The awakened heart says, “I must give, I must not demand.” Thus it enters a gate that leads to a constant happiness.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Unhappy people, being themselves unhappy, cannot make others happy. It is the wealthy who can help the one who is hard up, not the poor, however much desire of helping they may have. So it is with happiness, which is a great wealth; and happy people can take away the unhappiness of another, for they have enough for themselves and for others.
Earthly pleasures are the shadows of happiness, because of their transitory character. True happiness is in love, which is the stream that springs from one’s soul. Those who will allow this stream to run continually in all conditions of life, in all situations, however difficult, will have a happiness which truly belongs to them, the source of which is not without, but within. If there is a constant outpouring of love one becomes a divine fountain, for from the depth of the fountain rises the stream and, on its return, it pours upon the fountain, bathing it continually.
Why do mystics attribute such great importance to harmony? Because to mystics, their whole life is one continuous symphony, a playing of music, with each soul contributing its particular part to the symphony. People’s success therefore depends upon the idea they have of harmony. Very few people in the world pay attention to harmony. They do not know that without it, there is no chance of happiness. It is only the harmonious ones who can make others happy and partake of that happiness themselves; and apart from them, it is hard to find happiness in the world.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X – Sufi Mysticism, Part I: Sufi Mysticism, Chapter 8 – Action )
The method of attainment is to endeavor always to make others happy and by experiencing happiness in the happiness of others. In the terms of the Sufis, it is Suluk. Any selfishness prevents us from appreciating another’s happiness and therefore we shall be kept back, for the happiness of others is the gate to our own happiness. Real happiness is entering the gate. We must feel satisfaction in another’s satisfaction … If a person needs a certain thing and we can supply it, we should be happy, how ever small the thing may be.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Heart may not know, but soul contains all qualities, all attributes, all substances. When heart gives, it draws upon the infinite treasure of the soul but may not know that treasure to be the infinite. It is the expansion of heart which gives it life, the contraction dulls it. It is the expansion of heart which brings all joy, all harmony. It is this which comes through Zikr and Fikr when one realizes that the heart is the shrine of God, Who is All Love and Life and Light and Goodness.