The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan      

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Volume

Sayings

Social Gathekas

Religious Gathekas

The Message Papers

The Healing Papers

Vol. 1, The Way of Illumination

Vol. 1, The Inner Life

Vol. 1, The Soul, Whence And Whither?

Vol. 1, The Purpose of Life

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

Vol. 2, The Mysticism of Sound

Vol. 2, Cosmic Language

Vol. 2, The Power of the Word

Vol. 3, Education

Vol. 3, Life's Creative Forces: Rasa Shastra

Vol. 3, Character and Personality

Vol. 4, Healing And The Mind World

Vol. 4, Mental Purification

Vol. 4, The Mind-World

Vol. 5, A Sufi Message Of Spiritual Liberty

Vol. 5, Aqibat, Life After Death

Vol. 5, The Phenomenon of the Soul

Vol. 5, Love, Human and Divine

Vol. 5, Pearls from the Ocean Unseen

Vol. 5, Metaphysics, The Experience of the Soul Through the Different Planes of Existence

Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness

Vol. 7, In an Eastern Rose Garden

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

Vol. 8, The Privilege of Being Human

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

Vol. 9, The Unity of Religious Ideals

Vol. 10, Sufi Mysticism

Vol. 10, The Path of Initiation and Discipleship

Vol. 10, Sufi Poetry

Vol. 10, Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Vol. 10, The Problem of the Day

Vol. 11, Philosophy

Vol. 11, Psychology

Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life

Vol. 12, The Vision of God and Man

Vol. 12, Confessions: Autobiographical Essays of Hazat Inayat Khan

Vol. 12, Four Plays

Vol. 13, Gathas

Vol. 14, The Smiling Forehead

By Date

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS

Heading

1. Man, the Purpose of Creation

2. Character-Building

3. Human Nature

4. Self-realization

5. The Art of Personality

6. Man is likened to the Light

7. Truth

8. Selflessness - Inkisar

9. Indifference - Vairagya

10. Independence and Indifference

11. Overlooking - Darquza

12. Graciousness - Khulq

13. Conciliation - Ittifaq

14. Consideration - Murawwat

15. Tact

16. Spirituality

17. Innocence

18. Holiness

19. Resist not Evil

20. Resignation

21. Struggle and Resignation

22. Renunciation

23. Sacrifice

24. Ambition

25. Satisfaction

26. Harmlessness

27. A Question about Vegetarianism

28. Unselfish Actions

29. Expectations

30. Be a Lion Within

31. Humility

31. Moral Culture

33. Hope

34. Patience

35. Confidence

36. Faith

37. Faith and Doubt

38. The Story of Orpheus

39. Happiness

40. The Privilege of Being Human

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

Vol. 8, The Privilege of Being Human

26. Harmlessness

Harmlessness Is a good moral, but the difficulty is that we cannot be good to one without being harmful to another.

  • For instance, we are good to our cat and we give it the lamb's meat to eat; so we are harmful to the lamb.
  • Or we sacrifice the vegetable for the sake of being good to the lamb.
  • We harm the mineral when for the sake of some flowers we put clay in water, bend and knead it and then put in the fire in order to make a bowl to hold the flowers.
  • How many things do we make out of iron, how much do we torment it in order to make ourselves comfortable?
  • How many things do we make out of wood?
  • The lives of how many animals do we sacrifice in order to make ourselves comfortable and happy?
  • As to ourselves, how much do we sacrifice the benefit, the comfort of our fellow-beings for our own benefit?

We do not ponder upon it, but it is so.

How many things do we make out of the bones of animals?

  • Our shoes are made out of the skin of animals; the furs of animals cover us warmly.
  • The flesh of animals we use for our food.
  • Fishes, which never dreamed of harming us, we catch in nets.
  • We load burdens upon horses, camels and elephants,
  • and we take from the calf its share in the form of milk and butter upon which our everyday's livelihood depends.

This shows that what we have built up and have comforted ourselves with is nothing else than tyranny - of which we never stop to think for a while.

We are so placed that we cannot live one instant without being harmful.

In Persian it is said: "Bandagi becharagi," "bondage is helplessness."

Man cannot help being harmful, and without being that he is helpless. It is this dependence, this helplessness, which makes him the servant of God. The Quran speaks of "Abdul Allah," servant of God, and this is the highest title that can be given to man.

The moral is rather to be harmful to the lower creation for the sake of the higher, rather to be harmful to the animal than to man.

  • If a man has stolen your dog, rather let him have the dog, than have him sent to prison, because the man is more valuable than the dog.
  • If your child has hurt the cat a little, and if you shake the child and hurt it, it is a mistake, because the child is of more value than the cat.
  • If an animal has eaten your corn, your flowers and fruits, let the corn go, do not break the back of the animal.

By this moral a person becomes so harmless that in the end he is not harmful any more - not even to the mineral. Harmlessness is the essence of moral.