June 2018 Message

Beloved Family,

Just returned from two weeks of teaching in France. I began in Larouque d'Olmes, in the southwest of France under the gaze of the Pyrenees. The mountains only showed their face a few times, when it wasn’t overcast.

My host was Asherah Dominique Boyer, who also did a magnificent job as my translator and registrar for the retreat. Also hosting was Sheikha Dakini Warrior, her now fiancé Karl Cooper and their daughters respectively Alana Maya and Sky, who had driven down from Scotland.

We met in a beautiful home-retreat center in the countryside with some 40 folks, mostly from the region and Spain, 4 days of dancing and singing, great musicians and Sufi teachings with lots of local fresh French bread and cheese.

Welcome new mureed Julien Jamal Dubois Du Bellay, new Welcome Blessing to Joy Azima Liengaard, new mureed co-guided by Sheikha Dakini, Amaé Emilie Dard. It was delightful to also share my time in France with my Ecuadorian mureed, Mashol, living in Paris for the last 3 years, who leads the Dances of Universal Peace Circle in Paris.

The next week we shifted up to Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, for the Federation of the Sufi Message Harmony Gathering at Fazal Manzil, the family home of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Leaders from the Inayati Order, the Sufi Movement, the Sufi Way, Sufi Contact, Fraternity of Light and naturally our Ruhaniat met from Wednesday through Sunday. Our theme was Transformation though Friendship and Collaboration. We certainly did become better friends and colleagues. One Federation project was emphasized, which is our shared website Reach Far and Wide, http://www.reachfarandwide.org, with texts of Hazrat Inayat Khan translated into languages other than English. They site is very functional now and there was considerable interest to keep adding resources in the future.

On Sunday morning I had the privilege of offering a Raga Concert in the home of the being who inspired my immersion into India Classical Vocal Music. Thanks to the great tabla maestro and dear friend, Ustad Zakir Hussain, he was able to find me top rate accompanists on tabla and sarangi who were in Paris at the time. I was joined by Ustad Latif Khan on tabla and Ustad Ilyas Khan on sarangi.

For our local family, we will be celebrating my music Guru Pandit Pran Nath’s 22nd URS on the evening of June 13 in the Berkeley, CA area.

On June 19th I leave for the Peace Pledge Pilgrimage adventure to Greenland and Assisi followed by teaching at the annual Ruhaniat Summer School in northern Germany. The purpose in going to Greenland, where the ice is melting away, is to express out loud that at this time all humans being need to become Earth Stewards. In Assisi, where we will be joined by over 100 leaders, it is to express out loud that all human being need to become Heart Stewards, that is, that the root of all our actions be Loving Kindness and Compassion.

Looking forward to sharing Mendocino Sufi Camp with many of you, and then in August our mini Sufi camp in Santa Cruz.

For a great adventure, come join us in Quito Ecuador in the beginning of September, and Asheville NC in late September.

And it is time to begin registering for our Mureeds Retreat in the beginning of October.

June 24 is the 50th Anniversary of the Dances of Universal Peace. We will be celebrating all over the world with more than a hundred and one circles registered. I’ll be leading the same in Greenland!

Honoring Murshid Sam’s insight and ability to draw inspiration for the dances from the cosmos, our next wazifa practice lets us invoke the three wazifas connected with creativity, with bringing forth what needs to manifest to serve the awakening of all beings.

Much love,

Shabda

WAZIFAH PRACTICE

Recite 101x Ya Khaliq ~ Ya Bari' ~ Ya Musawwir

11. Ya Khaliq (yaa ḲḤAA-liḳ)

Al-Khaliq is the only one who creates. It is the active, dynamic source of creation, and the continuous activity of creation. There is no beginning to it and no end, nor any rest in the middle. Every moment reveals al-Khaliq in action, as well as the fruits of the action. A variation of al-Khaliq's root means to measure a piece of leather or any material and see that it is beautifully proportioned in design before cutting it and sewing the pieces together.

Prior to anything being made, al-Khaliq is the one who imagines all the possibilities. It is the innate disposition of God to imagine the universe. Metaphorically, it is like imagining all the possible letters that might be written with the ink in a bottle. Al-Khaliq is reflected in human beings, and as a consequence we have the innate ability to imagine the beloved.

12. Ya Bari' (yaa BAA-ri')

Al-Bari' is the originator of individuation. Continuing with the metaphor of leatherworking mentioned above, al-Bari' would be the act of cutting out the individual pieces of the design that has been measured on the leather. While it is the beginning of individuation, nevertheless it still remains in the condition of creation before physical manifestation. Al-Bari' defines the realm called jabarut, where we find the origination of the divine Names. It is how they exist. They are still not manifested in physical form, but they are individuated as potentialities.

What God creates is well proportioned and in a manner free from inconsistencies, faults, blemishes, defects, and imperfection. The nature of al-Bari' is to make the universe like that. On a personal level, it can mean to free yourself from any unclean thing, to become free from guilt, and to become pure of soul. The healing aspect of al-Bari'-to remove or free oneself from disease-is also an important part of the meaning of this divine Name.

13. Ya Musawwir (yaa mu-ṢOW-wir)

Al-Musawwir is the one who continuously shapes the heart and continuously shapes all things.

What it creates is not left for even a breath. This Name completes the creative activity described above with Ya Khaliq (11) and Ya Bari' (12). The individually cut out pieces of leather are now sewn together and made into a three-dimensional form.

Of these three Names of creation, al-Musawwir is the one that moves closest to material objects in the universe. But it doesn't yet fully manifest into the visible, sensible world, the world described by az-Zahir (74). Al-Musawwir continuously and increasingly goes toward that final manifestation. Nevertheless, the individuation process has been completed and the infinite is given a finite shape-in just the way, as it is said in the scriptures, that Adam is created in God's own image and likeness.

To hear the pronunciation: Ya Khaliq ~ Ya Bari' ~ Ya Musawwir

TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY

This month we will study an original Sangatha by Murshid Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti), Fana-fi-Sheikh. Read and contemplate the first 50, pages 3-8. Click here to download the document.

1Pyrenees View of the Pyrenees from my bedroom window in south of France