Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food; it can never be assimilated.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Knowledge and heart are just like the positive and negative forces; it is these two things which make life balanced. If the heart quality is very strong and intellect is lacking, then life lacks balance. Knowledge and heart quality must be developed together. There are fine lights and shades in one’s life that cannot be perceived and fully understood without having touched the deeper side of life, which is the devotional side.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X –
Sufi Mysticism: Sufi Poetry, Fariduddin Attar )
Mystics of all ages have not been known for their miraculous powers or for the doctrines they have taught, but for the devotion they have shown throughout their lives. The Sufis in the East say to themselves ‘Ishq Allah Mabud Allah’ which means ‘God is Love, God is Beloved’, in other words it is God who is Love, Lover, and Beloved. When we hear the stories of the miraculous powers of mystics, of their great insight into the hidden laws of nature, of the qualities which they manifested through their beautiful personalities, we realize that these have all come from one and the same Source, whether one calls it devotion or whether one calls it love.
Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food and can never be assimilated. ‘I am the heart of my devotees,’ says Krishna in the Baghavat Gita. And Hafiz says, ‘O joyous day when I depart from this abode of desolation, seeking the repose of my soul and setting out in search of my Beloved.’ … The life of the mystics, both the inner and the outer, is shown as a wondrous phenomenon within itself. The mystic becomes independent of all earthly sources of life and lives in the Being of God, realizing God’s presence by the denial of the individual self; and thus merges into that highest bliss wherein salvation is found.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Mysticism means recognition of God. But how can one recognise God until the heart is awakened? It is only when, through the fire of devotion and love that the whole life force is returned to its source in fervor and contemplation, that the spiritual life can be experienced.