The following lecture was given by Hazrat Inayat Khan on the 22nd of March, 1926, in Los Angeles. Because of its length, it will presented in instalments. It is interesting that Hazrat Inayat gave such a philosophical discourse in a public talk.
Friends,
I shall speak this evening on the subject of manifestation, gravitation, assimilation and perfection. The title of this subject will be: Sufi Philosophy.
The absolute in its manifested or unmanifested condition is intelligence. And it is the different manifestations of this intelligence which may be called light, life and love. It is the dense form of intelligence which is light. As the sun is the source of the moon, of the planets, of the stars, of fire, of flame, of glow, and of every aspect of light, so the supreme spirit is the source of all aspects of manifestation. The sun is the centralizing of the all pervading radiance. In other words, the all pervading radiance has gathered itself together in order to centralize in one spot. And that has become the source of creation, the whole physical manifestation. So the omniscient spirit, by centralizing in one spot, has become the source of all seen and unseen manifestation. It is therefore that in all ages the wise have worshipped the sun as the symbol of God, although the sun is the outward symbol of God. And a minute study of the formation of the sun and of its influence in all things of life illumines us to understand the divine spirit. The heat, the gas light, the electric light, the coal fire, the wood fire, the candle burning, the flame rising from the lamp of oil, all these different manifestations of light have their source in the sun. It is the sun which is showing itself in all these different forms, although we separate the sun from all other aspects of light. So it is the supreme spirit which is manifested in all forms, in all things and beings, and in the seen and unseen worlds. And yet it stands remote, as the sun stands remote from all other forms of light. The Qur’an says, “God is the light of the heavens and of earth.” And in reality all forms, however dense they may be, there are certain degrees of radiance, belonging to that spirit which is all light. All different colours are the different degrees of that light.
The supreme spirit, the source of all things, has two aspects, audible and visible. In the audible aspect the spirit is “the word” as the Bible says, or the sound as the Hindus say in their language by the word nada. In its visible aspect, the supreme spirit is the light: in its finer aspect, the light of intelligence; in its dense aspect, the radiance of all objects. The manifestation of the phenomena of light plays in three directions. That is really the meaning of trinity. One direction is the light that sees, another is the light that is seen, and the other is the light that shows all things. More plainly speaking, the eyes which see, the object that is seen, and the light that enables the eyes to see the object. All three are different plays of one and the same light. There is a sura of the Qur’an where it says, “I have made your light, and by your light I create the universe.” In other words, the all pervading spirit says to the centralizing aspect of itself that, “I made you first, and of you I have made the whole universe.” In this is the key to the whole creation.
And now I will speak about the manifestation. The process of manifestation is like the projecting of the rays out of the sun. Why does the sun shoot out its rays? Because it is its nature. And the same answer I will give to the question, “Why does the supreme spirit manifest?” Because it is his nature. No sooner the all pervading light has centralized in one spot and has formed the sun than the rays begin to shoot out. And in the same way, the moment the omniscient light centralized itself in one spot, it began to shoot out its rays. And it is these numberless rays shot out that are the various souls, the souls of the good and wicked, both coming from the same source. As these rays go forward, the first plane they strike is termed the angelic plane. The second plane they strike is termed the plane of the genius. The third plane they strike is called the physical plane. But now there is a question, “Have these rays left the supreme spirit in order to come to the angelic plane; have they left the angelic plane in order to come to the plane of genius; have they left the plane of genius in order to come to the physical plane?” No, they have passed through. But while passing through they have received all that is to be received from there, learned all that is to be learned there, gathered all on their way what was to be gained. And they still are in those planes. They do not know, but they are conscious of that plane in which their light has opened its eyes. In other words: we are sitting in this room, we see what is before our eyes, but we do not see what is behind our back. To speak more plainly, every soul has behind its back the angelic plane and the plane of the genius. But before its eyes there is this physical plane. Therefore, it is only conscious of the physical plane and unconscious of the planes from which the soul has turned its eyes. The souls which have opened their eyes fully to the angelic plane and became interested in that plane have remained there. And it is the inhabitants of that plane which may be called angels. The souls who did not open their eyes fully there only passed through it, and if they became interested in that next plane they remained there. And the ancient people called them jinn, genii, or the genius. The souls who went still further toward manifestation and have reached the physical plane, the utmost goal of their destiny, and have opened their eyes there and became interested in the physical plane, are living beings there, among them human beings, the most wide awake.
A person who has left America for Europe and who has gone from Europe to the Orient has brought something of America with him to Europe, and has taken something of Europe to the Orient. And so every soul that has come on earth has brought with him something of the angelic plane and something of the plane of the genius. And he shows in his life on the physical plane that which he has brought from these two planes of existence. Innocence, love of beauty, deep sympathy, love of song, a tendency to solitude, the love of harmony, all these belong to the angelic plane. Inventive genius, intellectuality, reasoning, law, justice, the love of poetry, of science, all these belong to the plane of genius. It is therefore of those who show any of these qualities that, without knowing, we say, “Here is an angelic person”, “Here is a genius.”
To be continued…
Gracias siempre! querido Maestro