Beloved Family,
URS Mubarak Mevlana Jellaudin Rumi! Winter Solstice Greetings! For our locals, we will celebrate Mevlana at tonights Zikr.
Tamam and I just returned from leading a sufi retreat and having a little time off on the beautiful island of Maui! Swimming in the warm ocean, enjoying our Maui "Ohana" (family), what a delight!
Now we're looking forward to beginning the New Year with the meditative Sufi Sesshin. Looks like the beds are taken for the opening weekend, but otherwise everything is open to register, you can register for the weekend if you are non-residential! Even if you want lodging, I would register since there are always cancellations this time of year.
Another opportunity for enrichment is that I will be attending the URS of Hazrat Inayat Khan in New Delhi, to which all are always welcome, even though I am "not bringing a group." Following the URS I will be co-leading a residential Sufi Festival,Feb 9 -14, 2016 with Sheikh Kabir Helminski, which is very reasonably priced with lodging and food included.
Close on my return, March 4-6, 2016, I will head up to Ashland, OR to give a Raga Concert with great Sarangi and Tabla accompaniment followed by a weekend Sufi Retreat.
Much love,
Shabda
Wazifa Practice
Recite 101x
YA NUR ~ YA MUNAWWIR
93. Ya Nur (yaa NOOR) Ya Munawwir (moo na wir)
An-Nur is the essence of light, luminosity itself. A Qur'anic verse says, "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth."17 An-Nur is the light of every soul and an inherent characteristic in every pore of your body. Munawwir is a form of the same root and means the one who illuminates.
It is interesting that the word for "hell" in Arabic is naar, which has the same root as Nur. What makes it hell is that the burning heat there is lacking in light. That kind of burning heat is our inner condition if we don't embody God's loving mercy and compassion (rahma) and instead become full of rage.
Whatever way we may turn, we see the all-pervading light of an-Nur. Even the darkness shines from within it. All the various forms of wisdom and guidance are expressions of an-Nur. For example, nur-ul-haqeeqah is the light of truth and guidance on the path. What continues to live on in God when we die is also a legacy of light.
To hear the pronunciation: Ya Nur
TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY
This month we continue reading "The Bestowal of Blessing" by Murshid Samuel Lewis, also known as Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti (One Who is Drawn to God by Grace). Read Chapters 10 & 11, pages 37-45.
