The realm of heaven is in the hearts of those who realize God.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Being born again means that the soul is awakened after having come on earth, and entering the realm of heaven means that this world, the same realm in which we are standing just now, turns into heaven as soon as the point of view has changed. Is it not interesting and most wonderful to think that the same earth we walk on is earth to one person and heaven to another? And it is still more interesting to notice that it is we who change it; we change it from earth into heaven, or we change it otherwise. This change comes not by study, nor by anything else, but only by the changing of our point of view.
The difference between the scientists and the mystics is that the former analyzes the things they are interested in, studying them by different methods in order to ascertain as much information about them as they can, the ways in which they can be of any benefit, their uses, and their nature, whereas the mystics, though in a way doing the same, first aim at lighting that light within themselves by which they can see in this world of darkness and illusion, instead of using some technical instrument or special scientific process. As it is said, ‘Seek ye first the realm of heaven’, so their first task is to light the candle within.
[ MUIZ COMMENTARY: Pir-o-Murshid is elucidating the differences between the skills, methods, perspectives and approaches that come from primarily using Mind or Heart. Although we generally think of Mind and Heart as being two separate organs, linking them with physical brain and heart muscle, that’s merely the simplest and most external aspect of what he is referring to as Mind and Heart. He says in several other places that Mind is the surface of Heart, and Heart is the depth of Mind. In Reality Mind and Heart are a unified physical and metaphysical ‘organ’ or ‘vehicle’ for embodied Awareness that provides two manifestations of, and two perspectives for, Consciousness within that embodiment.
The skills, tools and perspectives available to Mind are: details, properties, qualities, differences, comparisons, and the analysis of all of these and their complex interactions. These are all of the distinctions, the names and forms, that we’re able to perceive, and categorize and catalog, in the outer world, and in certain aspects of our inner worlds.
Mind operates by starting at the surface of things, and opening them up (physically and symbolically-metaphorically-philosophically), dissecting, taking apart, analyzing the object of interest and investigation, in order to discover: its myriad component parts; in order to understand what it is and what it isn’t; how it works and how it doesn’t work; what it might be useful and appropriate for, and what it isn’t useful and appropriate for. (Notice all of these binary, either/or comparisons and assessments. This is how Mind operates.)
Mind is binary, and linear, in this way, either/or, understanding things by how they differ from other things, how they are similar to other things, and by how much. Our physical survival and well being in our human bodies depend on this binary, linear, analytic, comparative aspect. The fundamental, evolutionary either/or comparison is ‘Is it dangerous or safe?’. Everything else gets built up out of permutations, and complex-ifications of this primary survival comparison and assessment.
Heart operates very differently. Heart is unified, it doesn’t perceive distinctions and differences, like Mind. Instead it starts at the center of things, understanding ‘them’ from their internal Essence. In its shallows (closer to Mind on the surface) Heart synthesizes, putting the so-perceived-by-Mind separate and distinct parts back together into a cohesive whole, a unity. In its depth Heart doesn’t experience the separation or disconnection that is a primary experience from the perspective of Mind. At depth Heart ‘knows’, Heart ‘groks’ that it is the same as whatever it is Mind is perceiving as separate, as ‘it’ or ‘that’ as ‘them’, as ‘not me’ as ‘other’. Heart doesn’t experience subject and object. At depth of Heart there is only Unity, the One and Only Being, the All Pervading Life in Space.
And as for the image of lighting the candle, lighting the Light Within, I feel a better metaphor might be the uncovering, the unveiling of the Undying Light which is already there, at the Center, in the Depth of Heart. ]
The Realm of Heaven is in the hearts of those who realize God. This is recognized in the East, and great respect and regard is always shown for the holy ones. … Speaking from a metaphysical point of view, the Realm of Heaven may be attained by the way of repentance. If we have offended a friend, and they turn away from us, and we in fullness of heart ask for forgiveness, their heart will melt towards us. If, on the other hand, we close our heart, it becomes frozen. … When by warmth of heart we can break our limited self [ ie break our attachments to our limited beliefs and concepts of self and identity ], we merge in the One, the Unlimited. When our limited realm is lost from our sight, we inherit the Realm of God.
The basis of mysticism is to be found in that saying of the Bible, ‘Seek ye first the realm of heaven, and all these things will be added unto you.’ Thus the search of the mystic is for that Realm, for God, and in that search what do they find? In the search for God they find themselves.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad) Samuel L. Lewis
For only such possess all powers, faculties, and gifts — yet in doing so they possess nothing. Possessions [ that we cling to, attach value to, seek to protect, identify with, or that we seek to avoid ] are burdens that impede progress. Possessions are blocks that prevent the free flow of energy, hindering the electricity of Life [ ie the All Pervading Life in Space, the Holy Spirit, the Kundalini ] from flowing freely through the veins of nature. There can be no pretense here, neither the desire to give nor to receive. Freedom is necessary and freedom is impossible when one is not free from thoughts.
The masters of thought do not “think” in the ordinary sense of the term, nor do they love in the ordinary sense. What thought may come through one, what love may pass through one, is the natural concomitant of one’s life and realization. Of this it is impossible to say much in words.