Bowl of Saki, September 14, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Devotion to a spiritual teacher is not for the sake of the teacher, it is for God.

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

In the history of the great and holy beings of the world the greatest and the most blessed have been the devotees. ... devotion teaches one virtue; sincerity, earnestness, the sense of duty: all different virtues come by devotion. A person who is devoted to anyone in the world, to one's father or mother or brother or sister or children or friend, has taken the first step in devotion. But the one who shows his devotion in the spiritual path to his teacher he has taken his second step. He has only to take one more step and he will be there. And that will be the devotion to his ideal.

~~~ "Supplementary Papers, Class for Mureeds IV", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)


The secret of discipleship is not study or contemplation, but devotion; at that moment it is not Murshid but God who is seen. The door is unlocked, the shrine is opened, it is no more Murshid but God; and from that time I realized that, Murshid apart -- anyone in the world, mother, father, servant, poor person, beggar, innocent child, helpful friend, even through them God can answer the cry of the heart, if one went at the right moment and knocked at the door. ... Devotion to the teacher is not for the sake of the teacher, it is for God. Even in the case of a teacher the devotee may make a mistake by halting at the feet of the teacher and not progressing to God. The teacher is a shield covering God, a gate through which one has to go. As it is necessary to enter the gate, so to reach God it is necessary to have devotion to the teacher first. But the ideal of real progress is that man, through his devotion, arrives to God, freeing himself from all limitations and bondages. For the teacher one has gratitude, but love and devotion is for God.

~~~ "Sangatha III, Ta'lim", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)


Remember that the teacher is one who is oneself a disciple. In reality there is no such thing as a teacher. God alone is teacher, we all are disciples. The lesson we all have to learn is the lesson of discipleship; it is the first and the last.

~~~ "Gathekas for Candidates, Gatheka 26", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)

~~~ Devotion to a spiritual teacher is not for the sake of the teacher, it is for God.