Eye Witness Accounts of a Few Selected loving Souls
Eye-Witness Accounts of a Few Selected Loving Souls
Story of a predestined loving soul:
I passed through a forest in America at midnight. I saw that a man was prostrating and weeping before a tree; when I returned after an hour or so, he was still in the same state. I got closer and stopped. He felt my presence, and raised his head from the prostration. He complained to me, ‘Why did you disturb me?’ I said, ‘I am also in search of God. I wonder how you would find God through a tree. You should find God through a religion.’ He said, ‘I do not know the original language of the celestial books of the Koran and the Bible, nor am I satisfied with their translation, because they contradict each other strongly. Hence, it is impossible to believe that these books were sent by the same God. According to one celestial book: God says, “Jesus is my son.” And in the other book, God says, “I do not have any sons.” I have wasted a great deal of my valuable time in futile study of these books. Now, I have adopted another way of finding God. For example; this tree is so beautiful, which suggests that God loves this tree. Maybe God will direct me towards Him through this tree!’
He was a predestined loving soul, who was in search for God, according to his intellect. Can such people be sent into the hell? Such people are known as helpless (Mazour) and it is such people who from a dog to Qatmir will enter the paradise. Qatmir also did not have a religion.
Miss Katherine of Arizona, USA, tells her story:
‘I received the initiation of heart-invocation from Angela. Angela informed me, “Consider that God has accepted you if your heart is activated with God’s remembrance within the next seven days; otherwise, your life is a waste.” I burst into tears when my heart was yet to be activated and the limit of seven days was over. I wailed in anguish the following night, and the same night, my heart became alive with God’s remembrance. It has been three years since then.’ Katherine does not believe in the age factor, however, she believes in holistic health. Similarly, she does not believe in religions, but in Divine Love. She asserts, ‘God’s remembrance has increased Divine Love in my heart, and this is enough for me.’
Meeting with a Hindu Guru:
I was then in the mountains of Sehwan. I would often visit the tomb of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. I saw a man sat in the yard of the tomb, flocked by many of his Hindu followers who seemed to be very respectful to him. I asked, ‘Who is this holy man?’ ‘He is a Hindu sage,’ said the men. ‘He is an enlightened conscience and our prayers reach Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and are answered through him.’ Many Muslims also respected him.
One day, I passed by a rock; I saw the same person prostrating and reciting something before an idol, which he had placed in front of him. We met at the shrine the following day. I said to him. ‘I do not understand why an enlightened conscience person like yourself worships an idol.’ He replied, ‘I too do not take it (the idol) as my Lord, however, I believe and it is also verified by your celestial books, that God created man in his own image. Hence, I carve and worship Idols of different shapes to arrive at the true image of God.’ He said, ‘You too are an enlightened conscience, you tell me how God looks, and which of the Idols he resembles, so that I may bring him in my heart.’
When I (His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi) was sixteen or seventeen years of age, I was reciting a verse of Surah Muzammil (the Koran) at the shrine of my ancestral Saint ‘Gohar Ali Shah’. When suddenly, a tall man in the guise of a fakir appeared before me, and said, ‘You are wasting your time.’ He had a saintly face, so I remained quiet, but deep down in my heart, I thought, ‘He must be a Satan, and he came to stop me from the recitation of the Koran.’
After a while, I was 35 years of age and my heart had started to engage in God’s remembrance. I would recite the verse Muzammil according to the prescribed method, and then I would pause momentarily to allow my heart to recite it. One day, when I was ecstatically engaged in this exercise, the same tall fakir appeared as before, and said, ‘Now you are reciting the Koran. The remedy is ineffective until the medicine enters the stomach. Nothing is obtained until the Divine Word enters the heart.’
Then he said the following stanza:
‘There are many who remember God by tongue, however, very few are aware of the art of God’s remembrance by the heart.’
‘And it is the God’s lovers who remember Him by their hearts, and the tonguesters are unaware of such a bounty!’
When I had said the prayers (Salat) in Thatta Mosque, I saw an elderly man taking care of the worshippers’ shoes. Since I was in the last row, therefore, it seemed to me that he did not say the prayers (Salat) and only took care of the shoes. As I was leaving, I said, ‘You did not say the prayers (Salat), what reward do you expect by taking care of the shoes?’ He said, ‘Prayers (Salat)? I never said it all my life; I do not anticipate salvation through Salat in this old age now. I now live on hope that one of these people may be God’s Friends, and that my act may please God or his Friend.’ I (His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi) said, ‘No act supersedes the act of prayers (Salat).’ The elderly man said, ‘Nothing is greater than God’s Friend if you have pleased him.’ After three years of austerities, when I reached the gathering of Prophet Mohammad, I saw the same elderly man sitting beside the feet of the Prophet. I recalled the stanza, ‘Sinners reached the Holy Court; the pious and righteous were left in the state of awe!’