With this post we begin a detailed explanation by Hazrat Inayat Khan on the need for a form and organisation to serve the spreading of the Message. Because of length, it will be posted in instalments.

I would like to tell you why our Message has a name, why it is called the Sufi Message. No institution and no activity which are intended for spiritual work can exist without a form. The form is as necessary as it is necessary for human beings to have four walls and a roof over their head in order to take shelter from excessive cold and heat; and this house must be in a certain town in a certain province, and it must have a number. Even if we did not like it, there will be put a number on it just the same. 

The Message which is being given is wisdom’s Message. It comes directly from within. It is intended to be given to humanity, especially at this time of the world’s need, and no matter how much opposition there is, the opposition will be removed in the end; truth will succeed. Nevertheless, we have to work as a society. Though in reality ours is not one among many societies, its form as a society is a necessity. The Message has to be given, and for this a society is needed, but the society is a means, not the end. The end is a certain purpose that is to be fulfilled in this age, and it is our privilege to have been engaged in it. Therefore we must first make it clear in our minds what Sufism or what the Sufi Movement is.

Naturally, since my initiation in the outer planes took place in the order of the Sufis (my Murshid, who ‘baptized’ me in the real sense of the word, was a Sufi) I have felt it to be the greatest necessity, the greatest honor and privilege, to give the Message which has been given the name “Sufi”. But this does not make it separate and as one more creed, or even as one of the special Sufi schools. It is a world cause, it is a world Message, it cannot be linked to a certain institution.

You may ask, when did the Sufi Message begin in my own life? Even before my initiation, from the time I have first breathed on the earth, with every breath I have inhaled the Message, and at every stage. When I now look back on my life, at every stage of my awakening to the inner life, the first thing I was awakened to was this Message which was to be given to humanity. No doubt every moment of my life I have become more and more awakened to it, and yet I can say that I am still not awakened enough, and I shall never be. Every moment there is a deeper insight, every moment there is a wider horizon before my vision, to learn from and to interpret before humanity in human tongue.

Therefore neither must we look at our success from the human point of view, nor at our failure. If I had looked at success from a human point of view I would have left the Western world and have run away back to my own country, disappointed and heart-broken. Continually knocking against iron walls, singing songs to the deaf for years and years, a human being could easily become heart-broken. But I did not consider the worldly success as a success, and I have always felt and believed, and will always believe, that only truth itself is success. And when no success is manifested from the worldly point of view it does not matter, for truth is the essence of success. Never, therefore, must we expect in our work success in the form in which people recognize it as such. And as to failures, I have learned to call failure a success. I never look upon a failure as a failure. It has only inspired me, only encouraged me, only taught me a new lesson. Every little seeming failure taught me a better way how to pursue God. Therefore I never felt discouraged or disappointed, but only a great enthusiasm.

You will read in the Vadan, that every time the heart is struck, a switch is turned and the light goes on; that is why a seeming failure gave me greater force and inspiration than success did. I have always considered success and failure to be like the two wings of the Sufi emblem. Neither this matters nor that, as long as the attitude is right. And as long as we remain single-minded and strong in our pursuit, and full of conviction, so long shall we succeed in going forward and much further than we can imagine, until we come to the fulfillment of our task.

To be continued…