September 2019 Message

Beloved Family,

Welcome to the Fall, or, as I was just in the Southern Hemisphere in Chile, welcome to Spring!

So much has unfolded since I last wrote you. In August I traveled to Fazal Manzil, Hazrat Inayat Khan’s family home in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, and taught a weekend retreat. We were a small group of 15 people, so the teachings and experience felt very intimate and deep.

I flew to Spain and then taught a 6-day retreat in the countryside near Zaragoza, Spain, with the support of Sheikha Lakshmi Tamariz from Cuenca, Ecuador, along with our wonderful hosts Juan Nuraddin and Pegah. What a deep delight to share the Dances and the teachings for my first time teaching in Spain with some 70 folks, mostly from Spain. I initiated three new mureeds there, Elvira Bello, Bertram Doll and Celia Alonso Masfarner. Please welcome them!

Returned home for two weeks and then off to Santiago, Chile where I taught alongside Murshida Darvesha in the beautiful countryside, again with some 70 folks from Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia! So many of the young children present attended all the teachings and especially enjoyed the Raga Classes. I initiated two wonderful young mureeds, Paloma Valentina Escribar Rubio, who works as a Graphic Designer and Antu Manuel Lara Arias, who shared the music circle as a guitarist and is studying music in the university. Special thanks to our host Roxana Campos. What a privilege to have so many new heart friends!

On my off time in the afternoon I explored the amazing land and birds. And after the retreat went into the high Andes to further explore the birds, especial the Chilean Condor. On the first day of Spring we also went to an incredible lake with high mountains surrounding for Ceremony to relieve suffering and bring happiness for all beings and especially our precious planet.

I want to express extraordinary gratitude to Malik Braun, Murshid Sam Dargah Project manager, to all the workers, and to all the generosity from so many of you. The work on Murshid Sam’s Dargah is complete. What an abundance of Blessings!

October will bring me to Sarasota, Florida for a Sufi Retreat, with the end of October being the Murshid Circle Retreat and the Annual Ruhaniat Leaders Retreat. In December I once again have the pleasure of teaching in Maui.

January is our Annual Sufi Sesshin with fellow teachers, Murshida Leilah, Murshid Wali Ali, Murshid Rahmat and Sheikh Gayan,

In February I lead a Pilgrimage to Mother India and in March a Pilgrimage to Morocco. Both of these take more advance planning so please register early.

For our next wazifa I would like us to practice from the family of Opposites, so we can experience the loving Embrace of the One in both praise and blame

Much love,

Shabda

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Wazifa Practice

Recite 101x YA MU'IZZ~ YA MUDHILL

24. Ya Mu'izz (yaa mu-‘IZZ)

Al-Mu'izz is the one who gives the gift of self-esteem. It brings true dignity. Al-Mu'izz has the same root as al-'Aziz (8), the strength that flows from a knowledge of essential worth or inner value. Its rootmeans “sweetness,” as well as “special” and “rare,” like an eagle among birds. Al-Mu'izz is the one who can take us to the state of al-'Aziz. Repetition of Ya Mu'izz is an antidote for attachment to reputation and a remedy for the habit of self-aggrandizement.

In reciting Ya Mu'izz, Ya Mudhill, you are invoking the one who is both the ultimate cause of your being honored and of your being brought to shame. The Names balance each other. There is an inner dynamic. When you truly reach a depth of anguish of the soul, then the truth that your soul is created in the divine image is of necessity remembered and honored, and the quality of al-Mu'izz naturally arises. There is a similar dynamic that occurs when egotistical pride evokes the need to be dishonored.

25. Ya Mudhill (yaa mu-DHILL)

Al-Mudhill is the one who leads you to the domain where you see yourself as the lowest of the low. This domain is where the original disconnected and isolated ego identity has been constructed. Al-Mudhill’s root means to seek or yearn for the object of a long cherished wish. This divine quality empowers you to face your lower self, to bow low before God and to engage the lowest regions of the self. Until you reach this place, you cannot begin to dissolve the false self.

Al-Mudhill brings us, willingly or not, to our knees with our head on the ground. For someone who is stuck in a place of shame, humiliation, or shadow, this sacred Name can actually be a powerful antidote. However, we recommend that it should rarely be recited alone. It is best repeated in combination with Ya Mu'izz (24).

To hear the pronunciation: Ya Mu'izz ~ Ya Mudhill

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TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY

This month we begin working with the text:Gatha-Pasi Anfas: Breath Series II withCommentary by Murshid Samuel L. Lewis(Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti). Read Numbers 7-8, pages 30-37. Click here to download the document.

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1FazalManzil Fazal Manzil, Hazrat Inayat Khan’s family home