the Specified Realm of Behest and the Latifa-e-khafi is the Ordinary Realm of Behest. The Realm of Specified Behest is the Creator Being and the Ordinary Realm of Behest is the basis of the creation. The Specific Realm of Behest is explored by virtue of the Latifa-e-Khafi. Latifa-e-khafi is the record of the universe and Latifa-e-akhfa is the record of the Beatific Visions. And, Akhfa and khafi both these subtleties are the root of all the existents. Akhfa is the root of all the individuals of a species.

This thing could be exemplified with the seed of a plant, which is the root of the plant. When a seed is sown in the soil, it takes the form of a plant, therefore the seed is said to be the mother of a plant. But when the entire genre of a plant comes under discussion, we have to refer to that seed which was sown for the very first time and the same original seed, after passing down into the generations, is still transforming itself into a plant. To wit, the original root of the species of mango tree and all the individuals of this species is that seed which was sown in the soil for the very first time. Nasma of the seed has such a movement that has a beginning as well as an ending and this movement is averting its beginning towards the consequential ending. First seed of any species is the first individual of that species.

Akhfa is the first movement initiated by the halo graphic existence (hiola) of a species and khafi is the second. The range of the sight of akhfa is reaching far behind the screen into the unseen realms and the sight of the khafi ranges up to the surface of the screen, that is, it sees the manifested world.

God has stated, “All that is in the earth and the heavens glorify God, the Most Wise. It is for Him to govern. He brings the earth and heavens to life and He causes them to die. He is the Omniscient. He created the earth and the heavens in six days and then established Himself firmly upon the Throne. He knows all that enters the earth and that comes out of the earth, that get down the heavens and that ascends to heavens. He is the All-seeing, All-knowing. He is the manifest and the hidden. He never leaves His creatures alone.”

When these words are taken into consideration, so many things reveal. ‘All that is in the earth and the heavens glorify God’ means that there does not exist a single creation, which is devoid of consciousness. Not only that they have the realization of their own being but they also know that God has created them and for the very reason everything in the earth and heavens celebrate praises of God and glorify Him.

‘It is for Him to govern’, means that life and death are from Him. Anything that has come into being cannot deny from coming to an end although every living being wants to escape death, yet the death prevails. Once his thing is settled upon that the death is unavoidable then it transpires that actually death is not annihilation or extinction but it is a process of transference of a living being from one realm into the other, then, this also comes to the mind that God is He who is supporting this magnificent system. ‘He created the world and the heavens in six days and established upon the throne’ signifies seven stages of ascent and descent. And, God knows it well what is that enters the earth or gets down the heavens indicates the descent and that comes out of the earth and climbs towards heavens is hinting upon ascension. Getting down to the earth and climbing up to the heavens are two state of Ascent and Descent. All that is there in the earth and the heavens is in His control. Every moment of life, on the one hand, is descent and, on the other, the same moment is an ascent as well.

Auliya Allah (Friends of God) have designated six aspects for trudging in these two states of ascent and descent. Each aspect is a movement or activity, which are collectively known as six subtleties (Lataif-e-sitta), namely, Akhfa, Khafi, Sirri, Roohi, Qalbi and Nafsi.

Every movement has its specific length for every species. Three of these movements are the descending movements and three are the ascending. Three ascending movements take effect at the same time when on the other side the three movements start descending.

Colorlessness or the achromatic state of Akhfa is the root of all the colors. This achromatic state changes into monochromatic state when the movement reaches the sirr (Arcanum Subtlety). This monochromatic state contains frequencies of all the colors. When his movement descends one step further all the colors contained therein are dispersed. One side where this dispersal takes effect is the Qalb (Imagination) and the other side is the Nafs (Sense). Combination of the Qalb and Nafs, imagination and feeling, is the manifestation.

This law is not only valid for the human beings but also holds good for every species be it the jinn, angel, or even if it is a planet. The achromatic state of movement is he time or the unconscious and the dispersal of monochromatic into colors is the space or the conscious. What actually happens, is that when the time is on the surface the space remains at depth but after entering into the stage of manifestation, the Space rises up to the surface and the time goes in depth. The movement taking place from Akhfa towards the Manifestation is the descending movement and when the Space is surfaced, the movement becomes the ascending one, which ascends from Nafsi towards the Roohi and from there it further ascends towards the khafi.

Combination and collective working of Nafsi and Qalbi is the material world. Latifa-e-Roohi is a veil between the ascending and the descending movements. When the movement encounters this screen during its descent, it is called Burzakh (Erebus) and when it comes in its way during its ascent from the manifestation, it is known as Airaf (Purgatory).

Latifa-e-khafi is the Written Book, that is, it is a documented film of all the acts and deeds performed during the lifetime of a person. This very film is the ultimate destination known as the Resurrection and Judgment.

Thus, it makes seven stages of human life in all and every stage is a conscious life in which the movements of descent and ascent are completed. Overall, these seven stages are classified into two realms of Material world and the Life Hereafter. Between these two, two more stages are there. The intermediatry phase between The Preserved Scripturum and the Physical World is the Illustrative Realm and the stations between Physical World and the Day of Resurrection and Judgment are the Erebus and Purgatory. The Erebus is the descending stage and the Purgatory is ascending stage when the movement is heading towards the Day of Resurrection and Judgment.