The following memoir is taken from “Once Upon a Time…” by Murshid Hidayat Inayat Khan.

Later, in 1925, Murshid went to Paris alone, several times, without telling us children where he was going. He only said that it was a secret, and that we would know that secret soon.

One day, our Father returned from a short trip to Paris, more joyously than ever before, with smiles and sunshine in the eyes, and of course, we all hurried around him, hoping at last to know the secret; when, to our great surprise, our Father took a pink card out of his wallet and placed it very solemnly on the table. It was his driving license, just obtained successfully that same day, at the Versigny Driving School at Porte Maillot in Paris.

Naturally, it is needless to say how tremendously happy we all were about this most unexpected event, besides of course, our considerable enthusiasm at the thought of going on car drives with our Father in his own car.

Murshid had received a car, as a special gift offered to him by Henry Ford, who had it shipped all the way to Paris from the factories in Detroit. That present was sent as a token of gratitude for the spiritual help received, as well for the historical lectures which Murshid had given to the enthusiastic workers of the Ford Factories, and which had contributed so much to the well known success of Henry Ford’s humanitarian motivations in the industrial activities of his gigantic enterprises.

Some mureeds were extremely astonished about Murshid’s achievement, in such a non-mystical experience; whereas others were deeply struck by the lesson thereby revealed, in the most wonderful example of a complete, balanced condition in all types of activities, whether spiritual or material.

Nevertheless, whatever were the different opinions of the mureeds, it certainly was for all a most fascinating picture to see Murshid driving his own car in the ‘Kingly Way’, as they used to say, while he drove at a majestic tempo through the streets of Suresnes.