When speaking of the world of the unseen and who can know this unseen world, I will say that it can be known by God and by the God-conscious at the time when he is God-conscious. One part of the Unseen Being is unconscious. That part does not know whether we are in sorrow, in trouble, in happiness. The other part, the conscious part, is so conscious that all our affairs, all our troubles, all our sadness and our happiness is much better known to Him than to ourselves. One part is so far away that there is no way of letting our cry reach Him, and one part is experiencing through us all the joy, all the affairs, all the sadness of the world.

With regard to the God-conscious, it is God Who discloses and hides knowledge. If He discloses it, it is His merit, because it is by His favor. If it is hidden, it is our fault, that we do not see it. It is always there. In this, there is idealization also.

When Jacob had lost his son Joseph, for many years he did not know where his son was, and wept for him, until his disciples asked him saying, "You are a prophet. You see the unseen, and yet you are sad for your son and you do not know where he is."

To say,"I know the future," is the work of a fortuneteller. It is not the work of a mystic. At one time you may know the future, and may tell another person. Another time that person may be depending upon your word and you do not know the future. To know and to say nothing is the work of the mystic. To know and to help. To say to another, "Take care. There is a pit." But it is better to say, "Take care because there is a pit," than to say, "Take care, I see you falling." Even that knowledge it is better to hide.

Therefore, if you see anything, it should be told to the Murshid, where there is a chance for its correction and interpretation. It should not be told to others.

Q: Is God conscious at the same time of the resting state and the active state, or is He conscious of them alternatively, like a person waking and sleeping? And is someone who is God-conscious conscious of both states at once?

That active part of the Consciousness that has produced the whole manifestation cannot be compared to the Eternal Consciousness, the Ahadiat. It is so small a part that there is no comparison at all. The active part is like the scenery placed before a curtain, which is the blank part. The curtain is always there. The scenery varies. Every person who attains to God-consciousness is conscious of the inactive part. But this consciousness is very slight. All the consciousness is in the manifestation. When he becomes fully conscious of the unconscious state, this is miraj, the highest state, Sidratu'l-Muntaha, which Muhammad experienced, as is told in the Qur'an.

It is only in entering into this state and in coming out of it that such a one is conscious of it. It is the state of very deep sleep, which we all experience unconsciously. When someone has attained to God-consciousness, he experiences all the activity of the world. He experiences everything as the self of each being. If an elephant comes before him, he is the elephant. Whatever comes before him, he is. When the consciousness of the external self is gone, then whatever appears before him is his self.

I know a Madzhub in Baroda, who was walking in the street at night, and a policeman, who was watching the street, said to him, "Who are you? Are you a thief?" The Madzhub said, "Yes, I am a thief." The policeman took him to the police station and there the Madzhub spent the night, enjoying his experiences. In the morning the officer came and said to the policeman, "This is a Madzhub whom you have arrested, not a thief." The policeman said, "He said himself that he is a thief." When the officer spoke with him, he recognized him as a Madzhub, and he set him free.

When he was asked, "Are you a thief," he said, "Yes," because whatever name or form comes before the consciousness of one who is lost in the Whole Being, he realizes as his self. This is the highest reach of mystical attainment. When the voice of God spoke with Moses or Muhammad and when the voice of God speaks with a person, what is the voice of God that speaks? The voice of God is the consciousness of the Whole Being that speaks to him who is God-conscious. God has no voice with which to speak to man, and therefore He speaks to those who are not able to hold communion with Him by the voice of him who is in communion with God. Such a one at that time is not conscious at all of his external self.

When Muhammad was in that state the horse could not carry him and the camel could scarcely carry him with difficulty. When a person is dead, the body at once becomes very heavy, because the life, the consciousness, that lifts it, is not there. His consciousness had quite left his body and therefore it became very heavy.

Once, when Muhammad was in this state, his wife, Bibi Ayesha, came into the room in which he was, and he asked her who she was. She said, "I am Ayesha." He said, "I am Ayesha. " She thought that the Prophet never joked, and she said, "I am Ayesha, daughter of so-and-so," naming herself, in the Arabic manner "daughter of so-and-so." He said, "I am Ayesha, daughter of so-and-so." She continued to name herself as the daughter of so-and-so, son of such a one, son of such a one, and at every name she spoke, he said, "I am such a one, and such a one." He was moved at that time into the consciousness of the Unlimited Being, the Consciousness of all who live, and all who have been.

That One Being which lies beyond all things we have called God, and we have idealized as God. We say Allah-ho-akbar, God is great. Thou art great. Al hamdu l'illah. All praise be to God, glory to God. The religious person says, "We must worship God, we must pray to Him," but can give no reason for his blind belief. The worldly person says, "Why should I worship what I neither see nor hear nor touch nor perceive by any sense?" The religious person's blind belief will one day be lost. It lasts just so long as his hope lasts. When that is gone, his belief is gone also.

How can we attain to knowledge of God and why do we not know Him? Because, from morning till night, we are busy in the external world, and when night comes, we are tired and only wish to sleep. If we can close ourselves to the outer world, we shall see the inner world. If we can close our outward senses, our mind will turn inward. We see through the eyes, but it is not the eyes that see. The mind sees through the eyes. And the consciousness sees through the mind.

The consciousness is all the time busy looking outward. If the eyes can be closed and the mind held quiet, the consciousness will turn inward and will see itself. It will see that God Who is within itself. It will realize: "I am not that external self, but this." It will turn to God. The feeling, "I am lonely, I am miserable," will disappear. It will realize that it is never alone. It will realize that God from Whom it is not separated, but Who is its own being.

Coming now to the question whether God is satisfied. God in one condition is experiencing the consciousness alone. In that condition He is so happy that nothing can compare with the happiness He experiences. This is called Vahdat. A very small part of the Divine Being causes the activity of the world, so that God rests apart, while His activity produces the universe. He has no weariness and no activity. To us all this world is very important. To Him it is not important. And even to us, when we have realized, it is not important at all.

Why is that which manifests always greater than that which is manifested? The root of the rose tree produces many thousands of roses. They blossom and fade, but the root remains. The root is called greater, but if it had not produced the roses it could not be called great. That from which all manifestation comes, is greater than the manifestation, but if it were not for all the universe, it could not be called great, the Allah-ho-akbar.