April 2018 Message

Beloved Family,

Still feeling the glow from our 8-day retreat in the high plains of Colombia at the Ecovillage Atlantida. We were some 200 pilgrims, mostly under thirty-five! The Ruhaniat Sufi Youth Council was very well represented and shared sessions nearly every day. Most all of the South American countries were represented, along with the US, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, and Turkey!

Lots of torrential downpours around lunchtime! Mostly went walking to see the great variety of birds in the early morning when I wasn’t teaching.

Most amazingly, on our first day out we were greeted with the Darshan of a Yellow Headed Caracara Eagle. And then every time we went walking the eagle(s) visited us.

On arrival at home, looking out our back glass door toward the bird feeder, we had a new visitor we had never seen, a Band-tailed Dove, nearly the size of a hawk, which dwarfed all the other birds on the feeder! I also had time to work hard in the garden along with PamAllah pulling the winter weeds and planting lots of veggies!

This Saturday and Sunday I will lead a retreat in Nevada City and then 10 days later up to Portland for the Annual Jamiat Aam, which will conclude with a Raga Concert Sunday Afternoon April 29.

I also gave a Raga Offering accompanied by master musicians on the Sarangi and Tabla at Hazrat Inayat Khan's URS on February 5, 2018, which was beautifully filmed by professionals and now can be viewed on my YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEF4ajy0Tls> and the Ruhaniat channel <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMFJAQCqHfg>.

In May I will teach for the first time in Southern France followed by the Federation of the Sufi Message Gathering at Fazal Manzil, Hazrat Inayat Khan's family home and Sufi Center in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris.

In June I will be part of the Peace Pledge Pilgrimage, of which I am one of four main organizers, with Spiritual and Business Leaders, Educators and Earth Stewards. First we travel to Greenland, where the message is clear due to the melting of the continent, that all human beings need to dedicate themselves as Earth Stewards. From there we travel to Assisi, the home of St Francis who showed the way to Freedom through Loving Kindness and Compassion. Please visit our Peace Pledge website and sign the Pilgrims Peace Pledge.

From there I travel directly to the annual Ruhaniat Summer School in Germany, followed by our annual Mendocino Sufi Camp. And now we just completed the flier and registration info for the annual Santa Cruz Sufi Camp in August.

In September back down to South America with a retreat in Quito, Ecuador.

Most importantly please "save the date" for our not quite annual residential Mureeds gathering Oct 5-8 at the Marin Headlands right by the beach and ocean at the mouth of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sending all love,

Shabda

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Wazifah Practice

Recite 101x: YA MULHIM YA HADI YA RASHID

Ya Mulhim (yaa MOOL-him)

The inner guidance that comes to one directly from the source without intermediation.

94. Ya Hadi (yaa haa-DEE)

Al Hadi is the most general and inclusive Name of divine guidance. It means the source of all guidance, and its guidance is for the whole of humanity, or a whole community of people. In societal terms, al-Hadi manifests in canonical guidance from a holy book and a structured religion. Repetition of Ya Hadi is especially recommended at the stage when the spiritual wayfarer is ready to actualize insights, to walk their authentic walk in life, to function in an integrated way, and to become a part of a spiritual community.

Al-Hadi is an invitation to remember God (dhikr) and to remove the coverings over our heart (kufraan) that cause forgetfulness. It offers the light of guidance that illuminates the way for humanity to overcome self-delusion, anger, and panic and to find the broad and balanced road, the straight way that offers patience and hope, and is life-giving water, hady(un). Al-Hadi represents an advanced stage in the process of awakening to guidance. It should be considered as part of a cluster of Names including ar-Rashid (98) and al-Mulhim. See Chapter 24, Names of Guidance.

98. Ya Rashid (yaa ra-SHEED)

Ar-Rashid is the state of unerring guidance that is infinitely, and in an unlimited way, manifesting into each and every thing. The word for the one who is constantly evolving so that they can manifest this state is Murshid (mu-ra-sha-da). Ar-Rashid brings an established and clear consciousness that balances inner experience and worldly life.

To discern and communicate a wisdom that addresses the specific needs of individual souls, the quality of divine guidance must be brought into a particular focus. Ar-Rashid is the emanation of guidance that has the clarity and capacity to discern and communicate healing wisdom to all types of human beings. It brings hope to humanity, while its opposite, ghayy, leads to despair.

Ar-Rashid offers the nexus of balance between the unstructured nature of inner inspiration or guidance (ilham) and the structure of formal guidance (hudaa). Because of its quality of clarity, Ya Rashid can effectively be paired in repetition with several Names, including Ya Matin (54), Ya Hadi (94), and Ya Mulhim. See Chapter 24, Names of Guidance, and the teachings on the diamond body of awareness in Chapter 20, In Quest of Wisdom; Chapter 22, God’s Omniscience; and Chapter 23, The Ground of All Knowing.

TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY

Instead of starting a new text this month, let us continue to daily recite, memorize and contemplate the recitation of the Prayers of Inayat: PIR, NABI and RASSOUL. Click here to download the document.

1AndeanMotmot Andean Motmot - local name Barranquero, at the entry to our Ecovillage Atlantida Retreat