‘Going Home with the new born Soul’, artwork by Nalan

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With today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA we continue our Azizuddin Nasafi cycle with excerpts from ‘The book of the stations of the wayfarer’, page 300, 301 and 302,page 331-332-333, and page 330, published together in ‘The book of the Perfect Man‘, Fayard, Paris, 1984. Our Via-HYGEIA English translation comes from Isabelle de Gastine’s French translation of the original Persian.

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The Descent and Ascent of the Soul

‘ O Dervish, each particular soul descends from the superior world to the inferior world in search of its perfection. This one achieved, the soul journeys back to the superior world. But hear this: Perfection without a tool cannot be achieved. The soul’s tool is the body. The soul makes a tool according to its aptitude and knowledge, like the blacksmith or the carpenter. The more the craftsman is skilled, the better tool he gets. The particular soul takes successively the form of plants, of animal and that of the human. At each station, it takes a name.’

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Of the Ascension of the Soul

‘…Know that each soul descends first from the superior world, into the elements and the natures. For long, it stays at this stage, though the spheres and stars, without cease, are whirling around the elements and the natures, communicating to them their influx and their effects. The aim of these whirling is that the particular soul which lies into the natures and the elements manages its growth and becomes apt to ascend. The soul stays at this level a few thousands of years. It is called ‘Nature’.

Then, from the elements and the natures, the soul ascends up to the plant. The first plant form it takes is that of a water moss, a green plant that appears only under water. This moss, by degrees, will ascend and transform itself into a plant and into a tree until the point where the tree is close to the animal; hence the date tree, the mandrake and the ‘Waq-Waq’ tree. The soul stays at this station another few thousands of years, and by the rotation of the spheres and the stars, manages its development. It is then called : ‘Plant soul’.

Then from the plant, the soul goes to the animal. The first animal form it takes is that of the kharatin, a long red worm, slim and long that lives in mud and swamps. This worm, by degrees, will transform into another animal and so on until the non-speaking animal becomes close to the speaking animal; therefore, the elephant, the monkey and the orang-outang. The soul stays at this level another few thousand of years more and, by the rotation of the spheres and the stars, manages its development. It is then called : ‘Animal soul’.

Then, from animal the soul becomes human. The first form it takes is that of the ‘Zenghi’ living in Zanzibar. At that level it is called : ‘Human Soul’.-It is the ‘speaking soul’. The soul at that level is called “ imperative soul’. By degrees, it ascends until the level of the wise. At that level, the speaking soul is called ‘ blaming soul’. By degrees, it will again ascend up to the level of the friends of God. At that level, the speaking soul is called ‘sanctified soul’. By degrees, it ascends again up to the level of the prophets. At that level, the speaking soul is called’ pacified soul’. The soul, then has reached its perfection; it is then the time of the return journey.

‘O you, appeased soul, return to your Lord, pleased and recognized by Him; Enter among My servants, enter into my paradise!’ Qu’ran, 89, verse 28-30.

O Dervish, ‘ Enter among my servants’ means : O you, Soul, Rejoin the intelligences and the souls of the superior world. ‘ Enter into my paradise’ means: rejoin the primal Intelligence, which is your own paradise. When the soul reaches the level of the wise, it leaves hell and reaches the degrees of paradise. When it reaches the level of the Friends of God, it has left behind the degrees of paradise and reaches its own paradise. When it reaches the level of the prophets, it leaves its own paradise and reaches God.

‘Yes, those who fear God, will sojourn in Gardens, by the banks of rivers, in an assembly of Truth, in the presence of an all mighty King.’ Qu’ran, 54, verse 54-55

The scholars and the wise are ‘in the Gardens, by the banks of rivers’. The Friends of God are in the ’ assembly of Truth’ and the prophets ‘ in the presence of an all mighty King’.

O Dervish, as long as you are not purified yourself completely of your blamable inclinations and became worth of laudable qualities, you will not be delivered from Hell and will not reach the degrees of Paradise. As long as you don’t know and see the inner truth and reason of all things, you will not reach your Paradise. As long as you don’t die to yourself and reanimates yourself in God, you will not reach God. These 3 stations correspond respectively to the Sophia, to the divine Friendship and to the prophetic Mission.’

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Of God Almighty’s Attributes

‘Know that God Almighty, the primordial Origin, the One true. In His essence, he is in no way of multiple. He is the simple Essence, the pure Unicity. If God was alive by life, knowing by knowledge, willing by the will, mighty by power, hearing by hearing, seeing by sight, speaking by speech- multiplicity would be necessary to His essence. Therefore, multiplicity is absent of the divine essence. Therefore, God is not knowing by knowledge, etc. What is known by knowledge, obtained by power, wanted by the will, etc. İs to him inherent, is no other than His very essence. Therefore, we can conclude that God is, in essence, Alive, Knowing, Willing, Mighty, All Hearing, all seeing, all speech; that, on the other hand, the primal substance is made alive by life, knowledgeable by knowledge, active by will, etc.

O Dervish, all beings are the manifestations of the attributes of God. Primal substance is the epiphany of God’s essence attributes; thus, life, knowledge, might, will, hearing, sight, speech. The intelligences, the souls and the natures, the spheres, the stars and the elements are the the manifestations of the attributes of the actions of God; thereby : Creation and annihilation, life and death, respect and despise, contraction and expansion.

O Dervish, The attributes of the essence of God are only seven; but those of the actions are more. How many time was it mentioned that descent is with simple bodies and ascent is with combined bodies. The primal substance is the epiphany of the attributes of the essence. The simple bodies are the manifestations of the attributes of the actions of God. Descent is achieved. Ascent on the other hand need to be completed: Minerals, plants and animals are the manifestations of the attributes of the acts of God. The Perfect Man is the manifestation of the attributes of the essence of God. Ascent is completed when the combined bodies are becoming the manifestations of the attributes of the essence- they journey back to the primal substance, the cycle is closed.

O Dervish, this descent and this ascent are necessary for that all of the names and attributes of God appear, so that all of God actions and all the divine Sophia go through an epiphany. The acts that manifest through simple bodies cannot manifest through combined bodies et vice versa.

‘For to God belong the forces of the heavens and the earth; and God is exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.’ Qu’ran, 48, verse 7

The Sophia is hoarded amongst the treasures of the simple bodies and cannot be amongst the treasures of the combined bodies and vice versa.

‘But to God belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth; but the hypocrites understand not.’ Qu’ran, 63, 7

O Dervish, at the time I was at the service of the Sheykh of all Sheykhs, Sa’doddin Hamu’i, and was resting under the protective wings of his teaching, the Shayk said:

‘The primal substance is the manifestation of the attributes of God’.

The Master never said until now that much. I was astonished by these words and accepted them with difficulty. Now, it is for me certain that the monads that exist are all, immediately,, the epiphanies of the attributes of God. Another time, the venerable Master said:

‘Even though, God all Mighty is the creator of all beings, some are in a manner that they find their realization and accomplishment only in the hands of man. As long as man doesn’t interfere, they wont be realized.’

Also we understood these words, we were imagining that only man had such a power. Now, we know fore sure that all the monads that exist are like that. To each of one a task has been assigned. Each one is fulfilling this peculiar task. None can fulfill another monad’s task.

‘There is no one among us who doesn’t have a prescribed position’. Qu’ran, 37, 164

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English Translation

of some of the treatises

of the ‘Book of the Perfect Man’

in a translation by Lloyd Ridgeon

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