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Petama Topic November Akasha - Inner Space 3 from:: Hazrat Inayat Khan: 'The Soul Whence and Whither? - Jinn' |
Therefore, as we see ourselves reflected in the mirror, so this body stands as a mirror in which every experience of the outer life is reflected, and is made clear. If the mirror is dusty it does not reflect the image clearly, so the experience of life is not clear when the body is not looked after according to the Inner point of view. The scriptures say that the body is the Temple of God; but the right interpretation of this saying would be that the body is made to be the Temple of God; a temple cannot be called a Temple of God if God is not brought and placed there. So it is natural when a soul feels depressed that there is something wrong with the vehicle. When the writer wishes to work, and the pen is not in order, it annoys him; there is nothing the matter with the writer; it is the pen which is not right. No discomfort comes from the soul; the soul is happy by nature; the soul is happiness itself. It becomes unhappy when something is the matter with its vehicle, which is its instrument, its tool, with which to experience life. Care of the body, therefore, is the first and the most important principle of religion. Piety without this thought is of little significance. The soul manifests in this world in order that it may experience the different phases of manifestation, and yet may not lose its way and be lost, but may attain to its original freedom, in addition to the experience and knowledge it has gained in this world. The different exercises that the Sufis and Yogis do in order to enable the mind and body to experience life more fully, exercises such as fasting, pose, posture, movement, they all help to train the body, that it may become a fitting vehicle for the experience of life. Wonder-working, such as psychometry, feeling the atmosphere of places, of objects, of people, comes when the body is also prepared for it. A person may be intelligent, clever, learned, good or pious, and yet his sense of perception may not be fully awake. It must be remembered as the first principle of life that manifestation was destined for keener observation of life within and without. The greatest unhappiness that a person feels is from lack of mastery; unhappiness comes when knowing his mastery he yet cannot practice that which he knows. Sadness comes from limitation, limitation in different forms: lack of perception, lack of power over ourselves, or over conditions, or from the lack of that substance which is happiness itself, which is love. There is sometimes lack of understanding, though there may be love, or lack of love through lack of understanding; there may be both things and lack of power. If love has reached perfection it will attain all three powers; when love becomes power, it becomes understanding. The nature of love is as the nature of water in the depths of the earth. If we do not dig deep enough we find sand, not water; but when we dig deep enough we find water. Many lovers of God lose patience, trust and hope; they have touched sand and not reached water, but when they have dug deep enough they find pure water. The external life is but the shadow of the inner reality.
Gayan - Boulas (these E-book are free of all charge - use their treasures well!) |
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