The Significance of Youm-e-Riaz, the 9th of Muharram

The following is a transcript of His Holiness Younus AlGohar's speech.

There have always been two different types of knowledge. The first type of knowledge is about external affairs of human beings - this knowledge tells you how to worship God, keep your body clean and it gives you a set of rituals. This type of knowledge is found in the books and the books have always been available. Even if you do not have a teacher, you can go to a library, take a book, read it and understand this knowledge. So, this knowledge of outer is widely understood. It is so prominent and so present in all ages, that people have developed a thought that this knowledge alone is the true knowledge.

The second type of knowledge which is about your inner has been very scarcely available. This knowledge is not found in books; this knowledge is called spirituality. For example, if you have books on medical science and every library has books on medical science, but there are no hospitals and no practitioners, then those books cannot heal you. In a similar way, the knowledge of spirituality has been penned down in books; however this knowledge is futile unless it is practised by somebody who has acquired this knowledge in the spiritual realms (one who has acquired proximity with God, who has enlightened and awakened his souls).

Clerics in all religions talk about this knowledge; it is so approachable by everyone that people now think that this is only knowledge which is truthful. But the knowledge of spirituality is confined to spiritual practitioners; it is always practised, preached and appreciated by the spiritual practitioners. In simple terminology, [spiritual practitioners are] Saints who are connected to God.

It has been more than four centuries since the last spiritual practitioner came to the world. As a result of this, this knowledge has lost its glory. It has become a mythological, bookish concept. When you do not see things in the practice, you do not practically believe it.

There are so many things which are responsible for people not being able to understand this knowledge today [such as] the non-availability of spiritual practitioners: spiritualists, saints and those who practised Gnosticism. Therefore, what people think of a religion is to go to a worship place and spend a few minutes there (whether it is a mosque, church or synagogue), come back home, spend the rest of the day and night with your family, wake up in the morning, go to your workplace and then periodically celebrate your festive days according to your religion. That's all that people know today.

Awakening of the heart, purification of the Self (Ego), enlightenment of the soul - people do not relate to this knowledge in their life. When you talk about spirituality, people will nod their head in positive and they will really admire what you say; but it's not easy for them to practically show their inclination towards practical acceptance of this knowledge. Because this knowledge is not a part-time job, it's a full time job.

I am an advocate to this knowledge. I wouldn't have become known to myself and I wouldn't have known what this knowledge is, had His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi not personally taken an enormous amount of interest in reviving my heart, enlightening my soul and purifying my Ego/Self. Once I entered the realm of spirituality, I became aware of the truthfulness of this knowledge.

For example, we all know Neil Armstrong touched on the surface of the Moon in the 1960's. However still, as common men, we do not seriously believe that we will go on the Moon one day, although we have known for the past 3-4 decades that it is now humanly possible to walk on the Moon. We believe that somebody has done it; man from our society has reached the Moon and walked on the Moon, but still a common man doesn't really relate to this notion of going up there and walking on the Moon, because it is confined to some people. Resources, training and a lot of things are done before one is fully prepared to go into space. Not everybody can travel in space. A lot of physical, exhaustive tests and examinations have to be taken care of and worthiness of travel has to be determined. In a similar way, those who have reached God and seen all these Ethereal Realms have penned it down in the books; they have invited others to read it and try to approach this. However, not everybody is convinced enough to invest a large portion of their life and show the required amount of dedication.

Spirituality is not difficult. But it requires dedication, steadfastness; it depends how consistent, persistent and dedicated you are. Consistency is the mother to a lot of success.

Secondly, it is in the nature of human beings that they are naturally lazy. They opt to do things in which they do not have to make a lot of efforts. In this day and age, when science is actually making us lazier by inventing things which are making our life allegedly easy, we are becoming more and more dependent on these inventions. For example, [in the past], we would use mobile phones when somebody was far away from us. But now, we see you are texting somebody who is sitting next door, in the other room. These inventions reveal our dependency and our desire that of letting ourselves be lazier, [of getting] somebody else [to do what we must do]. This is why, as long as we have iPhones and iPads, we are not going to make an effort to do things.

But in spirituality it's not difficult, it's not rocket science. It's just a matter of priority. If you prefer to enjoy sleep in a cosy bed and this is your priority, then forget about spirituality. But if you want to empower your soul and become a spiritual man who is in contact with both worlds, you are going to have to sacrifice your sleep. You have to come out of your comfort zone. It's all about priorities. In spirituality it is not a set of rituals, it's not about celebrating spiritual festivity. It is about eliminating negativity from your inner being and reviving your inside.

You do not know yourself. If you just spend 10-15 minutes reflecting on your own self, asking yourself who you are, what the purpose of your life is and what you are doing here, then probably you will see that there is no answer. Do you know why? Because the real you is still dormant. The voice of your soul is suppressed by the voice of negativity, the voice of the devil in you. You only come to know of yourself when you have reached the stage of revival.

Your souls are in sleeping mode; therefore, you don't know what's good or right for you, because you are sleeping. You don't know you; the agent of devil is active in you. This is why you hate, regret, get angry, fight, swear and bark like a dog - because its not you. Spirituality is not difficult at all, however it is for people who can make efforts and who know their priorities.

In the last 400 years, there was no talk of spirituality. The Shiite denomination in Islam marks the day of 10th Muharram because the grandson of Prophet Mohammad was martyred. Their understanding is that in order to show love for them, they have to imitate everything that took place 1400 years ago in the Battlefield of Karbala. For example, the horses that they were riding were injured, their tents were put on fire, no food, no water was offered to them and they were thirsty for the last 7 days before they were martyred. They try to imitate everything and this is how they show their love. What it simply means to me is that these individuals are not aware of spirituality; therefore they are seeking outward ways of showing their love. Had they known spirituality, they wouldn't be doing this; they wouldn't be beating their chests. This is not love.

This is exactly what Christians are doing. They say that Jesus hung himself on the cross for our sins. 'For the wages of sins is death.' [But] God never said this. If the wages of sins is death, doesn't it simply mean that God is not able to forgive anybody? If the wages of sins is death, then you have bought it. You have bought comfort. Even if you do not sin, you will die one day. Death is just death. Whether you are a sinner or a saint, you will die one day.

Spirituality had not been practised in the last 400 years because there was no spiritual master. Because there was no spiritual master who would put the theory into practice, therefore, nobody talked about spirituality. Because nobody talked about spirituality, with the passage of time, it became extinct. As a result of the knowledge of spirituality becoming extinct, people found themselves distant from God; because the only way of coming into nearness to God is through spirituality. You revive and purify your heart, enlighten your soul and then you enter into different realms. You embark upon a spiritual journey and you arrive at the Station of Divine Surprise; you arrive at the Station of Divine Majesty and you get to see God. You enter into live conversation with God. This is only possible once you have embarked upon the Spiritual Path.

Spiritual knowledge was not available because a spiritual master was not available. So, people didn't talk about spirituality. With the passage of time, spiritual knowledge and practice became extinct. Then all of the sudden, His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi appeared on the screen and He started giving real knowledge of spirituality; pure spirituality without the blend of any religion. HDE Gohar Shahi didn't ask you who you are.

'Christian, Muslim, Hindu; I don't need to know who you are as long as you want to love God. Revive your heart, enlighten your soul, come sit down here. Close your eyes and say the name of the Lord three times. In the next couple of days if you do not feel any vibration, any warmth of light, then you can complain.' And then HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'In return, I do not seek anything from you.'

This is the custom: when you do something for somebody, you anticipate something in return. It has become so natural. When you do something, in any form, you anticipate something in return. If you say something good [to someone], you anticipate that he [would do the same]. HDE Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi did not anticipate or seek anything in return.

HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'I will not ask you to pledge allegiance with me. I will not let you enter into any commitment with me. If you are seeking spiritual help from me, it doesn't mean you are committed to me. You are a free bird, a free soul. [This] is just a divine gift without pledging any allegiance, without making any commitment.'

The disciples always donate a lot of money to the spiritual master and this is part of the Indian and Pakistani spiritual culture. You may not have an air conditioner in your home, but you must buy one for your spiritual master. You may be in pain, but you want to make sure your master is not in any type of pain. This is a type of culture.

But HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'This knowledge of spirituality, this power, is a gift of God for you from me. I do not want anything from you.'

Then one day somebody said, 'Can I give something to you?' The Lord said, 'What is it that God hasn't already given to me that you will give? I have everything.' Then the Lord said, 'If with the help of this knowledge, your heart is initiated, you feel the spiritual vibe in your heart and you are connected to God, then say a few words of prayer for me. If you don't obtain anything from this practice, then you go your way and I go mine.' Simple! No commitment at all.

This has never happened in history. We have this phrase in English: labour of love. But this is just in the dictionary. Nobody labours for love. You don't labour for love, you just say it [but] HDE Gohar Shahi has done it.

His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi said, 'No commitment. I don't seek anything in return from you; no spiritual, financial or any gains in any shape or form. However, I shall continue to help you until you are connected to God.'

This seems too good to be true but this is true because we have been with His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi for many years; we've seen it.

Today, on the 9th of Muharram, we celebrate the unveiling of His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi's own secrets, secrets of HDE's own Self.

Just bear in mind: for the last 400 years, there was no talk of spirituality. People who claimed they knew spirituality, their spiritual practice was confined to celebrating days of the Saints. Cooking food and dedicating that food to a Saint of God and then making sure everybody filled their stomachs was the spiritual practice that they knew of. No other form of spirituality was known.

If a religious man is whispering the name of God upon a rosary in the mosque, church, temple or synagogue and you as a Sufi, as a spiritual man, are doing the same, then what is the difference between religious practice and spiritual practice? HDE Gohar Shahi elaborated spiritual practice.

HDE Gohar Shahi categorically said, 'In religions you whisper the name of God with a piece of flesh hung between your jaws. In spirituality you whisper the name of God, not by your tongue which is hung between two jaws, rather you whisper the name of God by a piece of flesh which is hung between your ribs: that is your heart.'

In religions, you remember God periodically. In spirituality God's remembrance becomes eternal; you never stop remembering God. Does it mean you stop doing everything else? No. You keep doing everything that you used to do before. There are some additional souls in you, the functions of which you are not aware of. For example, you are not aware of the spiritual function of your heart. The only function you are aware of is that it pumps the blood, throbs and produces electricity in your body. You do not know the mysterious, mystical function of the heart. The mystical function of the heart is to produce Divine Light; it is to connect you to God.

When your heart has been activated to function spiritually, then God's name will whisper in your heart involuntarily without even notifying you. The number of times your heart whispers God's name is not mentioned to your mind. The heart becomes independent, in its own free state and doesn't require your permission. It doesn't feel compelled to notify you of how many times it is going to whisper the name of God. 

This is spirituality! This knowledge is dangerous. Why is it dangerous and why do people oppose this knowledge so much? Somebody goes to a church or mosque, spends 10 hours there and he whispers God's name maybe 1000 times; you go nowhere and you say, 'I remember God eternally.' People will say, 'You don't even go to a mosque. You are a liar. You don't even read the Bible, you don't even read Quran and you are saying you remember God eternally?' They oppose it because they are not aware of the function of the heart. They are not aware of the function of the heart because they have been told by their clerics and seminaries that this knowledge does not exist.

When your heart advances more in spirituality, you are laying down and everybody is upset.

'Did you sleep well?'

'When, when did i sleep?'

'You were snoring!'

'No i wasn't.'

'What was it then?'

'I don't know.'

'Ok, you were not snoring, you were not sleeping, where were you then?'

'I was sitting with God.'

'He is a liar! He was sleeping and he is saying he was sitting with God. Come on!'

But you see, they do not know this knowledge. They do not relate to this knowledge in their life; they have no access. This is why they think this knowledge does not exist and that it's all fabrication, concoction of the mind.

For the past 400 years, this knowledge had not been practised. As a result of this extinction of this knowledge, people forgot about this knowledge. They thought everybody who goes to a church is a holy man or anyone who goes to the mosque is a holy man. These idiots who are sitting in mosques, temples and churches are Saints of God because they are holding Quran, Bible; hence they are the best people on earth. That's their understanding. In other words, because they think they go to work and only come to the mosque for 30 minutes, whereas the man in the mosque who is leading prayers has been there all day, has made a lot of sacrifices; he has cut off himself from the rest of the world and has dedicated his life to this divine cause. They don't know he's raping young children in there. They don't know he is charging 100 pounds per minute for sitting there in the mosque and in some mosques even more than that. This is a job; they're not doing it for God; they are doing it for their Nafs (Self).

But then came HDE Gohar Shahi and again the same message that Jesus gave 2000 years ago was given to people. The same message with the same tone, but more forward; more determination was heard. Not in Nazareth this time [but in] Pakistan.

And HDE Gohar Shahi said to them, 'Growing a beard is good and doing everything that the Prophet did is very good. But getting connected to God is more important than anything else.'

Growing a beard, looking like a fool all in white, wearing long apparel - this is all people can do today. Act like an idiot, ask people to kill others, hold a gun and shoot innocent people for any reason - 'Oh he is a Christian, Hindu or Jew. Shoot him!' That's all they can do because they are the culprits; they are the criminals who are increasing hatred in this world. This is no religion. But the religion does not have a solution to bring this onslaught to an end.

No religion has the solution and no law has the solution be it British, American, Swiss or Australian Law. They say, 'You are not a criminal until you commit the crime.' How do we stop it? We can't stop it; we can only arrest him once he has committed the crime. What do we do then? We just stand there and let him do everything and then say, 'You are under arrest'? Why can't we stop him? Why can't we change his mentality? Why can't we save two persons: the one who is about to be killed and the one who will kill and go to jail forever? We are going to help two men at a time and this knowledge has the solution.

Why We Celebrate the 9th of Muharram

So people did not know about spiritual knowledge. His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi started to tell people about this knowledge. When His Divine Eminence spoke about this knowledge, He was surrounded by Muslims; so He told them about a brand of spirituality which was practised by the Prophet Mohammad. He told them 'This is what the Prophet did.' Then the Lord gave them examples and referenced from their own books. 'This is what the Prophet said, this is what God said. Do this.' People like myself were really convinced and said, 'Okay, we are doing it.'

A point came where we realised, 'What did the Prophet do in my spiritual upbringing? All the way it was His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi who did it.' I said, 'I am not Mohammadan; I am Goharian.' What did Mohammad do? All the way, from the point where I didn't know anything, His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi revived my heart and turned me into a human being from a dog. Now what should I do? Shouldn't I even thank my Lord and shouldn't I even say, 'This is HDE Gohar Shahi who turned a dog into a man'? Why should I dedicate the hard work of HDE Gohar Shahi to Prophet Mohammad?

Then when the Lord had spent some years with people, advocating and professing spirituality, gradually, people started to know what spirituality is. Obviously, they came to know of the brand of spirituality which they were educated about. Then came a brisk turn in the history of HDE Gohar Shahi's time here: HDE Gohar Shahi decided to lift a veil from His house.

I'm telling you why we are celebrating this day today. 15 years ago, on the same day, something happened. That was the time when His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi decided to introduce to the world some of His own personal secrets. The Lord said, 'I want to introduce my inner self to the world now, from time to time.' The reason why HDE Gohar Shahi wanted to do this was that in the future, only these spiritual entities will be among people. Those who started the mission will go somewhere else and these new entities from within HDE will be serving humanity in the future. Now was the time. Like people, for the last 400 years, were not aware of spirituality - and when spiritual knowledge was brought to them, they were in the state of awe. They didn't know anything; they didn't have a clue. So it [was] awesome experience. When they came to know of spirituality gradually, then something struck them. Initially, the Lord told them what they didn't hear for 400 years; now, on this day, they heard something which never came to this world before.

On the 9th of Muharram: the holy spirit of Gohar Shahi came for the first time.