Forty-Second Assembly (Khwan-Pur-Nemat)

After breaking the fast one Ramzan evening, Qazi Ashrafuddin' asked: Yogis have the power of flight. Can they use it to go from one place to another? The Venerable Master replied: They can, but not completely. This is connected with self- struggle and asceticism. In this matter the faithful and infidels are equal. A person's soul acquires strength to the extent that the burden of human nature departs from him. A quality is found in his soul by means of which the ability to fly is acquired, as also walking on water. All such things are of this meaning. Anyone, however, who still carries the weight of his human nature and enters the water will immediately sink. It is because of the weight of his nature that a person who is unable to walk upon water cannot do so. Afterwards he said: In this affair monks are superior to yogis. By virtue of their intense self- struggle and asceticism they attain a stage where they acquire illumination of their souls so that some of them attain a certain luster.

Sikandar asked: What is this luster? He replied: It is an awareness in their minds. Namely they are aware of what passes through another person's mind.

In connection with this explanation, he mentioned that Shamsuddin Khwarzami had told this story: Once my father had gone somewhere on business. During this journey he reached a hill on which a hermit had made his dwelling. His solitude was so extreme that there was no path by which he could be reached. His arrangement for food was as follows. After some days he had need of food. Now there was a road at the foot of the hill along which merchants and similar people used to pass. He used to let down by rope a bucket from the hilltop to the road. The Travellers who passed by that hill would then realize that there was a hermit living on the top of the hill and he was in need of food. They would put something in the bucket. He

would pull it up by means of the rope. He would eat whatever food or fruits were in the bucket. When my father reached the spot, he had two companions with him. Suddenly they saw the bucket descending. My father said: That bucket belongs to the hermit. Let's give him something. In the meantime, one companion said: 'Let's give him poison!' As soon as he said this the hermit became aware of it and hauled up the bucket. After- wards my father said to that companion: 'What have you done? You have let it go. Instead of poison we should have put food in it.

Again, Sikander said: If a person wants to undertake self- struggle and asceticism late in life, can he do so? He replied: How can he do so in old age? In his old age he has to make sure that he eats something, for old age itself breaks his bones. What other form of struggle can he undertake? As the saying goes if, after forty years of age, someone enters upon this Way and desires to reach perfection, he cannot.*

In the meantime, Qazi Muizzuddin said: In some places it is related that so and so, after seventy years, was illuminated. What is the basis of this? He replied: It depends on the fact that he had attained constancy in self-struggle and austerity before forty years of age. That was how he was straightened out. He reached old age without any interior illumination. This occurred when he was seventy years old. It does not mean he began ascetical practices only when he was seventy. That was when he received illumination. Moreover, I have not said it is impossible, only that it is not likely.

Qazi Ashrafuddin said: As far as knowledge is concerned it is known that a person should undertake whatever struggle and asceticism he can, yet the gift which is bestowed upon a person is connected with the abandoning of food and drink. He replied: If a person is in control of himself while eating and drinking-for that is the heart of the matter-he will attain all those things.

After breaking the fast one Ramzan evening, Qazi Ashrafuddin' asked: Yogis have the power of flight. Can they use it to go from one place to another? The Venerable Master replied: They can, but not completely. This is connected with self- struggle and asceticism. In this matter the faithful and infidels are equal. A person's soul acquires strength to the extent that the burden of human nature departs from him. A quality is found in his soul by means of which the ability to fly is acquired, as also walking on water. All such things are of this meaning. Anyone, however, who still carries the weight of his human nature and enters the water will immediately sink. It is because of the weight of his nature that a person who is unable to walk upon water cannot do so. Afterwards he said: In this affair monks are superior to yogis. By virtue of their intense self- struggle and asceticism they attain a stage where they acquire illumination of their souls so that some of them attain a certain luster.

Sikandar asked: What is this luster? He replied: It is an awareness in their minds. Namely they are aware of what passes through another person's mind.

In connection with this explanation, he mentioned that Shamsuddin Khwarzami had told this story: Once my father had gone somewhere on business. During this journey he reached a hill on which a hermit had made his dwelling. His solitude was so extreme that there was no path by which he could be reached. His arrangement for food was as follows. After some days he had need of food. Now there was a road at the foot of the hill along which merchants and similar people used to pass. He used to let down by rope a bucket from the hilltop to the road. The Travellers who passed by that hill would then realize that there was a hermit living on the top of the hill and he was in need of food. They would put something in the bucket. He

would pull it up by means of the rope. He would eat whatever food or fruits were in the bucket. When my father reached the spot, he had two companions with him. Suddenly they saw the bucket descending. My father said: That bucket belongs to the hermit. Let's give him something. In the meantime, one companion said: 'Let's give him poison!' As soon as he said this the hermit became aware of it and hauled up the bucket. After- wards my father said to that companion: 'What have you done? You have let it go. Instead of poison we should have put food in it.

Again, Sikander said: If a person wants to undertake self- struggle and asceticism late in life, can he do so? He replied: How can he do so in old age? In his old age he has to make sure that he eats something, for old age itself breaks his bones. What other form of struggle can he undertake? As the saying goes if, after forty years of age, someone enters upon this Way and desires to reach perfection, he cannot.*

In the meantime, Qazi Muizzuddin said: In some places it is related that so and so, after seventy years, was illuminated. What is the basis of this? He replied: It depends on the fact that he had attained constancy in self-struggle and austerity before forty years of age. That was how he was straightened out. He reached old age without any interior illumination. This occurred when he was seventy years old. It does not mean he began ascetical practices only when he was seventy. That was when he received illumination. Moreover, I have not said it is impossible, only that it is not likely.

Qazi Ashrafuddin said: As far as knowledge is concerned it is known that a person should undertake whatever struggle and asceticism he can, yet the gift which is bestowed upon a person is connected with the abandoning of food and drink. He replied: If a person is in control of himself while eating and drinking-for that is the heart of the matter-he will attain all those things.