Sufi Message Index

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PART I: HEALTH
Section i       
Section ii    
Section iii     
Section iv
Section v      
Section vi   
Section vii    
Section viii
Section ix     
Section x    
Section xi     
Section xii

PART II: HEALING
Aspects of Healing
Psychological Nature
Development of Power
Application of Healing
Various Methods

PART III: MENTAL PURIFICATION
Mental Purification
The Pure Mind
Unlearning
Subtle and the Gross
Mastery
The Control of the Body
The Control of the Mind
The Power of Thought
Concentration
The Will
Mystic Relaxation (1)
Mystic Relaxation (2)
Magnetism
The Power Within Us
The Secret of the Breath
The Mystery of Sleep
Silence
Dreams and Revelations
Insight (1)
Insight (2)
Expansion of Consciousness

PART IV: THE MIND WORLD
Chapter i
Chapter ii
Chapter iii
Chapter iv
Chapter v
Chapter vi
Chapter vii
Chapter viii
Chapter ix
Chapter x
Chapter xi
Chapter xii
Chapter xiii
 

The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan
Volume IV

Healing, Mental Purification, and the Mind World

PART II:  HEALING
Chapter IV

There is a great power hidden in the mystery of the repetition of a sacred word.  But there is a still greater power in writing a sacred word, because the time taken to write a sacred word carefully is perhaps five times or ten times as long as the time taken to repeat a sacred word.   Besides, action completes the thought-power better than speech.  In writing a scared name it is the completing of a thought, which is even more powerful than uttering the word.   But when a person thinks, feels, speaks, and writes, he has developed the thought through four stages and made it powerful.   Sufis, therefore, give a charm to the faithful who they think believe in the healing power of the charm.   They call it Taviz.   The patient keeps it with him night and day, and links his thought with the thought of the healer, and feels it every moment that he is being healed.

In India they put a charm in a silver or gold plate, or keep a charm engraved upon stone or metal. And the very fact of that has a healing influence upon him becomes such a help to the believer that he feels that every moment of the day and night he has the healer with him, and that he is being healed.

As a gift is nothing without the giver, so a charm is nothing without a personality that gives confidence to the patient. Therefore a charm written by an ordinary person has no effect; the personality of the person who writes the charm should be impressive, his piety, his spirituality, his love, his kindness, should all help to make the charm that he gives valuable and effective.

Water is the most responsive substance; it partakes of the color and effect of everything.  The magnetism that runs through the finger-tips enters into everything that a healer holds in his hands, and thus water can be charged with that electricity more than any other substance. Again, the breath that heals is powerful enough to produce an added life in all life-giving substances. Water especially, which is a most invigorating substance, partakes of life from the breath.

Among the ancient Hindus there was a custom of giving water as a benediction to guests, which is observed even now. A Brahmin will, as a rule, first offer water to his guest, which means not only to quench the thirst, but also is like giving life to the guest. The Persians have called the water of life Ab-i Hayat, and in many verses one finds this word. Among Sufis everywhere in the East there is a custom that the Shaikh gives a loaf of bread or a glass of water, milk, syrup, or buttermilk, or a fruit or some sweet, which is accepted as something that heals both mind and body. No doubt it is not only the effect of the breath or touch, it has also the power of mind with it, which is hidden as a soul in the substance which is its body.

A healer must know in the first place that breath is the very life and that breath is the giver of life, and that breath is the bringer of life. One can live without food for some time, but one cannot live without breath even for a few minutes. This shows that the sustenance that breath brings to man's life is much greater and much more important than any nourishment upon earth. Every atom of man's body is radiant. But if the body is the flame, the breath is the fire, and as the flame belongs to the fire, so the body belongs to the breath. As long as breath dwells in it, it lives, and when breath leaves it, it is dead, for all its beauty, strength, and complicated mechanism. That is why the effect of the breath of a holy person can magnetize water, bread, milk, or wine, fruit, or flower.

The breath that is developed spiritually will have a healing effect upon any painful part that it falls upon. If one knows how to direct the breath there is no better process than healing with breath; and in all the different methods of healing breath is the main thing, since in breath is hidden the current of life.

All scriptures have explained in some way or other that life is like light. In the Muslim scripture the word Nur is used; in the Vedanta it is called Chaitanya.  The nature of this light is to express itself in a particular direction, and that accounts for the face and back in our forms.  At the same time the tendency of the light is to spread.  This can be seen in the tendency, and also earth and all things on earth. A deep study of every form will show that the nature of life is to spread in four direction, for instance north, south, east, and west, or head, foot, right, and left.

Life and light have their center in the center of every forms. But they express themselves through the directions in which they spread. Therefore the power of the hand has been shown in ancient symbology. Hindus have pictured the divine incarnations with four hands. This means two hands of the mind and two hands of the body, and that when four hands work together the work is fully accomplished. This shows that in healing the hands are most important. The physical hands are needed to help the hands of the mind, and when thought is directed from the mind through the hands. And its power becomes double and its expression fuller.

Every atom of man's being, mental or physical, is radiant and throws its rays outward. These are life itself and give life. All illness is lack of life. It needs life to be cured. The power of electricity has been discovered by scientists. And they believe that it cures diseases when it is used for that purpose. But the mystic has discovered ages ago the power of this hidden electricity, the life of the mind and the life of the body, and he believes and knows that its application in healing is most beneficial. There are sores and wounds and painful parts, which are too tender to touch. In such cases healing by magnetic passes, in other words by waving the hands over the affected part and so allowing thought to heal, brings about a successful cure.

Every atom in man's body is in reality radiant, living and powerful compared with other objects, herbs, or drugs.  By the very fact of being a living body, besides being the finest and most perfect compared with other living bodies, it has a great power.   Therefore, shaking hands, speaking to a person and touching him have a certain effect.  In India when a wrestler goes to a wrestling match and when he comes back his teacher pats him on the back, saying, 'Sahibs, Bravo!'  mThis actually gives him added strength and courage and power, which otherwise he would not have had.  People speaking in friendship, and even disputing and arguing, hold each other's hands, which brings about a better understanding.   A mother takes away the discomfort and restlessness of the child in one moment by patting it.  Therefore massage is helpful when there is pain, and yet it is poor treatment when compared with the healing treatment; for the healer operates the power of the mind through his finger, as a musician produces his feelings on the violin.   Is it everybody that can produce on the violin the same tone that an expert could?   It is not the placing of the finger on a certain place on the instrument; it is the feeling of the musician's heart manifesting through his fingertips that produces a living tone.  So it is with the touch of a spiritual healer.

The Eye is the most wonderful and powerful factor in the body, which conveys to another pleasure or displeasure, joy or sorrow, love or hatred, without a word being spoken. This shows that the eye is the most responsive instrument for the mind to express thought and feelings.  Sometimes in an assembly two people just look at each other and there is agreement between them, and two people may stare at each other and it may have a worse effect than shooting.  This again proves that both fire and water can manifest either to destroy or to inspire.  To a healer, therefore, there is no better means than the eyes to send his thought of healing; and there is no better means of receiving this thought in the patient than his eyes.  The healer can send the healing power through his glance to the painful part of the body, but it is more helpful still when he sends his power direct to the eyes of the patient.  As there is a link between the mind and the eyes of the healer who sends the power, so there is a link between the eyes and mind of the patient who receives it.   Medicine can touch the physical body, but thought can touch the mind, where the root of every disease often is; and a suggestion that a powerful healer gives to his patient reaches his heart and destroys the germ of disease.

The eyes of every person are not capable of healing.   It is the penetrating glance and stillness of the eyes, then the power of the glance and ability to aim that are necessary.  These are developed by certain exercises, though some eyes have a natural ability for this purpose.   Also, concentration of mind, which gives power is necessary in healing, for power of mind directed by the glance brings about a successful result.
 

There are five elements that constitute man's being: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Air represents the voice, and it reaches the ether, which means that the voice reaches farther than anything else in the world. It touches the depths of man's heart. Therefore music is a living miracle. There is nothing that can thrill man's being through and through as sound can. This explains why suggestion is much greater and more beneficial in healing than any other remedy.

In India, where the daily life of the people is based upon psychical laws, they take great care in speaking to another person that it may not produce a bad effect upon his physical, mental, or spiritual self. A healer, who by the power of zikr develops the healing power of his voice, impresses his word with the power of his heart on the heart of the patient.

The healer must be sincere in his suggestions. Because all the power lies in his sincerity; he must also be self-confident; he must have psychic power developed in him; but beyond and above all he must be a good man, so that at the time no thought of humiliation or of any sort of uneasiness should come to him. His thoughts, feelings, and actions should be satisfactory to his conscience; if not, any discomfort, dissatisfaction, fear, or repentance weakens his power. Then he is no longer capable of healing, however learned and powerful he may be. When the healer thinks he is healing, his power is as small as a drop. When he thinks God is healing, and when owing to this thought his own self is forgotten and he is only conscious of the self of God, then his power becomes as large as the ocean.

There is warmth in fire, and there is a greater warmth in feeling. The presence of a person with warm feelings can create an atmosphere of warmth, and the presence of the cold-hearted can freeze one. No doubt warmth of heart is not the only quality the healer needs, he must have the power to heal, besides concentration and a desire to heal. But at the same time it is the name of Christ that is know as that of the Messiah. Messiah in the East means healer, and for a Messiah the power of love is the first quality, love in the form of sympathy. One sympathizes with another, thinking perhaps, 'He is my relation, friend, or acquaintance', but when sympathy develops to its fullest extent one begins to see in everybody 'I', 'myself', and the pain of everybody one begins to feel as one's own pain.

This is a sign of a true Messiah. How can he heal the wounds of the hearts of the children of the earth and relieve them from pains and sufferings, since life is full of them, when his sympathy is not awakened to such a degree that he feels the pain of another even before feeling his own pain? Every healer who has a spiritual aspiration must develop a spark of the fire of the heart of the Messiah; and then even before trying to heal a person his very presence will heal. When a child is ill the mother approaches it with the wish that it may be well, with a pain in her heart for the suffering of her child. From that moment she becomes a healer, her touch, her word, and her glance do more than medicine or any other remedy. When this mother quality is developed in the heart of the healer, then, when he heals not for any return except the happiness of seeing a soul released from pain, he becomes a healer who can heal merely by his presence.

Prayer is a wonderful means of healing oneself and another, for concentration alone, without the thought of God, is powerless; it is the divine ideal which strengthens the healing power, which gives it a living spirit. Therefore a spiritual healer has more hope of success than a material healer. For the material healer directs his own thought; however powerful it may be it is limited by his own personality; but the spiritual healer who in the thought of God and His divine power forgets himself, has much greater success than the former. It does not matter what form of prayer one uses, sincere prayer in every form will bring a fruitful result.

Prayer is in reality the contemplation of God's presence, who is the power and origin of the whole creation; and it is considering oneself as nothing before Him, and placing the wish which stands before one's personality before the Almighty. Therefore naturally the result must be incomparably greater, though it depends upon the contemplation of every individual.

In the first place, he who prays for the cure of another must surely be blessed, because goodwill and love, from which his prayer rises, of necessity bring a blessing to him. Also prayer for one's own cure is not selfish, it is making oneself a fitting instrument to be more useful in the scheme of life. On the other hand, neglect of one's own health very often is a crime. Praying to God in thought is perhaps better than in speech, but it must be remembered that speech makes concrete; therefore thought with speech makes prayer more effective than thought alone. Words without thought are vain repetitions.

When a healer has practiced healing for a certain time successfully, then the next step in the line of healing is to heal a patient from a distance. The method of absent healing is totally different from healing in the presence. In absent healing the power of thought alone is necessary, and those who are accustomed to use the magnetism through the tips of the fingers, through the eyes, through touch, find it difficult to direct thought-power without an external channel. Also when the patient is not present, in the first place the beginner wonders whether his thought power will reach the patient, and it is also difficult to hold in one's thought a patient who is not present.  A Keth Specialty.

The mastery of Fikr helps a healer to hold the thought of the patient before his mind.  It is Fikr that helps to heal a patient from a distance.   Breath, so to speak, is an electric current that can be attached anywhere; distance makes no difference.   A current of breath so established puts the ethereal waves in space into motion and according to the healer's magnetic power the space between the healer and the patient becomes filled with a running current of healing power.   There is no doubt that spiritual evolution is the first thing necessary; without this the mind power of a healer, however strong, is too feeble for the purpose.

By spiritual development is meant God consciousness.  There is a believer in God who may be called pious, but it is the God-conscious who become spiritual.   It is the belief and realization that: 'I do not exist, but God', which gives power to the healer to heal from a distance; also it is the realization that gives him the belief that his thought can reach to any distance, because the knowledge of the all-pervading God gives him the realization that the Absolute is life in itself, and that even space, which means nothing to the average person, is everything; in fact, it is the very life of all things.