In the following address to Cherags, Hazrat Inayat Khan offers some profound lessons for the western student.  Not only does he give deep insight into the Hindu religion (which has often been viewed rather dismissively by Europeans), but he shows the utmost respect and tenderness even though he was himself raised as a Muslim.  

I would like to speak on the subject of the Indian point of view. As you all know the Hindu religion is the most ancient of all religions known to the world. Also you know that the people of India have followed tradition as their sacred religion. Being traditional, they have still kept their point of view which was ten thousand years before.

The point of view of the Hindu about God is that every person has his own conception of God, and therefore every person is free to choose his own God. And the idea of many gods and goddesses has come from the same belief. Each one leaves the other alone to worship his own God. No doubt they have been persecuted for this, and criticised, and some of them were convinced that it is not so. But at the same time, that is the Hindu point of view about God. It is therefore that all the Hindus of different creeds had the same religion with different Gods, because each left the other alone with his God.

And now coming to the point of view of the Hindus about the prophet. Each one has taken from the men of history his prophet, and has not imposed his belief of a prophet upon the other. And therefore there are some who are called Vishnu bhaktis*, there are others who are Shiva bhaktis, and others who are Krishna bhaktis, and others who are Rama bhaktis. But do you think that the followers of Rama consider the followers of Krishna heathens or pagans? They only think: his prophet is Krishna, my prophet is Rama. The followers of Shiva think: his prophet is Rama, my prophet is Shiva. By that he does not consider that the prophet of the other bhakti is any less than his. He never thinks about it. A Krishna bhakti never thinks that a Shiva bhakti is less because he has another prophet. He only thinks of the beautiful life of Krishna; he has before him Krishna’s ideal, and he leaves the follower of Shiva alone with his ideal. These devotees of different prophets never look down upon the other as the follower of some prophet who is less, who is smaller than the other, and at the same time, whoever is their prophet, they raise him so high that nothing could be greater, that nothing else, no other prophet is greater. Yet they do not look at another one with contempt or with the thought that he is lesser.

And now coming to the worship. They have different ways of worship, and they leave every person to have his own way of worship, and yet they call all different forms of worship a worship; they have the same feeling for it; they have the same regard for another person’s worship. There is never a dispute about the different forms of worship among Hindus. There are forms of worship where the Hindu puts Krishna’s statue in a little cradle, and the women are swinging that cradle, and the men are standing there in all reverence. One might think the race of Hindus, so old, so thoughtful, so philosophical, such meditative people, with ancient sciences, are they on the level of standing before the doll Krishna who is swinging in the cradle, men and women both in reverence and worship? But if you saw their faces–beaming with light, in sincere devotion!

There is no thought that it is a play; it is an earnest devotion. The women are singing lullabies to Krishna, with simple stories of Rama, which have been told for thousands of years. One might think, with all their wisdom and philosophy and deep understanding of life and insight into psychology, how can they stand childlike things like this? At the same time it is only tolerance for mankind and respect for man’s conception. Out of their tolerance and respect they adhere to any form accepted by a community, and benefit by that form, using it to the right purpose. The swinging Krishna for them is a recreation, a beautiful picture. But in the heart of those ones who are evolved, the real Krishna is there. They are enjoying the religious songs, and worship even more than the simple ones, who are attending the worship of Krishna. And it is wonderful to see the great tolerance the Hindu worshipper has for a general conception of religion.

Besides that, for a Hindu a certain form of worship is not the only prayer for him. He performs prayers from morning till evening. In the morning, when he goes to bathe in the running water of the river, he offers prayer to the water, prayer to the sun, prayer to God. Then he has his breathing exercises, pranayama; in that is prayer. And when he comes home and has his dinner, that dinner is a prayer for him also. He wears special clothes for dinner, because it is prayerful to partake of the food God has created for man. He does not eat in order to satisfy his hunger, or because it is a necessity; he eats because he is worshipping in eating. And when there are little parties of five or six or ten or twenty Brahmans eating dinner, than each one recites a sacred chant. And that is their entertainment. That is religion again. When a person is eating alone, then he is in religion; and when he is eating together with others, then also there is religion. And then he goes to his business, and before going, the first thing he will do, is to go to his temple, and greet and take the blessing of God and think of the prophet, and then he goes to his work. When he goes to his work with that thought, all day long he has that thought in his mind. After the work, when he is back home, then his first thought is to go to the temple and worship God. Then with the dinner he has a worship. So that shows that he lives in a worshipful attitude. All day long his thought is worship of God. Everything he does is a worship. Businessmen, scientists, thinkers, philosophers, mystics, all have their own way. And yet each is so tolerant that though his way may be the best way and the highest way of worship, yet he looks at a simple man who has a different way of worship and regards it so delicately and thoughtfully that he never shows in thought, speech or word that the other is a simple way of worship. Because he is deep, he sees depth in everything.

And now coming to the idea of the Hindus on meditation. No doubt meditation is their highest religion, and anyone who, through religion, has reached a point when he should meditate, he meditates, but at the same time he keeps the external form just the same. He never thinks: I am too much evolved to observe the ordinary forms. And it is that simplicity which helps him to evolve and reach the highest realization.

*=‘one who loves, or is devoted to’