If, as normal individuals without extraordinary faculties, we are to carry through to the end the task of self perfection, we should bear in mind that we would not be able to achieve this without drawing sustenance from a transcendent source of energy. By cultivating within oneself a feeling of an omniscient, omnipotent and infinitely benevolent entity (“God” ,”the Source”, “the Primary Cause” …), by striving to feel His presence and support when making decisions and by trying to act with the sole intention of obtaining His satisfaction, one practices what Ostad Elahi describes simply as “natural meditation”.

To act in a disinterested manner, out of sheer duty, to counteract the influence of the animal impulses that prompt our actions will be actually possible if we succeed in getting connected to this intelligent and benevolent entity and feel its all-pervading presence within ourselves. “Natural meditation” enables us to capture the energy needed for performing actions that our willpower, left to itself, cannot accomplish. Another important result of “natural meditation” is that, being practised with a view to obtaining divine satisfaction, it does, in the long run, convert our ethical habits into genuine divine virtues.

Without this transcendent energy emanating from the divine Source, there can be no self perfection, and ethical habits remain inconclusive. That’s why Ostad Elahi’s doctrine of natural spirituality emphasizes the importance of developing a capacity for benefiting from this transcendent energy, along with a fresh approach to the conventional, inherited codes of morality. While ethical principles should be adapted to our modern needs, they should not be dissociated from authentic religious fundamentals and not be applied without reference to the divine.

Apart from the divine emissaries, the saints and prophets of different authentic religions, charged with the mission of putting life into the divine truths, who continue to exert a positive influence, there exists on earth, at every epoch, a source of guidance transmitting divine energy to mankind, directly or indirectly. Ostad Elahi gives a clear explanation of the principles of spiritual guidance, while warning against possible deviations in the master/disciple relationship and against the different impostures that threaten individuals deprived of guide marks. Insisting on the importance of spiritual understanding, freedom of conscience and individual responsibility, he announces new forms of spiritual guidance, unhampered by the formal framework of the religious traditions of the past.

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