The Spirit of Guidance

by Hazrat Inayat Khan

    The Spirit of Guidance in other words may be called the Divine Mind; and as the human mind is finished after its coming on earth, so the Divine Mind becomes completed after manifestation. Plainly speaking, the Creator's Mind is made of His own creation. The experience of every soul becomes the experience of the Divine Mind; therefore, the Divine Mind has the knowledge of all beings. It is a storehouse of perfect wisdom. It is the Soul of Christ, and the Spirit of prophecy. Intuition, inspiration, vision, or revelation, all have the Divine Mind as the Source from whence every kind of revelation comes.

    There are some who receive the knowledge from the Divine Mind indirectly, and some receive it directly. Souls who happen to receive the central current of the Spirit of Guidance, in such souls the spirit of prophecy is conceived. The Messengers of all times, of whom we hear in the histories and traditions of the world, have been souls in whom the central current of the Divine Light has functioned. In other words, the Prophets of all ages have been the reflections of the Divine Mind on earth. No one has ever seen God, and if the evidence of God has ever been manifested, it was in man who reflected God. Besides all the Prophets have taught, it was the personality of the Prophets which proved their prophecy. In their thought, speech, and word they reflected God, which was more than morals, doctrines, and teachings could do.

    Every inspired person reflects in his own way some divine spark hidden in his soul, which wins the world. A musician may show his inspiration in music; a poet may show it in his poetry; an artist may show his inspiration in his art; but the central ray of light which the Prophets reflect, falling upon every plane and every aspect of life, makes all things clear to their sight. Therefore their presence clears away perplexity from the minds of the confused ones. A person in the presence of the Prophet can feel and think more clearly, even without having spoken to the Prophet. Many forget their questions when before a Prophet, for the light, falling upon their hearts, brings them the answer, and they find out that the answer was in themselves, something that they had already known. No doubt it is true that the question and answer both are in the soul. The first step of the soul's progress raises questions, and the second step is the answer. It is, therefore, that a prophetic soul is a physician at the same time; a prophetic soul is a scientist, an artist, is capable of commerce, industry, and business, qualified in warfare and competent in peacemaking.

    The Spirit of Guidance is as the yeast which is used to make bread, to prepare humanity for the purpose for which it was created. The Spirit of Guidance is a plant that grows and blossoms when it receives response and care; and when it is watered by the rainfall of divine inspiration it blooms in the light of the Divine Sun. The Spirit of Guidance is the Light of God, which may be likened to a lantern that the farmer carries when walking on the farm in the darkness of night. The Spirit of Guidance is like a searchlight. Any object on which the searchlight is thrown, it shows clearly; so the Spirit of Guidance thrown upon any aspect of life gives one a keen insight into it. In the Spirit of Guidance one finds a living God active in the heart of every person.

    One who depends upon the Spirit of Guidance to guide his life is guided aright. We always have a counsel within, but the one who ignores the existence of such a thing as the Spirit of Guidance is left alone for some time by the Spirit of Guidance to look out for himself. It is like the mother and the dependent child, who tries to hold the hand of the mother at every step it takes; so the mother's whole attention is drawn to every step of her child. But when the child tries to move about by his own will, and tries to keep away, then the attention of the mother, to some extent, becomes released. This does not mean that the mother gives up entirely the care of the child; it only means that the mother allows the child to have its own way to some extent, and feels sorry when the child falls and hurts itself. In point of fact, all souls are children of God, but such souls as are conscious of their relation to God, as between a child and his parents, certainly deserve to be called the children of God. They are especially cared for; they are always guided, because they ask for guidance.

    The soul of the Prophet, therefore, shows the innocence of the child. Of what is known about Jesus Christ and His life to the world, the most lovable attribute of the Master was His innocence in spite of His perfect wisdom. Certainly He deserves to be called the Only-Begotten Son Who has all His life depended for everything He said or did upon the guidance from God.

The Form of the Message

    This is a question which is always asked: how the prophetic soul receives the Message of God: in what form? Does the Angel Gabriel bring this, as it is said in the scriptures of Beni Israel? Does it come as a voice? Does it come in a form which is visible? And the answer is that everything which has been said in the ancient scriptures regarding it has so much truth in it, though very often some symbolical ideas are misinterpreted by the uninitiated. Gabriel as a Messenger is, in part, imagination.

    The real Gabriel is that Spirit of Guidance which is the soul of the Prophets. Its voice is intuition, but to the attentive mind of the Prophet sometimes this voice is so distinct that it becomes much louder than what one hears through the ears. For in their hearts a capacity is produced; in other words, their hearts become as domes which give echo to every word. The heart of the ordinary person does not give that echo; so the inner voice becomes inaudible to one's own soul. As a voice is necessary, so hearing is necessary also; without the hearing the voice is inaudible. The hearing is the capacity in the heart. When the heart becomes as an ear, then it begins to hear the voice that comes from within.

    And now the question comes whether a Gabriel manifested to the Prophets in a certain form. That is true also. There is nothing in this world which is void of form, except God, Who is formless. The form of some things is visible, and of other things invisible. Even thoughts and feelings have forms. You may call them results, but form is always a result. The heart which can hear the inner voice louder than the spoken words can certainly see the form, even the form which is not seen by every soul. The question: "Do the eyes of the Prophet see a form?"--may be answered: "Yes." For what the heart sees fully, that becomes reflected in the eyes also. It is not seen from without, but from within, and yet it is seen. Every person cannot conceive of such an idea as this: one who is accustomed to see and hear all that comes from outside. But it is as clear as the day for the wise to know that the eyes and the ears are not only the organs in which the impressions from the outer life are reflected, but even the impressions from the life within are also reflected in them.

    It matters little to a Prophet whether his ears hear or his heart hears, whether his eyes see or his heart sees. He knows that he hears and sees, and that is sufficient evidence for him of a living God. One may ask: do you mean by this that God is so personal as to speak and manifest as a phantom to a certain soul? If it were so, it would be nothing but limiting God! In answer to this, I would say that the limitless God cannot be made more intelligible to our limited self unless He was first made limited. That limited ideal becomes as an instrument, as a medium of God Who is perfect and Who is limitless.