During his trip to the United States in 1925-26, Hazrat inayat Khan took advantage of the new technology to give several short addresses over the radio. The Inner Call has posted the text of one delivered from New York on Christmas Day of 1925, and the following message was broadcast in Detroit on February 1st, 1926.
Beloved Ones of God,
The Message that I am destined to bear to you is not the Message of the East to the West but the Message of Heaven to the earth, the Message of God to man. It is time now that humanity be warned, not necessarily by a particular creed but by wisdom’s message, which is the essence of all religions, to waken to that reality which is the underlying truth in all religions.
What humanity has needs no increasing, for it increases all the same. The plant of wealth bears fruits in all abundance if only it be reared attentively. What we need consider today is the question, “What makes us poor in spite of all the treasures that the earth can hold for us?”
Man knows so little about the purpose of his life, and so through success and failure both he remains discontented, and yet he does not know what his soul is yearning for, what really the purpose of his life is. The one who really knows the purpose of his life, is blessed. Some think duty is the great virtue, others think riches is the greatest boon; some, thinking life here is for four days, prepare for the hereafter, and some think : “Who knows what will come after this? The only thing is to make the best of the present.” All of these have their own way and that is the best for them, but each individual has a certain purpose in life peculiar to himself. His heart cannot rest until this purpose is realised. Even the knowing of his life’s purpose gives a soul a renewed inspiration and power to accomplish it, as it is said: “Blessed is he who seeth the star of his soul as the light that is seen in the port from the sea.”* The ultimate purpose of all souls is one and the same; that is, to realise the inner beings and thereby to rise above the limitations of the life on earth.
As instinct is an inborn wisdom in the lower creation, so is intuition in man; the finer the man, the greater is his intuition, though every fine soul more or less gets an impression of persons and conditions and of affairs. No dream, however meaningless it may seem, is ever without meaning, but vision, which is manifest in sleep or in wakened condition, often illustrates the actual condition. It is the intuitive who are inspirational. Without inspiration, art, poetry, music are as nothing, It is the inspired ones whose works live for centuries and retain the same charm for ever. Revelation is the culmination of knowledge. Life is communicative, but there is no communication between the soul and life when we do not see and hear with the eyes and ears of our heart. Once we begin to see and hear, we shall say with the Sufi : that every leaf of the tree becomes a page of the Holy Scripture, for the soul has opened its eyes and has begun to read.
Much on this subject can be said and there is never said enough. But time is limited. So now I just thank you for your response, my invisible audience.
God bless you.
*From Suras, Gayan.