Having spoken of the experience of the returning soul in the sphere of the jinn, Hazrat Inayat Khan now begins to illustrate the experience in the sphere of the angels.

Is there death for the spirits in the sphere of the jinns? Yes they have so-called death, but after a much longer time, a death not so severe as on the earthly plane, where everything is crude and coarse; but a change which is slightly felt after a very long life of the fulfillment of every desire. What causes this death? Are there illnesses or diseases? Yes, there are discomforts and pains peculiar to that sphere, not to be compared with the diseases in the plane of the earth. What especially brings about death in the sphere of the jinn is the moment when hope gives way, and there is no ambition left. It is the loss of enthusiasm which is change there, and the cause of death here on the earth.

Souls in the spirit world have more control over their life and death than those on the earth. The world of the spirit is his own world; it is a planet; when it loses that strength and magnetism which hold the soul functioning in it, it falls like a star from heaven, and the soul departs to its own origin.

The soul now enters the angelic heavens, and it is allowed to enter under the same conditions as before. It has to leave all that belongs to the sphere of the jinn in that sphere. Thus by unveiling itself from the garb of the spirit world, it finds its entrance into the world of the angels.

Does it take anything to the world of the angels? Yes, but not thoughts; it takes the feelings that it has collected; therefore the life of the soul in this sphere is more felt by its vibrations. Every soul that enters the heaven of the angels vibrates with the same vibrations that it has gathered during its life in the physical world and in the world of the jinn.

Examples of this are manifest to our view here if we would observe life more keenly. Every person, before he does anything or says one word, begins to vibrate aloud what he is, what he has done, what he will do. There is an English saying, ‘What you are speaks louder than what you say.’ The soul apart from the body and mind is a sound, a note, a tone, which is called in Sanskrit Svara. If this note is inharmonious, and has dissonant vibrations, it is called in the Sanskrit language Asvara, or out of tune. The soul therefore in the heaven of the angels has no sins or virtues to show; nor has it a heaven or hell to experience; nor does it show any particular ambition or desire; it is either in tune or out of tune. If it is in tune it takes its place in the music of the heavens as a note in the tune; if it is not in tune it falls short of this, producing discordant effects for itself and for others. What occupation has the soul there? Its occupation is to be around the light and life, like the bee around the flower. What is its sustenance? Its sustenance is divine light and divine life; divine beauty it sees, divine air it breathes, in the sphere of freedom it dwells, and the presence of God it enjoys. Life in the heaven of the angels is one continual music. Therefore it is that the wise of all ages have called music celestial, a divine art; the reason is that the heaven of the angels is all music. The activity, the repose, and the atmosphere there is all one symphony continually working towards greater and greater harmony.

What connection has the soul with the sphere of the jinn whence it as arrived in the angelic heavens? No connection necessarily, except a sympathetic link, if it happens to have such with anyone there; or if it happens that the body in which it functioned gives way before it has accomplished what it wanted to accomplish. The happiness of the angelic heavens is so great that the joy of the sphere of the jinns cannot be compared with it and the pleasures of the earth are not even worth mentioning. For earthly pleasures are mere shadows of that happiness which belongs to the heaven of the angels, and the joy of the sphere of the jinn is like wine that has touched the lips but has never been drunk. That wine one drinks on arriving at the heaven of the angels. In the Sufi terminology that bowl of wine is called Jam-i Kauthir.

There is a saying that there are four things which intoxicate the soul: physical energy, wealth, power, and learning; but the intoxication that music gives excels all other forms of intoxication. Then imagine that music of the heavens where harmony is in its fullness; man here on earth cannot imagine the happiness which that can give. If the experience of that music is known to anyone, it is to the awakened souls whose bodies are here, whose hearts are in the spheres of the jinn and whose souls are in the heaven of the angels; who, while on earth, can experience all the planes of existence. They call the music of the angelic spheres Saut-i Sarmad and find in it a happiness which carries them to the highest heavens, lifting them from worries and anxieties and from all the limitations of the plane of this earth.

To be continued…