The Bowl of Saki Commentary
Commentary for:
When the stream of love flows in its full strength, it purifies all that stands in its way, as the Ganges, according to the teaching of the ancients, purifies all those who plunge into its sacred waters.
Commentary from Hazrat Murshid SAM (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, Samuel L. Lewis):
The Bowl of Saki Commentary, copyright © 1981, 2012 Sufi Ruhaniat International. All rights reserved.
The real Ganges, the real Jordan, the real Red Sea is the human heart and its tributaries. Heart heals body, heart heals mind, heart heals heart, heart heals all that pertains to the self, and heart heals all that pertains to others (that is to say to the phenomenal non-self). Heart takes one above the realm of self and non-self. Heart is the throne of Unity.
All the teaching of Sufism is to bring one to this great realization of Heart. This secret is described in Hazrat Inayat Khan's text "Nirtan," but not revealed. It cannot be revealed if by revelation one means making clear some mystery for the head. It will always be a mystery to the mind; it need never be a mystery to the heart.
This realization is the most important thing in life, in the highest sense. It is the eternal life which is possible whenever one lays down the ego and surrenders gladly. Without that surrender there is no plunge into the Ganges, there is no division of the Red Sea or baptism in the Jordan. This supreme Unity is above mind, beyond the mind-mesh. In that realm, Bhakti and Jnana-union through love and through knowledge-become one.