/June Message 2025
Dearest Family, Greetings of the Heart as we approach the Summer Solstice on Friday, June 20, 2025, at 7:41 PM Pacific (in the Western Hemisphere)! Deep gratitude for your continued prayers. My left knee is healing day by day. I have been driving for two weeks already. Also, I’ve been walking without a walker, cane, or sticks for the past few weeks, increasing the distance every day, all with twice-weekly visits to the Physical Therapist. In two weeks, inshallah, I should be ready to walk Lama Mountain where I look forward to being with several of you. And if everything goes as hoped for, I will have right knee replacement surgery on September 17th! After months of diagnosis and waiting, Tamam will finally have her surgery next Monday, June 16. She has a large benign tumor in the bottom of her left lung which has caused her daily experience to be full of pain, so it is our sincere hope that when the lower half of her left lung is removed, she will once again have a good quality of life. So keep the prayers coming. With the current stae of the world, I find myself crying at the ferociousness of the hatred and meanness arising in my country and beyond, mostly through our selfish political leaders and the methods and messages they deliver. At this moment I don’t have any grand advice to you on how we can effectively stop the pain and suffering being inflicted. I do feel that as a lineage of Love and Compassion that has been functioning for thousands of years, it is encouraging to know that as we all gradually awaken, we can “change the world” one breath at a time. We are grateful to have the assignment to raise consciousness, our own and all those around us, known and unknown. Naturally, as a member, like you all, of the “Gardening Clan” I feel viscerally the degradation and abuse of our Mother Earth, who has provided our human body vehicles that we occupy. All this, while deeply enjoying life, the breath, the beauty of our family near and far, the plants, trees, and vegetables in our backyard, the more than thirty species of birds that visit my home every day, and….. So, what should be our work in the world? Since each of us is unique, that will manifest, inshallah, to make a grand symphony of service. The Lama Jamiat Aam is full. If you still want to go, do apply, as there are always people canceling for different reasons. Naturally, I look forward to sharing the 51st Annual Mendocino Sufi Camp with many of you in July. For our next wazifa pair let us invoke the first two wazifas, numbers 1 and 2, YA RAHMAN YA RAHIM! ~ Invoking the Boundary-less Container of Love which touches each and every place! Much love, Shabda |
Wazifa Practice
Recite 101x YA RAHMAN ~ YA RAHIM 1. Ya Rahman (yaa raḥ-MAAN) Ar-Rahman is endless love. It is the infinite, unconditional reality of love. This is the Name said in the Qur'an to be inscribed on the heart of Allah.4 In other words, God’s essence necessarily includes this quality of love. Ar-Rahman might be imagined as the inner self of God, an infinite container that is incredibly compassionate, kind, and tender. It is the sun of loving compassion that is endlessly shining. Ar-Rahman includes all the other divine Names. It is the source of all; it is the gate that opens onto all God’s qualities, and an inner secret of each one. The root meaning comes from the word rahm, “womb.” In human beings, this quality is naturally felt in relation to pregnancy. Allah provides human beings a womb to be born into and through which to have the realization of the love that is at the very foundation of all that exists. Invocation of Ya Rahman is a healing remedy for all who feel disconnected from God and for those marked by a wound of self-loathing. 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. 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. |
Text and Commentary to Study This month we continue studying the Gatha: Kashf: Insight, Series II of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan with commentary by Murshid Samuel Lewis. Read pages 25 - 35 Click below to download |
