This post concludes the text begun here.

There are different human beings in different stages of evolution and it is natural that every human being imagines God according to his particular stage of evolution before he prays.  And it is a question, if anyone else should judge the one who prays, and say : “God is not this or that.” Persons who force their beliefs on others often put them against that belief, even if that were the true belief. It requires a great deal of tact, thought and consideration to explain the belief, or to correct the belief of another. In the first place, it is insolent on the part of  man to want to explain God, although man to-day would like not only to explain, but even to examine whether the spirit of God exists! The other day I was so much amused to hear that there are people who not only want to take photographs of the spirits, but even to weigh the soul! It was a good thing in the ancient times when the state had respect  for the God-ideal and religion, and taught that respect to humanity. Today man wishes to use what he calls ‘freedom’ in religion, even in the foundation of all religions, the God-ideal!

But then it must be remembered that it is not the path of freedom that leads to the goal of freedom, but the path of the God-ideal that leads to the goal of Truth.

The great personalities who have descended on earth from time to time, to awaken in man that Love which is his divine inheritance, found an echo in innocent souls rather than in great intellects. Man often confuses wisdom with cleverness and cleverness with wisdom. But these two are different; man can be wise and can be clever, and man can be clever and not wise, and by cleverness a person will strive and strive and will not reach there. It is a stream, the stream of love which leads towards God.

There is a story that a king was traveling and hunting in the woods; and the king was hungry and stopped at the house of a peasant who treated him very kindly. When the king was leaving this peasant, he was so touched with his kindness that without telling him he was a king, he said to him, “Take this ring, and if ever you are in trouble, come to me in the city, and I will see what I can do for you.” After a time there was a famine and the peasant was in great trouble, and his wife and child were dying, so he set out to come and see this man. Of course, when he showed the ring, he was brought to the king, and when he entered the room, he saw the king busy in prayer.

When the king came near to him, the man said, “What were you doing?” “Praying for peace and love and happiness among my subjects.” “So there is a greater one than you, to whom you must go for what you seek? Then I will go to him, who is greater and on whom even your destiny depends,” said the peasant. He would  accept no help, and at last the king had to send what was needed quietly to his home, first saying that no one must tell him that it came from the king.

The idea is that it is not only belief but faith which is necessary. Belief is a thing, but faith is a living being. And the warners and teachers of humanity, and the great preachers who have come from time to time when darkness prevailed, what message did they bring? Did they bring new religions or new theories to the world? No–when Jesus Christ said, “I have not brought a new law, but I have come to fulfil the law,” then who else at any time could bring a new theory? The scientist, perhaps, but not the spiritual messenger.

Then what did the spiritual message bring? It brought to the world a living God, a light hidden beyond words. With the spiritual message God has sent His life and Light upon the world. What the work of the Sufi Movement is destined to do in the present epoch, is to bring about a better understanding among the followers of the different religions. The Sufi Message is not a new message, although it strikes the note of the day.  It is the re-echo of the same voice, the voice that we heard in all ages. At the present time when races and nations and the followers of different religions are all one against the other, this is a time when the word of unity and peace alone can unite all together in God. The Sufi Order is not a community and not a religion; it is a nucleus of the human brotherhood which is the inner call of every soul. The Sufi Message is given to all nations, it is a call to all races, to the followers of all religions. It teaches people to follow whatever religion they may profess, but to follow it truly, understanding it better: not only to believe in God and the words of Christ, but to have faith in Him and His Divine word. 

We must think of the tolerance of the Master and of His forgiveness, and what the world would be today if we had it, too. If we follow the natural religion, that divine impulse that is in every heart, then we shall be living the true religion.