Address Given by Pir-o-Murshid to New Mureeds After Their Initiation
Allow me to say a few words to the new mureeds who have today had their initiation to tread the path toward the spiritual life, who have come with their faith and trust. I would like to tell you, my new mureeds what initiation means? You must understand by this that from this very moment all your experiences of the past, all your troubles, all your sorrows, all your errors must be forgotten. All disagreeable sensations you might have had in your life, more or less, from the moment of your initiation they are far behind you. You have taken a new step forward in life, you have turned a new page in your life. There is no reason for any more grievances or complaining—all, all is forgiven, all the past. A new life has begun, with new clear hope and new courage, and the feeling of single-mindedness with trust is going to be developed in you.
What your Murshid asks of you is not sincerity—you have shown that by your coming here. This has been proven already and shown. What I ask from you is your patience, which nothing must shorten, nothing must make it waver. You are not asked to renounce anything. You are only helped in your good intentions, helped along by your Murshid and your co-mureeds. You all belong now to one large family, which forms a caravan for a long journey on the Spiritual path here and in the hereafter. To realize your duty to one another, how to make the lives of ourselves and those around us harmonious, and at the same time realize your oneness with God. Also, to realize this: that nothing in the world should keep you back until you have reached the fulfilment of your desire which is the Spiritual Ideal of every soul.
January 20, 1924
CW 1924 Vol. I pp. 46-47.
Now I would like to tell my mureeds something about the Gathas, which they read in the sacred readings. It is the privilege of the Initiate in the Sufi order to read the Gathas first. No doubt a time will come when these Gathas will be given to a larger population, but just now my mureeds will appreciate this privilege. Instead of speaking about the Gathas, they will live them in their own lives, and show the others, without trying to correct them or teach them, the example in their life worked out.
No serious work might succeed if it is not tried. Your privilege is to receive this, and that will make the Message a real message to others. Please remember that Truth is the share of the sincerest. The more sincerity is developed, the greater share of Truth you will have. However, much sincerity a person may have there is always a gap to fill, for we live in the midst of falsehood and we are always apt to be carried away by this world of falsehood.
Therefore, we must never think we are sincere enough. We must always be on our guard against influences which may carry us away from that sincerity which is the bridge between ourselves and our ideal. No study, no meditation is more helpful than sincerity itself. It is by the love of Truth that Truth can be realized.
You will show your respect for Murshid and your devotion to the Message in your esteem for the teachings given to you. If you find them simple you must think that all things of real value are simple. If you find them complex you may know that the Truth will not take very long to be understood. For we will all agree that it is best that in our Sacred Readings all arguments are kept out, in order to follow the path of Truth.
There must be harmony between the mureeds and Murshid, and harmony is to be realized by your patience in the teachings given to you. You need not be impatient for the progress you make on the spiritual path, for you must be sure of the fact that your Murshid is more enthusiastic and keener about your progress than you yourself are. If your Murshid does not push you forward too quickly, it is not from the lack of interest, nor is it the lack of fair dealing on Murshid’s part. What could be more pleasing to the parents than the progress of their own children? So, it is with your Murshid. If you progress in advancement, it adds to my contentment, to my credit; it is my great benefit.
On the path of Truth, you have to have the same tendencies as the travellers in the ship to the captain—towards their captain, the sure trust that the captain is doing their duty to their best. If anyone should go to the captain and say, “I think you are going more to the north than to the south, this is not the place I want to go” that poor captain would be so confused that they should not know what to do. Shall they go backward or forward? I hope my Mureeds will understand this.
Now coming to our attitude as far as the Message is concerned. I believe without doubt that the Message is not only for some certain nation or some certain class of people. The message is for all nations and for every soul living on the earth. Not one soul there is, either of friend or foe, of saint or sinner, that has nothing to do with the Message. Nor is there one nation in the world that will be kept untouched by it. Since this is true, it is absurd on our part to say that this person must come to us, and the other person not, or that this particular place is for the Message and the other place not. When a worker who is working in another country writes to me that that place is difficult to work in, and that the people are not ready yet, I think that that particular worker is not yet ready and the difficulties surpass their faith. If I were dwelling in the forest where no people were to be seen, I would still have worked among the animals and have dug deep into the rocks in order to bring out the spirit.
What attitude then must we have? We must not allow ourselves to become discouraged. We must not allow any pessimistic feeling to rise in our soul. If the whole world stood against us, we shall still stand firm without being disappointed. For the message is the promise of God, and its domain is all the domain which belongs to God, and is in every heart. And its work is in every nation. No people are to be left out. And you, my Mureeds, who stand by my side in this work at this moment when it has not yet begun, your response must be great. You must realize this every day and be ready to do all in your power to make the Message of God spread, and to make your Murshid’s task easy. God bless you.
January 22, 1924
CW 1924 Vol. I, pp. 51-53.
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