When we become aware of the seed of divinity hidden within us, Hazrat Inayat Khan tells us, then we discover that we contain all. The previous post is here.

The deity is pictured sometimes as a spirit, sometimes as a person, sometimes as a king, sometimes as a master. The Hindus picture the deity as Creator, as Sustainer, and as Destroyer. The word ‘divine’ comes from Deva, God (fem. Devi), and the word Deva is derived from Div, which means ‘light.’ Every soul is itself a light, but a light which is surrounded by clouds, clouds which have risen from the earthly impressions and surrounded the human heart. These clouds keep the soul covered; but the Deva or Div is always there.

One reads in the Bible that no one should keep his light under a bushel. The hint to raise the light high shows us that Deva or the divine spark is within man. That divinity, even when it is human, is infinite. Only the expansion of this light and the disclosing of it are necessary. The prophets and great Avatars, the messengers who have come to the world from time to time, have been examples of the expansion of this divine spark, and what they gave to the world has been the outcome of this divinity. 

Divinity is like the seed which grows in the heart of the flower; it is the same seed which was the origin of that plant, and it comes again in the heart of the flower. In a similar way the same God, who was unmanifested as the seed of the plant of this creation, rises again towards fulfillment; and in that fulfillment He produces the seed in the heart of that flower which is divinity. Some religious authorities have tried to recognize the divinity of Christ while ignoring the divinity of humanity. They have tried to make Christ different from what may be called human. But by doing so they have not been able to keep the flame alight, for they have covered the main truth that religion had to give to the world, which was that divinity resides in humanity, that divinity is the outcome of humanity, and that humanity is the flower in the heart of which divinity was born as a seed. And by this they have not done any good to religion; on the contrary they have harmed religion, trying to make man something different, not knowing that all is in man – angel, jinn, and animal.

There is nothing which is not in man. For instance things belonging to the earth such as metals, gold and silver, iron and steel are all to be found in the body and mind of man. The one who knows alchemy can make use of it; he can make out of man a man of flesh, and he can make out of man a man of gold. That is what Christ wanted to do when he said to the fisherman, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ He wanted to perform that alchemy. And what stone is it which is called the philosopher’s stone? It is the heart of the divine man: whomever it touches it turns into gold. All living beings, creatures high and low, creatures of the water, creatures of the forest, creatures that fly in the air, insects and worms, their nature, their character, their form, all can be found in man. The character of the bull, the character of the fish, the character of the insect, the character of all the animals can be seen in man. All that we can discover by going through the forest for thousands of miles, we can find in one human personality. All is there, it only needs to be seen, and he can see it whose heart’s eyes are open. Many in this world have their external eyes open but yet are asleep; they are moving about and think they are alive, but there is something which is not awakened and so they cannot see the great treasure which is hidden.

To be continued…