Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 22
22 AHMADIYY AT teries. I met several previous prophets and some outstanding Muslim saints who had passed away. On one occasion, in a state of complete wakefulness, I beheld the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who was accompanied by his two grandsons, his daughter Fatima and his cousin and son-in-law Ali, may Allah be pleased with all of them. This was not any kind of dream but was a species of complete wakefulness. Besides this kind of experience, I beheld columns of spiritual light of different colours white, green and red, that were beautiful and impressive beyond description. These columns were so related to my heart that observing them my heart experienced an ecstacy the delight of which has no comparison. I imagined that these columns were an illustration of the mutual love between God and man. One light proceeded from the heart and ascended upwards and another light descended from above. When the two met they assumed the shape of a column. These are spiritual experiences which are not within the ken of worldly people, but there are also those in the world who are bestowed knowledge of such matters. Another benefit that I derived from this exercise was that I discovered that, on need arising, I could endure starvation for a long period. I feel that if a stout wrestler were to compete with me in enduring starvation, he would die long before I would need any nourishment. I also feel that till a person's body is enured to such hardship he is not capable of experiencing the higher spiritual mysteries. But I would not advise everyone to embark upon such an exercise, nor did I undertake it on my own volition. I adopted it under divine direction that was conveyed to me in a clear vision. At the end of eight or nine months I terminated it and have since reverted to it only on rare occasions [Kitabul Bariyyah, pp. 164-7; footnote]. In 1876 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad happened to be in Lahore when he saw a dream which indicated that the death of his father was approaching. As he has said: I hastened back to Qadian. My father was suffering from dysentery but I had no apprehension that he would die the following day. In fact there had been some improvement in his condition and he appeared quite steadfast. The following day we were all with him at noon when he kindly suggested that I should go and have some