Tagore says:
‘When the string of the violin
was being tuned it felt the pain of being
stretched, but once it was tuned then it knew why it
was stretched’. So it is with the human soul. While the soul
goes through pain, torture and trouble it thinks that it would
have been much better if it had gone through life without
it. But once it reaches the culmination of it then,
when it looks back, it begins to realize why
all this was meant: it was only meant
to tune the soul to a
certain pitch.
One learns to understand
that there is a world in one’s self,
that in one’s mind there is a source of
happiness and unhappiness, the source of
health and illness, the source of light and darkness,
and that it can be awakened, either mechanically or at will,
if only one knew how to do it. Then one does not blame his
ill fortune nor complain of his fellow man. He becomes
more tolerant, more joyful, and more loving toward
his neighbor, because he knows the cause of
every thought and action, and he sees
it all as the effect of a
certain cause.
…Therefore, the work
of the mystic is to be able to read
the language of the mind. As the clerk
in the telegraph office reads letters from the
ticks, so the Sufi gets behind every word spoken to
him and discovers what has prompted the word to come out.
He therefore reads the lines which are behind man’s thought,
speech, and action. He also understands that every kind of
longing and craving in life, good or bad, has its source
in deep impression. By knowing this root of the
disease he is easily able to find out its cure.
No impression is such that it
cannot be erased.
Sattva, the activity that always results in good, is the controlled activity, when we have a rein over it. This is the most difficult to attain, and needs the work and effort of a whole lifetime. All the saints and sages have had to journey through these grades and learn from experience, and they understand how difficult it is to attain control over our activity in life.
There are two ways in which we may attain control over our activity. The first is confidence in the power of our own will; to know that if we have failed today, tomorrow we will not do so. The second is to have our eyes wide open, and to watch keenly our activity in all aspects of life. It is in the dark that we fall, but in the light we can see where we are going.
The Sufi moral is this:
Love another and do not depend
upon his love; and: do good to another
and do not depend upon receiving good
from him; serve another and do not look
for service from him. All you do for another
out of your love and kindness, you should think
that you do, not to that person, but to God. And
if the person returns love for love, goodness
for goodness, service for service, so much
the better. If he does not return it, then
pity him for what he loses; for his
gain is much less than
his loss.
Do not look for thanks
or appreciation for all the good you do to
others, nor use it as a means to stimulate your vanity.
Do all that you consider good for the sake of
goodness, not even for a return
of that from God.
Whenever we see
that goodness is lacking,
we may add to it from our own heart
and so complete the nobility of human nature.
This is done by patience, tolerance, kindness, forgiveness.
The lover of goodness loves every little sign of goodness.
He overlooks the faults and fills up the gaps by
pouring out love and supplying that
which is lacking. This is real
nobility of soul.