The Fountain...

As water in a fountain flows as one stream, but falls in many drops divided by
time and space, so are the revelations of the one stream of truth.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

In a fountain there is a big stream which flows up and then breaks into many
drops. The stream is like the divine will, and the different drops like the
wills in us. One drop goes higher, another lower, one falls to the left, another
to the right, one goes north, another south. But the source of all this activity
is one; it is one thing that turns into so many, scattering in all directions.
Thus from unity there has come variety.

Different methods called religions and philosophies have been adopted by
different nations at various periods. Though the form and teachings of the
several religions appear so unlike, their source is one and the same. But from
the very beginning the differences have created prejudice, envy, and antagonism
between man. Such dissensions occupy a large portion of the histories of the
world and have become the most important subject in life.

So many castes and so many creeds,
So many faiths, and so many beliefs,
All have arisen from ignorance of man,
Wise is he who only truth conceives.

A wise man realizes that the fundamental basis of all religions and beliefs is
one: Haqq, or truth. ... Those who see the truth uncovered abandon reason and
logic, good and bad, high and low, new and old; differences and distinctions of
names and forms fade away, and the whole universe is realized as nothing other
than Haqq. Truth in its realization is one; in its representation it is many,
since its revelations are made under varying conditions of time and space.

As water in a fountain flows in one stream but falls in many drops, divided by
time and space, so are the revelations of the one stream of truth.