19. The Message
Religious Gatheka
by Hazrat Inayat Khan
In the first place we must see whether it is an affair of individuals or a work that can be done collectively. To see the truth as a whole is beyond the power of the generality.
The ordinary point of view of life would be like that of a man in an forest, who would see horses running about, one to the North another to the South. If one could see the purpose of things behind things, every little coincidence in life proves this, that man often thinks about his free will and sees a kind of freedom and pride in what he calls free will, and the more he deeply thinks about it, the more he finds that ‘man proposes and God disposes’. Man, individually and collectively, tries to get all that is best in life, all happiness, wealth, comfort, power, all that seems to him worthwhile, and if free will really existed everyone would have these things. yes, there seems to be free will, man feels it, because it springs from his heart, and as long as he understands that it is his own impulse that has come to manifestation, he cannot understand the real meaning of free will.
But the more one studies life, and the deeper one sees into life, the more one sees that all things adjust themselves. And perhaps it would confuse many and would seem exaggeration if I said, as any mystic would say, that all is truth and that truth is all. Of course it is a deep question and difficult to be understood by an explanation unless one rises above the generality and looks at life from a different point of view. Sa’di, the great poet of Persia said that each soul is created for a special purpose and that to fulfill this purpose a light is in his heart. This may confuse many of course. Some may say: “If I am created for a special purpose what is the use of progress. Why not stay where I am since it is my destiny?” One can help others to understand, but one cannot make them understand. If someone thinks he is a chair or a table, he will remain such, but if the thinks he is a living being, he feel that action is the object of life, and that everything adjusts to that, and that every part is made for a purpose, as for instance the parts of a the parts of a table or a chair. And if we think of life and the whole world and see into it deeply, we shall find that we live and move and have our being for a certain purpose. A person may say it is the ides of a fatalist that everything must go through to its destiny. It is not the idea of a fatalist, it is the idea of a seer, of a mystic, because the fatalist makes human beings as chairs and tables, the mystic makes even chairs and tables living beings.
Jelaluddin Rumi says: “The fire and the water and the earth and the air are as dead things to every person, but before God they are His living servants, who work according to His command.”
The fatalist makes the living dead and the mystic makes things into living beings.
Now coming to the point of view of the subject: ‘What is after all the purpose of life’? No doubt when we take an individual there is a separate purpose in his life and when we take the multitude we see that there is a common purpose, and looking at the whole we can see that there is a purpose for the whole of humanity. Every purpose whether for an individual or collectively has a certain value, but the purpose of all beings is beyond value, and when every individual is engaged in a certain purpose, and a group of individuals also and the whole is also accomplishing a purpose, this is under a direction, which is called a Hierarchy. What does a person who has not seen the four walls of his own village know of the North Pole? If we talk to him, he cannot understand.
How can one understand what the ocean is like if one has before him only a little tank of water? Friends, to see the planets we must raise our heads and therefore that spiritual direction that is working on the whole cannot be imagined by one whose whole life has been spent in worldly things. This is a subject which is studied by initiates who are trusted with life’s mysteries. They are plain things but are called mysteries because the sneering world is always ready to laugh at that what it does not understand.
And again what is this direction? And how may one call it? It is the same direction that one may call Christ. But it has its work in all parts of the world and if people of some parts call it by another name, are they wrong? It is only another name. You may ask what determines the destiny of man to be included in this direction, his birth or his rank, his inheritance or a special education? Perhaps some may give you the reason of many years continual development from life to life.
But to avoid complications and make things simple, as is always the tendency of the mystic, I would say: “What determines one piece of wood to be made into the floor under one’s feet and another piece of the same wood as the ceiling over one’s head? Or if the keys of the pianoforte complained of their unequal places in the octave, what would you answer?” Jesus Christ gave a beautiful answer when asked why a person was blind, whether for his faults or the faults of his parents. He answered: “For neither, but that the works of the Lord may become manifest.” The Koran says that man is egoistic and asks a question of the Lord of the Universe why this or that is so, being unjust and himself a slave of the law. It is as though a child watched a painter who has painted all his life and criticized him. The painter would answer: “I have done this all my life and you judge me according to your little experience, but I know what I am doing.” Of course the wise are forgiving and tolerant and do not hurt the childish tendency in man, but always try to explain. Once an Indian child asked me, “Why should we bow our heads to the earth, when God is in heaven?” Could I answer with metaphysics or philosophy? I said that the head of the Lord is in Heaven and his feet are on the earth. And so the child understood, and thus humanity has been consoled and comforted through the ages. But the knowledge that consoles and comforts is only a step towards the knowledge that gives real peace.
There are different views about the Hierarchy. Some people think it must be either in Heaven or in the Himalayas or in Tibet. Now where is this Himalayas or Tibet? It is that place, that sphere, which is beyond the understanding of ordinary people. Friends, what is precious and inspiring, what elevates you and helps you, cannot be far from you. If it were, it would be the worst injustice. If the agency of conveyance such as steamers and ships and trains exists in all parts of the world, how is it possible that the agency of the conveyance to the peace, for which every soul yearns, is not also everywhere? The spiritual Hierarchy is constituted of those who are unseen - and they live among you in the crowd like everyone. But people want a sign: ‘If you are a King show me your crown, if you are a millionaire show me your check book.’ Man lives from morning till evening in this life of illusion, and his eyes cannot see the truth. There is a great expectation all over the world just now that the Teacher is coming.
And the expectation is such as though the Teacher will come directly from the sky and as though the whole world will be already accepting and expecting him on their knees; that the lawyers, scientists, materialists and teachers of the different sects will all agree at once, and He will come. If we will only think of the coming of Jesus Christ in that humble garb and that no-one accepted Him during life, in his unassuming life, preaching to some fishermen! Was he accepted as Christ or is he not Christ to-day? In looking at lives of different Prophets or Teachers: “Were they accepted at once?” Mohammed was three times chased out of Mecca and had to go in the night. Buddha had to leave India and go to China and Japan; and during the whole life’s struggle of Moses, he could only work at the end, because of permission of the King. Krishna passed his whole life in Brindaban, unknown until the war of Mahabharata, when Arjuna asked for his blessing and fought. It was only then that the movement of the Message had come. Does the Messenger care whether the world recognizes him or not? The Messenger is dead, it is only the Message that lives in him. It is the dead harp that gives the music and not the living dog or cat, when one tries to play on them. The Cross is the symbol of annihilation and it is after the annihilation of the false personality that the Message of God comes. The Messenger never claims.
Thousands will listen to those who claim to be messengers, but the wind of the spirit will destroy all that is false. It is not the claim that makes the Messenger, it is the Message that does it.
Daily reflections on the following points in Religious Gatheka 19
Point One: Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in this lecture says: In the first place we must see whether it is an affair of individuals or a work that can be done collectively. To see the truth as a whole is beyond the power of the generality… The ordinary point of view of life would be like that of a man in an forest, who would see horses running about, one to the North another to the South. If one could see the purpose of things behind things, every little coincidence in life proves this, that man often thinks about his free will and sees a kind of freedom and pride in what he calls free will, and the more he deeply thinks about it, the more he finds that ‘man proposes and God disposes’.
Contemplation: In my own life, in what ways has “free will and pride” prevented me from a greater experience of Divine Will?
Point Two: Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in this lecture says: But the more one studies life, and the deeper one sees into life, the more one sees that all things adjust themselves.
Contemplation: What is my experience? Do I study life and see deeper into life?
Point Three: Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in this lecture says: Jelaluddin Rumi says: 'The fire and the water and the earth and the air are as dead things to every person, but before God they are His living servants, who work according to His command'.
Contemplation: Do I experience the elemental world as a living reality?
Point Four: Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in this lecture says: But to avoid complications and make things simple, as is always the tendency of the mystic, I would say: "What determines one piece of wood to be made into the floor under one’s feet and another piece of the same wood as the ceiling over one’s head? Or if the keys of the pianoforte complained of their unequal places in the octave, what would you answer?"
Contemplation: Do I make things simple, as is the tendency of the mystic, or do I make things complicated?
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