Friday, December 31, 2021

GHAZALI'S VIEWS ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE SOUL

 


GHAZALI'S VIEWS ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE SOUL 

IN THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS  (KIMIYA-YI SA'ĀDAT)


(BASED UPON TURKISH TRANSLATION OF HENERY. A. HOLMES.


Islamic tradition considers Imam Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 AD) to be a  Mujahid[1], a re-newer of the faith-- who, according to the prophetic Hadith, appears once every century to restore the faith of the Ummah ("the Islamic Community"). His contemporaries so highly acclaimed his works that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).

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[1] MUJADID---In India there is the idea of the Incarnations (avtaras—अवतार) of God. One of the great Incarnations, Krishna, in the Bhagavad-Gitâ, says, "Though I am unborn, of changeless nature, and Lord of beings, yet subjugating My Prakriti, I come into being by My own Mâyâ. Whenever virtue subsides and immorality prevails, then I body Myself forth. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma, I come into being, in every age." Whenever the world degenerates into lack of faith in God, He comes to help it forward; and so He does from time to time and place to place.

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In his remarkable treatise of "Alchemy of Happiness, (KIMIYA-YI SA'ĀDAT), Ghazali has explored a very intimate relationship between the Soul, God, this World, the After-world, and love exceptionally logically and mystically for the seekers of the Divine Mysteries. The first chapter deals with the knowledge of the soul.

Authentic literacy (Ilm), in spirituality, is the experience of God-realization by a man while worldly knowledge is deemed illiteracy (Kam-ilmi). The more we are literate from the worldly perspective, the more we realize that the unknown has many unknown frontiers. Nevertheless, worldly people emphasize the acquisition of knowledge of the Universe. That is where the differences arise in the viewpoints of scholars and mystics. Let it not be understood that worldly knowledge is purposeless, but it must be realized that realms of the Truth are inaccessible by mental understanding.

Moreover, the knowledge of the world of matter and transition creates the mirage of Reality, enhances the ego, and multiplies thoughts of duality.  Ghazali exalts the mystical aspect of true bliss and happiness in preference to the transient satisfaction enjoyed through the senses, which generate more cravings intertwined with unhappiness.

Despite being an Islamic ideologue and mystic, he does not directly endorse Namaz, Haj, Zakat, Roza, Vaju. Still, he merely stresses upon the focussed remembrance of God as mandated in the holy Quran. He supersedes the philosophical reasoning of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle based upon the "logic of limited consciousness". He redefines the "eternal logic of Divine Consciousness" for human happiness whose essence commences with the soul.     

Holy Bible says, "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Rumi's famous quote is, "You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop," which is a reminder of the identical understanding of Ghazali. That the soul in the human body is the only vehicle of self-realization or the experiential Reality of God, that is Supreme Truth. Kabir Sahib says, "All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop". "बूँद पड़ी जो समुद्र में, ताहि जाने सब कोय समुद्र समाना बूँद में, बूझै बिरला कोय. Guru Nanak Sahib also says "The Lord is in the soul, and the soul is in the Lord. This is realized through the Guru's Teachings". आतम महि रामु राम महि आतमु चीनसि गुर बीचारा The core and crux of statements of these mystics are that the soul and God cannot be differentiated in the state of self-realization.

The credentials of the identical views of other mystics of different times evidence the profoundness of ideas and writings of Ghazali. What is a soul? God is a "Universal soul," intelligent and vibrant energy often called Ism-e-Azam in Islam that can be "fractionalized into infinite souls" for projection of the creation without undergoing any intrinsic change. Just like the sun and rays are always integrated into a state of unawareness. A part of the infinite is infinite. Again, this is a blessed understanding and cannot be verified at the human level. Soul in its "purest" form is also not subject of cause and effect because of its inherent eternity

"Knowledge" of the soul is the only means for "true understanding", also called God-realization. Worldly knowledge can be googled out even from the scriptures and other scholarly writings in the internet age.  Pandits, pastors, preachers, and pretentious holy men dispense religious knowledge. Seekers practice their teachings and obsess themselves in crass ritualism, wherein the soul's longing for the unveiled Reality gets obscured.  

FIRST, GHAZALI DEALS WITH UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOUL.

He says, "when we speak of the heart (means the soul), we do not mean the piece of flesh which is in the left side of the breast of a man. That heart, which is emphatically called spirit, does not belong to this world, and although it has come to this world, it has only come to leave it.

Oh, Seeker of the divine mysteries! Know thou that the door to the knowledge of God will be opened to a man first, when he knows his soul and understands the Truth about his own spirit, according to as it has been revealed, he who knows himself knows his Lord also.

The knowledge which you need to possess is to know what you are; how you are created; whence you are; for what you are here; whether you are going; in what your happiness consists, and what you must do to secure it; in what your misery consists, and what you must do to avoid it.

Writes Ghazali that the holy scriptures, Prophets, Saints, and mystics have endorsed that Man was created to grow in understanding of God. If man had been created only to eat and drink, it would follow those animals are of greater worth and excellence than man. If man had also been created to fight, kill and domineer, it would follow that beast of prey are nobler than he, for they are mightier in their ferocity and power to subjugate other animals. In the constitution of man's body, there is an infinity of the most beautiful things to be observed.         Each internal and external organ has various curious uses, of which man is entirely uninformed. There are thousands of veins in man's body with several bones of different shapes, created for specific purposes and effects.

Though human being is created with perfection by the perfect Creator in his own image, yet in this world, human beings are imperfect observers.[1]The severity of limitation is so intense that the number of points in a line cannot be counted, nor can a straight line be drawn because of the inherent curvature of the earth. The difference between clock time, mental time, and dream time can be easily recognized. The color of an object depends upon the type of light incident upon it. The position and velocity of a sub-atomic particle cannot be determined simultaneously (Heisenberg principle of uncertainty). Thus, appearances are deceptive. Human awareness is restricted to the extent it is structured to function in this creation. The logic and rationality of the philosophers and scientists depend upon the calculable, computable, quantifiable issues. Instrumentation and experimentation are applied to infer these from the physical bodies, Universe, atomic and sub-atomic particles, molecular biology, energy, light, electromagnetic waves, chemistry, mathematics, human body, astronomy, astrology, time and space, and other sciences. Many theories have been thought of and prescribed with and without evidence. All such theoretical reasonings can be unreasoned, re-reasoned, and can have derived reasons. That, according to Ghazali, is knowledge of externality aided by the human soul. There are several cases where great minds of mathematics and science came face to face with the mystery of the Universe.  They were astonished by the architecture and constructions of this Universe's unspeakable beauty and complexity and felt 'thus and no further because beyond, is the domain of the "Master Builder "or an unknown power or the energy or God.  The Human Brain is not equipped to attack such questions.

But there are other imponderables in human beings like thoughts, Love, emotions, happiness, sadness, curiosity, intuition, inspiration, determination, depression, dreams, longing, etc., beyond measurement and quantification. Here, the ideas, opinions, and arguments of Ghazali are noteworthy and carry validity for understanding the totality of the soul.

He uses the words soul, spirit and heart interchangeably to rationalize the perception of philosophers and scientists of the phenomenal aspect of human nature and the mystical dimension of spirituality. The knowledge of the spirit is the beginning and not an end of self-realization.

Billions of events are taking place in the world of which we remain unaware. All the knowledge is trivial and frivolous if a man lacks comprehensive perception or the realization of the soul.

Ghazali explains the working of the soul by notionally dividing it into two compartments or silos --one that deals with the external world and the other which operates in the invisible spiritual domain

The first part of the soul operates in the trinity of the physical body, outer and inner world. The outer body is the shell of the soul for operative aspects of the body itself and its relationship with the world of the external dimension of shape, form, and quantity. The functioning of the soul is centrifugal in this regard.

If an injury occurs to any of these faculties and instruments, man's actions and reactions are impaired or diminished.            Now all these are the agents of the soul. They are subject to its rule. If, for example, the heart permits the ear, hearing results; if it permits the eye, there follows sight and so on. If the soul allows the stomach to ingest, it will digest but not otherwise. When a man is unconscious or in a coma, one part of the soul dealing with body and intellect degenerates or collapses, life still exists in the same physical frame. Thus, a soul can opt for dysfunctionality for the body and the world while keeping the body alive.

The second aspect is the soul's inner mechanism manages the meta-physical constituents, devoid of any shape, form, and quantity such as perception, reflection, memory, recollection, and imagination. Here the soul functions centripetally or can be briefly interpreted to mean that it has direct connectivity with all forms of consciousness to attain the prime objective of human life.

People generally look only at the visible world, the present world, the sensible world, and the material world, which is subject to dissolution and mutation every moment perceived with the external window of the heart. Amazingly, there is yet another window in the heart from which it surveys the invisible world, the world of intelligence, or the spiritual world. 

There are two contentions to evidence of the inner windows in the heart. First are dreams; when all senses are blurred or blunted, the individual can perceive events of the invisible world or subtle realms beyond the comprehension of general ideas of form, time, and space.

In a dream sequence, there could be an experience of rain without clouds or flying in the sky or dying-- that may be tangible during the duration of the dream. But none will trust the dreamer if such events are narrated to earthly beings in the awaking stage because of apparent irrationality unless the other person has experienced the dream phenomenon. Thus, the scope of logic ends when conditions of consciousness change.  

When the heart or the spirit is engaged with the external world of impurity, change, and transition, the inner faculties are inactive or dormant; nothing can be visualized with the unseen eyes of consciousness. Thus, all observations, theories, scientific equations, mathematical calculations, and results shall vary in different states of consciousness. Then absolute and relative understanding falls into a grey zone of interminable riddles.

The second proof of these windows in the heart is that no individual knows things he has neither seen nor heard without inner inspiration. A thought or a chain of thoughts trickles from an unknown reservoir in the brain that stimulates action and activity in a person and others connected to attain specific objectives in the world[2]. Apples may have been falling since eons from the trees, but some inner intuition inspired Newton to define the theory of gravity. And this logic can be reasonably extended to all inventions, designs, sophistication, and conveniences or inconveniences that we live through. That is the anatomical aspect of the soul that can be inferred from inside to the outside.

Writes Ghazali --But in death, as the senses are entirely separated, and the veil of the body is removed, the heart can contemplate the invisible world and its hidden mysteries, without a veil, just as lightening cosmic rays impress the external eye.

Let this not be construed that the heart's window is never opened except in sleep and after death. On the contrary, when the heart purifies from the defilement of blameable affections, abandons the use of his external senses, and occupies himself in solitary mediation in God's remembrance, his heart will come into harmony with the invisible world. He will no longer receive signals from the material world, and nothing will be present in his heart but the holy God. These revelations of the invisible world can be experienced when windows of the heart are opened, and what others may have seen in a dream, he experiences the Reality.    The spirits of angels and prophets are manifested to him, and he holds interaction with them.

As the Prophet of God says: "I turned towards the earth, and  I   saw the east and the west.". And God says in his word: "And thus we caused Abraham to see the kingdom of heaven and earth, which is an example of this kind of revelation. ( Sura 6.75)

The working of the soul can be experienced when free from the trash and delusion of desires, attachments, fears, worries of this or that world and is guided by a Mentor, blessed with God's awareness through loving devotion. Probably the knowledge of all the prophets was obtained this way and not obtained by learning.  And this course is adopted by the Mystics.  It is also the path followed by the prophets.

Finally, Ghazali says, "You should be aware, however, that this alchemy of happiness, that is, the knowledge of God, the revelation of the Truth, cannot be acquired without spiritual self-denial and effort. Unless a man has reached perfection, nothing will be revealed to him, except in cases of special divine grace and merciful providence, which rarely occurs.

 Another paradigm can be given to supplement the self-realization of the soul. There is no physical difference in the bodies of a rich and a poor person. The rich man has accumulated wealth to credit his bank account and control businesses with authority, power, and will. The latter, despite a similar body, remains dependent on farthing and burdens the resources of others. By dint of struggle and diligence, the wealthy person attained the honor and respect in life, while poor man lives a life of ignorance. Here the metaphor of richness is meant for spiritual realization, and while poor is the one who remains devoid of the hidden treasure of the soul within.

In this discussion, Ghazali has not written about good or bad actions, noble deeds, charity, etc., or sinning and transgressions. So long man does not get detached from the world's desires, he will continue in the karmic domain, face consequences of Karma, and remain in the web of the cycle of come and go. Man's objective should be for perpetual redemption and liberation of the soul by merging with God.

Finally, Ghazali concludes his endorsement of experiencing the soul in the following profound words –

"Every man's happiness is found in the place where he obtains enjoyment and tranquillity. Thus, sensual enjoyment is found in eating and drinking, and the like. The enjoyment of anger is derived from taking revenge and from violence.   The enjoyment of the eye consists in the view of correct images and agreeable objects.  The enjoyment of the ear is secured in listening to harmonious voices.    In the same way, enjoyment of heart depends upon being employed for which it was created for experiencing the supreme Truth.

In the same manner, the heart which does not feel a necessity for the knowledge and Love of God, and where the Love of other objects reigns, is a heart that is sick and ready to perish. When a  remedy is applied, its affection and afflictions are turned away from other things, and the Love of God becomes predominant. Otherwise, eternal bliss will be lost, and eternal misery will be its portion. Thus our refuge is in God.

The enjoyments of this world that are procured through the senses are cut off at death. The enjoyment of the Love and knowledge of God, which depends upon the heart, is alone lasting.  What has hitherto been saying is sufficient to enable a person of intelligence to comprehend the dignity of the heart (soul) of man."    

 

 

 



[1] Consider the following illustrations-

1.      Sitting at home or anywhere, we feel that we are stationary. On the contrary, we are synchronized with the earth’s circular motion around its axis while circling the Sun. That can be observed because the day changes into the night, and night progresses towards the day.

2.      The Sun and Moon are always there in the sky. They do not rise or set in. But our understanding of day and night is subjective because of our relative positioning on the earth.

3.      In cosmic phenomenon, the Sun and sunlight are omnipresent on the earth and elsewhere.  The existence of night is a planetary illusion.

4.      The moon is always full and not half or quarter as seen.  

5.      When we look at the Sun, we observe its position, which existed 8.33 minutes before. (Distance between the Sun and Earth is 150,000,000 km divided by speed of light 300,000km/second =500 seconds. =8.33 minutes.) The present position cannot be observed.  All that is inferred by seeing is what transpired in the past and not the present.

6.      Considering that many stars and planets are far from the Sun, we cannot conjecture their real-time position. All that we watch is what happened in the past (and not “now” or in real-time). Many stars visible to us “now” may have died/fallen a long time ago as these are billions of lights years away. “Now” is an illusion accepted voluntarily by the human mind.

7.    We may claim that “we” walk. We take the presence of earth and gravity for granted. Unless earth’s gravity and friction are supportive, walking is impossible because of a lack of pull and push.  Thus, walking on water or slippery surfaces is dreadful because of a lack of firm support and friction.

8.   Our weight is also relative and not absolute, depending upon the force of gravity. On the Moon or Mars, the weight will vary depending upon the gravitational force on that planet

 

[2]

THE POWER OF INVISIBLE THOUGHT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

 

Can you imagine that the very thought of buying a car stirs a tremendous amount of activity in this world?

 

We immediately start using the telephone to find out its price, delivery, quality, etc. We toil hard to earn more money or apply to a bank for the loan amount. A new demand for a car is registered with the dealer that is passed on to the manufacturer. The car company then shores up its inventories of steel plates, engines, auto components, tyres, glass, air conditioners, electrical and lighting systems, etc. Its procurement, engineering, production, and marketing divisions also get activated to service ‘the thought of buying the car’. That, in turn, generates additional demand for iron ore, coal, silica, chemicals, metals, rubber, plastics, and so on. That is followed by the transportation of these items by road, rail, sea, or air—as the case may be. Trucks, rail cars, ships, or aircraft are used for this very purpose. Drivers, pilots, captains of the ship, and laborers are engaged and paid for.

When the car reaches the dealer, its sale and service division is put into action to deliver the vehicle. The bank, income tax, sale tax, transport departments also have work to do. Additional demand for fuel is also created. This puts the refineries into action. Many friends and relatives may genuinely rejoice with your new vehicle, while others might envy the acquisition. Endless could be the enumeration of all the happenings that occur when an activity is thought of and we decide to act according to that thought process.

A thought jolts all. It demonstrates that fundamentally all of us are connected. Be it other men or beings, materials or machines, entities inert or active, and all elements of Nature and phenomenon have ‘inter- connectivity’ whether it is understood or not. Thought is a thread of that part of Universality. This realization of Universality is the Reality, while the feeling of individual existence is Maya—illusion.

Moreover, a thought transforms itself into virtually countless activities and responses that are incomprehensible. The paradigm of ‘thought of purchase of a car’ symbolizes the power of a hidden thought when a desire for a material object springs up in our mind.

Imagine what happens when you think of the Lord with devotion and pray for Him in meditation. All cosmic forces work silently and indeed for you.

 

Thursday, December 30, 2021

MYSTICAL AND GHAZALI’S VIEWS ON THE FUTURE WORLD


Mystical and Ghazali’s views on Future World

 

NOTE-- Islamic tradition considers Imam Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 AD) to be a  Mujadid, a re-newer of the faith-- who according to the prophetic Hadith, appears once every century to restore the faith of the Ummah ("the Islamic Community"). His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam).

 

 "As you die continually[1] when living, so do you live continually when dead; if not in this body, then in the body of another form. But you continue to live in a body until dissolved in God, which is to say until you overcome all change. The law of time is repetition. What once occurred in time is bound to re-occur again and again; the intervals, in the case of man, maybe long or brief depending on the intensity of each man's desire and will for repetition. When you pass out of the cycle known as life into the cycle known as death, and carry with you thirst unquenched for the Earth and hungers unappeased for her passions, then will the magnet of the Earth draw you again to her bosom. And the Earth shall suckle you, and time shall wean your life after life, and death after death until you wean yourself, once and for all, of your own will and accord".

 

 

 

Mirdad's endorsement that ---You continue to live until dissolved in God" reasserts Ghazali's understanding that there is an existence of a future world.

 

 

 

In Islamic thought, there is a frequent mention of "Jannat" and "Jahannam" for pleasures and painful experiences before the stage of Maqam-e Haq.

 

 

 

Jannat is Paradise, where those who have been good go. It is described in the Qur'an as "gardens of pleasure" (Qur'an 31:8). Muslims believe they get to Paradise by living religiously, asking Allah for forgiveness, and showing good actions in their life. These good actions will be rewarded on the Last Day.

 

 

 

There are said to be seven hells mentioned in Quran. Interestingly, the name Jahannm is used both for hell as a whole and for one of the layers. Every layer is assigned to a different group of denizens.

 

 

 

 In Christianity, hells and heavens are indicated to punish and reward the souls before they enter the "Kingdom of God". In Vedic philosophy, they are referred to as   Swarg or Narak before the soul can ascend to the state of Brahm and Par-Brahm.

 

 

 

Saint Thomas Aquinas answers the question, "Where do souls go after death"?

 

 

 

And since a place is assigned to souls in keeping with their reward or punishment, as soon as the soul is set free from the body, it is either plunged into hell or soars to heaven, unless it is held back by some debt, for which its flight must need be delayed until the soul is first of all cleansed. ... Sometimes venial sin, though needed, first of all, to be cleansed, is an obstacle to the receiving of the reward; the result being that the reward is delayed.

 

 

 

Guru Nanak Sahib has explained the state of God in pre-creation and post-creation stages ( SGGS PAGE 1035). First, "For endless eons, there was only utter darkness. There was no earth or sky; there was only the infinite Command of His Hukam". Then in the second state, when He created the universe-- He created Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva; He fostered enticement and attachment to Maya. In Jap Ji (stanza22 SGGS page 5), Guru Nanak Sahib says -- There are nether worlds beneath nether worlds, and hundreds of thousands of heavenly worlds above. Additionally, in Jap Ji stanza 20, "you shall harvest what you plant. By the Hukam of God's command, O Nanak, we come and go in reincarnation.

 

Mystically and spiritually, the existence of the future world is an evidential statement. Since it is beyond most ordinary people's understanding, Ghazali applies the logic of denial till it is proven. Many astrologers predict what they don't know with some probability. The chances of proving right and wrong both ways are 50%. Some enchanters give charm to people with the thought of positivity of auto-suggestion that their problems will be resolved. They get a hope of relieving themselves from the predicaments.

 

Ghazali likewise suggests letting the sincere seekers believe in the idea of the future life for the time being, even with a half-baked faith in him. They might benefit if his ideas are proven right.

 

When a man realizes this world is a stage in the journey, the purpose of his coming here is to attain the knowledge and love of God. When he experiences the understanding of God, he is delivered from all pain and sorrow of repetitive lives. As the Holy Bible mentions, he obtains rest and spiritual union in the future world or attains everlasting life or eternal life.

 

 

 

The ninth Sikh Guru also mentions (SGGS page1427) – "Like a dream and a show, so is this world, you must know. None of this is true, O Nanak without God[2]." A dream is non-reality, though understood as reality. This game of illusion cannot be appreciated till God-realization dawns.

 

Mystics define the process of "die to live" while in the human body to relish the nectar of immortality or everlasting life. Hazrat Sultan Bahu says in one of his couplets[3] – "Those who realize the secret of God die before death and find everlasting life". On the concept of  Die to Live, the book of Mirdad mentions a brief conversation between Mirdad and his disciple Bennoon 

 

"Mirdad:  When one is dead to change, then one is born to changelessness. Most men live to die. Happy are they who die to live[4].

 

Bennoon: Yet dear is man's identity to man. How shall he sink in God and still be aware of his identity?

 

Mirdad: Is it a loss for the brook to be lost in the Sea and thus be aware of itself as the Sea? For Man to lose his identity in God is but to lose his shadow and find the shadow-less essence of his being.

 

 

 

Ghazali explains "Die to Live" in his style— it happens that when a person becomes breathless and is entranced, as sometimes happens in the first exercises among the Sufis, he has a delightful vision of the state after death, notwithstanding the animal spirit continues in the enjoyment of health. Yet if, while in that state, fear and terror should predominate and deprive him of feeling and motion, and if he becomes so far like the dead that he perceives no external object, the same things may be revealed to him which are revealed to others after death. After he returns from that state to the sensible world, it is sometimes permitted that all he has seen should remain in his memory or that if he does not remember it, traces of it should remain in his mind. He would retain traces of despair, sadness, heaviness of spirit, suspicion, and melancholy if he saw hell. If he has preserved these traces in the treasury of his imagination, it is lawful for him to communicate them to others.

 

 

 

OPERATION OF THE SOUL IN THIS AND FUTURE WORLDS

 

 

 

Ghazali writes-- There is a mystery regarding the future world, which the holy law has not authorized to be explained or mentioned because it could not possibly be understood. It is not named either in the Koran or in the Traditions. God commanded the prophets not to inform the people of the essence of his attributes, saying, "for they will not understand them, will accuse you of falsehood, and will do injury to themselves."

 

 

 

Notwithstanding the above, Ghazali attempted to elaborate in his inimitable manner the functioning of the soul that operates in this world and future world. He has divided the soul's operation into two functionalities: the "animal" spirit's aspect, and the other is the "human" spirit.

 

 

 

He explains that the nature of the soul is like a horse rider (human spirit), sitting on the stallion (animal spirit) and moving towards the attainment of its target. Should the (a) horse die on the way without achieving the objective, the rider must be dismounted and look for another steed to fulfill that objective to continue the journey. Or (b) if the horse and the rider attain the target, the journey ends, then both are welcome there and rest in peace. 

 

 

 

The combination of horse (animal spirit) and the rider (human spirit) symbolize the journey of the soul for God-realization in which there are multiple stages where the phenomenal world and celestial domains intervene or act obstructionist as hells or heavens for painful or joyous experiences, riddled with reincarnations in various forms and bodies. The law is human spirit (the rider) must complete the destined expedition, even if the animal spirit (the horse) must be changed several times. Thus the human soul(s) has to adapt itself in other forms and bodies, in the broad canvas of time and space, until it gets dissolved in God.

 

 If we closely examine, we note that the being is constantly mutating right from the fertilization in the embryo. Then, from the new born baby to the boy, young man, mature individual, older man, and older adult, the change is a continuous process where the old form is constantly enveloped by a new form, while the old form withers away. Only the soul, the micro-God, is the fundamental entity enclosed in the changing formats of different bodies of men and other beings.

 

 

 

Animal spirit and Human spirit

 

 

 

The seat of the animal spirit of the soul is the human heart of flesh on the left side of the body, whose pulsations facilitate the functionalities of all parts of the human body, limbs, brain, eyes, ears, mouth to ensure its connectivity with the physical world. The physician or a doctor can access knowledge about its activities, diseases, and cure.   It may be compared to a lamp carried within a cottage, the light of which falls upon the walls wherever it goes. The heart is the lamp's wick, and when the supply is cut off for any reason, the lamp dies. Such is the death of the animal spirit. The cause that throws a human constitution out of balance, such occasion is the call of the Angel of death, a creature of God. Most persons merely know his name.

 

 

 

The second kind of spirit, the human spirit (and spiritual Heart is at the third eye), is not a body susceptible to division. It is the seat of the knowledge of God. In the heart of an enlightened man, there is a "window opening", so that he knows, not by hearsay or traditional belief, but by experience, what produces wretchedness or happiness in the soul just as clearly and decidedly as the physician knows what produces sickness or health in the body.

 

 

 

Ghazali amplifies--We thus possess two classes of qualities or attributes. One class of the animal includes those resulting from the union existing between the body and the spirit, viz: hunger, thirst, sleep, eating, and drinking. These qualities become useless at death. The other human includes qualities belonging solely to your human spirits, such as the knowledge of God and the love of God, and the qualities that tend to secure these two, like gratitude, submission, and supplication. These are qualities of yourself, which do not pass away with death, but on the contrary, their fruits will be ever-growing and developing. The human spirit is angelic and must therefore mingle with the original Macro-God. If the world's influences operate with such power that you are separated from your original spirit, then we will have to endure the torment of separation and misery.

 

 

 

If a man is paralyzed in an unconscious state, his animal spirit is said to cease functioning appropriately. His attachments to the earth and material possessions keep him in the body, which appears to be painful for other relatives and other observers depending upon their attachment with that person. However, his human spirit is still working within him, which keeps him alive with other noble God-wards attributes that he may have cherished in life. An individual lives in two dimensions depending upon the working of the dual operations of the soul. The one is the external appearance, and the other is the inner working of the unknown plane.

 

 

 

Death is not the demolition of the totality of the body, as noted by observers, but merely disintegration of five elements into their sources. The world is called "village of the dead" at the level of human consciousness, but metaphysically, it is bound to cast itself in another mold as per karmic retribution. In that case, the human spirit ( horse rider) acquires a new animal spirit (stallion) of a body commensurate with the onward journey in this or other worlds.

 

 

 

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF HUMAN LIFE 

 

 

 

Alluding to the allegory of the horse and the horse rider, if a horse runs arbitrarily-- sometimes in the right or wrong direction-- and the rider is unable to control the antics of the stallion willingly or unwillingly. He will also have to face the corresponding consequences after the death of the horse (animal spirit). In Sant Mat's philosophy, expectations and unfulfilled desires are called "Sinchit Karma" or the "Stored Karmas". The following configuration or the birth of the animal spirit will be carved out as Pralabdh karma, from the hopes and expectations of the previous births (also called Sanskaras) that are warehoused or stored. In contrast, the rest of the warehoused Karma will remain in stock for future lives till dissolved in God. The next form of a horse or the animal spirit will then continue to take the human spirit forward or backward in the creation, depending on the pull of this or the future worlds.

 

 

 

The terminal desires or the cravings of an individual, which are the essence of his life at the time of death, may not entitle to a human birth( or that is to say the same mold or form the animal spirit. But the one where he can satiate his worldly wishes to his satisfaction. In SGGS (page 526),[5] there is the description by the Saint Trilochan as to how this law operates –

 

 

 

"At the very last moment, one who thinks of wealth, and dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again, in the form of serpents. O sister, do not forget the Name of the Lord of the Universe. At the very last moment, he who thinks of women, and dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again as a prostitute. At the very last moment, one who thinks of his children, and dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again as a pig. At the very last moment, one who thinks of mansions, and dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again as a goblin. At the very last moment, one who thinks of the Lord, and dies in such thoughts, says Trilochan, that man shall be liberated; the Lord shall abide in his heart".

 

 

 

From what has been said, it follows that it is not necessary for the resurrection and restoration that the spirit should possess precisely the original mold. This mold changes even in this world. As further elaboration, if a person has consumed or killed fifty chickens in his life, it may not be construed that the individual must be cast into the mold of reincarnation of fifty chickens. The Karmic Doctrine must ensure that the person is cast in a mold and manner that he suffers the pain and agony equivalent to the extermination of fifty chickens.

 

 

 

Ghazali writes that many questions may be asked of those who say that the identical mold must return and rise in the resurrection and that its absence can be tolerated in no wisdom. They will find much difficulty in answering them. For example, one may ask if one man eats another man, and the man eaten becomes a portion of the man who ate him, will that portion rise with the eater or with the man who was eaten?

 

 

 

Again, suppose the hand of a thief has been cut off, and he afterward leads a life of good works and enters Paradise. Must he enter Paradise, where nothing maimed, or defective can enter, without his hand, or will he enter with his hand, notwithstanding his good works were not performed when he possessed that hand?

 

 

 

Concerning the blessed spirits, God says, "Think not that those who have been slain on the divine road are dead: they are alive near their Lord and are sustained by him." Regarding miserable spirits, the apostle of God came to infidels who had been slain in the battle of Bader[6], and called upon each by name, and said, "O ! such a one, son of such a one, I have found the victory and triumph which my Lord promised. And you, have you found that latter end and torment of which the Lord assured you, or have you not found it ?. His honored companions, having remarked to him, "they are dead, and how can they hear and how can they speak ?" The glory of the world replied, "By the truth of God who has commissioned me to be a true prophet, they are better able to hear than yourselves. There is only this difference that they are not able to answer."

 

 

 

In brief, whoever will study carefully the verses of the Koran, the Traditions and recollections that have reached us respecting death, and will consider the well-substantiated accounts of the movements of the dead in graveyards. He will know, in a manner that should remove all doubt, that the dead do not become non-existent.

 

 

 

TORMENTS OF GRAVE

 

 

 

The implied understanding of "Torments of Grave" is meant to describe the painful experiences of those attached to this world.

 

The prophet of God said: "the world is the prison of the believer and the paradise of the infidel." There are different degrees of such torments. It is in proportion to each person's affection and love for the world and will come upon some with great severity. Ghazali explains that pain in this world results from an accident or incident of the body that passes from the body to the spirit. Thus the spirit participates in the torment. But in the future world, the pain has its home in the spirit itself, and hence it is excruciating.

 

WHO EXPERIENCES THE PAIN OF WORLDLY SEPARATIONS IN THE FUTURE WORLD?

 

Assuming a person sells his obedient slave to another man. After the sale transaction, he feels that the slave was indeed very loving, genuinely loved him, and feels the agony of separation from him like the stinging of the snake. The slave is symbolic of this world, and the separation is the body's death. But the soul carries the torment of the separation. The said soul is bound to reincarnate from the future world to this world (slave) to get relief from the torture of separation. Such is the effect of this world on the soul. It suffers in the future world for the sake of attachment to this transitory creation.

 

Ghazali explains that every sinner thus carries the instruments of his punishment beyond death. Holy Quran says –"Verily you shall see hell; you shall see it with the eye of certainty".

 

The fifth Guru mentions[7]that he may enjoy princely pleasures, regal pomp, ceremony, and issue unchallenged commands. He may lie on beautiful beds, perfumed with sandalwood oil, but this will lead him only to the gates of the most horrible hell.

 

WHO DOES NOT EXPERIENCE THE PAIN OF WORLDLY SEPARATIONS IN THE FUTURE WORLD?

 

The faqirs can escape hell who have disengaged or detached themselves mentally from worldly possessions such as houses, family, wives, and children. Though faqirs may have affection for them, their longing and yearning for God far exceed this fondness. Ghazali explains that when an official is given a higher position in the other city, he willingly accepts that new posting without a murmur, stays happily in the elevated position, and forgets the past without remorse. Such are prophets or saints who feel pleased to quit this material world.

 

Thus, the balance of love between the this and future world determines the next direction of the soul.

 

SPIRITUAL HEAVENS AND HELLS

 

So long as the soul remains in the regions of spiritual hells and heavens, it is bound by cosmic time and space, which can only be experienced by mystics in their highest state of consciousness. They spend time in these unseen regions depending upon their karmic settlements. Then these souls descend in the physical planes, reincarnated in different physical frames to face life in this world. Thus, spiritual heavens and hells are part of the journey of the soul's feeling unawareness of the Lord or sensation separation from God. Liberation of the soul from all bondages of physical, astral, and all other metaphysical planes is the soul's objective.

 

Some individuals deny the existence of such heavens and hells because, logically, their existence cannot be proven at our level of understanding. The operative aspect of the Divine is a mystery. The entire process of reproduction in the womb, the birth, growth, decline, and death, cannot be understood logically but must be accepted. Why are there two eyes, ears, two nostrils, one mouth, and so on?

 

The word "heaven" is mentioned 131 times, and "hell" is indicated 178 times in SGGS. For example, on page 71 (SGGS)[8]– "Your limits are not known to any of the beings in the "heavens", in this world, or the nether regions of the underworld". On page 178 (SGGS[9])-- Even so, if they have not embraced the love for the Supreme Lord God, then they shall surely go to "hell".

 

Ghazali refutes the non-maintainability of logic for heavens and hell by scholars and philosophers when about 124000 prophets have confirmed their presence per the holy Quran.

 

References---

 

Extracts of Ghazali from

 

1          The Alchemy of happiness” based upon turkish translation of Henery A  Holmes.

 

2          The alchemy of happiness published  in 2018 by Blackmore Dennett.

 

3          Book of Mirdad

 

4          Sri Guru Granth Sahib

 

 



[1]  The book of Mirdad chapter 20 “Where do we go after We die? On Repentance.

[2] जिउ सुपना अरु पेखना ऐसे जग कउ जानि ॥इन मै कछु साचो नही नानक बिनु भगवान ॥

 

[3] मरण थीं अगे मर रहे , जिनहाँ हक्क दी रंज पछाती हू( Sultan Bahu English translation RSSB page

[4] Book of Mirdad, chapter nineteen page 69-Self Denial is Self-Assertion

[5] अंति कालि जो लछमी सिमरै ऐसी चिंता महि जे मरै ॥सरप जोनि वलि वलि अउतरै ॥१॥अरी बाई गोबिद नामु मति बीसरै ॥ रहाउ ॥अंति कालि जो इसत्री सिमरै ऐसी चिंता महि जे मरै ॥ बेसवा जोनि वलि वलि अउतरै ॥२॥ अंति कालि जो लड़िके सिमरै ऐसी चिंता महि जे मरै ॥सूकर जोनि वलि वलि अउतरै ॥३॥अंति कालि जो मंदर सिमरै ऐसी चिंता महि जे मरै ॥प्रेत जोनि वलि वलि अउतरै ॥४॥अंति कालि नाराइणु सिमरै ऐसी चिंता महि जे मरै ॥ बदति तिलोचनु ते नर मुकता पीत्मबरु वा के रिदै बसै

 

[6] The battle marked the beginning of the six-year war between Prophet Muhammad and his tribe for Medina with Qureshi

[7] [7] राज लीला राजन की रचना करिआ हुकमु अफारा ॥सेज सोहनी चंदनु चोआ नरक घोर का दुआरा

[8] तेरा अंतु पाइआ सुरगि मछि पइआलि जीउ