The fasting and abstinence, and all these things, were taught in order to develop the will-power, which results in self-discipline and which is the secret of all mastery; and it is by this power that the kingdom within is attained. Once man has touched his self within, the illusion becomes dissolved. The fear of death is caused by the consciousness of mortality. As long as one is unaware of one's immortal self one has the fear of death. Once the immortality of the soul is realized and the realization is no longer in one's imagination but has become a conviction, then one rises above the fear of death. This knowledge is gained fully when an adept is able to detach his soul from his body. It is this state which is called by Yogis Samadhi and by Sufis Najat.

Every soul that treads the path of initiation takes his first steps through the darkness; as Ghazzali says, "The spiritual pursuit is like shooting an arrow through the darkness." No doubt as one approaches the goal the light comes; as the Qur'an says, "God is the light of the heavens and of the earth." Then, once the sight has become keen, there is no further instruction needed. One gets insight into the hidden laws of nature, all things seem to speak to the seer of their character, nature and secret. This realization removes the boundary between life and death. One rises above the elements which have formed this mortal abode -- the body and mind -- for the soul's experience, when one touches one's true being, the soul.

It is the soul-realized man who stands above all matter, and in this way the spirit gets victory over matter. Under all conditions of life which produce obscurity and confusion the soul-realized man sees the light, and to him all men, of lesser or greater degrees of evolution, are nothing but different forms of the Divine Immanence. In this way the man who has probed the depths of the mystery of life becomes God-realized. When he no longer has his limited self before his view then only he experiences the state of which Christ has spoken: "Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect."