At the close of the first instalment of the series, Hazrat Inayat Khan suggests that the best way to follow a prophetic message is to adopt the manner of the prophet. Now he considers the service that is entrusted to a prophet.
What is asked of a prophet? The prophetic soul must of necessity rise so high that it can hear the voice of God, yet at the same time it must bend so low that it can hear every little whisper of human beings. Even the slightest lack of consideration or regard for those who wished to attract their attention has been noticed and remarked in the lives of the prophets. Being a prophet means to live in heaven and to live on the earth at the same time. The heart of the prophet is meant to be a harp, every string of it tuned to its proper pitch, in order that God may play His music upon it. And it is that celestial music which is called the divine message.
That is why many of the ancient scriptures were named Gitas, or Gathas, which mean the same thing: music. The gospel of Krishna is called Bhagavad-Gita, which means the Song Celestial, the Song of God; and the Parsis call their sacred scripture Gatha. The Jewish scriptures are chanted when recited; also the Quran is recited in the form of singing.
Every musician knows how difficult it is to keep his violin in tune, especially when it is shaken; but the heart is incomparably more susceptible and gets out of tune far more easily. It is for this reason that the seers and mystics sought solitude and kept themselves away from the crowd; but the prophet, by the nature of his mission, is placed in the midst of the crowd. It is the problem of life in the crowd which he has to solve; and yet not solve it intellectually, as everyone wishes to do, but spiritually, by keeping that instrument, the heart, in proper tune with the Infinite, so that he may get the answer to all the questions arising at every moment of the day.
Thus it is that even the presence of the prophet is the answer to every question. Without having spoken one word, the prophet gives the answer; but if a restless and confused mind cannot hear it, then that mind receives the answer in words. The answer of the prophet uproots every question; but the answer always comes from the heart of the prophet without his even having been asked a question. For the prophet is only the medium between God and man; therefore the answer is from God.
The Prophet does not answer a question because he reads the mind. It is the mind of the one who asks the question which strikes, on the inner plane, that divine bell which is the heart of the prophet, and God, hearing the bell, answers. The answer comes as if words were put into the mouth of the prophet. Thus the prophet need not ponder upon the question he is asked. The question automatically draws the answer from him. This rule is applied not only to individuals, but also to the multitude. A thousand people may be listening to a prophet at the same time, each having a different question in his mind, and yet the question of each one of them will be answered. In the same way the true character of the sacred scriptures is such that even the book can answer the question if a person opens it automatically in order to find the solution to a certain problem. And if the book can give an answer, then one can expect more from the prophet, for the soul of the prophet is the living book. His heart is the sacred scripture.
In the outer sense of the word, religion is a form given to the worship of God, and a law given to a community to help them to live harmoniously. In the inner sense of the word, religion means a staircase made for the soul to climb and reach that plane where truth is realized. Both these aspects of religion may be found in the words and in the soul of the prophet: his words, the law; his message, the wisdom; and his being, that peace which is the seeking of every soul. God has never manifested as Himself in this world of variety, where every thing and every being, although it is a divine expression, yet has its limitations. But if the world has been able to believe in God and to recognize God in any being, it is in the godly, it is in the soul which reflects God. With all the arguments for and against the divinity of Christ, no sincere believer in God can deny that God has been reflected in the personality of the Master.
To be continued…