As long as in love there is "you" and "me", love is not fully kindled.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

There are three stages of morals. The first stage is the moral of reciprocity. This moral is natural to the one who sees the difference between himself and another, who recognizes every man as such and such.

The second stage is the law of beneficence, where man, recognizing himself as an entity separate from others and recognizing others as distinct entities themselves, yet sees a cord of connection running through himself and all, and finds himself as a dome in which rises an echo of good and evil; and in order to have a good echo he gives good for good and good for evil.

But the third stage is the moral of renunciation, where the difference of 'mine' and 'thine' and the distinction of 'I' and 'you' fade away in the realization of the one Life that is within and without, beneath and beyond; and that is the meaning of the verse in the Bible, 'In Him we live, and move, and have our being.'

When we can touch God in everyone then God tells us about Himself, because He sees that we have no hate, no prejudice. We have seen our Beloved, and our Beloved tells us all. Still, realization is difficult, for it involves discerning the difference between you and me. What is this difference? It is a great question, a great problem. Our 'I' and 'you' are just like a compass with which we draw circles on paper. The one point of the compass is the 'I', the other point is the 'you', and where they join there is no 'I-you.' The 'I' and 'you' only remain as long as we see ourselves; but when we rise above them or beyond them, the thought brings us nearer and nearer to God in that consciousness in which we all unite. ... Perfection and annihilation is that stage where there is no longer 'I' and no longer 'you', where there is what there is.

It is not the solid wood that can become a flute, it is the empty reed -

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

There is a saying of Jalaluddin Rumi, 'Fire, water, air, and earth are God's servants, and whenever He wishes them to work for Him, they are ready to obey his command.' If the elements are the obedient servants of God, cannot man be a greater and better instrument?

In point of fact God Himself is the messenger. In the aspect of God He is God, but, in the form of the messenger, He is the messenger. The tide of the sea surges, and when the sea has that motion it is called tide, but in reality the tide is the sea itself.

It is not solid wood that can become a flute, but the empty reed. It is the perfection of that passiveness in the heart of the messenger which gives scope for the message from above; for the messenger is the reed, the instrument. The difference between his life and the life of the average man is that the latter is full of self. It is the blessed soul whose heart is empty of self, who is filled with the light of God.

We do not know where death
awaits us, so let us wait for it
everywhere. To practise death
is to practise freedom. A man
who has learned to die has
unlearned how to be a slave.

~montaigne

ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME TOUR
TO KUMBH MELA IN ALLAHABAD, INDIA
January, 2007

See the itinerary: http://www.kumbhmela.net

From time immemorial to the present day, devotees
have gathered with unwavering faith to receive the
blessings of holy saints and bathe in the holiest of holy
bathing spots in India. As tour guide for sacred tours
to India, I invite you to the upcoming Kumbh Mela,
which will take place in January, 2007 in Allahabad,
India.

Wave upon wave of bliss. The darshan --the blessings--
of all the magnificent saints and yogis who rarely come
out of their Himalayan caves in order to bless the
people. This is the Kumbh Mela ("the festival of the pot
of nectar - amrit kalash - of immortality"). A once in a
lifetime, unforgettable event!

To watch the Kumbh Mela processions is to witness
the march of the ages. As the holy saints pass by on
various and sundry conveyances -- elephants, horses,
palanquins, chariots, cars, and camels -- they are
continually transmitting waves of powerful shakti
(energy) to all the people who witness this awe-
inspiring and most auspicious event. Devotees are
overwhelmed by the palpable spiritual vibrations that
pervade the entire atmosphere.

There is neither creation nor destruction,
Neither destiny nor free will,
Neither path nor achievement.
_______________________________________________
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Sometimes naked
Sometimes mad
Now the scholar
Now the fool
Thus they appear on earth:
The 'free' men.

If we only knew the effect which our thoughts have on our state of mind
and on our relationship with others, as well as on our lifeТs condition,

we would understand why even a simple project that we might have had in
mind several years ago suddenly becomes a reality, because with each
thought the mind generates vibrations, which altogether, as the result
of our own free will, trace the line of destiny.

ONE WHO CAN QUICKEN THE FEELING OF ANOTHER TO JOY OR TO GRATITUDE, BY
THAT MUCH ONE ADDS TO ONE'S OWN LIFE.--Hazrat Inayat Khan

That efflux of the heart is life and light and love which the sentient
mind comprehends as different substances, although they are just
different attributes of the same cosmic substance. It is love that
quickens the heart or self of another and love is life; therefore adding
love is adding life. It is the same process and comes with the expansion
of heart.
----------------

"Humans cannot come to Truth through any organization, through any
creed, through any dogma, priest, or ritual, not through any philosophic
knowledge or psychological technique. They have to find it through the
understanding of the contents of their own minds, through observation
and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection."

As a child learning to walk falls a thousand times before he can stand, and after that falls again and again until at last he can walk, so are we as little children before God.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Man is limited in his thought, in his speech, in his action. Therefore naturally he is liable to follies and errors, and his progress through life can only be made as a little child learns to walk. The child falls a thousand times before he can stand, and so many times he falls again when he begins to walk. We human beings are not more than the child before God. If we take this attitude in life, not considering that if yesterday we failed today we shall fail, and if we always hope that some day we shall walk aright, that hour will come. Imagine if the child thought that as he had fallen so often perhaps he would never walk! That would make a mental impression on his soul, and he would never be able to walk. But there is the natural impulse, with the hope, "Next time I shall walk", that makes him walk. So with us. Our follies, shortcomings, errors, are natural, but when we defend ourselves, hiding our errors from others and making virtues out of our shortcomings, it is then we
make a mistake. It is just like nurturing our errors and wanting to err more. We must always develop the sense of justice, and that sense can never be developed if we judge others. The only way of developing that sense is to judge ourselves continually and see where we are in fault, and then in prayer to ask pardon and to ask for right guidance.

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;

Opening to my loss,
I am given unimaginable gifts;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me.
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.

I bow to the one who has made it so,
Who has crafted this Master Game;
To play it is pure delight,
To honor it is true devotion.

by Jennifer Welwood:

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