10. The Journey to the Goal, Part 1
Beloved Brothers and Sisters,
Human beings are engaged in worldly activity and the pursuit of objects and goals that accompany daily life, yet, Hazrat Inayat Khan observes, they remain dissatisfied. He says that mankind “has a constant yearning in his soul for something more, which keeps him uneasy.” In this uneasiness is the inner journey towards a purpose that is not fulfilled by the activity of worldly life alone, and Hazrat Inayat Khan teaches, “the whole creation was purposed for this journey.”
“Use us for the purpose that Thy wisdom chooseth.”
Loving Regards – Prayers for an enlightened world,
Nuria, KarimaGita and Kabriya
Social Gatheka No. 10, Part 1, The Journey to the Goal
by Hazrat Inayat Khan
There are two different stages in the human evolution. And these two different stages may very well be called the minor and the major stage. In the Hindu Puranic symbology these two characters are called the younger and the elder brother. Just as there is a stage of childhood, when the child only knows what it wants, and is only happy when it gets it, no matter what may be the consequence, the stage of that minor state of the soul is when man in reality desires only what he can see, hear, perceive, touch - beyond that he does not care - only that is desirable to him - he does not wish for anything else.
And the major state is that, when man has experienced life more or less, has known pleasure and pain, enthusiasm and disappointment, and he knows the variability of life, only then has he reached the stage of majority. Minor or major do not depend upon a certain age, nor do they depend upon a particular education. No, they depend upon the inner life. When one has gone into life as far as he could go and when he has passed the limit of the minor state, then he arrives at the major state. In the East there is a custom that has become a kind of religious etiquette, viz. not to wake a person who is asleep, but to let him sleep well; if this is not done it is considered a crime. In other words, you must treat the world according to nature and not to go against nature. Do not force the man in the minor state into the major; he must first sleep well before he can awake.
Now about progress specially for the spiritual path. There are two different characters on the spiritual path. The first is the man who says; "Yes, I like to go on this path, but where shall I arrive?" He wants to know all about it before he travels on this path; if his friends are going with him, and if they are not, he is not ready to go either, because he is not sure of the way; he will not go alone and wants to know when and where he will arrive, and if it is safe to journey on that particular path. When he travels on the path he looks back and tries to look forward, asking, "Shall I reach the goal? Is it really the right path?” A thousand times doubt comes, fear comes, he looks back, forward, around; if others could only tell him how far he has journeyed; he is restless, he wants to know how far he is from the goal. He therefore is a child still, although he has a desire to journey. For him there are toys, the mystical hints for mental research keep him busy that he may look at the map of the journey to see where he goes.
Now to come to the conditions of the major state. About his character the Bible says, "Unless the soul be born again, it cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." In the first place, if I were to say what the journey is and its object, it would be this, that the whole creation was purposed for this journey, and if it were not for this purpose there would be no creation at all. And before a person takes this journey, he practises it in some form or other, in play, how he will make this, but he has not yet started in reality.
For instance, a person desires to be rich, and he devotes all his time, his energy, his life, his thoughts to that object, and, so to speak, he journeys to that goal. If he desires power, he makes for that and gets it. If he wants position, he uses all his strength to reach his goal, naturally in a playing way. The proof of that is that every activity of which he is in pursuit, to attain the thing desired, brings him to the desire for something else. If he is rich, he wants to be famous; if he is famous, he wants something else; if he has one thing he strives for another and is never satisfied.
It shows that man, externally busy in the pursuit of worldly things, is not satisfied in his soul, but that he has a constant yearning in his soul for something more, which keeps him uneasy. A very good explanation is that which Rumi, a great Sufi Teacher of Persia, gives us in his book, the Masnavi. There he says, "What is it in the reed flute that appeals to your soul, that goes through you and pierces your heart?" And the answer is: it is the crying of the flute, and the reason for its crying is that it once belonged to a plant, from which it was cut apart. Holes were made in the heart. It longs to be united with its source, its origin. And so the soul feels a longing for its origin. In another place in his book Rumi says; "So it is with every person who has left his original country for a long time. He may roam about and feel very pleased with all he sees, but there will come a moment when a strong yearning is in his heart for the place where he was born.”
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