Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
Sufism, appeared as a reaction to the overly worldly tendencies of Islam in the late
seventh century AD. It emphasizes asceticism and meditation through which one can
transcend material limitation and unite with the transcendent God.
In the thirteenth century, the Spanish-born Ibn al-'Arabi (1165–1240) created a theory of
the "Unity of Being," Which explained the concept that "God is the One Real Being
which underlies all phenomena" He is everything and there is nothing but Him.
“It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye,
worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a
single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.” Ibn
'Arabi, Futûhât al-Makkiyya
According to this theory, all existence is one, a manifestation of the underlying divine
reality
“He refers to the Logos (kalimah) as the Reality of Realities (Haqiqatu’l Haqa’iq) – in
contrast to this the Sufi Hallaj used the similiar term “Reality of Reality” (Haqiqatu’l
Haqiqah) to refer to God Himself, the Reality of Mohammed, the Spirit of Mohammed,
the First Intellect, the Most Mighty Spirit, the Most Exalted Pen (i.e. the Pen which God
uses to inscribe the destiny of all things), the Throne (of God), the Perfect Man, the Real
Adam, the Origin of the Universe, the Real who is the Instrument of Creation, the Pole
(Qutb, on which all Creation revolves), the Intermediary (between God and Creation),
the Sphere of Life, the Servant of the All-embracing One, and so on.”
Ibn Arabi’s Logos has three aspects (or can be considered from three points of view):
1. the metaphysical aspect, as the Reality of Realities;
2. the mystical aspect, as the Reality of Mohammed;
3. the perfected human aspect, as the Perfect Man
Considering the first of these aspects, the Reality of Realities (Haqiqatu’l Haqa’iq), Ibn
Arabi says that this is the the First Intellect, the imamnent Rational Principle in the
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