Unity in Realization is far greater than unity in variety.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
What keeps the soul in perplexity is the threefold aspect of manifestation, and as long as the soul remains puzzled by this, it cannot arrive at the Knowledge of the One. These three aspects are the seer, sight, and the seen; the knower, knowledge, and the known. In point of fact these are three aspects of Life. One aspect is the person who sees; the second aspect is the sight, or the eyes, by the help of which the person sees; and the third aspect is that which the person sees. That is why one cannot readily accept the idea that what one sees is the same as oneself, nor can one believe for a moment that the medium by which one sees is oneself, for these three aspects seem to be separate and to be looking at one another’s faces, as the first person, second person, and third person of Brahma.
[ To express these “trinities” philosophically: the “perceiving subject”, the “perceived object”, and the “perception” which is the connection or relationship between them. To normal everyday consciousness, they all seem to be different and separate from each other, but in Reality, in the Depth of Awareness, they are merely 3 different expressions or manifestations, on the surface of Life, of the One underlying Unity. An everyday substance that we are all familiar with to some extent, which echoes this seeming paradox of 3 in 1, is water, a molecule composed of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom, H20, which manifests in 3 very different forms: solid ice, liquid water, gaseous vapor or steam. We have 3 different words for the 3 manifestations, and yet we understand scientifically that H2O is one substance that remains the same substance, despite its 3 different aspects or manifestations that seem to be separate, that look, feel, and behave very differently from each other. And in our Sufi practice we have “Ishq Allah Ma’abud Allah”, which is often poetically translated “God(Goddess/Source) is Love, Lover, and Beloved”. The Beloved is that One, the Lover is that One, and the Love between them is also that One. These are 3 surface expressions of that One underlying Reality of Absolute Unity. — Muiz ]
When this riddle is solved by the realization that the three are One, then the purpose of the God-Ideal is fulfilled. For then the three veils which cover the One are lifted, then they no longer remain three, and then they are found to be One, the Only Being. As Abdul Karim al Jili, the fifteenth-century mystic, says, ‘If you believe in one God, you are right; if you believe in two Gods, that is true; but if you believe in three Gods, that is right also, for the nature of unity is realized by variety.’
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals, Part II: God the Infinite )
Humanity’s thought has a great power. And when we come to the realization that everything comes from One Source and that everything is developing towards One Goal, we begin to see that the Source and the Goal are God [ as is the Journey, the Path towards the Goal — Muiz ]. Then the world of variety is no longer variety to us but Unity; it is One.
The power is in Unity, but is lost in variety. Thus, for instance, if we hold a thing in our hand, we can hold it with strength, because all five fingers have united to hold the object. But if we try to lift it by one finger, this one finger may drop it, even though the finger belongs to the same hand. In all aspects of life Unity is power. All religions show that power is in Unity. This is the secret of philosophy.
There are two aspects of Unity: firstly, the Unity of variety; secondly, Unity realizing itself. One is earthly, the other is heavenly. One cannot serve two masters. Unity is the only source of happiness. Unity in realization is far greater than Unity in variety.
‘When two hearts unite, they can break even mountains.’ As two fuse in love, the more does intuition grow, the more does one understand whether the other is happy, or pleased, or displeased, whatever distance may separate them. This is nothing but just the unity of the one person with the other. It is clairvoyance. The mother knows the condition of her child at the battlefront. She can see the child in her dreams. Hearts, which are united in love, perceive the state of mind of the loved ones. They do not have to study mysticism or concentration, for they have natural concentration. The mother does not pretend to meditate; love teaches her more meditation than a person who pretends to study it can attain [ Or the person who approaches meditation only by reading, discussing, and thinking about it, rather than by actually experiencing it, by actually practicing it. — Muiz ].
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: The Attainment of Power )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
This Unity is the greatest achievement conceivable. As a matter of fact, it is most difficult to find this Unity in variety. There are sounds insects make that the human ear cannot hear; there are many vibrations of light and energy the eye does not appreciate and the instrument of one’s ear cannot measure, for they are so delicate and they are continually being discovered. This shows that although there may be a Unity in variety it is not always apprehended even when most appreciated.
As soon as the mind is quieted one finds the real cosmic vibrations which flow through the human heart and are even touched by and in the bloodstream. When one finds the blood mentioned in the Bible and Upanishads and Qur’an, it is because there is a tremendous significance there. For it is the heart and blood that keep the body a unity, and it is the love of God that keeps the Universe as a Unity, which would otherwise be chaos. It is even said that when Parabrahm retains Its breath the Universe is destroyed. This means that absence of God constitutes destruction — true alike of the Universe, ourselves, and our thoughts and emotions.