THE GAYAN
CHALAS
(Chala: An iluminated word.)
The spiritual guide performs
the role of Cupid in bringing the seeking souls closer to God.
The Sufi's tendency is to
look at everything from two points of view: from his own and that of another.
The true religion, to the
Sufi, is the sea of truth, and all different faiths are as its waves.
The pure truth not every
man can see; if he can, he needs no more teaching.
The Creator is hidden in
his own creation. Natural religion is the religion of beauty.
The same light which is fire
on earth and the sun in the sky, is God in heaven.
All surrender to beauty willingly
and to power unwillingly.
The creation is not only
the nature of God, but also His art.
Vanity is the impetus hidden
behind every impulse, that brings out both the worst and the best in man.
Time and space are but the
length and breadth of the infinite.
It is presumption on the
part of man when he demands in words an explanation of God.
Among a million believers
in God, there is scarcely one who makes God a reality.
The God-ideal is the flower
of creation, and the realization of truth is its fragrance.
A true worshipper of God
sees His person in all forms, and in respecting man he respects God.
The hidden desire of the
Creator is the secret of the whole creation.
Vanity is the
sum total of every activity in the world.
Beauty is the object which
every soul pursues.
Beauty is the life of the
artist, the theme of the poet, the soul of the musician.
A charming personality is
as precious as gold and as delicious as perfume.
A dancing soul shows its
graceful movements in all its activities.
A charming personality is
like a magnificent piece of art with life added.
Life is the principal thing
to consider, and true life is the inner life, the realization of God.
The soul of Christ is the
life of the universe.
The mother was the stepping-stone
of Jesus to Christhood.
God speaks to the prophet
in His divine tongue, and the prophet interprets it in the language of
man.
The evidence of prophecy
is the personality of the prophet.
The true sword of Mohammed
was the charm of his personality.
As the whole of nature is
made by God, so the nature of each individual is made by himself.
When the personality of an
artist is absorbed in his art, it becomes art itself.
Vanity is a mask over the
hidden object that attracts every soul.
Vanity is the crown of beauty,
and modesty is its throne.
Without modesty beauty is
dead, for modesty is the spirit of beauty.
All beauty is veiled by nature,
and the greater the beauty the more it is covered.
The beauty which modesty
covers, art gently uncovers; while respecting the human tendency. it unveils
the beauty which human conventions hide.
Modesty is the veil over
the face of the great, for God Himself is most modest, who is seen by none
except those intimate with Him.
God lives in nature and is
buried alive under the artificial forms which stand as His tomb, covering
Him.
Nature is the very being
of man; therefore, he feels at one with nature.
In the country you see the
glory of God; in the city you glorify His name.
True art does not take man
away from nature; on the contrary, it brings him closer to her.
A good reputation is as fragile
as a delicate glass.
A good reputation is a trust
given to a man by other people, so it becomes his sacred duty to maintain
it.
Either take good care of
your reputation, or do not care for it at all.
The man who has no reputation
of his own has no regard for the reputation of another.
A man without a character
is as a flower without perfume.
In the sense of honor there
is a divine spark hidden.
Love is the net in which hearts
are caught like fish.
While everybody asks, 'Why?"
of his neighbor, the mystic asks this question of himself.
The man of wealth is often
merely the doorkeeper of his treasure house.
Every person inherits from
his ancestors not only his body, but his mind also.
The wretched always look
for some excuse to be miserable.
Man is pulled from
four sides in life: by nature, circumstances, law, and
the ideal.
The child born on earth is
an exile from heaven.
You must never joke with
a fool; if you throw a flower at him. he will throw back a stone.
No tie can bind you if your
heart is free.
The stilling of the heart
is the true alchemy which turn mercury into silver.
In all directions of progress
the ideal is the compass that shows the way.
Great personalities are few
in the world, and fewer still those who know them.
No person living on earth
can come up to your ideal, except some hero of a story of the past.
The one whom
you expect to be your ideal will prove
to be your ideal some day when he has gone past.
The true ego is born of the
ashes of the false.
If by accident you step into
the mud, it is not there-fore necessary to keep on walking
in the muddy path.
Matter is a state of spirit.
A living word is life itself.
The words that enlighten
the soul are more precious than jewels.
The whole world's treasure
is too small a price to pay for one word that kindles the soul.
Sympathy breaks the congestion
of the heart.
A real success is proved
by its durability.
An action is a reaction of
thought.
Reason is the master of the
unbeliever and the servant of the believer.
When a desire becomes a steady
thought, its success is assured.
No sacrifice is ever too
great to be offered in the cause of liberty.
Of what use is your sense,
O sensible one, if it causes you to mourn over the opportunity you have
lost?
Stand through life firm as
a rock in the sea, undisturbed and unmoved by its ever-rising waves.
If you fail yourself, everybody
will fail you.
Love climbs the mountain
of life step by step.
The discovering of error
is the uncovering of the light.
The truth, sincerely spoken,
must certainly calm the heart of the listener.
A fruitless life is a useless
life.
Gold is that which proves
to be real to the end of the test.
To make God intelligible
you must make a God of your own.
Truth alone can succeed;
falsehood is a waste of time and a loss of energy.
What begins with deception
continues and ends in deception.
The wise say in one word
what the foolish cannot explain in a thousand words.
Spiritual attainment is the
true purpose of every soul.
The more people you can get
on with, the wiser you prove to be.
If you wish for relief in
life, rise above complexity and conventionality.
It does not matter what you
have lost, so long as you have not lost your soul.
One single moment of a sincere
life is worth more than a thousand years of a life of falsehood.
Burning words rise from a
flaming heart.
His own attitude becomes
an obstacle on the path of the pessimist.
Lack of patience starves
virtue to death.
Success gives an appearance
of reality even to false things.
The seeming death is the
real birth of the soul.
Worrying about the faults
of others is an unnecessary addition to the worry we have over our own
faults.
He who is the master of his
own domain is the ruler of life. To repress desire is to suppress a divine
impulse.
The "Yes" or "No" of a reserved
person has more weight and influence than a hundred words of a talkative
person.
A truth that disturbs peace
and harmony is worse than a lie.
No one can sustain disharmony
in life, though many ignorantly maintain it.
It takes a thousand lies
to prove one false statement true; but in spite of all, the lie will prove
false in the end.
That person becomes a conqueror
of life who learns to control his tongue, both as to what it should say
and what it should not say.
When it is difficult for
the wise to judge the action of the worst sinner, who but a fool would
be ready to judge a holy man?
Preaching needs art; speaking
only is not sufficient; there are many who can speak the truth as a smith
would hammer on the anvil.
Initiation is taking a step
forward in a direction which one does not know.
Means sufficient for the
simple needs of everyday life are a greater boon than the riches that add
to life's struggle.
The first step in intuition
is to understand the symbolical meaning of different things, and the next
is to express them symbolically.
It is not a particular religion
that can produce spirituality in man; spirituality depends upon the tuning
of the soul.
For everything there is a
time, so there comes a time for the unfoldment of the soul; but the period
of that development depends upon the speed of the progress man makes through
life.
In order to arrive at his
ideal, man must first realize his follies, and next, try to become better,
believing that he can change.
All things in their beginning
must be guarded from the sweeping winds of destruction, as the young plant
must first be nurtured in a glasshouse.
When it is difficult even
for the worldly man to live in this world, how much more difficult must
it be for the spiritual one!
The ignorant believer, by
his claim of belief, causes a revolt in an intelligent person, thereby
turning him into an unbeliever.
A selfish person cannot imagine
anyone being unselfish; therefore, he always suspects the unselfish one
of falsehood.
Truth is the light which
illuminates the whole of life; in its light all things become clear, and
their true nature manifests to view.
As water is the cleansing
and purifying element in the physical world, so love performs the same
service on the higher planes.
It is very difficult to evolve
oneself and at the same time keep in tune with the unevolved; it is like
being drawn from above and pulled from below.
God's majesty is seen in
nature, but even the greatest grandeur of human life reveals Him only in
miniature.
The way of the Sufi is to
experience life and yet to remain above it; to live in the world and not
let the world own him.
Man as a human being is capable
of loving one, but his soul as the light of God is capable of loving not
only the world, but even a thousand worlds; for the heart of man is larger
than the whole universe.
When man has to choose between
his spiritual and his material profit, then he shows whether his treasure
is on earth or in heaven.
Life is an opportunity, not
only of accomplishing one's desires, but of fulfilling even the deepest
yearning of the soul.
Nobility of character is
as inborn a quality in man as is the fragrance in the flower; it cannot
be learned or taught.
It takes but a moment to
drop down from heaven to earth; but for rising from earth to heaven, even
a long lifetime may be insufficient.
True happiness is in the
love-stream that springs from one's soul, and the man who will allow this
stream to flow continually, in all conditions of life, in all situations,
however difficult, will have a happiness that truly belongs to him.
A good person proud of his
goodness turns his pearls into pebbles; an evil person full of remorse
may make jewels of common stones.
One word of the truly inspired
answers a hundred questions and avoids a thousand unnecessary words of
explanation.
If you live in the vision
of the past, dream on, do not open your eyes to the present. If you live
in the eternal, do not worry about the morrow. But if you live for the
time to come, do all you can to prepare for the future.
The bare truth alone is not
sufficient; truth must be made into wisdom. And what is wisdom? Wisdom
is the robe of truth.
If you walk on the path of
light and yet seek the darkness, it is like being pulled by the two poles
of the earth; you are torn between them, and can go in neither direction.
Love in its fullness is an
inexpressible power which speaks louder than words; there is nothing that
man is too weak to do when it gushes forth from his heart.
Joy and sorrow are each part
of the other. If it were not for joy, sorrow would not exist; and if it
were not for sorrow, joy would not be experienced.
Man wonders about his past
and future; how wonderful would life become to him if he only realized
the present!
Every moment of life is an
opportunity, and the greatest opportunity is to know the value of opportunity.
It is the spirit of discipleship
that opens the vision; its attainment is most necessary in one's journey
along the spiritual path.
When it is so very difficult
to prove truth to be true, how much more difficult must it be to prove
true what is false!
Purgatory is that state which
mind experiences between the birth of thought and its materialization.
It is the darkness in our
own heart which, falling as a shadow on the heart of another, becomes doubt
in him.
Truth conceived by the mature
soul is expressed as wisdom.
Selflessness is pleasing
not only to man but to God.
It is better to refuse than
to accept anything unwillingly.
No love-offering can be more
precious than a word or act of respect, for the highest expression of love
is respect.
You must find your ideal
in yourself; no ideal in life will prove lasting and true except the one
you yourself make.
All that lives is spirit,
and all that dies is matter.
Believe in your own ideal
first if you wish others to believe in it; unless you respect your ideal
yourself, others will not respect it.
Power most often costs more
than it is worth; the man who attains power, not knowing its proper use,
loses it in the end, for all that is held by power will some day revolt.
Man proves himself to be
great or small according to the importance he attaches in life to the greater
or smaller things.
Goodness and wickedness both
exist in human nature at the same time; only when one is manifest
the other is hidden, like the lining inside the coat.
Through matter the soul attains
to its highest realization; therefore, the physical body is a necessity
for the fulfillment of its purpose.
There is no end to reproaches;
not only those at a distance or those near to one, but even the members
of one's body will some day reproach one for not having received proper
care and full attention.
There are many ideas which
intoxicate man; many feelings act upon the soul as wine, but there is no
stronger wine than selflessness.
The absence of generosity
means that the doors of the heart are closed; nothing from within can come
out, and nothing from without can enter in.
There is nothing on earth
or in heaven which is not within the reach of man. When God is within his
reach, what can be beyond it?
The seeking of every soul
in this world is different, distinct, and peculiar to himself; and each
can best attain the object of his search in God.
Man's individuality is proved
by his wisdom and distinguished by comparison; God, being perfect, is unintelligible
to man.
The expression of sentiment
is an outlet for the energy of the heart, which if conserved would be a
power in itself.
If a desire is not fulfilled
it means that the person did not know how to desire; failure is caused
by indistinctness of motive.
The personality of the prophet
is the divine net in which God captures the souls drifting in the world.
A clever person with a biting
tongue is like a serpent with its poisonous fang; his sarcastic remark
is more hurtful than a scorpion's sting.
Let not your reputation fall
into the monkeys' hands; they will look at it curiously, will mock at it,
laugh at it and snatch it from each other; in the end they will tear it
to pieces.
Do not entrust the devil
with your secret; if you do, then he who is meant to be your slave will
become your master.
Self-confidence is the true
meaning of faith, and in faith is the secret of the fulfillment or non-fulfillment
of every desire.
With trust in God, with good
will, self-confidence, and a hopeful attitude towards life, man will always
win his battle, however difficult.
Silence in modesty speaks
louder than bold words. The cracker cries aloud, "I am the light," and
is extinguished in a moment; the diamond, shining constantly, never says
a word about its light.
It is not by the servility
of those around him that the king is exalted; it is in the honor in which
they hold him that his kingship exists.
All things existing have
their opposite, except God; it is for this reason that God cannot be made
intelligible.
We each create our own God,
but only His form we imagine, not His life, thus making many gods out of
the one single Being.
God alone exists, whether
thought of as one God or as many gods, for all numbers are simply an extension
of one.
When the human heart becomes
conscious of God, it becomes like the sea: it extends its waves to friend
and foe.
True spirituality is not
a fixed faith or belief; it is the ennobling of the soul by rising above
the barriers of material life.
Truth is purifying, it is
most lovable and peace-giving; but what is truth? Truth is that which cannot
be spoken.
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