The virtue of a sword is that it comes to a point, a shape that concentrates force so the weapon can open a way through whatever lies before it. Therefore, the sword often appears as a spiritual symbol. The Western world is familiar with the image of the holy knight St. George vanquishing the dragon – sometimes with a sword, sometimes with a lance or spear, which for our purpose is the same thing. It is the picture of evil being defeated by unwavering, focused strength.

In the East, the Bodhisattva Manjusri also wields a sword. A Bodhisattva is a spiritual aspirant who defers their own personal liberation in order to compassionately help others toward the goal. Manjusri with his flaming sword represents the power of transcendent wisdom to defeat ignorance and duality. This Bodhisattva is often portrayed riding a lion, as the taming of the mind through wisdom is comparable to taming a ferocious beast. The lion represents the great power that could be ours if we were to attain such control, but also shows that those who fail risk being torn to pieces.

The Sufi teachings tell us that one of the first steps on the inner path is concentration. The whole world speaks reverently of meditation; countless methods claim to teach it, endless hours of ‘green forest running stream’ videos supposedly promote it, but regardless of technique and environment it is not possible to meditate if one has not learned to concentrate. This lesson is implied in the first words of the Invocation: Toward the One… We live divided, wandering from place to place and suffering from separation, but the only remedy for our restlessness is to heal the wound of division. Yet if our attention is leaping from one thought to another, distracted by an endless flow of sensations, momentarily wearing one identity and then another, consumed by various, sometimes conflicting appetites – then how could we ever perceive Unity?

There are, of course, techniques that can be useful – ways of focusing our attention, mental and physical exercises that begin to give us some mastery over the ‘wild cat’ that is screeching and clawing and leaping about inside of us, but Manjusri’s sword is one of wisdom, and wisdom can only be developed through love. In the Aphorisms of Hazrat Inayat Khan we find, “Wisdom is love, and love is true wisdom. The cold-hearted man is never wise, and the truly warm-hearted person is never foolish, for love comes from wisdom and wisdom from love.”

Therefore, the best concentration is to awaken love, and when our love ripens into devotion for the Divine Ideal, then wisdom guides us to overcome the lions and dragons and scorpions and other beasts that have been keeping us from the peace and happiness that is our home. One might ask : what if we don’t have a divine ideal? And the answer is that everyone has an ideal, but usually it is debased and degraded. So, the first step in concentration is, look within to find what you treasure, and then begin to purify that from every limitation. If your ideal does not sustain you in a time of trouble, for example, it is because of the limitation you yourself impose on it. Trust your love and discard your limitation, and the ideal will begin to come to life.

It may seem like a small beginning, but a mighty river reaching its home in the ocean begins as a tiny rivulet high up in the frozen snows.