| Hazrat
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
5. There is One Law
the Law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by
a selfless conscience,
together with a sense of awakened justice.
Man spends his life in the pursuit of all that
seems to him to be profitable for himself, and when so absorbed
in self-interest, in time he even loses touch with his own real
interest. Man has made laws to suit himself, but they are laws by
which he can get the better of another. It is this that he calls
justice, and it is only that which is done to him by another that
he calls injustice. A peaceful and harmonious life with his fellow-men
cannot be led until the sense of justice has been awakened in him
by a selfless conscience. As the judicial authorities of the world
intervene between two persons who are at variance, knowing that
they have a right to intervene when the two parties in dispute are
blinded by personal interest, so the Almighty Power intervenes in
all disputes however small or great.
It is the law of reciprocity which saves man from
being exposed to the higher powers, as a considerate man has less
chance of being brought before the court. The sense of justice is
awakened in a perfectly sober mind; that is, one which is free from
the intoxication of youth, strength, power, possession, command,
birth, or rank. It seems a net profit when one does not give but
takes, or when one gives less and takes more; but in either case
there is really a greater loss than profit; for every such profit
spreads a cover over the sense of justice within, and when many
such covers have veiled the sight, man becomes blind even to his
own profit. It is like standing in one's own light. "Blind
here remains blind in the hereafter!"
Although the different religions, in teaching man
how to act harmoniously and peacefully
with his fellow-men, have given out different laws, they all meet
in this one truth: do unto others as thou wouldst they should
do unto thee. The Sufi, in taking a favour from another, enhances
its value, and in accepting what another does to him, he makes allowance.
In a few instances, Hazrat Inayat
Khan's original gender-specific wording of the 10 Thoughts and 3
Objects has been slightly altered, by Pir Moineddin Jablonski, Murshid
Wali Ali Meyer, and Pir Shabda Kahn, as a reflection of ongoing guidance. The commentary associated
with each Thought has been extracted directly from the Sufi Message
of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume I, Part 1: The Way of Illumination (© 1979,
International Sufi Movement, All rights reserved.), and as a quoted passage,
Hazrat Inayat Khan's use of gender specific language has not been updated. |