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 The Smiling ForeheadThe Heart QualityThe Heart - AphorismsThe Four PathsLoveThe Story of HatimThe Difference between Will, Wish and DesireDestiny and Free WillFree Will and DestinyKismetFree Will - AphorismsThe SeerSeeingThe Different Stages of Spiritual DevelopmentThe Prophetic Tendency - The Prophetic MissionPoints of View held by Spiritual PersonsHigher SpiritualismThe Process of Spiritual UnfoldmentThe Awakening of the SoulSufi TeachingsThe Dance of the SoulThe Deeper Side of LifeMan, the Seed of GodSufi PhilosophyThe Gift of EloquenceEvolution of the WorldEvery Man has his own little WorldMarriageSpirituality, the Tuning of the HeartOptimism and PessimismConscience - Questions and AnswersJustice and Forgiveness - Questions and answersPairs Of opposites used in Religious TermsInsightThe Law of AttractionThe Liberal and the Conservative Point of ViewThe Law of LifeThe Law of ActionThe Soul, Its Origin and UnfoldmentThe Unfoldment of the SoulDivine ImpulseThe Symbol of the CrossThe Mystical Meaning of the ResurrectionSpiritual Circulation through the Veins of the UniverseThe Divine Blood Circulating Through the Veins Of the Universe |
Sub-Heading -ALL-Outlook on LifeSoul's AwakeningSoul's Further AwakeningThe Personality of an Awakened Soul |
Vol. 14, The Smiling ForeheadThe Awakening of the SoulThe Personality of an Awakened SoulMagnetismThe personality of an awakened soul becomes different from every other personality. It becomes more magnetic, because it is a living person who has magnetism; the dead corpse has no magnetism. JoyIt is the living person who brings joy, and therefore it is the awakened soul who is joyous. Never for one moment imagine, as many do, that a spiritual person means a most sorrowful, dried-up, long-faced person. Spirit is Joy, spirit is Life, and when this Spirit has awakened, all the joy and pleasure that exist are there. Lack of AnxietyAs the sun takes away all darkness, so spiritual light takes away all worries and anxieties, sufferings and doubts. If spiritual awakening were not so precious what would be the use of seeking it in life? It is a treasure which nobody can take away from you, a light that will always keep and will never be extinguished. That is called spiritual awakening, which is the fulfillment of life's purpose. Certainly, the things a person once valued and considered important become less important. They lose their value, and things which are beautiful lose their color. It is just like seeing the stage in the light of the sun; all the big palaces and decorations on the stage mean nothing. No doubt this takes away the slavery to which everyone is put by the things of this world; the awakened person becomes a master, and at the same time he need not give those things up. OptimismOptimism develops naturally, but an optimism with open eyes. Power increases, the power of accomplishing things. Then as long as a person has not accomplished something he will go after it, however small it is. Recognizing an Awakened SoulIt is very difficult to judge an awakened soul, as they say in the East, for there is nothing outwardly to prove to you, "this person is an awakened soul." The best way of seeing an awakened soul is to waken oneself. No one in the world can pretend to be awake when he is still asleep, as a little child by putting moustaches on his face will not prove himself to be a grown-up man. All other pretences may be accepted but not the one of being an awakened soul, for it is a living light which no one can pretend to be. If there is any truth it is in the awakening of the soul, for truth is born in this awakening. Truth is not taught, truth is discovered. Awakening OthersVery often people make an effort - but in vain - to awaken a friend or a near relation whom they love. But in the first place we do not know if that person is not more awakened than we ourselves, and we may be trying in vain. And the other point is that a person may be asleep and needs that sleep. Waking him would be a sin instead of a virtue. We are only allowed to give our hand to the one who is turning over in his sleep, who desires to awake. Only then a hand is given. Finding the TeacherThis giving of the hand, in esoteric terms, is called initiation. No doubt outwardly a teacher who is acquainted with this path may give a hand to the one who wishes to journey, but inwardly there is the Teacher who gives a hand who has always given and always gives a hand to awakening souls, the same hand which has received the sages and masters of all times in a higher initiation. Verily, the seeker will find sooner or later, if only he keeps steady on the path till he arrives at his destination. Awake and AsleepThe words "waking" and "sleeping" are familiar to us as we use them in expressing different conditions of life. Really speaking, when we look at it from the point of view of the soul, we sleep and are awake at the same time. For instance when we are looking at a certain thing and our mind is fully absorbed in looking at it, we do not hear things at the same time. And if we are hearing something, absorbed in what we are hearing, when our sense of hearing is focused, our eyes may be open and yet we are not seeing. If that is true it explains to us that when one sense is fully awakened the other senses are asleep. In the same way, when we experience a sensation through the mind the body is absent. The more we look at sleeping and waking from a psychological point of view, the more we shall come to the conclusion that they are not as we understand them, but that every moment of the day and the night we are awake and asleep at the same time. To give another instance: when a person is asleep and experiencing a dream, he is awake to something and yet asleep to the outer things. To one world he is asleep, to the other awake. So one is always asleep and always awake. |