As water in a fountain flows as one stream, but falls in many drops divided by time and space, so are the revelations of the one stream of truth.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
In a fountain there is a big stream which flows up and then breaks into many drops. The stream is like the Divine Will, and the different drops like the wills in us. One drop goes higher, another lower, one falls to the left, another to the right, one goes north, another south. But the source of all this activity is One; it is one thing that turns into so many, scattering in all directions. Thus from Unity there has come variety.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: The Will, Human and Divine )
Different methods called religions and philosophies have been adopted by different nations at various periods. Though the form and teachings of the several religions appear so unlike, their source is One and the same. But from the very beginning the differences have created prejudice, envy, and antagonism between people. Such dissensions occupy a large portion of the histories of the world and have become the most important subject in life.
So many castes and so many creeds,
So many faiths, and so many beliefs,
All have arisen from ignorance of man,
Wise is he who only truth conceives.
The wise realize that the fundamental basis of all religions and beliefs is One: Haqq, or Truth. … Those who see the truth uncovered abandon reason and logic, good and bad, high and low, new and old; differences and distinctions of names and forms fade away, and the whole universe is realized as nothing other than Haqq. Truth in its realization is One; in its representation it is many, since its revelations are made under varying conditions of time and space.
As water in a fountain flows in one stream but falls in many drops, divided by time and space, so are the revelations of the one stream of truth.
Prayer for the New Year
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
O Thou who abidest in our hearts,
Most Merciful and Compassionate God, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
We forgive others their trespasses and ask Thy forgiveness of our shortcomings.
We begin the New Year with pure heart and clear conscience,
with courage and hope.
Help us to fulfill the purpose of our lives under Thy divine guidance.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Truth is the Universal Life which permeates and penetrates all things. It is the same as Universal Light called Amida by the Buddhists which should not be regarded as different from Allah or God. This difference comes from the intervention of the mind-weaving. The Universal Light penetrating through the meshes of the mind reflects in forms through the world of limitation — that is to say, where there is time and where there is space.
If by cognition one means mental grasping, this is not the acquiring of truth. It can never be done by philosophy. It is only when the consciousness arises above time and space, it perceives the Grand Unity beyond the mental realm. It is this Touch which may be called Revelation, and no one who has ever experienced it will find its Essence contradictory to anyone else who has ever experienced it.
Sometimes the spiritual evolution of personality reaches such an exalted stage that the one is called Avatar or Rassoul. This is the result of the tearing of mind-mesh so that the Divine Light penetrates into the physical body, and the life of body, mind and spirit is one. In such cases the words of the speaker are termed “Revelation”, but the real revelation consists not of the words but of the personality and atmosphere of the Divine Messenger. As the Universal Light and Life are ever one and the same, and as the process of revelation always consists of this tearing of the mind-mesh and the pouring of spiritual abundance upon the body, such experience can well be likened to the rising of a geyser or fountain, only in this case the depths of the spring are in the universal sphere.