we are all servants...

Nobody appears inferior to us when our heart is kindled with kindness and our
eyes are open to the vision of God.

Bowl of Saki, June 7, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

We are so situated in life that whatever position we may occupy we are never
independent, we are never self-sufficient. Therefore, every individual depends
upon others for help, and others depend upon him for help; only the position of
the person who is one among many who receive help becomes lower in the eyes of
those who count themselves among the few who can help.

This makes every person a master as well as a servant. Yet everyone, in the
intoxication of his mastership, forgets his place as a servant, and looks upon
the one who helps him as his servant. The wise, whose feelings are awakened,
think on this question deeply, and do their best to avoid every possibility of
giving even an idea to a servant of his servantship, far less insulting him in
any way or hurting his feelings. We are all equal, and if we have helpers to
serve us in life we ought to feel humble and most thankful for the privilege,
instead of making the position of the servant humble. ... One cannot commit a
greater sin than hurting the feelings of the one who serves us and depends upon
our help. Once the Prophet heard his grandson call a servant by his name. On
hearing this he at once said to his grandson, 'No, child, that is not the right
way of addressing elders. You ought to call him 'uncle.' It does not matter if
he serves us, we are all servants of one another, and we are equal in the sight
of God.'

There is a verse of Mahmud-i Ghaznavi: 'The Emperor Mahmud, who had thousands of
slaves to wait on his call, became the slave of his slaves when love gushed
forth from his heart.' Nobody appears inferior to us when our heart is kindled
with kindness and our eyes are open to the vision of God.

As Christ teaches, 'Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
twain.' What does all this teach us? It is all a lesson in sympathy for one's
fellow man, to teach us to share in his troubles, in his despair. For whoever
really experiences this joy of life, finds that it becomes so great that it
fills his heart and his soul. It does not matter if he has fewer comforts or an
inferior position than many in this world, because the light of his kindness, of
his sympathy, of the love that is growing, the virtue that is springing up in
his heart, all fill the soul with light. There is nothing now that he lacks in
life, for he has become the king of it.