"I, the CHRIST, have spoken - WE - the BROTHERHOOD of MASTERS - speak to Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Sufis, and to every religious persuasion of the world. You are all encompassed in our love. Believe this - for this is true." [Christ Returns - Speaks His Truth, Letter 4, page 22]
"The Inner Life" by Hazrat Inayat Khan
“There is only one sacred book - the sacred manuscript of nature, the only Scripture that the reader can enlighten.”
Most people consider only certain books or manuscript scrolls to be holy scriptures, they carefully store them, revered by shrines, convey to their descendants as a divine revelation. People quarrel and argue on the authenticity of these books, they refuse to accept any other book of a similar nature, clinging to one single one, and often lose its meaning and form sects.
At all times, Sufi respectfully treated all such books, tracing in the Vedas, Zend Avest, Kabbalah, Bible, the Qur'an and all the other scriptures the same truth that he reads in an undistorted manuscript of nature-the only sacred book, which is a perfectly perfect book a living model and which teaches the internal law of life; Before the manuscript of nature, all scriptures are like puddles of water in comparison with the ocean at the eyes of the visitor each sheet of wood is a page of the Holy Book containing divine revelation, and at every moment of his life he is inspired by constantly reading and understanding the sacred scripture of nature.
When a person writes, he writes on a rock, a sheet, paper, wood or steel. When God writes, these writings are living beings. And if the eye of the soul is open and vision is clear, then the Sufi can read the divine law in the manuscript of nature; and what the teachers of mankind taught their followers they drew from the same source - they expressed that little that can be expressed in words; Thus, they ensured that the inner truth persists even when they themselves are no longer around to reveal it.
“There is One Brotherhood - a human brotherhood that unites the children of the earth, without making any distinction between them in the bosom of the Heavenly Father.”
The Sufi understands that one life, emanated from the inner Being, appears on the surface as the life of many and in this world of diversity man is the most perfect A manifestation, for in his evolution he is able to realize the integrity of internal being even in external diversity. But it evolves before this ideal, which is the only purpose of its arrival to Earth, by unity with another.
A person unites with other people family ties that are the first step in his evolution; Nevertheless, in the past, families fought, revenge each other for many generations, and each of them considered its job the only right and fair. Today, a person gives his evolution in the association with neighbors and brothers-citizens, and even developing the spirit of patriotism in relation to his nation. It is greater in this sense than its predecessors in the distant past, and yet it was people who united by the national principle that caused the disasters of modern wars, which will be considered by the upcoming generation in the same light in which we consider the bloody revenge of past times there are racial bonds expanding the circle Unity is even more, but always happens that one race looks at the other from top to bottom. Religious ties are an even higher ideal.
But these bonds entailed a division into various sects, which for thousands of years opposed and treated one another with contempt, which led to endless split and division among people. Even in such a wide range of fraternity, there is an embryo of separation, and no matter how widespread the brotherhood is, it cannot be completely until it separates a person from a person. Understanding this, Sufi is freed from the national, racial and religious boundaries, combining itself with a human brotherhood, which is devoid of differences and distinctive features of the class, caste, faith, race, nation or religion and connects humanity in the universal fraternity.
“There is one way - the destruction of a false ego in a merger with the true one, which lifts the mortal to immortality, in which all perfection is.”
“I went into nothing - I disappeared, and - Oh a miracle! I was Life itself."
Everyone who understood the secret of life comprehends that life is alone, but it exists in two aspects. Firstly, as immortal, comprehensive and silent and, secondly, like mortal, active and manifested in diversity. The essence of the soul, which belongs to the first aspect, is deceived, becomes helpless and captured by the experience of life, in contact with the mind and body belonging to the second aspect.
The satisfaction of the desires of the body and quirks of the mind is not enough for the purposes of the soul, which, of course, should experience its own phenomena in visible and invisible; Despite the fact that she is inclined to be herself and anyone else. When the delusion makes her feel that she is helpless, mortal and captivated, she discovers that she is uncomfortable. This is the tragedy of life, which plunges the strong and weak, rich and poor into disappointment, forces constantly looking for something that is unknown to them. Sufi, understanding this, goes through the denial and, led by the teacher on the way, at the end of the journey discovers that the destination was himself. As Iqbal says: “I wandered in pursuit of myself: I was the traveler and I was the destination.”
"The Purpose of Life Every soul at one time asks himself: “Why am I here?” This question is posed differently according to the development of the human mind. One person will say, "I'm here to eat, drink and be merry." But even animals do this, so one might ask what else he did as a man. Another may argue that achieving power and position is important, but he should know that both are temporary. For power of any kind there comes a moment of fall as well as a moment of rise. Everything we own is taken from others, and someone in turn is waiting with their hands outstretched to grab it.
Someone may say: “We are here to achieve honor.” In this case, in order to gain the honor he seeks, he will have to humiliate someone, but he himself, in turn, may be Harmered with some even more zealous seeker of honor. You might think that it is most important to be loved, but we should know that the beauty that is present in us and excites love in another person, transient. Moreover, the beauty that we possess can once fade in comparison with the beauty of another. When we are looking for the love of another person, we become not just dependent on his love, but we ourselves lose love. If we think that it is best to love the one who is worthy of our love, then we are mistaken, because we can always be disappointed in the object of love, which ultimately can be very far from our ideal.
A person is inclined to assume and believe that virtue is the only significant thing in life, but it turns out that a huge number of people suffering from moral hallucination are found among the holy.
Then the only goal, if one at all exists, our life here, on Earth, is the successful fulfillment of those requirements that Presented us life. No matter how strange it may seem at first glance, all the requirements that life makes us be acceptable and worthy of achievements, but, according to a thorough consideration of life, we will see that the needs of our external “I” are all that we know, And that we are in the ignorance of the needs of our true “I”, our inner “I”. For example, we want to eat well and dress beautifully, to live comfortably and travel with amenities, we want honors, ownership of property and all the necessary means to please our vanity - all these needs at the moment are presented to the only needs of our lives, but neither they nor joy From their implementation do not stay with us constantly.
Then we come to the idea that what we have is not enough and, in order to be satisfied, we may need more; But this is not so. Even if the whole universe would be in our hands, it would be impossible to fully satisfy our life needs. This It shows that the needs of our true essence are completely different from those that we are familiar. She does not need the joy that her personal “I” will experience, she wishes joy to everywhere. She wants not a short -term world, but forever lasting. She does not want to love her lover in the hugs of mortality.
She needs a lover who will always stay with her. She does not want to be beloved today, and tomorrow, maybe unloved. She wants to swim in the ocean of love. That's why Sufi is looking for God as his love, as a loving and lover, as his treasure, as his property, his honor, his joy, his world. And only the achievement of this in its perfection carries all needs both here and in the upcoming life. We add that there is a goal above any goal and is also a goal below any goal, and yet there is no goal outside of both the highest and lower goals. There is a creation because it is.
Life is a journey from one pole to another, and perfection conscious life is the final destination of imperfect life. In other words, every aspect of life in this world of diversity gradually evolves from imperfection to perfection, and if the evolution of life were not such by its nature, there would be no difference between life and death, for life on the surface is nothing more than phenomena of contrasts. Therefore, this is just another way of expressing what the purpose of life is."