/March Message 2026
Dearest Family, The birds are making their nests, the fruit trees are blooming, spring is approaching and bombs are dropping and killing fellow human beings and poisoning the environment. Certainly, we may feel confused because of the wish for a change of regimes that have been so brutal to their own people. Or a wish to change the leadership of many of the governments of the world, including my own! I remember Murshid SAM telling us that during World War 2, he and his colleague Father Blighton—who founded the "Holy Order of Mans," a spiritual group centered in San Francisco—would meditate every night to help all the people killed in the concentration camps to overcome confusion, to be held in Love, and to find ease in their transition from death into the "Bardo.” Naturally, we feel how remarkable it is to be so conscious of one's inner life and capacities. However, even without that certainty or outer awareness, I believe we can follow their example, nonetheless. So, I invite us all to spend some time in our daily meditation to serve not only all those who have died in these current worldly conflicts, but also all those who are suffering loss, injury, food insecurity, injustice and fear. On a lighter note, I had a wonderful visit to Florida and next have the privilege to travel in two weeks for teaching in Turkiye and Tunisia. A week later, I will be sharing teaching at the Annual Jamiat Aam in Portland. Come join us June 24-28 at Murshid Sam's Dargah for the Lama Foundation Sufi Sesshin and then in July for the 52nd Annual Mendocino Sufi Camp. For this month's wazifa practice, let's recite the pair YA WARITH YA BA'ITH, extinguishing the thought of a separate self and Awakening to our True Nature. Much love, Shabda |
Wazifa Practice Recite 101x YA WARITH ~ YA BA'ITH 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)." 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. 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." Spewed out (sent forth) is yub'athun. It means the day or time for being sent forth. Ya Warith 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 |
Text and Commentary to Study This month we continue studying the Sangatha Cosmic Language of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan with commentary by Murshid Samuel Lewis. Read and contemplate Chapter 12 on Mind and Heart, pages 105 - 111 Click below to download |
BIRDS IN FLORIDA |
