Beloved Family,
First, our prayers and aspirations for good health and wellbeing go out to each of you, to your families and loved ones, to your extended communities and to all beings in all realms.
As we retreat in place to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic, our Mother Earth is getting a much-needed break. From more than 20,000 planes in the sky on any given day, there were almost none. From roads and freeways clogged with rush hour traffic day in and day out, the roads are almost empty.
The Earth's lungs are rejuvenating, as is the water, the soil, and the air. it is no surprise that this very difficult flu affects the lungs, mimicking how our planet's lungs have felt.
The pandemic is showing humanity the way to Universality, which is the calling card of our lineage an practice. The pandemic knows no boundaries, borders can stop it, it touches every age, every race, it doesn't affect one religion over another, it has no gender preference and so on. In the way let us pray it shows us and humanity the way to our unity and interdependence.
As most of you like know, we felt under protection as we caught the last plane out of Morocco when our Pilgrimage was cut short by the need for us all to shelter in place. I feel deep gratitude for being allowed back home to shelter with Tamam and be able to serve our community from my very comfortable and well-connected home, YA SHAKUR!
I will tell the story of our Moroccan Pilgrimage in a longer piece soon. We loved being in Morocco, with her people, her natural beauty, her marvelous architecture, and delicious cuisine. We spent the first weekend hosted by our local Moroccan Ruhaniat guide, Salima Raoui, and held a retreat with her students and friends in the beautiful countryside near Marrakech. From there we traveled to Fez for our Pilgrimage with 16 pilgrims, as ambassadors of loving-kindness and compassion, with the aspiration to draw guidance from the saints and holy places. We had one full day of the pilgrimage before we all turned around and headed home!
I remember Murshid Sam telling us that during the World War 2, he and his colleague Father Paul Blighton would spend their nights helping all the dying beings as they traversed the mystery after death of the body. I invite us all to do the same in whatever simple way our hearts manifest that aspiration of support. Naturally, we can use YA SALAAM as wazifa in support of your prayers.
As a work around for all the cancellations of retreats, regularly dance meetings and regular social interactions, we held our first Ruhaniat Family ZOOM Gathering on Saturday, March 21, Spring Equinox. The gathering can be viewed here:
YouTube Pir Shabda Zoom Meeting 03-21-2020
Audio Only Pir Shabda Zoom Meeting 03-21-2020
And we have set up the rhythm of gathering every two weeks, the details for the next gathering on April 4th 11AM PST (California time) are here. https://conta.cc/2J7nHDv I will be joined by several of our Murshid(a)s.
For our next wazifa pair, lets recite YA QUDDUS ~ YA JAMI. Ya Quddus has the root of going back to your original home. When we find that home in our Heart we will always be at home no matter what the circumstances. And with YA JAMI we welcome everything and everyone, no boundaries, nono be left out, no feelings left out. If done as Fikr, exhale Ya Quddus, inhale Ya Jami.
With sincere prayers for safety and excellent health, wise action and plenty of handwashing,
Shabda
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Upcoming Events and Teachings
July 19-26 Mendocino Sufi Camp
Previous Letters can be found in Pir Shabda's Blog
See Pir Shabda's calendar for more information.
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Wazifa Practice
Recite 101x
YA QUDDUS ~ YA JAMI
Ya Quddus (yaa ḳud-DOOS)
Al-Quddus is the ever-purifying one. It requires us to take leave of what we cling to in order to experience intimate union. Al-Quddus allows the spiritual traveler to transcend the lower self and keep going toward the one. Al-Quddus is a force that constantly cleanses us from the conceptual mind and its differentiations. It is continuously purifying our experience of the world through inward intimacy and union with the absolute.
A variation of the root of this name means to return home to one's village. Al-Quddus is always purifying and always distancing, in the sense of leaving behind the ephemeral to go fully into the eternal. What is constantly moving toward Allah is al-Quddus.
The union given by al-Quddus is one of continually becoming the eternal reality. See Ya Jami, which is its opposite name, especially when viewed in the context of divine ecstasy.
Al Quddus suggests the process of the goldsmith purifying the dross to have only gold remain.
Al-Jami has the quality of gathering everything together into a whole, and al-Quddus has the quality of leaving behind everything but the essence. They appear as opposites. Sobriety enters after ecstasy is experienced.
Ya Jami (yaa JAA-mi)
Al-Jami is the gatherer. It means to come back together, to bring all the parts into a whole. Al-Jami is to return home, to return to the real self. It is a constant process of becoming reconnected with wholeness. It is sometimes called the grand synthesis, the joining of all joinings. Al-Quddus is an opposite of al-Jami, especially when viewed in the context of divine ecstasy. Through al-Quddus you are continuously purifying yourself of remnants of the nafs.
The two pathways of realization complement each other. Al-Quddus offers purification of nafs, while al-Jami' offers integration of the various aspects of nafs. Classically these paths would be called the via negativa and the via positiva. When all the aspects of the nafs begin to gather together, through the action of al-Jami, a quality of ecstasy enters.
As this continues, the nafs begins to merge with the ruh, or soul. It is an ecstatic union. Then, varying aspects of the higher self or soul manifest into the lower self, or nafs, and reintegrate. With al-Quddus, sobriety enters after the ecstasy of union. To receive great benefit from these names, we recommend invoking Ya Quddus and Ya Jami together.
To hear the pronunciation: Ya Quddus ~ Ya Jami
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TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY
This month we finish reading an original Sangitha by Murshid Samuel Lewis, Fana-fi-Rassoul.
Read and contemplate numbers 76-132 (pages 17-26).
Click to download
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MOROCCO PILGRIMAGE
Our group in Marrakech (Sufi Guide Salima Raoui at my left shoulder)
Sunrise on the rooftop of our Riad (hostel) in Fez
Group photo in our Fez Riad on our first day
The beauty of Morocco
Zelige tile work
Our pilgrims singing ZIkr in the shine of Moulay Idriess II in the Medina in Fez
Last shine visited, 16th century Master Sidi Abu al Mahasin Yusuf Al Fassi; dervishes chanted for our protection
BIRDS OF MOROCCO
Laughing Dove
Eurasian Blackbird
Stork
Female Kestrel
Male Kestrel
Spring is here!