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

History of the Sufis

Sufism

The Sufi's Aim

The Different Stages of Spiritual Development

The Prophetic Tendency

Seeing

Self-Discipline

Physical Control

Health

Harmony

Balance

Struggle and Resignation

Renunciation

The Difference Between Will, Wish, and Desire

The Law of Attraction

Pairs of Opposites

Resist Not Evil

Judging

The Privilege of Being Human

Our God Part and Our Man Part

Man, the Seed of God

Evolution

Spiritual Circulation Through the Veins of Nature

Destiny and Free Will

Divine Impulse

The Law of Life

Manifestation, Gravitation, Assimilation, and Perfection

Karma And Reincarnation

Life in the Hereafter

The Mystical Meaning of the Resurrection

The Symbol of the Cross

Orpheus

The Mystery of Sleep

Consciousness

Conscience

The Gift of Eloquence

The Power of Silence

Holiness

The Ego

The Birth of the New Era

The Deeper Side of Life

Life's Mechanism

The Smiling Forehead

The Spell of Life

Selflessness

The Conservative Spirit

Character-Building

Respect and Consideration

Graciousness

Overlooking

Conciliation

Optimism and Pessimism

Happiness

Vaccination and Inoculation

Marriage

Love

The Heart

The Heart Quality

The Tuning of the Heart (1)

The Tuning of the Heart (2)

The Soul, Its Origin and Unfoldment

The Unfoldment of the Soul

The Soul's Desire

The Awakening of the Soul (1)

The Awakening of the Soul (2)

The Awakening of the Soul (3)

The Maturity of the Soul

The Dance of the Soul

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

Vaccination and Inoculation

The THEORY behind vaccination and inoculation is the same as the one taught as Hatha Yoga by Shiva, or Mahadeva as he is often called. It is said of Mahadeva that he used to drink poison, and by doing so he got over its effect. Mahadeva was the most venturesome among the ascetics. He is pictured carrying a serpent round his neck. If one can be such friends with a serpent as to keep it round one's neck, one can no doubt sit comfortably in the presence of someone one does not like. The hatred and prejudice and nervousness which are felt in the presence of someone one does not like would then not arise. The soul which has forgotten its battle with everything that made it fear and tremble and run away, has conquered life and has become the master of life; it attains the kingdom of heaven. No doubt the methods which Mahadeva adopted were extreme measures; no one could recommend them to his pupils and be thought sane in this modern world!

It is the same with vaccination. When new, such methods have met with a great deal of prejudice and opposition, yet there is much to be said for the principle behind them. It brings us to a higher realization of life, and makes us understand that even that which is called death, if it were put in a cup and given us to drink, could bring us life. By absorbing the destructive element in one's body, the body becomes destruction-proof, so that that particular destruction is no longer a destruction but becomes part of one's nature. This is the method of destruction from the spiritual point of view.

Death is death as long as man is not acquainted with it. When man absorbs it then he is master of death. That was the message of Jesus Christ, who spoke of eternal life from beginning to end; and the mystery of that message is that when once a person has absorbed death he has obtained eternal life.

People say, 'I do not like to touch vinegar, it harms my health; I cannot bear to eat cream, I cannot digest it; I cannot stand sugar in my tea, I do not like it'. For them these things are poison. By saying such things a person makes certain substances foreign, exclusive, to his nature; and he thereby subjects himself to them. There comes a time when they rule him, when he is in their power. The way of Shiva was always to work against his own weaknesses. Though he counted them as weaknesses and not as belonging to his nature, he acted as if everything belonged to his nature and absorbed all that was foreign to it in order that no situation would arise where he would become subjected to it. Snake-charmers, by making snakes bite them a little at a time, become inured to the poison, and it was the same with Shiva: out of death he had made a necklace. One can go to extremes in this way, but it is a law which should be studied and which it is good to know. It teaches us all that is to be found in us, all the destruction which is the source of fear and pain and disappointment.