The desire of all nations and in principle free,
A child, but wide-awake, blessed America be.
Thy heart is open to all, to friend and foe alike;
A high note of brotherhood, indeed, thou dost strike.
Thou hast inherited the sense of nations all,
And thou bestowest the same on those who on thee call.
Ideal of nations, in thee we all meet,
Blessed America, thee I humbly greet.
Beloved Ones of God,
My coming to the United States at this time, when the world has not yet arrived at its normal state, after the great strain of war, is to awaken in souls the consciousness of brotherhood and sisterhood, on the principle of which this great nation was founded. The central theme of the formation of the Constitution of the United States of America, and the undertone of Abraham Lincoln’s noble reform, was brotherhood and sisterhood. The nation that was nursed on the milk of the ideal of brotherhood and sisterhood from its infancy is the one to be attuned to its predisposition at this time of the world’s greatest need.
In spite of the wonderful phenomena that science has produced through modern civilization, if a sober-minded person reflects on the question, “are we really progressing?” —an answer will come to them: we are not altogether progressing. If we ask ourselves what is missing, we shall realize without difficulty, that it is the ideal, which expands the limited soul to perfection, which raises the mortal to God. It is the all-pervading materialism and the flood of overwhelming commercialism that has drowned the ideal.
The nations of today stand in the quest of their own material benefit regardless of other nations, in the same way as an individual today, who is called a practical person, proves to be best qualified in guarding their own interests in life. This has made the world a battlefield of continual struggles, where life is nothing but a chaos in the world that was purposed to be the place of aspiration, rest and peace.
Education today tends to teach youth the best way to acquire, to own, and to possess all the goods of this earth. Naturally, the more souls that become qualified by this education, the greater the struggle of life becomes. The competition that exists today in trade and professions seems to lead people to the tendencies of primitive people. As relations between nations are only based upon material interests, so relations between individuals exist in the same way. It has blunted all the fineness and beauty of unselfish, friendly devotion.
In order to bring humanity to the realization of the law of beneficence, it is not necessary that a new religion be taught. It is the light of truth thrown upon every religion that will bring to human perception wisdom; that is the underlying stream behind the religions of the world.
The good tidings that the Sufi Message brings to the world is the recognition of the Divine in the soul of each human being. The knowledge of living right is the only religion that will answer the need of the world. The efforts of the Sufi Message are directed to bring humanity to understand that the real well-being of each depends on the well-being of all. The whole humanity is as one body, all nations its different members. The pain and injury caused to one nation in time develop into disorder of the whole.
The Sufi Message is the answer to the cry of humanity, for it warns souls to unite beyond all differences and distinctions between caste, creed, nation, and religion. May your ideal of liberty expand to the liberty of nations. May your principle of freedom rise to the height of freedom of souls. May the message of God reach far and wide, illuminating and making the whole humanity one brotherhood and sisterhood in God.
February 26, 1923
CW 1923, Vol. I, pp. 87-89.
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