After concluding his lecture on ‘reason‘, Hazrat Inayat Khan now answers some questions on the theme.

Question: What may we call the middle part of the reason? Is it the sense of discrimination?

Answer: Yes. Reason is attached to an impulse, and reason is attached to a thought. The reason that is attached to thought is the middle part of reason; the reason that is attached to impulse is the lower part of reason. But the reason that is inspiring, that is revealing to the soul, is heavenly reason. This reason unfolds divine light; it comes by wakening to the reason that one finds in the heart of God.

There is a story told about Moses (see Quran 18:60-82). He was passing with Khidr through a country. Khidr was the Murshid of Moses when Moses was being prepared for prophetship. Moses’ first lesson of discipline was to keep quiet under all circumstances. While they were walking through the beauty of nature, both teacher and pupil were quiet. The teacher was exalted in seeing the beauty of nature, and the pupil also felt it. So, they arrived on the bank of a river where Moses saw a little child drowning, and the mother crying aloud, for she could not help. Here Moses could not keep his lips closed. He had to break that discipline and say, ‘Master, save him! The child is drowning!’ Khidr said, ‘Quiet!’ and Moses was quiet. However, the heart of Moses was restless, he did not know what to think. ‘Can the Master be so thoughtless, so inconsiderate, so cruel, or is the Master powerless?’ He could not understand which was which. He did not dare to think such a thought, and yet it made him feel very uncomfortable. 

As they went farther, they saw a boat sinking. Moses said, ‘Master, that boat is sinking, it is going down!’ The Master again ordered him to be quiet, so then Moses was quiet, but he was still more uncomfortable. When they arrived home, he said, ‘Master, I thought that you would have saved that little innocent child from drowning and that you would have saved the boat that was going down in the water – but you did nothing. I cannot understand, but I should like to have an explanation.’ The Master said, ‘What you saw, I also saw. We both saw. So, there was no use in your telling me because I saw. You did not need to tell me what was happening, for I knew. If I had thought that it was better to interfere, I could have done it. Why did you take the trouble to tell me, and spoil your vow of silence?’

He continued, ‘The child who was drowning was meant to bring about a conflict between two nations, and thousands and thousands of lives were going to be destroyed in that conflict. When he was drowned, this averted the other danger that was to come.’ Moses looked at him with great surprise. Then Khidr said, ‘The boat that was sinking was the boat of pirates. It was sailing in order to wreck a large ship full of pilgrims and then to take what was left in the ship and bring it home. Do you think that you and I can be judge of it? The Judge is behind. He knows what He is doing, He knows his work. When you were told to be quiet, your work was to keep your lips closed and to see everything, as I was doing, silently, in reverence.’ There is a Persian verse that says, ‘It is the gardener who knows which plant to rear and which to cut down.’

You might ask me, ‘Shall we all take the same attitude? If a person is troubled or in difficulty, shall we not go and help?’ Yes, you may help – but at the same time, if a spiritual person does not seem to do what you expect him to do, you do not need to trouble about it, for you must know that there is some reason. You do not need to judge him, for the more you evolve, the more your reason becomes different. So, no one has the power to judge another, but one may do one’s best oneself.

Question: Is that why the great ones have been misjudged, because the little ones tried to judge them?

Answer: This has always been the great difficulty in the lives of evolved souls. What happened with Jesus Christ? In the one place, there was earthly reason; in the other place, there was heavenly reason.

I shall tell you a story of my insolence that will interest you. Once I looked at my Murshid, and there came to my restless mind a thought, ‘Why should a great soul such as my Murshid wear gold embroidered slippers?’ I checked myself at once; it was only a thought. It could never have escaped my lips, it was under control. But there, it was known. I could not cover my insolence with my lips; my heart was open before my Murshid as an open book. He instantly saw into it and read my thought. Do you know what answer he gave me? He said, ‘The treasures of the world are at my feet.’

To be continued…