Devotion to a spiritual teacher is not for the sake of the teacher, it is for God.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
In the history of the great and holy beings of the world the greatest and the most blessed have been the devotees. There have been great scientists and philosophers, but they have not been saints and masters for the very reason that the power and inspiration devotion gives is much greater than that obtained by any other way. Besides, devotion teaches one virtue; sincerity, earnestness, the sense of duty: all different virtues come by devotion.Those who are devoted to anyone in the world, to one’s parents or siblings or children or friends, have taken the first step in devotion. But these who show their devotion in the spiritual path to their teacher, they have taken their second step. They have only to take one more step and they will be there. And that will be the devotion to their Ideal.
The secret of discipleship is not study or contemplation, but devotion; at that moment it is not Murshid but God who is seen. The door is unlocked, the shrine is opened, it is no more Murshid but God; and from that time I realized that, Murshid apart — anyone in the world, mother, father, servant, poor person, beggar, innocent child, helpful friend, even through them God can answer the cry of the heart, if one went at the right moment and knocked at the door. … Devotion to the teacher is not for the sake of the teacher, it is for God. Even in the case of a teacher the devotee may make a mistake by halting at the feet of the teacher and not progressing to God. The teacher is a shield covering God, a gate through which one has to go. As it is necessary to enter the gate, so to reach God it is necessary to have devotion to the teacher first. But the ideal of real progress is that we, through our devotion, arrive to God, freeing ourselves from all limitations and bondages. For the teacher one has gratitude, but love and devotion is for God.
( from Sangatha, Series III: Ta’lim [ unpublished ] )
Remember that the teacher is one who is oneself a disciple. In reality there is no such thing as a teacher. God alone is teacher, we all are disciples. The lesson we all have to learn is the lesson of discipleship; it is the first and the last.
( from Enquirers’ Gathekas: Paper 26 – The Path of Discipleship [ unpublished ]] )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
By attunement to the breath of the spiritual teacher, one becomes attuned to the Divine Breath, and by attunement to the heart of the teacher one becomes united with all the illuminated souls who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance.