God and the God Ideal may be explained as the sun and the light. Just as there come times when the sun becomes covered by clouds, so there come times when the God Ideal becomes covered by materialism. But if the cloud for a moment covers the sun, that does not mean that the sun is lost to you. So if in the reign of materialism the God Ideal seems to have disappeared, yet God is there all the same. The condition of the world is just like the ever rising and falling waves. Sometimes they seem to rise and sometimes to fall, but with every rising and falling wave the sea is the same; so with all its changes life is the same.

We find that during the past few years all over the world there has come a phase when the God Ideal seems entirely forgotten. This does not mean that churches have disappeared or that God does not exist, but that a light that once was there has been covered and has ceased to light us. As there is night after day, so these changes of condition come in life: light and darkness.

In the age of science on the one side, materialism on the other, and commercialism on the top, man seems to have blinded himself by acquiring wealth and power so that he sees nothing else. It is not that there is no search for light: it is the nature of every soul to search for light. But the great question is, how can light come when nation is against nation, race against race, and the followers of one religion against the followers of another? How can there be peace and light? The sign of day is that all things are clear, and the sign of night is that nothing can be found or seen; there are clouds.

The most dreadful nightmare the world has ever seen has just passed away, and although that wave and that nightmare seem to have gone, the effect is still here. The effect that is left is worse than the cause, for prejudice is worse than bloodshed. When man thirsts for the blood of his fellowman, how can we say that there is light? If a man can eat joyfully at his table when his neighbor is dying of hunger, where is the light? That is the condition of humanity today. What is the cause? It is because the light, the God Idea, is not there.

I was once amused by a very simple answer from a maid. When somebody came to the door and knocked, the maid was not free to go at once but took her time. When at last she came, the man was very cross and said, "Why did you not open the door quickly?" I asked the maid, "What do you think was the reason for the person's being cross?" She said with her innocent expression, "Because there is no God with him."

Friends, the word of Christ is that God is love. If God is love then we, every one of us, can prove God in us by expressing God in our life. Yes, according to the external customs of the different religions, one goes to church, one to the mosque, one to the synagogue, and one to the temple of Buddha. But the inner church is neither in the mosque nor in the synagogue, but in the heart of man, where God abides and which is the habitation of Christ. With this divine element lighted in man's heart, he will go to the house of prayer and then his prayer will be heard.

There is a well-known story in India that a girl was crossing a place where a Muslim was performing his prayers: the law is that no one should cross where a person is praying. When the girl returned, the man said to her, "How insolent! Do you know what sin you have done?" "What did I do?" said the girl. And the man said that no one was allowed to cross. "I did not mean any harm," said the girl, "but tell me, what do you mean by praying?" "For me, prayer is thinking of God," said the man. "Oh!" she said, "But I was going to see my young man, and I was thinking of him and I did not see you. If you were thinking of God, how did you see me?"

The idea, therefore, friends, is that prayer becomes living if it is offered from a living heart. From a dead heart, prayer has no meaning and is dead.

There is a story of an Arab who was running to the mosque where the prayer of God was being offered, but before he could arrive the prayers were finished. On his way he met a man coming from the mosque and asked him, "Are the prayers finished?" The man replied that they were finished, and the other sighed deeply and said, "Alas!" Then the man asked, "Will you give me the virtue of your sigh in exchange for the virtue of my prayers?" And the other agreed. Next day the simple man saw the Prophet in a dream, who told him that he had made a bad bargain, for that one sigh was worth all the prayers of a lifetime because it was from the heart.

There are different human beings in different stages of evolution, and it is natural that every human being according to his particular stage of evolution imagines God before him when he prays. It is questionable for anyone else to judge the one who prays and say, "God is not this or that." Persons who force their beliefs on others often put them against that belief, even if that is the true belief. It requires a great deal of tact, thought, and consideration to explain or correct the belief of another. In the first place, it is insolent on the part of man to want to explain God, although man today would like not only to explain but even to examine whether the spirit of God exists.

The other day I was much amused to hear that there are people who not only want to take photographs of spirits, but even to weigh the soul!

It was good in ancient times when the state had respect for the God Ideal and religion and taught that respect to humanity. Today man wishes to use what he calls freedom in religion, even in the foundation of all religions, the God Ideal! But then it must be remembered that it is not the path of freedom that leads to the goal of freedom, but the path of the God Ideal that leads to the goal of truth.

Man has respect for his mother or father, husband or wife, or for his superiors, but they have limited personalities. Where then shall he give most respect? Only to one being: God. Man can love another human being, but by the very fact of loving another human being, he has no scope; to express all the love that there is, you must love the unlimited God.

One admires all that is beautiful in color, tone, or form, but all that is beautiful has its limitations. When one rises above limitations, there is that perfection which is God alone. Many people say, "Yes, the perfection of all things, of love, harmony, and beauty is God, but where is the personality of God?" This is the difficulty which some feel when at loss to find something to adore or worship which is different from all they see. In all ages men have perhaps worshipped idols, or the sun, or fire, or some other form as God, because they were not able to see further than their eyes could see.

Of course it is easy to criticize or to look at anyone with contempt, but really that shows that every soul has a desire for someone to admire, adore, and worship.

There is a story of a peasant boy who heard the name of God preached and he came home and felt great love gushing from his heart, but he could not imagine God. And he began to say, "O God, if you would come to me, I would love you so much. I feel so full of love for you that I would bathe you in this river and keep you warm in my blankets and I would protect you from harm. I would sing to you and dance before you."

Moses happened to pass by in these parts, and heard what the boy said. He said to him, "Beware, O boy, what you are saying. God is beyond the conception of man. You make him limited by saying such things." But no sooner had Moses said this than a voice came from within, saying, "Moses, thou hast given Us great pain. Here was one who loved Us and did not know what We are or what We are like. Now you have broken his heart, for he could not understand Us otherwise."

This teaches us how gentle we ought to be with the faith of another. As long as he has the spark of the love of God, this spark should be slowly blown upon that the flame may rise; if not that spark will be extinguished. How much the spiritual development of mankind in general depends upon a religious man: he can either spread the light or diminish it by forcing his belief on others.

Although there can be no trace of the personality of God on the surface, yet one can see that there is a source from which all personality comes, and a goal to which all must return. And if there is one source, what a great personality that one source must be! It cannot be learned by great intellect or even by the study of metaphysics or comparative religion, but only understood by a pure and innocent heart full of love.

The great personalities who have descended on earth from time to time to awaken in man that love which is his divine inheritance found echo in innocent souls rather than in great intellects. Man often confuses wisdom with cleverness and cleverness with wisdom. But these two are different; man can be wise and not clever, and man can be clever and not wise. By cleverness a person will strive and strive and will not reach. It is a stream, the stream of love, which leads towards God.

There is a story of a king who was travelling and hunting in the woods, and the king was hungry and stopped at the house of a peasant who treated him very kindly. When the king was leaving this peasant, he was so touched with his kindness that without telling him he was a king he said to him, "Take this ring, and if ever you are in trouble, come to me in the city and I will see what I can do for you." After a time there was a famine and the peasant was in great trouble; his wife and child were dying, and he set out to see this man.

Of course, when he showed the ring he was brought to the king. When he entered the room he saw the king busy in prayer, and when the king came near to him he said, "What were you doing?" "Praying for peace and love and happiness among my subjects." "So there is a greater one than you, to whom you must go for what you seek? Then I will go to Him who is greater and on whom even your destiny depends." He would accept no help, and at last the king had to send what was needed quietly to his home, first saying that no one must tell him that it came from the king.

The idea is that it is not only belief but faith which is necessary. Belief is a thing, but faith is a living being. The warners and teachers of humanity and the great preachers who have come from time to time when darkness prevailed, what message did they bring? Did they bring new religions or new theories to the world? No. Jesus Christ said, "I have not brought a new law, but I have come to fulfill the law." Who else at any time could bring a new theory? The scientist perhaps, but not the spiritual messenger. Then what did the spiritual message bring? It brought to the world a living God, a light hidden beyond words. With the spiritual message God has sent His life and light upon the world.

The work the Sufi movement is destined to do in the present epoch is to bring about a better understanding among the followers of the different religions. The Sufi message is not a new message, although it strikes the note of the day. It is the re-echo of the same voice heard in all ages. At the present time, when races, nations, and the followers of different religions are all against each other, a word of unity and peace alone can unite all together in God.

The Sufi Order is not a community and not a religion; it is a nucleus of the human brotherhood which is the inner call of every soul. The Sufi message is given to all nations; it is a call to all races and to the followers of all religions. It teaches people to follow whatever religion they may profess, but to follow it truly and understand it better; not only to believe in God and the words of Christ, but to have faith in Him and His divine word. We must think of the tolerance of the master and of his forgiveness and what the world would be today if we had it too.

If we follow the natural religion -- that divine impulse that is in every heart -- then we shall be living the true religion.