The great teachers of humanity become streams of Love.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Forgiveness is a stream of love which washes away all impurities wherever it flows. By keeping this spring of love, which is in the heart of humanity, running, we are able to forgive, however great the fault of our fellow being may seem. One who cannot forgive closes the heart. The sign of spirituality is that there is nothing you cannot forgive, there is no fault you cannot forget.
The great personalities who have descended on earth from time to time to awaken in humanity that Love, which is our Divine Inheritance, have always found an echo in innocent souls rather than in great intellects. We often confuse wisdom with cleverness, but we can be clever and not wise, and by cleverness we may strive and strive, and yet not reach God. It is a stream, the stream of Love, which leads towards God. … Law has no power to stand before love; the stream of love sweeps it away. When the woman accused by everyone was brought before Christ, what arose from the heart of the master? The law? No, it was Love in the form of Mercy and Compassion.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideal, Part II: The God-Ideal )
In correcting mureeds of their faults it is not the intellect that is of much use. It is the pouring out of the stream of Love which can wash away the stains; closing one’s eyes to their faults, forgiving them, and yet correcting them with all tolerance, gentleness, and humility; making before them all things natural, nothing too horrible, but showing them the picture of a better life and thus drawing them toward that which is ideal and beautiful. When teachers find that the mureeds are wrong they will not tell them that they are wrong, but will show them what is right.
( from Sangithas, Series I – Ta’lim [ unpublished ] )
The great teachers and prophets, and the inspirers of humanity of all times have not become what they were by their miracles or wonder-workings; these belong to other people. The main thing that could be seen in them was their loving manner. … One may ask: How to cultivate the heart quality? There is only one way: to become selfless at each step one takes forward on this path, for what prevents one from cultivating the loving quality is the thought of self. The more we think of our self the less we think of others.
There is no greater magnetic power than Love. Its magnetic power is very great. It changes one’s voice, one’s heart, one’s manner, one’s form, one’s movement, one’s activity, everything becomes changed. What a difference between water and rock; that smoothness and that liquid state of being, the rise and fall of the surface of the water compared with the rigidity of the rock! The great teachers of humanity become streams of Love. It is the first sign of the sages or holy ones that they themselves become love. Their voice, their feeling, their presence, everything makes one realize that there is something open in them which we do not find in everybody; this something is their deep Love.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: Love, Human and Divine )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Considered historically, this is so because we do find millions of people paying homage to the Messengers of God, whatsoever be their names, whatsoever was the form of their Message. From a higher point of view, they have been recognized as the guides of humanity, no longer limited by their physical vehicles and so able to assist those devoted to them, assisting them toward fuller realization and a greater devotion for That One Who is above all limitation, name, and form. Finally, when one comes more into contact with them in the very fullness of spirit, one finds them to be these very streams of Love.