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http://www.rosanna.com/saki/december/december10.htm
Bowl of Saqi for December 10
AS THE ROSE BLOOMS AMIDST THORNS, SO GREAT SOULS ****NE OUT
THROUGH ALL OPPOSITION.
-- Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Hazrat Samuel L. Lewis:
There are two attitudes to take in the face of opposition:
one is to oppose the enemy with all the power at one's
command. If by the use of force one is unable to win, force
should not be used. The reason is not only because of
success or failure, although this also is im****tant. The
reason is that one must change one's own nufs and also the
nufs of another. If in strife one breaks down the nufs of
another, and if -- when by the power of God vouchsafed to
one -- this can be done, it is not wrong to use force, and
it never has been wrong to use such force. Every prophet has
followed this path, and no one can become a prophet unless
he or she will do so.
But there are subtler souls and also sometimes gentle people
who cannot be reached this way. Conniving persons who use no
force but depend upon cleverness must be combated in another
way. It is not wrong to say in this that loving one's
enemies and opposing them are necessarily different in
action. In such cases, it is often wise to offer no
resistance to evil. Then the enemy is like one ru****ng
forward, not seeing the precipice over which they will fall.
There is another attitude to consider in offering no
resistance to evil. This means to refuse to accept the
opposition of another, to consider them not at all. This
was the position of the Buddha, who overcame his enemies
by refusing to recognize them physically, mentally or
spiritually. The result was that their thought could not
cast any shadow over his mind. By this the Mahatma (that is
to say, Buddha) shone through all the opposition. A shade
may block sunlight from a room but it cannot stop the
sunlight.
Nufs....
http://www.rosanna.com/sufiwritings/glossary/glossary.htm
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