WHY IS one person called a seer when we all have eyes and the power of sight?
What else is needed to be a seer than a doctor's certificate that our sight
is keen?
There are some people who take in everything the contrary way. While everybody
stands upon his feet with his head up, in India you may see faqirs and Yogis
who stand upon their head with their feet in the air; they wish to know what
experience they may have by seeing in this way. Everybody is born with an inclination
to certain things, an inclination to sleep, to eat and to drink, an inclination
to comfort; in this too these faqirs take the contrary way. They sit or stand
in one position for hours and hours; they fast, they do not drink for days and
weeks; they torture themselves in these ways. It is not that there is any virtue
in this, it is not that God is pleased with their torturing themselves, nor
that their self, their ego is pleased with it. It is only that they wish to
see what experience they get by this.
We all have the tendency to see faults in another; they try to see faults in
themselves. They see virtue in sin, and sin in virtue. The world says, "That
man is bad, he has done this, he has done that". They do not call anyone
bad, they see what good there is even in the one who is called bad. Therefore
Christ, because he was a dervish, did not condemn the sinner. He said to those
Jews who thought themselves righteous, "Your father is the devil",
that is: the nafs, the ego. In every virtue, in everything appearing in the
garb of virtue, there is sin, or at least conceit: "I am virtuous, I am
moral, I am religious". This is the worst of virtue. Therefore Hafiz says,
"Show me the way of the freethinkers. Suitable it appears to me, for the
way of virtue and piety seems very far off and long".
We all like to be honoured, to be esteemed, to have attention paid to us; these
faqirs and Yogis wish to know what experience there is in disgrace. They call
the living dead and the dead living. Praise, consideration from people is nothing
to them; they think it is praise from the dead, creatures of four days. The
plant, the fire, the wall, things that to us are dead, speak to them, reveal
everything to them. In the jungle every tree, every stone speaks to them.
If there is a chair, a table, a piano in the room, we say there is something;
if not, we say there is nothing. To them this space which we call nothing is
full of everything; in it is everything. They call everything nothing, and in
what to us is nothing they see everything.
What is learning without seeing? Christ did not have a degree from a university
- he saw. Learned people are always disputing. One says, "There are five
elements"; after ten years another comes and says, "No, there are
twenty elements"; after twentyfive years another comes and says, "I
have discovered the true thing: there are seventy-five". Seers from the
first day till now have never differed in the truth which they all hold.
The seer sees more than the astrologer can see; he sees much more; there is no comparison. But the difference is that the seer does not speak about it. If he did so, he would become just like the astrologer. For the seer every person's soul is just like an open letter, but if he would begin to say this his sight would become dimmer every day, because it is a trust given to him by God. If he were to divulge it, it would become dim. With spiritual trust they are entrusted who can keep the trust, who can keep a secret.
WHETHER THE consciousness sees without eyes, or whether it needs the eyes to
see, is a question that comes to the mind of all metaphysicians. If the consciousness
can see alone, without the help of the eyes, why were these eyes created? There
are people who can see things that are happening at a distance of many hundreds
of miles and things that will happen many years later. They see what may be
happening not only in their sleep but at all times.
Some time ago there was in Delhi a murshid whose name was Shah Alam. One day
he was having his hair cut, and was looking in a little looking-glass while
the barber was cutting his hair. In India the haircutters use such little lookingglasses.
Suddenly God knows what he saw in it - the murshid dashed the mirror on the
ground so that it broke into pieces. His mureeds who were with him were astonished;
the barber also was amazed, wondering what had caused him to throw down the
mirror with such violence.
At that time one of his mureeds was travelling by sea from Arabia to India,
and his ship was in a great storm and in great danger. He called upon his murshid
for help; the murshid saw his peril and saved him. Afterwards the mureed told
the others what had happened.
In Hyderabad there was a dervish who had the habit of smoking very strong hashish.
When he let the smoke out of his mouth he used to look into it and to answer
any questions that were put to him. If someone asked him, "Where is my
uncle at present?", he would say, "Your uncle? Calcutta . . . such
and such bazar . . . now I turn to the left . . . the second house. Your uncle
is sitting in his room. His servant is at his side and his child is standing
before him". Whatever he was asked he answered. Did he see it without eyes?
No, his consciousness had not its external self before it and therefore it was
able to see through the eyes of another - through the eyes of the uncle or any
other.
When I was in Russia there was an African, a very ordinary man, not a man of
any education. His condition was such that at night when he was asleep, he knew
who came into his room, what they said, what they did. This was because his
soul was in and about the house and it saw through the eyes of whoever came
there.
In the same way the universal Consciousness sees through the eyes of every being
on earth. It is looking through the eyes of all the millions of beings upon
earth at the same time. The thief may steal something, hide it, carry it off
and think, "No one sees me". He cannot escape the sight of that Consciousness
which is within himself, looking through his eyes. It is not that God from a
distance looks down and sees all creatures upon earth. No, he sees through the
very eyes of the beings themselves.
The faculty of seeing exists in the Consciousness from the beginning. Therefore
among the names of God are Basir the Seer and Sami, the Hearer. Basarat,
the faculty of seeing, becomes more definite, exact and concrete the nearer
it comes to manifestation.
One may ask, "Is God not limited by this, made helpless, dependent?"
If it seems so to us it is because we deduct from God a part of His Being. We
occupy a part of the ground and call it ours, our self. Really it is all God,
the One Being. A Hindustani poet has said,
What shall I call `I'? Whatever I see it is all Thou.
Body, mind, soul -all are Thou. Thou art, I am not.
ONE CAN see, one can look, and one can observe. These three words denote the
same action, yet each word suggests something different. By observing we understand
something about that which we see, by seeing we take full notice of it; by looking-whether
we understand it or not, whether we take notice of it or not - we have at least
cast our glance on something. So there are three conditions: looking at a thing
on its surface, seeing a thing properly, and seeing a thing with complete observation,
understanding it while looking at it.
Every person notices things in these three ways. That which interests him most
he observes keenly; that which attracts his thought he sees, he takes notice
of; that upon which his glance falls he looks at. There are therefore three
different effects made upon man by all that he sees: a deeper effect of that
which he has observed fully, a clear effect of that which he has seen, and a
passing effect of that which he has glanced through. So naturally among all
those who live under the sun there are thinkers, there are seers, and there
are those who have two eyes.
There is another side to this question: a person who is walking has a certain
experience of the way he has gone through; the one who goes the same way in
an automobile has a different experience, and the one who flies through the
air in an aeroplane has a still different experience. Perhaps the one who was
walking was not able to reach his goal at the same speed as the one in the automobile
and the one in the aeroplane, but the observation he made, the sights he saw,
and the experience he had are not to be compared with those of the other two.
In this way our minds work: there is one man whose mind works at the speed of
the aeroplane, and there is another man whose mind works at the speed of an
automobile. The one whose mind works at the speed of a man walking will perhaps
not think as quickly as the other persons, but what he thinks he will think
thoroughly, what he sees he will see thoroughly. It is he who will have insight
into things, it is he who will understand the hidden law behind things, because
the activity of his mind is normal.
Of course quick thinking does not always depend upon the quick activity of the
mind: sometimes it is a quality of the mind. An intelligent person also thinks
quickly, but that is another thing. As there is a difference between two stones,
a pebble and a diamond-both stones, the one precious, the other dull - so these
are two different qualities of the mind: one person thinking quickly and intelligently,
the other thinking quickly and being always mistaken. The latter is mistaken
because he thinks quickly, the former has that quality of mind which, even in
quick thinking, makes him think rightly.
The rhythm of thinking has a great deal to do with one's life. When the three,
who have travelled the same way on foot, by automobile and by aeroplane, meet
together and speak of their experiences, there will be great differences. And
so it is that people who have gone through the same life, who have lived under
the same sun, who have been born on the same earth, are yet so different in
their mentality. The reason is that their minds have travelled at different
speeds. Their experiences are quite different though they have gone the same
way.
A seer is the one who has not looked, but who has seen. And how has he seen?
By controlling the impulse of walking quickly, by resisting the temptation of
going to the right or to the left, by going steadily towards the object that
he has to reach. All these things make one a seer.
There are wrong interpretations of the word seer. Sometimes people say, "This
person is a clairvoyant or a spiritualist, he sees fairies, ghosts or spirits".
But that is a different kind of person; he is not a seer. The seer need not
see the world unseen. There is much to be seen here in the visible world; for
there is so much hidden from the eyes of every man which he could see in this
objective world that, if all his life he was contemplating upon seeing in this
objective world, he would find sufficient things to see and to think about.
It is a childish curiosity on the part of some persons when they want to see
something that no one has seen. It is out of vanity that they tell they see
something which others do not see; it is to satisfy their curiosity that they
see something which is not to be seen in this world of objects. The world seen
and the world unseen, both are one and the same, and they are here. What we
cannot see is the world unseen, and what we can see is the world seen. It is
not that what we cannot see hides itself from our eyes, it is because we close
our eyes to it.
Then there is long sight, short sight and medium sight. There are some who can
see far beyond, far back, or long before things happen. These also are forms
of sight. Another person only sees what is immediately before him, what is next
to him, and sees nothing of what is behind him. His influence is limited, because
everything that stands next to him influences him; he cannot see far behind,
nor can he see far before him. There is another person who reasons about what
he sees; this is medium sight. He reasons about it as far as his reason allows.
He cannot see beyond his reasoning; he goes so far and no further. Naturally
when these three persons meet and speak together, each has his own language.
It is not surprising if the one does not understand the point of view of the
other, because each one has his own sight, and according to that sight he looks
at things. No one can give his own sight to another person in order to make
him see differently.
If in all ages spiritual people have taught faith, it was not because they wished
that no one should think for himself and should accept everything in faith which
was taught to him. If they had had that intention they would not have been spiritual
people. Nevertheless, however clever a person may be, however devoted and enthusiastic,
if he is without faith the spiritual persons cannot impart their knowledge to
him, for there is no such thing as spiritual knowledge in the sense of learning.
If there is anything spiritual that can be imparted to the pupil it is the point
of view, it is the outlook on life. If a person already has that outlook on
life he does not need spiritual guidance, but if he has not then words of explanation
will not explain it to him, for it is a point of view, it cannot be explained
in words.
However much a person might explain the sight he saw when he was on the top
of a mountain to a man who never climbed the mountain, that man will hear it
and perhaps refuse to believe all that the other says; or if he has trust in
this person who explains to him what he saw from the top of the mountain, then
perhaps he will begin to listen to his guidance. He will not see the sight,
but he will listen and he will benefit by the experience of the one who has
seen it. But the one who goes on the top of the mountain will see it for himself,
he will have the same experience.
There is still another side to this question, and that is from which height
one looks at life. When a person looks at life standing on the ground his sight
is quite different from that of a person who is climbing the mountain, and it
is again a different outlook when a person has climbed on to the top of the
mountain. What are these degrees? These are degrees of consciousness. When a
person looks at life as "I and all else", that is one point of view.
When a person sees all else and forgets "I ", that is another point
of view. And when a person sees all and identifies it with "I ", that
is another point of view again. The difference these points of view make in
a person's outlook is so vast that words can never explain it. One gets an idea
of what is called Nirwana, or cosmic consciousness, by reaching the top
of the mountain, and an idea of communicating with God a person gets when he
has climbed the mountain, and the idea of "I and you and he and she and
it" is clearer when a person is standing on the ground.
Spiritual progress is expansion of the soul. It is not always desirable to live
on the top of the mountain, because the ground also is made for man. What is
desirable is to have one's feet on the ground and the head as high as the top
of the mountain. A person who can observe from all sides, from all angles, will
find a different experience seeing from every angle; looking at every side will
give him a new knowledge, a knowledge different from what he had known before.
Then there is the question of seeing and not seeing. This is understood by the
mystics. It is being able to see at will and being able to overlook. It is not
easy for a person to overlook, it is also something one must learn. There is
much that one can see, that one must see, and there is much that one may not
see, that it is better one does not see. If one cannot see, that is a disadvantage,
but there is no disadvantage in not seeing something that one may not see; because
there are so many things that could be seen, one may just as well avoid seeing
them.
That person lacks mastery who is held by that which he sees. He cannot help
seeing it, although he does not want to see it. But the one who has his sight
in his hand sees what he wants to see, and what he does not want to see he does
not see. That is mastery. As it is true of the eyes that what is before them
they see and what is behind them they do not see, so it is true of the mind:
what is before it it sees and what is behind it it does not see. And so a person
who sees may see one side, while always the other side is hidden. Naturally
therefore, if this objective world is before his eyes, the other world is hidden
from his sight, because he sees what is before him; he does not see what is
behind him. And as it is true that what is behind him a person can only see
by turning his head back, so it is also true that what the mind does not see
can be seen by the mind when it is turned the other side. What is learned in
esotericism, in mysticism, is the turning of the mind from the outer vision
to the inner vision.
You might ask: what profit does one derive from it? If it is profitable to rest
at night after a whole day's work, so it is profitable to turn one's mind from
this world of variety in order to rest it and to give it another experience,
which belongs to it, which is its own, which it needs. It is this experience
which is attained by the meditative process. A person who is able to think and
not able to forget, a person who is able to speak but not able to keep silent,
a person who is able to move and not able to keep still, a person who is able
to cry and not able to laugh -that person does not know mastery. It is like
having one hand, it is like standing on one foot. To have complete experience
of life one must be able to act and to take repose, one must be able to think,
and one must be able to keep silent.
There are many precious things in nature and in art, things that are beyond
value, yet there is nothing in this world that is more precious than sight,
and that which is most precious is insight: to be able to see, to be able to
understand, to be able to learn and to be able to know. That is the greatest
gift that God can give, and all other things in life are small compared to it.
In order to enrich one's knowledge, in order to raise one's soul to higher spheres,
in order to allow one's consciousness to expand to perfection-if there is anything
that one can do, it is to help oneself in every way to open the sight, which
is the sign of God in man. It is the opening of the sight which is called the
soul's unfoldment.
IN SANSKRIT three distinct words are used: Atma which means the soul or a soul,
an individual, a person; Mahatma, a high soul, an illuminated being, a spiritual
personality; paramatma, the divine man, the self-realized person, the Godconscious
soul. As you have read in the Gayan (Gayan, or "Notes from the Unstruck
Music" - a book with poetry, aphorisms and prayers.), "If you only
explore him, there is a lot in man"5, so man- taken as
every man - has in the spiritual spheres a very wide scope of development, a
scope of development that an ordinary mind cannot imagine. The term "divine
man" has always been connected with man, and very few realize that it means
Godman. The reason is that certain religiously inclined people have separated
so much from God that they have filled the gap between man and God with what
they call religion, a faith that stands for ever as a dividing wall between
God and man. To man all sins are attributed, and to God all purity. It is a
good idea -but far from truth.
Now as to the first word that I have used, Atma, which means man: mankind can
be divided into three principal categories. In one category man is the animal
man; in another he can be the devil man, and in the third he can be the human
man. A Hindustani poet has used two different words to distinguish this idea..
He says, "There are many difficulties in life, for it is even difficult
for man to be a person".
The animal man is the one who concerns himself with food and drink, and whose
actions are in no way different from those of an animal, who is content with
the satisfaction of his natural appetites.
The man who represents devilish qualities is the one in whom the ego, the self,
has become so strong and so powerful - and therefore so blind - that it has
almost wiped away from him any sense of gentleness, of kindness, of justice.
He is the one who takes pleasure in causing harm or hurt to another person,
the one who returns evil for good done to him, the one whose pleasure it is
to do the wrong thing. The number of those belonging to this category is large.
Then there is the human man, in whom sentiment is developed. Perhaps according
to the physician's idea he may not be the normal person, but from the point
of view of the mystic a person who has balance between thought and sentiment,
who is awakened to the feeling of another, who is conscientious about everything
he does and the effect it produces upon others - that person is beginning to
be a human person. In other words, even for man to be a man is not an easy thing.
Sometimes it takes a lifetime.
Then we come to the Mahatma, an illuminated soul. This soul looks at
life from a different point of view, his outlook becomes different. He thinks
about others more than about himself. His life is devoted to actions of beneficence.
He expects no appreciation or reward for all that he can do for others. He does
not look for praise and he is not afraid of blame. On one side connected with
God, on the other side connected with the world he lives his life as harmoniously
as possible.
There are three categories of Mahatmas. One Mahatma is busy struggling
with himself and struggling with conditions before him and around him. One may
ask, "Why this struggle?" The answer is that there is always a conflict
between the person who wishes to go upwards and the wind that blows him downwards.
The wind that blows a person downwards is continually felt. It is felt at every
moment by the person who takes a step on the path of progress. It is a conflict
with the self, it is a conflict with others, it is a conflict with conditions
- conflicts that come from all around, till every bit of that Mahatma
is tested and tried, till every bit of his patience is exhausted and his ego
is ground. A hard rock is turned into a soft paste-then appears the personality
of a Mahatma. As a soldier in the war has so many wounds, and still more
impressions which remain in his heart as wounds, such is the condition of this
warrior who goes on the spiritual path. Everything stands against him: his friends,
who may not know it, his foes, conditions, the atmosphere, the self. And therefore
the wounds that he has to experience through this struggle, and the impressions
that he receives through it, make him a spiritual personality, a personality
which becomes an influence, a power, a personality which is difficult to resist,
which is overwhelming.
The next category of Mahatma is the one who learns his lesson by passivity,
resignation, sacrifice, love, devotion and sympathy.
There is a love that is like the light of the candle: blow, and it is gone.
It can only remain as long as it is not blown, it cannot withstand blowing.
There is a love that is like the sun that rises and reaches the zenith, and
then sets and disappears. The duration of this love is longer. And there is
a love that is like divine Intelligence, that was and is and will be. The closing
and the opening of the eyes will not take away intelligence; the rising and
the setting of the sun will not affect intelligence; the lighting and the putting
out of the candle does not affect intelligence.
When that something which through the winds and storms endures and through the
rise and fall stands firm - when that love is created - then a person's language
becomes different; the world cannot understand it. Once love has reached the
Sovereign of love, it is like the water of the sea that has risen as vapour,
has formed clouds over the earth, and then pours down as rainfall. The continual
outpouring of such a heart is unimaginable; not only human beings, but even
birds and beasts must feel its influence, its effect. It is a love that cannot
be put into words, a love that radiates, proving the warmth it has by its atmosphere.
This resigned soul of the Mahatma may appear weak to someone who does
not understand, for he takes praise and blame in the same way and he takes all
that is given to him, favour or disfavour, pleasure or pain-all that comes -
with resignation.
For the third category of these high souls there is struggle on the one hand
and resignation on the other, and this is a most difficult way of progress:
to take one step forwards, and another step backwards, and so to go on. There
is no mobility in the progress, because one thing is contrary to the other.
On one side power is working, on the other side love; on one side kingliness,
on the other side slavery. As the great Ghaznavi said in a Persian poem, "I,
as an emperor, have thousands of slaves ready at my call. But since love has
kindled my heart, I have become the slave of slaves". On the one hand activity,
on the other hand passivity.
The first example of the Mahatma may be called the master, the next the saint, and the third the prophet.
With the Paramatma we come to the third stage of the awakening of the consciousness,
and the difference that it makes is this: an ordinary person, Atma, gives a
greater importance to the world and a lesser importance to God; the illuminated
person, Mahatma, gives a greater importance to God and a lesser importance
to the world; but the third person, the Paramatma, gives and does not
give importance to God or to the world. He is what he is. If you say,"It
is all true, he says, "Yes, it is all true". If you say, "All
is false and true", he says, "Yes, it is all false and true".
If you say, "Is it not true?", he says, "Yes, it is not true".
If you say, "All is false and not true", he says, "Yes, all is
false and not true". His language becomes gibberish, you can only be puzzled
by it, for communication in language is better with someone who speaks your
language. As soon as the other person's word has a different sense, his language
is different; it is a language foreign to what you speak in your everyday life.
The Paramatma's "yes" may be "no", his "no"maybe
"yes": a word means nothing to him, it is the sense. And it is not
that he has got the sense, he is the sense: he becomes that which the other
man pursues.
The Buddhistic term Nirvana means the stage where a person arrives at God-consciousness
or all-consciousness. It is at this stage that a soul arrives. And why should
not man have that privilege? If man has not that privilege, how can God have
it? It is through man that God realizes His perfection. As man God becomes conscious
of His Godship, and it is in this gradual progress - to begin as a soul and
to arrive at that realization which makes that soul a divine soul -that lies
the purpose of life. The whole creation is purposed to bring about that realization.
It is that realization which is recognized by the name Rasul (= "the fulfilment
of God's purpose", (See Vadan, chapter Gayatri)).
You may ask, "if one soul has arrived at this realization, what is it to
us?" But it is not the one: it is one and all at the same time.
I WILL give an explanation of two questions which I have very often been asked:
What was the object of the prophetic mission? Why is it necessary for man to
be taught by another, by his fellowman? Why cannot each one find within himself
the way to the light, to illumination?
The prophetic tendency exists in every part of the manifestation. Among the
jinn and the heavenly beings there is the prophetic tendency and also
in every part of nature: in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, among the animals
as well as among men.
There would be no diamond mines in the earth if there were not one spark of
a diamond which causes every other atom of the earth with which it comes in
contact to become a diamond. It is the same with the ruby. The diamond wants
to make everything else become a diamond; the ruby wants to make every other
atom into a ruby.
Among the plants in the jungle-not where man has planted and sown, but in the
jungle which has not been touched-you will see that if there is one mango tree,
it will make a thousand mangoes grow; if there is one fragrant flower, a thousand
fragrant flowers will be near it; if there is one sweet fruit, there will be
hundreds of sweet fruits.
Among the animals there are many instances of this tendency of which I will
tell you some cases that I have seen. Sometimes in India the monkeys come to
a village from the forest and break down all the roofs of the houses. There
is always one among them who is the leader. When he jumps, all the other monkeys
jump after him; when he wants to go back to the forest, they all want to go
back to the forest.
In India there are the Jams; their religion is harmlessness: to be harmless
to every creature. When the Jains cook their food, they prepare some for themselves,
some always for the priest and, if they can afford it, also a little for the
animals. In every street of a town we have dogs, ten, twelve, twentyfive dogs,
according to the length of the street. The dogs are fed in this way; everyone
is their master, and everyone feeds them. Among the dogs there is always one
who is the leader. When a dog from another street appears, the dogs all collect
behind their leader and when he barks they all bark; when he attacks they all
attack, and so they drive the other dog away.
In the Northern provinces near Nainital and in Nepal, at the foot of the Himalayas,
there is a jungle in which there are elephants. The people have many ways of
catching them, and one way is to dig a small pit and cover it over with branches.
Then they hang their swing-like nets up in a tree, and they stay for some days
and watch for the elephants. They are happy in the trees, because the climate
permits it. Then if a herd of elephants happens to go that way and an elephant
puts his foot into the pit, he goes down, he cannot help himself. Then he cries
out; the other elephants look on from a distance, but are afraid to come near,
and the men have a kind of fireworks with which they frighten them away if they
do.
Now in a troop of elephants there is always one who walks in front. He holds
a stout branch in his trunk and hits the ground with it before every step he
takes to see whether there is a pit. He knows a thousand other dangers and he
knows this danger too. Then if the ground is safe he goes forward and all the
others follow him. They have such confidence in him that wherever he goes they
go too. This shows that the tendency to leadership exists among the elephants,
the tendency to self-sacrifice. The elephant who is the leader goes first, thinking,
"If there is a pit I may fall in, and the other elephants will be safe".
He never goes anywhere where it is not safe, and if some elephant is caught,
it is some small elephant which has no sense and does not follow the leader.
In Nepal the Maharaja had an elephant who was a leader of elephants. He was
in the Maharaja's house and the Maharaja gave orders that no one should ride
him but he himself, because he honoured the elephant, recognizing his qualities.
I have seen this. Whenever Maharaja Bir Shamsher went into the forest elephant
hunting this elephant was taken too. The Maharaja had named him Bijili, lightning.
He was a very small elephant, but when they failed to make a catch he was sent
out and, when another elephant saw him, he at once followed him. So Bijili always
came back with another elephant-such was his magnetism. He did not like to catch
elephants, because he had the quality of mercy. He would never go unless he
was forced by the mahouts, and when he saw the other elephants he turned his
head away.
Even among the animals there is this prophetic tendency. Sometimes we see this
prophetic tendency in parents. Whatever way they themselves may have followed,
they wish to train their child the best way for the higher way. Sometimes it
is found in a friend. Whatever undesirable way he may have followed himself,
he wishes to save his friend from it. It is only the chosen ones, the blessed
souls, who have this tendency. It is not in every child's parents that this
tendency is found, nor in every friend. To have such parents, such a friend,
is the greatest blessing.
To come now to the question what was the object of the prophetic mission I will
say that the evolution of men was very much nearer to the animals in ancient
times than it is now. They thought only of eating and drinking and of taking
the best things from another, caring nothing about the result of their actions,
unless they were awakened from this animal existence.
In India, in the villages and small towns there are watchmen who go through
every street, calling, "Awake, awake, lest thieves come!" They call
at twelve o'clock, at one o'clock, at two o'clock, at three o'clock, all night.
The prophets were sent to awaken. When a person cannot wake up in the morning
of his own accord, then the alarm-clock awakes him. The prophets were this alarm.
Sometimes power was needed to arouse people; then the prophet was a king, like
Solomon. Sometimes beauty appealed most; then Joseph came whose appearance,
whose face was so beautiful that all hearts were melted by his magnetism. It
has always been the intention of the divine Power to send that prophet whom
the time needed. When a venerable life was revered there was Jacob, whose life
was so venerable that all bowed before him. When music was most admired David
came, who was gifted with a beautiful voice, who played the harp and gave his
message in song. Thus every prophet came in the manner that the age could understand.
Man is the aim of the creation and the highest being, because it is man alone
who knows the purpose for which he was manifested, the reason why he is here.
Cats and dogs do not know this, because their intelligence is not developed
enough for this, and also because their self is before their eyes. The prophets
had renounced their self: that is why they were prophets. When the self is gone,
then all the other selves come. When the self is before the eyes, then the soul
is blinded.
Every other being in the manifestation wants to become man. The jinn want to
become man, the rocks want to become man, the plants want to become man, the
animals want to become man. If you go to a riverbed and take up the pebbles,
how many pebbles do you not find that show the human face. Sometimes the nose
is absent, sometimes the lips are absent, but a partial face you will often
find; sometimes they have cracks and lines showing it. What a great thing this
shows us: everything is striving to become the human face, to become man.
But it is not man as he is that the divine power wishes to produce. The man
we want is not the man eating, drinking and sleeping like the animals. If man
wishes to know what he should be, he should compare himself with the animals:
if he eats, they also eat; if he drinks, they also drink; if he sleeps, they
also sleep. They have their passions and hatred and anger just as he has. If
he has only that, then he is not man. It is only in man that kindness, sympathy,
discipline, selfsacrifice, meekness, humility, and such qualities are found.
And if we see any of them in animals, in dogs, cats, horses and cattle - such
as faithfulness in the dog, obedience and courage in the horse - it is only
the reflection of man, their association with man.
Then there is responsibility. Man alone has the sense of responsibility. Animals
do not have it. About this a Hadith says, "We sent Our burden upon the
mountains, and the mountains refused. We sent Our burden upon the plants, and
the plants refused. We sent Our burden upon the animals, and the animals ran
away at the sight of it. We sent Our burden upon man, and he accepted it".
This means that only man has taken the responsibility for his actions.
Then a Sura says, "Verily, man is cruel and foolish". Foolish, because
he has taken upon himself that which is God's. There are many who run away from
marriage, because they think that a wife and children are a responsibility.
They do not think that wife and children are God's and that He takes care of
what is His. Cruel, because he uses his will and strength - which are God's
to harm others. Our will, our strength are God's, and yet we say "my"
and "mine"; we claim them for ourselves.
The watchman calls from night till morning. In the day the alarmclock is not
needed because it is day. The prophets were sent from night till morning. They
came with the same message under different names. The same divine wisdom spoke
in each of them, but if a Hebrew had been asked, "Do you recognize Krishna
and Rama?", he would have said, "I have never heard of Krishna and
Rama. I recognize Moses because that is written in my book" If a Hindu
was asked, "Do you recognize Moses or Christ?", he would say, "No,
I recognize Rama and Krishna and Vishnu and the Vedanta. You may keep Christ
and Moses, I will keep Rama, Krishna and Vishnu". There are some who prefer
the Kabbala to the Bible, they recognize the Kabbala. If you ask a Roman Catholic
he will say, "if there is any church it is mine". They have all recognized
the name, the personality - they have not recognized the truth. They want to
keep Krishna in the temple, Christ in the church, and Moses shut up in the synagogue.
That is why so many now are seeking for the truth.
In each age the message was revealed more and more - in accordance with the
world's capacity to hear it-until the last and plainest revelation, the message
of Muhammad, the seal of prophecy. After this no more prophets were needed.
The world was awakened to the understanding of the true reality. Now is not
the time to wait for the coming of another prophet; now is the time to awaken
to the truth within ourselves, and if there is a friend who has gone this way
before, now is the time to ask his advice.
The Sufi's work is not to interfere with anyone's religion, nor to force a belief
upon anyone. He does not say, "Believe this". The murshid is a friend
and a guide. He advises, he does not force anything upon you.
You may be a Christian - I was not born in a Christian family, but no Christian
is more touched than I am by the words of Christ that I read. If they are rightly
understood, they alone are enough to make you a saint. They say that in the
end he was crucified upon the cross, but I say that from his birth onward every
moment of his life was a crucifixion. For the souls of the prophets the world
is too rough, their hearts are too tender for it.
No Brahmin has studied the Vedanta with more interest than I have. If you know
Brahma, if you know God, you are a Brahmin. Whether the Brahmin recognizes you
or not is another matter.
The Sufi says, "You wish to know about illumination, about revelation?
You wish to know about inspiration? This is the way for you to follow: believe
as much as your intelligence allows you to believe, as much as you can reach.
Do not believe what your intelligence does not allow you to believe". He
recognizes one divine wisdom in all the prophetic messages. He sees the same
infinite Being speaking through all in different forms and names through all
ages. It is just as if one had the photograph of one's sweetheart at different
ages: at twelve, at twenty, at thirty, at forty. The photographs are different,
but it is the same sweetheart.
Notes:
5. GAYAN, Alapa 1:
When a glimpse of Our image is caught in man, when heaven and earth are sought
in man,
then what is there in the world that is not in man? If one only explores him
there is a lot in man.
This is a most interesting version in English of the classical, originally
Arabic verseform muwashsha which has three lines in high literary rhetoric style
and the final punch-line either in very popular speech, or even in another language.
Thus several Arabic muwashshahat with a Spanish punch-line have been preserved
of both Andalusian-Moorish and Sephardic provenance.