The first and second knowledge dictate
you must fast during Ramadan
whereas the third knowledge says,
‘Eat as much as you want.
Fasting would make you a sinner’.
The first and second knowledge dictate you must offer salah
but the third knowledge says that if you pray, you will become a sinner.
Now, the question is whether that third knowledge is for you…
Who is it for?
The Third Knowledge and Esoteric Fasting
Q: What is the sign the etheric circle of light of the spiritual master has enveloped someone?
You should be able to judge this for yourself.
For instance, what is the sign of starvation?
What happens when you are starving and find no food?
You suffer, don’t you?
Similarly, when the lower self is starved -
- it’s one thing for your stomach to be empty
and to do that, you fast.
And this is the original fast:
purification of the lower self.
In this fast, you stop feeding the lower self its diet
whereas in the fast of the body, you stop the body's diet.
However, one who has purified the lower self is then eternally fasting.
And for such a person, the command is ‘kulu ashrabu - eat as much as you want’,
because you have now purified the lower self.
One of our brothers asked me to speak about the third, fourth, fifth and sixth knowledge.
The first and second knowledge dictate
you must fast during Ramadan
whereas the third knowledge says,
‘Eat as much as you want.
Fasting would make you a sinner’.
The first and second knowledge dictate you must offer salah
but the third knowledge says that if you pray, you will become a sinner.
Now, the question is whether that third knowledge is for you…
Who is it for?
The first thing to ascertain is
who can be told not to keep a fast -
- for this to be said and for it also to be true.
God has commanded you to fast.
Why?
So that you become pure.
Now, if a saint comes and says,
‘Do not fast! or you will become a sinner’
- who is he saying this to?
He is saying this to one who has already become purified.
Why would he need to fast now?
Who does the third knowledge address when it says ‘You will become a sinner if you pray’?
The third knowledge addresses the one who has reached God.
Once you have reached God,
you should be looking at God alone and if you [leave God to] worship,
then of course that would make you a sinner.
Look, in the past, when you would be living away from your family members -
- nowadays we have phones, so it’s not the same -
- you would write letters.
And if someone didn’t write to you,
you would think they forgot about you.
‘They don’t remember us anymore now that they are living in a new country’.
But now that phones have been invented, does anyone write letters anymore?
If you write letters now, you would be considered foolish
because now, with the help of the phone,
you can simply type out an e-mail in Urdu, Hindu, English or Punjabi, press send and it will be delivered in seconds.
So writing letters is useless now, isn’t it?
In the previous eras, when there were no phones, the only method of communication was by letter.
Similar is the case with this knowledge.
One type of knowledge pertains to physical cleansing
and the fast observed through this knowledge has to do with stopping the diet of the body.
There is also an esoteric fast in which one fasts for 12 years.
For 12 years,
the lower self must observe abstinence and piety.
When the lower self becomes thoroughly cleansed and purified in 12 years,
God then takes its guarantee. After that, you are eternally fasting.
Even if you eat every single day, you are still fasting
because the lower self has been purified.
Furthermore the day you witness the divine splendour,
why do you need to pray? Just gaze upon God’s splendour.
And it is said that if you pray after witnessing God, you will become a sinner.
How will you become a sinner?
If you are sitting in front of God
and then you get up to leave God and worship, then you would become a sinner, wouldn’t you?
Now, the way to identify if your lower self has been enveloped in the etheric circle of light
is that your lower self would come under a state of unrest.
It will be very uneasy.
At this stage, there is an onslaught of evil whispers.
The lower self will try absolutely everythin
g but when it gradually begins to recite the Kalima,
it begins to receive small amounts of divine energy
and that is how it begins to be purified.