Distant Healing: Passages from Hazrat Inayat Khan

Sending Power to a Distance

The greater development in healing power is to be able to send power to a distance. No land nor sea can prevent power being sent by the mind. Scientific discoveries such as wireless telegraphy prove that by means of instruments thoughts can be sent to a distance, but the mystic has always realized and practised to a great extent the sending of thought to a distance. As the whole idea of a mystic is to serve humanity by love and goodness, he naturally does not feel inclined either to prove to the world the greatness of his power or to utilize His power for any worldly end except for healing.

The Hindu metaphysical term Nada Brahma, meaning sound God, explains the secret of life, that sound is motion and therefore nothing takes place unless first moved by some force behind. As for external action a physical movement is necessary, so for a mental action the motion must be caused by one’s mind. The voice of one person may reach to the other corner of the room, and the voice of another may reach to the other end of the street, and so it is with the power of the mind. As it is necessary to develop the power of the voice by practice, so it is necessary to develop and practise the power of the mind, but it should be remembered that the gift of healing is always necessary. A gifted person may progress much further and more quickly than a person without the gift.

There are three things necessary in sending thought to a distance: first, faith in the theory; second, self-confidence, meaning confidence in one’s own power; third, the power of concentration. However great the power of concentration may be, without self-confidence it is of no use; and self-confidence without faith in the theory is powerless. Healing at a distance is the last stage at which a healer arrives after long experience in healing, and attempting this at the beginning would naturally result in failure. Work gives experience, and experience gives confidence; and faith becomes firm when it is built by experience and strengthened by confidence.

Vol IV ch 3 p79

Spiritual healing

Spiritual healing is still higher in its nature than either of the former methods*. It can be performed by a single being as well as by a group of people. In this case the heart of the healer can send forth its feelings and vibrations, and in accordance with their intensity the subject is healed. In absent spiritual healing the desire spreads forth its rays and reaches the patient wherever he may be, curing him without the presence of the healer. The concentration of several people united together works still more wonderfully.

 Vol IV ch 5 p93

[* ie physical healing, mental healing] 

Peace

The meditative process is a treatment for all illnesses. The reason is that the manifested life comes from the unmanifested. The unmanifested life is void of all activity and is full of repose; it is peace in itself. Therefore, the Name of God has been known by the ancients as Salaam, which means Peace.

No remedy, therefore, is greater than peace. Medicines can help, but up to a certain limit. For instance, medicine can help the body, but not the mind; the psychological treatment may help the mind, but not the soul. All these things such as medicine and psychological treatment come from outside, and the patient is dependent upon them, but in the meditative process the patient creates his remedy from himself.

Sangatha 1 p1

Compassion

…it is the name of Christ that is known as that of the Messiah. Messiah in the East means healer, and for a Messiah the power of love is the first quality, love in the form of sympathy…. How can he heal the wounds of the hearts of the children of the earth and relieve them from pains and sufferings, since life is full of them, when his sympathy is not awakened to such a degree that he feels the pain of another even before feeling his own pain? Every healer who has a spiritual aspiration must develop a spark of the fire of the heart of the Messiah; and then even before trying to heal a person his very presence will heal.

Vol IV ch 4 p85

God alone is the Healer; those who minister will only truly heal when they keep this truth always before them, for it is not the solid wood that makes the flute, it is the empty reed. The healer is only the instrument which God Himself is using and, only in so far as he can put aside his own lower personality and dedicate and consecrate his life to the great service, will he be successful in the work he has undertaken. He should endeavour to cultivate an attitude of calmness, serenity and poise, of harmony within and without; for just as the waters of a lake, when tossed to and fro and broken up by the winds of a great storm, cannot reflect the clear blue sky, neither can the heart of the one who is disturbed and distracted by the turmoil of the world and confused by the sound of earth’s many voices, reflect the will of the God and Father/Mother of us all…

So the patient must have confidence and trust in the healer; he must open himself to receive the healing currents for the conveyance of which the healer is only the channel, for life and health are the gifts of God Himself.

Both above paras from (new) Vol 8 Sufi Teachings – ch 23 Spiritual healing