Gayan, Vadan, Nirtan

by Inayat Khan

In the Sufi style of exaltation, author Hazrat Inayat Khan has written this spiritual classic from 1980 as poetic songs to God in the form of ragas (the human soul calling to the beloved deity), alapas (God speaking to man), and tanas (the soul speaking with nature). It is an inspiring collection of maxims, sayings and prayers that read like heightened music.

Genres: Nonfiction

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Mark David Vinzens · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I have loved in life and I have been loved.
I have drunk the bowl of poison from the hands of love as nectar,
and have been raised above life's joy and sorrow.
My heart, aflame in love, set afire every heart that came in touch with it.
My heart has been rent and joined again;
My heart has been broken and again made whole;
My heart has been wounded and healed again;
A thousand deaths my heart has died, and thanks be to love, it lives yet.
I went through hell and saw there love's raging fire,
and I entered heaven illumined with the light of love.
I wept in love and made all weep with me;
I mourned in love and pierced the hearts of men;
And when my fiery glance fell on the rocks, the rocks burst forth as volcanoes.
The whole world sank in the flood caused by my one tear;
With my deep sigh the earth trembled, and when I cried aloud the name of my beloved,
I shook the throne of God in heaven.
I bowed my head low in humility, and on my knees I begged of love,
"Disclose to me, I pray thee, O love, thy secret."
She took me gently by my arms and lifted me above the earth, and spoke softly in my ear,
"My dear one, thou thyself art love, art lover,
and thyself art the beloved whom thou hast adored.”

― Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Dance of the Soul: Gayan, Vadan, Nirtan (Sufi Sayings)