In order to relieve the hunger of others, we must forget our own hunger.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Riches and power may vanish because they are outside of us, but only that which is within can we call our own. In order to awaken love and sympathy in our hearts, sacrifices must be made. We must forget our own troubles in order to sympathize with the troubles of others.
To relieve the hunger of others we must forget our own hunger. Everybody is working for selfish ends, not caring about others, and this alone has brought about the misery in the world today. When the world is evolving from imperfection towards perfection, it needs all love and sympathy. Great tenderness and watchfulness is required of each one of us [ Ya Raqib ]. The heart of every person, both good and bad, is the abode of God, and care should be taken never to wound anybody by word or act. We are only here in this world for a short time; many have been here before, and have passed on, and it is for us to see that we leave behind an impression of good.
There are however blessed souls, souls who are really satisfied and whose hunger is stilled by seeing another person eating or who are happy seeing another person adorned with beautiful clothes. It might seem to us a great renunciation or self-denial; but they have been given a cross to bear and have risen above it. Sacrifice gives no pain; it only gives pleasure.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VI – The Alchemy of Happiness: Chapter 17 – Our Life’s Experience )
Love another and do not depend upon their love. Do good to another and do not depend upon receiving good from them. Serve another and do not look for service from them. All you do for another out of your love and kindness, you should think that you do, not to that person, but to God. And if the person returns love for love, goodness for goodness, service for service, so much the better. If they do not return it, then pity them for what they lose; for their gain is much less than their loss.
[ MUIZ COMMENTARY: As he so often does, Pir-o-Murshid is clearly describing, and reminding us of, the Ideal Behavior for those on the Path of Sufism, of Love, of Heart. He provides these reminders as opportunities to remember and refocus clearly on the Ideal, NOT as weapons to punish ourselves with, not as opportunities to judge and blame and shame ourselves when we fall short of the Ideal. And we will fall short of this Ideal, and every other Ideal that we chose to focus and concentrate on, in order to uncover, awaken and activate the Reality of the Ideal within ourselves, within the Depth of our own Being. Why? Because in our embodied human aspects we are imperfect, fallible, and limited. Because we haven’t yet Real-ized our Buddha Nature.
Rather than collapsing into despair and helplessness when we realize we have fallen short, when we learn we have acted from our more self-ish places rather than from our more self-less places; we need instead to recenter and ground in our Heart, remembering that the most productive way to frame our human frailty is by recalling the image of archery target practice. Failing to act in alignment with our Ideal is similar to missing the target when releasing the arrow. When we miss the target, it doesn’t do anything at all to improve our aim for us to berate, belittle, and judge ourselves for missing what we aimed at. Nor does it increase our skills and accuracy if we collapse into self-pity and shame.
What helps is to draw another arrow from the quiver, watch our breath, find our center, take aim again, and release the arrow … And again … And again … And once again … Until we’ve practiced enough that we’re successful in hitting the target when we aim, draw, and release. And then, at that point, we move the target farther away, and begin practicing at that distance. Or we practice when it’s windy or raining or both, once we’re successful in hitting the target in calm, clear weather.
Human life is all about exploration, discovery and practice, about learning from our mistakes as we learn about ourselves and others. We need a lot of practice in order to get good at Heart skills, just as we need practice to develop and refine our physical world skills. At the very least, successful, productive practice in any realm requires patience, steadfastness, and equanimity (Ya Sabur), combined with loving attention (Ya Raqib) and forgiveness (Ya Ghaffar-Ya Ghafur), as we continually remember (Zikr) to return to focusing on the Ideal. ]
( from Sangatha, Series I: Saluk (Moral Culture) [ unpublished ] )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad) Samuel L. Lewis
First, considering physical want: food or clothing should be given with a blessing, with a feeling that imparts Life to another. The mere presentation of something without this feeling may turn a gift into a curse, for every particle of such food may bring life or disease. Only by removing the idea of self from our action of giving can we be sure that it will bring Life.
The same principle applies when one considers the knowledge to be given to another, even the knowledge of the world. You cannot teach geography, arithmetic, language, or anything to another if you put self into the picture. Self does not belong there. And so when it comes to satisfying the hunger of the heart, we feed others either with our personal food or with that drawn from the universe. If we give this heart-food for the sake of getting, poison is transferred and hunger may be followed by death. But if in the giving we consider it our duty — whether spiritual or ethical duty — then someone benefits and perhaps all concerned benefit.