Spiritual Adolescence

Before Ghaibah (Occultation of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi), His Divine Eminence Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi said,

'Our trees (souls of disciples) are fully grown. Now they no longer need to be watered.'

As long as a person is on the spiritual path, the devil is after him and he is continuously tested to see where he stands spiritually. Spiritual adolescence is when your souls are fully grown, and know the difference between good and bad. Do not be deceived by blood-relations, because they did not exist before you were born nor will they exist after you die. These relations have no value for except that you fulfill their rights on you in this world. It is necessary to explain all of this because your souls are not fully grown yet. When these souls reach spiritual adolescence and they are reminded of where they originated, then they will not be trapped in these deceitful relations, this deceitful world and these deceitful luxuries. They will have this understanding that love of relations is the trick of the devil. In other words, 'Our trees are fully grown...' refers to the souls reaching spiritual adolescence.

HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'Three things that bring their love along with them are Ism-e-Dhaat (Personal Name of God), children and money.' 

If someone has money but does not have the love for money, this is the blessing of the Lord. Love for children should be on a reasonable scale. Those, whose souls did not reach their spiritual adolescence before Ghaibah, they did not have spiritual awareness and are therefore misguided. The devil has tricked them into following the household of HDE Gohar Shahi blindly. This is a very delicate point. Without knowledge, a person is apprehensive.

Those who become blind in their love for the Spiritual Guide, the devil can easily trap them at any time - because if someone is blind in their love, how will they reach the Spiritual Guide? Love is not the destination, love is the way; you must have knowledge.

Maulana Room said, 'A human being cannot recognise God without knowledge.'

The devil misguides in a very organised and discrete manner. If someone is on the spiritual path, he will fool him with examples from spirituality; if someone is following Sharia (Religious Law), the devil will keep him caught up in petty issues related to Sharia. After Ghaibah, those whose souls were not fully grown fell victim to such tricks of the devil, thus leading to many misguided groups.

People who kept the physical company of Prophet Mohammad were not able to reach the spiritual status of those who kept his spiritual company. The most powerful form of Spiritual Grace is through Nazar (Merciful Sight).

Prophet Mohammad said, 'Whatever is in the bottle is what will pour out of it.'

People did not pay attention to this. If the Lord dwells in somebody's heart, the attributes of the Lord will reflect in his character. If someone begins to love HDE Gohar Shahi and is in servitude to the Lord, even if he is a bastard, he is worthy of respect. If someone is blasphemous to HDE Gohar Shahi, be it a blood-relation such as a son, he is Mardoud (rejected by God). This matter is about point of view and our point of view is in the light of spiritual knowledge.

If people's souls had reached spiritual adolescence, then they would have known the truth at the time of Ghaibah; they would not have fallen prey to the tricks of the devil.

Love of husbands and wives is dominant upon people and they are always thinking about them. When people are tired, they seek comfort for the needs of their body. Emotions, events, situations and necessities affect you, but when your souls are fully grown and obtain spiritual awareness, they understand every situation and condition; they develop the conjecture that if they take any step in the wrong direction, they might become distant from HDE Gohar Shahi. This is the souls reaching their spiritual adolescence.

We face a lot of problems and issues, but because the souls are fully grown and have spiritual awareness and guidance of HDE Gohar Shahi every step of the way, therefore, we are aware of all conspiracies. Things appear to be fine; however, the souls can see the hidden conspiracies behind the plot.

How will the souls reach spiritual adolescence? In order to do so they will need to be nurtured. Meaning, they must be under the Merciful Glance (Nazar) of the Spiritual Guide at all times. But people do not attempt and struggle to obtain the Merciful Glance of HDE Gohar Shahi - they are lazy and fraudulent. 

Sometimes the devil casts his shadow over your heart and sometimes the devil casts his shadow over your souls. Sometimes your wife, friend or carnal desires come in the way and your servitude to HDE Gohar Shahi is not your first priority. Whereas, to please HDE Gohar Shahi, you must be alert at all times. But people always have something to complain about. When you always have something to complain about, then you have lost your Emaan (faith/divine light in the heart).

HDE Gohar Shahi repeatedly said, 'Never complain to the Lord; you will become a Munafiq (hypocrite) one day.'  

When the human souls have not reached spiritual adolescence and lack spiritual awareness, the environment around them has an effect on them. They forget their purpose because the Nafs (Self) is strong and the souls are weak; therefore, the Nafs is dominant upon them. When your souls are awakened and enlightened, they will compel you to give first priority to serving the mission of HDE Gohar Shahi.

A man of God - whose Nafs has been freed from the shackles of the devil and is in the protection of the Spiritual Guide - is not affected by praise, whether it is true or false. True praise is more dangerous, because the Nafs becomes arrogant and thinks it has achieved something great. But when the souls obtain spiritual awareness, this thought remains inside that, 'I am not capable of anything. Whatever I do is by the Spiritual Grace of my Lord.' The day you recognise your reality - that you are no better than clay - you will be blessed by HDE Gohar Shahi.

There is a Hadith that states, 'One who has recognised himself has recognised his Lord.'

As long as your inner is darkened, you will take credit for all your qualities. But when your inner is enlightened, you will attribute all your qualities to the Lord.

The Quran says that when you do something good, say, 'It is because of the blessing of my Lord.' This should not be verbal only. When the souls reach spiritual adolescence, no praise, no woman, nothing will affect the man of God.

People should monitor their actions at all times. Whatever they do, they should examine it in the light of HDE Gohar Shahi's teachings and make sure their action does not affect their relationship with HDE Gohar Shahi.

For example, you are not careful when using a plastic knife as compared to using a real knife because you know that a real knife is potentially dangerous. This is awareness. If you obtained this awareness in spirituality, then you wouldn't waste your time. Spirituality is not about reading books; rather, spirituality is the purification of the heart. Now, what is the impurity of the heart? The impurity of the heart is the presence of the devil within the heart. To rid the heart of the devil is purification. If someone takes over your house, you will throw him out. Similarly, your heart is controlled by the devil and he is fooling everybody.

Honesty is doing anything with all your heart. If you do anything halfheartedly, it will be a waste of time and you will not obtain any spiritual grace from it.