Beloved Family,
We had a deep and wonderful Pilgrimage in Mother India and now I am so happy to be back home for a few weeks before departing for Morocco!
We began our Pilgrimage invoking the greatness of women Sufi masters who though less well known made great contributions to humanity. With the women in the lead, we
went to the shrine of Bibi Fatima Sam, just a short walk from our guest house! She was a mureed of Baba Farid Ganjshakar and in his circle of senior teachers. One day one of
the male senior teachers become jealous of her and went to Baba Farid saying, “How can you have a woman in our senior circle?” Baba Farid replied, “When the lion(ess)
comes out of the jungle you had better run, you won’t have time to tell whether it is a male or female lion!” So she became known as the lioness of Delhi!
My co-leaders were Sheikha Dakini Warrior and Khalifa Waduda Welsh! Many thanks to you both for holding the post so beautifully. We sang and danced Sufi songs whenever
we got a chance-- at the women’s shrines, at the Khankah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, at Humayun's Tomb, at Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia’s Dargah, and naturally at Hazrat
Inayat Khan’s Dargah!
I had the privilege of offering a Raga Concert on February 5th, the URS day of Hazrat
Inayat Khan, which will be posted soon.
Later in the Pilgrimage we visited another of the great Sufi women of Delhi, the mother of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, Bibi Zuleikha, affectionately known as MaiSahib, with all
the women being given a chaddar from her Dargah.
We visited the well where Baba Farid hung upside down to do his practices and his Chila (cave). At the well, I initiated two new mureeds, both scholars and seekers, Shareena Banu and Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi. Please welcome them!
Naturally, before returning home, we visited some bird sanctuaries of Northern India!
And now Tamam and I look forward to leading a pilgrimage visiting the Sufis, saints, and beauty of Morocco!
On my return, I head to Colombia for our annual weeklong retreat there.
And toward the end of April, we have our Annual Jamiat Aamon the East Coast in North Carolina. Our dear Abraham and Halima Sussman will be co-leaders with me.
Much love,
Shabda
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Upcoming Events and Teachings
Mar 11-20 Sufi Pilgrimage in Morocco
April 5-12 Ecovillage Atlantida Retreat in Colombia
Apr 30-May 3 Jamiat Am in North Carolina
July 19-26 Mendocino Sufi Camp
Previous Letters can be found in Pir Shabda's Blog
See Shabda's calendar for more information.
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Wazifa Practice
Recite 101x
YA WARITH ~ YA BA'ITH
For our next Wazifa Practice let's use a pair that invokes "Die before Death" and "Resurrection" or fully awakening to our True Nature. These are also another way to invoke fana and baqa.
97. Ya Warith (yaa WAA-rith)
Al-Warith expresses the aspect of God that is the inheritor of all. Everything will return to Allah. The Qur'an says, "We (Allah) give life and we give death, but We are the inheritors (warithun)."18 Al-Warith manifests the divine activity of leaving your limited self behind. From the human standpoint, it means to "die before death." It is a process of letting go of the transient (fana) and identifying with what does not die (baqa).
The physical meaning of the verb warratha is to put out a fire, to stir around the ashes to kill it. Even from the physical point of view, the heat of the fire disappears but the light continues, just as the light of an extinct star continues. Al-Warith shows that Allah is the ultimate inheritor of whatever of value is left behind at death, a legacy of light. It puts a different emphasis on the process of annihilation, for death is not simply a disappearance. That which has been awakened returns to Allah in the end. We recommend that Ya Warith be paired together with its divine opposite, Ya Ba'ith (49). Together, these Names point to a cosmic process that manifests the great return to unity of all separated entities.
49. Ya Ba'ith (yaa BAA-'ith)
Al-Ba'ith is the one who fully sends forth the message of God and the messengers of God. It removes all blockages to the divine flow. It is the quickener. It means to throw off death-like sleep or inertia to fully wake up. Al-Ba'ith is the power that resurrects all souls, and it is the power that revives dead hearts so that they can be open. Ba'atha, a form of the same root, means to remove that which restrains you from free action.
Another form means to remove the barrier from a stream of water so that the water can flow forth.
The story of Jonah and the whale gives a vivid example of a similar physical meaning. "He would certainly have remained inside the stomach of the fish until the day when he was spewed out."14 Spewed out (sent forth) is yub'athun. It means the day or time for being sent forth. Ya Warith (97) and Ya Ba'ith are divine opposites that are most beneficial when recited as a pair. Their realization enables you to become unstuck in the spiritual process of dying before death and awakening into what is more enduring.
To hear the pronunciation: Ya Warith ~ Ya Ba'ith
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TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY
This month we begin reading an original Sangitha by Murshid Samuel Lewis, Fana-fi-Rassoul
Read and contemplate numbers 37-73 (pages 11-17).
Click to download
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INDIA PILGRIMAGE
Zikr at Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Dargah before the pilgrimage began
Dargah of Bibi Famita Sam
At the Khankah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia
Humayun's Tomb
Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Kahn
Raga offering at the Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Kahn
Rafaela, Alina, Shareena, Jahnara, Dakini
Bibi Zuleikha Dargah
Women wearing their chaddar gifts at Bibi Zuleikha Dargah
Sitting at the Well
Chila of Baba Farid
New mureed, Shareena Banu
Selfie with new mureed, Ghaluam Rasool Delvi
BIRDS OF INDIA
White-breasted KingFisher
Brown-headed Barbet
Indian Grey Hornbil
Jungle Babbler
Dehli Kite
Painted Stork
Dehli Eagle
Peahen
Flame-backed Woodpecker
Indian Hoopoe- leader of the birds in Conference of the Birds
Spotted Owl
Bar-headed Geese
Red-wattled Lapwig
Sarus Cranes, standing over 5 feet tall
Indian Roller