Social Gatheka Number 17

But man's greatest privilege in life is to become a suitable instrument of God, and until he knows this he has not realized his true purpose in life. And the whole tragedy in the life of man is his ignorance of this fact. From the moment that man realizes this he lives the real life, the life of harmony between God and man. When Jesus Christ said, 'seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you,' this teaching was in answer to the cry of humanity, one crying, 'I have no wealth,' and another crying, I have no rest,' and another crying, 'my situation in life is difficult,' another, 'my friends are troubling me,' another, 'I want position, wealth.' And the answer to all is, 'seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.'

A person may ask, 'how, from a practical point of view, from a scientific point of view, can we understand this?' The answer is, 'all that is external is not in direct connection with you, and is therefore unattainable in many cases. Therefore sometimes you can attain your wish, but many times you fail. But by seeking the kingdom of God you seek the center of all that is within and without, and all that is in Heaven and on earth is directly connected with the center, and therefore from the center you are able to reach all that is on earth and in Heaven, but when you reach what is not at the center all may be snatched away from you.

In the Quran it is written, 'God is the light of the heavens and of the earth.' Besides the desire to obtain the things of the earth there is that innermost desire unconsciously working at every moment of life, and that desire is to come in touch with the infinite. When a painter is painting, when a musician is singing or playing, if he thinks, 'it is my painting, my playing, my music,' perhaps he has a satisfaction, but it is like a drop in the ocean. But if he connects his painting, his music with the consciousness of God, if he thinks, 'it is Thy painting, Thy music, not mine, then he connects himself with the center, and his life becomes the life of God.

In life there is much that one can call good, and there is much to be contented with, and there is much that one can admire if one can only bring about that attitude, and it is that that can make man contented and make his life happy. Another thing is that God is the painter of all this beautiful creation, and if you do not connect yourself with the painter you cannot admire his painting. When one goes to the house of a friend whom one likes and admires, every little thing is so pleasant, but when one goes to the house of an enemy every thing is disagreeable.

Then your devotion, your love, your friendship for God can make this whole creation a source of happiness to you. In the house of a dear friend a loaf of bread, a glass of milk is most delicious and in the house of one we dislike all the best dishes are useless. And as soon as one begins to realize that the many mansions of the house of the Father are this world with many religions, many races, many nations, which are yet the house of God, then, however humble and difficult the situation in life, it must become, sooner or later, happier and better, because we feel that we are in the house of the one we love, we admire, and all that we meet with we take with love and gratitude because it comes from the one whom we love.

Friends, if we can think for a moment of the condition of the world just now, how the nations, the communities, the churches, the religions, all divide humanity, the children of one Father Who loves them all without distinction! Man with all his claim of civilization, of progress, seems to have fallen into the greatest error. For centuries the world has not been in such a state as it is just now, one nation hating another, looking with contempt on another. What can we call it? Is it progress, or is it standstill, or is it worse than that? Is this not the time when thinking souls should open their eyes from sleep, and devote themselves to the effort, to the work of doing what good they can to humanity to better the conditions of the world, and when each one is thinking only of his own interest, to think of the interest of all?

The Sufi Message brings to the world the message of unity, of uniting in the Fatherhood of God beyond all differences and distinctions. The chief object of the Sufi Movement is to bring about a friendly understanding between people of different nations and races, to bring closer together people of different religions in one understanding, the understanding of the Truth. Is it not then the message of Christ, the message which brought the tidings of the love of God and the unity of mankind in the love of God? There cannot be two religions, there is always one religion, and there cannot be a new religion, there is always only one, as Solomon has said that there is nothing new under the sun. Whenever the message of love and wisdom is given it is not a new religion, it is the revivification of the religion, to bring to man the realization of the truth of the religion he follows.

Therefore the Sufi order does not bring a new religion, it brings that life and that light which is necessary to revivify that religion that has always existed. Those who have taken interest in the objects that the Sufi Order has set before itself are in America, England, France, and now some in Switzerland. Their idea is to study the questions that belong to the deeper side of life, also to receive personal guidance from the Teacher in the way of silence, in the way of meditation, in understanding the way of looking at life and of thinking of God. All are welcome in it, whatever be their faith, whatever their religion, since there is a strength to understand one's own religion and not an idea that could bring a man to leave his religion.