The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

This talk was lovingly given to Dr. Carroll Nash, a parapsychologist and professor at Saint Joseph’s University on Tuesday, September 11, 1973, 11:15 AM, Philadelphia, PA USA.

Who Is God? Who Is Man? is a chapter from The Point Where God and Man Meet.

Nash (speaking to a translator):
Is there anything he (Bawa Muhaiyaddeen)¹ would care to tell me that would benefit me or benefit other people?

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen :

The truth of God is God’s Power.
It is a truth that cannot be destroyed
by anything.
That Power is His beauty, His determination,
His qualities, His justice, His peacefulness
and His selfless compassion.
It is the duty that does not gather ²
anything for itself,
but works solely for the benefit of others.
It is the duty
that is dedicated to the lives of others.
God has no anger whatsoever.
He protects everyone
with tolerance, peace and patience.
He feeds all lives with the trust that those lives
are the same as His own.
He tolerates them
and He is patient with them.
He has the qualities of giving nourishment.

The first thing we must do is act with God’s three thousand peaceful qualities of grace. The very first thing, the primary duty we must perform is to act with the qualities of God.

If a tiger is well trained, if its intellect is cultivated, it will not seize and kill other animals. If we give it our own food and if we give it meat, if we feed it, the tiger will stop doing this. It will not return to the jungle to leap upon, capture and eat other animals.

Similarly, if we practice God’s qualities, we will not hurt other lives; however, not only must we practice these qualities, we must teach them to others as well.

God has no form.
God has no shadow.
There is nothing that compares to Him.
He has neither wife nor child.
He is neither light nor dark.
He is not the moon, the sun or the stars.
There is a Power,
a Power that controls
the moon, the stars and the sun.
It is a Power that can burn all other powers.
It is the Power that pervades each atom,
all that is finite, all that is infinite,
a Power that no one can see.
If we want to look at it,
if we want to see it,
(we must know)
that it is a thing
without any
parallel.
It has no assistance.
It is completely alone.
Original.
It is the Point that has existed
since anädi, ³ when there was
neither beginning nor end.
It is a Power.
That Power has no language.
It has no religion.
It has no race.
It has no black, no white.
That Power is a Point within all creations.
It has no mouth.
It speaks through our mouths.
It has no eyes.
It sees through our eyes.
It has no ears.
It answers the questions of the world that
it hears through our ears.
It has no nose.
It takes in the scents from within us.
It has no tongue with which to speak.
It speaks with our tongue.
It has no hands.
It takes and gives with our hands.
It has no legs,
yet it walks throughout all the universes.
Such is that Power.

However, the mind will not see that Power.
The mind has the form of the elements:
earth, fire, water, air and ether,
the elemental form.
It has a spirit form
made from the essence of the elements.
It has a desire form and an illusory form.
Therefore, mind and desire cannot pray to God.
God is the Treasure
which mind and desire cannot see.
He is beyond them.
If we want to see that Treasure,
if we want to know it,
we must understand ourselves.
The only thing that can know God is wisdom.
To know God, we must act with His qualities.
His qualities are a different, separate form.
They are His beauty.
God cannot be seen.
It is His qualities that are His beauty.
God’s Power is the Light that shines through those qualities.
What emerges from it is His Power.
Those qualities are His form.
They are God.
We must try to assume that form.
“I am nothing. I am not.”
Those qualities are God, Man-God.
When there is nothing,
when “I am not,”
then it is God who acts with those qualities.
When those qualities become manifest,
that form comes into being. “I am not!”
That form is God.
The Power that comes
from those qualities is God,
dëvanudaya kumäran, ⁴
the Son of God. “My Son!”
Whoever attains the beauty
of the qualities of God
and assumes that form
is nothing! “I am not.”
When earth, fire, water, air and ether have died,
when mind and desire have perished,
when His qualities have grown,
then that is the beauty of God.
That is the Son of God.
The Power within
is called dëvanudaya kumäran,
Prince of the kingdom of God.
He is the one who is called Son, mahan.
It is our duty to bring those qualities into being.
We must first teach those qualities,
then, through the qualities, teach wisdom.

There are seven levels of wisdom: Perception, Aware-ness, Intellect, Assessment, Wisdom, Divine Analytic Wis-dom, Divine Luminous Wisdom.

It is through these seven levels of wisdom
that we can see God.
It is not a thing that can be seen through science.
It is not a thing that can be seen
through (intellectual) knowledge or learning.
It is not a thing that can be seen
through the scriptures.
It is not a thing that can be seen
through religions or languages.
It is not a thing that can be seen
through mind or desire.
It is not a thing that can be seen
through prayers
(which come from mind and desire).
God alone can see God.
When we say God alone can see God,
what is it that is God?
God is God’s qualities.
Those qualities are called God.
Those qualities are called God
in anyone in whom those qualities have dawned.
When the form of those qualities
has been created,
that is where God is.
He is there.
Through that, God sees God.
One who has taken on the form of God
can see God there.
This is the first thing we must know.
We must study
only His qualities and His wisdom.
If we understand them,
then we understand God. Please do this.

Dr. Nash:

Would you tell Bawa Muhaiyaddeen that I understand what he says and I agree with what he says. Are his teach-ings written down anywhere that I might read them? His teachings are new to me. I have never read this particular thing that he says. His philosophy. It’s different. I feel that it is correct and true.
Did he have a Guru? Did he have a teacher himself?

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen:
I did.

Dr. Nash:
I just wondered if he developed all this himself…

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen:
I am very old in years. I had a Guru. But He was not a Guru from the world. He is a very good, exalted Guru. At the times they are needed, (He gives) the necessary answers, the necessary lessons. It is difficult to obtain such a Guru. A great blessing is needed, God’s compas-sion is needed.

If I were the one who spoke,
this could not occur.
Whatever (is spoken of) must speak.
If we want to speak about God,
God Himself must come to speak.
If we want to speak about the prophets,
the prophets must come to speak.
If we want to speak about heavenly beings
such as Gabriel (A.S.),
Gabriel Æ himself must come to speak.
And when they speak,
we should try to understand them;
wisdom will understand.
If we want to speak about Jesus (A.S.),
Jesus (A.S.) himself must come to speak.
If we want to speak about Moses (A.S.),
Moses (A.S.) himself must come to speak.
Then they will each be accountable
for their own mistakes or merits.
If they err,
they can experience (the consequences).
If good comes of it, they can accept that (result).
If they make a mistake,
they will be the ones
who will have to ask God’s forgiveness.
If we want to speak
about Prophet Muhammad (Sal.),
Prophet Muhammad (Sal.) must come to speak.
If we want to speak about Adam (A.S.),
Adam (A.S.) must speak.
If we want to speak about Noah (A.S.),
Noah (A.S.) himself must speak;
he must relate the story.
For Abraham (A.S.), Abraham (A.S.) must speak.
For David (A.S.), David (A.S.) himself must speak.
Each one must come forth and explain
his own activities.
It is like a microphone.
If it is His sound,
the microphone “hears” the sound.
I am nothing.
What is there for me?
I am the microphone.
Each of them speaks his own words.
This is the explanation.
This is how I am nothing.
Let each of the prophets speak
and complete their own actions.
We do not need the praise or the blame for that.
We want neither the blame nor the profit.
We must complete the duty
that we came to perform.
To do so would be good.

At one time, the world will praise you and give you a title. The next time, it will curse you. First it will lift you up and then it will tear you down. We should not place our faith in it.

First, the world will lift us up saying, “There is fruit in the treetop.” Then we place our faith in that and begin to climb. When we cannot climb further, it will thrust a ladder in front of us, give us titles and honors, put gar-lands around our necks and urge us to climb even higher saying, “There are rare fruits in the treetop.”

But, as soon as we reach the top, the world will take back the ladder. Then what will we do? We will be forced to fall from those heights because we will not know how to descend. The distance we fall will be the distance the world pushed us up. Death will be the only result. They will remove the ladder. The world offers it, but later takes it away.

Do not place any faith in that. Do not depend on it or climb up. If we can remain at the bottom, it will be very good. Then that danger will not come to us.

Dr. Nash:
Has Bawa Muhaiyaddeen spoken of reincarnation?

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen:

Please look. If a beetle falls into fire,
what will happen?
It will become fire.
Once it becomes fire,
it will not return.
It is fire. It has become fire.
The beetle has consumed the fire
and the fire has consumed the beetle.
It will not return.
If the beetle does not enter the fire,
if it veers away, it will come back and stay here.
It is the same for God’s qualities,
the form of God’s qualities—
not this (physical) form,
but the form of a human being.
Within the body there is a separate form
in which the soul dwells.
The soul and that form must be extracted from the form of God’s qualities.
The soul has no shadow either.
Where did the soul come from?
God’s rays.
The soul is one ray (of God’s) Power.
It has no form.
It is not something
that can be discovered by science.
It has no shadow.
Everything (here) has a shadow,
but the soul has no shadow,
God has no shadow,
truth has no shadow,
wisdom has no shadow.
This thing that must be extracted
is God’s treasure.
It is God’s truth.
It is part of God’s treasury.
It is separate.
The other (body) is made from
earth, fire, water, air and ether.
The elements belong to illusion, mäya.
This is the earth-world.
This is night.
This is glitter.
It is a show.
These are the scenes.
These are the veils.
One is night,
the other is Light.
One is false,
the other is true.
One is mesmerizing,
the other is the radiance of wisdom.
Because it is like that,
this (body) belongs here.

This body is a cooperative store. The five elements the shareholders. Amidst those shareholders is the school, God’s creation. When we speak of man, this section is separate, dif-ferent. Man-God, God-Man—there is such a Power. That Power, that body, that section, that prayer, that worship, that strength is different. It is separate.

All of God’s creations, the animals, the birds, the snakes, the rats and the cats have their own qualities, their own kinds of beauty. They have their own actions. There are so many kinds of sounds, melodies and songs in God’s creation!

God is a Scientist.
He is an Artist, a heart’s work käran.⁵
He is a Carpenter who makes toys.
He is a Pundit.
He is a Poet.
He is a Gnäni, One with divine wisdom.
He is the Magician who bestows life.
There in the beginning,
He was the Original Magician.
He is the One who can make anything
from the treasury.
He is the One who has studied
with that knowledge and experience.
He is the One who has seen Ädi and anädi,⁶
the One who is Ädi and Anädi.
God is the One who has studied in this way,
gained clarity and taken in the Power
that is unlike anything else.
His treasury is like that.
He has a vast treasury,
a treasury of grace,
a treasury of knowledge.
It is also a scientific treasury,
a treasury of ignorance,
a creation treasury.
Money, illusion and the world (exist there).
Yet it is a treasury that contains
all the knowledge
of the eighteen thousand universes.It contains all knowledge:
knowledge of the earth and of the fire,
of the water and of the air,
of the ether and the colors,
knowledge of the glitters and of illusion,
knowledge of each atom,
knowledge of the powers of the atoms.
God is the One
who has known and experienced
all of the explanations,
the One who has seen them all within Himself.
He who has understood the horoscopes,
astrology, death, birth, all of creation—
He is God.
Having completed the study of everything,
God filtered and filtered (that knowledge)
and from it created man.
He purified and purified (that filtrate)
and brought man to the state
of being capable of bearing His beauty.
It is about this section that God has said:
“I am a secret to man.
Man is a secret to Me.
I have placed all My wealth within him.
I have placed My entire bank within him.
I have placed all these potentialities within him.
I am his wealth and he is My wealth.
“If I am to be revealed,
it is man who must reveal Me.
If I am to be studied,
and if My knowledge is to be studied,
it is man who must study them.
“If he is able to study andobtain that knowledge,
then I am he and he is Me.
I am his wealth.
His wealth is within Me.
He is My bank.
I am his bank.
I am the wealth he needs.
“I have placed My wealth within him.
He is the one who must spend it.
He is the one who must reveal
and dispense My grace
to all of mankind.”
This is what God has said.
That wisdom, those actions,
the point of “I am nothing”—
if he brings them to the place
where wisdom can understand, to the place
where Divine Analytic Wisdom can understand,
then he will have no rebirth.
He himself will be life.
I am not.
You are not.
He has no religion. He has no race.
He has no color.
He has no differences.

One who does not have those things, just as God does not have them, will have no rebirth. It is he who will be called man. One who has not studied this wisdom and this knowledge cannot be called a human being. It is because of the wisdom and truth (within him) that he can be called a human being.

We cannot tell this by observing his face or his body. We cannot say this from observing his form. There are monkeys that look just like men. How many animals look just like men! We cannot call all of them human beings.

It is wisdom that can recognize a human being.
It is the wisdom of a human being
that can be called a human being.
Without that wisdom,
if he has the wisdom of an animal,
if he has the qualities of an animal,
(he will not be human).
Within man are eighteen thousand universes.
All of creation that is visible on the outside
dwells within him formlessly,
as a shadow.
There is a world outside
and a world inside.
There is an ocean outside
and an ocean inside.
There is a satan outside
and a satan inside.
There is an illusion outside
and an illusion inside.
There are scenes outside
and scenes inside.
There are demons outside
and demons inside.
There are lions outside
and lions inside.
There is a cow outside
and a cow inside.
There is a tiger outside
and a tiger inside—
the qualities which leap upon and seize others.
There is a crow outside
and a crow inside.
There is an eagle outside
and an eagle inside.
There is a huge sea outside.
The Red Sea is outside
and the red sea ⁷ is also here within.
Whatever we see on the outside—
how many birds we have seen!
How many birds are here within.
The world and the eighteen thousand universes
are here within.
Outside, we see the angels and the heavenly beings.
Inside, there are heavenly beings.
Those are shadow shapes.
These are form shapes.
It is the shadow shapes
that do the actual work.
One who has demonic qualities is a demon.
He is not human.
This (body) is a cooperative store.
One who has satan’s qualities is satan.
One who has the qualities of a lion is a lion.
One who has the qualities of an elephant,
“Ah!” he tramples someone.
He is an elephant.
One who has the qualities of a snake,
striking and biting others, is a snake.
One who has the qualities of a cow,
butting his head against others,
is a cow.
One who has the qualities of a horse,
jumping and running, kicking, rearing,
is a horse.
One who has the qualities of illusion, mäya,
looking around here and there,
is mäya.
One who has the qualities of satan
is darkness.
Man’s image is formed from the qualities
with which he acts.
It is through his qualities that you can describe
his form, his actions and his qualities.
If he has arrogance, it is the quality of satan.
If he has vengeance, it is the quality of satan.
If he has jealousy, it is the quality of satan.
If he has desire, it is mäya’s quality.
If he has torpor, that is the quality of ignorance.
This is the way it is.
We must discover who man is—
and he is not in the majority.
If you are looking for a human being
in this world,
you will find that
in God’s creation,
human beings are a small minority.
Animals have the majority vote.
God is One
and human beings are extremely rare.
Their majority is very few.
In this kingdom,
in this earth-world, human beings are few.
The world, those who are in the majority,
will not even let them live!
It is rare to find one human being in ten million.
(Sometimes) there is not even one vote (in ten million).
But one who has become a human being
will have no rebirth—
he will not return.
He does not come back.
He does not get destroyed.

A cow must go to the table (as meat). It is forced to pull a plow, but later it winds up on the table. It goes, and then it must return. It ends up being eaten and then moves down below through the gates of hell; that is where it goes. What goes up has to go down. This is the going and coming of animals.

What goes to hell comes back from hell. This is it. But not for a human being. He is very rare.

Footnotes

1. Words in parentheses have been added for clarification.
2. Words that Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) spoke in English have been italicized.
3. anädi: the time of darkness before creation, that which has no beginning or end.
4. The literal meaning of dëvanudaya kumäran has been given as Prince of God, or Son of God. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) gave us the further meaning, Sun of God, one who has received His Light and become His Light. It is not gender-specific.
5. käran: person, being, entity.
6. Ädi and anädi: Ädi is the beginning, the source, the origin, God. Anädi is the begin-ningless beginning.
7. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) called the inner red sea the ocean of blood; it is the ocean that binds us to those with whom we are related by blood.