167.foreword

167. Foreword

 

Mkadk presents part four of my ‘Journey towards the Great God’. It is a collection of blogs 134-166. I have made no further advance in my quest. It has gradually dawned on me that I have two missions; first mission is to reach God, and the second is to invite others to the Light of God. As of now, I have failed in both missions. The door of God is still closed and I have not awakened the love of God in anybody. Those who are worldly, do not read my blog, or books, or listen to my poems on YouTube. They are not interested in God. Those who are religious are happy in their own rituals. They do not have an inner thirst for spirituality. They praise God, they thank God, they pray to God, they are afraid of God, but they do not love God. They are not even attached to God. They do all those things as a habit, in an absent minded way. Those who are devout worshippers do not need my book because they are quite content, and may get nearness to God in their own way. Only two persons have really liked my books, and praised them, but they are already far advanced in mysticism, much more than I. One of them, Shah Sahib, said, “He should not concern himself about approbation from others; he has been assigned a task, he should just do it.”

 

Whatever I wanted to convey to others has been completed. In these four books I have attempted to answer all the riddles which had perplexed me for years. I will keep on writing more blogs, but they will be about men and women of God or of books, but not about complex subjects. Here is a summary of those topics that I have covered:

1. There are eighteen blogs on God (blogs 97-114).

2. There are three blogs on mysticism, as I understand it (blogs 93-95)

3. There are nine blogs on Fate versus Free will (blogs 134-142)

4. There are six blogs on the systems created by God for the governance of this world (blogs 143-148)

5. There are three blogs on development and critique of religions (blogs 149-151)

6. There are twelve blogs on dark night of the soul (blogs 39-50)

 

Some things have to be added about the proof of God, as provided in my blogs. Without the existence of God, one cannot explain the creation of universe, prophecies about future events, miracles, answer to prayers, and the existence of spirits of dead people. Atheists scoff at these five arguments. They call it “God of gaps argument”. What they mean is that science cannot explain certain things, such as those I have mentioned. They say, these are gaps in our knowledge. That does not mean there is God who is the perpetrator of them, therefore, they are not proofs of God. We, the scientists, are working on these gaps. May be in another five hundred or a thousand years, we will have satisfactory scientific explanation of them.

 

Although I do agree, as I have mentioned in blog 146 (Reply of Einstein), that these supernatural events must be carried out by some yet undiscovered laws, because that is the way of God; everything follows laws, created by Him. Therefore, in a sense, nothing is supernatural. However, even if a thousand years from now we discover the new laws explaining these occurrences, they will still point to a Supreme Mind.

 

The obstinacy of atheists astounds me. They follow two basic assumptions, without any absolute requirement or logical reason to adopt them, as if they were some self evident truths, such as that an elephant is bigger than an ant. These two assumptions are: There is no God, and Revealed knowledge is not true knowledge because it is not testable. All their hypotheses regarding these five supernatural phenomena are based on these two rules that they have adopted. Let us examine some of them.

 

1. God created the universe, because nothing can be created from absolute nothing (discussed in detail in blog 101). Therefore atheist scientists said; No! Universe must have been created from nothing, since we, the scientists, believe that there is no God (and that is an inviolable, unshakable fact to us). A scientist Alan Guth called the universe, an ultimate free lunch.

2.   Bertrand Russell said“...The universe is just there, and that's all.” That means there is no origin of universe. So, Russell denies the current understanding that the universe started from a Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, and stars and galaxies gradually evolved.

3. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, said that there are no miracles, because miracles violate laws of nature, which is impossible. It is just superstition. St Augustine relates the miracle of incorrupt dead bodies (blog 160):

“God revealed Bishop Ambrose, in a vision, where the bodies of martyrs Protasius and Gervasius were hidden.  All these years (over two hundred) You had preserved them incorrupt.”

 

Saint Augustine was far from a superstitious fool.

 

4. The chance of intelligent life to arise is 1 followed by 117 zeroes (see blog 153). This is an extremely small chance. The answer by atheist scientists is; have infinite universes. Infinite has 1 followed by infinite zeroes( trillions, googol, googolplex or even more zeroes ), at least  in one of them ( one out of 10¹¹⁷) everything would be exactly right, and intelligent life will emerge.

We cannot fathom one universe. Consider having infinite universes! Who created them? It reminds me of world of fantasy. Create whatever you want, in your mind, and call it a hypothesis, without an iota of data. Keep the mantra; no God, no revealed knowledge.

 

Coming back to the beautiful world of spirituality. God is not a supposition to the great mystics and prophets, because they have actually experienced God. Some have actually seen the light of God, although it had deleterious effects on them. Moses and Saint Paul and Shah Sahib saw it. Moses fell unconscious. Paul became temporarily blind. Shah Sahib (his original name is Noor Alam), a Sufi mystic, told my brother, that he can see the light of God in his mind’s vision, with closed eyes. This mote has written three blogs on Shah Sahib ( 153-155).

These scientists must pause for a minute and realize the absurdity of their denial of a Creator, because it requires three suppositions: universe was created from absolute nothing; intelligent life emerged by itself, against insurmountable odds; and all these dozens of incidents which I have narrated must be wrong and these persons must be liars. It is as if a man was hit three times with lightning on his three birthdays

 

St Augustine could not answer the question that how prophets could see future (blog 159). He wrote:

“For it is utterly impossible that things which do not exist should be revealed. The means by which You do this is far beyond our understanding. I have not the strength to comprehend this mystery, and by my own power I never shall.”

 This mote has attempted to answer this riddle. See explanation 6 in blog 141 and further discussion in blog 142.

Fifteen years and two months have passed since the start of my journey towards God

 

Mkadk

 13^th February, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

166. Prophet Muhammad^pbuh Seen Over The Centuries. Part Three

 

We were discussing the dream of Nazir Ahmed. One day Nazir came to the town where Ghazi lived, and gave an account of his encounter, in a dream, with the holy prophet^pbuh. He told the following:

 

“I developed cancer in my right leg. Blood would ooze from the wound. The leg became smaller in circumference. I started using crutches. A friend took me to a doctor in Mayo Hospital Lahore. The doctor examined the leg and said that it has to be amputated. We rented a room in a hotel. The surgery was scheduled for the next day. I went to a nearby mosque for night prayer. I prayed to God to save my leg. At around 2 AM I fell asleep. In the dream I saw a beautiful house. Lot of people were going in. I asked somebody that why were the people going in? He replied ‘don’t you know the holy prophet^pbuh is inside’. I walked inside on my crutches. There I saw the holy prophet^pbuh sitting and many people around him also sitting, respectfully. I presented myself to the holy prophet^pbuh and said salaam, with reverence.

He said ‘What brings you here?’

I replied ‘I have come to ask you to pray for cure of my disease’

He said ‘Go to your home in the morning. The merciful God will have pity on you.’

Hearing these words I became certain that my leg will get better without any operation.

As I was turning to go, the holy prophet^pbuh said ‘do you know the person standing with me.’

I said ‘No, sir’

He said ‘this is my companion Abu Bakar, listen to what he has to say (see footnote)’

With great reverence I gave my salaam to Hazrat Abu Bakar^ru. He answered my salaam affectionately and gave me a piece of paper from his pocket. On the paper it was written; ‘Professor Ghazi Ahmed Principal Government Intermediate College Bochal Kalan, Distt Jhelum’

 

Abu Bakar^ru said “read the address and memorize it”. I did it. Then he said, “Do you know this man”

I replied “I have never heard of him”

He said, ‘Ghazi Ahmed is the person who was given the gift of Islam by the holy prophet^pbuh. Go to the home of Ghazi and tell him that he should gird up his loins for service of Islam’.”

When Nazir woke up, he told his friend that there was no need of surgery. They checked out of the hotel. His leg eventually healed by itself. He showed his leg to Ghazi, his foot wound had completely healed.

Ghazi stated that whenever he was invited to address a gathering he would remember the message of holy prophet^pbuh.

This dream of Nazir is very important, because of three findings.

(a). It resulted in the miraculous cure of Nazir’s leg.

(b). He was given the name and address of Ghazi. Such a person did exist at that address. He had previously never heard of Ghazi.

(c). Hazrat Abu Bakar verified the fact that Ghazi was converted to Islam by the holy prophet^pbuh. Before Mr Nazir’s account of his dream, one had no independent confirmation of this fact. Skeptics had claimed that this fourteen year old boy’s mind was filled with thoughts gleaned from reading the religious books which resulted in that fanciful dream; a creation of his own mind.

 

7. The readers of my blogs are aware of Data Gunj Bakhash, a great 11^th century mystic, who is buried in Lahore, Pakistan (blogs 62-4,115-6). His book (1) is an autobiography, and it influenced this mote. Data Gunj Bakhash narrates two dreams in which he met the holy prophet^pbuh. He writes:

 

“In the country of Syria, I was sleeping at the grave of Hazrat Blal^ru, the first muezzin (one who calls for prayer, in a loud voice) in Islam. In the dream I found myself in Mecca (where kaaba is located). I saw the holy prophet^pbuh entering through Bab-a-Shiba. He was carrying a man in his lap, like one would carry a child. With joy I ran towards the holy prophet^pbuh, and kissed his feet. I was wondering who this person might be, whom the holy prophet^pbuh was carrying. He surmised my thoughts, and said this is your Imam (leader), and he belongs to your order I realized that he must be Imam Abu Hanifa (the greatest of all Imams in Sunni Islam). It became evident by that dream that the innovative thoughts of Abu-Hanifa were faultless, not because he was following the holy prophet^pbuh but the holy prophet^pbuh was carrying him.”

 

8. Data Gunj Bakhash had one more dream of the holy prophet^pbuh. He narrates:

“I saw the holy prophet^pbuh in my dream. I asked him to give me some advice”

Now, are you not curious to know, that what was the advice given by one of the greatest prophets of all times to one of the greatest mystics of all times?

The advice was ‘Control your senses’

Data Gunj Bakhash elaborates the advice in a whole page.

“This is a comprehensive ascetic practice (to try to reach God), because all knowledge is acquired through the five special senses; see, smell, taste, hear and touch. Knowledge and wisdom are acquired through them……………”

I quote what St Teresa of Avila said (blog 75):

 

“It is most important, to detach oneself from all kinds of pleasures”. This is the same teaching which this mote has found in mystic practices of all religions; Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.

; Conquer one self.

9. My friend Dr Manocha had two visions of prophet Muhammad^pbum both times in dreams. In the first vision the holy prophet ^pbum was sitting on a mat or something. A black blanket was wrapped around him. He had thick beard of white and grey hair. His head was covered with a black turban. His face had pitted scars on it. Dr Manocha thought that Hazoor (a title of respect) must have suffered from small pox sometimes. He watched the holy prophet by walking in an arc. As he watched, he realized that those pits were emitting light like stars. Second time he saw prophet Muhammad^pbum from a distance. He was walking with a group of people. When he visited India, he specially went to a shop and bought a black shawl, as a token of his love and respect.

 

 

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Footnote. Abu Bakar^ru was the closest companion of the holy prophet^pbuh, and became the first caliph of Muslims after his death.

(1) Kashaf-ul Mahjoob by Data Gunj Bakhash.

 

 

143. System of the World. Part One

 

When one thinks that how this universe is run, many questions arise in one’s mind. For instance, who created this universe? Did the universe create itself? Why was it created? Is there a God? Is planet Earth, which we call our world, runs on the same principles, as the rest of universe? Are we the only intelligent, self-aware, sentient form of life, or are there other planets or moons where there are similar life forms? What are the fundamental laws of nature? A universe is governed by same laws of nature, are there other universes which have different laws? Does true vacuum (where nothing is present) exist? And there are many other questions which philosophers and astrophysicist have in their minds.

 

This mote is a mystic, not a philosopher, astrophysicist, or a religious scholar. Here I want to theorize, not on the universe, but on the system of this world, our earth.

 

Basically, there are three hypotheses to explain the system:

 

1. There is no GOD or Creator. The universe was created at a finite period of time. Nobody knows, for sure, what was before that time. Scientists have theories about it, but essentially it is unknowable. Why was it created and who created it is also unfathomable, but scientist surmise that it created itself.  After the creation of universe, it is running on its own, by the laws of nature. Everything that happens in the world happens, because of the law of cause and effect. For purposes of this discussion we will name this, the “Materialistic theory”

 

2. There is a God or Creator. God created this universe at a finite period of time. God was there before the universe was created. He created it because of reasons only known to Him. Everything that happens in the universe happens because of His will. The world runs by fundamental laws of nature including the law of cause and effect. These laws were created by God. We will call this the “Religious theory”

 

3. There is a God or Creator. God created the universe at a certain period in time. God was there before the universe was created. He created it because of unknown reasons. However, after the creation of the universe he does not run the universe (but He may intercede on some occasions if He so desires), it runs automatically by the law of cause and effect and other laws of nature.  We will call this ‘Materialism with God theory’

 

Let us now examine these three hypotheses in greater detail.

 

Materialistic theory: I have discussed the origin of universe and the evolution of life in some detail in my blogs 98-101, in Part Three. According to the present knowledge, the universe started with a big explosion called Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. Nobody knows what was there before Big Bang. Was there a complete vacuum, with nothing in it? No matter and no energy. If that is true then this huge universe came into existence out of nothing! I think this is a preposterous notion. Nothing can arise out of nothing.

Science deals with this question in several ways:

1. It is useless to surmise without facts. Since we have no pre-Big Bang data we are not going to think about it. Universe is just there.

2. There is no pre-Bing Bang, because Time started at Big Bang. This is what St. Augustine also said 1600 years ago. Big objects such as planets and stars pull the fabric of time-space towards themselves by their force of gravity. Time slows. A big object such as Sagittarius A at the center of our galaxy has a mass of 4 million suns. Time must be slower over there. At Big Bang the whole matter-energy of the future universe was compressed in a singularity much smaller than an atom, the size of a Planck length; a centimeter divided by 1 followed by 32 zeroes. The massive pull of this singularity made the Time stand still.

 

3. As Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective, once said, that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, is the truth. Therefore, it follows that there must be the same amount of energy-matter before Big Bang as it was at Big Bang, and is there now, 13.8 billion years later, because the law of conservation of energy-matter states so. The law of conservation of energy is a fundamental law of nature. According to this law, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can be transformed.

One of the current popular theories is that most or all or some of the energy-matter was in the form of extremely small ( the size of a Planck length ) strings, or in the form of membranes (abbreviated as brans). These strings ( like the strings of a guitar ) vibrated at different speeds, all the time, giving rise to different types of particles, just like different musical notes emerge by different tension and plucking of  guitar strings.  These subatomic particles caused the formation of atoms.

 

If my writing, at this time lacks clarity, it is because the subject itself is not clear.

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

113. God. Part seventeen. Mkadk’s challenge
 

There is going to be a summation of all that I have written in the last 16 blog. But I cannot convince you with mere arguments. So here is a challenge. If you have a great desire, pray to  God for its fulfillment. God does not like to be tested, therefore, You have to do the following:

               1. Muster all the humility that you can. Consider yourself a lowly, blind, paralyzed, hungry beggar at the door of a king’s palace with multitude of other beggars begging for a morsel of food. Don’t pray if you are not motivated and not humble.

               2. if your desire gets fulfilled, pledge, that you will never doubt the existence of God.

               Here is the prayer. You have to say it in original language, as written.

“ Aay  Allah! Piaray Allah!. Marey yeh khahish hay.(state your wish)  Aghar yeh manzoori kay kabil hay, to isay manzoor furmah. Aay Allah, Piarey Allah”
OR
"Oh God! Dear God! This is my wish.( state your wish). If it is worth Your approval, please grant it. Oh God! Dear God!"

There is no guarantee that your wish will be granted, but there will be a fair chance of it being heard.

 

               Let me emphasize the two logical arguments in support of existence of God.

               1. God can be conceptualized as energy, or something even more subtle than energy, with a supermind. You can raise an objection that how can energy have a mind. We already know it can happen. Human brain is an example. It is made, mainly, of nerve cells. These cells have the power to think. Thoughts arise from certain nerve cells in the brain. I can communicate with them and they with me. When I address my brain cells and say “how are you doing?” I am certain that some brain cells have received the message, otherwise I would not be conscious of it. The message had to be received and interpreted by brain cells to come to my consciousness. The cells may reply “we are fine”. Again, to come to my consciousness, some brain cells must have formed the thought and sent it to me. Either the same or some other brain cells interpreted the thought. These cells communicate with each other instantaneously, at the speed of light (we know the speed, because all messages are carried by electrons, which travel at the speed of light). If our brain, a collection of billions of cells, made of atoms, and atoms made of subatomic particles, such as electrons and protons and neutrons, can have thoughts of pain, pleasure, compassion, jealousy, and anger, why not God, a collection of pure energy, have a mind?

               2. You can raise the objection, how can such supermind arise, and that also pre-Big Bang (in order to create the universe it had to be present at that time), out of sheer nothing? The answer is that the same process of evolution, which caused the electrons to combine with each other and make chemicals such as amino acids, which led to the formation of a cell, and then to man, in 3-4 thousand million years( blog 99) could have created God ( I shudder at my own temerity ) in a limitless amount of time. It may not need too much time because the process accelerates as the mind develops, from microbe to man 3-4 billion years, but from monkey to man mere 2 million years. It may have happened with the same two engines of mutation and natural selection. There is no logical or biological reason for evolution to stop at a certain point. If not mutation, then deliberate experimentation, by the supermind, on the leptons and quarks, to continue improvement.

 

               And now the arguments which bring me joy. How can anything arise from sheer nothing? We have discussed that impossibility in blog 101. We noted that the definition of nothing was changed by the scientists.

 

To be continued