The other form of the Sufi path is that of Salik. The Salik is a person who believes he can be a sage at the same time as he follows his worldly occupation. His work is one of making his life (earning his living) amid the responsibility of everyday life, and at the same time he does it for a higher purpose; his mind is fixed on higher aspirations, even while 'in the world.' Then, every act in all the affairs of life is directed to higher aspirations. Finally every thought in everything he is doing is directed towards that higher aspiration. So you find that the Salik is a worldly man, with responsibility of home, of profession, of business, of trade, and yet when he has attained to that height, he can be made a Murshid; he can be a teacher. It is not necessary to make a renunciation of 'the world' and be a monk. He can still be a Murshid, even though he is still working in the world.

The idea of 'a Murshid' is not a case of giving his knowledge to someone else. It is not possible to give one's knowledge that way. So he does not pretend to be able to do that or profess to do that. His work is to help another person to find out for himself; to develop himself; to discover for himself what is true and what is not. There are no doctrines to impart. There are no principles to lay down. There are no tenets to which the lives of his pupils must be restricted. He is just a guide along the path. He is the one who kindles the light that is already in the pupil. He does not stand before the pupil as a priest; he is as a brother, colleague, friend. Being just a human person he is limited exactly as the pupil is; he is as liable to make mistakes and to have failures as anyone else. He enjoys no special authority, nor is he as one apart in holiness. "I am not more holy than such and such a person. If he is not holy, no more am I." He is not distinctive in such a respect. No, the Murshid is the friend of the mureed; he is a friend on a path which the mureed has not yet trodden.

So he can advise him if the mureed desires to be guided; he can be his friend when the mureed desires him to be a friend. He can solve his problem. He can show him how to understand for himself what life is; he can show him what Truth is and how to attain to it. The sage in the East is everywhere regarded with respect, whether he be a Murshid, a sadhu, a sanyassi, or sant. The name is of no significance. You will hear that Hindus and sanyassins and Buddhist sages are all different from one another. Well, that is true. They can be different just as in Western countries there are differences in the churches. For all that, there is really no difference between sadhu, sanyassi, and sant. Both Hindu and Moslem will bow before the sage, whether he be Buddhist, Vedantic, or Sufi.

No one makes any distinction. Every sage is just a person 'on the path of Truth,' and so 'we respect him.' The feeling which one receives from them may be a little different in each case, but they all bring with them a light and inspiration which is very peculiar, as I may relate from my own experience. When one is in the presence of a Burhai everything seems faded and pale; as if nothing in life had any value; it seems as if one had risen above all weakness and above all earthly good. One receives a feeling of kingliness, as if one were above everything. It seems as if everything was just a hindrance. That is the feeling one has. In the presence of a sanyassi, the feeling is different again; one has a sense of inspiration, of revelation.

All problems of life seem to be settled at once in his presence. It is like a light illuminating you, so that you begin to feel things and look at them differently. The feeling one gets when in the presence of a Buddhist is a moral feeling, a feeling of self-sacrifice, a feeling of gentleness, goodness, and sympathy for every living creature. When you are in the presence of a dervish of the Sufis, one gets a feeling of ecstasy, which Omar Khayyam calls 'wine'; it is an atmosphere charged with magnetism; there is a sense of intoxication, a spiritual intoxication, which could never be compared with any effects of wine of the world.

Lastly, when one is in the presence of a salik, one feels as if an eye had been opened so as to perceive all the beauty there is in the world - the beauty of inner planes, the beauty of outer planes, the beauty of the whole manifestation of life. It is as if the curtain had risen upon a stage as soon as you had arrived, and you found the stage full of every imaginable beauty. Some wonderful beauty had hitherto been hidden, and now it is all opened out before you. For those who expect wonder-working from a sage, to prove that he is a sage, I say that it is the very presence of a real sage which brings such a great joy and deep peace. You need never seek a greater wonder than that evidence that you are in the presence of a true Sage. God bless you.