«God looked down from Heaven upon the children of men,
to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. »

Psalm 53. 2.

BEFORE a man can aspire to know God he must first know and understand the mystery of love.

 « He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love. »

But loving does not mean always living in a state of bliss, neither does it imply being loved, the true and inner meaning is complete surrender of self, the sacrifice of everything that stands between the soul and the object of its devotion, when such surrender is perfected there will be no place for the desire to be loved, there would be no recipient if the merging is complete. Man cannot love God until he knows how to love, that is the first lesson which Life the Great Initiator tries to impart to every man for

«Love has the power to open the door of Eternal Life. »

Inayat Khan.

When the Disciple has learnt it innermost mystery of self-abnegation, he seeks an ever increasing greatness in which to lose himself; until at last God becomes to him an absolute necessity. It is at this stage he realizes his need, and utters the cry of all true seekers, «O! that I knew where I might find Him « and perhaps for the first time understands the Soul's longing to break the bonds of illusion and to escape from all that is holding it back from union with God.

« Self stands as a wail between man and God. »

Inayat Khan.

As no man can love unless he has found the object of his desire, God must first be Sought and then made a living reality to the seeker, every man's realization will be for himself alone and cannot be communicated to another

"And ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye Shall search for Me with all your heart "

Jer. 29. 13.

God can never be explained because each soul would receive a different vision or realization, and if one who had been privileged to lift even a corner of one of the « seventy thousand veils of illusion « were to attempt to explain, his lips would be sealed ; only those who are themselves ignorant of the true nature of God are anxious and willing to offer explanation to others.

Although by the practice of loving to the point of self-forgetfulness God can be made a living reality in the heart of all who seek with singleness of purpose to love and Serve Him « For love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God « ultimate knowledge cannot be attained until the Sacred Name is pronounced ; the letters and syllables composing that most Holy Name have been scattered throughout the whole Universe, they must first be sought and found, then arranged in their true order, ere the Lost Word can be uttered. Mystery of mysteries, how can it even be suggested without entirely obliterating the meaning? But each syllable found by one who is truly seeking, spells God for him and he then has within himself the absolute conviction which can never be shaken of the existence of God as a living reality. A Sufi Sage has said

«Continue thy seeking until the Seeking unveils Itself and destroys thyself in Thee. »

The all-embracingness of God is so vast, including as it must the ultimate satisfaction and completion of every man's highest ideal of perfection, each one of which is necessarily different, that it is an impossibility for any human being with his limited view even to imagine any other interpretation of Perfection than that which it means to himself, Infinity cannot be grasped by a finite mind, not until the Many become One can God be known.

«The secret of God is hidden in the realization of unity. »

Inayat Khan.

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