On Tuesday the 16th of October, Susan
Southall gave a presentation to the Spiritual Reading Group on the life and
work of the Sufi writer and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927). Her paper
can be found at a separate post. The quotes from Inayat Khan’s book ‘The
Mysticism of Sound and Music’ (Shambhala, 1996) are set out here, as used by
the Group for discussion.
Music, the word we use in our everyday language, is
nothing less than the picture of the Beloved. It is because music is the
picture of our Beloved that we love music. But the question is: What is our
Beloved? Or Where is our Beloved? Our Beloved is that which is our source and
our goal. What we see of our Beloved before our physical eyes is the beauty
which is before us. That part of our Beloved which is not manifest to our eyes
is that inner form of beauty of which our Beloved speaks to us. If only we
listen to the voice of all the beauty that attracts us in any form, we would
find that in every aspect it tells us that behind all manifestation is the
perfect Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom. P.2
According to the thinkers of the East there are four
different intoxications: the intoxication of beauty, youth and strength; then
the intoxication of wealth; the third intoxication is of power, of command, the
power of ruling; and the fourth is the power of learning, of knowledge. But all
these four intoxications fade away just like stars before the sun in the
presence of the intoxication of music. The reason is that it touches the
deepest part of man’s being. Music reaches farther than any other impression
from the external world can reach. The beauty of music is that it is the source
of creation and the means of absorbing it. In other words, by music the world
was created, and it is again through music that the world is withdrawn into the
source that has created it. P. 5
The musician and the music lover become refined and
are led onto the higher world of sound. Sufis lose themselves in sound and call
it ecstasy, or muti. Psychic and
occult powers come after experiencing this condition of ecstasy, and knowledge
of the visible and invisible existence is disclosed. This bliss of happiness
and peace is available only to the Yogis and Sufis interested in the divine art
of music. Almost all the great saints in the Orient have become great saints
through the power of music. P. 10
The mystic keeps one thought in the mind for ten
minutes, for twenty minutes. He practices this. He practices it with music.
First he impresses one Raga upon his mind until it is fixed in his mind like a
picture. Then he practices the sound only, without melody, one sound or — to
break the monotony — two sounds, or three sounds. After that he hums. He keeps
all feeling away. There is no anger, no bitterness, no prejudice, no
attachment, nothing that keeps him bound to the ego. Then there is no outward
sound; he keeps the sound in his mind. Then he begins to hear the sound of the
breath, the fine sounds that the ears cannot hear. P.23
A question may be asked regarding the mysticism of
colour and sound: Can we get our individual colour or note? The answer is that
in the first place it is not a matter of our own colour being good for us. It
is whether a number or colour is in harmony with us or not that makes it good
or not. In the second place, at every moment of our life our evolution changes.
A person who was a thief yesterday is not a thief today. So a given colour or
number belonging to us at one moment does not belong to us at another moment;
it changes every moment. P 37
…upon the rhythm the mood, health and condition of
man’s mind depend — not only upon the rhythm which he gets from music, but also
upon the rhythm of his own breath… The Sufis of ancient times, the great
mystics, used to develop this art in order to bring about poise in life after
their everyday activity. They called this art sam’a, and sam’a has been
the most sacred thing for the Sufis; it has been a meditation for them. They
meditated by the help of music, by having a certain music played which had a
certain effect upon the development of the individual. The great poets, such as
Rumi of Persia, used to have music for their meditation, and by the help of
music they used to repose and to control the activity of their body and mind.
P. 52
Beauty is born of harmony. What is harmony? Harmony
is right proportion, in other words, right rhythm. And what is life? Life is
the outcome of harmony. What man calls happiness or comfort, or profit and gain
— all he longs for and wishes to attain — is harmony. In smaller or greater
proportion he is longing for harmony; even in attaining the most mundane things
he always wishes for harmony. … It is not following a certain religion that
makes one spiritual, or having a certain belief, or by being a fanatic in
regard to one idea, or by becoming too good to live in this world. … Ultimate
good is harmony itself… It is not following a religion, it is living a
religion, making one’s life a religion, which is necessary. Pp 110-111
The Sufi, like a student of music, trains both is
voice and ear in the harmony of life. The training of the voice consists in
being conscientious about each word spoken, about its tone, rhythm, meaning and
the appropriateness for the occasion. … The Sufi avoids all unrhythmic actions;
he keeps the rhythm of his speech under the control of patience, not speaking a
word before the right time, not giving an answer until the question is
finished. He considers a contradictory word a discord unless spoken in a
debate, and even at such times he tries to resolve it into a consonant chord. A
contradictory tendency in man finally develops into a passion, until he
contradicts even his own idea if it be propounded by another. In order to keep
harmony the Sufi even modulates his speech from one key to another; in other
words, he falls in with another’s idea by looking at the subject from the
speaker’s point of view instead of his own.
P. 136-7
If man only knew that the greatness of perfection of
the great ones, who have come from time to time to this world, was in their
pupilship, and not in teaching! The greater the teacher, the better pupil he
was… They say in the East that the first thing that is learned is to understand
how to become a pupil. They do not learn first what God is, or what life is.
The first thing to learn is how to become a pupil… All that we have learned in
this world is partial knowledge. And when this is uprooted by another point of
view, then we have knowledge in its completed form. That is called mysticism.
Why is it called mysticism? Because it cannot be put into words. Words will
show one side of it, but the other side is beyond words.
The
whole manifestation is duality, the duality which makes us intelligent, and
behind the duality is unity. If we do not rise beyond duality and go towards
unity, we do not attain the perfection which is called spirituality. Pp 112-3
Love produces harmony and harmony creates beauty.
Therefore the chief motto in life is “Love, harmony and beauty.” Love in all
things and beings the beloved God, in harmony with all in the right
understanding, and beautify your life by observing the beauty within and
without. By love, harmony and beauty you must turn the whole of life into a
single vision of divine glory. P.116
Once I was very amused and surprised at an answer
that a very godly and good natured maid gave me. Working in the house, she
could not answer the door as quickly as it should have been answered, and the
lady visitor who was waiting at the the door became very impatient and spoke
crossly to the maid. When I asked her what had happened, she was not cross at
all. I asked, “Well, what was the matter with her, why was she cross, what was
the reason?”, and this maid, with innocence in her face, replied: “The reason?
There was no God.” A beautiful answer. Where God is lacking, there is no love.
Wherever there is love, there is God. Wherever there is God, there is love.
If we interpret it
rightly, what causes pain and suffering? It is lack of life. What is life? It
is love. And what is love? It is God. What every individual wants, what the
world wants, is God. All we have to attain by music, by harmony, by tone, by
the science of right tuning, by a life of goodness — all we have to gain to
bless our lives is God. This is the central theme of all good. P 107-8
Life is a symphony, and the action of every person
in this life is the playing of his particular part in the music. P. 116
God is not in time. Therefore he is in the silence.
Sound is part of the world of time. P 117
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