Hazrat Inayat Khan now shows the importance of breath for the understanding of the Word. The previous post is here.
Man breathes, but he does not breathe rightly. As the rain falls on the ground and matures little plants and makes the soil fertile, so the breath, the essence of all energy, falls as a rain on all parts of the body. This also happens in the case of the mind, but man cannot even perceive that part of the breath that quickens the mind; only that felt in the body is perceptible, and to the average man it is not even perceptible in the body. He knows nothing of it, except what appears in the form of inhalation and exhalation through the nostrils. It is this alone which is generally meant when man speaks of breath.
When we study the science of breath, the first thing we notice is that breath is audible; it is a word in itself, for what we call a word is only a more pronounced utterance of breath fashioned by the mouth and tongue. In the capacity of the mouth breath becomes voice, and therefore the original condition of a word is breath. Therefore if we said: ‘First was the breath’, it would be the same as saying, ‘In the beginning was the word’.
The first life that existed was the life of God, and from that all manifestation branched out. It is a manifold expression of one life: one flower blooming as so many petals, one breath expressing itself as so many words. The sacred idea attached to the lotus flower is expressive of this same philosophy. It is symbolizing the many lives in the one God, and expressed in the Bible in the words: ‘In God we live and move and have our being’. When man is separated from God in thought, his belief is of no use to him, his worship is of but little use to him, for all forms of worship or belief should draw man closer to God, and that which makes man separate from God has no value.
What is it that makes a word sacred or important? Is not every word as sacred and important as another? That is true – but for whom is it sacred? For the pure and exalted souls to whom every word breathes the name of God, but not for the average man. There are souls who are at that stage of evolution in which every word is the sacred name. But when a teacher gives a method, it is not given to the exalted souls but to beginners, and therefore words are selected and given to pupils by the guru or teacher, as a physician would give a prescription, knowing for which complaint and for what purpose it is given. Hafiz says: ‘Accept every instruction thy teacher giveth, for he knoweth which is thy path and where is thy good’.
Great importance is given by the mystics to the number of repetitions, for numbers are a science and every number of repetitions has a certain value. One repetition means one thing and a few more mean something quite different, as in medicine one grain of a drug may heal and ten may destroy life. When Christ commanded to abstain from vain repetitions he was not, as is often thought, referring to the sacred name as used in worship or religious practices. There was a custom among the Semitic peoples, and it still exists in the East, of the constant use of the name of God by people in the street or market place. They would bring it continually into commerce or business, into quarrels and disputes, and it was against this abuse of the most holy name that Christ was speaking.
To be continued…