My God Versus Your God? - wahiduddin

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My God Versus Your God?

 

Religion has been at the forefront of controversy, hatred and wars

throughout all of recorded history. And there is no issue that has

been more contentious than the name of The Creator.

 

Each of the major religions has, at its very core, the fundamental

concept of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator that is

beyond the understanding of the limited minds of mankind.

 

Since these diverse cultures all agree that there is One Creator, a

Creator whom we all honor, and whose ways we all strive to learn to

live in harmony with, then isn't that a common bond that we should

all share and celebrate?

 

Who can claim to know the " true " name of the That Which is beyond

name and form? Is it even meaningful to try to name That Which is

beyond name and form?

 

God, Khoda, Allah, Alaha, El, Elohim, Elat, Om, Jehova, Jah, Yahweh,

Brahman, Ram, Krishna, Ahura Mazda, Tao... and many more, have all

been used to refer to That Which is beyond name and form.

 

Nonetheless, words and names are only metaphors that we use to refer

to something. The meaning is not inherent in the word, rather the

meaning is something that is agreed upon. For example, each language

has its own words for mother and father and for hot and cold... is

it surprising then that each culture should have its own words to

refer to the One?

 

(For Christians who find it difficult to say the name Allah, it may

be helpful to note that in the Semitic language of Aramaic that

Jesus probably spoke, the Aramaic name that is translated as God in

the European bible was actually Alaha. Indeed, Allah of the Qur'an

and Alaha of Jesus are the same One. The name God is a relatively

new, and perhaps unfortunate, European invention that has been the

source of much misunderstanding, fear and hatred.)

 

Throughout recorded history, the differences of mankind have been

used as excuses for crusades, wars and hatred. Must every generation

fall prey to the same old foolishness, or is it finally time for a

new understanding, an understanding based on That Which we all share

in common?

 

May we all learn to celebrate the glory of the Divine Flame that

glows in the heart of all beings.

 

May we learn as one great nation of mankind to celebrate the glory

of our Beloved rather than quarrel over our petty differences.

 

 

with love,

wahiduddin

 

 

 

 

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

 

Spirituality has become far removed from material life, and so God is far

removed from humanity. Therefore, one cannot any more conceive of God speaking

through a man, through someone like oneself. Even a religious man who reads the

Bible every day will have great difficulty in understanding the verse, 'Be ye

perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.' The Sufi message and its

mission are to bring this truth to the consciousness of the world: that man can

dive so deep within himself that he can touch the depths where he is united with

the whole of life, with all souls, and that he can derive from that source

harmony, beauty, peace and power.

 

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/X/X_3_1.htm

 

 

God speaks to everyone, not only to the messengers and teachers. He speaks to

the ears of every heart, but it is not every heart which hears it. His voice is

louder than the thunder, and His light is clearer than the sun -- if one could

only see it, if one could only hear it. In order to see it and in order to hear

it man should remove this wall, this barrier which he has made of the self. Then

he becomes the flute upon which the divine Player may play the music of Orpheus

which can charm even the hearts of stone; then he rises from the cross into the

life everlasting.

 

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/XIV/XIV_2_22.htm