Love is the current coin of all peoples in all periods.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Love has its time at every stage of life. As a child, as a youth, as an adult, whatever stage of life one has reached, love is always asked for and love always has its part to perform. Whatever situation we are placed in, amongst friends or foes, amongst those who understand us or amongst those who do not, in ease or in difficulty, in all places at all times, it has its part to perform. Those who think, ‘I must not let the principle of love have its way, I must harden myself against it’, imprison their souls. There is only one thing in the world that shows the sign of heaven, that gives the proof of God, and that is pure, unselfish love. For all the noble qualities which are hidden in the soul will spring forth and blossom when love helps them and nurtures them. People may have a great deal of good in them and may be very intelligent; but as long as their hearts are closed, they cannot show that nobleness, that goodness which is hidden in their hearts. The psychology of the heart is such that once one begins to know it, one realizes that life is a continual phenomenon. Then every moment of life becomes a miracle; a searchlight is thrown upon human nature and all things become so clear that one does not ask for any greater phenomenon or miracle; it is a miracle in and of itself. What one calls telepathy, thought reading, or clairvoyance, and all such things, come by themselves when the heart is open.
If people are cold and rigid, they feel within as if they were in a grave. They are not living, they cannot enjoy this life for they cannot express themselves and they cannot see the light and life outside. What keeps people from developing the heart quality? Their exacting attitudes. They want to make a business of love. They say, ‘If you will love me, I will love you.’ As soon as people measure and weigh their favors and their services and all that they do for one whom they love, they cease to know what love is. Love sees the beloved and nothing else.
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. Read the lives of the prophets. First of all see the way Jesus Christ had with all those who came to him. When sinners who were condemned and expelled by society were brought to the master, he received them with compassion. … 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, and as we go further the self grows to become worse and worse. In the end the self meets us as a giant which we had always fought; and now at the end of the journey the giant is the stronger. But if from the first step we take on the path of perfection we struggled and fought and conquered this giant which is the self, it could be done only by the increasing power of love.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Without Ishk there would be no social order, no nation, no family, no union or cooperation between soul and soul. This is the very thing which attracts people one to another and is the most valuable thing in life — it being the essence of life itself. War, poverty, and suffering show the absence of it, and prosperity, peace, and happiness are signs of its presence.