The following is an address given by Hazrat Inayat Khan to a mureed following Initiation.  It has been transmitted to us by Nargis Jessie Dowland (1866-1953), a mureed who wrote a number of books of mystical reflections, and served for some years as the National Representative of England for the International Sufi Movement.  She was also instrumental in  publishing some of the early works of Hazrat Inayat through the ‘Sufi Book Depot.’

My blessed mureed,
You have entered the path of service, but please understand that by service is meant not necessarily, nor generally, service to some church or  organisation, nor what is called good works.  It is serving those nearest to us in any capacity however insignificant it may seem, which is the real service of God; for that is the beginning of the injunction “to love thy neighbour as thyself.”*  So  easy to say, so difficult to practice, even when it is realised that “All is One.”  Remember, it is service, not knowledge which takes an aspirant to the feet of God.

* Mark 12:31