Hazrat Inayat Khan continues to unfold the spiritual truth hidden with the forms of idolatry. The previous post in the series is here.
Man in all ages has been dramatic. He is an actor by nature, and it is his greatest pleasure to make a drama of his life and to play a part in it himself. This spirit is also hidden within the Church and the nation, and it is this same spirit which wears a crown or accepts the patched robes of a dervish. When this natural attitude plays its part in religious or spiritual life, its first tendency is to place before itself a Lord, a King, or a Master before whom it can bow. And it has given man a tendency to idealize God in a human form or to idealize a human name and form as God.
Though there exists, always has existed, and always will exist diversity of religions, faiths, and beliefs, yet human nature will always remain the same everywhere and in all ages. And the one who knows this human tendency will understand the religion of all, and he will consider all others as belonging to his religion, the one and only religion of wisdom.
Man is accustomed to believe in the reality of things that he can touch and perceive, and he may believe in an ideal that is beyond his touch and perception although he cannot be certain of its existence. Moreover, the absence of that ideal prevents him from expressing his worship. He doubts, and wonders to whom he is praying, whether there exists such a being as God, and, if there does exist such a being, what He looks like. And as not everyone has a beautiful imagination that satisfies him, so not everyone is capable of picturing in his mind the ideal of his worship. It is musicians who compose music, though everybody can sing or hum a little. It is the painter who paints a picture, though everybody can draw a little to amuse himself. And so it was those with imagination above the ordinary who gave a picture of their imagination to the world in the form of myth, which was then reproduced by art and made into an idol. In ancient times this seemed the only way possible to uplift humanity.
The Hindus were the earliest to form the conception of three aspects of the Divinity, which they called Trimurti: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer, and Shiva the Destroyer. These three powers keep the whole universe in balance and they are active in everything in the world. Brahma was represented with four arms, which signifies that besides the physical arms there are mental arms, which are necessary in the scheme of creation. And Vishnu is pictured seated on a cobra. This indicates the power of destruction that is waiting like a cobra to devour every activity; to take away fame from the famous, wealth from the rich, and power from the powerful. He who can rest upon this power is the sustainer of all activities and interests in life.
The picture of Shiva is that of an ascetic, from whose head spring rivers, round whose neck is a cobra, ashes on his body, a bull his vehicle. In this picture the cobra signifies destruction which has been accepted: all that man fears is wrapped around his neck, while ashes are significant of annihilation: everything that has gone through a perfect destruction turns into ashes. Rivers springing from the head show a constant spring of inspiration as the inspiration of a mystic is limitless. And the bull signifies one with simple faith, who, without reasoning, accepts the truth, which one cannot readily accept intellectually.
There are three goddesses who show the other aspect of these natures. Sarasvati, the consort of Brahma, who rides on a peacock, with four hands of which two are holding a vina, the third a rosary, the fourth a book, which means that music, learning and contemplation are creative. And the peacock represents the beauty which is in art. The goddess of Vishnu is Lakshmi, who stands on a lotus with a crown of gold. She has four hands, in one of them a Sankha, an ancient weapon, in another a Kamala, a lotus flower, which indicates that the goddess of wealth has all the beauty of life at her feet, and delicacy and tenderness in her hands. The weapon represents the power that is needed to hold wealth: one arm to collect, the other to give; the crown of gold signifies that the honor of the wealthy is wealth. The third goddess is Parvati, the consort of Shiva.
These are the lessons given to humanity in order that they may study the different aspects of life with the thought of sacredness.
To be continued…