The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan
(How to create a bookmark) |
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 The MessageFree Will and Destiny in the MessageWhat is the Message?Lecture for Mureeds and FriendsWakening to the MessageAspects of the Sufi MessageThe MessageRelationship Between Murshid and MureedPersonalities of the Servants of GodOur Efforts in ConstructingTeaching Given by Murshid to his MureedsWays of Receiving the MessageThe Path of AttainmentInterest and IndifferenceThe Call from AboveThe MessageUnlearningSpiritual and Religious MovementsPeculiarity of the Great MastersAbraham, Moses and MuhammadFour QuestionsThe Spreading of the MessageJelal-ud-din RumiPeculiarities of the Six Great ReligionsBelief and Faith"Superhuman" and HierarchyFaith and DoubtDivine GuidanceThe Prophetic LifeThere are two Kinds Among the SoulsThe MessengerThe Message Which has Come in all AgesThe Sufi MessageThe MessageQuestions Concerning the MessageThe Inner SchoolThe Duty of HappinessFive Things Necessary for a Student |
Sub-Heading -ALL- |
The Message PapersWhat is the Message?August 6, 1923 What is the Message? Where does it come from? How is it received by the souls who deliver it?" These questions often arise in inquiring minds. And the answer is that the Message is like the rain, and the rain falls where it is needed and when it is needed. But does the rain come from above? It seems to come from above, but it rises from below first, as the vapor, forming into clouds as ideas, and again falling from above as the rain. There are so many names for the seas and rivers and streams, but they all contain water. And there are various names of religions, but they all contain the Truth, spoken in different forms, and in different ways. There is a lightning, there is a thunder when the rain falls, and there are wars and disasters before the Message comes. Storms are very often warnings of what follows, and so are different kinds of battles and revolutions warnings before the coming of the time of peace. Often a person says, "If it is the same water, then I have no need of receiving a new Message, I already hold a certain faith or belief. Is it not the same?" The water of last week, which has been in the jug, compared with the fresh water is different, and yet it is water. And one does not reject the water of last week by drinking the fresh water, for it is water all the same. Every element turns into its own element, and comes again afresh. When the fire is extinguished, it has become absorbed in its own element. It has gone and joined the heat. So is water and earth. So is the air. Every element goes back to its own element in the end and comes again afresh. And such is the law of the Divine Message. Numberless religions have been taught. Various prophets and masters have come to waken humanity, and those of them we know are only a few which we could count on the fingers. But where are the other religions gone? What about all the other teachers? It would be like asking, "Where is all the water that fell? Where has the rain gone?" It has gone nowhere; it has gone to its own source, only to come afresh again with new life, with new magnetism, with new strength and vigor. And yet it is the same water of life, the drinking of which gives souls immortality. Many intellectual people with their very many ideas differ from one another in their opinions and in their way of looking at things, in their speculations. But do the prophets differ from one another? They cannot differ. The reason is that it is the various minds which differ, not the soul. The one who lives in his mind is conscious of mind. The one who lives in his soul is conscious of the soul. What does the word "spiritual" mean? It means "soul-conscious" or "spirit-conscious." There is a line of a song, "Night has a thousand eyes, the day has but one." When a person lives in his mind, he is living through the darkness of night. The moment one rises above one's mind and wakens in the light of the soul, one becomes spiritual. And if a thousand spiritual people will speak, they will say the same thing, perhaps in different words, but with one meaning. For they have one sight, the same sight. It is therefore that spiritual realization is called the Truth. There are many facts, but there is one Truth. Facts can be put into words, but not the Truth. For God is Truth, the real self of man is Truth. Truth is unlimited and incomparable. Therefore Truth alone knows, enjoys, and realizes its own existence. |