Bowl of Saki for April 20

The secret of happiness is hidden under the cover of Spiritual Knowledge.

Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net

The soul in Sanskrit, in the terms of the Vedanta, is called Atman which means happiness or bliss itself. It is not that happiness belongs to the soul; it is that the soul itself is happiness. Today people often confuse happiness with pleasure; but pleasure is only an illusion, a shadow of happiness; and in this delusion they may pass their whole life, seeking after pleasure and never finding satisfaction. … Do you think that if they gained their desires they would be happy? If they possessed all, would that suffice? No, they would still find some excuse for unhappiness; all these excuses are only like covers over our eyes, for deep within is the yearning for the true happiness which none of these things can give. Those who are really happy are happy everywhere, in a palace or in a cottage, in riches or in poverty, for they have discovered the fountain of happiness which is situated in their own heart. As long as people have not found that fountain, nothing will give them real happiness.

A Marathi poet has said, “O mind, my restless mind, my mind with its thoughts of a thousand things which it supposes will make it happy, saying, ‘If I had that, I should be happy; if I had this, I should feel life was not wasted.’ O, my mind, will you tell me who in this world is happy? The mind says, ‘If I had the wealth which I see others have, I should be happy.’ But are these others happy? They in their turn say they would be, if they had something still higher!”

The secret of happiness is hidden under the veil of Spiritual Knowledge. And Spiritual Knowledge is nothing but this: that there is a constant longing in the heart of humanity to have something of its origin, to experience something of its original state, the state of peace and joy which has been disturbed, and yet is sought after throughout its whole life, and never can cease to be sought after until the real source has at length been realized. … It is only those who are blessed by perceiving the origin and source of all things who awaken to the fact that the real inclination of every life is to attain to something which can not be touched or comprehended or understood. The hidden blessing of this knowledge is the first step to perfection. Once awake to this fact, we see there is something in life that will make us really happy and give us our heart’s desire. We can say, “Though there are many things in life which I need for the moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing, around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.” Such ones have found the key to all happiness, and have found that all the things they need will be reached because they have the key to all. “Seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you… Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” This realm of God is the silent life; the life inseparable, eternal, self-sufficient, and all-powerful. This is the life of the wise, whatever be the name given to it; this is the life which the wise contemplate. It is the face of this life that they long to see; it is the ocean of this life that they long to swim in; as it is written: “In God we live and have our being.”

These are the ones who are really happy, who are above all unhappiness, above death and the destruction of life.

Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis

And what is spiritual knowledge? It is unity-knowledge, that is to say, the knowledge which understands principles above their divisions into aspects, qualities, and attributes. This knowledge is not apart from principles or realities, for it cannot be attained until one can become that which is being apprehended, becoming known. In other words, there is to be union between seeker and sought, and it is love alone which accomplishes this union. Therefore spiritual knowledge and love are one and the same thing, and that love which does not include knowledge and that knowledge which does not include love will never bring happiness because either is incomplete. So long as the soul is not completely satisfied, there can be no abiding happiness.