Mastery Through Accomplishment

Teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan on destiny and free will, knowing life’s purpose, self-discipline, the struggle of life, and rising above limitation.
Many readers consider this book to be the most practical place to begin working with the teachings of Inayat Khan. Accomplishment in worldly affairs is not viewed as a hindrance on the spiritual path, but is seen as the means of developing the ability to achieve what one wishes, and ultimately to achieve the purpose of one’s life.

“It is not necessary for man to leave all the things of the world and go into retreat. He can attend to his business, to his profession, to his duties in life and yet at the same time develop this spirit in himself, which is the spirit of mastery. Mastery is not only a means of accomplishing the things of the world, but it is that by which a person fulfills the purpose of his life.”

Hazrat Inayat Kahn, founder of the Sufi order in the West, was born in India in 1882. A master of classical Indian music by the age of twenty, he relinquished a brilliant career to devote himself to the spiritual path. In 1920, acting upon the guidance of his teacher, he became one of the first teachers of the Sufi tradition in the West. For a decade and a half he travelled throughout Europe and the US giving lectures and guiding an ever-growing group of seekers. In 1926, he returned to India where he died the following year.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan (1916 -2004) was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan and Ora Ray Baker. As his father’s successor, Pir Vilayat served as head of the Sufi Order International for fifty years. Born in London, England, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was educated at the Sorbonne, Oxford, and L’École Normale de Musique de Paris. During World War II he served in the British Royal Navy on a minesweeper and participated in the invasion at Normandy. His sister, Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan served in the French Resistance as a radio operator and was executed at Dachau. After the war, Pir Vilayat pursued his spiritual training by studying with masters of many different religious traditions throughout India and the Middle East. While honoring the initiatic tradition of his Sufi predecessors, Pir Vilayat continually adapted traditional Eastern spiritual practices in keeping with the evolution of Western consciousness, psychology, and science. He initiated and participated in many international and interfaith conferences promoting understanding and world peace.