Journey in God

Thanks Almustafa, this has been a great help.

Yes! Witnessing, contemplation, mushahadah, can happen at any moment, but even more so within meditation and out of the body, once we have torn the veils and achieved unveiling (mukashafah).

As we stated earlier on the forum regarding insight, flashes of comprehension, and intuitive understanding:

These Signs of Allah can only be experienced by developing spiritual insight (firasah, imagination or clairvoyance) within the internal dimensions, for as Al-Qushayri stated in his Risalah [some of my commentary is in brackets]:

Abu Said al-Kharraz said, "The one who draws out knowledge is one who constantly observes the unseen. It is not invisible to him. Nothing is hidden from him. It is he to whom the saying of the Most High points, '...Those of them who can search out knowledge of it would have known it' [through learning how to astral project in a clear and conscious manner] (4:83)." The close examiner is one who knows the sign. He is familiar with what is in the depths of the heart through indications and signs [symbolic dream experiences]. God Most High has said, 'Indeed in that are signs for those who read the signs' [or those who have awakened consciousness] (15:75). The person of insight looks with the light of God Most High—that is, with the rays of light that gleam in his heart by which he becomes aware of the meaning of hidden things [in the internal dimensions, the Tree of Life]. This is one of the special characteristics of faith. Those who have a greater share of this are called "those learned in God." God Most High said, 'Be ones learned in God' (3:79), meaning knowers, wise men, qualified with the attributes of the Truth in perception and character. Such people possess no information concerning what is hidden in other people or any perception of them or any business with them."

The importance of developing consciousness within the physical and internal planes is also evidenced further in Al-Risalah Al-Qushayrirah (Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri).

Gleams (Lawaih), Governing Stars (Tawali), Flashes (Lawami)

These expressions are very close in meaning and no great difference is to be found among them. They are attributes of those who have made a beginning, who are making progress in the development of the heart [through meditation and dream yoga]. The brilliance of the suns of realization [which can only be realized through meditation and sexual alchemy, since as Samael Aun Weor indicated, the Kundalini has the radiance of a thousand million suns] is not yet continuous for them [since the Kundalini, awakened through the Perfect Matrimony, provides continuous cognizance], but the Truth, may He be glorified and exalted, brings the sustenance of their hearts an instant at a time. As He said, "For them, their sustenance is in it morning and evening" (19:62) [through dhikr, self-remembrance and self-observation during the day and in the evening as awakened astral experiences]. So whenever the heart's skies are darkened by the clouds of worldly interest, gleams of discovery (lawaih al-kashf) are presented to them and flashes of closeness (lawami al-qurb) shimmer [in conscious experiences out of the body, since within the internal planes, cloudy skies refer to the darkness of the mind, whereas stars, light, and beautiful, heavenly skies refer to ascension and comprehension of the Being], and during the time they are veiled [by our nafs, egos and desires] they are awaiting and anticipating the sudden appearance of these gleams [which can only be accessed when the body is abandoned and one knows how to consciously travel in the internal planes, to speak with the stars: sidereal gods, angels or Elohim, the Multiple Perfect Unity known as Allah]. It is like the poet's saying:

O lightning-stroke that flashes
Which part of of the sky [mind] will you enlighten?

First come gleams, then flashes, then governing stars [first come sparks of insight through muhasabah: self-observation and self-remembering, dhikr, then flashes of intuitive understanding through meditation, then governing stars are perceived, meaning the angels are visible to one within the internal planes, where the Master is to be found]. The gleams are like lightning-strokes - no sooner have they appeared than they have vanished [since the work of remembering Allah is arduous]. As the poet said,

We were separated a year, and when we met [through consciousness in the internal worlds]
His greeting to me was a farewell [since the experience could not be sustained].

And they recite,

O you who visited and did not visit
Like one who has come to take some fire!
He passed by the door of the house [my consciousness] hurrying.
How would it have hurt him had he entered the house?

Flashes are clearer than gleams and their end does not come with such speed. Flashes [of understanding our nafs, egos, desires through muhasabah: self-observation] may continue two moments, or three. But as they say,

The eye is weeping; the glance [of the Beloved through internal experience] is not satisfied.

And as they say,

The eye does not come upon His beauty [since these eyes must be awakened in meditation and through firasa: spiritual insight].
Without growing red from watching, before thirst is quenched.

When such a flash occurs it severs you from your [egotistical] self and joins you to Him [through Samadhi, experience of the highest realms of the universe, the Tree of Life, when the physical body has been abandoned], but the light of its day scarcely shines before the armies of night [the nafs, egos and desires] turn and attack it [meaning, the mind attacks us as we learn to awaken our consciousness here and in the internal planes]. People who are like this are between joy and mourning, because they are between the disclosure and the veiling of the truth. As they say,

Night [ignorance and the sleep of consciousness] folds us in the tatters of a cloak
While day [solar, Christic consciousness] enwraps us in a gilded gown.

Governing stars have a more durable impact, are of greater strength, and persist longer [because the soul has abandoned the body and may be face to face with the Beloved]. They chase darkness and expel doubt, but the position they occupy is the western horizon [towards the Chakra Muladhara, where the sacred fire must be awakened in order to provide continuous realization of the thousand million suns, the Kundalini-serpent awakened only through sexual alchemy], not the height of mid-heaven [above the Chakra Sahasrara, the lotus of absolute omniscience, where the Holy Spirit, the Divine Mother Kundalini, must rise to], and their power is not constant [since in the beginning the student has no fire]. Therefore when they come into play their departure is already imminent [since the consciousness is weak and needs to be developed through the work we teach], and the conditions of their setting have a wide cusp (that is, their influence begins to diminish long before they actually vanish).

This indicates that our experiences within the internal planes are weak and cloudy in the beginning, but become stronger and clearer through practicing scientific chastity, sanctity, and charity. While insight is much stronger within the internal worlds, it begins here in Malkuth, the kingdom.

Are intuitions or hunches we get in crucial moments outside of meditation also part of this (flashes of insight)?

Thus have We sent down the Book to you; and those to whom We have given the Book believe in it, and of these there are some who believe in it (after having investigated these truths within meditation), and none contests Our signs (spiritual experiences) except the faithless.

You (Muhammad, the unlettered prophet) did not use to recite any scripture before it, nor did you write it with your right hand (as a Bodhisattva who follows Chesed, the Innermost, the Hu in Allah-Hu, the spirit), for then the impugners would have been skeptical.

Rather it is [present as] manifest signs in the breasts of those who have been given knowledge, and none contests Our signs except wrongdoers. -Al-ʿAnkabut [29:47-49]

These signs are states of consciousness, flashes of insight, internal experiences, that manifest themselves within our breasts, the silence of the tranquil heart within meditation.

God is light. Therefore, he administers His light whenever He wishes and if the soul earns it. These are ahwal (states of consciousness) that anyone can access if they perform esoteric super-discipline.

Maqamat (stations or initiations, permanent development in the soul) are developed and earned through conscious works and voluntary sufferings.

However, the Being grants light, comprehension, and insight to the soul whenever it is necessary.

So states of consciousness are granted by Divinity to a meditator? Can you clarify what you mean by that statement?

Thanks.

It is one thing to experience the Absolute in a samadhi and another thing to be realized in that state.

This is why in Sufism the Muslim initiates wrote about states being given to the disciples by divinity, whereas stations are acquired through conscious works and voluntary sufferings.

Not everyone has their center of gravity in the Absolute. Most people (with the lunar ego very fat) go to Limbo every night.

If you train yourself like Yogananda, you may learn to experience the Absolute without solar bodies. However, to establish one's center of gravity there begins with initiation.

Thanks!

Naturally, my follow up question is; If this is even beyond the comprehension of the Gods, then can a meditator, Consciousness that is so low on the Tree of Life like ourselves even gain comprehension of that?

I've read that it is possible to enter into the Absolute via meditation, is that true?

I've Also heard that we go into the Absolute during deep sleep (it kind of makes sense since we are completely absent of identity), but due to our veil of ignorance we are completely unaware of it, is this true?