Peshkar - Eastern Hemisphere

Overlooking by Hazrat Inayat Khan

2010-12-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

"Overlook the greatest fault of another, but do not partake of it yourself in the smallest degree." Bowl of Saki, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Beloved brothers and sisters,

Living in peace with sisters and brothers makes it necessary to develop the quality of overlooking. What does this mean? We have to be aware that we are looking, that we have a wish to see what we want to see, and that what we see is only a part of what can be seen in every human being.

If we have a wish to see the whole picture, the inner and the outer person, we have to develop overlooking, and be careful not be fooled by outward appearances or by impolite behaviour. In this way we open our hearts towards our brothers and sisters.

Your affectionate sisters,
Maharani and Johara

"It is foolish to be deceived by others; it is wise to see all things, to understand all things, and yet to turn the eyes from all that should be overlooked." Gayan, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Overlooking (Gatheka’s)

There is a tendency which growingly manifests in a person advancing spiritually, and that tendency is overlooking. At times the same tendency might appear as negligence; but in reality negligence is not overlooking, negligence is not looking. Overlooking in other words may be called rising above things. One has to rise in order to overlook; the one who stands beneath life, he cannot overlook, even if he wanted to. Overlooking is a manner of graciousness, it is looking and at the same time not looking; it is to see and not take notice of seeing; it is to be hurt or harmed or disturbed by something, and yet not mind it. It is an attribute of nobleness of nature; it is a sign of souls who are tuned to a higher key.

The one who will take notice of everything that came his way; he will waste his time on a journey which will take all his life to accomplish. While climbing the mountain of life, the purpose of which is to reach its top, if a person will trouble about everything that comes along, he will perhaps never be able to reach the top, he will always be troubling about everything at the bottom of it.

No soul after realizing that life is only four days on this earth will trouble about little things, he will trouble about things which will really matter. In the strife of little things a person loses the opportunity of accomplishing great things in life. One who troubles about small things is small, the soul who thinks of great things is great.

Overlooking is the first lesson of forgiveness. This tendency comes out of love and sympathy for when one hates one takes notice of every little fault, but when one loves another one naturally overlooks the faults, and very often tries to turn the faults of the one a person loves into merits. Life has endless things which suggest beauty and numberless things which suggest ugliness, there is no end of merits and no end of faults, and it is according to one's evolution in life that one's outlook on life is. The higher one has risen, the wider the horizon before his sight.

It is the tendency to sympathize which brings a person the desire to overlook, and it is the analytical tendency which weighs and measures and takes good notice of everything. "Judge ye not," said Christ, "lest ye be judged." The more one thinks of this lesson, the deeper it goes in his heart, and all he learns from it, is to try and overlook all that does not fit in with his own ideas as to how things ought to be in life, till he comes to the stage of realization where the whole life seems to him one sublime vision of the immanence of God.

2010-10-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

From everywhere we hear the cry of democracy, of freedom, of equality, but we do not see the right attitude that makes man man. Brotherhood 2, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Beloved ones of God,

Equality is one of the most important aspects of brother- and sisterhood. We all have a different understanding of the meaning of the word equality.

Equality doesn't mean that everything or everybody has to be exactly the same/identical. Hierarchy is often interpreted in terms of balance of power, but in reality it is merely a distinction between differences. Hazrat Inayat Khan teaches us to see the differences, but at the same time respect them without judging.

In this sense, practising equality is a mystical quality.

With love and respect,

Maharani and Johara

The aristocratic spirit of nobleness and the democratic spirit of tolerance bring about equality, that brings about the balance we long for in life. The Message papers, Hazrat Inayat Khan

An aspect of individual harmony is practiced in one's contact with another. Every being has an individual ego produced from his own illusion. This limits his view which is led in the direction of his own interest; and he judges of good and bad, high or low, right or wrong in relation to himself and others through his limited view, which is generally partial and imaginary rather than true. This darkness is caused by the overshadowing of the soul by the external self. Thus a person becomes blind to his own infirmities as well as to the merits of another: the right action of another becomes wrong in his eyes and the fault of the self seems right. This is the case with mankind in general, until the veil of darkness is lifted from his eyes.

It is a most natural desire of the human soul to seek for happiness and comfort. Man desires principles to guide his life, and he wishes for a moral standard to regulate the life of the community. He wishes for a balance of activity and repose; he desires union with the one whom he loves; he wishes for security of all that belongs to him, a settled reciprocity, a fixed give-and-take, and all things which bring about happiness and peace at home and in the nation.

It is very easy to talk about equality, and it is very easy to consider all kinds of excellent points of view. When you hear the word equality it seems a beautiful thing, it sounds very nice, it seems a religious, a philosophical idea. But what is life, if it is not a symphony? And is not every person a note in this symphony? Suppose that you want to hear music and that all the notes are the same. How would you enjoy that music? If all notes are equal, there is no music; if all persons are the same, there is no symphony. The way to understand equality is different: it is rising to the best, to the highest pitch. And everyone can rise to that pitch if he wants to rise.

What is Gods gift? (Social Gatheka)

2010-10-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Every moment of life is an opportunity, and the greatest opportunity is to know the value of opportunity. Gayan, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Beloved ones of God,

By meeting so many people from different countries during the Summer School, but also by Maharani's recent visit to Russia, we had the experience what it means to be all children of God. We are touched by the feeling that language or culture does not stand in the way of real contact from heart to heart.

This inspired us to share with you that mystic feeling of brother- and sisterhood. That is why we will focus on that beautiful feeling in the near future. The first text of Hazrat Inayat Khan is all-embracing and in the coming months we will focus on the different aspects.

With greetings from our heart,

Maharani and Johara

One seeks elsewhere for happiness, whereas happiness in reality is right there within one's own being, providing that the want for happiness for oneself has been overcome. Spiritual Liberty, Inner Teachings, No. 30, Hidayat Inayat-Khan

What is Gods gift? (Social Gathekas)

In working in the line of brotherhood our main object is to bring about a better understanding among the different classes, the followers of different religions, and people of different races and different nations. But by this we do not mean to mix them up. If this were our idea, it would have been quite a different thing. We want to let the farms of wheat be farms of wheat; on the farms where rice grows, let rice grow; where there are woods, let there be woods; where there are gardens, let there be gardens; all things are necessary.

Our ideas have not reached to the extreme of cooking all things in the same dish. We do not wish to stretch the fingers so as to make them all even, for their natural size is the proper size for them. Our imagination of equality has not yet reached that idea. Only our motive is that East and the West, the North and the South, instead of turning their backs to each other, may turn their faces to each other. We do not wish that all people in the world should be of the same religion or the same education or the same customs and manners; nor do we think that all classes must become one class, - which is impossible.

We wish that all classes may blend into each other and yet every individual may have his own individual expression in life; all nations may have their peculiarity, their individuality, but at the same time they may express good-will and friendly feelings toward one another; different races may have their own manners and their own ideas, but at the same time they may understand each other; that the followers of different religions may belong to their own religions, but at the same time may become tolerant to each other. Therefore our idea of brotherhood is not in any way extreme.

The motive is not to change humanity, but to help humanity on toward sits goal. People may belong to one church and they may fight with one another. It is just as well that they should belong to different churches, and yet understand each other and respect each other's religion, and tolerate one another. People may belong to one institution and disagree with one another. Then what is the use of that institution? Therefore, it is not at all the mission of the Order to make the whole humanity followers of one special order, but to give to humanity what God has given us, and destined it that we may serve His cause.

Social Gathekas, Poetry, Part 2

2010-07-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Brotherhood and Sisterhood Activity
From the Desk of the Peshkar
Eastern Hemisphere, West Indies, and Suriname
Maharani de Caluwe-Rombout, Peshkar
Johara Steingrover, Assistant Peshkar

"When the human heart becomes conscious of God, it becomes like the sea: it extends its waves to friend and foe." Gayan, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Dear family,

Can you image that it is possible to compare poets with farmers? It depends upon what one feels, thinks, says, and does. It is the beauty of words and meanings that make them illuminating and live-giving. A Sufi's way to express poetry is by living in Love, Harmony and Beauty.

The next message will be send in September after the summer holidays.

Wishing you a lot of love and light,

Your sisters,
Maharani and Johara

"Truth conceived by the mature soul is expressed as poetry." Gayan, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Social Gathekas, Poetry, Part 2, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Now coming to the question, what wakens the soul to this rhythm which brings about poetry? It is something that touches in the poet that predisposition of the soul which is called love. For with love, harmony comes, beauty comes, rhythm, light and life come. It seems that all that is good and beautiful and worth attaining is centred in that one spark that is hidden in the heart of man. When the heart speaks of its joy, of its sorrow, it is all interesting, it is all appealing. The heart does not tell a lie, it always tells the truth, for by love it becomes sincere and it is through the sincere heart that true love manifests.

One may love in a company where there is always amusements, pastimes, mirth and merriment, and one may live that life for twenty years, but the moment one realizes the movement in the depth of one's heart one feels that the whole twenty years of life was nothing. One moment of life with a living heart is better worthwhile that a hundred years of life with a heart that is dead. Many do we see in this world with fortune and every comfort and all that they need in life yet living a shallow life, with nothing in their lives more unhappy perhaps than one who is starving for days together. He is more to be pitied whose soul is starving than one whose body only is starving. For the one whose body is starving is yet alive, but he whose soul is starved is dead.

Those who have shown great inspiration and who have given to the world precious words of wisdom, they were the farmers who ploughed furrows in the soil of the heart. That is the reason why there are few poets in this world, for the path of the poet is contrary to the path of the worldly man. The real poet, although he exists on this earth, yet dreams of a different world from where he gets his ideas. The true poet is seer at the same time, or else he could not bring the subtle ideas which touch the heart of the reader. The true poet is a lover and admirer of beauty. If his soul was not impressed by beauty he could not bring out beauty in his poetry.

2010-06-13T16:00:00.001-07:00

Dear brothers and sisters,

"Open our hearts towards Thy beauty", are such beautiful and poetic words from the Sufi prayer Saum by Hazrat Inayat Khan. If we meditate upon these words, we will experience the feelings behind the actual words. The more we are connected with these feelings, the more we find the Divine beauty in the depth of our heart. If we can feel the Divine beauty in our own heart, we know that we can find this Beauty in the heart of each brother and sister.

Although we don't know you all in person, we feel very much connected with every one of you.

In Love, Harmony and Beauty,
Your sisters Maharani and Johara

It is those who have touched the inner beauty who are able to appreciate beauty in all its forms.
Aphorismen, Hazrat Inayat Khan

(Gatheka 9)
The interdependence of life within and without

If one examines life, one will find that the mind and body are formed from what one takes from the outer world. In the words of Christ, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." All that one values is that which one makes in oneself; one creates in oneself all that one values. No doubt when a person is an admirer of beauty he or she will always partake of all that he or she sees as beauty: beauty of form, of color, of line, and beyond that, beauty of manner and of attitude, which is a greater beauty still.

No doubt at this time in the condition of the world people ignore very much the beauty of culture and fineness. No doubt it gives warning that the world, instead of going forward, is going backward, because civilization is not only industrial development or material culture. If that is called civilization, it is not the right word for the right thing. And the explanation of civilization is not very difficult to give. It is progress toward harmony, beauty, and love. When one goes back from these three great principles of life, one may be very creative, but at the same time it is not civilization.

No doubt every race and every creed has its principles of right and wrong, but there is one fundamental principle of religion and one in which all creeds and all peoples can meet; that principle is to see beauty in action, in attitude, in thought, and in feeling. There is no action upon which there is a stamp this is "wrong" or "right." But what can be wrong or wicked is what our mind is accustomed to see as wrong or wicked because it is void of beauty.

Therefore, the one who seeks beauty in all its forms, in action, in feeling, and in manner, will impress their heart with beauty. All the great ones who have come into the world from time to time to waken humanity to a greater truth, what did they teach, what did they bring? They brought beauty. It is not what they taught. it is what they were themselves. The intellectual understanding of beauty, or talking about beauty, is not enough; one cannot talk, one cannot speak enough about it. Words are too inadequate to express either goodness or beauty. One can say a thousand words, and yet one will never be able to express it. For it is something which is beyond words, and the soul alone can understand it.

The one who always follows in one's life, in every little thing one does, the rule of beauty, will always succeed, and will always be able to discriminate between right and wrong and between good and bad.