Communications with Inayat Khan

by

Murshid Samuel L. Lewis

(Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti)

Sufi Library, San Francisco, January 31, 1930.

When Murshida Martin was talking about the Sufi School in Fairfax, a vision was given to me of a great host of Sages walking up the lane towards Kaaba Allah, with our Pir-o-Murshid leading. They carried shepherd’s crooks; they came, not to go again, but to stay. They are the teachers for all our needs.

Revealed Sunday, August 18, 1920, at 9 p.m. Revised August 19

There will be times when even in the minds of the believers a doubt will rise: How does that come about? Or is that so? Then we will write it in the beginning and with emphasis, and ask them to refer to it again in this manner of reason:

As thoughts are hidden to the layman by a skull, etc., so is Inspiration hidden to the mind of the uninspired. Can a pint measure a quart? It cannot take more than its capacity. To know what another knows, one has to go through the same highway. There is a reason why some things must fail. To judge another, what the other can see or feel, then the judge must have traveled the same way and then he will have the same capacity.

Only the inspired know and they are beyond questioning or such reasoning. When one asks or wonders, he may claim that he is inspired—at that instant he told the truth about himself. Two inspired ones never question each other (as to) how much the other knows. Each one knows; for them there is no doubt, no reasoning, no questioning; both see each other’s Light.

How can the unimaginative imagine? And how can they imagine the same if they are not of the same ideal? How can a color blind person be a painter? How can a blind person describe the moon or a sunset?

There are spiritually blind ones. An ignorant one, though of great intellect, only sees that which he may measure—can he measure God or “Nature?” He gives himself credit for knowledge of the unknown, by the virtue of the little which he knows. He knows not that his cup is small on the question of Spirit.

One who has not learned about the nature of an iceberg, when he sees (one) will think and say: That is its real size and is all—not knowing most of it is under the water. Men have lost their lives in the desert by a mirage. One does not go to an attorney when he is in need of a physician though both are learned.

Those who understand will read his (Pir-o-Murshid’s) own works, which are deeper. This is only for the doubter—those unsettled mentally.

Revealed Tuesday, August 20, 1929, between 10 and 11 a.m.

Pir-o-Murshid says: When you need me and you wish for me, I shall be with you.

Omara: Are you there with each one who desires for you?

Holy Murshid: Yes, I am there according to their desires.

Omara: How can it be if you are with me, to be with another at the same time?

Murshid smiled. “That question has been asked from time immemorial. It will be so to the ones who are like the child; after it creeps, it begins to stand up. That is the indication of its ability to walk. If the child could speak, it would ask—the eternal question would be ‘How is walking accomplished?’ When it gets to walk, it would not ask that.”

Omara: “That is true, Murshid. I know that I am not even standing up. I know that I am yet crawling like the baby.”

Holy Murshid: “That is good. Humbleness is the first step to greatness,” he continued.

“In the body one has to go in trains and material man has made vehicles to carry man’s body. Even in the body, those who know the Law of God are not limited to vehicles. The only reason that one of that kind makes use of them is because those beloved ones do not know of that Law. That is the reason for making use of trains. To a large extent it is of great value to those who know the Law, yet affiliate with man’s makings. That also has a reason.

“Spirit is spirit in or out of the body. There are souls on earth that are in communication with others, though in the body, and that is being done even when they are in an extreme part of the world. Space is only counted by those who are yet not awakened to the finer forces of God. The finer attuned ones come in different degrees.

“There are those who see, others may hear, others will feel. The ones who feel are not yet up to one of the other two because often they doubt of its value and let it go by as if it were of naught. If they do give it ear, there will come a time that such a one will get a vision or hear. Through that experience he will get more faith—that is, that it will grow according to his encouragement of those to whom he confided. If one has to keep that experience to himself, and if he is not strong enough, it will be laid into a safe box and be aired on occasions.

Revealed on August 23, 1929, at the Studio.

Dear Murshid was with us; in fact he was with me nearly all day, on account of a problem that I did not quite solve. I was eager to solve it.

It was about the work. I wondered if I should begin to look for the needed slide and the chart. He appeared and said: “Yes, my beloved one of God, it is time. But do not hurry. The time is coming; in due season you will get the needed help in that matter.”

That happened in the car from the ferry. Whenever Pir-o-Murshid is with me, I feel like in a far off manner and am very peaceful, and I do not like to talk much.

Now coming back to the studio. In meditation Pir-o-Murshid was also meditating with us, after blessing us all. He was between Murshida and Dora. He showed me a scene of a mosque like a round dome. The reason for it—as it was in a flash, it had a reason and I may get it in due time, if it is for us to know, and I believe it is. Some things I ask and others I do not ask, and the mosque is one of them.

When the lesson was read, he was standing and smiling tenderly. He looked at Salima when she asked if it is right for the one to come down to us—with a tender smile. These may not be the words that she said. He was very interested in Samuel’s answer of the sun rays.

I felt that I will have some writing to do, and that was so. When the questions went on, Murshida answered them as Murshid affirmed them by the nodding of his head. He blessed us again before the meeting finished.

On the way going to rent the place for the studio, I felt Pir-o-Murshid with us and later it proved this was true. On the boat Murshid appeared to me. I asked D. M., “Were you with us, beside that one incident in the building?” “Yes,” he replied.” “May I ask why I did not see you all the time?”

Pir-o-Murshid: “You will see me only when I know that you should see me. I must not get you to look for me at all times. You have to grow and depend on yourself.”

“While the children of man are helped by the unseen world, yet it is best for them not to know of the process. Those who have great faith in God are helped much oftener. These may suffer greatly. The ones who help them could also help them in their suffering, but it is for a greater character building. They break a law and they must learn of it. Therefore the process of learning must not be interfered with. They learn by carrying heavy burdens. If their faith and love of God is not shaken, they will become great souls and God will enlighten them in the future. They know the strength and you may hear them say, ‘I know, I feel, that God is with me.’”

“The Messenger of God has a great responsibility,” he went on. “One who is chosen to be one, he will have much joy and also much sorrow. But one thing he must remember, and that is: Praise does not make one more, neither does blame make him less.”

“The Messenger has the joy of giving joy to those who are hungry for the truth of life, and there will be sorrow because there will be those who will disbelieve. In their sincerity they are ready to set judgment on a thing about which they know nothing. In their eager ignorance, they wish to protect themselves and others from falling. Little do they know that they never even stand upright themselves. They must not be blamed; they are the children of God. Someday they will understand—if not on this earth, it will be hereafter.

“Beloved one of God, the Message that I am to give to you now will straighten out a complex thought in the minds of some of my beloved ones of God—of things that were brought up today, and that is this:

“When a Messenger of God leaves the earth, though his work on earth is apparently finished, yet he is not detached from the work that he left, the unseen hand is in the good or in the bad. The one keeps on in its guidance. The reason for it is that his work lives and he lives in it. The ones who attend to that work think of the one that has left, and that very thought brings him into that environment, that he himself has made.

“These are of different natures. The Messenger of God works in a different manner from the one who works with evil. The evil one cannot go to the place of bliss, but he is held to the thing that he created, and he suffers when his will is not carried out. While he influences and helps to make misery, he is miserable with them who keep on with his work; he is earth-bound.

“But with the Messenger of God, it is different. He is in bliss and he can go to all places. But he does not, for the same reason that no one with wisdom would walk into a muddy pool with a white garment as it would soil the garment, but would do not good to the pool. Time alone will clean the pool. It will come in this way:

“The sun will draw out the water from it; the soil will harden and in that way one will be able to walk over it without getting soiled.

“Even if a branch of one’s work is as a tree, a branch that has withered that one had started, then one must leave it to the fate of those who have charge over it, as it would not be of the plan to interfere, no matter how sad one may be about it. (A new branch may issue from it).

“One is only responsible for another if he misleads them. But if the others mislead a given trust, the one must leave it alone until the others will awaken and acknowledge their wrong in their hearts. Then the blessed one will come to their aid.

“A blessed one gives freedom. He could interfere but that is not the law. Man on earth has freedom of choice, and their price goes with it. Each has its reward. Sometimes the greatest sinner may become a great saint. That is a process, and in a future time that may be explained to you.

“This earth is filled with help from Heaven. Were it not so, Earth could not exist at all. There are also great ones on earth who do help earth’s needs, but there is much more needed. Heaven’s work is on earth, and where one’s work is, there is his heart also.”

August 24, 1929, 11 p.m.

(There had been some confusion about the difference between “spirit communication” and these events.)

Omara: What is the difference between the manifestation of those who were Message bearers and communication with spirits?

Pir-o-Murshid: “Solicitation and visitation. The difference is: one is chosen and the other chooses it as a child choosing philosophy. The chosen one is sought by the philosopher. Would he choose a child to propagate his message?

“What and how is inspiration given if not by contact with the inspirer? Each great teacher has his teacher, either in the body or out of it.

“There are preconceived ideas in people’s minds. When another process or news of that process reaches their ears, they receive it with a shock. The habits of their long held conception will not permit them (to accept) the new without a pain. Often people will make great sacrifices in removing themselves from a real issue in order that they may not be disturbed in their preconceived beliefs.

“Habit is a living entity. It fights for its existences. Philosophers are very careful not to form habits, no matter how good they may be.

“No matter what men worship, it may be a rock, an image, a person, or anything else, he worships God, because it is of God. He is like unto the child. It is feeding on milk and liquids. Someday, through that worship, it will find God Himself. Therefore great care must be taken with these children. It is only children who mock at their ways. The spirit of the Sage feels for these with great tenderness.

“Each living being loves. That is the spark of the divine, and it is through that spark that is kindled into a great flame. That spark is Murshid and used by the Divine Ones according to one’s desires. Therefore an illiterate one may become a great saint overnight.

“Each being has that love. That is proven—even the idiot proves it. He loved a quality within himself. It may be for food only, etc.

“Why do people want to be alone or go to the country, forest and such, if it is not to get in touch with Spirit? They may think, ‘I want to think, etc.’ but while they may not know the reason for it, their own Spirit knows why. But the mind will get it in degrees.”

September 20, 1929, at Noon.

Service of Dedication of Temple at 2232 California St., San Francisco.

When Omara entered, Pir-o-Murshida was here. He was extremely happy. Then, when we sat down, when Murshida said: “This was his chair,” he sat down in it. Then the room was crowded with all the Holy Beings—there was Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Rumi and all the Sufi Poets.

In the middle of the room was a man like a priest, very tall. He had a beautiful, long, white snowy beard and long white hair. His cloak was of white and gold embroidery. His hat was like a white miter, white and gold. In his left hand he had a light, and his right hand pointed upward, two fingers stretched out. He was in the center of the room. I saw him so clearly because he was dressed specially, while the others were only in Lights.

Each of the Holy Ones carried a torch. The room was filled with light. In the meantime, Pir-o-Murshid was standing at the altar. On each side came two Holy Beings. They each held a feathery branch like the palms used in religious services. When the ends of these touched, from that place came a stream of light which spread out all over us as we sat there. It was like a huge searchlight over us all.

When the Invocation was given, Pir-o-Murshid stood up behind Murshida, spread his hands out forward and blessed us all. There was a canopy drawn over the library and temple, covering us all and the Holy Men were all underneath it. The posts were of a golden yellow. The canopy itself looked like light.

As the last invocation was given, Pir-o-Murshid stood there in blessing us. A five-pointed star appeared in his forehead. That star was filled with a marvelous illuminating light—indescribable.