There are many paths, and each person considers their own the best and wisest. Let each one choose that which belongs to their own temperament.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The Sufis look on all with tolerance, and know that there is a path for everyone. The path of the lover is for them, the path of the one seeking for wealth is for them, the seeker after paradise is following their path, it is all a journey. It is simply that there are four different routes by which the journey is made. The Sufis see the same goal at the end of each; the lovers have to meet the seekers after wealth, and both have to meet the ones who have done their duty. Therefore at the end of their journey there is a place where they can meet. What does it matter if one does not go by a certain path? Let each choose the way that belongs to their own temperament and tendency. Therefore the Sufis do not worry. They give no preference to one or the other. They see the journey of life being made along one or other of these roads. The saying of Buddha, ‘Forgive all’, comes true. Forgiveness does not come by learning, it comes by understanding that people should be allowed to travel along that path which is suited to their temperament. As long as they are journeying with open eyes, let them journey.
The great thing is that one should journey with one single desire. There should be the single desire: whether to love a beloved, to collect wealth, or to do some good for the world of humanity, or to attain paradise. There should be the desire to journey to the goal. So many do not know which is the goal or what it is. One thinks wealth is the goal, another paradise, another the beloved. They do not see that there is still a further goal. They are naturally prompted by the desire to get to the goal, and yet they are not conscious of the further goal.
As it is said in the Bible: ‘Seek ye first the realm of God, and all things shall be added unto you.’ The real desire is for that realm of perfection, the goal of everything.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
In the spiritual life, it is not necessary to change one’s occupation or livelihood. The doctor may remain a doctor, the artisan may continue as an artisan, the farmer must till the soil, the merchant may keep in business, and the laborer needs to continue at the job. Oftentimes one changes one’s pursuit; this is right if one has not been in a position to attain one’s ideal at work. But it is wrong to change the ideal. Retain the ideal and attain it.
One should neither advise others to change their direction in life nor turn from one’s own path. This is the maxim of the wise, and it holds whether it is change or continuance of pursuit that leads to God. While the God-ward path is the right path, to each one of us is allotted the particular path best for us. In uniformity there is no music; there is harmony when every one of us can find happiness in our own ideal.