The Sufi Message(Vol-X)

by Hazrat Inayat Khan

This is the tenth volume of the Indian edition of all the works of Hazrat Inayat Khan, the great Sufi mystic who lectured and taught in the western world. This book and other volumes in this series contain his lectures, discourses and other teachings as taken down in shorthand.

The complete series contains fourteen volumes. Each volume is complete in itself, and therefore may be read without any necessity to study following or previous ones. However, one may get a spiritual and mental appetite to continue reading . One will find that a meditative way of reading will convey not only the words but also the spiritual power emanating from them, tuning mind, heart and soul to the pitch which is one's own.

This is a book on the spiritual in every-day life. The very variety of its contents is an illustration of the significance of Sufism and spirituality in general for human life.

The first two parts, ‘Sufi Mysticism’ and ‘The Path of Initiation and Discipleship’, expand further on themes presented in earlier volumes, particularly in volume I ‘The Way of Illumination’. The reader is called to reconsider his life, and ‘how’ is leading it rather than what life is his. Where is your idea? To what tone is your instrument tuned? What melody are you playing? Which rhythm is yours?

In Sufi Poetry Hazrat Inayat khan discusses the life, work and influence of some of the great Sufi poets of the past, illustrating the significance of mysticism and discipleship.

It has become common place to see art as separate from religion, as an autonomous form of human expression. However, Sufi Inayat Khan makes clear to what extent art (in the wide sense of the word) is related, if not to religion, at least to spirituality and mysticism. He claims art too be divine in its vocation. This part of the book, art: Yesterday, today and tomorrow, is an expression of this truth. Most forms of art are discussed, and some general chapters on art provide a framework.

In the last part, ‘The Problem of the Day’, the author lays down some thoughts about both society and the individual problems. The tone of these lectures is a wonderful blend of realism and idealism, of optimism and pessimism. He is realistic about human nature and its negative aspects. At the same time, however, there is always the call for the divine part in our nature, the soul as the spark of the divine light, and the awareness of the always present tendency to and longing for love and sympathy, the very foundation of the human brotherhood.

About the Author:

Hazrat Inayat Khan, (Baroda, 1882 - Delhi 1927) was a famous musician in his young years. Later he left for the West in Order to spread the Sufi message of love, harmony and beauty. He preached Sufism not as an orthodox sect, but as a forward-looking world message of interreligious brotherhood. He founded many Sufi centres in the West. In India, the Sufi message has got an inspiring centre at the Dargah of the Master himself, located near the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, New Delhi.