Opening the Door to the Heart

By the power of prayer, man opens the door of the heart, in which God, the ever-forgiving, the all-merciful, abides. Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

There are three kinds of people among those who offer prayer. One person in praying feels he is fulfilling a certain duty, which he considers to be one among the other duties of life. ... The second kind of person who offers prayers is the one who prays because he has been taught to do so, and yet is uncertain as to whether there is any God and whether his prayers are really heard. ... Then there is a third person who has imagination which is strengthened by faith. He not only prays to God, but he prays before God, in the presence of God. Once imagination has helped a man to bring the presence of God before him, God is awakened in his own heart.
*
The word of Christ is that God is love; and if God is love, then we, every one of us, can prove God in us by expressing God in our life. According to the external customs of the different religions, one goes to church, one to the mosque, one to the synagogue, and another to the temple. The inner church however, is none of these, but in the heart of man, where God abides and which is the habitation of Christ.
*
In prayer one reaches that spirit of God which is all-powerful and which is ever-forgiving, and it is by the power of prayer that man opens the doors of the heart, in which God the Merciful abides.
*
What is real prayer? Praise to God. And the meaning of praise? Appreciating; thus opening the heart more and more to the divine beauty one sees in manifestation.
*
If one asks why God should create beings in order that they should sing His own praise, the answer is that God does not wish to receive praise. The praise of God is a prescription for man, in order that by this prescription man can come to that understanding which brings him nearer to God. In other words, by praising God man completes the action in which lies the fulfillment of the soul's purpose in coming on earth.
*
~~~ By the power of prayer, man opens the door of the heart, in which God, the ever-forgiving, the all-merciful, abides.~~~

from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_7.htm
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_9.htm
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/archives/prayer.htm
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_35.htm
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_7.htm
(respectively)

0 members like this