Story 19 - Extraordinary Powers of Realized Being

There was one of the greatest men in the world, an Eastern saint. Shams Tabrez was his name. This man was born under peculiar circumstances. It is related about his father that he was once the poorest man in the country. That poorest man devoted his life entirely to God-consciousness. He forgot that his body was ever born; he entirely forgot that his personality ever existed in this world. For him the world had never been a world. He was God, all Divinity. And just when a man's whole being is saturated with an idea, from head to foot, every pore of his body was alive to God-consciousness. It is related that when he walked, through the streets, the people heard through the pores of his body this song "Haq, Analhaq," which means "God, I am God." The song on his lips was always, "Analhaq, Analhaq, Divinity I am. Divinity I am." The ordinary people gathered around him. They wanted to murder him. They accused him of heresy. Why is he calling himself God? He was Divinity himself, to him the body was no body, the world was no world. When the words „Analhaq‟ escaped his lips, he was not even conscious of that. Just as a man snores when asleep, similarly from his standpoint he was entirely lost in Divinity, and if those words

„Analhaq‟ escaped his lips, they were like the snoring of a man who is asleep. But the people wanted to kill him. What is that to him whom will you kill? You will kill the body, but that body from his stand-point never existed. Kill his body, what pain can it cause him? It is related that this man's body was placed upon a cross. You know that putting a body on a cross is an easy thing, but there they have something worse than a cross. It was a long iron pole with a needle-like end, and the heart of the man was placed exactly on the top of the iron pole, the sharp pointed end of the iron pole had to press through the solar plexus. This way was the man put to death in those days. You see, this is worse than a cross even! His body was placed upon a cross of that kind and it is related that while his body was placed there, this man's face was glowing with glory, and through every hair of his body the same sweet song was all the time coming out - "Analhaq, Analhaq, I am God, I am God. Divinity I am, Divinity I am." The body dies; to him it makes no difference. Here when the man was hanging upon that pointed pole, drops of blood fell from his body, and the story says that those drops of blood were gathered by a young girl. This young girl who believed the same way as the saint, this young girl who was of the same thought as the preacher, drank up this blood, and they say that she was conceived. It may be true or false, we have nothing to do with that. According to the Vedanta, if Christ could be of Immaculate Conception, this could also be true, because here was a man who was not inferior to Christ, really superior to him in many respects. This woman gave birth to a boy who became a sage. From his beginning, from his very childhood he was all Divinity, even far exceeding his father. There is such a great book, a large work which came from the lips of this hero. This man did not take up a pen and write it, but it is said that through him always poetry came out, all that he spoke was poetry, all that he said was poetry. But what kind of poetry! Not the doggerel of the American poets. It was real poetry in the true sense of the word. It was God-consciousness and nothing else. It was sublime with divine ideas. Every word was worth its weight in gold, if it could be weighed at all.

There is a very remarkable fact related about this man. At one time there appeared to him some people who were connected with some show, you might say, a circus or some other kind of show. When they performed in the presence of the king, he was highly pleased with them, and offered them a thousand mohars (gold coins). Afterwards the king repented. The king did not think it advisable to give away a thousand of mohars every night for mere empty shows and so, in order to get back his thousand mohars he made a pretence, and asked those people to appear in the garb of a lion, and thus if the lion's performance was pleasing to the king, he might give them something enormous, something great, otherwise the king would fine them all their property. These people could not give a lion's performance; they could not put on the garb or assume the shape of a lion and please the king.

In India there are people who put on all sorts of garbs and appear in the shape of some animals and make themselves appear to all intents and purposes the animals they play, but they could not assume the garb of the lion. These people came to this man and were weeping and crying and shedding tears.

The story that this sage being in tune with the universe, in harmony with the whole nature, being one with each and all, natural sympathy overtook his heart and all of a sudden he spoke to those people to be of good cheer because he was to appear as a lion, and to give the performance of a lion himself. So the story goes that the next day when the king and his courtiers were all standing, waiting to see a man assume the shape and figure of a lion, all of a sudden, as if by magic, a real lion jumped into the pit. This lion at once roared and roared, he took up the child of the king and tore it to pieces. He took up some other boy and threw it out to the sky. You see, here was a man who was in reality Divinity and God. To this man the idea "I am this little puny body" had become a thing of the past, it had become absolutely meaningless. He was Divinity himself, and the God that appeared in the shape of a lion, the same was he, and he was in a moment's thought a lion. (Just as you think so you become, and if you have felt and realized your Divinity as God, all your thoughts and desires are bound to fructify, to be realized on the spot.) So his man's thought that he could appear as a lion was immediately realized, and a lion he was. The show was over. The sage after killing this boy went away, because he had not to become a lion and respect this body or that. He was no respecter of persons. But here the king was exasperated, the king and the courtiers were all rage personified, they wanted to wreck vengeance upon this man. They came to him and said, "Sir, sir, please bring this boy to life again. If you can kill him, you can bring him to life also. Bring him back to life, just as Christ used to bring to life the dead, by saying Qutn Bismillah - which means "Rise in the name of God, glorify God and walk, be alive, come back to life!" They asked him to make that dead boy come to life in the name of God. The sage laughed and said, "Come back to life in the name of God,", but the boy did not revive. The saint said, "The boy does not come to life in the name of God." He said again, "Come to life in the name of God." Still the boy did not come to life. He said again, "Come to life, get up and walk in the name of God, the Lord," but the boy did not come to life. The sage smiled and said "Qum Bizzini." "Come to life by my order, through my command, come to life" and the boy came to life. This is the Truth, "Qum Bizzini," "Come to life in my name," and the boy was all right. The boy came to life, but the people all around him could not bear it. They said, "Here is man, a heretic. He takes all this credit to himself. He wants to make himself equal to God. He ought to be put to death. He ought to be murdered, flayed alive." To the sage it meant nothing. The people understood him not. He is not calling the body, the little personality, God. He- had already killed and crucified his flesh. The people wanted to slay him alive, and the story says that that man immediately applied his nails to his head, and just as the skin of animals is torn and separated from the body, so with his own nails he tore his own skin, cut it off and threw it away. And there is a fine long poem written by him on that occasion. The purport of that song is "O Self, O Self," he is addressing himself, "to whom the poison of the world is nectar and O Self, to whom the nectar of the world (that is to say the sensuous enjoyments) is poison. Here are people wanting something. The world is nothing else but a dead carcass (and here dead carcass means "sensuous enjoyments"), the worldly pleasures are nothing else but a dead carcass and the people who run after them are no better than dogs. Here are these dogs. Give them this flesh to eat.

If for the sake of Truth you have to give up the body, give it up. This is the last attachment broken. What to say of giving up worldly attachments, for the sake of Truth, for the sake of Truth you have to give up not only worldly attachments, but if there be need to give up the body, give it up. This is how you have to tread the path of Truth.

In order to realize the Truth, to tread the path of righteousness, give up all attachments; rise above worldly desires and selfish clinging. If you free yourself of worldly clinging and selfish desires, Truth you are this moment.

MORAL: Whatever a Realized Being thinks that he becomes, and whatever he commands, all nature obeys.

Vol. 2 (12-17)