Recognizing is the second step; it is called "tariqat." At this stage the believer in God thinks of Him not only as in heaven, where all praise, worship, honor, and respect are due to Him, but he recognizes that He is on earth also. For instance, take a person called "John." If you ask him the name of each part of him, he can give a certain name for each, for every part of his body has its name. But which is "John?" Which part of his being is "John?" How shall I recognize "John?" If I recognize him from his head, why not call his head "John" instead of "head?" If I recognize him from his hand, then why do you not call his hand "John," why call it "hand?" If I recognize him from his body, why do you not call his body "John" instead of "body?" But if the body is John and the body is dead, where is John? There where the dead body is, is John there? No, surely John is different from his body: yet at the same time he represents himself with his body. It is his inner self that is really John. Yet it is not his inner self which he shows to our external eyes, which are limited; it is his limited self -- which we call "John" -- which he shows thus. John is behind his limited self. Our eyes are only the vehicle for seeing, and we can see something beyond our eyes. We, the ones who see, are the seer.

If we study this more and more carefully, we come to see that God is the creator, and must consider He must have something to create from. When a sculptor sets to work he has something in mind before he starts. He has to have a piece of rock or stone to work on. Every worker has a certain thing besides himself to create from. So one may ask, "Was there anything besides this world for God to make it from? Where did God get the things to make the universe from?" If He created out of something already made, then that substance out of which He made the Universe must have been made by some other god, or perhaps a thousand gods -- and even then we may not have come to the end! But this cannot be.

The whole creation is from one Being whose wisdom is unlimited, one Being Whose art is unlimited, Whose power is unlimited. He creates of Himself, with His own power. Therefore the creation and the Creator are not two, just as man and his body are not two. They are two, but at the same time they are not. When you recognize a man you recognize him not from his body only, but from his spirit as well. If you recognize God, you can recognize Him not only in Heaven, but on earth also. Those who recognize Him, see Him in all.

A Hindustani song goes: Ah! how desirous I was to see the divine Beloved! It is not the fault of the Beloved that you do not see! He is before you! It is the fault of you who recognize Him not. Everything, whatever you see, is nothing else but The Presence of God! But if you say, "All the world is the presence of God," then what is in heaven? I do not say, "The body is John." I say, "Behind the body is John, even though the body too is John." So God is in heaven, but His manifestation is also God.

Think of how the followers of all the different religions have fought one another! So convinced were some that there were a thousand, or millions or numberless multitudinous gods, whereas others were convinced there is but One. To the mind of the Sufi both are right. Both are opposite to one another in knowledge. One religion desires to teach that all these infinite varieties are just one God, and desires to impress the idea that this is God. Those who have learned that there is one God cannot conceive the idea of many gods! So they fought through all their lives, without ever recognizing who really is their God. They teach that someday they will be taken before Him for judgment, when they are actually before Him all the time, all day long, all night long! Understand this once and a great change of outlook will come; one's thoughts of God will change so much that the whole moral standpoint changes. The following little story will illustrate the manner of the change:

A great king of Persia named Jamshyd had a certain wrestler named Rustam. He was the greatest of all the wrestlers in the kingdom, and he became so proud of his strength and power and bravery that the king thought he would humble him in some way. But he could not find anyone able to be developed and trained so as to be capable of matching Rustam. He was the only one of his kind in the whole land.

Then it happened that Rustam went to Arabia, and during his absence a son was born in his house in Persia. The child's mother died soon after, and this was the king's opportunity. He took the child into his own palace, and no one knew he was Rustam's son. In the course of time when he became a youth he became a great fighter, so strong and powerful that no one in the land could match him. And then, after many years, Rustam returned. Jamshyd did not tell the youth that Rustam was his father, he only said that a strong and powerful wrestler had come from the Arabs, and that he must fight him.

Now it was the custom that every wrestler carries a dagger. Whoever is brought down has either to surrender or be killed. So everybody went to see the wrestling match in the arena. The king felt sure that Rustam, the sun, would kill Rustam. Well, they wrestled, and finally as the young boy had great energy, with youth and power, he brought Rustam down. But Rustam, being so proud of his great power and strength throughout all his life did not wish to surrender, so he must be killed.

So his son unsheathed his dagger, and Rustam said, "It does not matter. Someday when my son grows up he will vanquish you." The youth said, "Who is your son?" Rustam said, "Who are you?" Then the secret came out that this boy was Rustam's son, and now there was no end to Rustam's sorrow, it was so great. He made obeisance at his father's feet saying, "Father, I would rather be the one to be killed with the sword than to be called your conqueror, when as they say I am your son." His father said, "It does not matter, for now I am glad at least to know I have not been conquered by someone else than by my own son, my own self." What a tragedy this was.

The same tragedy and the same attitude comes into the life of every man from the time that he begins to discover his Heavenly Father on earth. You cannot subscribe to "love thine enemy" unless you first recognize in him your Father in heaven. One may recognize one's own Father in a friend, but when we recognize Him in the enemy too, then we can love him also! That is the lesson. We flee from God like Cain till we discover He is here. Yes, just think what a change there would be in the attitude of man once he realized his Heavenly Father, the only One to Whom reverence is due, in his fellow man!

The life of the Sufi in the East is the life of a true disciple of Christ. People may recognize the teachings of Christ in a scripture or a church or a chapel, yet to the Sufi nothing of that is Christ. The only true disciple of Christ is the one who sees God as Father, God as Mother, in all his fellow men and women. So in India, Arabia, Persia, they call a fakir, a sage, a dervish -- "bawa," "father," or a lady, "mother," seeing both aspects of God in all things. Naturally there are degrees -- fana-fi-sheikh, fana-fi-rasul, fana-fi-Allah -- but they recognize their teacher in everyone. That is the first step.

One day I was walking in the city and met a dervish with a beautiful personality. He was clothed in rags, but his speech, his voice, his thought, his movement, his atmosphere were so winning. At that time I was very young in the pursuit of philosophy. Youth is a time when pride has full play. So, as we were walking along and he called me "Murshid" (teacher) I was very glad. He addressed me as "Murshid" every time he spoke to me! Presently we met another person who seemed to be without any education, seemingly without any knowledge of philosophy or religion or anything out of the way. But he called him "Murshid" also! So my pride was broken, for next he came across a policeman and called him "Murshid" too!

So then I asked my teacher what could be the meaning of all this, and he said, "Your dervish shows you the first step towards recognizing God: to recognize all beings as your teacher. A foolish person can teach you, a wise person, a learned person, a student, a pious person, a wicked person, even a little child: everyone can teach you something. Therefore have that attitude towards everybody. Then it may be said that you recognize God. When the chela is ready, the guru appears." That is, when you are ready to discern it, you find your teacher beside you. We can even learn love from doves, and faithfulness from dogs.