People’s pursuits are according to their evolution.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Everyone says, does or thinks only according to their own particular evolution, and they cannot do better. Why not, therefore, tolerate? Why not, therefore, forgive?
( from Religious Gathekas #44: Religion of the Heart (3) [ unpublished ] )
Moses once passed by a farm and saw a peasant boy talking to himself, saying, ‘O Lord, Thou art so good and kind that I feel if Thou wert here by me I would take good care of Thee, more than of all my sheep, more than of all my fowls. In the rain I would keep Thee under the roof of my grass-shed, when it is cold I would cover Thee with my blanket, and in the heat of the sun I would take Thee to bathe in the brook. I would put Thee to sleep with Thy head on my lap, and would fan Thee with my hat, and would always watch Thee and guard Thee from wolves. I would give Thee bread of manna and would give Thee buttermilk to drink, and to entertain Thee I would sing and dance and play my flute. O Lord my God, if Thou wouldst only listen to this and come and see how I would tend Thee.’
Moses was amused to listen to all this, and, as the deliverer of the Divine Message, he said, ‘How impertinent on thy part, O boy, to limit the Unlimited One, God, the Lord of hosts, who is beyond form and color and the perception and comprehension of humanity.’ The boy became disheartened and full of fear at what he had done. But immediately a revelation came to Moses: ‘We are not pleased with this, O Moses, for We have sent thee to unite Our separated ones with Us, not to disunite. Speak to everyone according to their evolution.’
Every person’s pursuit is according to their state of evolution, and so each soul is in pursuit of something but does not know where it leads. The first sign of realization is tolerance towards others. There are the words of Christ: ‘In the house of my Father are many mansions’ and those of the Prophet: ‘Each soul has its own religion’ This means that according to one’s evolution so a person knows the truth and the more one knows, the more one finds there is to learn.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
This means pursuit of pleasure, pursuit of wealth, pursuit of knowledge, pursuit of God, pursuit of love. What is the basis of pursuit? It is that the soul has an unsatisfied longing. No matter what the path in life, where there is pursuit it shows the soul has an unsatisfied longing. The sage knows the direction the pursuit should take, the average person does not; so the sage comes to satisfaction and finds peace of mind, heart, and soul, which are unrealized in the natures of the generality.