Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan now concludes his exploration of the infinite capacity to be found in the human being. The previous post is here.

Man has two natures, the angelic and the animal. The angelic nature is only his kindness, his love, his sympathy, and his desire for knowledge. His desire to eat, to drink, to sleep, his passions, his anger are from the animals, and his jealousy, his fear of one stronger than himself, his envy of those better than himself. A Hindustani poet has said: “We created man for feeling, for sympathy; if not, for Our praise the angels were enough in heaven.” There are two ways open before man. He can develop his angelic qualities. Then he becomes angel, and he becomes God. Or he can develop his animal qualities. Then he becomes, first, animal. He wishes then to satisfy his animal desires which the animal qualities enjoy. Soon he wishes to satisfy them by whatever means, at whatever cost, at the cost of others. Then he is worse than the animal. He becomes devil. He becomes such that the very Shaitan runs away from him, because Shaitan is from the angels. He has not the animal qualities. Therefore the Qu’ran says:”Guide us in the right way, and guide us not in the way of those who go astray.” 

The liking of the soul is to become human. To become an angel is not very great, to be an animal is still easier, to be human is very difficult. A great Hindustani poet says: “What shall I tell you of the troubles of life, since it is even difficult for a man to be human.” We are human and yet we cannot rightly be what we are. Why is it so great a privilege to be man? There is a legend which explains this very clearly. 

The angels once rebelled against God, saying: “Why should man be made higher than all other creatures? Man has the animal attributes. Man needs to eat. We do not. Man needs to drink. We do not. Man needs to sleep. We do not.” God said: “We will decide this question after a trial.” and He said to one of the angels: “Go upon earth and see what man’s life is.” The angel flew down to earth. He saw a tree. He was so delighted with the tree that he climbed down upon it and he began to eat its fruit. He was so enchanted that he thought: “This is the best place to live. I was a miserable creature when I did not have this.” Then he saw a young girl passing beneath the tree selling fruit. He was charmed by her beauty and asked her to sell him the fruits; they became friends; they became lovers; they married and had children. 

At first the angel was very, very happy; but when the freshness, the newness went, the charm and the happiness wore away. He began to find that those who had been his friends yesterday were not his friends today, that those who had been kind once were kind no longer. Life became very difficult. All the burdens and cares of life fell upon him. He felt oppressed, suffocated, and he grew very unhappy and complained of his life on earth. 

Then God said to another angel, “Go and see what your brother is doing.” The angel went down to earth. He too was delighted with the earth, its trees and fruits. But when the other angel told him of his life and all its difficulties and troubles, he flew back, and so was saved from these experiences. When the angels appeared again before God, God said, “When even the angels are tempted by the earth and forget Me, should I not be proud of man when he, having all the troubles and difficulties and burdens of life on earth, sometimes remembers Me, thinks of Me?” This shows us that our wish to become ferishta, angel, to become godhead, is a false wish. Our wish to become animal is folly. What we must wish is to become human. This is the most difficult. All else is easier. 

Q. Is man a divine being, or does he by participation in the divine nature be or become a divine being?
A. Man has two natures, haivaniat and ferishtagi. Haivaniat is man’s body, and that nature that needs food and drink and sleep and the satisfaction of all its passions. In this man is the same as the animals. Ferishtagi is that nature by which man is different from the animals, which goes back to its source. It is not his intelligence. The animals also have intelligence, but the animals’ intelligence cannot ask, “From where have I come? And for what purpose am I?” When man knows this, when he recognizes his origin, then he is a divine being.