The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan
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Volume SayingsSocial GathekasReligious GathekasThe Message PapersThe Healing PapersVol. 1, The Way of IlluminationVol. 1, The Inner LifeVol. 1, The Soul, Whence And Whither?Vol. 1, The Purpose of LifeVol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound and MusicVol. 2, The Mysticism of SoundVol. 2, Cosmic LanguageVol. 2, The Power of the WordVol. 3, EducationVol. 3, Life's Creative Forces: Rasa ShastraVol. 3, Character and PersonalityVol. 4, Healing And The Mind WorldVol. 4, Mental PurificationVol. 4, The Mind-WorldVol. 5, A Sufi Message Of Spiritual LibertyVol. 5, Aqibat, Life After DeathVol. 5, The Phenomenon of the SoulVol. 5, Love, Human and DivineVol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean UnseenVol. 5, Metaphysics, The Experience of the Soul Through the Different Planes of ExistenceVol. 6, The Alchemy of HappinessVol. 7, In an Eastern Rose GardenVol. 8, Health and Order of Body and MindVol. 8, The Privilege of Being HumanVol. 8a, Sufi TeachingsVol. 9, The Unity of Religious IdealsVol. 10, Sufi MysticismVol. 10, The Path of Initiation and DiscipleshipVol. 10, Sufi PoetryVol. 10, Art: Yesterday, Today, and TomorrowVol. 10, The Problem of the DayVol. 11, PhilosophyVol. 11, PsychologyVol. 11, Mysticism in LifeVol. 12, The Vision of God and ManVol. 12, Confessions: Autobiographical Essays of Hazat Inayat KhanVol. 12, Four PlaysVol. 13, GathasVol. 14, The Smiling ForeheadBy DateTHE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS | Heading Unity and UniformityReligionThe Sufi's ReligionThe Aspects of ReligionHow to Attain to Truth by ReligionFive Desires Answered by ReligionLawAspects of the Law of ReligionPrayerThe Effect of PrayerThe God IdealThe Spiritual HierarchyThe Master, the Saint, the ProphetProphets and ReligionsThe Symbology of Religious IdeasThe Message and the MessengerSufismThe Spirit of SufismThe Sufi's Aim in LifeThe Ideal of the SufiThe Sufi MovementThe Universal Worship |
Sub-Heading -ALL-God is LoveTwo Points of ViewThe Kingship of GodBelief in GodThe Existence GodConceptions of GodMany GodsThe Personality of GodThe Realization of GodCreator, Sustainer, Judge, ForgiverThe Only KingThe Birth of GodThree StepsGod the InfiniteGod's Dealings with UsDependence Upon GodDivine GraceThe Will, Human and DivineMaking God IntelligibleMan's Relation to GodDivine Manner |
Vol. 9, The Unity of Religious IdealsThe God IdealBelief in GodIt is the spirit of all souls which is personified in all ages as God. There are periods when this spirit is materialized in the faith of humanity and worshiped as God, the Sovereign and the Lord of both worlds, as Judge, Sustainer, and Forgiver; but there are periods when this realization has become less in humanity, when mankind has become absorbed in the life of the world more than in the spiritual ideal. Therefore the belief in God comes to humanity like tides in the sea. Every now and then it appears on the surface, mostly with a Divine Message given as an answer to the cry of humanity at a certain period. So, in the life of individuals, at times the belief in God comes as tides in the sea, with an impulse to worship, to serve God, to search for God, to love God, and to long for God-communication. The more the material life of the world is before one's eyes, the more the spiritual impulse is closed. The spiritual impulse therefore rises especially at times of sorrow and of disappointment through life. The belief in God is natural, but in life both art and nature are necessary. So God, Who exists independent of our making Him, must be made by us for our own comprehension. To make God intelligible, first man must make his own God. It is on this principle that the idea of many gods and the custom of idol-worship was based in the ancient religions of the world. God cannot be two. The God of each is the God of all, but in order to comprehend that God we each have to make our own God.
The seeking of every soul in this world is different, distinct, and peculiar to himself, and he can best attain to it by finding the object of his search in God. The moment one arrives at this belief, no question need he ask of his fellow man, for the answer to every question that springs from his mind he finds in his own heart. The dwelling place of God, which is called heaven, is then found in his own heart. The Friend on Whom one can constantly depend, Those who, out of their materialistic view, cannot believe in the God-Ideal, lose a great deal in their lives. That ideal which is the highest and best ideal, He who has God in his life, has all he needs. He who has not God, he, having all things of this mortal world, is lonely; he is in the wilderness even if he be in the midst of the crowd. The journey of the Sufi, therefore, is to God. It is Divine Knowledge which he seeks; it is the realization of God-consciousness which is his goal. |