October 2021 Message

Beloved Family,

Where we live it has been a drought for the past year but this week the storm door opened and we have had rain ALL week with more to come, YA SHAKUR! The trees, the plants, the birds all join in Thankfulness!

As we all know Hazrat Inayat Khan brought us the inspiration of prayers to recite, much like the Muslim tradition of daily prayer that he grew up with, but the prayers he brought in my case are in my mother tongue, English. I would like to offer that for the next month we practice the prayers Pir, Nabi and Rassoul daily. In a sense, we are calling on the Guide, the Inner Teacher, and the Messenger. For those who speak other languages, I hope these are translated into your language.

We recite “Nothing exists but God" and yet we pray which suggests two not One. Here is a beautiful explanation by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

The friend who is a friend in life and after death, in pleasure and pain, in riches and poverty, one upon whom one can always depend, who always guides rightly, who gives the best advice, that friend is hidden in one's own heart. One cannot find a better one. Who is this friend? One's own being, our true inner being. That friend is the origin, source, and goal of all.

But the question arises: if that friend is one's own being, why then call this One a friend, why not call them oneself? The answer is that no doubt this friend is really one's own being, but when the greater Self is compared with the present realization one finds oneself smaller than a drop in the ocean. We cannot very well call that friend ourselves until we have forgotten ourselves until we are no more ourselves. Until and unless one has arrived at that state of perfection one had better be quiet and not insolent, talking about that which one has not yet become.

And as we all share this common wound of separation, there is the beautiful path of the lover and the Beloved. As Jelaluddin Rumi writes: The Beloved is ALL, the lover but a veil! Finally, the flimsy assumption of lover dissolves into its True Nature.

And for our wazifa practice let's recite YA KAREEM, YA RAHEEM invoking the Beneficence. Again quoting Rumi:, "I have been forgetful for sixty years but not for one single second has this flowing toward me ever stopped or slowed”. We pair Ya Kareem with Ya Raheem, the Divine Love which touches each and every place.

On a lighter and sweet note, where we walk nearly every day, we have had the darshan of a beautiful and powerful juvenile Red-tailed Hawk who we have named Blanca. Nearly every day we walk she comes to say hello, even following us around some days.

Much love,

Shabda

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Wazifa Practice

Recite 101x

YA KARIM ~ YA RAHIM

42. Ya Karim (yaa ka-REEM)

Al-Karim is fully manifested generosity that reaches everything without exception. It can be found in every particular thing and in everything altogether. Al-Karim bestows endless gifts with full integrity.

It is an inexhaustible, bountiful energy that keeps on giving, like a flowing stream of water from a fathomless well. Those who embody al Karim are generous with whatever they have, whether it actually reaches people or not, or whether others respond or not. Another form of the word is 'ikram, which means incomparably generous. It is found in one of the divine Names: Ya Dhal Jalali wal 'Ikram (84). The common root K-R-M means unconditional giving from the inner intention of love.

A physical form of the root has the meaning of fertile ground. Al-Karim also expresses dignity and integrity. When the angels perceived the quality of God's fully manifested generosity in Adam, they fully prostrated in sajdah before the mystery of divine manifestation in the human being. Repetition of Ya Karim is a remedy for miserliness in all realms and directly addresses the densest core of the ego.

2. Ya Rahim (yaa ra-ḤEEM)

Ar-Rahim is the embodiment of loving mercy, and it brings the gentle touch of divine mercy. Nothing other than ar-Rahim possesses the mercy that pours forth freely and fully reaches all beings and all things, without exception. It is an all-pervading infinite presence that is manifesting into a boundless number of finite things.

Its root meaning, like that of Ya Rahman (1), comes from the Arabic word for womb, rahm. It carries an inner feeling that is naturally connected with childhood. Ar-Rahim actively brings divine love into human relationships. It enables each and every being to more fully manifest loving mercy. The recitation of Ya Rahim is an antidote for all who feel abandoned by God and who need to experience the healing activity of divine love reaching deeply within them.

To hear the pronunciation: Ya Karim ~ Ya Rahim

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Text and Commentary to Study

This month we continue 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 letters, pages 17-24.

Click here

to download the document “Yours in the Infinite”

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PHOTOS

Meet Blanca, the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk that accompanies us on our daily walks.