consciousness. Thus consciousness remains after Fana — but, consciousness of what? Of nothing. And who is conscious? None. Yet this "conscious nothingness," or the spiritual vacuum, is there. Because there is no ego, there is no "I am nothing," but simply nothingness, neither God nor the universe, neither the Creator not the creation; yet this nothingness is not unconsciousness, but "unconsciousness," if we can say so, as it is difficult to grasp the situation merely through the medium of the intellect.

The consciousness in the state of Fana is neither gross nor subtle, neither of the world nor of God but it is there, just as water is, though it is devoid of any color. And it is because the consciousness remains after the annihilation of the sanskaras, false ego and the mind, that its attention is drawn to the Real Ego, the Real "I". As the false ego is but the perverted manifestation of the Real Ego, it follows that everybody is possessed of the Real Ego, or that at the back of the false ego, there lies the Real Ego. The reason why the consciousness of the average human being is totally unaware of it is that his consciousness itself is false, and the consciousness is false owing to the sanskaras. Before the creation manifested itself, the Paramatman or God was latently conscious. In other words, He did not know that He was God, and so He might be said to be devoid of the Real Ego. Therefore, paradoxical as it may seem, on the false consciousness depends the real consciousness, on the false ego, the outcome of false consciousness, depends the Real Ego.

Now let us see what is meant by Baka or Abiding. Certainly it is not nothingness, and hence it cannot be Fana, the above described "spiritual vacuum." Baka, is the end of the second Journey, which begins the moment Fana is com­pleted. The process of the egoless consciousness reaching the Real Self is the second Journey, and when it is completed, Baka is said to be attained. It is , as it were, the turning of the "unconscious consciousness" into superconsciousness, the state of "I am God" which is the real cosmic consciousness and Godhood, but not Prophethood, Kutubiyat or Sadguruship.

There is nothing higher or greater than this "I am God" state, the state of perfect superconsciousness. Nothing else remains in existence for the person who attains to Baka or becomes spiritually perfect. The gross, the subtle, and the mental universe with all the worlds, the suns, the moons, the stars, the space, the time, the planes, the stages, do not exist at all, even apparently, for the One Who becomes fully Superconscious. There is unity and oneness complete in this state, which is beyond the realm of thought and imagination, and which is permanent and does not undergo the least change once it is achieved.

Love, Lover and Beloved, Knowledge, Knower and Known are found to be one and the same, duality having been dissolved like mist before the sun.

The completion of the second Journey therefore signifies spiritual perfection. Those who, after becoming perfectly superconscious, do not undertake the third Journey and also do not give up their body are called Majzoobs or Paramhamsas.

The completion of the third Journey brings about the restoration of the gross and subtle consciousness, without interfering in any way with the retention of superconsciousness. Sadgurus or Kutubs are not only superconscious, but also creation conscious, but are not in any way spiritually superior to Majzoobs or Paramhamsas.

The difference between a Majzoob and a Kutub, or between a Paramhamsa and a Sadguru lies only in connection with this apparently existing creation. For the former, the creation does not exist at all. For the latter the creation is existing, plus the state of "I am God," but to him the creation exists only as the pure imagination of individual egos and nothing more.

In Figure No. 2, (next page), those who are in the D sphere have to cross