Those who have spent have used; those who have collected have lost; but those who have given have saved their treasure forever.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The tendency to doubt, to be depressed, the tendency towards fear, suspicion and confusion, the tendency to puzzle — where does it all come from? It all comes from the thought of getting something in return: ‘Will another give me back what I have given them? Shall I get the just portion back, or less?’ if that is the thought behind one’s acts there will be fear, doubt, suspicion, puzzle and confusion. For what is doubt? Doubt is a cloud that stands before the sun, keeping it from shining its light. So is doubt: gathering around the soul it keeps its light from shining out, and we become confused and perplexed. Once selflessness is developed, it breaks through the cloud saying, ‘What do I care whether anyone appreciates it; I only know to give my service, and that is all my satisfaction. I do not look forward to get it back. I have given and it is finished; this is where my duty ends.’ Those people are blessed, because they have conquered, they have won.
Then it is lack of knowledge of the Divine Justice when we doubt whether we will get our just portion, or whether the other will get the best of us. If we looked up and saw the perfect Judge, God, whose justice is so great that in the end the portions are made equal and even — there is only a question about the beginning, not about the end — if only we saw the justice of God, we would become brave, we would trust and not trouble about a return. God is responsible for returning a thousandfold what we have ever given.
The mystics can see from the point of view of everyone else, as well as from their own, which may be quite the contrary. For instance, in his teachings, Christ says, ‘If anyone asks you for your coat, give them your overcoat, also.’ A worldly person will say, ‘It is not practical; if someone asked this of me every day, I would be continually buying new coats!’ Yet, at the same time, it is more than practical from the point of view of the Masters. For, according to their view, we cannot give anything, in whatever form, without getting it back in some way or other. Pure thought, good will, our service, our time, whatever we give, is never lost. It comes back to us according to our willingness to give, it comes back to us a thousandfold. That is why one is never the loser by being generous; one only gains.
The mystics see the Law in all things, and this gives them an insight into Life. They begin to see why this misery has come upon them, why that pleasure has come; why one person is prospering and another not, why one is progressing and not another. All these things become clear to them because they see the Law working in all things. The law of the mystic is not the law of the people. It is the Law of nature; it is the real Law.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X – Sufi Mysticism: Part I – Sufi Mysticism, Chapter I – Mysticism )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad) Samuel L. Lewis
The real treasure is in the heart. What one spends is only an exchanging of values. It is a kind of barter. What one has collected, one becomes guardian of and so slave to. But when one gives away — whether something of matter or intellect or spirit — one has given away that which one is master of, whether it is possessions, knowledge, or love.