The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan      

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Volume

Sayings

Social Gathekas

Religious Gathekas

The Message Papers

The Healing Papers

Vol. 1, The Way of Illumination

Vol. 1, The Inner Life

Vol. 1, The Soul, Whence And Whither?

Vol. 1, The Purpose of Life

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound

Vol. 2, Cosmic Language

Vol. 2, The Power of the Word

Vol. 3, Education

Vol. 3, Life's Creative Forces: Rasa Shastra

Vol. 3, Character and Personality

Vol. 4, Healing And The Mind World

Vol. 4, Mental Purification

Vol. 4, The Mind-World

Vol. 5, A Sufi Message Of Spiritual Liberty

Vol. 5, Aqibat, Life After Death

Vol. 5, The Phenomenon of the Soul

Vol. 5, Love, Human and Divine

Vol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean Unseen

Vol. 5, Metaphysics, The Experience of the Soul Through the Different Planes of Existence

Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness

Vol. 7, In an Eastern Rose Garden

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

Vol. 8, The Privilege of Being Human

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

Vol. 9, The Unity of Religious Ideals

Vol. 10, Sufi Mysticism

Vol. 10, The Path of Initiation and Discipleship

Vol. 10, Sufi Poetry

Vol. 10, Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Vol. 10, The Problem of the Day

Vol. 11, Philosophy

Vol. 11, Psychology

Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life

Vol. 12, The Vision of God and Man

Vol. 12, Confessions: Autobiographical Essays of Hazat Inayat Khan

Vol. 12, Four Plays

Vol. 13, Gathas

Vol. 14, The Smiling Forehead

By Date

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS

Heading

Sufism

The Purpose of Life

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit"

"Blessed are They that Mourn"

Cause

Higher Attainment

Worship

The Prayerful Attitude

Prayer

Islam

The Effect of Deeds

Rhythms of Activity

Ways to Control Activity

Balance

The Seen and the Unseen

The Other Side of Death

The Alchemy of Happiness

Wisdom and Ignorance

Kaza and Kadr

The Philosophy of the Resurrection

The Murshid

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

1. Gratitude

2. Forgiveness

3. Glorification

4. Greatness

5. Truth

Attaining the Prayerful Attitude

Vol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean Unseen

The Prayerful Attitude

There are five attitudes that are assumed by different classes of people with regard to prayer.

1. Gratitude

In the first place there is the praiseful attitude of those who are grateful for their daily bread.

2. Forgiveness

The second class of people are those who are not only grateful for material benefits, but who hope also for power and position, or for forgiveness of their sins.

3. Glorification

The third class of people are those whose eyes are opened, who recognize the beauty of God in nature and in all around them, and glorify Him for that beauty.

4. Greatness

The fourth class of people are those who recognize the greatness of God in His power, who is able to provide for all His creation, from man to the smallest worm or germ.

5. Truth

And in the fifth class are the mystics and thinkers. Their attitude to prayer is far higher than that of the four preceding classes; they understand the truth of the being of man: that God and man are not separate. Notable among these are the Sufis.

Many people who are free-thinkers, and have this understanding, do not bother about prayer, and some even say, "To whom should we pray?" The Sufi realizes the truth of his being, and his whole life becomes an attitude of prayer, in spite of his free thought and his rising above good and bad, right and wrong.

When a person loves, he may be in the crowd, and yet be unaware of those around him, being absorbed in the thought of the beloved; and so it is with the love of God. He who loves God may be in the crowd, yet, being in the thought of God he is in seclusion. To such a person the crowd makes no difference.

Sa'di says, "Prayer is the expansion of the limited being to the unlimited, the drawing closer of the soul to God."
 

Hazrat Ali, the most distinguished among Sufis of the past, says, "To know the self is to know God", yet he spent much of his day and most of his nights in prayer.

The Sufi's prayer is his journey to the eternal goal, his realization of God.

Attaining the Prayerful Attitude

The question now arises how to attain to this prayerful attitude in life.

  1. In the first place, for those whose prayer is one of praise, if their whole life is to assume a prayerful attitude they must carry this praise and gratitude into the smallest details of life, and feel grateful for the slightest act of kindness done to them by anybody.

    Man falls very short of this ideal in life; he is so stiff, he misses so many chances of giving thanks. It is sometimes because of his riches, while at other times he is blinded by his power; all that is done for him he thinks is his due because of his money or his influence. When a man has been able to attain this attitude of praise and thanksgiving for all things in life, then his life may indeed be called a prayerful life.

  2. Those who express a hope when they pray can turn their everyday striving into prayer, provided they maintain this hope in every pursuit of life, putting their trust in God, and provided they consider all the objects of their desire as coming from one and the same source when they have gained them.

  3. Those people who glorify God for His beauty, should see the beauty of God in all His creatures. It is of no use to praise God for His beauty, and then to criticize and find faults in His creation; for one's life to be prayerful one must always seek the good in man.

    Even the worst man has a good spot, and this should be sought and not the bad points. We can learn virtue even from the greatest sinner, if we consider him as a teacher. There is a tradition that Moses asked Satan to tell him the secret of life.

  4. Those who glorify God for the greatness of His power must be able to see greatness in His creation. There are some who so pride themselves on their power, position, and money, that they cannot see the greatness in another. For these it is of no avail to worship God for His greatness; it is only lip service.

  5. As for the fifth class of people, those who realize the truth of their being, they recognize their God-ideal in all of His creation. They see their divine Beloved in all manifestation, in every name and form.