Hazrat Inayat Khan continues with his explanation of the way in which the departing spirit confers gifts of knowledge and experience upon the spirit on its way to birth on earth. The previous post is here.
Does the spirit impart its merits, talents, experiences and knowledge consciously or unconsciously to the new-coming soul passing through the spirit spheres towards the earth? In some cases it imparts consciously, in others unconsciously, but in the conscious action there is the greatest pleasure for the spirit. For the soul, which receives the knowledge from a spirit as its heritage from the sphere of the jinn, is considered by the spirit as a child is by his parents or a pupil by his teacher; in giving the heritage to this soul there is a great joy for that spirit.
Do they keep connection in any way? No connection except a sympathetic link, for one goes to the north and the other to the south, one ascending to heaven, the other descending to the earth. A connection or an attachment between them would do nothing but hinder the progress of both. A soul lives in the spirit world while it is busy accomplishing the purpose of its life, which may last for thousands of years. Does a soul in the spirit world continue to do the same work which it did during its life on the earth? It does in the beginning, but it is not bound to the same work because it is not subject to the same limitations as it was while on the earth. The soul eventually rises to the standard of its ideal; it does that work which was its desire.
Are there difficulties in the spirit world as on the earth, in doing something and in accomplishing something? Certainly there are, but not so many as here on the earth. And what if there were one object which was desired by various spirits, how can they all attain to it? Will they all get parts of that object? And if it is a living being, what then? The law of that world is different from the law of this world of limitations. There souls will find in abundance all which is rarely to be found here on earth.
The picture of the spirit world is given in the story of Krishna. The Gopis of Brindaban all requested the young Krishna to dance with them. Krishna smiled, and answered each one that on the night of the full moon he would do so. All the Gopis gathered in the valley of Brindaban, and a miracle happened. However many Gopis there were, every Gopi had a dance with Krishna, and all had their desire fulfilled, which is a symbolical way of teaching that the One Divine Being may be found by every soul.
The spirit world is incomprehensible to the mind which is only acquainted with the laws of the physical world; an individual who is a limited being here is as a world there; a soul is a person here and a planet there. When one considers the helplessness of this plane, one cannot for a single moment imagine the greatness, the facility, the convenience, the comfort and the possibilities of the next world; and it is human nature that that which is unknown to man means nothing to him. A pessimist came to Ali and said, ‘Is there really a hereafter for which you are preparing us by telling us to refrain from things of our desire, and to live a life of goodness and piety? What if there is no such thing as a hereafter?!’ Ali answered, ‘If there is no such thing as a hereafter I shall be in the same situation as you are; and if there is a hereafter, then I shall be the gainer, and you will be the loser.’ Life lives and death dies; the one who lives will live, must live; there is no alternative.
To be continued…