Why Pray? – Part 6

24^th Word, Fifth Branch, Second Fruit (continuation page 370)

Recap: What bounties have we been given?

“Then, through giving you love, which is a light of belief, He has bestowed on you an endless table of bounties, happiness and pleasure.”

Existence, life, humanity, Islam i.e. belief and love i.e. light of belief. As a result of belief, you get involved with the meaning this universe refers to and you love it. Why? Because humanity needs Eternity which comes only as a result of realizing that the Source of existence of this universe is Absolute. So I can love the fact that only the Absolute satisfies me. Otherwise we will feel imprisoned in this world.

“That is to say, with regard to your corporeality you are an insignificant, weak, impotent, lowly, restricted, limited particular, but through His favor, you have as though risen from being an insignificant particular to being a universal, luminous whole”

Text is explaining that with regards to your corporeality you are an insignificant and limited being. We know that our corporeality is here for a temporary period. But through the One that gives us existence (i.e. the Creator), through Its favor we have become a luminous universal whole.

How can I become a universal luminous whole?

If we reduce our existence to our corporeality only which has a beginning and an end (since body is restricted to the conditions of this universe only), then we are bound to feel imprisoned in this universe. By paying attention to our human qualities do we realize the meaning of existence and that we belong to the Creator of the universe. By using these human qualities we realize that we belong to an Absolute One. Hence, we become a universal luminous whole. These qualities do not belong to us, it is a gift to us.

Becoming aware of the meaning of creation which is beyond this universe i.e. what creation refers to is what we need to strive for. If I live a life restricted to the temporary corporeal life (i.e. this is my career, this is my income, I need to get new furniture…), then I am not living as a luminous universal whole. We need to work on living according to this reality. Ask: Who am I? Am I a particular being or a luminous being?

Can you share an experience where you feel that your existence makes you a universal luminous being?

• You are silent because you have never applied belief into your practical life.
• Belief starts with knowledge, a list of what a human being needs to believe in (e.g. God, Angles, Prophets and Hereafter) but it should not be stopped here. It needs to be applied and internalized. Our main concern should be to turn the knowledge about belief subject matters into practical life.

How can we make belief practical for me here?

Intellectual understanding of religion does not help anyone practice belief. We need to experience the Creator, Paradise and the Eternal life here. Necessity of the need of this realization is within everyone i.e. making belief a practical experience in this life. If I am aware of the content of the belief, I will know that I can practice it. We have to go beyond intellectual understanding of belief.

Our mistake is that from knowledge, we have jumped into rituals (i.e. what to do) and thus leave the area of belief practice empty. That is, we skip the experience side of this belief and go directly into rituals. Yes, we need to go into rituals but without establishing requirements of belief and training our consciousness with belief, our rituals become outwards actions only (i.e. carrying no meaning).

Prayer, fasting and hajj- we talk about the doings and rules but we do not talk about their meaning. Hajj represents you whole life history. Afternoon prayers represent your life history from noon time to afternoon time i.e. a summary of what I have done in five hours as far as practicing belief is concerned.

• Main concern: How can I make this ritual a representative of my life?
• Every ritual represents my concept of existence or my worldview?
• Belief aspect of our life is skipped, reduced to knowledge only. What are we expected to do? Concentrate on the skipped point.

If I am aware that my human qualities are given to me and through these human qualities I discover meaning of life, then I become aware that I belong to the One who is the Source of existence of my human qualities. Example: Power of sight is given to me. It means that I want to see but I cannot see eternally. Example: I want to understand the reality of everything that is a need given to me but I cannot understand everything here. This desire of wanting to understand the reality of everything is given to me by the One that gives me my existence in both corporeal and humanity form. This shows that I do not belong to this world permanently because this world does not give me all that my humanity requires fully.

• Ask yourself: What do I want exactly?
• You will find out that whatever qualities are given to you, you want them to be satisfied fully (eternally).
• Can the universe provide this satisfaction for you?
• When we are dying, can anything in this world make our life Absolutely satisfied Eternally? We know that we do not belong to this universe. We are created in this universe but we human beings do not belong to this universe. Where do we come from then? Realization of the Source happens when we use our human qualities by attributing everything to the Absolute Source:
• “My Source of existence is the Source of existence of everything i.e. It must be Absolute”.
• I belong to the Absolute One and all my desires belong to the Absolute One.

All beautiful positive qualities belong to God. Communicate with God through using your human qualities. Your human qualities are unlimited and points to the Absolute qualities of the Creator. Use them to establish connection with the Creator: “I belong to an Absolute Creator”.

We are here to get to know who our Lord is and live in this world with this consciousness. That is how our Creator has enabled us. Start living with this consciousness. Stop reducing your life to your job, degree, family… Stop wasting your qualities which needs to be used to understand the Absolute Source of existence so that you can be happy with the Source of your existence. Everything is given to you to become aware of your Absolute Creator. Even a small breakout on your face, an insignificant matter is a reminder of the Source of existence of beauty. Ask: Why do I want to be beautiful? I want to be beautiful because my Creator says that It is the Source of existence of beauty and it is the Absolute Beauteous One. Use the love of beauty as a means of acknowledging your reality. Only through this realization we become luminous universal beings and nothing bothers us anymore. As a result we do not get disappointed with anything. If someone tells me that I will die tomorrow, I do not worry because I only act according to the requirements of the order (Divine Determining.) This is my responsibility. If the One Who gives me life within this order and gives me death again in my creation, it is His decision, why should I bother. We belong to a creation ordained by a Creator. When I am thirsty I go drink water. That is my duty. This whole system is organized by the One who owns existence. Hence, I need to live by the requirements of the order and be happy with It. We end up experiencing unpleasant moments because we have not developed ourselves to understand the universal aspect of creation which points to the Absolute One and makes one feel belonging to an Absolute Being. I am not a restricted creature. My Source is Absolute. We have to use this consciousness and never ignore it. When you enjoy anything, a nice meal for example, make it Eternal by being conscious that the Source of all pleasures is my Creator and it is giving me this news of Eternal pleasure through the use of consciousness.

Corporeality is restricted to this universe, humanity is not restricted. None of our senses accept limitedness. They are open and have no limit. Some people think that their senses will be satisfied if they get ruling power. If you are ruling the world, then everything must be under your control including the solar system. Hence, can your corporeality really satisfy your senses?

We are given the sense of wanting to entertain all senses and feelings with no limit. If you realize that we are the candidates to be entertained in our existence here, then you are in Paradise (referred to as a new creation where all your desires and appetites are satisfied and you live freely “like a king”). The most enjoyable moment that people of Paradise will experience is seeing the face of God i.e. the aspect of things that points directly to the Absolute One. It is not in physical material form but it points to a meaning which goes into Eternity i.e. Absoluteness. In other words, becoming absolutely aware of who your Lord is. That is what my humanity requires and points to. We need to train ourselves to experience this.

Again, how can we become universal luminous whole? I am a particular insignificant being limited to a part of the universe compared to an infinite space-time dimension. Why do we reduce our lives to corporeality only? When I realize that I belong to the Absolute One, I easily become a drop in the ocean. That is to say, I belong to God (which is different than saying that I become God). I can easily become aware that I belong to the Absolute One by paying particular attention to the fact that it is not my corporeality which is going to satisfy my humanity or give me Eternal life and save me from “death,” falling into non-existence. Why do we use our humanity to satisfy our corporeality only? Isn’t that a reduction to our human qualities and a waste of time? Yes, we are here to act physically in accordance to the requirements of the conditions set by its Creator in this universe. When I am hungry, I eat. That is my corporeality. But my humanity requires more. Think about it: Am I created to satisfy my corporeality only or am I created to understand that I belong to the Absolute One? I (insignificant being) belong to the ocean but I am not the ocean (Creator).

All qualities given to me are the representatives of the qualities of the Absolute One in the created form. That is what we are. We are representatives of the Creator’s qualities. We are given an impossible quality to comprehend i.e. consciousness. We need to use it. We are given consciousness; we are given this ability, why don’t we use it?

• Belief means consciousness, it is not an intellectual exercise.

Analogy: A child becomes used to the presence of the parents. One day you tell him that you will leave her alone in the house and will come back in the evening. Will the child feel satisfied by only knowing this intellectually? No. The child needs to feel the presence of the parents.

• Similarly, we need to use our consciousness, a very precious gift to feel the presence of the Source of our existence. Life by itself is lifeless. Only with consciousness does it become meaningful.

One first has to reason to become aware of consciousness. Only through becoming aware of consciousness do I become a luminous universal whole. Example: One mango can lead me to the Absolute One. Only through consciousness can we experience Eternal pleasure we get from eating the mango. Mango is just a means which does not only become a physical material action but a means to an Eternal Source of pleasure. Otherwise, as you finish eating the mango, you realize that the taste of the mango is gone; you become aware that one day, you will be gone from existence. Every day is passing; we are getting old and getting near death. Again, only through using consciousness can we experience Eternal pleasure from a mango.

As a result of consciousness, the believer feels satisfied in his/her existence and the face of a believer becomes luminous because s/he is aware of the presence of their Lord. Let’s say a beloved one leaves a message on a piece of paper for you. You read it and you get satisfied and happy. Meaning from the message on a piece of paper illuminates your life. Paper is limited but the meaning is unlimited. Luminous does not mean a physical matter but it is a feeling that remains with you and you feel a loving relationship with the Source of your existence. Similarly, sense of taste is limited but meaning is unlimited. When one pays attention to the meaning, one becomes aware of the Source of existence i.e. the One that sends the meaning.

Since the believer trains himself/herself to get the meaning from creation, s/he increases the feeling of the presence of their Lord within themselves. As a result, every moment is looked forward to with excitement. We need to feel that we have an Owner taking care of us: “I need to feel that my Owner is the Provider, the Nourisher and the One that takes care of me”. When you are eating a mango, do you feel Absolute Mercy treating you i.e. you belong to it? If yes, then it means a drop has fallen into the ocean. We can experience it here.

Again, we need to fill in the big gap between belief knowledge (intellectual exercise) and rituals (rules and regulations) with experiencing belief. This experience must only be the result of using one’s human qualities by using your consciousness i.e. becoming aware of what you concluded: “I am created, I have a Creator”. Think deeply about this and one can go crazy with its layers of meaning and feeling it.

While doing rituals, ASK: What am I doing? What am I expressing? Because we are not trained on how to practice belief in our practical life, we do not feel the value of rituals. Just as without any background in Physics, you will not understand anyone speaking Physics to you. Similarly, without proper belief training, you will not understand the meaning behind various rituals.

“For by giving you life, He has raised you from particularity to a sort of universality; and by giving you humanity, to true universality; and by giving you knowledge and love of Him, He has elevated you to an all-encompassing light.”

If I was not given life, I would not be aware of what life requires. Through life, I become aware of my environment i.e. I am made to breathe air, I am made to see things, I am made to drink water, I am made to eat mango… We are connected through every creature and object. By becoming aware of our existence, we become aware of the existence of others and the meaning their existence points to.

Knowledge is easy to grasp but loving the One that has endowed you with endless qualities is a different matter. It is an emotional practical matter. It cannot be described intellectually. There is always something beyond knowledge. When you become aware of your Creator i.e. you belong to It, then you develop a sense of love for It. You are happy with It and thankful to It because your existence is because of It.

• Analogy: If someone gives you a present, the value of the present is not important. What is important is that this person has expressed affection, interest and love for you. In return, you develop a positive connection with this person and you develop love for It.
• Similarly, the Creator of the universe expresses Its interest in you through various gifts such as by giving you existence, humanity, belief and love. Try to notice this affection and you should develop a love for the One that shows interest in you.
• Human beings have emotional connection with loved ones, which includes the Source of your existence.

Ability to love beyond knowing is given to us. Through this ability, love of my Creator has elevated me to an all-encompassing light. That is, I become myself “light”. Text is written under the guidance of the Quran. Nur (light) is one of the qualities of God. “I am the light of the heavens and the earth” means that everything we get from this universe or understand from here i.e. any connection we have in this universe points to Its Creator. When you look at the mirror you see light coming out of it. Universe is a mirror i.e. a piece of glass. Meaning we extract from the existence of the universe refers to its Creator. Any quality you see in this universe points to It. That is light.

• Through belief and awareness of reality that this universe points to It, you become light.
• Your human qualities become mirrors reflecting qualities of its Source.

Thanks to consciousness, we become aware of the Source. If we train our consciousness we become aware of the Creator or become a mirror reflecting qualities of the Creator. That is how I become light from a corporeal being. Example: By drinking water I experience compassion (the Nourisher quality) of the Creator. When I experience this, I experience nothing but reflection of qualities of the Creator. It is possible to live in this world immersed with the love of the Creator and become conscious of Its being and attribute/refer our existence to It. As a result, you do not have anything to worry about.

In conclusion, don’t lose your huge capacity for the love of the Source of your existence to some corporeality or transient thing such as a piece of furniture or jewelry. Why don’t you work on becoming a Source of light instead of reducing yourself to a corporeal being only?