The Mystic Journey of the Soul - from the Shri Muhammad Bodh Section of the Kabir Sagar

 

The Mystic Journey of the Soul - from the Shri Muhammad Bodh Section of the Kabir Sagar * 

Verse 1

The soul-bird [hansa] abandoned the worldly attachments, And the swan (soul) made the True Guru [Satguru] its essence. Just as the bee extracts honey from the flower, the soul flew off, carrying the essence within. Leaving the realms of perishable creation, it reached where even Vishnu’s domain was glimpsed. Indra, Kubera, and divine beings were left behind — the soul transcended even the third divine region.

Verse 2

Leaving the abode of Vaikunth, the swan flew ahead, shining Light blazed in the void beyond. In that radiant illumination, essence was revealed, fear vanished as the soul became fearless. The Formless One, whom the Vedas praise, is the root of all gods, beyond their reach. That Lord appears in luminous white form, fortune itself belongs to those graced by Him.

Verse 3

Beyond the four realms lie sixteen spiritual divisions, leaving the egg-like world, the soul soared above. There it beheld the place of worship, revered and pure, as it entered the tenth gate. In the twelfth region, at the soul’s gathering, ecstasy resounded like a mighty drum. How shall I describe the glory of that face? The body radiates with transcendent Light.

Verse 4

In the realm beyond, the swan-soul soars, resplendent in thirty-six divine Melodies.

The land of the Supreme Lord radiates bliss, where joy and devotion dance in harmony.

With waves of ecstasy, the soul merges into the divine assembly of love, united with the Lord.

Verse 5

When the Lord traverses the six chakras, piercing through the seventh, His gaze turns inward.

In the beauty of divine union, the soul’s desire merges with the eternal Lord’s vision.

No simile can capture His radiance, not even the moon’s glow!

Through the soul’s focus, the divine Sound resonates, revealing the splendor of the Lord’s eternal realm.

Verse 6

In the pure void, the flawless throne of the Lord resides, where the eternal abode shines.

When the swan-soul reaches this ninth plane, it hesitates not even for a moment, fearless.

Like a kite soaring on the thread of the Creator, the soul ascends to the divine realm.

Immersed in bliss, all doubts dissolve, and the soul arrives at the heart’s true home.

Verse 7

The divine swan-souls sing and play instruments, adorned with celestial beauty.

Through eons, they gather in devotion, embracing the Lord with love’s eternal flame.

When the swan beholds the divine vision, all karma of countless births is erased.

In that moment of union, the mind awakens sixteen divine emotions, blossoming within.

Verse 8

In the isle of divine nectar, the swan-soul partakes of the ambrosial feast, its form made of Sound.

The swan and its divine consort dwell in eternal truth, consciousness, and bliss, crowned with divine Light.

Lightning flashes, and the thunder of divine Sound roars, consuming all illusion.

As the clouds of divine resonance pour forth, the Melody of the cosmic Sound enchants.

Verse 9

Listen, O soul, in that divine union, all become one—radiant with a single divine hue.

The spirit revels in devotion, and all actions and delusions flee far away.

No color or ornament can touch that realm, where the soul dives into waves of divine madness.

Lust, anger, greed, pride, and hypocrisy dissolve, as the soul embraces the true divine Sound 

[the soul merges into the supreme Word (Sar Shabd)].

How can one describe the glory of the Supreme Being’s divine countenance?

In this world, even the highest metaphors fall short.

The moon and the sun — symbols of Light — cannot compare to even a spark of that divine radiance.

Those who have tasted the essence of divine love,

They alone reach that state, beyond the grasp of worldly men.

Kabir says: In this way, one finds it — the path of truth, so have I sung it.

The body is perishable, the voice is temporary,

And the soul — the messenger of life — cannot be fully described.

The Formless One is called Lahoot in Arabic —

That is the dwelling place of the divine jewel (the Absolute).

Beyond that is Haahoot, Laahoot, Dahaahoot, and Baahoot,

And Jahoot — known only to the One who is the true Lord, Khuda.

That One is "Soham" (I am That), the Lord God —

There is no other refuge in the world; this is the final truth.

* NOTE: The Kabir Sagar is a huge granth or scripture over two-thousand pages in length. The first volume is the most well-known: the Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love), but there are many more books in this collection. The Shri Muhammad Bodh volume explores the teachings of Muhammad in light of Sufi mysticism as viewed from the vantagepoint of the Sant Dharam Das line of masters in the tradition of Guru Kabir. 

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

 

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

Turned the new translation of The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth into an audio book using the Read Aloud extension, something I often do with various texts. The new translation of this Discourse is to be found online here: https://othergospels.com/89

Was fun hearing my Read Aloud extension chant the two triangle-shaped collections of vowels, the vowel chant present in the book:

ZŌXATHAZŌ

A

ŌŌ EE

ŌŌŌ ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌ ĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ

ZŌZAZŌTH

A

Ō EE Ō ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌ III

ŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌŌ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌ

According to Dr. Samuel Zinner's footnote at the bottom of the page this is an esoteric divine name, various vowels arranged into the shape of triangles being chanted.

Vowel chant is present in several collections of Gnostic texts, a kind of "AUM" or "OM" of the West, even as Egypt once-upon-a-time was a kind of Tibet of the West with otherworldly monastic traditions. 

There are different ways one can sing or chant these names. In esoteric traditions of the east and west mental chant is considered to be higher, more "within" than the verbal chanting of alphabetical sacred names. Esoteric paths have mantras including sacred words that are to be repeated within one's mind, such as the mental prayer approach of doing the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm; in Sethian Gnosticism there are the Five Names or Seals which are passwords that correspond to various higher planes; Kabbalah has various Hebrew names corresponding to higher heavenly regions, and mental zikhr is practiced at the higher stages of Sufism. In the Sant tradition this practice is called manas jap (mental chant) and is also known as simran, the remembrance and repetition of various Names of God repeated in one's mind while concentrating during meditation. 

I notice some references to mental singing and chanting in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth: 

"O my son, return to praising, and sing while remaining silent. Silently petition for what you desire. 

Also: ”I sing a hymn inside myself." 

“I remain silent, O my father. I desire to sing a hymn to you while I remain silent.”

And: "It would be beneficial from now on to maintain silence with a reverential posture."

There are mystical visionary and auditory states recorded in the Discourse of the Eighth and Ninth. With these the-chant-chants-itself. In other words, a higher form of Name that repeats itself beyond language reverberates in the heavens, sometimes described in these old mystical texts as the Hymns of Angels:

"Language is incapable of revealing this, because, O my son, the entire Eighth and the souls that dwell inside it, as well as the angels, silently sing a hymn, and I, Mind, understand."

"When he had finished praising, he cried out: 'Father Trismegistus! What am I to say? We have obtained this Light, and I behold for myself this very same vision inside of you, and I behold the Eighth, and the souls dwelling inside of it, and the angels singing a hymn to the Ninth and to its powers, and I behold him who possesses all of their power, who creates those who dwell inside the Spirit.'"

The Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens illustrates so well that, in the Gnostic and Hermetic Nag Hammadi texts there is at the heart of these ancient schools of spirituality, the master-student relationship -- the living teacher with their inner circle of living students -- with an initiation into the mysteries being offered, the sharing of spiritual practices to be kept secret. These pertain to sacred names and meditation methods for gaining revelations of the various heavenly regions including the Eighth and Ninth heavens as described in this Hermetic discourse. 

Veg Saying of Jesus from Islam and the Gospel of Thomas

Veg Saying of Jesus from Islam

Christ said, “Flesh eating flesh? How offensive an act!” - The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature, by Tarif Khalidi: 

https://archive.org/details/muslimjesussayin0000khal

The saying above reminds me of The Gospel of Thomas, Saying 112: Soul should be independent of flesh: Jesus said, “Woe to the flesh that depends upon a soul. Woe to the soul that depends upon flesh.” (The Gnostic Scriptures, Bentley Layton, David Brakke)

Because some Ebionite Christians held out longer in Arabia, that's probably why some in Islam had an awareness about Christian veg teachings.

Sufism, Sant Mat, and the Sound Current - An Unexplored Spirituality and History of Rumi & the Sufis - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

 

Sufism, Sant Mat, and the Sound Current - An Unexplored Spirituality and History of Rumi & the Sufis - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

Today I explore some key Sufi teachings compatible with the contemporary mystic or gnostic path called Sant Mat. The Sants and Radhaswamis of the living present highly value the mystic poetry and wisdom of Rumi, Hafiz, Rabia, Sarmad, Hazrat Sultan BaHU, Sanai, Baba Farid and so many other Sufi Faqir lovers of the Beloved, viewing them as being Saints of the highest order.

Sufism, Sant Mat, and the Sound Current - An Unexplored Spirituality and History of Rumi & the Sufis - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast @ YouTube:

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Hear verses of Hakim Sanai on meditating the Mysteries of Creation, connecting with the Subtle Realms of dimensions beyond in what can be called Inner Space, the Kingdom of God within.

I focus upon the Inner Sound Mysticism of some of the great Sufi Saints of the ages: Rumi, Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi, Shah Niaz, Hazrat Sultan BaHU, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Dara Shikoh.

Not Halal after all. An exploration of the vegan verses of Rumi is presented.

There is an essay on how mystical schools of spirituality are very fragile and short-lived in this world of illusion, this realm of Samsara, the World of Changes, how usually there are typically only a few generations of living masters and then, after the passing of the last master, a mystic path or branch of a school of spirituality fades from the scene, unless of course it gets hijacked and repurposed, turned into another world religion with a very different focus (zombification). When the latter happens, often the earlier teachings and sacred texts undergo serious edits. What had been a shared knowledge about Inner Sound and Light meditation practices, vegetarian ethics and other key principles might even be reclassified as "apocryphal" or "extra canonical".

Although there is an oppressive history of lost teachings of the Sound Current (The Lost Chord), that there are no permanent universities of mysticism on planet Earth, no surviving Pythagorean, or Valentinian gnostic schools of wisdom still with us with roots in antiquity, or a church of the Ebionites with copies of Sayings Gospel Q or the Gospel of the Hebrews, a hopeful message is presented that Life Always Begets New Life. As old mystic paths and sangats fade into the oblivion of time (Kal) they are replaced with new living schools of spirituality -- that it's always been this way. Seneca the Stoic: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

There are also readings from Dr. Jagessar Das,  the Sar Bachan Radhaswami Prose Book One (Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram), Sar Bachan Radhaswami Poetry Volume One (Swami Ji Maharaj), Prem Bani Radhasoami Volume One (Hazur Maharaj Rai Saligram), Tukarama, Russell Perkins (The Stranger of Galilee), and Baba Ram Singh. We conclude with the mystic poetry of Baba Farid the Sufi. Many of his mystic poetry verses are to be found in the Sikh Scriptures, also known as the Adi Granth or Gurbani.

In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

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A Satsang Without Walls

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A History of Vegetarianism and Veganism in the World Religions - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

A History of Vegetarianism and Veganism in the World Religions

A rarely discussed amazing history of vegetarianism and even veganism in the great world religions and philosophies:

Akhenaten the "Heretic" Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who ruled for 17 years;

Hebrew Bible, First Book of Moses: Genesis;

Yoga Shastra, a sutra or scripture of Jainism;

Bhagavad Gita of Krishna;

Srimad Bhagavatam;

The Laws of Manu, a kind of "Hindu Torah" or Book of Laws;

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans;

Porphyry,  a 3rd century AD Neo-Platonist philosopher;

The Vegetarian Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Epilogue of Asclepius of the Corpus Hermeticum, and the same prayer again, as it also turns up in the Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt, the Gnostic Gospels;

Early Church “Heresy Hunters” that used to require meat-eating on Sundays as a way to discover who the veg Gnostics were in their midst;

Philo of Alexandria's description of veg meals at a Jewish Therapeutae monastic community in Alexandria perhaps related to the Essenes;

The Bahai Faith: Baha’u’llah, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi -- prophecies of a vegan future of humanity;

Vegetarianism in Islam: The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Rabia of Basra, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and the Sufis;

John the Baptist, who ate locust bean (carob) flour, not locusts -- BEANS NOT BUGS;

and blessed are the textual variants: the Mystery of the Missing Veg Saying of Jesus found in Luke 21: 34 of the Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe --  the Old Syriac-Aramaic manuscript of the New Testament Gospels but is no longer present in Greek manuscripts.

A History of Vegetarianism and Veganism in the World Religions - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast - Listen and/or Download @:

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In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts

Sant Mat Radhasoami

A Satsang Without Walls

https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

Spiritual Awakening Radio (and Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts) with James Bean, heard on various community, public radio stations and the web, explores the world of spirituality, comparative religion, world scriptures and other books, East and West, God, meditation, out of body or near death experiences (inner space), the vegan diet and other ahimsa ethics -- education for a more peaceful planet.

#vegan #Veganism #Veg #GoVegan #SpiritualAwakeningRadio #Podcast #Spirituality #Religion #ComparativeReligion  #Judaism #Christianity #Jainism #Hinduism #Sufism #Bahai #BackToEden #sant_mat #santmat #radhaswami #radha_soami #radhasoami  #radhasoamiji #satsang #peaceablekingdom #Essenes #KingdomOfGod #SatYuga #ApplePodcasts #GooglePodcasts

Sound Meditation in the World Religions Series: Sufism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Kabir Panth -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

Sound Meditation in the World Religions Series: Sufism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Kabir Panth -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

"Abstract Sound is called Saut-e Sarmad by the Sufis; all space is filled with it. The vibrations of this Sound are too fine to be either audible or visible to the material eyes or ears, since it is even difficult for the eyes to see the form and color of the ethereal vibrations on the external plane. It was the Saut-e Sarmad, the Sound of the abstract plane, which Muhammad heard in the cave of Ghar-e Hira when he became lost in his divine Ideal. The Qur'an refers to this Sound in the words, 'Be! and all became.' Moses heard this very Sound on Mount Sinai, when in communion with God; and the same Word was audible to Christ when absorbed in his Heavenly Father in the wilderness. Shiva heard the same Anhad Nada during his Samadhi [deep meditation] in the cave of the Himalayas. The flute of Krishna is symbolic of the same Sound. This Sound is the source of all revelation to the Masters, to whom it is revealed from within; it is because of this that they know and teach one and the same truth." (Hazrat Khan, The Sufi Message Series, II, The Mysticism of Sound)

Today we explore Inner Sound Meditation according to the teachings of Sufism, Jainism, the Sikh scriptures, and the Path of Guru Kabir, along with some valuable insight about Inner Sound Meditation practice by Edward Salim Michael.

Sound Meditation in the World Religions Series: Sufism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Kabir Panth (Yoga of Sound Series) - Listen, Download, Subscribe @ the Podcast Website:

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In Divine Love, Light and Sound, Peace Be To You,

James Bean

Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts

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The Ascension of the Soul in Mandaean Mysticism - Also Scroll Down For: Some Thoughts About Sant Mat and Cousin Schools of Mysticism

 

Article: The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being) -- The Ascension of the Soul in Mandaean Mysticism -- Also Scroll Down For: Some Thoughts About Sant Mat and Cousin Schools of Mysticism

The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being)

"From the day when I came to love the Life [God], from the day when my heart came to love the Truth, I no longer have trust in anything in the world… After my soul alone I go searching about, which to me is worth generations and worlds. I went and found my soul - What are to me all the worlds? I went and found Truth, as she stands at the outer rim of the worlds." (Ginza Rabba, Mandaean Gnostic Scriptures)

The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being)

The Earth-realm and Then Comes the Seven Inner Realms or Heavens, and Yet None Represent the True Highest Heaven so the Soul Continues the Journey of Ascension Until It Reaches The Eighth, the Goal, the Ultimate Reality, the Real Home of The Great Life, Hayyi Rabbi.

’Bshumayhon 'd Hayyi rabbi

In the name of the Great Hayyi

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.

I am flying, advancing until I reach the first guardian.

The servants of the first guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked me, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the second guardian.

The servants of the second guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the third guardian.

The servants of the third guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the fourth guardian.

The servants of the fourth guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the fifth guardian.

The servants of the fifth guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the sixth guardian.

The servants of the sixth guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the seventh guardian.

The servants of the seventh guardian came to meet me.

They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked him, “Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,

and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the House of Life.

The righteous came forward to meet me.

In thanks, I bow down and praise Hayyi.

They clothed me in radiance, covered me with light,

and numbered me among the righteous.

Soul, you must raise your lamps

to shine among the lamps of light.

The word of truth has come to you.

It came to the faithful and the righteous.

’u Hayyi zaken

-- from the Left Volume of the Ginza Rabba (Mandaean Gnostic Scriptures, Codex Nasaraeus)

The Earth-realm and Then Comes the Seven Inner Realms or Heavens, and Yet None Represent the True Highest Heaven so the Soul Continues the Journey of Ascension Until It Reaches The Eighth, the Goal, the Ultimate Reality, the Real Home of The Great Life, Hayyi Rabbi.

"In the Name of the Great Life 

Sublime Light be Praised"

Some Thoughts About Sant Mat and Cousin Schools of Mysticism, by James Bean

Sant Mat indeed has much in common with certain strands of Sufism, Kabbalah, Mandaeans and other expressions of Gnosticism, Platonism, even certain Christian mystics like Joseph Hazzaya, also the Hermetic philosophy of Egypt.

Andrea Diem Lane's book, The Gnostic Mystery, remains one of the best examinations of Gnosticism and Sant Mat.

It would be wonderful if there were scholarly projects that expand this to investigating the commonalities between all these cousin schools of mystics.

Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism and Jewish mysticism seem to be the early sources of this, the noetic heavens or higher planes, secret sacred names, initiations into the mysteries, visions, and ascension. Then eventually Syriac Christian mystics and Gnostic sects get established in Mesopotamia. Not long after, Sufism emerges in that same region. Manichaeans, Nestorians and others travel the Silk Road eastwards. Islam and Sufism become a major presence in India. While some of these meditation techniques and perceptions about the world of within might keep getting reinvented in various cultures over time -- the human condition and "atman project" -- I really do see actual contact, direct influence taking place between West and East. I suspect Sufism really has served as the major conduit for this interface.

The Dharam Das material like the Anurag Sagar is especially "Manichaean" or Gnostic in nature. While Kabir knew of Sufis, other Sants, and Naths, it's AS IF Dharam Das had an additional more Manichaean influence in his life, but if a biography of Dharam Das even exists to consult with, it remains an obscure untranslated inaccessible Hindi book. 

According to one Mandaean glossary I have, "Ptahil" is their word for the Demiurge (KAL), an imperfect architect of the imperfect  or flawed material realm, earth-realm:

"Ptahil. One of the Uthras*; as the executor of the cosmogonic designs of a group of Uthras*, most directly connected with the fashioning of this world: he is thus the Mandaean Demiurge. The name Ptah-il is that of the Egyptian artisan-god Ptah with the Semitic -il ("god") suffixed to it. That the name for the Demiurge was taken from the Egyptian pantheon is doubtless connected with the symbolic role of Egypt as the representative of the material world."

* "Uthra. Name for divine beings beneath the Great Mana and the First Life, comparable to the angels..."

Even One Second Spent in the Devotion of Lord is Counted -- Don’t Think That Meditation Done in the Evening or Any Other Time is a Waste

 

Even One Second Spent in the Devotion of Lord is Counted -- Don’t Think That Meditation Done in the Evening or Any Other Time is a Waste

Baba Farid: "The first watch of the night brings flowers, and the later watches of the night bring fruit. Those who remain awake and aware, receive the gifts from the Lord."

Commentary by Santji: "First, flowers come on plants or fruit trees, whether it is apple, orange, etc., and then comes fruit. Just like that, meditation done in the earlier part of the night is like flowers and meditation done in the later part is like fruit. Don’t think that meditation done in the evening or any other time is a waste. Even one second spent in the devotion of Lord is counted. Baba Jaimal Singh Ji used to say that when a jiva [soul], withdrawing his attention from all outside things, listens to the Shabd, his attendance is marked in Sach Khand. Masters whose inner eyes are opened tell us that, when any jiva sits in meditation, even gods in the heavens look at him and say in surprise, 'Ah! In the Iron Age a jiva is sitting in meditation and is preparing to meet with the Lord!' The later part of the night is important because, getting up early at three A.M., we have just woken up and our surat or attention has just entered the body. We don't remember the thoughts of the previous day and there is no noise in the streets, etc... At that time, it becomes easier to withdraw the surat, the soul, from every single cell of the body, and so we get the fruit. 'Those who remain awake and aware, receive the gifts from the Lord.'" (Santji, The Pain of Separation The Shlokas of Sheik Farid From the Guru Granth Sahib, A Commentary by Ajaib Singh)