My Beloved is ONE alone; Everywhere my eyes seem Him only. In search of love, I came to this world, but after seeing the world I wept, for I felt coldness on all sides, and I cried out in despair, "Must I too Become cold?". And with tears, tears, tears, I nurtured that plant with tenderness which I had almost lost within my heart. Putting reason in the churn of love, I churned and churned. Then I took the butter for myself.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

"We can learn virtue even from the greatest sinner if we consider him as a teacher." -Hazrat Inayat Khan, a Sufi


Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The question now arises how to attain to this prayerful attitude in life. In the first place, for those whose prayer is one of praise, if their whole life is to assume a prayerful attitude, they must carry this praise and gratitude into the smallest details of life, and feel grateful for the slightest act of kindness done to them by anybody. Man falls very short of this ideal in life. He is so stiff, he misses so many of the chances of giving thanks. It is sometimes because of his riches, while at other times he is blinded by his power. All that is done for him he thinks is his due because of his money or his influence. When a man has been able to attain this attitude of praise and thanksgiving for all things in life, then his life may indeed be called a prayerful life.

Those who express a hope when they pray can turn their everyday striving into prayer, providing they maintain this hope in every pursuit of life, putting their trust in God, and provided they consider all the objects of their desire as coming from one and the same source when they have gained them.

Those people who glorify God for His beauty, should see the beauty of God in all His creatures. It is of no use to praise God for His beauty, and then to criticize and find faults in His creation. For one's life to be prayerful one must always seek the good in man. Even the worst man has a good spot, and this should be sought and not the bad points. We can learn virtue even from the greatest sinner, if we consider him as a teacher. There is a tradition that Moses asked Satan to tell him the secret of life.
   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/V/V_33.htm


There are many virtues, but there is one principal virtue. Every moment passed outside the presence of God is sin, and every moment in His presence is virtue. The whole object of the Sufi, after learning this way of communicating is to arrive at a stage where every moment of our life passes in communion with God, and where our every action is done as if God were before us. Is that within everyone's reach? We are meant to be so. Just think of a person who is in love: when he eats or drinks, whatever he does, the image of the beloved is there. In the same way, when the love of God has come, it is natural to think of God in everything we do.
   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_7.htm

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