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Petama Counsellor June School of Inner Life - 2 from: Hazrat Inayat Khan: 'Social Gathekas' |
There are some who are content with the beliefs taught to them at home or in church. They can just as well rest in that place of realization where they are contented until another impulse is born in their hearts to go on higher. Sufis do not force upon such souls their beliefs or thoughts. In the east there is a custom of saying that it is a great sin to wake anyone who is fast asleep. This saying can be symbolically understood: there are many in this world who work and do things and yet they are asleep; they seem awake externally, but inwardly they are asleep. A Sufi considers it a crime to waken them. For some, sleep is good for the health. The work of the Sufi is to give a helping hand to those who have had sufficient sleep and who now begin to stir in their sleep and to take decisions. That help given is the real initiation. No doubt there are things which pass the ordinary comprehension: things we cannot teach only by speaking or acting. Thus the way of teaching called Tawajjeh is without words; it is not external teaching, it is a teaching in silence. For instance, how can we explain the spirit of sincerity or the spirit of gratefulness; how can we explain the ultimate truth, the idea of God? Whenever attempted it has failed; it has made some confused and has made others give up their belief. It is not that the one who explains has not understood, but that words are inadequate to explain the idea of God. In the East great sages and saints sit quite still with lips closed for years. We call them muni, which means ‘one who takes the vow of silence.’ A person of today may think, ‘What a life: to be silent and do nothing.’ We do not know that some by their silence can do more than others talking for ten years could accomplish. A person may argue for months on a problem and not be able to explain it; another person with inner radiance may be able to answer the same thing in one moment. Of course, no one can give Inner knowledge to another person, because it is something which every heart has within itself. By initiation, what the teacher can do is light with his or her light, the light which is hidden in the heart of their disciple. If the light is not there, it is not the fault of the teacher.
(Maheboob Khan, Hazrat Inayat Khan‘s brother, has composed music to a row of aphorisms of Hazrat Inayat Khan in the middle of last century, as this ‚How Shall I Thank Thee‘. Mohammed Ali Khan, Hazrat Inayat Khan’s cousin, has sung this song around the year 1956 in a concert in Zürich – here you can listen to it) (these E-book are free of all charge - use their treasures well!) |
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