Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 254
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part Four 254 accord with God and His will and designs that his self ceases to have an identity and influence of its own. The Being and attributes of Allah are reflected in the mirror of his own being without any shadow of dark- ness and without the least consciousness of state and situation, so that through the mirror of total annihilation, which puts the utmost dis- tance between the devotee and his carnal desires, the reflection of the Being and attributes of the Divine is clearly visible. In this statement there is not a single word that endorses the false theories of Wuj u d i s 1 or Vedantists,2 because they fail to recognize the eternal distinction between the Creator and the created. They have been grievously mis- led by their dubious visions which are often experienced in a condition of imperfect devotion, or result from austerities which induce a type of insanity, or when someone who, in a condition of intoxication or ecstasy—which is a type of insanity—overlooks the difference between the spirit of God and spirit of man in respect of powers, faculties, per- fections, and holiness. Otherwise, it is obvious that the Omnipotent God—from whose eternal knowledge not even the smallest particle is hidden and to whom no defect or detriment can be attributed and who is free from every type of ignorance, impurity, weakness, sorrow, grief, pain, hurt, and embarassment—can never be identified with the one who is subject to all these afflictions. Can man, whose spiritual progress is subject to infinite contingencies, be the same or identical with the Perfect Being, who possesses every excellence and is not subject to any contingency? Can he who is mortal and whose soul suffers from the obvious deficiencies of creation—with all his stains, weaknesses, impu- rities, defects, and shortcomings—be the equal of the Lord of glorious attributes, who is eternally complete and perfect on account of His excellences and holy attributes? 1. Those who believe that God and the material world are one and the same thing. [Publisher] 2. Believers in the Vedic doctrine of the eternity of souls. [Publisher]