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Hazrat Inayat Khan – The Art of Being and Becoming

When the sea is calm it is a pleasure to travel on, and when the sea is rough there is no worse illness than seasickness.  And it is through its tranquillity and calmness and peace that the powerful mind, the mind of a soul that has touched perfection, opens itself to everyone, as the sea lays itself before those who journey on it with open heart. 

Ships and boats pass over it; those who journey enjoy travelling on the sea.  But when the sea is disturbed by wind and storm it is also perfect in its annoyance; it can shake the boats and steamers.  In the same way the mind of the sage can have an effect upon all things in nature; it can cause volcanic eruptions, it can cause disasters, revolutions, all manner of things, when once its tranquillity is disturbed. 

Aware of this quality of the heart and knowing the great powers possessed by a man who has touched divine perfection, people in the East give careful regard to the pleasure or displeasure of the sage.  They believe that to annoy a sage is like annoying the whole of nature, to disturb his tranquillity means to shake the whole universe.  Compared with this a storm on the sea is a very small thing; the heart that has touched perfection if once upset, can upset the whole universe