/October Message 2025
Beloved Family, What a topsy turvy time! The mixture of joy and sadness marking the Potential end of the Israel - Hamas war, the freeing of hostages held for two years, the devastation of Gaza, the enormous challenge to the Palestinian people, the coming together of so many nations to sign an accord. With the tears and the joy, it’s our aspiration to day-by-day give our effort to awaken through the sacred practices and approaches we have been given, along with the gratitude for being on the Path. Every day we are called to root out our selfishness, our pride, our jealousy, our greed and our self-loathing, while manifesting strength and courage, kindness and compassion, forgiveness and patience. All this while doing our best to be in-tune with the Infinite! Living in the Western Hemisphere I feel sadness to see the longer and warmer days ebb, while shorter days and colder weather approach. I remember so well when we would ask my music guru, Pandit Pran Nath, how he was doing, he would always answer in Hindi “Sab Din Hot Na Ek Samaan”, which translates as “Every day is not the same”! I am very grateful to be traveling to Brazil and Argentina in November to share the Dances and the Sufi Message. Also looking forward to our 21st Annual Sufi Sesshin January 18-23, 2026. Hope many of our locals will join me for zikr in Novato this Thursday. For our next wazifa practice let’s use a pair of opposites, YA KHAFID ~ YA RAFI, the All Pervading Essence is the only One who lowers you down and lifts you up through the spiritual stations. Much love, Shabda |
Wazifa Practice Recite 101x YA KHAFID ~ YA RAFI' 22. Ya Khafid (yaa ḲḤAA-fiḍ) Al-Khafid is the only one who lowers beings down through the spiritual stations. It facilitates real descent. The movement described by the pair al-Khafid and ar-Rafi' is vertical. These two Names of God relate to maqaam, or spiritual station, a nontransient stage of spiritual realization, rather than to ahwal, which are temporary states described by al-Qabid and al-Basit. Al-Khafid’s lowering of your spiritual station is out of loving protective concern for the soul of the wayfarer. It is a kind of constriction, but the job of the heart is to make the infinite finite. With the realization of al-Khafid, there is a grasping of the secret deep within the contraction of the heart. One meaning of the root of al-Khafid is to lower the wing, like a mother chicken lowers her wing over her chicks to protect them. Ya Khafid should be recited paired with its opposite Ya Rafi'. When you understand that God alone is the facilitator of your grade of realization, you become content with the raising or lowering of the spirit as God wills. The combination of these Names in repetition helps to protect you from your own spiritual greed or desire, and to protect you from going too high too fast when you are not prepared. Repetition of Ya Khafid may also be an antidote for spiritual burnout, especially when a person feels that spiritual practices are not working to change their condition. 23. Ya Rafi' (yaa RAA-fi’) Ar-Rafi' is the only one who raises beings through the spiritual stations, by which they draw near to Allah. It is the only cause of such exaltation. Ar-Rafi' is the exalter; it facilitates movement to the higher planes. It allows you to transcend lower states, opinions, prejudices, and even to overcome obsession. Through its activity, a traveler on the spiritual path goes through every single healing process until they are truly free. The action of al-Khafid and ar-Rafi' is not an action in time. It is not evident even in the movement of the heart’s expansion and contraction. It occurs in God’s time, which is eternal. When invoking this Name you are attending to God’s causality, and thus it is not a technique for getting high. To truly benefit from it, you cannot be attached to being high or low. When Ya Rafi' is paired in recitation with Ya Khafid, the sincere practitioner may be allowed to unveil and observe the inner workings of the soul. |
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 pages 41 - 65. Click below to download |
