The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan Centennial Edition: Volume 1 The Inner Life

At once deeply rooted in the Sufi tradition and strikingly original in insight and expression, Hazrat's teachings remain meaningful today, with a message for every human mind and heart, and indeed for humankind collectively. "The Inner Life" includes The Way of Illumination, The Inner Life, The Souls Whence and Whither, and The Purpose of Life.

"The Inner Life" explores the ways of living in both the heart and the body, maintaining the spirit of inner freedom while fulfilling life's duties, keeping the ideal always before one and achieving balance between and within the inner and outer life.

"The Soul, Whence and Whither" contains Hazrat Inayat Khan's account of the journey of the human soul from its earliest origins to its ultimate destination. While these teachings bear an undeniable relation to traditional Sufi descriptions of life before birth and after death, Hazrat's articulation of the soul's journey is remarkable for the freshness and precision of its vision.

The last of the books collected in this volume, "The Purpose of Life," addresses the perennial question of the meaning of life. Inayat Khan explains that the whole of manifestation derives from God's desire to be known and that all human endeavors must at last merge into the path that leads to God. He memorably observes, "The purpose of life is fulfilled in rising to the greatest heights and in diving to the deepest depths of life, in widening the sphere of one's horizon, in penetrating life in all its spheres, in losing oneself, and in finding oneself in the end."