Everyone’s desire is according to their evolution; that which they are ready for, is the desirable thing for them.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
There are really two journeys. There is the journey from the Goal to the life in the world, and there is the journey from the life in the world to the Goal. And both journeys are natural. As it is natural to go forth from the Eternal Goal, so it is natural to go from the changing life to the Life which is unchangeable.
Which is the most desirable thing in life, to seek for the goal or to dwell in this changing life? The answer is that everyone’s desire is according to their evolution. That for which they are ready is desirable for them. Milk is a desirable food for the infant, other foods for the grown-up person. Every stage in life has its own appropriate and desirable things. The desire to attain to a goal must be there before reaching it; when we do not feel the desire, it is not necessary for us to seek it.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: The Journey to the Goal )
Two of the principal sources of pleasure in the physical world are good food and bodily comfort, yet one single beautiful thought or one charming mental image may provide more pleasure and joy than all the beauty there is in the whole physical world. So we can see that when we raise the intelligence from the physical plane, and then even higher, we will come to a state of realization where we see that Life is not really limited at all; that it too is unlimited. It is when our experience is confined to the lower phases of existence that we find that our life is limited. Herein lies the whole tragedy of Life.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
You do not feed the plant upon that which is desirable for the animal nor give the bird the food best for the horse or dog. So it is with all humanity. The short person must take smaller steps than the tall person, and the educated person may be able to read more rapidly than the slightly cultured. The destiny of nufs is not destruction of nufs but transformation of nufs. This is through a tender and pliable and yet subtle turning and tuning, never through positive opposition, unless it is certain that the person is under control of diabolic forces, which is seldom. Even then the Sufis use Wazifas and other practices, calling upon God. As soon as one thinks of oneself as actor rather than agent one falls into the very pit one has dug for another.