In the question of prayer, "Why does God need praise from me? Who am I that I should offer Him praise?" The Mystic Master Inayat Khan answers:True, we can never praise Him enough; never can our praise be sufficient, but our souls are blessed with the impression of the Glory of God whenever we praise Him. The soul could praise God every moment and yet wanting to praise Him yet more, it is constantly hungering and thirsting to find the Beauty and Perfection of God. By the praise of God the soul is filled with bliss; even to utter the name of God is a blessing that can fill the soul with light, joy and happiness as nothing else can do.
If we realized what joy comes after we have asked pardon from our fellowman when we know we have been in fault, a joy and bliss not to be imagined unless we have practiced it, then we might perhaps imagine what joy and peace must come from asking forgiveness of God, Whose Love is unlimited. Asking pardon is like purifying the heart and washing it white.
There is a beautiful story told of the King Akbar (of India) that when he was grieving with an almost ungovernable grief over the death of his mother, his ministers and friends tried to comfort him by influence and power. Akbar replied, "Yes, that is true, and that only makes my grief greater; for while I have everyone to bow before me, to give way to me, to salute me and obey me, my mother was the one person before whom I could humble myself; and I cannot tell you how great a joy that was to me."
Think, then, of the far greater joy of humbling one-self before the Father-Mother God on Whose Love one can always depend. A spark only of love expresses itself in the human father and mother; the Whole of Love in God. In whatever manner a man humbles himself it can never be enough to express the humility of the limited self before Limitless Perfection. Self-denial is not renouncing of things, it is denying the self and the first lesson of self-denial is humility.
Who is Mystic Inayat Khan? What are his teachings?
:: More thoughts on Prayer by Inayat Khan.
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