The real abode of God is in the heart; when it is frozen with bitterness or hatred, the doors of the shrine are closed, the light is hidden.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
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. 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.
According to the belief of a Sufi the heart is the shrine of God, and when the doors of the shrine are closed it is just like a light being hidden under a bushel. The pupil sees that God is Love. If God is love God does not stay in the heavens. God’s earthly body is the heart of humanity. When that heart is frozen and when there is no love but bitterness, coldness, prejudice and contempt, unforgiving feelings and hatred (which all come from one source: want of tolerance) the feeling I am different and you are different comes. Then that spirit and that light of God, that Divine Essence that is in the heart of every person, is buried as in a tomb. The work that one has to do is to dig it up, as one would dig the ground until one touched the water underneath.
What the Sufi calls riyazat [ Arabic: الرياضة, Farsi/Urdu ریاضت, among a variety of meanings ‘sport, drill, training, discipline, austerity, religious and mystical exercises’, also sometimes spelled ryazat, referring in the last context to any of a variety of “mindfulness of breath” practices, similar to pranayama in the yoga schools. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan generally translated the word as ‘esotericism’ when referring to specific mystical or esoteric practices or the results of the practices. — Muiz ], a process of achievement, is nothing else than digging constantly in that holy land which is the heart … The first and last lesson in love is, ‘I am not — Thou art’ and unless we are moved to that selflessness we do not know justice, right or truth.
The soul is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God lives within the shrine of the heart; this shrine can be closed or it can be open. There are some things in life that open it and some that close it. The things that close the heart are those which are contrary to love, tolerance and forgiveness, such as coldness, bitterness and ill-will, and a strong element of duality. The world is more upset today than ever before; in many ways humanity seems to go from bad to worse, and yet we think that we are progressing. It is not lack of organization or of civilization; both these things we have. What we lack is the expression of the soul. We close our door to our fellow beings, we close the shrine of the heart and by doing so we are keeping God away from ourselves and others. Nation is set against nation, race against race, religion against religion. Therefore today more than ever before there is a need for the realization of this philosophy. What we need is not that all religions should become one nor all races; that can never be. But what is needed is undivided progress, and making ourselves examples of love and tolerance.
By talking about it, by discussing and arguing it will not come, but by self-realization, by making ourselves the examples of what should be, by giving love, taking love, and showing in our action gentleness, consideration and the desire for service for the sake of God in whom we can all unite beyond the narrow barriers of race and creed.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
This can be perceived in three ways: Physically it interferes with the free passage of blood through the veins and tubes and so produces various diseases — arthritis, rheumatism, angina and all forms of sluggishness. Mentally it inhibits the passage of thought vibrations into the nerves, tends to sarcasm and bitterness in speech, and gross selfishness in outlooks upon life. Spiritually it kills all desire for love, growth and expansion, recognizing no love or kindness either in self or another, and without necessarily giving way to hate, leaves no room for the expression of spirit. So this person stands in their own light, and there is a tightening up of all tendencies and functions – bringing decay and death, due to the absences of life. Even cancer and other such diseases can destroy the body because there is no room for the higher aspects of life and no protection against evil influences from within or without.