Summer School Suresnes, July 27th, 1923
Wali is the initiate whose will has come close to the Divine Will and he
shows it by the harmony which reigns in his own life, harmony with the friends,
and he himself is in harmony with the adversary also. He shows harmony with the
changing weather and its different influences and in harmony with all he eats
and drinks; he is in harmony with the place he lives and moves about, and he
harmonizes with all atmospheres. And so his will becomes the Will of God, in
other words, the Will of God becomes his will. He does that work for which he is
appointed, mostly in an unknown way. The greater a person is spiritually
advanced, the less assuming he becomes and avoids every show of piety or
spirituality.
Ghaus is the next grade of the initiate. The influence of the ghaus is wider.
He gives up his personality fully to the Divine Guidance. Therefore in the
district, wherever the ghaus may be, an atmosphere will be created of protection
from all kind of dangers, caused by floods and storms and by plagues and
famines.
Qutb is the third degree of a Master of a still higher grade, who becomes
focused to the Divine Mind and who has, to a smaller or greater extent, power
upon all elements and influence upon life. There is an area given under his
domain in which he is responsible for the order and peace of souls.
Nabi is the apostle whose spirit reflects the Spirit of Guidance, in Sanskrit
Bodhisattva, whose work mainly is the giving of the Message in
the form of warning, wakening, preaching, teaching and inspiring those to whom
he may be sent. He comes into the lives of those who are meant to be guided in
the spiritual path. He is sent to the nations when the nations are meant to
change their conditions. He is sent to a community or a race to give warnings.
He is meant to be a reformer in the times when a reform is needed.
Rasul is the world Messenger, who comes to the world for all the people in
the time of the world's need, and brings along with him that inspiration,
influence and power which will harmonize humanity. He may be a king or a pauper,
in all conditions he will fulfill the purpose of his coming on earth; answering
the cry of humanity, he fulfills the purpose of his mission on earth. In Sanskrit
language the very same name is called Maitreya, which means the friend,
the friend of God who is the friend of all.
The question, where does one receive the initiation of the higher orders, may
be answered that no man in the world has the power to give the above said higher
initiations. They are initiated by God Himself and they prove their initiations,
not in their claims but in their works.
Question: Has man to go through the stages wali, ghaus, qutb, nabi, to reach
his goal?
Answer: Not at all. These are not the stages of human perfection, they are
the stages of the servers of humanity. For instance there may be a person who
has reached the goal, yet who had never been a wali, ghaus, or qutb. And yet he
is further than any of them -- he has reached that perfection as Christ has
said: 'Be ye perfect.' Any soul can reach that perfection without having been a
ghaus because there are only two things, the imperfection and perfection. One
can rise from imperfection to perfection. If it had not been possible, it would
not have been mentioned by Christ.
No doubt, the whole world is progressive, every soul is progressive. It may
be one person goes as far as the wali, another goes as far as the qutb, those
are the grades of the servers, not of the perfection. Perfection is something
from which God has not deprived any soul unless that soul deprives himself of
that perfection. God does not deprive any soul of it.
Question: How does one recognize the different grades of initiates, the
different Masters?
Answer: This is a question which is difficult to answer and by giving an
example it will not be difficult. If a person wants to know the difference
between Handel, Bach, Wagner, Beethoven, he must study them, play their music,
become one with their composition. When his soul is charged with that, it will
be easy for him to find it out, because he has become the instrument to find
out. But no third person can say that Bach is greater than Beethoven.
No doubt the initiates they know it themselves and they know one another
also. They do not need to speak in order to know another. They know one another
by the meeting of their glance. They know one another by the words they have
said, also they know one another by just their name mentioned. Their soul
touches the other soul. It takes them no time, when the name of one initiate is
taken before another. If that initiate is a true initiate, the other knows. He
may not be aware of that person, but he instantly knows on the higher planes; he
becomes conscious of it.
One day I was going in a little horse carriage with a person who was a very
great adept. He was an initiate. He was a preacher and thousands of people were
impressed by every word he said. His word was a living word, and we passed
through the district of the poor where among some ragged people who were sitting
in the street and laughing and chatting, there was one person sitting there
among them, no outer form of piety or spirituality or learning or anything --
one among all the others in rags. And this one who was sitting in the carriage,
he at once noticed, greeted him gently and called out in the terms of the
mystic, asking for a word of help, in other words, for benediction. I turned at
him, I saw it also. This man said to me: 'Don't you see the king in his eyes?'
The glance proved it.
And if I were to tell you a little further: What is the reason? What is it of
a wonderful character there? The souls of all are one, from the same source, but
a soul which becomes unveiled shines out, its whole character and nature become
different, that there is nothing that stands before it. If the clouds stand
before it, it will break through, it will shine out by itself. The clouds for
the time may cover the sun, but the nature of the sun is to break through. The
light and the love which come from such souls spontaneously shines out.
You do not recognize such a person by his learning, argument or by his claim.
The recognition is the love and light; all that is divine is love and light, and
that is living. You do not need proof for it; it is the only thing living; all
else is dead in comparison.
Question: Are there always wali, ghaus and qutb in the different parts of
the earth?
Answer: Yes, certainly there are, if our eyes were open to see them and to
recognize them. There is no part of the earth whether East or West where real
souls are not to be found. But the more real soul, the more unassuming; living
perhaps in a humble guise without any noise of greatness or spirituality.
Therefore it is difficult to find and say which is which, unless our heart is
open to find them.
Because the thing is that the very thing which makes a person claim or be
known or seen, which is the false ego, it is the very thing which is not there.
The more spiritual the less egoistic; if there is any sign of spirituality, the
more dead is the false ego, the greater is the soul.
That is why Christ has said: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' whose false
ego has been so crushed and mashed that nothing is left except God. What they do
is exist as God alone, they do not exist.
They are quite different from our everyday attitude: 'that person insulted
me, I cannot forgive all my life.' They are ready to forgive a thousand times.
Without asking they forgive, for goodness is theirs; there is no bitterness
there. There is no desire for revenge there, there is no desire for benefit
there. They cannot stand the harm and hurt to another person, even the worst
person in the world. It is not their pleasure to see anyone suffer, even the
worst person.
They have the love of the mother and father towards the children; so their
love is for the whole humanity and it can even reach that perfection where they
love every little insect and worm, that their love goes out to the trees and
plants.
They do not care what people call them, wali, ghaus or qutb, that does not
increase their honor. It is no pride to them to be anything. The false ego is
dead. Only one thing they know and that is God. And if there is such an
initiation, it is put on them in order to make use of them. Their only desire is
the consciousness of God, that is sufficient for them.
Question: What did you mean by real soul?
Answer: 'Real' I said in this way: there is a real gold and imitation gold.
Gilt will turn out to be not the same. But the real will prove in the end to be
real, as we say 'the real friend.' A person may be a friend one day and turn out
different next time. Just think how man has always loved real, although man
lives in the midst of the world and has to meet with falseness. Yet he has that
innate love of reality. Even in a false thing, as earthly treasure, he seeks for
the real gold. He is not satisfied with the gilt.
If one becomes conscious of the reality which is in oneself, one does not
need to strive for anything else in life. If once a person has got hold of the
real, he needs nothing else, for that is the seeking of every soul.
Question: Are there also five stages of human initiation?
Answer: In the initiations which are given in the esoteric School, there are
five stages. They are the human initiations.
Question: Who leads the soul when there is no nabi on earth?
Answer: A nabi is always on earth, only the nabi appears when there is a
need of appearing.
