Petama Forum June

School of Inner Life - 1

from: Hazrat Inayat Khan:

'Social Gathekas'

(see also Counsellor)

You can listen to all topics here

The Sufi Order is mainly a school of the Inner Life. There are three schools most known in the East: the Buddhist School, the Vedantic School, and the Sufi School. Two of the schools, the Buddhist and the Vedantic, use asceticism as the principal means of Inner advancement. The peculiarity of the Sufi School is that it uses humanity as the main path for Inner advancement.

The realization of truth in the Sufi School is not different from the Vedantic, or even from the Buddhist, but the Sufi presents truth in a different manner. It is the same frame in which Jesus Christ gave his teaching, and the same form which was adopted by the prophets of Israel.

Inner development by the help of contemplation and meditation is used in all three schools, the science of breath being the foundation of each.

A Sufi thinks that a human being was not created to live the life of an angel, nor was he created to live the life of an animal. For the life of an angel, angels are created, and for the life of an animal, there are animals. A Sufi thinks the first thing necessary in life is for us to prove to our own conscience to what extent we can be human.

This is not only Inner development, it is also the culture of humanity.

• What is our relationship to our neighbour or friend, to those who depend upon us, to those who look up to us, and to strangers not known to us?

• How do we relate with those older or younger than ourselves, with the ones who like us and with the ones who dislike and criticize us?

• How do we feel and think and act through life, and still keep on progressing toward the goal that is the goal for every soul in the world?

It is not necessary that a Sufi seek the wilderness for meditation; a Sufi can perform his or her work in the midst of the worldly life. A Sufi need not prove him or herself to be a Sufi by extraordinary power, by wonderworking, or by exceptional Inner show or claim. A Sufi can prove himself a Sufi to his own conscience by watching his life amidst the strife of this worldly reality.

To an angelic soul love means glorification;

to a jinn soul love means admiration;

to a human soul love means affection;

to an animal soul love means passion.

Gayan - Talas

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