/November 2024 Message
Beloved Family,
Fall greetings! Thanksgiving Blessings for all who celebrate one of our best Holy Days of the year - YA KARIM! It is always rich to breathe in the tremendous gratitude that touches us by appreciating all that has been provided as we follow the path to awakening and service! YA GHANIYY YA MUGHNI
We are very busy preparing for 10 Murshid(a)s to be guests at our home for a three day in-face Murshid Circle Retreat followed by 4 days at Bishops Ranch in Healdsburg for the Annual Jamiat Khas Leaders Retreat.
I know many of us are reeling after the USA election, and I wrote a long letter to the community linked here.
On November 3rd, we honored my music guru Pandit Pran Nath’s 106th Birthday with a Zoom Raga Concert of Voice - Shabda and Just Intone Piano - Michael Harrison. It was recorded and here is the link. It starts with a short Bhajan offering by Joan Allekote and Premsheela.
We had a delightful retreat in Sarasota Florida, right after the hurricanes, assisted by Maitreya and pictures below will attest to our birding adventures after the retreat.
December 6-8 we travel to Maui for our annual retreat there. January 19-24 we return to Bishops Ranch for the 20th Annual Sufi Sesshin.
Also in January I will be giving a 5 Session Raga Singing as Spiritual Practice on Thursday mornings 9AM PST Jan 2, 9, 16, Feb 13, 20, Register here
For our wazifa practice lets recite YA KARIM, YA RAHIM invoking the Beneficence. 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 Karim with Ya Rahim, the Divine Love which touches each and every place.
Much love, Shabda
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. 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 Akibayyat, Murshid Sam’s commentary on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s text, Akibat-Life After Death. Let us read Chapter 7, Obsession, pages 85- 98. |
| Upcoming Events and Teachings |
December 6-8 January 19-24, 2025 |
Ongoing Local Monthly Gathering Zikr in San Rafael One Thursday a month |
BIRDS OF FLORIDA |
| BIRDS AT THE OUTDOOR BREVARD ZOO IN FLORIDA |
