This post concluded Hazrat Inayat Khan’s brief memoir of his first years in the west. This seems to have been written while the First World War was still raging, and of course it was only after the fighting stopped that his teaching grew and spread across Europe. The previous instalment is here.

My associates, among whom were my two brothers, Maheboob Khan and Musharaff Khan, and my cousin Muhammad Ali Khan, rendered their utmost service by devoting themselves to the establishment of the Sufi Order which, in due course, was set on a firm basis. As mysticism had hitherto been made a hidden and esoteric thing by some teachers who taught it only to those who belonged to their own race, religion, nation, or class, it was my task to impress upon the world that it belonged to them all; and that as I had acquired it from man, I must impart it again to man, without questioning his right, his caste, or his creed.

After my American journeying I came to Europe and visited England, where I immediately sought for my own countrymen in the hope of seeing familiar faces once again, as I had beheld so few since leaving India. But to my great disappointment I discovered them to be the very reverse of my expectations; some seemed to be avoiding their fellow country-men purposely, and the others were set on keeping to their own clique. This revealed a wrong influence of Western culture upon their lives.

At last, by continual effort, I gathered my spiritual fellows from among the Europeans around me, and these proved to be more at one with my soul than my own people. I found much more sympathy and response from the English than I had ever expected from them when in India. Their gentle and courteous nature revealed a sharp difference between the Old World and the New. But there was little curiosity concerning India and her people, and I found it very difficult at first to come into contact with minds open to philosophy.

It was on hearing the voice of the Suffragettes that I felt a new religion of sex arising, which would bring freedom to women in all phases of life. Woman seemed to me to be prepared for science, art, religion, and philosophy, while her suffering in life also brought her nearer to the wider fields of intellect. I saw a lack of harmony between men and women, that harmony upon which the true happiness of nations depends. The secret of this sad state, which is unknown to either sex, lies in the lack of thought cultivation and in the desire for worldly gain at the sacrifice of all else, while both sexes must meet on the same plane of evolution before the ideal phase can possibly be reached.

I appeared several times in public, and eventually before royalty, and thus prepared the ground for sowing the seed of Sufism in England. A Sufi Publishing Society was established, a most necessary organ for the propagation and maintenance of the Order, founded with the laudable object of publishing works on both ancient and modern mysticism, philosophy, religion, art, science, literature, and music.

My journey to Paris was more for music than for philosophy. Through the kind efforts of such friends as Debussy, the famous composer, I was able to carry out my mission through the medium of my art with great success. As my long stay in the West, as well as my close friendship with several musical scholars, had trained my ear to Western music, I especially appreciated that of France, which is so full of love and emotion. I spoke at the Musical Congress, the Musee Guimet, and at the University. The sensitive and idealistic tendency of the French helps to develop those qualities of the heart, which are attuned to devotion. Their Catholic training also influences them towards the devotional aspect of worship.

My visit to Russia struck another chord in my nature, for it recalled the East to me again. I found the people open both to modern progress and ancient thought. I met the leading musicians, poets, and literary men, who proved to be absorbed in their work, appreciative, kind, and hospitable, all of which promises much for their national advancement. Their voice cultivation and keen interest in all aspects of art especially pleased me. This concern shown by many prominent Russians made a lasting impression upon me. I also found there that Eastern type of discipleship which is natural to the nation where religion and self-sacrifice are still in existence, although the bigotry of the Orthodox Church stands in the way of the highest spiritual awakening.

Before I could bring my message of peace to the rest of Europe this distressing war convulsed the world.