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

History of the Sufis

Sufism

The Sufi's Aim

The Different Stages of Spiritual Development

The Prophetic Tendency

Seeing

Self-Discipline

Physical Control

Health

Harmony

Balance

Struggle and Resignation

Renunciation

The Difference Between Will, Wish, and Desire

The Law of Attraction

Pairs of Opposites

Resist Not Evil

Judging

The Privilege of Being Human

Our God Part and Our Man Part

Man, the Seed of God

Evolution

Spiritual Circulation Through the Veins of Nature

Destiny and Free Will

Divine Impulse

The Law of Life

Manifestation, Gravitation, Assimilation, and Perfection

Karma And Reincarnation

Life in the Hereafter

The Mystical Meaning of the Resurrection

The Symbol of the Cross

Orpheus

The Mystery of Sleep

Consciousness

Conscience

The Gift of Eloquence

The Power of Silence

Holiness

The Ego

The Birth of the New Era

The Deeper Side of Life

Life's Mechanism

The Smiling Forehead

The Spell of Life

Selflessness

The Conservative Spirit

Character-Building

Respect and Consideration

Graciousness

Overlooking

Conciliation

Optimism and Pessimism

Happiness

Vaccination and Inoculation

Marriage

Love

The Heart

The Heart Quality

The Tuning of the Heart (1)

The Tuning of the Heart (2)

The Soul, Its Origin and Unfoldment

The Unfoldment of the Soul

The Soul's Desire

The Awakening of the Soul (1)

The Awakening of the Soul (2)

The Awakening of the Soul (3)

The Maturity of the Soul

The Dance of the Soul

Sub-Heading

-ALL-

Sympathy

Seeking Knowledge

Seeking Life

Seeking Happiness

Seeking Peace

Seeking an Ideal

Sympathy in the Heart

1. Heart Affected by Environment

2. Heart Influences Circumstances

3. Heart Influences Others

4. Heart Influences Nature

5. Heart Fulfills Duties

6. Sympathizing with All

Vol. 8a, Sufi Teachings

The Tuning of the Heart (1)

6. Sympathizing with All

There is a still higher stage of our development, and that is the attitude of going forth and sympathizing with all we meet. This comes by understanding; the more understanding we have of human nature the more sympathetic we become. Even for those who do not deserve it we should have sympathy. In this way sympathy, which is symbolically like water, spreads in time; it will expand like the water of the ocean. It becomes an everlasting spring that rises and falls.

In order to teach this the wise of India turned the river Ganges and the river Yamuna into places of pilgrimage and called them sacred. These rivers rise in the same place on the top of the Himalayas, and from there they divide and descend, becoming larger streams; and the place where they join, near Allahabad, is a place of pilgrimage. Those who go there are purified from all sin.

Its symbology is this, that the water which rises from the top of the Himalayas is like a spring of love coming from the heart. That which rises from the heart is the first place of pilgrimage. Then it goes on like the holy rivers Ganges and Yamuna, and the place where these rivers meet is called Sangam, which means 'sympathy'; and where the river reaches the sea it is called the 'Unity with God'. It is a beautiful picture of life which one can observe in that symbolic form.

If interpreted rightly we could have the sacred pilgrimage to the Ganges here and everywhere; the sacred river is the sympathy coming out of our own heart, and the reaching towards God is the perfection, the spiritual attainment.