If the eyes and ears are open, the leaves of the trees become as pages of the Bible.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
If one would realize that the world of God, the splendor and magnificence, are to be seen in the wise and the foolish, in the good and the bad, then one would think tolerantly and reverently of all humankind, knowing that it represents the Messenger, as the Messenger represents God. For no one has seen God at any time, but if there is anyone who represents God, it is the one who speaks God’s word. God is seen in the one who glorifies God. But if our hearts are closed, even if we wait for a thousand years for the Messengers to show themselves, we shall never find them. For they who are always there have said, ‘I am Alpha and Omega. I exist every moment. When you call me, I am there. Knock at the door, and I will answer you.’ And those whose eyes are open do not need to go to a church and look at a picture or statue of the Lord. In the eyes of every infant, in the smile of every innocent child, they receive the blessing of Christ.
It only means changing one’s outlook on life, and recognizing the divine in humanity. But people have ignored the Divine Spirit that manifests in humanity, and always prefer an idol, a painting, a picture, to the living God, who is constantly before them. For the sage, the seer, the saint, and the yogi who begin to see the Master, and see It living, there is no place where It cannot be seen. Then everywhere the beloved Master is ready to answer the cry of the soul coming from friend, parent or teacher. And if we go a little further forward, we will find that the teacher speaks aloud, not only through living beings, but through nature. If the eyes and ears are open, the leaves of the trees become as pages of the Bible. If the heart is alive, the whole life becomes one single vision of God’s sublime beauty, speaking to us at every moment.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Average people consider their eyes and ears as being open, but really they are practically blind and deaf. For instance, neither can their hearing be compared to that of the blind person nor their sight to that of a deaf one. It is only when one is deprived of the use of the senses that one can realize the value of one of them.
The mystic does not have to be lacking in sense proclivity to learn the value of every part of the body, to see all the Grace with which God has endowed it; neither is the mystic dependent upon the senses. To take full advantage of the capacity of a faculty, it is necessary to coordinate it with the breath and heart. Sufis have many practices by which magnetism can be increased in any part of the body, but the real difficulty is the shadow thrown across the part by the nufs.
Most people do not realize that lack of interest falls as a shadow upon the mind and the sense. The mystic, being indifferent, neither increases the interests nor diminishes them but finds in all things a relation to the perfect whole. This prevents the nufs from throwing any shadow upon any faculty. There is mysticism in sound and in sight that the seer is cognizant of at all times. By keeping in Darood and so letting the Divine Spirit through the breath touch every part of the being, and by concentration in the heart, one brings vitality to every vehicle and every portion of each body. Then one can receive knowledge even from name and form.