I should like to tell you something about what it is to be an initiate of the Sufi Order. It is a double blessing. On one hand it is a blessing that a person has entered the most ancient school of inner spiritual culture of which there are traces in every old tradition. It is the great work of the Sufi school. The other blessing is of the Message. The Message of this day, the Divine call, has taken its channel of expression through the Sufi Movement. In this way it must be accounted not only as an esoteric school, but it must be recognized as a channel of the living water. It is a channel that is not meant only for the members of the Sufi Movement, but for the whole of humanity. As to the truth of this fact, no reasoning, no argument, no phenomenon, no pleading is necessary. Truth must result in proving true by its own virtue. All things that shine will be tested, like gold, silver, or precious stones.
Human nature is doubting, judging, weighing, measuring. All that attracts a person’s fancy, all that takes their time, all that draws their attention they will certainly test. Therefore, all things, true and false, are placed before the searchlight. As great as a thing is, so great is its exposure, it has to meet a thousand lights. The truth alone is victorious. It is good tidings to my mureeds, to those who have with faith and confidence given themselves to the guidance of the Message. No doubt the Movement is in its infancy, but the pilgrimage of the wise men of the East came to an infant, Christ. Infancy must not be regarded as smallness. Infancy is promise. We are very few to begin with, but in fact we are many. If one could only feel the strength and power at the back of this infant movement, vibrating from above and below and right and left. It is not an enterprise created by humans. It is the Message of God, and God’s Will must be done.
Initiation in the Order is a trust given to the disciple, that they are received in confidence. It is hoped, for their own good as well as for the good of the Cause, that they will keep the initiation and all that they are taught as a sacred trust. The initiate need not speak before others about their initiation or about what they are taught. By the initiation the mureed gives their allegiance for life to their Murshid, and they show loyalty in the spiritual path as the first and the last virtue. All the exercises that are given after the initiation are meant only for that particular mureed, not even for another mureed. Therefore, each one keeps their exercises as their daily religious service. Studies are given to mureeds that are for the group, that all may join together in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, and one among them will read. This study is only for the mureed, and the mureed is not allowed to give out these studies or to read them before others. They may not be read even before another Sufi initiate, for the reason that for every grade of initiation there are separate studies.
Before treading this path, the mureed must know that this is the path of quietude, of communicating with Murshid in silence, communicating with one’s fellow initiates in silence. This develops the habit of communicating with all beings around us in silence. All arguments and discussions must be left, at least during the period of acquiring balance. A person may argue for a hundred years and will not arrive at a satisfactory result. Argument becomes their passion; they get satisfaction in exhausting their energies in talking. This often results in disagreement rather than in mutual understanding.
Belief is not the goal. Belief is the step. On the spiritual path you will have to climb on a staircase of many beliefs. With every step you will take that is higher, you will step on a certain belief. So, as you will progress, your beliefs will change. Let them keep to their beliefs who like to sit on the staircase. They are tired. They must sleep there for a while. Then let the moment come when they feel like rising and climbing the stairs. By argument you will either drag those upwards who are too tired to climb the stairs, or you will be pulled by those downwards, if their strength happens to be greater than yours.
Remember that it is not a Society or a particular institution that is important. If it were a heavenly Society, what does it matter? It is a Society. What is important is the person, the soul. You are more important than a Society, than a Church. There cannot be a higher Church than your own body. The true altar is the human heart. When a person takes the spiritual path in the East it doesn’t matter in which Society, school, or Church it is. The most important idea is from which source they receive the Message of their soul, from which side they hear the call of God, in which words they recognize the voice of Christ. They take that path. God is living in a person, not in a house. God’s blessing is in a soul, not in a school.
Yes, it is very necessary on the spiritual path to have contact with the Guru, the spiritual guide, but as to the journey, you will have to make it yourself. The guide will show you the path, but if you do not walk, then the guide cannot help. There is no doubt that ten days of meditation properly done is equal to ten years studying books, and ten days contact with your spiritual teacher is equal to ten years of meditation.
Speaking about the Message, the Message is not for study. It is not a moral, not a doctrine. It is life itself, the very spiritual life, which is received by the person whose senses are open. They can see and hear. Those whose hearts are open, they can feel. Those whose souls are open cannot help but respond.
September, 1921
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