Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Very often people ask, 'How long has one to go on the spiritual path?' There is no limit to the length of this path, and yet if one is ready, it does not need a long time. It is a moment and one is there. How true it is, what the wise of past ages said to their followers, 'Do not go directly into the temple; first walk around it fifty times!' The meaning was, first get tired and then enter. Then you value it. One values something for which one makes an effort.
from
http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/I/I_IV_2.htmThe adept values his object of attaining the inner life more than anything else in life. As long as he does not really value it, so long he remains unable to attain it. That is the first condition: that man should value the inner life more than anything else in the world, more than wealth, power, position, rank, or anything else. It does not mean that in this world he should not pursue the things he needs. It means he should value most something which is really worthwhile.
The next thing is that when one begins to value something one thinks it is worthwhile giving time to it. For in the modern world it is said that time is money, and money today means the most valuable thing. So if a person gives his precious time to what he considers most worthwhile, more so than anything else in the world, then that is certainly the next step towards the inner life.
from
http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VI/VI_22.htmThere are really two journeys. There is the journey from the goal to the life in the world, and there is the journey from the life in the world to the goal. And both journeys are natural. As it is natural to go forth from the eternal goal, so it is natural to go from the changing life to the life which is unchangeable.
Which is the most desirable thing in life, to seek for the goal or to dwell in this changing life? The answer is that every person's desire is according to his evolution. That for which he is ready is desirable for him. Milk is a desirable food for the infant, other foods for the grown-up person. Every stage in life has its own appropriate and desirable things. The desire to attain to a goal must be there before reaching it; when he does not feel the desire, it is not necessary for a man to seek it. All things are worthwhile when we seek after them; then only do we appreciate their value; then only are we happy to have them.
from
http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VII/VII_30.htm ~~~ Things are worthwhile when we seek them; only then do we know their value.
