September 2021 Message

Beloved Family,

Equinox Blessings! We have made the turn of the Jewish New Year and the turn of the season where for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere the days shorten into Fall and for those in the Southern Hemisphere the days lengthen into Spring.

We have been harvesting apples, pears, and figs; peaches and plums are long gone, and we await the persimmons to ripen.

Just an hour ago a beautiful mature Coopers Hawk visited for an hour hanging out and thoroughly enjoying our waterfall. Felt very fortuitous as I prepared to write you.

And naturally, we make aspirations that we are turning seasons on the covid pandemic and we can slowly move to a life where we can share physical space with more confidence. Please know the Ruhaniat still has a Pandemic Fund and you can apply here.

I’d like to emphasize one of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s most central lineage practices as an encouragement to us all. As he wrote to his first mureed and first Murshida in the West, Rabia Martin:

Livingston Hall

Columbia University, New York

17 July 1911

Dear Mother,

…... All your letters have given me satisfaction since you have started practice of Sufism and I am extremely glad to see you progressing according to my views.

……….... Then try to watch your breath day and night continuing the same practice. After some days it will be so much accustomed to the practice that you will not take a single breath unconsciously. And then you will be praying to God almighty for day and night all the movements. Try not to lose even a single breath without the mantram [xxx]. And see the grand result that you will experience.

My best wishes and love.

Yours in Infinite,

Inayat Khan

For this, we can use the darood of breathing in and out TOWARD THE ONE (each in our Mother tongue) or any wazifa. We can also use the zikr phrase, on the out-breath - LA EL LA HA, on the in breath- EL ALLAH HU. This is the aspiration for many lifetimes!

For our next wazifa I would like to return to YA FATTAH. Here is some guidance from the same series of letters from Hazrat Inayat Khan. This letter was shared just before Murshida Rabia went on retreat:

Dundee, Scotland, 19 November 1918

My dear Mother,

My work and responsibilities are grown with my age and if you will see me you will perhaps not recognize me. I am not the same Murshid in my appearance as you saw before. I look much older than my years. I wonder how your work is prospering in America. I am anxious to know of its success…….

………. Make a point to repeat “Ya Fattah” as your wazifa to whisper to yourself a thousand times every day and think of opening all sources for the accomplishment of your life’s blessed mission.

With my blessing to yourself, Etta, your husband, and our beloved helpers and members in the order.

Murshid

Download the text “Yours in the Infinite” below in the section titled "Text and Commentary to Study"

Much love,

Shabda

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Wazifa Practice

Recite 101x or 301x or 1001x

YA FATTAH

18. Ya Fattah (yaa fat-TAAḤ)

Al-Fattah means both to begin and to open. Through it you begin to open your heart to the infinite possibilities of the divine presence. With al-Fattah, the opening is continuous. It is an enlightenment that keeps happening. Al-Fattah brings great power to clear the way of obstacles and open the path of your life for success. It is the one who opens the heart to love and ecstasy.

Al-Fattah means to open something with something else, a key. It is the key to opening the heart to Allah, the key to finding the God within. Reciting Ya Fattah is a very powerful practice because, even in the midst of despair, it brings the possibility of awakening to love and ecstasy. Its activity in us is opening up the veils of darkness over the heart to uncover the light within. Al-Fattah is the continuous action of all that will be accomplished. Invocation of Ya Fattah sets up the dynamic of going deeper and deeper in the process of opening.

To hear the pronunciation: Ya Fattah

TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY

This month we begin reading Yours in the Infinite, a series of letters from Hazrat Inayat Khan to Murshida Rabia Ada Martin 1911-1926. We last read these wonderful letters in 2016.

To quote Mother Krishnabai:

“Better to read the same book one hundred and eight times than to read one hundred and eight books.”

Read the forward and begin the letters, pages 1-16.

Click here

to download the document “Yours in the Infinite”

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PHOTOS

Cooper's Hawk in our fountain