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

Superstitions, Customs, and Beliefs

Insight

Symbology

Breath

Morals

Everyday Life

Metaphysics

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

1.1, Saf

1.2, Tat Twam Asi

1.3, The Glance of the Seer

1.4, Divine Evidence

1.5, Openness

1.6, Movement (1)

1.7, Movement (2)

1.8, The Study of the Whole

1.9, The Mystery of Expression

1.10, Different Qualities of Mind

2.1, The Reproduction of the Mental Record

2.2, Impression

2.3, The Balance of Life

2.4, The Language of the Mind

2.5, The Influence of Experience

2.6, Intuition

2.7, Evidence of the Thought

2.8, The Activity of Mind

2.9, Likes and Dislikes

2.10, Viparit Karna

3.1, Reason Is Earth-Born

3.2, The Word and the Idea

3.3, The Expression and the Idea

3.4, The Power of Words

3.5, The Re-Echo of the Past

3.6, Interest in All Things

3.7, Vairagya

3.8, A Silent Music

3.9, Three Ways To Develop Insight

3.10, Tranquility

Vol. 13, Gathas

Insight

1.10, Different Qualities of Mind

As there are different qualities of the sight, such as long and short sight, so there are different qualities of mind. There are minds which can see a certain distance and no further, and others that can see a longer distance; and what is called foresight is not a supernatural, superhuman faculty but a long range of sight. When one person can see the action of another person the seer can see the reason of the action too, and if the sight is keener still he can see the reason of the reason. One cannot give one's sight to another; he can tell what he sees, but that is not sufficient, for in order to be sure every soul wants its own experience.

The faculty of seeing through life can be developed by observation, which is called study; and the focusing of the mind upon the object of study is called concentration. As by making a habit of lifting one thing, a person can learn to lift several different weighty things, so by observing one object of study a man becomes capable of observing any object in the same way. Keenness of observation is a phenomenon in itself. In the first place, the sight penetrates, so to speak, the object one sees; and the next thing is that as the light of the sun has the power to open the buds, so the power of keen observation commands the objects observed to unfold themselves and to reveal their secrets.

Every object has a soul in it, which may be called its spirit. In ancient times the seers recognized the spirit of all things, the spirit of mountains, trees, stars and planets, of the rivers, lakes, pools and seas. And penetrating through objects means touching their spirit. No doubt it is easier to touch the spirit of man than to touch the spirit of the objects, for the very reason that man is more living than any other form of creation.

The person whose eyes are not steady cannot observe fully; so also the mind that is not steady also cannot observe things well. Therefore the mystics prescribe certain postures in order to make the body stable. And steadiness of body reacts upon the mind, making it steady also. The mind and body react on each other. So a self-mastered person who has control over his body and mind has balance and wisdom. Wisdom comes from steadiness and insight follows wisdom.