As he continues his memoir about his first experiences in the West, Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks of the difficulties he found in being a musician in a strange culture, while seeking a way to give the call of Sufism.

At first I performed and lectured on music at Columbia University, winning the warm commendation of several professors and students. This was the beginning of my professional career in the West, and I started on a tour comprising nearly all the well-known cities of the United States, where I spoke at universities, before intelligent and appreciative audiences, on philosophy and music. This duality heightened their interest in my work, and as I grew familiar with the American people I began to realize to my joy that, despite their commercial trend and materialistic ambitions, God has not deprived them of that treasure which is love.

Their hearts are even as ours, although their artificial life makes it more difficult for them to achieve that peace which we can so easily attain in the calm of the East. They also have a strong desire for spiritual progress, for as far as man is concerned, it matters not whether he belongs to the East or to the West; in time he is inevitably attracted to that eternal Source of Love which can never be eluded.

When I arrived in San Francisco I found much to interest me there, and my desire for the revelation of truth had its outlet. I have never approved of the idea of mission work, especially at this period of human evolution when a new awakening is imminent all over the world. I escaped the appearance of being a religious zealot or one who wishes to convert people, for I bore that message of universal truth which would harmonize East and West by spreading the idea of unity and which is Sufism.

I spoke at the universities of Berkeley and Los Angeles in California, where my music and my discourses on philosophy, as expressed in the realm of art, attracted much attention. Although my professional tour did not permit me to do as much as I otherwise could have done, yet it was the only means of fulfilling my mission, which had no other support than that of God. This tour aided me greatly in establishing the Sufi Order in America, with the following objects at heart:

(1) To establish a human brotherhood with no consideration of caste, creed, race, nation, or religion; for differences only create a lack of harmony and are the source of all miseries.

(2) To spread the wisdom of Sufism, which has been until now a hidden treasure, though it is indeed the property of mankind and has never, belonged to any particular race and religion.

(3) To attain that perfection wherein mysticism is no longer a mystery but redeems the unbeliever from ignorance and the believer from falling a victim to hypocrisy.

(4) To harmonize the East and West in music, the universal language, by an exchange of knowledge and a revival of unity.

(5) To promote Sufi literature, which is most beautiful and instructive in all the aspects of knowledge.

Praise be to the name of God, that those who were attracted by the message of truth were for the most part in earnest and very devout. Indeed, their sympathy made me almost forget my yearning for the East, and I felt at one with them. Some very wealthy mureeds wished me to give up my profession, and proposed to help me materially in order that my needs should be satisfied without trouble, and that I could thus be enabled to devote all my time to the Sufi call.

I gratefully refused this proposal, for, being a Sufi, I did not care about appearances, believing always that the self was the one dependable staff of life; while music, being my very religion, was much more to me than a mere profession, or even than my mission, since I looked upon it as the only gateway to salvation.

To be continued…