Sufism, one of the worlds most accessible mystical philosophies, has the power to heal religious conflict and has brought seekers from different traditions into genuine alignment. Known predominantly as the mystical aspect of Islam, Sufism is, in fact, congruent with all world religions. In contemporary India, a Sufi centre is likely to attract Hindus and Muslims along with Jains, Sikhs and Christians.

One of the most enduring aspects of Sufism is its poets and poetry. This poetry, so grounded in the divine nature of the everyday, is enjoying a revival across the globe. Books of Rumi, its best-known proponent, in translation, have topped the poetry lists in America in recent years, even though the master created his poetry in the 13th century. The 14th century poet, Hafiz, is also now coming into his own in the West.

Now is the time for the world to know that every thought and action is sacred. This is the time for you to deeply compute the impossibility that there is anything but grace. Now is the season to know that everything you do is sacred. Hafiz Poetry, so marginalised in contemporary Western culture, generally patronised by a select few, has the power to change lives. Nowhere is this shouted from the rooftops more passionately than in the writings of Sufi poet-saints; and, as far as their work has been lionised in the West, by Rumi and Hafiz in particular. Both have adrenalin pumping through their work calling the true seeker home, no matter what the price. It is an intoxicating, inspired journey mapped by these poet-saints, who meter out the arduous process of dissolving the ego and self-interest in order to meet God, the Absolute, Consciousness, Awareness, to acquire the state of Divine Union.

The highest level of poetry, where language is practised by language masters, has the ability to transform physical, mental, emotional and spiritual habits. Like the spoken words of a living saint, a poems words are both the surface of its body and also a mysterious storehouse within of incredibly subtle and potent powers, which enter and influence the reader on levels beyond imagining and logical reckoning.

I think of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, the most famous Sufi master of all, born in present-day Afghanistan in 1207 and the creator of thousands of ecstatic, electrified verses, as one of my most intimate friends. His words, recorded by devotees of his Mevlevi Order as he chanted them spontaneously in the enlightened state of whirling, and now prolifically translated by exceptional modern poets such as Robert W. Bly, Coleman Barks and Andrew Harvey, have accompanied my life journey for the past 15 years. Only rarely does his poetry disappear from my bedside. Always, a single line, like a mantra; a verse, like a discourse, keeps me on track in developing my best nature, practising my open connection with the Divine.

Sufism is nothing but the doctrine that you can connect directly, through the spiritual heart, with God. You can complicate that further by adding the rigorous practices of refinement and discipline that accompany the journey to the point where you are able to do so constantly and steadily. But in reality, the doctrine is that simple. From this core belief, an entire universe of literature prose (the Sufis are renowned for their profound short stories, used as teaching vehicles by masters and pitched to all levels of studentship) and poetry emerged to support Sufi seekers on their unfolding journey.