I should like to tell you a few words that you may know what it is to become mureed and initiated. Is it that you have joined a kind of study group, to interest yourself in a kind of new study, a kind of passing interest, that you have taken up for a pastime, or is it something you have taken for the sake of curiosity, because you wish to look at what is going on there? If it is for a study, then it is a waste of time: for a student libraries are open with books of all sorts. If it is for a pastime, then there are better occupations for that purpose. If it is for curiosity, in this path the curious ones will never be successful.

What is it? Have you come into a new religion? What it is, is that you have taken a step forward in the same religion you belong to. That step has come by your initiation, and by the power of your initiation you go forwards. Now in this initiation there are a few things which must be remembered.

First, your attitude towards the teaching which is given and towards the papers which are read. The right attitude is that they should not be taken as a study, but as something more sacred than an intellectual study. Therefore the tendency to weigh, to judge, and to criticize is not the right one in the path of discipleship. In India a phrase of a great saint is very well known: "First observe; if it interests you and appeals to you then learn; and after you have learnt, then judge it." Suppose in the teachings you have found one line which you cannot fit in with your old ideas. Then if you weigh it, there will come a conflict. Therefore in the East it is understood that in the spiritual path the old knowledge will not help, and one must unlearn what one already knows.

When I went to his murshid, there was from his side a great hunger to learn everything, and there was the natural impatience of youth. Another person was also presented before his murshid as a candidate. I, the unlearned one, was accepted, and the studied one was asked to wait a little longer. He was too much learned. This does not mean that a man must not have his own free opinion, but there is a time for that. For instance, if a subject which Murshid has treated in ten papers is read to you and you begin to judge after hearing the first paper for the first time, it would be premature and spoil the learning.

Now another thing. What value should be set on the study, that is given as sacred reading? It is not the main thing. Study is a part of the purpose for which the groups meet. But the most essential thing is the meeting of some mureeds together, and the unison with their murshid. When five mureeds are together, it is like being in the presence of murshid. The unification and the silence are even more profitable than the reading.

Now there is the question, what is the relation to Murshid? What is the relation of the mureed to Murshid, and of Murshid to the mureed? And my answer to this is, do not think of any hierarchical relation with Murshid: only think of what relation your own heart and your own intuition tell you. If you think of Murshid as your brother, it is true; if you think of Murshid as your friend, it is true also; if you think of Murshid as your spiritual teacher, it is true; and if you think of Murshid as your servant, it is also true. Besides this, there is no place for any other discussion.

Your Murshid is a human being, and as such he is liable to shortcomings. You may give him your confidence and trust, and know him as a human being. Murshid's murshid used to say, "There are many friendships in this world, but the friendship between murshid and mureed is in the path of God, in the path of Light and Truth." Therefore every earthly relation may have a chance to break, but the relation between murshid and mureed is not for the life on earth only. It is this belief which keeps their souls together, helping each other along the spiritual path.

Murshid is not the mediator between God and the mureed. Murshid stands apart, trying to unite God with His own child. And if at the beginning Murshid seems more forward, his duty is just like that of the mother: before the child begins to take natural food, she will nurse him. But it is not forever, it is for the beginning. Murshid is the divine mother, to show sympathy and tenderness to the mureed, who has been attracted. To love God, the mureed learns by the friendship of Murshid. He begins to feel in Murshid something of the fragrance of that flower, which is the love of God. Murshid helps the mureed to come in time face to face with God, and then the journey with the murshid is finished, and what remains is the gratitude in the heart of the mureed.

What must be the mureed's intention in becoming a mureed? He must not have the intention of getting wonderful powers which others do not possess; neither must he have the intention to become more wise, in order to seem more learned or wise than his fellowman. On the other hand, if he has some powers he hides them in his humility, and if his inspiration is developing, he should bow his head down, that his fellow men may not see it. Always consider that this is the one thing that you will meet on this path, and the one enemy you will avoid: vanity. You must be on your guard against it from which ever side it comes. It comes so swiftly and so subtly that it is difficult to recognize. When you are on your guard you will see that even your humble words and your meek actions will prove to be vain. This is the thing which throws man from the highest stage. Even prophets have to fight and to fight it.

Know the danger of this path, and do not waste your time in falling into it. The one thing to rely upon is God's favor. Do not build neither on your study nor on your meditation, although they both help you. But you are dependent on God, not even on Your murshid. Seek Him, trust Him. In Him lies your life's purpose, and in Him is hidden the rest of your soul.