Hazrat Inayat Khan here concludes his brief ‘Study of Religions’ begun in the previous post.
Muhammad’s saying, ‘None but God exists’, explained the essence of all previous messages most clearly. The lesson of Muhammad, once learned, left no need for continuance of prophetic teaching, because it proved that each being bears the divine source thereof within himself, and that the evolution of man has now prepared him for the Kingdom which is within.
Indeed, all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad, who was the fulfillment of God’s tidings, have revealed to us the numerous aspects which the same truth can bear, or, in other words, truth has manifested itself in various names and different forms to attain its glorious end. But the manifold aspects of truth have not been recognized in man’s ignorance, and thus all the racial and religious prejudices among creeds and castes, as well as the wars and differences between nations, have arisen from his narrowness and slowness of perception. Each one called the other heathen or pagan, kafir or mlench, upholding his Master as the only true initiate, as though the Master were his own personal property. Yet the Masters were born not for one family or one nation or race, but verily for all mankind. Truly only followers and zealots of different religions fall away from the truth, for they are blinded by patriotism and have raised pedantic prejudices against the teachings and spirits of those pure Masters, who had neither any concern for their religion nor their own name and personal appearance but lived only in the cause of truth.
This error is due entirely to those disciples who swear by the mortal names of the Masters and recognize their personalities alone, instead of accepting them all as one boundless embodiment of truth. The Masters have never desired their human bodies to be adored as saviors; this is merely an exaggeration and the mistaken conception of their followers. Their bodies were but as the vessels of truth and the truth they brought to us is the only savior, then, now, and forever. As the Bible declares, ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ Truth, the real savior and messiah, is untouched by death and disease; it is everlasting, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Truth, indeed, was Adam, Moses, and Christ, and the very truth was Muhammad.
Yet, although every religion comprises a large number of followers, each person has his own religion peculiar to himself. He is sometimes unaware of this fact and attaches himself most enthusiastically to the religion of his race and nation.
If he only knew the true religion, which God has intended for him, all his struggles would be at an end. Those who judge a religion by its principles are mistaken, for good or bad as well as right and wrong depend on one’s own point of view, and are therefore sometimes liable to mental inversion. Those who fight for their religion on the authority of history are fanatics, for they must know that history is man-and not God-made, and that many truths are lost in the lapse of time, while many exaggerations attain favor or disfavor through the biased personal opinions of the historians. He who adheres to his beliefs and disbeliefs without reason is blinded with bigotry.
Still, were a Buddhist to come to me saying, ‘Our Lord Buddha was the only true teacher’, I would answer, ‘Verily!’ And if a Hindu cried to me that Krishna is the ideal master, I would say, ‘You speak rightly.’ And if a Christian should declare that Christ is the highest of all, I would reply, ‘Undoubtedly.’ For it is the nature of man to consider as best that which he can idealize best. But if anyone came to me saying, ‘I cannot believe in all this talk, for I can only recognize the same truth within each one of these’, I would say, ‘You, my friend, are the one who really knows, for you have understood and unveiled the real secret of God’s nature.’
Rumi says, ‘The Sufis take the meat, leaving the bones for others to fight over.’
To be continued…