As the ray of divine light which we call the soul journeys toward manifestation, it passes through different realms, and Hazrat Inayat Khan now speaks of two particular types of soul often found amongst the spiritually inclined, one which retains an awareness of the angelic realm, and another which carries an attunement to the realm of the djnn. The previous post in the series is here.
The Hindu word deva* denotes an angel-man, and the Sufi term for this is farishta khaslat.** Every soul has as its first expression angelic life, and therefore it is not surprising if man shows angelic traits in his life, for it is in the depth of his soul. The soul coming through different spheres and planes of existence partakes of different attributes; and the attributes of the lower world become so collected and gathered around the soul, that it almost forgets its very first experience of itself, its purest being. The soul that through all the worldly experiences has a tendency to turn towards its origin, its angelic state, shows a different character from the general characteristics of human beings. This soul shows the tendency of the compass, that always points in a certain direction, whichever way it is moved or turned; and it is the same with a soul whose nature it is to be pointing to the origin and source from which every soul comes.
Now this soul may have the same tendency from childhood and through youth, and when grown-up it may still have the same tendency; it may develop it more and more, but this tendency is born with the soul and its magnetism is great. It attracts every other soul, because it is in contact with its real self, and that real self is the real self of every soul which it contacts; and therefore it acts as a magnet towards these souls. Deva is the name of this pure kind of human soul.
The next type of soul is the jinn. This is characteristic of a soul that keeps in contact with the inner region, which is reflected outwardly in all that is beautiful. While the soul of every person is looking for the beauty which is outward, the attention of the jinn soul is directed not so much to the beauty which is reflected outwardly as it is to the source of that beauty which is within.
It is among those who live the inner life that these two characteristic types of the deva and the jinn are mostly to be found, because they are less absorbed in the life of this world, and thus more attracted to the inner life. It does not mean that they are not occupied with the worldly life; it does not mean that they take no interest in this world; in fact it is the interest in the external life which brings the soul towards it. If the soul were not interested in the world, it would not come; it is its interest which brings it. But to such a soul, while the external life is of interest, at the same time it is a disappointment. All that interests a fine soul in this world only interests it as long as the soul does not touch it; once it has touched it, this soul loses interest. Its natural inclination is to withdraw. The things which hold the average soul cannot hold this soul. They can only attract, for this soul is seeking for something, and it sees its reflection outwardly, but when it touches it, it finds it was a shadow and was not real, and it goes back disappointed; and so the life of the deva or jinn is spent in this manner.
*A Sanskrit word, literally meaning ‘light,’ and by extension a celestial being.
**A Persian term; ‘farishta’ = ‘angel’, ‘khaslat’ = ‘quality or nature.’
To be continued…