The being of man is a mechanism of body and mind. When this mechanism is in order there is happiness, fullness of life; when anything is wrong with the mechanism, the body is ill and peace is gone. And this mechanism depends upon winding, just as a clock is wound and then goes on for twenty-four hours; so also in meditation, when a person sits in a reposeful attitude and puts the mind in a condition of repose and regulates the work of this mechanism by the process of meditation, it is like winding. Its effect is felt all the time, because the mechanism is put in order.
It is therefore that the belief of a mystic is not an outward belief in a deity he has not seen; the mystic’s worship is not only an outer form, that by saying prayers his worship is finished. He makes the best use of the outer things, and he will, if possible, unite them with the mystical conception, but at the same time his pursuit is logical, scientific; mysticism is the scientific explanation and also the realization of things taught by religion, things which otherwise would have no meaning to an ordinary person. When an ordinary person reads about the kingdom of God and heaven, he reads these names but he does not know where heaven is; he feels there is a God, but there is no evidence. And therefore a large number of intellectual people who really are seeking the truth, are going away from the outer religion because they cannot find the explanation, and consequently they become materialistic. The mystic says the explanation of the whole religion is investigation of self. The more one explores oneself, the more one will understand all religions in the fullest light and all will become clear. Sufism is only a light thrown upon your own religion, like a light brought into a room where are all the things that you want; the one thing needed was light.
Yes, the mystic is not always ready to give his answer to every person. Can parents always answer every question of their infant children? No. There are questions which can be answered, and there are some for which we should wait until that person shall come to that point, until he understands. I used to be fond of a poem which I did not understand, and yet I could not find a satisfactory explanation. After ten years, all of a sudden, in one second’s time a light was thrown upon it, and I understood. There was no end to my joy. Does it not show that everything has its time?
When people become impatient and ask for an answer, something will be answered, something cannot be answered; and the answer will come in its time. One has to wait. Has anyone in the world been able to say to the full what is God, even with all the scriptures and prophets? God is an ideal too high and great for words to explain. Can anyone explain such a word as love, or say what is truth?
Very often people ask what is truth? I often felt as if I should write the word truth on a brick in charcoal and put it into their hands and say, “There, hold this, then you can hold truth!” If truth is to be attained, it is only attained when truth itself has begun to speak, which comes about in revelation. Truth reveals itself; therefore the Persian word for truth is Khuda, which means self-revealing, for this word unites God with truth. So God is truth. Neither can one explain the first nor the second word. The only help the mystic can give is regarding how to arrive at this revelation. No one can teach this, nor learn it from another; he has to learn himself. The teacher is only there to guide him to this revelation. There is only one teacher, who is God; and the great masters of the world, they were the greatest pupils, they knew how to become a pupil.
How is it all taught or brought to the consciousness of those who tread the path of truth? By Bayat, by initiation. It is a trust from someone who guides one that is treading the path. The treader of the path must be willing to risk the difficulties of the path; to be sincere, faithful, undoubting, not pessimistic nor sceptical, else his efforts will not reach his aim. He must come whole-heartedly, or else not come. Half-heartedness has no value. And then what is necessary is some intellectual understanding of the metaphysical aspect of life, which some have, but not all. What is necessary besides are the qualities of the heart: love as the first principle, which is known to be divine. Then action, such action as will not hinder in the path of truth; such action as creates greater and greater harmony, and then repose.
That which is learned by the study of one year is learned by the silence of one day, if one only knows the real way of silence.