

A Handbook for Mureeds
Edited by Thomas Atum O'Kane



(c)1996 Sufi Order founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1910

Published by: North American Secretariat P.O. Box 30065 Seattle, WA 98103 206-525-6992 (phone) 206-525-6992 (fax) 
SufiOffice@compuserve.com (E-mail)


Dedication

This Handbook for Mureeds is dedicated to Naqiba Boese, who touched the souls of so many with her joyous love of life, people, and her Father-Mother God! She truly embodies the esprit of a mureed on the path of Love, Harmony and Beauty. We are left with her delicious laughter awakening us to the divine Presence in this very moment.



Acknowledgments

Thank you to all those who helped manifest this Handbook for Mureeds:

Nur Fatima Morrison, for recognizing the need for a mureeds' handbook and calling forth the initial inspiration.

Ma'abud Warner, for his persistent dedication in placing this material in a fitting printed form.

Dorothy Craig and Jyoti McLachlan, for editing with care.

Basira Dufour, for layout and graphic design.

Anne Casperson, for proofreading.

All those whose inspiration and insights are offered in the articles in this handbook.

Much Joy, 
Atum O'Kane 
Editor August 1996






Chapter 1

Introduction

The first chapter in this Mureeds' Handbook gives the reader a context in which to understand the nature of the Sufi Order and its work. Symbols can be a source of continuing revelation so we begin with our symbol, the heart with wings, and a commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. This symbol reveals the soul of our tradition and the orientation of the training provided. A statement of the Sufi Order mission is given to further articulate our purpose and direction.
The article on "Sufi Roots" and the biographical material on the founder of the Order, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, and his son and successor, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, convey some history of the Order and the central figures in its development. The section on the Message, including "Liberated Spirituality," speaks of the vision of an awakening within the consciousness of humanity in our time.
The various activities created by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan to foster individual and planetary spiritual unfoldment are described and the chapter ends with responses to the questions most frequently asked about the Order. 

The Symbol of the Sufi Order
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

The symbol of the Sufi Order is a heart with wings. It explains that the heart is between soul and body, a medium between spirit and matter. When the soul is covered by its love for matter, it is naturally attracted to matter. This is the law of gravitation in abstract form. As it is said in the Bible, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." When man treasures the things of the earth, his heart is drawn to the earth. But the heart is subject not only to gravitation, but also to attraction from on high, and as in the Egyptian symbology, wings are the symbol of spiritual progress, so the heart with wings expresses that the heart reaches upward towards heaven. The crescent in the heart suggests the responsiveness of the heart. The crescent represents the responsiveness of the crescent moon to the light of the sun, for naturally it receives the light which develops it until it becomes the full moon. The principal teaching of Sufism is that of learning to become a pupil, for it is the pupil who has a chance of becoming a teacher, and once a person considers that he is a teacher, his responsiveness is gone. The greatest teachers of the world have been the greatest pupils. It is this principle which is represented by the crescent: the crescent in the heart signifies that the heart which is responsive to the light of God is illuminated. It is the divine light which is represented by the five-pointed star, and the star is reflected in the heart which is responsive to the divine light. The heart which by its response has received the divine light is liberated, as the wings show. In brief, the meaning of the symbol is that the heart responsive to the light of God is liberated.

Mission Statement


To spread the Message of unity and promote the awakening of humanity to the divinity in all, as taught by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and continued by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan.
To provide a program of spiritual training to bring about a deep personal transformation, culminating in a balanced, harmonious and creative life.
To develop spiritual guides capable of giving authentic training in the inner life.
To find new ways to apply the spiritual ideals of love, harmony, and beauty to the challenges and opportunities of everyday life.
To serve God and humanity by helping to relieve suffering, promoting understanding and acceptance among adherents of various faiths, and encouraging the unfoldment of universal loving kinship.

Sufi Roots
by Sharif Graham

The organization now known as the Sufi Order International was founded by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in the early twentieth century. Born July 5, 1882, he was a great Indian musician who was sent by his own Murshid (a Sufi teacher) to the West with the commission to unite East and West in "harmony." He left India in 1910, first touring the United States and then Europe, settling in England during the First World War. He officially registered the Sufi Order in London in 1915, although he always indicated the founding year as 1910. After the War, he moved his family to France and relocated the headquarters of the organization to Geneva. He traveled widely in the 1920's, including two extensive tours of the United States in 1923 and 1926. Every summer, he held a three month Summer School at his home in Suresnes, near Paris. In October of 1923, he gave the name Sufi Movement to the overall organization, within which the Sufi Order continued as the esoteric school. Returning to India for the first time late in 1926, he unexpectedly passed away on February 5, 1927 at only forty-four years of age.
After his passing, the organization he founded fragmented into several independent groups in Europe and America. His eldest son, Vilayat, who was only ten years old at the time of his passing, experienced problems with the leadership of the Sufi Movement, and in 1958 revived the Sufi Order as incorporated by his father in 1915. In the late 1960s this organization became active in the United States, where it grew to more than a hundred centers around the country. In the 1980's there was a striking growth in the organization in Europe, where a summer meditation camp in Switzerland now draws many people from all over the Continent.
However, the roots of the Sufi Order go back well before 1910. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan himself studied with a teacher in the Chishti lineage, the pre-eminent Sufi group in India, which traces back to the thirteenth century. At that time, Moin-ud-Din Chishti, a remarkable wandering teacher, came to India and powerfully established the mystical approach of Sufism on the sub-continent. Sufism is usually seen as "the mysticism of Islam," and it did indeed develop and flower in the context of Islamic civilization, particularly from the ninth century on. However, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, along with many earlier Sufi teachers, insisted that Sufism had its roots much farther back in history, tracing it at least as far as the ancient Greek and Egyptian mystery schools. He also identified Sufism with wisdom, and pointed out that wisdom is not exclusive to any particular community. Mysticism, he maintained, is "pure of distinctions and differences."
In the context of Islam, Sufis trace their heritage back to the Prophet Mohammed himself, particularly through Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, who is seen as the transmitter of the deeply spiritual side of the religion, too fine to be given in the public revelation. A whole chain of transmission is kept, connecting present-day practitioners to spiritual ancestors. The Chishti Order, one of the four major organizations in the Sufi lineage (there are hundreds of minor orders), traces itself through the central Asian town of Chisht, where a crucial figure in the transmission, Khwaja Abu Ishak, resided. But perhaps transmission is a misleading word in this case, since each Pir-o-Murshid not only passed on what he received from his predecessors, but dynamically reinterpreted it for his time.
In the case of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, that reinterpretation, geared specifically to Western seekers, involved setting aside any specific affiliation with the religion of Islam and opening the training to persons of all religious backgrounds. In his teaching in the West, he clearly stated that Sufism did not require anyone to subscribe to any dogma, creed, or indeed any specific teachings. Rather, the Sufi training is designed to intensify and make real the spiritual experience of any seeker, whatever her or his beliefs or religious affiliation. 
When Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was giving his teachings, no other authentic Sufi teachers had been in the West. Subsequently, many other Sufi teachers have come from the East. Some have exhibited a broad outlook similar to Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's; others have presented a traditional view, insisting on the Islamic context. There has been some objection to the use of the name Sufi Order, as though there were no other Sufi Orders when it was first so named. In response to this, the name Sufi Order of the West has sometimes been used, or Sufi Order International, with the sub-headings of "An Interfaith Approach to Spiritual Growth" or "Founded in 1910 by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan."
The Sufi Order, The Sufi Movement, Sufi Contact, and The Sufi Islamic Ruhaniat Society (S.I.R.S.) all draw upon the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan for their inspiration. A feeling of mutual respect now exists among the various organizations, which Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan has likened to the branches that grow from the trunk of the same tree. 

Biography of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was born in India in 1882, in a house which was a school of music. Many people passed through his house: poets, and particularly fakirs, sanyasins and sadhus. There was a tomb not far from the house where sadhus used to meet. Whenever there was a moment when Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was not studying music, he was at that tomb. In his autobiography, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan tells the story of when he was twelve and he decided to run away from home, hoping to live with the sadhus. When he found what pain he was causing his family, he came back. 
When he was a young man his grandfather took him to Nepal. Inayat Khan could see all the treachery of the musicians at court and he was so fed up that he went on a trip into the mountains on his horse. He felt a presence and then saw a great rishi sitting; he said the whole country was filled by the presence of that being. After he approached, they meditated in silence. The rishi was muni, he didn't speak. The next day Inayat fetched his vina and played for the rishi. He never forgot the experience of communication with that great rishi in the mountains.
Inayat became a teacher of music. Eventually he traveled, visiting different maharajahs, in an attempt to reinstate the spiritual value of music. One of the greatest patrons of music was the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Nizam was surrounded by people who prevented young musicians from coming forward into the established positions. Inayat was not allowed to sing at Court. He passed a lady dervish on the road who said to him, "That which you wish will be accomplished today." First, she asked him to come eat from her plate (she was eating with her hands some mushy food). His friend said to him, "Yes, you must eat, and then she will give you a blessing." That same day he went to Hyderabad and was presented to the Prime Minister, Krishna Prasad, a very great Hindu Sufi. Krishna Prasad asked him to sing, and when he heard him he said, "Yes, I'll present you to the Nizam." Great preparations began for the arrival of the Nizam. There was a big procession: horses, elephants, drums, torches, trumpets; the Nizam was approaching. When he arrived and sat on his dais, the Prime Minister asked if Inayat Khan could sing for him. He consented and was so moved by the singing that he stood up. That meant that everybody had to stand. The Nizam took off his ring and gave it to Inayat Khan. He nominated him Tansen of India, the greatest title in music at that time. (Tansen was the greatest singer in Indian history.)
After that, Inayat Khan felt he had fulfilled his work in music and something else was waiting for him. He had visions of a guru, of a murshid, every night. His friends said, "Well, it's a sign you must take initiation with a murshid," so he knocked at the doors of different murshids, asking, "Can you be my murshid?" One day he knocked at the door of a murshid whose name was Khair-un-Mubin. That murshid said, "Not me, but look at the man who is coming in the door." It was Abu Hashim Madani, the face he had seen in his visions. He fell at his feet and said, "May I become your mureed?" The murshid said, "I have been waiting for you so long." That murshid belonged to the Chishti Order and was living in Hyderabad. He had very few mureeds. He wasn't Indian, he was an Arab from the Hedjaz, a guest of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Before Abu Hashim Madani died, he called Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan to his bedside and said he should go to the West and take the Message of Sufism with him. (Up to that time Sufism was known in the West only in books written by university professors.) 
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's description of his first crossing to the United States is prophetic. He left everything. He had no idea what the West was going to be like; he just trusted the instructions that were given to him. With no money, being a young man of twenty-seven, it was a tremendous test. One of his first lectures was given at the house of Dr. Bernard (you may have heard of his book on Hatha Yoga and Land of a Thousand Buddhas.) Dr. Bernard was a medical doctor and a very great yogi.
Dr. Bernard had a half sister who was a cousin of Mary Baker Eddy. She had a vision: there were two Indians, one older than the other, both bearded, and one pointed at her as though to say, "She's the one." She realized when she saw Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan that she was to be his wife. Dr. Bernard was very pro-Hindu. However, when it came to marrying his half-sister to an Indian, that was too much. He destroyed letters from Inayat Khan meant for his half-sister. She slipped out in the middle of the night; they met in London and were married.
The couple traveled to Russia in 1911-12. Inayat was invited to sing and play in the Academy of Music in Moscow, after which he was carried in triumph by the students. He was invited to a Russian monastery where they were interested in finding out more about Sufi ideas. The Russian revolution came, and an escape back to England had to be arranged. 
A son was born to them in 1916, Vilayat (who, as Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, is now head of the Sufi Order founded by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in 1910). Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan settled in Paris and then in Geneva. He taught Sufism and he guided an organization. He described the organization as "being like a ship which is built for a purpose, to carry the people and things from one port to another." 
In the later years of his life Inayat Khan spoke of Sufism as a mother who would give birth to a child, which he called the Message, that is beyond any names or labels. "The Message is the awakening of humanity to the divinity of mankind." He believed the Message would facilitate the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the diversity within, and bring a new life to all facets of human endeavor.
In 1926 Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan returned to India where he died the following year. He left a legacy of inspiration, both in books transcribed from his lectures and in the spiritual transmission passed on to his successors and members of the Sufi Order today.

Note: Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan may also be referred to as Pir-o-Murshid or Murshid. When Murshid appears alone in this Handbook for Mureeds it refers to Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. 


Biography of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan is the eldest son and successor of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order in the West. He traces his spiritual lineage through a long line of Sufi "pirs" (masters), but his teaching is free from any religious bias or attempt to proselytize. His teaching brings the timeless contributions of the ancient Sufi mystics and poets together with the discoveries of psychology and science. He rejects absolutely any attempt to treat him as a "guru," taking pride in the strong, independent and creative qualities of those drawn to be his students.
Pir Vilayat was born in London in 1916, and spent most of his early years in England and France. He graduated from Paris University with a degree in psychology, studied philosophy at Oxford University and music at I'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Pir Vilayat later traveled to the East where he underwent rigorous training in meditation, including long periods of seclusion devoted to spiritual exercises. He also studied the esoterica of the major world religions and the meditation techniques associated with them.
He has traveled the world teaching meditation, lecturing and writing. Books by Pir Vilayat include Toward the One (Harper & Row 1974), The Message in Our Time (Harper & Row 1978), Introducing Spirituality into Therapy and Counseling (Omega Press 1990), and That Which Transpires Behind That Which Appears (Omega Press 1995). Pir Vilayat's forthcoming books will be a culmination of his teachings and spiritual practices. 
Pir Vilayat's lectures open fresh perspectives on the problem of bringing greater understanding and awareness into a life of activity and accomplishment. He approaches this issue from the vantage point of the Hindu rishi, the Buddhist bikku, the Muslim dervish and the Christian monk. The practices of these contemplatives are used to help one confront one's life directly by making one more sensitive to those aspects of self which are truly meaningful. Meditation can be used to develop these deepest and most fulfilling parts of one's being and help one to use them in dealing with personal problems, values, goals and aspirations.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat's father, established the Sufi Order to provide a vehicle for the transmission of spiritual truth consistent with modern western culture, and to act as a bridge between East and West. In keeping with the aims of his father, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan has continued to sponsor and conduct events to promote understanding between East and West. He helps translate the vocabulary of the mystic into the language of the modern person.
The Sufi Order is an inter-religious body honoring all religions, traditions and teachings. Its broadest aim is the unity of humanity in brother/sisterhood and wisdom achieved through tolerance, compassion and respect for freedom. It stresses the ideal of living a deeply spiritual life in the midst of the world. The Sufi Order emphasizes the integrated development of inner life and outer accomplishment.

Note: Within the Sufi Order Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan is often referred to as Pir Vilayat or Pir. The latter is the title for one who is the head of an Order. It also indicates an attainment of mastery and literally means elder.



Sufism and the Message
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

Following are passages from the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the theme of the Message. In the later years of his life he spoke profoundly of a new stage of the evolution of human consciousness that was beginning to emerge. Pir-o-Murshid foresaw the development of planetary consciousness as humanity realized the oneness of the human family and honored the divinity within the soul of each person. Initially he used the term Sufi Message, thereby acknowledging the universal perspective that he ascribed to Sufism. Later he used only "the Message," to describe the Divine response to the cry of a broken world in our time. The Sufi Order seeks to serve the Message, which it recognizes is unfolding through all of life. This spiritual awakening is, of course, not the exclusive property of any tradition but is supported by many groups and individuals throughout the world. 
The quotes reprinted here are from a collection of passages on the theme of The Path which can be obtained through the North American Secretariat. The grammar of the 1920's considered as correct the use of masculine collective pronouns. Use of gender inclusive language is currently encouraged in the Sufi Order.
The Sufi Message, which is now being given in the western world, is the child of that mother who has been known for so many years as Sufism. It connects the two lines of the prophetic mission, the Hindu line and that of Beni Israel, in order that they may become the medium to unite in God the truth of both East and West. It is the same truth, the same religion, the same ideal, which the wise of all ages have held. If there is anything different, it is only a difference of form. The Sufi Message given now has adopted the form suitable for the age. It is a Message without claim, and the group of workers in this Message and those who follow it are called the Sufi Movement. Their work is to tread the spiritual path quietly, unassumingly, and to serve God and humanity. In this lies the fulfillment of the Message.
The Sufi Message is the answer to the cry of humanity today, for it is in agreement with science and it stands in defense of all religions. Our movement renders service to God and humanity, without any intention of forming an exclusive community, but of uniting in this service people of all the different religions. This movement, in its infancy, is only beginning its work, but its culmination will be a world movement. It is the world Message, and the religion which will be the religion of the whole of humanity, a religion which does not distract the mind of any person from his own faith, but makes it more firm, more enlightened, more sympathetic to his own religion. It is a religion which teaches tolerance towards the faith of another, a religion which opens the heart to words of wisdom, no matter what direction they come from. This is not only a church, but a school in which to learn a lesson, the lesson of tolerance; to learn to revere all teachers and to respect all scriptures; a lesson which teaches us that we need not give up our own religion, but that we should embrace all religions in order to make the sacredness of religion perfect.
The Sufi Message, therefore, is not for a particular race, nation or church. It is a call to unite in wisdom. The Sufi Movement is a group of people belonging to different religions who have not left their religions but who have learned to understand them better, and their love is the love for God and humanity instead of for a particular section of it. The principal work that the Sufi Movement has to accomplish is to bring about a better understanding between East and West, and between the nations and races of this world. The note that the Sufi Message is striking at the present time is the note which sounds the divinity of the human soul. If there is any moral principle the Sufi Movement brings, it is this: that the whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. As the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation. Besides, to those who are awakening and feel that now is the moment to learn more of the deeper side of life, of truth, the Sufi Movement extends a helping hand without asking to what religion, sect or dogma they belong. The knowledge of the Sufi is helpful to every person, not only in living his life rightly but in regard to his own religion. The Sufi Movement does not call a man away from his belief or church; it calls him to live it. In short, it is a movement intended by God to unite humanity in brotherhood and in wisdom.
It is in self-realization that the mystery of the whole of life is centered. It is the remedy for all maladies, it is the secret of success in all walks of life, it is a religion and more than a religion. And at this time, when the whole world is upset, the Sufi Message conveys to the world the divine Message. What is wrong with humanity today is that it is not itself, and all the misery of the world is caused by this. Therefore, nothing can answer the need of humanity save this process of the sages and the wise of all ages, which leads souls to self-realization.
The condition of the world today is such that humanity has become abnormal. Man is not only scared of badness, but also of goodness. Man not only dreads war, but also peace. He is not only tired of enmity, but also of friendship. He not only suspects his adversary, but even his own brother. It seems as if the mind of the world is not only tired, but ill-as if humanity has had a nervous breakdown. Individually or collectively, man does not know his life's purpose or goal. The Sufi Message warns humanity to get to know life better and to achieve freedom in life. It warns man to accomplish what he considers good, just and desirable. It warns him before every action to note its consequences by studying the situation, his own attitude and the method he should adopt.
Sufism not only guides those who are religious, mystical or visionary, but the Sufi Message gives to the world the religion of the day, and that is to make one's life a religion, to turn one's occupation or profession into a religion, to make one's ideal a religious ideal. The object of Sufism is the uniting of life and religion, which so far seem to have been kept apart. When a man goes to church once a week and devotes all the other days of the week to his business, how can he benefit by religion? Therefore, the teaching of Sufism is to transform everyday life into a religion so that every action may bear some spiritual fruit.
Sufism is a religion if one wants to learn religion from it, it is a philosophy if one wants to learn wisdom from it, it is mysticism if one wishes to be guided by it in the unfoldment of the soul. And yet, it is beyond all these things. It is the light, it is the life which is the sustenance of every soul and which raises a mortal being to immortality. It is the Message of love, harmony and beauty. It is a divine Message. It is the Message of the time, and the Message of the time is an answer to the call of every soul. The Message, however, is not in its words, but in the divine light and life which heals souls, bringing to them the calm and peace of God.
The work of the Sufi Movement is not to collect all the rainwater in its own tanks, but to make a way for the stream of the Message to flow and to supply water to all the fields of the world. The work of the Sufi Message is sowing; reaping we shall leave to humanity to do, for the fields do not belong to our particular movement. All the fields belong to God. We who are employed to work on this farm of the world must do what we have to do and leave the rest to God. Success we do not trouble about. Let those who strive for it seek some other direction. Truth alone is our success, for the only lasting success is truth.


The Meaning of the Message
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

Blessed mureeds,
Since it is the last evening that I am here and tomorrow I am leaving, I thought it better to say a few words before I leave. The first thing that I want to tell you is that your entrance into the Sufi Order is not only a membership in a society or studentship of a knowledge; it is more than that, and much more valuable than that.
Maybe one day your heart will begin to tell you, sooner or later, of the value, the importance, the need, and the work of the Sufi Cause. Maybe there is one who understands it the moment he begins to enter; there is another who understands it after a month; maybe there is another in whose soul the meaning of the Sufi Message will develop in a year's time. But there will come a day when the meaning of the Message will develop in your soul. 
Therefore it does not depend upon what the Sufi Message is; and if I or anybody else told you, that will make no difference when something from outside tells you what it is. But when your heart begins to tell you, that is the truth. Therefore, He Himself whose Message it is will speak to you of what it is. You will know it by yourself. It is not necessary for anybody to speak to you about it. I appreciate your confidence and trust in me, having come from such a far distance, from such a distant land. I appreciate it beyond words, and especially at this time when there are twenty thousand things of the same kind, whether they are occult or something else. If in the midst of all these many things in this world you have seriously taken to the Sufi Cause, I indeed appreciate it and see in it your insight and recognition of truth.
Nevertheless, to understand the true meaning of the Message will take time; for even for myself it has taken time to understand the meaning of the Message, and I am still trying to understand it. Therefore you may not be disappointed if you do not instantly understand the meaning. But at the same time if no one thinks that it is the Message that is destined to be delivered to humanity, the success of which is not our responsibility, I am not disappointed. If no one came to follow, I would still go on giving it in the strength of that which is behind the Message, the meaning that the Message has and the purpose the Message has to fulfill.
As to myself, I never make any claims. For my friends or mureeds who believe in me, my claim is that I am your friend, that I am your brother, I am your well-wisher. Your happiness is my happiness, and I am sorry in your sorrow. You will always remember the word that my Murshid has said, "Friendship in the path of God and Truth is the greatest friendship, greater than any relationship and friendship in the world." I have realized it in my own life. The happy days I have passed under the instruction of my Murshid I compare with no other time in my life; and even now, when my teacher has departed, I never feel that Murshid is away.
And, as I am leaving you all, that does not mean I really leave you. I am with you. If I am far away from you, I am closer to you for the very reason that I am away from you. In your prayers and practices and studies and meditations you will feel me with you. In your difficulties and troubles my sympathies and prayers and blessings and thoughts will be with you; and to the extent you are conscious of it you will feel it and it will be manifested to you.
And now, only what I have to say is this, that the practices which have been given to you are of the greatest importance in your life. You must consider that in this world you are standing against the struggle of worldly life from morning till evening, and what you need is your spiritual powers well-developed and well-conserved.


Liberated Spirituality
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

To be creative means not to be limited by what we've inherited from the past, but to be something new, to be yourself, to affirm something that has never been done in the past.
We are seeking for a form of liberated spirituality in keeping with the nature of our time. A paradigm shift is happening in the realm of spirituality in our time and, although the old methods have some value, we must also keep moving ahead. We want spirituality that is liberated from a belief system. One way of finding out what it means to be liberated in the realm of spirituality would be, by contrast, to determine what are the features that can be earmarked as establishing the definition of a "cult." I want us to be as free from any of those features that define a cult as one can possibly be.
One of the first aspects is adherence to a dogma or a belief system. Many of the churches of the past and present are based upon belief systems. What we are seeking is to replace a belief that is mandatory with a belief based on experience. Of course we have to take into consideration that we do interpret our experiences, and consequently experience per se is not valid except inasmuch as it is interpreted. For example, in our experience the sun turns around the earth. That's experience. That experience has to be interpreted, and was reinterpreted by Copernicus. 
The other thing that we have to know is that our preconceived ideas limit our experience. Sometimes we have to clear our understanding, since our understanding can stand in the way of our experience. I remember Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan saying, "If there is anything in my teaching that you don't feel comfortable about, you need not accept it and you need not reject it; you can just put it aside." After all, you know that opinion is very relative, and that applies to everybody's opinion. So it's possible that your opinion doesn't see eye to eye with the opinion of someone who has more experience than yourself. You mustn't force yourself to try to adopt an opinion which you can't subscribe to altogether. Just leave it.
The second feature of a cult is a system of authority which one is expected to obey. I'm very familiar with cases where people look to the advice of a guru or a counselor, particularly in desperation. One assumes that the guru or the counselor knows more than oneself, and there's something in human nature that makes one subject oneself to authority; this has been confirmed in psychological experiments. It's a kind of a natural psychological inertia which is built into our programming and answers a certain purpose. It enables human societies, for example, to be structured if they conform to a certain pattern. Otherwise, they would be very chaotic. These general rules in biology and psychology are valid in large numbers, but where you're dealing with more advanced forms of society, they definitely represent a setback. 
I see this in cases where gurus definitely interfere in the lives of people. In desperation people don't always know how to solve their problems, and it would be much easier to let somebody else solve them. The trouble, however, with that kind of solution is that the guru, by so doing, deprives the person of taking the decision upon her or himself, which is just what the problem is about. Consequently, the guru makes the person dependent upon his or her will, whereas the best way to help a person is to make her or him self-motivated. There's a terrible abuse in teachers telling people what to do, and especially in telling people what not to do.
It's true that the need for guidelines is written into the constitution of the human being. Children need to have the security they get by being told they can go so far and no further. If they don't have that, they feel insecure. It's good that there is a kind of structure imposed upon them. On the other hand, at a certain moment one has to wean the child so that she/he is able to take responsibility upon her or himself. There's always that area of security when the child wants to be able to take a vacation. It's good that the child knows there's a home there, some kind of security there that she/he can refer back to, and at the same time start exploring in the "no-man's land" beyond that security area. When I talk about liberated spirituality, I'm talking about the kind of spirituality that is to be recommended for people who have grown through the period of puberty into adulthood. It is possible that some people may need to have a very structured, mandatory life made up for them because they don't trust themselves to venture beyond it. Maybe they're getting a need answered, but I don't feel comfortable with it, and I expect that if you're here, it's because you don't either.
The third aspect is the mode of learning. In the old-fashioned schools one was told just the way things are, and wasn't given much chance of being creative or inventive. It wasn't acceptable to question the teaching that was given to one; one had to just take it as scripture. New methods of pedagogy are giving people a chance of experimenting with an idea and even putting forth ideas that are quite incongruous and then finding out for themselves that they don't click. Or then, perhaps they do click. So, in a sense, the teacher can learn from the pupil, instead of always the other way around; it's not just a one-way system. This spells creativity.
Our forebears were very much turned toward the past, and l find that attitude in many of the spiritual disciplines with which I've been involved myself. For example, in yoga, the very word karma is based on the assumption that the reason why things happen to you now is because of what happened in the past; so it's cause-oriented. But causality has been thrown out of quantum physics quite a long time ago. In the realm of psychology, I'm afraid that some of the schools of psychology are still way back in Newtonian times, or Darwinian times, trying to explain things in terms of causes. The same thing is true in biology. It's not true that species just adapt themselves to the environment; they also adapt the environment to their own sense of purpose. So the pull of the future is at least as strong as the push of the past and perhaps even stronger. Therefore, the new paradigm is introducing purposefulness into our way of thinking instead of causality alone. 
The current way of thinking, especially in the spiritual field, is very much cause-oriented; accounting for the present circumstances by the past. In the realm of psychology, it's very true that many of the complexes and psychological traumas that people have were initiated in childhood. Causality has a part to play in our psychological makeup, but there's another factor, purposefulness, which can offset the influence of causality. This is very important to know, particularly in the realm of psychology. As long as the patient attributes her or his trauma to the past, she/he will never see the way out of it, because she/he will think that she/he is conditioned by the past. The future offers endless possibilities, whereas the past represents a limitation. In the realm of psychology, your whole being can be totally transfigured in one moment from one state to another. It's wonderful because it makes us realize that there is nothing we cannot be. It's only in our mind that we think we are limited by our ancestry and our past and so on.
The most relevant words are to be found in the words of Christ: "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." This means you inherit the many-splendored bounty of the universe. In order to manifest those many-splendored possibilities that are already in you, you have to see it outside yourself. Plotinus said, "That which one cannot discover in one's own self by contemplation, one looks for in experience." Outside, one confirms something that is already inside, but as one does not always have the ability to discover it in contemplation, one seeks for it outside. One is always in search of a wonderful being, because that's how one is able to discover oneself, in another being who displays qualities that are present in oneself. 
When one sees it in another person, that gives one confidence. That's the reason for the whole guru system, always looking for a guru and trying to model oneself upon a guru. The trouble is that one tends to attach oneself to the outer aspect of a guru, like the picture; one tries to imitate the outer aspect of the guru, but the outer aspect stands in the way of the essence. That's the reason why, in Islam, people are not allowed to have pictures because it's considered idolatry. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of difference between the guru and the murshid (the Sufi term for spiritual guide or teacher) in the sense that the guru is supposed to be the perfect model. Devotees have a picture of the guru on an altar, and they have a candle, and the whole life gravitates around that person, especially the outer aspect of that person which is venerated. One doesn't know to what extent one can get caught up in the outer thing. You know that if you're in love with a person and you carry the picture of that person, there comes a time you can't stand looking at the picture any longer because it stands in the way of the real being. That's why Jelal-ud-din Rumi, defining the murshid, said: "The murshid is the destroyer of the idol that people make of him." The murshid has to destroy that picture that you make of him or her so that you're not attached to him or her as a person.
This sounds convincing enough until one realizes that it's not good enough just to manifest what one has inherited from the past. One has to be creative and be something new. It's a constraint, a limitation, to model oneself upon a person. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan opens the way because he teaches meditating on all the masters, saints, and prophets. This is another step toward liberation. Each one of the prophets represent the epitome of one quality in particular (although every master has all the qualities to some extent). I've been advising people to meditate upon a particular messenger or prophet for each mantra they do. This is a much more liberated way of doing things than just meditating on one's guru. 
For example, if you're given a practice to develop power, then you meditate on Abraham; to develop pure spirit, you meditate on Mary; if you want to develop insight, then you meditate on the being of Buddha, and so on. If you meditate on Abraham, you may think of Abraham with a beard, living in the past, and if you think of Mary, you think of her as living at a certain time, and the same with Jesus or Buddha, right back in the past. But how would they be now? If Abraham were living now, maybe he would have shaved his beard, and we still think of Abraham as he was then! And if Christ were to live now, maybe he would be in San Salvador, maybe he would be persona non grata in the church because he's not a Christian. And Mohammed would probably be the president of the World Commission for Disarmament. Buddha would probably be a psychotherapist. We're still caught in our pictures of those prophets in the past. One fools oneself very easily, and gets caught in an image. Liberated spirituality is to free oneself from the image and get into the essence of those beings.
However, remember, there's a catch in what I said. To be creative means not to be limited by what we've inherited from the past, but to be something new, to be yourself, to affirm something that has never been done in the past, because everybody is absolutely unique in her or his way. It's a limitation to try to model oneself upon someone else. The catch is that, as Teilhard de Chardin says, "Omega was already alpha." As Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." The thing about the past is that it started with all possibilities and then, in the course of time, those possibilities got narrowed down. It's like a game of chess with an infinite number of pawns, and then of course, you lose some of them. So the past represents the limitation of all-possibility, and the future represents all-possibility. If you think in terms of what you inherited, you think in terms of the way this inheritance was limited in the course of time. If you think in terms of being creative, you are not limited by any limitation that has accrued in the course of time.

Activities of the Sufi Order

Esoteric School

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan created five activities under the broad umbrella of the Sufi Movement. The Sufi Order is the Esoteric School which focuses on the spiritual training offered in an individualized manner to each mureed. This occurs in the context of a guide-initiate relationship. The material presented in this Handbook for Mureeds relates to the Esoteric School and experiences such as initiation, spiritual practices and retreats are central to the work of the school.

Healing Order

The Healing Order is an international network of people with a focus on healing. Initiation into the Healing Order strengthens one's inner connection with illuminated Beings of Healing, through our link with Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of this order. Members work with healing practices on a daily basis to increase their capacity for the Divine Healing Power to come through. A commitment to healing includes one's own personal healing and involves ongoing purification and clarity of intention. 
The Healing Order aims to make the Sufi Teachings about healing available through seminars and workshops. Special training courses are provided for conductors as well as for members who are involved in professional healing work. 
The Healing Ritual is a group activity of the Healing Order, in which members pray for the healing of those who have asked for their names to be on the Healing List. Healing circles are facilitated by healing conductors and serve those who have asked for healing. Healing conductors may also provide classes in healing. Candidates for the Healing Order are encouraged to contact their local conductor. In addition members are encouraged to visit hospitals, and to help their friends when they are not well.

Zira'at
by Zia Inayat Khan

As above, so below. So goes the ancient alchemical formula, positing an intimate correspondence between the laws of the heavenly and mundane spheres. The physical plane cannot so easily be discounted as merely maya, illusion. The Sufis acknowledge the physical universe as the outer manifestation of an inner order. By the principles of tashbih (immanence) Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan used meditation on natural forms as a catalyst toward experience of formless reality. These meditations occur in the Gayan, Vadan, and Nirtan.
While these fragments are extremely useful as individual contemplations, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan also saw the need for a systematic approach, a comprehensive framework for tashbih meditation involving a set of values allowing various levels of experience. This took shape in Zira'at, founded by Murshid at the Suresnes Summer School of 1926. Murshid modeled Zira'at on the activity which is the very basis of human civilization: agriculture. In agriculture physical laws and natural forces are harmonized with the human mind and its sense of order; ecology and psychology are reconciled. Neither nature nor humanity acting alone can produce the crops which yield "the bread of life."
Murshid, with a musician's sensitivity to rhythm and harmony, perceived in the manner of farming, with all its carefully timed stages, intrinsic parallels with the rhythm of spiritual accomplishment. Ploughing, harrowing, sowing, reaping, threshing, garnering, and farming all have their inner significations. Zira'at (Arabic for agriculture) is an experiential progression through these stages which culminate in spiritual fruition. Central to Zira'at work is a lodge ritual. Performed outdoors, its attunement is to God's immanence. Accordingly, the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether), which collectively constitute God's physical being, are reverenced in turn. Coming to terms with the elements is key to Zira'at, and is maintained as a daily practice by initiates. The ceremony also includes other ritual features that contribute to the sacred space, which invokes a sanctity that is not other-worldly, but here and now.

Universal Worship

The Universal Worship (Church of All) is the religious activity of the Sufi Order. It is so named because its purpose is to promote the unity of religious ideals, to give an opportunity to those belonging to different religions to worship together, and to discover that there is one source from which all scriptures have come.
The work of the Sufi Message is to spread the unity of religion. It is not a mission to promote a particular creed or any church or religion; it is a work to unite the followers of different religions and faiths in wisdom, so that without having to give up their own religion they may strengthen their own faith and focus the true light upon it. In this way a greater trust, a greater confidence will be established in mankind.                    - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
The service consists of three main parts: the lighting of candles, each representing one of the great world religions; an attunement to the Spirit of each religion and to its Message through dances, songs, chants, prayers and/or meditations; and reading from scriptures. Those who conduct the service are ordained as Cherags (male) or Cheragas (female) into the Universal Worship. The Universal Worship services are held in most Sufi Order centers, but Cherag/as may also be invited to perform the service in schools, churches, institutions or centers.

Kinship* 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

This line of work is, really speaking, the fulfillment of every activity of our Order. One activity of our Order is the esoteric school in which people are initiated and advance grade by grade, individually developing their soul towards the attainment of spiritual perfection. There is another activity that is devotional called the Church of All, or the Universal Worship activity. This brings souls to the true religion, which stands above all sects. Whether we strive in the path of religion, or we journey through the path of mysticism, it is for one object that we may be best fitted to live the ideal of Brotherhood. 
If a person was so great a mystic that he was the greatest master or if a person was so pious and religious that he was the greatest saint, still if he did not live the ideal of kinship, it would not avail much. Spiritual realization is attained in practical life by observing the ideal of kinship. At this time when the world needs the ideal of kinship more than ever before in the history of the world, it is our privilege and destiny to do all we can to bring about this ideal in our own lives first, and thus to spread it in the world. Any problem or theory, or doctrine studied, is of no value unless it be practiced. 
Kinship is not something that is learned or taught; kinship is a tendency, a tendency which arises from the heart that is tuned to a proper pitch. A tendency towards kinship, therefore, is the natural tendency in which is the real happiness from which rises harmony and culminates in peace. It is not weighing "what good have you done to me?" but it is trying to do more for another.

* Kinship is the gender inclusive term. Originally Pir-o-Murshid used the term of his time, "brotherhood," in the passages above.



Questions and Answers 
About the Sufi Order

What is the Sufi Order in the West? 

The Sufi Order evolved from the universal spiritual tradition of the Chishti lineage that originated in the East and was brought to the West by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, the founder of the Sufi Order in the West. He was given the task by his Sufi teacher to "unite East with West in the harmony of your music." As the first Sufi teacher in the West, he sought to make the spiritual legacy of Sufism responsive to the needs of our time. He was one of the first to speak of an emerging planetary consciousness as the next stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity.
In the later years of his life Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan spoke of Sufism as a mother who would give birth to a child, which he called the Message, that is beyond any names or labels. He believed the Message would facilitate the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity within, and bring a new life to all facets of human endeavor. The Sufi Order offers classes, seminars, and retreats to all. It is also an esoteric school offering individual training which is entered into through the process of initiation.

Is the Sufi Order a new religion? 

No, the purpose of our work is to help bring together the different organs of one body which are meant to be united and not thrown apart. How do we bring about such a reconciliation? By realizing in ourselves that the essence of all religion is one, is wisdom, and by considering that wisdom to be our religion, regardless of our form. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the objective of the Sufi Order? 
The objective of the Sufi Order is the uniting of life and religion, which, so far, seem to have been kept apart. When a person goes to church once a week and devotes all the other days of the week to his business, how can he benefit by religion? Therefore, the teaching of Sufism is to transform everyday life into a religion so that every action may bear some spiritual fruit. 
                                                               - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the moral principle which guides the work of the Sufi Order? 

If there is any moral principle, it is this: that the whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. And as the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation.              - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Can a person continue to be a member of a religious tradition and become a member of the Sufi Order? 

Yes. The Sufi Order is not concerned with converting or saving others. Our hope is that a person's involvement in the teachings may deepen and expand his or her understanding of the tradition with which he or she is affiliated. 
The Sufi Message does not call a person away from a belief or church; it calls one to live it.                                            -Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the attitude of the Sufi Order towards women? 

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order, offered this insight in the early part of this century: "The hour is coming when women will lead humanity to a higher evolution." Women have always functioned in all roles of spiritual leadership within the Order. Spiritual practices and services are fully integrated and initial attempts have been made to update the language of the teachings to include the feminine. Several of the women teachers in the Order have made rich contributions by developing practices that facilitate an awareness of and a deeper identification with the feminine aspect of the divine.

Are there any dietary or dress regulations for members of the Sufi Order?

 No. The only exception to this, and the only rule in the Sufi Order, is that people attending its activities are asked to refrain from the use of drugs. 

Is there a dogma of the Sufi Order? 

No. This is a path of spiritual liberty as addressed in an article by Pir Vilayat entitled "Liberated Spirituality." (see above)

Must one receive a new name upon entering the Order? 

No. Some members request a spiritual name and use it as a practice. A spiritual name may be viewed as a method to remember a particular divine quality or archetype which is rooted in one's being. It may be a means of shifting one's identity from a limiting self image to one's divine inheritance. Some members use this name in all areas of their life, while others hold it as a private concentration. A member may also refuse a name if it does not seem suitable, or drop it if the name no longer feels relevant. Receiving a spiritual name is a custom in several religious traditions, as in various Catholic religious orders.

Are there any mandatory financial obligations for those who are initiated into the Sufi Order? 

No. There is no financial obligation associated with initiation into the Sufi Order. Those who wish to become active members will be asked to Support its work through annual membership contribution payments to the Secretariat. Such contributions are used to coordinate the distribution of Sufi Order teachings and to facilitate communication among members. Those participating in local centers will be asked to support their local center with a monthly contribution. 
All contributions are solely voluntary unless an activity has inherent costs, as with food and lodging at a facility. This both ensures access regardless of economic status to the teachings and the freedom to sample without financial commitment. One may attend classes in the Esoteric School, attend Universal Worship and Healing Order services, and participate in Zira'at without mandatory payment of membership contributions.

Chapter 2

Introduction

This consideration of initiation begins with Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's insight into various meanings of initiation as they relate to the spiritual journey. In the writings "Initiation: the First Step" and "Objectives of the Training," the focus is on the initial initiation by which one becomes a mureed or student in this Order and eight central areas explored on this path. The text of the initiation ceremony is also included. Frequently this sacred occasion leaves a profound impression, but the particular words spoken are lost among the deep feelings. Some have found it valuable to reflect upon the invocation, blessing, and inner structure of the ritual. The last section is a review of several current approaches to further initiations within the Order. How this will be addressed within a mureed's training should be discussed with one's guide.

Initiation: the Sacred Link
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Much has been written and said about the path of initiation, and people who have been in contact with various schools of occultism have understood it in different ways, and thus have different ideas as to what initiation means. But in point of fact initiation only means a step forward, a step which should be taken with hope and courage, for without courage and hope it would be most difficult to take any forward step.
If I were to explain the meaning of initiation in plain words, I would say that it is like the experience of a person who has never learned how to swim when he steps into the river or into the sea for the first time, without knowing whether he will be able to float or whether he will be swept away and drowned. Every person has had an initiation in the worldly sense in some form or other. When a businessman begins an entirely new enterprise and there is nothing to support him at this moment except the thought, "No matter whether I lose or gain, I will take a step forward; I will go into this enterprise although I do not know what will happen later," he undergoes a worldly initiation. The first attempt of a man who wants to learn to ride, if he has never been on horseback before then he does not know where the horse will take him; this also is an initiation.
But initiation in the real sense of the word, as it is used on the spiritual path, takes place when a person, in spite of having a religion and belief, an opinion and ideas about spiritual things, feels that he should take a step in a direction which he does not know. When he takes the first step, that is an initiation. Al-Ghazali, a great Sufi writer of Persia, has said that entering the spiritual path is just like shooting an arrow at a point one cannot see, so that one does not know what the arrow is going to hit; one only knows one's own action, and one does not see the point aimed at. This is why the path of initiation is difficult for a worldly man. Human nature is such that a man born into this world, who has become acquainted with the life of names and forms, wants to know everything by name and form; he wants to touch something in order to be sure that it exists; without this he does not believe that anything can exist. Therefore, it is difficult for him to undergo an initiation on a path which does not touch any of his senses. He does not know where he is going.
Besides, man has been taught from his childhood a certain faith or belief, and he feels himself so bound to that particular faith or religion that he trembles at every step he may have to take in a direction which perhaps for a moment seems different or even opposite to what he has been taught. Therefore, to take the first step on the path of initiation is difficult for a thoughtful person. No doubt a person who is driven by curiosity may jump into anything, but it is all the same to him whether he has initiation or not. However, for the one who takes initiation seriously the first step is the most difficult.
The meaning of the word initiation can be understood from its association with initiative. It is a fact that every child on earth is born with initiative; but then, as it grows, that spirit more or less dies away, because the knowledge it gathers in its lifetime makes it doubt. This doubt, increasing more and more, very often makes a man lose the power of initiative, and then he does not want to take another step until he is sure whether there is land or water in front of him, and very often water looks like land, and land looks like water. According to the mystics, life is an illusion, and thus man bases his reason upon illusion. Nevertheless, the reasoning power which he acquires helps him in his life in the world, although it is very often just this reasoning which holds him back from taking what is called the initiative.
It is through this spirit of initiative that anyone in the world who has accomplished something great has been able to do so. At the beginning of his efforts people call such a person mad or fanatical, crazy or devoid of reason, but when they see the result they think that he is most wise. Great prophets, the builders of nations, famous inventors, and great discoverers have all proven this. One may ask, then, why they do not see what is before them in the same way that a reasoning person does. They do, but with different eyes. Their point of view is different; it does not always agree with the point of view of the average person, and so it is natural that people should call them fanatical, although they see perhaps more than do all those around them. Those who have helped themselves to achieve success after complete failure, or to get over an illness after great suffering, have only succeeded in this by the spirit of initiative.
There are different kinds of initiation that souls experience. One is natural initiation. A natural unfoldment, for which the soul cannot give any cause or reason, comes to a soul, although no effort or attempt has been made by that soul to experience it. Sometimes this initiation comes after great illness, pain, or suffering. It comes as an opening up of the horizon, it comes as a flash of light, and in a moment the world seems transformed. It is not that the world has changed; it is that the person has become tuned to a different pitch. He begins to think differently, feel differently, see and act differently; his whole condition begins to change. One might say of him that from that moment he begins to live. Such an initiation may come as a vision, as a dream, as a phenomenon, or in any form; one cannot determine the manner in which it will manifest.
Another initiation known to the mystics is the initiation that one receives from a person living on the earth. Every mystical school has its own initiation. In the Orient, where mystical ideas are prevalent and are regarded as most sacred, any person who wishes to tread the spiritual path considers initiation to be the most important thing. If a soul such as Jesus Christ had to be baptized by John the Baptist, no soul on earth can say, "I have risen above initiation."
Initiation by a spiritual teacher means both a trust given by the teacher to the pupil and a trust given by the pupil to the teacher. The progress of the one who is initiated depends upon how much he gives himself to the teacher's guidance. One might give only a finger, another even a part of a finger, while a third would give his whole hand. That makes a great difference, for if a pupil says, "Well, I will give a certain amount of my time and thought to your guidance, will that be enough," the teacher will say, "Yes, if you think it is enough." In reality, it is never enough.
One might wonder if one would not be giving up one's own point of view in order to follow someone else's point of view. But actually, if one has a point of view, one never loses it. The point of view which one loses is not one's own. By looking at a thing from another person's point of view, one only enlarges one's own; then one has two points of view instead of one. If the thought of the "I" happens to be different from that of the teacher, by taking the teacher's thought his own is doubled. The pupil keeps his own point of view just the same, only now he has something for his vision from which to make his choice; the horizon of his thought is expanded. The pupil who closes himself and says, "I will guard my point of view or it will escape me" will never derive any benefit from this attitude.
Also, there are not fixed rules to follow on this path. For every person there is a special rule. But there is one law which applies to everything in life; sincerity, which is the only thing that is asked by a teacher of a pupil, for truth is not the portion of the insincere.
There is another kind of initiation which comes afterwards, and this initiation is also an unfoldment of the soul. It comes as an aftereffect of the initiation that one had from the teacher. It comes as a kind of expansion of consciousness, and the greatness of this initiation depends upon the distance and width of the horizon of the consciousness. Many may claim it, but few realize it. Those who realize do not claim. As the more fruitful a tree is, the more it bends, so the more divine his spiritual realization is, the more humble a person becomes. It is the one who is less fruitful who becomes more pretentious. The really initiated ones hardly ever mention the word initiation; they find no profit in convincing others that they are initiated. They possess their real inner gains, they do not want an outer gain. It is the one who has none who wants recognition from outside. And if we ask what profit we derive from initiation, the answer is that religion, mysticism or philosophy - all that we gain - should help us to achieve one result, and that is to be best fitted for serving our fellow men.

Initiation: The First Step

Initiation on a spiritual path signifies one's desire to undergo a spiritual training. Those who do not elect to make this formal commitment, however, are fully welcome to participate in the teachings and programs offered by the Sufi Order. Those who choose to mark their commitment by initiation are known as mureeds (students). 
Initiation only means a step forward, a step which should be taken with hope and courage, for without courage and hope it would be most difficult to take any forward step.    			-  Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  
Initiation into the Sufi Order demonstrates one's sincerity in entering the Sufi path, strengthens one's powers to do so, and confers a blessing upon the pupil which enables progress. This initiation is the linking of the individual Sufi student with the chain of masters and teachers stretching back through the ages. The link so formed is of lifetime duration and forges a solemn bond, similar to the practice of baptism.
One may be initiated into the Sufi Order by one of its Representatives. Those interested in initiation are encouraged to select a Representative with whom they feel a deep trust and respect, for those qualities are necessary to facilitate the training offered. The Initiate receives spiritual practices from her/his initiator which are designed to promote spiritual realization, facilitate the unfoldment of his/her being and assist in meeting life's challenges and demands. The practices are not compulsory, but are given as a gift.
The only regulation which initiates are asked to observe is a restriction on the use of non-medical drugs. It is Pir Vilayat's belief that drugs can interfere with the practices and spiritual training offered to a student.
A mureed in the Sufi Order is welcome to be initiated into other esoteric traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, or other Sufi Orders. However, it is advised that a student receive his/her daily practices from only one guide and consult the Sufi Order guide about practices he/she is doing from other Orders or traditions. The intention is to safeguard the well being of the student, so he/she is not confused by mixing practices that may not be complementary.

Objectives of the Training

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan has enumerated a series of objectives that he associated with initiation into the Sufi Order, which are quoted here with brief commentary.
The aim is to find God within ourselves, to dive deeply into ourselves, so that we may touch the unity of the whole being. It is toward this end that we are working by the power of initiation, in order that we may receive inspiration and blessing in our life from within.

Self Realization

The first objective is "to realize the Self within and without." The Self is the divine aspect of each human being and is often referred to as our divine inheritance. The Sufi Order also places a strong emphasis on creating a meaningful life in the world, for this can be the means to actualize potential qualities, gifts and archetypes, thereby manifesting the Self without.

Training the Ego

"The path of initiation is the training of the ego, and it is self discipline which is learned on the path." An important element of the above quote is the word "training," for it conveys an image of the ego having a significant role within the human structure when properly disciplined and worked with creatively. The practice of mastery is taught in the Sufi Order as a means to transform the ego into a suitable instrument of serving the divine within.
 
The Art of Personality

"The soul is veiled by covers, one cover over the others, and the rending of these covers allows the soul to emerge and rise higher." This image of lifting the veils is found throughout Sufi poetry and refers to the process of awakening to one's natural state of being. The veils are our distorted identification with past conditioning. The "art of personality" is in the creation of a personality which incorporates, manifests, and actualizes the soul's potential. 

Expansion of Consciousness

"To see into the world unseen" is the exploration of transpersonal states of consciousness. This suggests not reducing reality to a narrow perception of consciousness but reaching beyond these parameters in a quest for direct experience of the deeper and richer and vaster reality of the Only Being. The "inner life" central to mysticism and the Sufi Order training is concerned with developing the capacity to discern the universe within each human being. 
"To kindle the fire of divine love." The awakening of the divine in the human being is the igniting of the love element in the heart. One of the essential criteria for recognizing a realized being is captured in the observation that "the Holy Ones are living streams of love." There is much emphasis placed upon the kindling of the love element in the Sufi training, which sometimes is described as the "Religion of the Heart."

To Know the Divine
 
"To know and communicate with God." The various practices used in the training of initiates facilitate different modes of relating with that ultimate reality which many call God. This path explores different relationships between God and the human being and the understanding that arises from each. An archetypal relationship of particular significance to the Sufi is that of the lover and the Beloved. 

Communication with Nature

"To be able to read into nature's manuscript" represents the mystic's capacity to communicate with all of life, experiencing a world composed of beings rather than things. Learning to read means, in this case, developing the capacity to see, within the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, patterns which illuminate the nature of reality and reveal an underlying unity permeating the micro-macrocosms. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan describes this phenomena as "discovering that which transpires through that which appears."

In Service to Humanity

If we ask what profit we derive from initiation, the answer is that religion, mysticism or philosophy - all that we gain - should help us to achieve one result, and that is to be best fitted for serving other human beings.
					        -  Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

The Sufi Order is concerned that its spiritual training not be distorted into a narcissistic self-involvement, but rather enables one to become more sensitive to the human condition throughout the world and better able to respond in a positive and creative manner. The emerging of planetary consciousness is an ideal which the Sufi Order seeks to serve. 

The Initiation Ceremony

Some members have found it beneficial to spend a period of preparation before initiation. This may include a personal retreat, or some other expression of spiritual reflection and practice. During the ceremony it is appropriate for one to be relaxed, open and receptive to the sacredness of the occasion.

Questions     

The spiritual guide begins by asking:
"Is it your wish to become initiated in the Sufi Order?"
"Will you consider the teaching that is given to you as your 			sacred trust?"
"Will you offer your allegiance to the Message of Unity 			brought by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan?"

Invocation      

Toward the One
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
the only Being
United with all the Illuminated Souls,
Who form the Embodiment of the Master,
the Spirit of Guidance.

Initiation

The invocation is followed by a prayer invoking the Masters, Saints, and Prophets of various traditions and the Sufi lineage. During this time the transmission of the Spirit or Baraka, which gives inner life to the Sufi Order, is communicated to the new initiate. 

In the name of God, 
in the name of all masters, saints, and prophets 
who form the hierarchies of the spiritual government of the world, 
in the name of the Pir-o-Murshids of all Sufi Orders 
who support the Message of Unity, 
in the name of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, 
I initiate you into the Sufi Order, 
that you may find the path
that will lead you toward the purpose of your life: 
illumination.

Blessing
     
The ceremony ends with the following blessing:

May God bless you, 
illuminate you, 
protect you, 
and make you fruitful in God's service.

At the end of the ceremony personal practices are usually suggested and demonstrated. If you are initiated by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, then you will need to select another guide for further practices. Due to his extensive travel and service as Head of the Order, Pir Vilayat is not able to function as a personal guide. Contacting a local center and meeting the Representative is a good place to begin this selection process.

Further Initiations

In establishing the Esoteric School, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan created a format of twelve progressive initiations and a series of Study or Gatha classes which are related to these initiations. At present the Order has several different methods of conveying further initiations.
Some guides continue to use the original format in which the first three initiations relate to Gatha Classes 1, 2 and 3. Initiations 4, 5, and 6 are coordinated with the Githa Classes 1, 2, and 3. Initiations 7, 8, and 9 relate to SanGatha classes 1, 2, 3. These classes are composed of teachings from Pir-o-Murshid on various themes, and much of the material is now available in book form.
Another approach is built around an initiation into each of the Study Circles or Gatha classes. In this format there would be four initiations, corresponding to the Gatha, Githa, SanGatha and SanGitha classes. An individual retreat is suggested at each of these initiations as a means to deepen the passage. 
Unrelated to the classes and not designated by a number is an initiation that may be given which acknowledges the development of a particular quality, the completion of a certain stage in one's spiritual journey or the beginning of a new direction. These initiations are outer confirmations of developments within the mureed and they mark significant passages on one's life path. 
Given the various meanings of initiation mentioned in this chapter, it is advisable to clarify this topic in discussions with one's guide so there is a mutual understanding.

Chapter 3

Introduction 

This chapter addresses the themes of guidance as a spiritual gift that may be developed by a mureed through many aspects of the training offered by the Sufi Order. Attending the classes given in Centers, studying the teachings and practices, and taking periodic retreats will deeply support one's path of unfoldment while offering insight into the difficulties that occur in life. 
The heart of the personal training is to be found in the initiate/guide relationship. An accompanying tape provides some understanding of this "special friendship" and the form or container in which guidance and practices are shared. The articles on "Choosing a Guide" and "Completing the Initiate/Guide Relationship" address the beginning and ending stages of working together. 
Mureeds are asked to read the material on ethics so there is clarity on the intention of the Sufi Order and its manner of relating to members. Finally information is provided for those involved in 12-step recovery programs and who would like to integrate this approach with their Sufi path. 

Spiritual Training Model 
The process of spiritual growth involves exploring the evolving relationship of the individual with him/herself, with the guide, and with the broader society. The following summary expresses the spirit in which training is offered in the Sufi Order: 

    Our path is a path of the awakening of God in life in the individual, in humanity, and in the planet.
     The process of awakening of God in each person is unique, and the potentials and desires of the individual shape the path.
     The spiritual training involves a dynamic mentoring relationship, with 			   mutual adaptation throughout the stages of the developmental journey.
      Supporting each person to find and express the voice of his/her true self 		   awakens the spirit of guidance within.	
     Realizing that individual growth is grounded in relationship and commu-		    nity, our goal is to foster these aspects of our life.
      Being fully oneself in the presence of others enables the fulfillment of all relationships.
      Ours is a community of seekers for whom community is ultimately the 			                   expansion of the individual into planetary consciousness.
     "The light of the purpose that one is born to accomplish in life has 
already been kindled in one's soul." Awakening to this purpose is how  we define vocation (calling). The individual is supported by the guide and community in the discovery, expression and evolution of this calling. 

Spiritual Guidance and Training

Teachings on Guidance and Training 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Inner Guidance 

It is the natural tendency of every human being, when he is in a difficulty, to seek guidance, to ask the advice of someone, either of an elderly person or of some friend or relation. People even ask of fortunetellers. However proud a person may be, if he has the opportunity of asking, he will ask as a joke what will happen in his life. There are two things: intelligence, the faculty of knowing; and the knowledge that has been acquired and stored. The intelligence is capable of knowing, but it has no knowledge; the knowledge is gathered from without, from all the experience of the world and of life. Every individual has his accumulated store of experience, and so has every family, every nation, and every race. And it is this store of experience that is the stock of knowledge of that family, nation, or race. Therefore we say that this nation is like this and that nation is like that. 
The Sufi says this whole universe was made in order that God might know Himself. The seed wished to realize what it is, what is in it, and therefore became the tree. Sometimes a person asks someone else for guidance, someone living on earth or one who has passed to the other side; sometimes he asks a saint or sage. Whoever is asked can give knowledge only according to the extent of his knowledge. From that store of knowledge that he has gathered, his advice is given. When a person turns for guidance to God, to the inner Being, then all light and all knowledge are his for his guidance. "But," people say, "how can we attach ourselves with the inner Being, so as to have that guidance?" When the mind is fixed upon anything, then the person becomes linked to that, a current is established between him and it. It may be called the guidance of God or the guidance of the self. If we look within, God is nearer to us than our mind and our body, because He is that life in which, as is said in the Bible, we live and move and have our being. 	 
The soul has within it the inner faculty of guidance, pointing to the person what to do, which way to go. But often a person does not perceive it; he is in confusion. Many are in confusion and remain in confusion all their life, not knowing what they should do in life. This is because he does not hold to that desire that he has. He desires one thing, and then another wish comes and he lets it go. It is just as if a cook were cooking a good dish and were intent upon it, but the housemaid said to him, "A splendid procession is just passing; you ought to see that," and he leaves the dish and goes to look at the procession. Then the dish is spoiled. 
The guidance from the outer knowledge and the guidance from the inner intelligence are both necessary. If the inner light were enough, then man would never have been created; he would have been an angel. This is explained in a story in the Qur'an, in which it is told that when God intended to create man He first told the angels of His intention. They said, "O Lord, why wilt Thou create this being, who will shed blood and cause destruction on the earth? Are not we enough to praise Thee and serve Thee? We are everlastingly occupied in Thy praise and service." Then, when man had been created, God asked him, "What is this and this and this?" And he knew the names of all things, of mountain, tree, and stream, and all things on the earth. God said to the angels, "Do ye know the names of all these things?" And they were obliged to confess, "Lord, we do not know the name of anything on earth. We know only Thy praise." 
The meaning of this story is that experience on earth is needed to acquire knowledge. Without it, only the capacity for knowledge is there. If a man wishes to become a doctor, an architect, an engineer, a poet, a musician, and he studies and acquires all the knowledge of the science or art but does not seek the inner guidance, then he will have all knowledge of the rules, but no inspiration, no gift, no power. The contrary mistake has often been made by mystics, who have thought that the inner light is enough, the inner knowledge, without any learning of the external world. There was in India the great poet Kabir, who came of a family of weavers and spoke the language of the weavers, which is full of the commonest expressions. His book is written in that language and with those words. I do not know how he would be appreciated in the West. In India, where they have always had a great esteem for the people of high knowledge, it is held to be as one of the great blessings of God. 
The secret of the inner guidance is that on whatever the desire of the soul is fixed, to that the way is cleared and all hindrances are swept aside. If you unwaveringly desire anything or to become anything, that you will become. Whether you desire to become an angel or a deva or to be at the feet of God or even more, that you will become. Whatever the self desires, that is its destiny. Therefore one person thinks; "I should go to the war; I should give my life for my nation," and that is his destiny. And another thinks, "I should not hurt even an insect; I should lead a most harmless life," and this is his goal. God bless you. 

Our Spiritual Exercises 

The first thing most necessary for a mureed is to try to keep up the spiritual exercises which are given, without any break. If you are tired, if you were occupied too much, if conditions were not favorable, I do not mean that it is urged upon you, but I mean that it is for your betterment to keep those exercises without a gap between them. 
Would you believe, if I may say so, that the effect of certain practices comes even after ten years or twelve years? A person without patience might think, "I did not have immediate results after two, three months." But he may not think so. If they are seeds which you sow in the ground, they take root and a plant comes. But in order for the plant to be fruitful it takes ten years. This is the spiritual sowing. It might take a much longer time in some cases. In some cases the next day the result might show. There are some plants which come quicker, others which take time to bear fruit. But still the spiritual sowing has its result, and a sure result. Never therefore to doubt, to be discouraged, to give up hope; but to continue, persevering in this path. 
Now the second necessity for the mureed is the study part. It must not be a study only as the reading of a book: it must be a study of engraving upon one's heart the Gathas, Gathekas, all the literature that is given, however simple it might seem to grasp it. Because you will find that it is creative in itself. It is a phrase just now; after six months the same phrase will flourish, there will come branches, flowers, and fruits in that phrase. It is a simple phrase, but it is a living phrase. The more you study and grasp it, the more you hear it, the more you will be creative. Therefore do not consider it a study only, but a meditation, even in your studies. 
The third important thing in the life of a mureed is to live a life of balance between activity and repose, of regularity. Not too much work, nor too much rest: a balance between activity and repose. Because when we put the idea before the world we shall be responsible to show it in our lives. Therefore our lives must be as balanced as possible. Besides that, in eating, in drinking, there must be a kind of moderation, which I am sure many of us have. And a kind of consideration from the meditative point of view. Because for the spiritual growth a certain food is more recommended than another. Therefore we in the spiritual path cannot always be neglectful of that question. 
And now there comes the fourth question, how must our attitude be towards others? Towards the mureeds our attitude must be affectionate sympathy. Towards non-mureeds our attitude must be tolerant sympathy. The best thing in the world is not to force upon others what we understand and what we believe. By forcing it upon others we only spoil them. By discussing, arguing with them, we do not accomplish anything. 
Besides, for a mureed it is most advisable that he must keep his conversation limited so as not to say things which might seem to the others too occult, too mystical, too spiritual. Our conversation must be like an ordinary conversation. Things about spirits and ghosts and elementals, apparitions and all sorts of things people like to talk about their past and present and next incarnation, what they were and what they will be. We must not commit ourselves in talking about these things. These things are for every individual to find out for himself. By talking we neither do good to ourselves nor good to the others. If we can only talk about simple things of everyday life, there are so many things that we shall have enough subjects to speak over with others. Ideas of the air must be left in the air. Standing on the earth we must talk of everyday life, leaving every individual free for himself as we like to be left free ourselves. 
The Sufi does not give a definite idea of these things because Sufism is freedom, freedom of conception, of belief. It does not give people any dogmas, that you must believe this or that. It does not present before humanity particular dogmas, and very often for the same reason Sufism is accused of being against certain dogmas. But it is not so. If we do not speak about them it is not that we are against them, but because we do not like to speak about them. We prefer being silent to talking too much about them. 
These are things of intimate conversation. When a mureed is conversing with his murshid, with his fellow mureed, perhaps one talks about it. These are not the things to talk about at the tea table. It would make the inner laws of life and nature ridiculous. When nature, when life itself covers its laws, then it means that they are best covered. When we uncover them we certainly commit a fault against the hidden nature of things. Therefore, it is called Sufism. By the word Sufism is meant keeping the cover over the hidden laws of nature which are meant to be covered. As soon as one uncovers them it means in the first place one does not know their value. Then he goes no further; he cannot go any further. It is the one who knows their value who will go further. Who has no respect for them, who brings them to the market, cannot go any further; he has a setback. 
As we go further we shall have to face a great trial. As soon as people know that we are interested in these things, they will ask us a lot of questions. They will want us to make a prophecy, want us to say uncommon things that will interest them. We shall be put to test. So you can quite see that it is the path of silence. The more we keep our lips closed the more the way is open, the more doors are open for us. The attitude itself opens them. We do not need to open them. We only need to expect them. What is not common, is not common. When you want to make them common that means putting down Heaven on the earth, instead of raising the earth towards Heaven. Our attitude with others must therefore be humble, unpretentious, and ordinary. 
Now the fifth thing. We must not leave our meditation and prayers just to those fixed times when we do them, because that is only the winding of the thing. But in our everyday life we ought to bring the sense of it into our action, in everything we do at home or outside. We must use that latent power and inspiration aroused by our meditations; we should make use of it. By practicing to make use of it we shall benefit ourselves and others by all we are doing. Now with these words I close my conversation, and would like you now to ask me any question that you may desire, in connection with your work. 

Attitude Toward the Practices 

Now there are three things, besides all other practices, which are most serious. Firstly, the twenty breaths of purification (see Chapter 5) which are given to all mureeds, because this is a kind of air ablution which prepares every person going through the spiritual path for every activity which he is going to take in daily life, and as necessary as one's everyday ablution. And by this I can promise you, that if you will keep up the prescription of purification regularly and steadfastly, it will become as a guarantee of your health. Besides this it prepares to keep your intuition factor clear, so as to think rightly and to act rightly. Therefore, spiritually and physically both, it is the most valuable prescription for you to keep up. 
Secondly, the prayers Saum and Salat are the prayers which are meant to be the prayers for today, for this time; therefore their power is much greater than can be imagined. It is a battery itself, by which a great activity is developed. It is the prayer which the spheres repeat, and someday will reach every part of the world; no part of the world will be left without. These prayers will touch every soul one day or other, either directly or indirectly. By seeing and knowing this more and more, you will realize the power of these prayers a thousand times more than ever. One may say them more times a day than is prescribed. And if you say them more than once, it is better. And if you are able to do them with the movements in all humility, it is best (see Chapter 4). 
There are two ways of saying them: one way is standing; the other bending, bowing, prostrating. It is not a subject which should be considered secondary. For the movements have a great power. No one who has the slightest idea of the occult laws will for one moment think less of the power of the movements. Yet if behind the movement there is no sense, the whole movement is a lost movement. When that movement comes with a great thought, it has a great power, it is dynamic. 
No doubt the Sufi Order keeps all mureeds free to do one kind of movement or the other, or to do no movement at all. This is the Order in which freedom is considered. No mureed is forced to do, no one is urged to follow. You all follow freedom, and freedom is our rule. Only I must tell you what great opportunity you have, what can be of great benefit in your life. 
Thirdly, when one unites with Murshid in thought at the end of one's practices, it is only in order to feel that we are receiving the divine inspiration and blessing of God. 

Sacred Readings and Classes 

(The following is from a lecture Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan gave on the theme of mureedship. Here he is speaking directly with some mureeds that he initiated and guided.) 
I should like to tell you a few words that you may know what it is to become a mureed and initiated. Is it that you have joined a kind of study group, to interest yourself in a kind of new study, a kind of passing interest that you have taken up for a pastime, or is it something you have taken for the sake of curiosity, because you wish to look at what is going on there? If it is for a study, then it is a waste of time; for a student libraries are open with books of all sorts. If it is for a pastime, then there are better occupations for that purpose. If it is for curiosity, in this path the curious ones will never be successful. 
What is it? Have you come into a new religion? What it is is that you have taken a step forward in the same religion you belong to. That step has come by your initiation, and by the power of your initiation you go forwards. Now in this initiation there are a few things which must be remembered. First your attitude towards the teaching which is given and towards the papers which are read. The right attitude is that they should not be taken as a study, but as something more sacred than an intellectual study. Therefore the tendency to weigh, to judge, and to criticize is not the right one in the path of discipleship. In India a phrase of a great saint is very well known: "First observe; if it interests you and appeals to you then learn; and after you have learnt, then judge it." Suppose in the teachings you have found one line which you cannot fit in with your old ideas. Then if you weigh it, there will come a conflict. Therefore in the East it is understood that in the spiritual path the old knowledge will not help, and one must unlearn what one already knows. 
This does not mean that a man must not have his own free opinion, but there is a time for that. For instance, if a subject which Murshid has treated in ten papers is read to you and you begin to judge after hearing the first paper for the first time, it would be premature and spoil the learning. 
Now another thing. What value should be set on the study, that is given as sacred reading? It is not the main thing. Study is a part of the purpose for which the groups meet. But the most essential thing is the meeting of some mureeds together, and the unison with their Murshid. When five mureeds are together, it is like being in the presence of Murshid. The unification and the silence are even more profitable than the reading. 

Working with a Guide

 
Choosing a Guide
by Mahdiah Jacobs Kahn

Initiation, or in Sufi terms Bayat, first of all has to do with the relationship between the pupil and the Murshid. The Murshid is understood to be the counselor on the spiritual path. He does not give anything to or teach the pupil, the mureed, for he cannot give what the latter already has; he cannot teach what his soul has always known. What he does in the life of the mureed is to show him how he can clear his path towards the light within by his own self. This is the only purpose of man's life on earth. One may attain the purpose of life without a personal guide, but to try to do so is to be like a ship traversing the ocean without a compass. To take initiation, then, means entrusting oneself in regard to spiritual matters to a spiritual guide.				 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

These words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan are a clear statement of the mureed/guide relationship and its importance on the spiritual path. The question is, how does one find such a person in the Sufi Order given our current structure? 
If you are reading this Handbook for Mureeds then you have already taken initiation and may or may not have a guide. You may have taken initiation from Pir Vilayat, a traveling teacher or a Representative in the area in which you live and attend classes. You may see reflected in your initiator the teacher you have sought and if that person is accessible as a guide, your training can begin. However, for many people who take initiation in the Sufi Order, the initiator may not be available for ongoing work as a guide. This is particularly true if your initiator is Pir Vilayat whose schedule currently makes him unavailable. 
A new mureed may find that he/she needs someone local who is available for regular meetings and can prescribe and review practices on a regular basis. The selection of such a person is a delicate matter. Many guides will work with the person who has initiated you and will honor your link with a teacher and fill the role of guide and spiritual friend. The process of finding such a person can be the first lessons on the path. In selecting a guide, you might want to meet with several people in your area and just sit with them to see if it is a match. I sometimes suggest to people that we try it for three months to see how it feels. The relationship between a mureed and a guide is a dance that engages us at conscious and unconscious levels. The purpose of the relationship with a teacher is to awaken the inner teacher and ultimately to awaken the Divinity within. 
The first lesson on the spiritual path involves taking the hand of another human being who is on the earth and who has all the concerns of a person living in this world and learning to trust that person. Many of us have issues around trust and these issues will arise as we engage in a relationship with a guide. Everything that stands in the way of our trusting another human being in a close relationship will arise for the new initiate who joins hands in spiritual friendship with another. It is important to feel some trust for the person that you choose to guide you and to know that this trust will be tested over time and that your relationship with your guide will deepen as a result of these tests. Trust, for most of us is a lifelong issue and learning to trust one's guide is a way to learn to trust. Eventually this trust teaches us to trust ourselves and to trust the teacher who lies dormant within. 
The nature of the relationship with the guide is that of a spiritual friendship that grows and changes over time. The spiritual path is made up of a series of stages and in each stage the role of the guide shifts. The mureed may be more dependent on the guide at first as everything is new, but this relationship changes over time and eventually the mureed and the guide become friends in God. 
One should also have a respectful attitude to the Murshid. This is not to raise the honor of the teacher in his own eyes, or in the eyes of others. It is to learn a respectful attitude by first having it towards one who deserves it. The mureed may then be able to develop in his nature the same respect for all . . . . To respect another means to deduct that much vanity from ourselves, the vanity which is only the veil between man and God.  - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
It is sometimes difficult for those of us raised in the West to develop a respectful attitude towards a guide, particularly when we see human frailties in the other. Learning to accept these frailties in others and by extension in ourselves is part of the training. Learning a deep acceptance of the human foibles in others and in ourselves leads us to a respect for life and an acceptance of it that deepens as we see the Divinity intertwined with our humanity reflected in others. It starts with experiencing that respect in our teachers and guides. 
 The rock is the heart of man. The dervish is the Murshid, the spiritual guide, and the word he gives you to utter is this mystery; that by the help of the word the treasure can be found and a door opened by which one can enter into the kingdom in one's heart. - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Some mureeds find the right guide quickly and easily; for others it is a process of trial and error. Sometimes we need to let go of many of our concepts of what this relationship is supposed to be to learn the lessons that are there in all relationships. This is a path of lovers and the relationship between the guide and the mureed is one in which we learn about loving, loving another, loving ourselves and ultimately loving God and knowing that it is all one. 

Completing the Initiate/Guide Relationship
by Atum O'Kane 

Some weeks ago I received a phone call from a mureed who had spent several years mourning the loss of her relationship with her guide. The particular manner in which it ended heightened her sense of abandonment and led her to question the authenticity of the training we offer. Due to unexpected personal difficulties the guide had to withdraw abruptly and was not able to inform the student or create closure. The mureed felt inspired by the ideal of beauty and sacredness with which the bond had been described. In the relationship she had actually touched these elements very deeply and the sudden loss of such a meaningful gift in her life was quite disrupting. The conversation drew my awareness to an area that calls for further clarification in a manner that can be helpful to both the seeker and the guide. Below are some suggestions on terminating this "special friendship," as Murshid calls it. These are offered in the spirit of suggested possibilities. 
In the initial meetings between the guide and the seeker both the eternal nature of the transmission and the temporal changes involved in today's lifestyle can be acknowledged. This involves honoring the sacred bond that unites both parties while recognizing that circumstances may at some point call for the ending of the form. Below are the stages of a ritual or process which can create a framework for conscious closure. It fosters the capacity for each person to go forth in his/her journey with appreciation for what has been shared between them and a sense of completion. The four stages could be addressed through a series of meetings, the intervening time allowing for preparation and review. 
1. Mutual acknowledgment of what has been learned from the training and from each other.
2. The expression of gratitude for all that has been received. Murshid comments that after the time of relating as teacher and student the next phase is captured in the image of two friends on the path of life who journey forward with grateful hearts.
3. Remembering the challenges that have been encountered by the initiate in his/her spiritual quest during the time of the training and what resources have been identified that will be carried into the future.
4. A purification of the heart in which unresolved issues between the two parties are recognized and approached in good faith. Where it is appropriate, forgiveness is sought. Space may also be provided for honoring the feeling of loss which can accompany endings. This stage may be completed with an exchange of blessings or expression of good will for each other's further journey. 
At the very beginning of the training it would be wise to acknowledge that if in the future either party wants to terminate the student/teacher roles, then consideration will be given to a process of conscious closure. If the guide is the one who needs to withdraw then it is advisable for him/her to offer referrals. The Representatives in our Order are volunteers who donate their services usually while meeting the responsibilities of work and family. Life sometimes demands we turn our full attention to certain areas as in a health or family crisis, and they cannot continue to serve others in the same manner. A change may also call for us to move and physical distance can mean it is not practically possible to maintain a role that calls for consistency and contact. One's inner life may lead us in a new direction or a sabbatical may be appropriate for one may be in a stage of re-evaluation, including one's understanding of what it means to be a guide. All of the above are valid reasons for a guide to recognize he/she may need to end a training period. Without a clear process or ritual to honor this passage, the relationship can slide into an uneasy vagueness in which the guide is plagued with guilt and the mureed with abandonment. Conscious closures can be a means to relieve suffering and open the way. In reviewing this theme you may find it valuable to reflect upon how you have dealt with endings in various forms and see what patterns have the potential to be repeated in this aspect of the spiritual guidance relationship. 
The mureed always has the right to terminate working with a particular guide. Mureeds are asked to discuss this with his/her guide before entering into a new relationship. The above steps in the suggested closure process help this change to be made in a manner respectful to both parties. It can be used as a container for marking a passage with the expression of love, harmony and beauty. 
 
Ethics of Spiritual Guidance

Ethics and the Spiritual Community
by Suria Less 

The principle of the Message in our time is to awaken and cultivate that innermost voice, that spirit, which allows us to recognize for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. In their time, the Prophets of the religions of the world gave a law or moral code to guide their followers. The challenge of our time is to find the living source spring of these laws; in other words, the natural morality which arises from a truly living heart (paraphrased from Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Gatha III, Metaphysics). We recognize that no law can take the place of this inner development. 
However, religious law and moral guidelines do represent the human community's effort to safeguard itself and to pass on the experience and wisdom it has gained in recognizing what violates the human spirit and what gives it ease. They continue to sensitize us in our own journeys. It is in this spirit that the Sufi Order has established ethical guidelines. Recognizing both the power and delicacy of the relationship between the teacher or guide and the student (mureed), the Sufi Order has established ethical guidelines to safeguard this relationship and to ensure its integrity. These guidelines affirm the sacred trust, and therefore responsibility, involved in guiding another human being in his/her inner journey. They also establish limits and boundaries for the guidance relationship. 
These are similar to those established for the therapeutic relationship in recognition that the guidance relationship, if it is truly that, is a deep link between two human beings and therefore subject to the powerful forces within the human psyche. When consciousness is brought to these forces they become the very means of transformation. However, when they operate unconsciously they can be destructive. The guidelines help to sensitize both teacher and student to this. 
An Ethics Committee has been established in order to have a means of addressing ethical issues as they arise. The purpose of this committee is to serve as a gathering point for the community to consider ethical questions, to serve as consultant to individuals about ethical concerns, to establish guidelines agreed upon by the community, to determine whether an ethical violation has occurred according to these guidelines, and to address this violation. In its formal functioning, the Ethics Committee investigates reports of unethical behavior and forwards its findings to the ethics subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas, the esoteric advisory body of the Sufi Order. It is this body which determines appropriate sanctions if they are called for. 
Because of the often sensitive nature of the issues brought before the Ethics Committee, it has realized the importance of ongoing support for all involved. To this end, the Ethics Committee now has several counselors who are available to work closely with it to hear and further assess the needs of the parties involved and to offer additional support or referral. In all aspects of its work, this committee observes strict confidentiality. The Ethics Committee is a function of the community. Its functioning and the ethical guidelines require ongoing consideration and refinement to be a living instrument of a living community. 
Hopefully, the Ethics Committee will be seen, not only as a place of complaint, but as a body to focus an open ongoing questioning and discussion of the ethical concerns of our community. Using the Ethics Committee in its consultative function to evaluate an ambiguous situation before it has become truly harmful allows it to function as an extension of the community's compassion toward itself.
If you have an ethical concern related to an activity or function of the Sufi Order or any of its teachers, please contact in writing either of the co-chairpersons of the Ethics Committee, c/o The Secretariat office (See Chapter 8 for Standards for Center Finances, Financial Ethics, and Ethics Committee Procedures).  

Ethical Standards While Teaching 

 Definitions 
The word Teacher as used in these standards applies to anyone who is functioning in an official capacity of the Sufi Order of the West, including Representatives, Guides, Coordinators, and Retreat Guides. 
The word Student as used in these standards applies to initiates of the Sufi Order as well as students at classes, seminars, or retreats.
 
 Scope of Function 
Teachers serve students by giving spiritual guidance along with encouragement and inspiration. Teachers are authorized only to give spiritual guidance and practices established by the Sufi Order in functions approved by the Sufi Order. 
A teacher of the Sufi Order realizes the sacred trust involved in guiding the spiritual development of another human being. With that trust goes the responsibility of honoring the following ethical standards: 
1. Teachers shall not prescribe behavior or make decisions for students. 
2. Teachers are not authorized to engage in psychotherapy in their official capacity in the Sufi Order. 
3. Teachers shall not use the authority and power of their position to exploit students for material, emotional, or other personal gain. 
4. If a teacher has or develops a sexual relationship with a student, the teacher shall transfer the student to another teacher. 
5. Teachers shall not exploit their position for monetary gain. Teachers shall be very cautious about getting involved in any dual relationship with their students. Examples would include employing a student or contracting with a student in any type of business or professional relationship, or seeking investments from students for personal gain. 
6. A teacher needs to be aware if a student has a problem that requires a different type of assistance than can be offered in the role of spiritual guide. For example: 
   A student with physical problems shall be advised to seek proper medical 			treatment. A student with serious psychological problems (severe depres-		sion, anxiety, psychosis, or personality disorder) shall be advised to seek a 		licensed therapist (psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or licensed 			counselor). 
   A student with a drug or alcohol problem shall be advised to seek an 			appropriate substance abuse treatment resource such as a licensed professional, Alcoholics Anonymous, or residential treatment facility. 
   If a student is in treatment for a physical or a psychological problem the 			teacher shall not attempt to discourage or replace the treatment. If a 			student is aware of having a significant physical or psychological problem, the student shall inform the teacher of the problem. A teacher may elect not to give spiritual training to such a student. 
7. If a teacher is unable to function effectively in the role of spiritual guide with a student due to factors such as personality conflicts or other conflict of interest situations as previously outlined, the teacher shall refer the student to another teacher. The same shall apply in the case of a student who has attained a level beyond the ability of the teacher to help the student continue to advance spiritually. 
8. Teachers realize that there may be times in their lives during which they will be unable to function effectively in their role due to factors such as burnout, financial problems or relationship problems. At such a time the teacher shall consult with the Appointments Committee about a reduction in responsibilities or taking a leave of absence until they are able to fulfill their role. 
9. A person wishing to lead a retreat, seminar, or other program in the name of the Sufi Order shall have prior authorization from the Head of the Sufi Order or others delegated with that authority. Teachers shall not present Wazaif, Dhikr, or Shaghal outside of Sufi Order functions without prior approval of the Executive Committee of the Sufi Order. 
The Retreat

The Place of Retreat in the Life of the Mureed
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

A new moon teaches gradualness 
and deliberation and how one gives birth 
to oneself slowly. Patience with small details 
makes perfect a large work, like the universe. 
What nine months of attention does for an embryo 
forty early mornings will do
for your gradually growing wholeness.1
                                                         - Jelal-ud-Din Rumi 

While most may not have the opportunity to take the forty days that Rumi speaks of, we can gain a great benefit by even one or a few days of solitude within the retreat. Periods of retreat in solitude have been central to training of mureeds within the Sufi tradition since antiquity. The retreat, devoted to intensive periods of meditation and reflection, is an opportunity to become more deeply immersed in the inner life and to better know the Sufi practices. It is helpful at every stage on the spiritual path. Here we will describe the purposes and format of the retreat and look at some of the fruits of the retreat process. 

The Purpose of the Retreat 

"The purpose of retreat is to draw near to God, and the heart is filled with joy." So one teacher of old tells us. Another speaks of it as the opportunity to remove the many veils (the ancient Sufis speak of between 22,000 and 70,000!) which stand between us and the truth of things. It is also a time to "re-collect," in the most literal sense. Through the retreat experience we gather together the many aspects of our identity, our hopes, fears, struggles and joys, shining the light of consciousness on and embracing these. We are offered a vision of how the seemingly  contradictory parts of our being fit together in a beautiful tapestry. Finally, through the retreat, we begin to gain a sense of the wholly different sense of identity that is emerging. The fruit of these experiences is that our isolation and sense of separateness gradually lose their grip upon us. Ultimately, the world of unity and light that we touch upon within the retreat becomes a deepening sense of communion with all planes and all aspects of life. 

Challenges and Guidance on Retreat 

Many unique challenges arise during the retreat process. Solitude comes very naturally for some and not so for others. The retreat tends to intensify the soul's transformation, and often opens us rather quickly to areas where healing or deeper realization are emerging. During the retreat there can be periods of great dryness and very strong emotion. Also, during these moments of deep exploration and of opening of the heart, the conscience is magnified. Some individuals, especially drawn to solitude, may find themselves in an unhealthy isolation from which movement back towards life is difficult. 
Because of the intensity of the retreat and the challenges that arise, taking a retreat under the direction of a guide is strongly recommended. The guides for retreats within the Sufi Order of the West have been trained and certified. Each has taken many individual retreats and is familiar with the specific challenges that arise. The guide sits with the retreatant each day, offering practices, support and insight for each of the retreat's stages. 

The Movements of the Soul in the Retreat 

Each and every retreat experience will be different. The same person may be in peace and bliss at one moment on retreat, and feel as though in a storm or fire at another. The retreat experience is literally a microcosm of the soul's entire journey of unfoldment. Given this, in order to describe the feelings and experiences evoked on the retreat, it will help us to look at Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's description of the different stages of the soul's spiritual awakening. 
When a soul first "remembers" its spiritual ground, it is like a deer, sensitive and thirsting for understanding. The forest or mountains become the refuge for the deer-like soul. This is the predominant mood in the beginning of the retreat. The practices that correspond to this stage have to do with encouraging and affirming this inner freedom. They emphasize turning of consciousness away from outer life, and becoming aware of the wounds of the heart and soul. Much of the work of this stage has to do with self-acceptance, especially of those aspects of our being that we tend to push aside. Ultimately we find that our deepest self-acceptance resolves many of our issues with other people. Through compassion and self-understanding, we come back to the roots of our unfulfilled dreams and deep impulses, and see how those that have not been honored have taken away the natural ecstasy at the core of our being. Here we acknowledge and reclaim our entire being, its light and shade. 
The next movement of the soul experienced on a retreat is towards a profound inner stillness. Here the soul becomes like the serpent who sheds its skin. All the veils that keep us from our deepest self fall away. Here we also become like the cobra, who does not have to go out after its food; it waits to receive and is thus guided and inspired. The practices of this stage emphasize the lifting of consciousness and a profound shift in the sense of identity. These changes are accomplished by a relaxation of the personal will, a continually deepening sense of surrender and "unknowing," and an honoring of the soul's expression of sacredness, perhaps through love of beauty, harmony and glorification. 
The final movement in the retreat begins through a reawakening of a sense of meaning within life. In ancient alchemy, this phase was called the "alchemical marriage," in which the heavens and earth, or the inner and outer life, were joined together. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan sometimes spoke of the final stage as requiring the temperament of the lion. He saw that qualities like strength, conviction and even voraciousness were especially necessary for the sensitive soul who must live in the world and not be drowned by the struggles of life. The practices of this last stage emphasize the balancing of certain soul qualities with each other. For example, a retreatant might use practices to balance compassion with strength, possibly with the Wazaif Ya Rahman - Ya Qader; truth with kindness, with Ya Haqq - Ya Karim; or the admixture of inner and outer light, Ya Nur - Ya Zahir. Here also, an emphasis might be placed on Love as the principle that unites all places of reality, perhaps through the Dhikr of love, Ishq Allah Ma'abud Lillah. 
Also within the final part of the retreat, an emphasis is often placed on issues related to a soul's purpose. In the depth of practices, a retreatant glimpses his or her life in a very different way, and gains a deeper understanding of the meaning of the soul's purpose. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan once noted that all meditation practices are but vehicles to lead us to this understanding; once we have found it, our life becomes our practice. This is the key to the "alchemical marriage" and to our happiness and inner peace. The deeper contact with the soul's purpose can be one of the most life-transforming experiences we could have. 

Let loving lead your soul.
Make it a place to retire to, 
a kind of monastery cave, a retreat 
for the deepest core of your being.
                                                     - Attar2 

The Retreat Process
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

Many in the Sufi Order of the West consider the retreat process to be an integral part of their spiritual training. I wish to give particular emphasis to the retreat format as a means of enabling personal transformation.
Individual, small group and large group retreats are available at a number of Centers in North America and Europe. Retreat guides at these Centers have undergone extensive training in the retreat process before being certified as retreat guides in the Sufi Order. In addition, many retreat guides are counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists by profession. 
In the retreat process, the structured patterns and concepts of personal identity are dissolved in a psychologically protected environment. Wherever possible, retreats are held in nature so that the beauty and healing properties of a natural setting complement the retreat process. Diet is generally simple, vegetarian and non-dairy. Often silence is maintained for the period of the retreat. Individuals are encouraged to leave behind thoughts and concerns of everyday life in order to "go within" to discover a deeper self and fundamental inter-connectedness with all dimensions of being. This altered consciousness gives an opportunity to recognize qualities in oneself not always perceived in everyday life, and affords a new vantage point from which to view one's life and problems. Finally, consciously integrating these instincts into the fabric of one's personality, one is prepared to re-enter active life with a renewed vision of identity and purpose. 
The Sufi understanding of self-transformation utilized an alchemical terminology that has been developed to describe the process of transformation. We often think of the alchemists as the primeval chemists, but in fact they were really both psychologists and scientists because they assumed the principle "As above, so below; as below, so above," which meant for them that the same processes that make for the transformation of metals in the womb of the earth also make for the transformation of humans at the psychological level. This is called the ars regia, or royal art. 
In our Sufi retreats we are using one of the techniques devised by an alchemist named Valentius. Basically, it has two halves. The first half is called solve and the second half coagulae, solve meaning "dissolve" and coagulae meaning, in our modem terminology, "rebirthing." Both parts are essential, and in fact there is no use going through the rebirthing process unless one has first gone through the process of dissolving. 
Saint Francis refers to this dissolving process when he says that in order to become what we really are, we have first to go through a stage where we become nothing. This is the "dark night of the soul" referred to by St. John of the Cross. In psychological terms it is a breaking down of the self-image, the ego structure that one builds up over time. It is interesting that life itself does provide for this to some extent through various sorts of crises. For example, you lose your job, your relationship is broken with your spouse, you are without a penny, you have an accident, and there is a death in the family. Everything just goes wrong all at once and sure enough, you are suddenly going through a crisis. 
Now, the outer crisis is always paralleled by an inner crisis. One loses one's self confidence, one's sense of values, one's sense of direction and purpose, and is finally thrown into total confusion. This is truly the dark night of the soul. Or, one may find oneself in a situation where there seems to be no issue, no right thing to do, no escape. This is what is called being in a bind, a no-win situation. Actually, of course, the bind is in the mind, because a bind is really the horizon of one's insight. The situation appears to be such that there is no way out. It is only that one cannot see it. In this type of situation nature itself provides for a breakdown which is for the purpose of a breakthrough as it were. That is, one has to go through a crisis and experience the breakdown in order to come into the clear again. 
An English psychiatrist, R.D. Laing, has this idea of a "breakdown that avers itself to be a breakthrough." Laing considers that it is natural and sometimes even necessary for a person's psyche to break down. It is a sign of the vulnerability and pliability of the psyche, which otherwise would remain sclerosed. In other words, it is sometimes the only way in which one can undergo change. Of course, one should be very carefully guided through this breakdown. Guidance is essential. Otherwise, the crisis becomes chronic and one can sink into a state of schizophrenia or depression or whatever. This is why the psychologists of the future will have to be illuminated beings. By illuminated beings I mean people endowed with a very high attunement and deep insight who can see the real issues behind the apparent ones. 
They will also have to be able to guide people beyond the breakdown and through the rebirthing process. Having passed that dangerous threshold between the breakdown and breakthrough, one can start to work with rebirthing. At least this is the order specified in the original theory of the ars regia. 
I tend to differ somewhat from the traditional alchemists at this point, because I feel that we already have to work with rebirthing while the breakdown is taking place. You'll find this in nature. For example, in the healing of wounds, the new skin or tissue grows before the damaged skin or tissue is eliminated. I am very wary about letting a person go through the dark night without some replacement during the process. 

In the traditional alchemical process there are six stages of breakdown and rebirthing. We have already talked about the first stage, the "dark night of the soul." 
The second stage is called "the rise of Apollo." It is what Jung would call the formation of a new sense of the Self to replace the old self. The ego is replaced by the Self. It is integration at a higher level. Typical of this is a reference that Jung makes to the alchemist who said that one must be careful when distilling that mercury does not escape the retort. This means that if you lift consciousness beyond its usual limits in terms of the personality, it tends to get lost or dissipate. This new sense of self, developed in the second stage of the alchemical process, lifts the point of reference of one's being a peg at a time, so to speak. The alchemists also call this "extracting the essence of one's being" or hanging on to the essence while letting go of the contingency. In the process of rebirthing, the essence of one's being is extracted from all the different aspects of the personality that have been overlaid upon it. Once that essence has been extracted, then it doesn't matter if the rest of the being is dissolved, because that extract is the most important thing. When the fragrance, which is the essence of the flower, has been extracted from the flower, the rest can be thrown away; that's the contingency. 
Hanging on to the essence, then, is what saves one from insanity in the dissolving process. This is in fact the cure, to make the person conscious of his or her real being. Then even if the apparent being breaks down, one is able to survive. If you look upon your personality as a continuity in change and then reach into the consciousness of what you have always been, beyond all change, that is the essence of your being. That is what we do in the practice of samadhi, and it is still part of the second stage. The Greeks put their initiates through that same practice in the Eleusinian mysteries, which is where the term "the rise of Apollo" comes from. 
This process is carried even further in the third stage, called the "immaculate state." The state of nirvana in Buddhism corresponds most closely to this third stage. This is where one gets to the source of life, beyond all forms. In yoga it would be the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, or "formless absorption," where one becomes oblivious to the manifested world and is conscious on the subtler planes. It is represented by the Virgin Mary, the crescent moon, and the water of life. It is a condition of aloofness and detachment; of inner peace rather than joy. This is the end of the dissolution process. It is only after one has experienced oneself as pure spirit that one can proceed to rebirthing. 
Rebirthing is the fourth stage proper, although as I said, there are aspects of it in the dissolution process too. This stage is called alchemical marriage, the "betrothal" between Mother Earth and Father Heaven. It is said that at the moment of birth, two worlds meet. On the one hand, there is all that one has inherited from heaven, and on the other, what one is inheriting from one's ancestry. So rebirthing is always the integration of two different things which merge into consciousness. 
An example of this sort of integration as it applies to working with the personality would be to work on two complementary qualities in attempting to balance the personality such as kindness with power, instead of just kindness; or truthfulness with insight, instead of just truthfulness or just insight. 
It is interesting that in the process of rebirthing, one has to struggle against the image that other people have of one. There is a proverb that says a prophet is without honor in his own country, and this is because people hold you down into the image that they have made of you and which you have made of yourself. So when you have undergone a transformation you have to affirm your being; and unless you can affirm it, people will bring you right back to where you were before. That is why the fifth stage is the affirmation of your being, when you face and overcome the temptation to follow the easier path and just fall back into your personality. The Tibetans have a teaching that may help in this regard. They like to stress the fact that our self-image is precisely that; an image, a mental creation, an object of our imagination. Consequently we can make of it what we want. It is not given. Our bodies are given and we can influence them only to a limited extent, but our self-image is purely the product of our own creative imagination. 
It is not only our self-image, but even the very assumption of individuality which limits us. I think that is why, for example, Buddha speaks about anatta or "non-individuality." The assumption of being an individual is our greatest limitation. That is why the paradigm that I teach now is thinking of oneself as a cone whose base is the whole universe and whose apex is what we think ourselves to be. This image is intended to remind us that we are not just the apex, but the whole cone. Actually there is some reconciliation of the irreconcilables in the pyramid, because somehow the apex is a function of the base and the base is a function of the apex. They influence each other. 
The sixth stage is called by the alchemists "the materialization of spirit and the spiritualization of matter." It is a very extraordinary thing that matter experiences through spirit, and spirit experiences itself through matter. The materialization of spirit is also called incarnation, while the spiritualization of matter is called resurrection.
For me the sixth stage really has to be divided into two parts. The first part, the materialization of spirit, is an awakening "in life," which is the opposite of samadhi. This is where one experiences one's consciousness as a cone; the divine consciousness funneled into what we think is our own personal consciousness, not just the apex. This is why awakening in real life means being aware that one's consciousness is the divine consciousness funneled down, and refusing to let it be limited by the apex of the cone. One can actually practice this while walking in the street. Instead of thinking "I am looking at this," "I am looking at that," one can think "I am the divine consciousness looking at the universe." 

Guidelines for Retreats 
by Aziza Scott 

Sufi Order retreats are for specific periods at regular intervals, not to leave the world, but to be able to contribute to it more fully. The retreat has been developed by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan into a very intense and powerful instrument for human development. The retreat also answers a need felt by many who are overstressed or in need of recharging our energy, confronting ourselves, and healing. 
The retreat has two major aims: awakening beyond life, and awakening into life, giving both realization and transformation. The general method is that of Alchemy: absorption into Oneness and conscious re-creation. Meditation practices of all esoteric schools are applied, as well as Sufi practices such as Wazaif and Dhikr. The techniques of concentration, light, invocation, breath, sound, magnetism, and prayer are all used in the retreat. 
The Alchemical Retreat has six stages: the shattering, the discovery of one's soul, the transcendence, the opening of the heart, the awakening in life, the discovery of one's purpose, and illumination. 
It is recommended that a three-day retreat accompany the Gatha papers, a six- day retreat the Githa papers, and a ten-day retreat the Sangatha papers. Then continue the process of a fourteen-day or twenty-one day retreat at a later date. Doing a series of three-day retreats for the changes of the seasons is a wonderful experience. Generally,  two retreats a year is good maintenance. If a group retreat is available; then one could follow it by an individual retreat experience. Also a retreat could follow a theme such as healing, light, nature, creativity or the Goddess. The spiritual retreat is an essential part of discovering the inner life, and is recommended to all. 
Please call the Sufi Order Secretariat if you would like a list of retreat guides in your area. 

Sufi Recovery Network

A Sufi Order Recovery Network is available for members of the Sufi Order who are already, or who might become, members of a 12-step recovery program. This network, begun in 1989, was developed by and for mureeds whose lives have been affected by their own or others' addictions, co-dependency, or dysfunctional behaviors. 
The purpose of the Recovery Network is evolving, with present focus on: 
   Networking and mutual support among initiates who are in a 12-step 			program
   Providing information about recovery to those in the Sufi Order
   Serving as a resource for retreat guides, representatives, and coordinators
   Offering recovery support groups through Centers and at leadership train-			ing
   Developing retreat models which integrate 12-step experience and Sufi 			practices 
The Sufi Order Recovery Network is available to all those involved in their own recovery and personal growth or who wish to inquire further. 
Please contact the Secretariat for current contacts with the Recovery Network. 


Chapter 4

Introduction

Prayer is a central practice in all of the mystical traditions. This chapter begins with the reflections of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the five different ways of understanding our relations to God. These themes are woven throughout the structure of the prayers used within the Order. The creation of one's own God Ideal is a central part of our training and prayers help to foster this process. They also envision underlying unity contained within the ideals of the World's religions and express the emergence of a planetary consciousness, which is a response to the cry of humanity.
Taj Inayat Glantz helps us unfold the layers of meaning in the Invocation, the cornerstone of the Sufi Order's orientation. Her insights form a framework for understanding the spiritual process called forth in a heart-felt recitation. In the invocation offered by Pir Vilayat, there is a variation on the themes of the original prayer which amplifies the inspiration.
A section in this chapter also addresses the issue of gender inclusive language as one seeks to make the prayers one's own. The body and its capacity to experience and express the ecstasy of the spirit are acknowledged in the movements accompanying the prayers given by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Arifa Miller's reflections on dance as prayer. Finally, the beauty and rhythm of reciting the prayers as a daily practice are evoked in "The Confraternity" by Qahira Qalbi.

Our Relation to God 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Our relation to God is understood in five different ways:
	Idealizing
	Recognizing
	Communicating
	Realizing
	Perfecting

Idealizing

Every sincere and earnest believer in God experiences this stage. It is the stage in which he stands before God in humility and gentleness or with repentance for his sins and for his faults, or looks to heaven and asks for pardon. Whether the being or person he idealizes is much greater or only comparatively greater than himself, he understands that he is a mere drop in relation to the ocean, that he is most limited compared to a most unlimited God, that he is most feeble while the other is Almighty. He realizes that there is a Being filled with all the virtues and goodness and justice and mercy and compassion imaginable. Whatever be his religion, everyone experiences this first stage, being a faithful believer in God.
The first lesson to humanity has been that of idealizing. It is not only the Bible that says, "blessed are the humble, the gentle, the meek;" it is also said in the Qur'an and other sacred books. It was even taught in the old Roman civilization. Each nation that has arrived at the point of understanding and acting according to true humanity has come to understand that man is different from animals only to the extent to which he idealizes. This is greater than art, greater than religion, greater than anything, and is the source of great joy. Before we can enjoy life we must become delicate, sensitive, and evolved. When this is attained, a person experiences a kind of joy in bowing his head such as is not found in ordinary people.
All the various modes of expressing veneration and respect and worship were given to one Being, in recognition that there is only one Being worthy of such expression. By practicing it continually we get to reproduce the same attitude in ourselves. But if this were the end of our way of life, what then shall we think of those who take the other four steps? For, truly, this sherif is only the first step!

Recognizing

Recognizing is the second step; it is called tariqat. At this stage the believer in God thinks of Him not only as in heaven, where all praise, worship, honor, and respect are due to Him, but he recognizes that He is on earth also. For instance, take a person called "John." If you ask him the name of each part of him, he can give a certain name for each, for every part of his body has its name. But which is "John?" Which part of his being is "John?" How shall I recognize "John?" If I recognize him from his head, why not call his head "John" instead of "head?" If I recognize him from his hand, then why do you not call his hand "John," why call it "hand?" If I recognize him from his body, why do you not call his body "John" instead of "body?" But if the body is "John" and the body is dead, where is "John?" Where the dead body is, is "John" there? No, surely "John" is different from his body; yet at the same time he represents himself with his body. It is his inner self that is really "John." Yet it is not his inner self which he shows to our external eyes, which are limited; it is his limited self, which we call "John," which he shows thus. "John" is behind his limited self. Our eyes are only the vehicle for seeing, and we can see something beyond our eyes. We, the ones who see, are the seer.
If we study this more and more carefully, we come to see that God is the creator, and must consider that He must have something to create from. When a sculptor sets to work he has something in mind before he starts. He has to have a piece of rock or stone to work on. Every worker has a certain thing besides himself to create from. So one may ask, "Was there anything besides this world for God to make it from? Where did God get the things to make the universe from?" If He created out of something already made, then that substance out of which He made the universe must have been made by some other god, or perhaps a thousand gods-and even then we may not have come to the end! But this cannot be. The whole creation is from one Being whose wisdom is unlimited, one Being whose art is unlimited, whose power is unlimited. He creates of Himself, with His own power. Therefore the creation and the Creator are not two, just as man and his body are not two. They are two, but at the same time they are not. When you recognize a man, you recognize him not from his body only, but from his spirit as well. If you recognize God, you can recognize Him not only in heaven, but on earth also. Those who recognize Him, see Him in all.
A Hindustani song goes: "Ah! How desirous I was to see the divine Beloved! It is not the fault of the Beloved that you do not see! He is before you! It is the fault of you who recognize Him not. Everything, whatever you see, is nothing else but The Presence of God!" But if you say, "All the world is the presence of God," then what is in heaven? I do not say, "The body is John." I say, "Behind the body is John, even though the body too is John." So God is in heaven, but His manifestation is also God.
Think of how the followers of all the different religions have fought one another! So convinced were some that there were a thousand, or millions or numberless multitudinous gods, whereas others were convinced there is but One. To the mind of the Sufi both are right. Both are opposite to one another in knowledge. One religion desires to teach that all these infinite varieties are just one God, and desires to impress the idea that this is God. Those who have learned that there is one God cannot conceive the idea of many gods! So they fought through all their lives, without ever recognizing who really is their God. They teach that someday they will be taken before Him for judgment, when they are actually before Him all the time, all day long, all night long! Understand this once and a great change of outlook will come; one's thoughts of God will change so much that the whole moral standpoint changes.
One day I was walking in the city and met a dervish with a beautiful personality. He was clothed in rags, but his speech, his voice, his thought, his movement, his atmosphere were so winning. At that time I was very young in the pursuit of philosophy. Youth is a time when pride has full play. So, as we were walking along and he called me "Murshid" (teacher) I was very glad. He addressed me as "Murshid" every time he spoke to me! Presently we met another person who seemed to be without any education, seemingly without any knowledge of philosophy or religion or anything out of the way. He called him "Murshid" also! My pride was broken, for next he came across a policeman and called him "Murshid" too! So then I asked my teacher what could be the meaning of all this, and he said, "Your dervish shows you the first step towards recognizing God: to recognize all beings as your teacher. A foolish person can teach you, a wise person, a learned person, a student, a pious person, a wicked person, even a little child; everyone can teach you something. Therefore, have that attitude towards everybody. Then it may be said that you recognize God. When the chela is ready, the guru appears." That is, when you are ready to discern it, you find your teacher beside you. We can even learn love from doves, and faithfulness from dogs.

Communicating with God

When an ordinary person or an illiterate person meets a poet, perhaps a great poet, he sees the man part and not the poet part. If he is told the person is a poet, he may see the poet part when he meets him. He now sees the poet in his actions, in his words, in everything about him he sees the poet! An ordinary person would not see the poet. On the other hand, a great poet may go among a crowd, and the people only see the man in him, they do not see the poet in him; they do not know how profound his thoughts are. So, once you begin to recognize God in man, you do not see man anymore, but God. The man is the surface, while the God is deep in him. Such recognition brings you in touch with everyone's inmost being, and you know more about them than they know themselves. You know his sorrow, his joys, his secrets. Such a person is called a "seer." The seer sees God with his own eyes, and also recognizes his divine Beloved in every form, in every name. He reaches Him and touches the God part in every being, however limited that individual appears to be on the surface. From now on there comes a softness in his nature, a magnetism, a charm, a beauty in him rarely to be found. Those people who have attained to this stage are able to meet people with awakened minds, and meeting such wish to be with them forever. A very well-known seer went to see Jelal-ud-Din Rumi when he was a chief judge in the city Kazoo. It was Shams-i-Tabriz. He came before the judge in the appearance of a savage. The first thing Shams did in coming before Jelal-ud-Din was to throw his manuscripts into the pond.
Rumi looked at him, wondering about his action and why he should throw away all that knowledge, and asked him the reason for his action. The seeming vagrant said, "Because you have been reading all your life, and now you should do something more. You ought to understand what you are, and where you are. Everything before you is made of letters. If you could read them, then you could read life, and it would be greater than any scripture, better than any tradition that you can hear. It would disclose the secret of all being." Rumi, after having looked at this person and his expression, and having heard all he said, was so won by him that he wrote down in his diary, "The God whom I have been worshipping all my life has today appeared to me in the form of a man."
It is said, "By one's vision of God, one becomes God." And again, "Their self will become God." That happens when we come to see God in everybody. We develop goodness in our actions. Our words become God's words, because we are impressed with all around us, with the mirror all around us. It reflects only goodness. Then we become a museum or picture of goodness. We reflect it all from morning to evening. We reflect forgiveness; we reflect tolerance; we reflect all these lovely qualities because, "If my Beloved is in every kind of man, how thoughtful I ought to be to all." The lover is always very careful when he is with his Beloved. He becomes thoughtful and tender. Now there remain only two more steps:

Realizing

It is after feeling the presence of God and after being in communication with Him that we come to realize Him. When you can touch God in everybody, then God tells you about Himself, because He sees you have no hate, no prejudice. You have seen your Beloved, and your Beloved tells you all. Realization is still difficult, for it involves discerning the difference between me and you. What is the difference? It is a great question or problem. Your "I" and "you" is just like a pair of compasses with which we draw circles on drawing paper. The one point of the compass is the "I," the other point is the "you," and where it joins there is no "I-you." The "I" and "you" only remain as long as we see ourselves. When we rise above them or beyond them, the thought brings us nearer and nearer to God in that consciousness in which we all unite. We are like the two points of the compass. Where they meet there is no "I" or "you." Self-realization is where the word is silent. The sage cannot say more than this because the subject is so vast. When we come to this conception, we find it is altogether too subtle, too vast to express.

Perfecting

Perfection and annihilation is that stage at which there is no longer "I" and no longer "you," where there is what there is.

The Prayers

Invocation

Toward the One, 
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, 
the Only Being, 
United with all the Illuminated Souls, 
Who form the Embodiment of the Master, 
the Spirit of Guidance.

Saum

Praise be to Thee, Most Supreme God, 
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-pervading, 
the Only Being. 
Take us in Thy Parental Arms, 
Raise us from the denseness of the earth. 
Thy Beauty do we worship, 
To Thee do we give willing surrender. 
Most Merciful and Compassionate God, 
The Idealized Lord of the whole humanity, 
Thee only do we worship, 
and towards Thee alone we aspire. 
Open our hearts towards Thy Beauty, 
Illuminate our souls with Divine Light. 
O Thou, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty!
All-powerful Creator, Sustainer, Judge 
and Forgiver of our shortcomings, 
Lord God of the East and of the West, 
of the worlds above and below, 
And of the seen and unseen beings. 
Pour upon us Thy Love and Thy Light, 
Give sustenance to our bodies, hearts and souls, 
Use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooseth, 
And guide us on the path of Thine Own Goodness. 
Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life, 
Until in us be reflected Thy Grace, 
Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and Thy Peace. 
Amen.

Salat

Most gracious Lord, 
Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity, 
We greet Thee with all humility. 
Thou art the First Cause and the Last Effect, 
the Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance, 
Alpha and Omega. 
Thy Light is in all forms, 
Thy Love in all beings: 
in a loving mother, in a kind father, in an innocent child,
in a helpful friend, in an inspiring teacher. 
Allow us to recognize Thee 
in all Thy holy names and forms: 
as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. 
Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, 
as Zarathushtra, as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed, 
and in many other names and forms, 
known and unknown to the world. 
We adore Thy past, 
Thy presence deeply enlighteth our being, 
and we look for Thy blessing in the future. 
Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasul of God! 
Thou Whose heart constantly reacheth upward, 
Thou comest on earth with a message, 
as a dove from above when Dharma decayeth, 
and speakest the Word that is put into Thy mouth, 
as the light filleth the crescent moon. 
Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart 
be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees. 
May the Message of God reach far and wide, 
illuminating and making the whole humanity 
as one single Family in the Parenthood of God. 
Amen.

Khatum

Thou, Who art the Perfection 
of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, 
The Lord of heaven and earth, 
open our hearts, that we may hear Thy Voice, 
which constantly cometh from within. 
Disclose to us Thy Divine Light, 
which is hidden in our souls, 
that we may know and understand life better. 
Most Merciful and Compassionate God, 
give us Thy great Goodness, 
Teach us Thy loving Forgiveness,
Raise us above the distinctions and differences 
which divide us, 
Send us the Peace of Thy Divine Spirit, 
And unite us all in Thy Perfect Being. 
Amen.

Dowa

Save me, my Lord, from the earthly passions 
and the attachments which blind mankind. 
Save me, my Lord, from the temptations
of power, fame, and wealth,
 
which keep man away 
from Thy Glorious Vision. 
Save me, my Lord, from the souls who are constantly
occupied in hurting and harming their fellow-man, and
who take pleasure in the pain of another. 
Save me, my Lord, from the evil eye of envy and jealousy,
which falleth upon Thy bountiful Gifts. 
Save me, my Lord, from falling into the hands 
of the playful children of earth, 
lest they might use me in their games; 
they might play with me and then break me in the end, 
as children destroy their toys. 
Save me, my Lord, from all manner of injury 
that cometh from the bitterness of my adversaries a
nd from the ignorance of my loving friends. 
Amen.

Nayaz

Beloved Lord, Almighty God! 
Through the rays of the sun, 
Through the waves of the air, 
Through the All-pervading Life in space, 
Purify and revivify me, and, I pray, 
Heal my body, heart, and soul. 
Amen.

Nazar

Thou, the Sustainer of our bodies, hearts, and souls, 
Bless all that we receive in thankfulness. 
	       Amen.


Pir

Inspirer of my mind, consoler of my heart, 
healer of my spirit, 
Thy presence lifteth me from earth to heaven, 
Thy words flow as the sacred river, 
Thy thought riseth as a divine spring, 
Thy tender feelings waken sympathy in my heart. 
Beloved Teacher, Thy very being is forgiveness. 
The clouds of doubt and fear 
are scattered by Thy piercing glance. 
All ignorance vanishes in Thy illuminating presence. 
A new hope is born in my heart 
by breathing Thy peaceful atmosphere. 
O inspiring Guide through life's puzzling ways, 
In Thee I feel abundance of blessing. 
Amen.

Nabi

A torch in the darkness, a staff during my weakness, 
A rock in the weariness of life, 
Thou, my Master, makest earth a paradise. 
Thy thought giveth me unearthly joy, 
Thy light illuminateth my life's path, 
Thy words inspire me with divine wisdom, 
I follow in thy footsteps, 
which lead me to the eternal goal. 
Comforter of the broken-hearted, 
Support of those in need, 
Friend of the lovers of truth, 
Blessed Master, thou art the Prophet of God. 
	       Amen.

Rasul

Warner of coming dangers, 
Wakener of the world from sleep, 
Deliverer of the Message of God, 
Thou art our Savior. 
The sun at the dawn of creation, 
The light of the whole universe, 
The fulfillment of God's purpose, 
Thou the life eternal, 
we seek refuge in thy loving enfoldment. 
Spirit of Guidance, 
Source of all beauty, and Creator of harmony, 
Love, Lover, and Beloved Lord. 
Thou art our divine ideal. 
Amen.

A Prayer for Peace

Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, 
that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, 
and speak harmoniously. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may be contented 
and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife 
we may enjoy thy bliss. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, 
tolerate all in the thought of thy grace and mercy. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that our lives may become a 
divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we 
Thy children on earth may all unite in one family. 
Amen.

The Invocation as a Spiritual Practice 
by Taj Inayat Glantz

The invocation is like a lotus or a flower containing a radiant jewel. We need to discover this jewel.
First, hold the word "toward." This already implies a journey, a movement, or a change. Something is going to happen, something is going to change. One can assume that what changes is probably going to be oneself. Feel the beginning of a journey, the readiness, the saying good-bye to old identities, old patterns, and old concepts. This journey is "Toward the One" and it is a journey that Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says lasts from the moment of birth to the moment of death.
One might ask oneself, "Do I want to make this journey Toward the One, do I want to give up who I think I am?" Let your heart answer. In this part of the invocation feel the kinship with all fellow travelers, pilgrims, seekers, contemplatives throughout the ages, who have dared to move beyond the confines of the known while searching, and who have left traces.
The next phrase, "The Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty," gives us some clue, some orientation about what this state of oneness is like. Contemplate for a moment "perfection." One aspect of perfection might be never ending, completely reliable, can never be diminished. So when we think of Love, Harmony, and Beauty this is a description of the One Being; this is the nature of the One to whom we are moving.
People who have had near-death experiences describe sometimes the feeling of moving into a presence which is totally safe, loving, and in this presence all fear is melted away. For a moment see if you can discard all defenses and boundaries, the rigid structures the ego needs to survive, and allow yourself to open to the perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty. It is safe, we will not be hurt or disappointed, and we can dare to believe that the love we have always longed for is a reality.
Notice anything that keeps you from being able to merge, such as old disappointments, skepticism, doubts, and cynicism. Just let the phrase "Love, Harmony, and Beauty" bathe those fears or holdings. In some way we need to become a child again. Just breathe like a Wazifa on the breath "The Perfection of Love and Harmony." We are going toward One who is "The Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty." Then see if you can hold the whole phrase on the breath, so the phrase and breath fill your body.
Then we come to the words "The Only Being," which we can also breathe in and out. We can experience more deeply oneness. We can contemplate the fact of interdependency. Notice how a tree is composed of earth and water and sunlight. Notice how our physical body came forth from our parents as a continuity. 
One can then breathe "Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, The Only Being." There is a change of identity. One's normal identity is surrendered, it doesn't hold up. Allow yourself to be melted, like the star that disappears when the sun rises. Al Hallaj said, "The sun of the divine being has arisen in my heart." This was from the consciousness of being "the Only Being."
The second part of the Invocation is "United with all the Illuminated Souls who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance."
Think of the image of many rivers merging into the ocean. The ocean contains the rivers but it is the ocean. We open to the living stream of blessing. It is real. And if you invoke these beings, this blessing, and this radiance, and come empty to be filled, you can receive this blessing. One just needs to truly want to.
Feel the opening of all barriers between Heaven and Earth, between ourselves and the Buddhas and the Christ beings and the Illuminated Souls whose presence is always here. This opening is always here but by invoking them and opening to them we feel their blessings in our being more strongly and we then become a channel for this blessing in the world.

Variation on a Theme: An Invocation 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Toward the One, 
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
 the Only Being, 
United with all the Illuminated Souls, 
Who form the Embodiment of the Master,
 the Spirit of Guidance.

We invoke the global being whose body is the physical cosmos, 
whose fabric we share as our bodies, 
and whose celestial shroud is revealed to us 
when we are attuned to our celestial being, 
whose thinking is customized in our thought, 
and whose emotion arouses ecstasy in our soul, 
when we are moved to glorify the splendor behind what we see.

We invoke the global being whose body is the physical cosmos, 
whose fabric we share as our bodies, 
and whose celestial shroud is revealed to us 
when we are attuned to our celestial being, 
whose presence is always there, mostly unbeknownst to ourselves, 
and whose reality transcends any concept we could make of him/her. 
Amen.

Gender Inclusive Language

We live in a time of growing awareness of the significance of the Divine Feminine and the contribution of women to the spiritual development of humanity. For some the original language of the prayers is not fully reflective of this new awakening. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan advised those who were drawn to his teachings to take what is meaningful to them and leave the rest. In this spirit of respecting the inner calling of mureeds, various attempts have been made to use gender inclusive wording in the prayers. An example is found in the following blessing which is offered at the end of the Universal Worship Service. "His" Peace and "His" Presence, found in the original version, has now been replaced with the more inclusive term "God's."

May the Blessing of God rest upon you, 
May God's Peace abide with you, 
May God's presence illuminate your soul, 
Now and forever more. 
Amen.

Other changes that have been explored include the use of Parenthood rather than Fatherhood. The word "master" is sometimes deleted from the Invocation so the prayer contains the phrase "United with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the Spirit of guidance." In the prayer Salat you may find it helpful to name the feminine figures as in Rama and Sita, Shiva and Shakti, Abraham and Sara, Jesus and Mary, Mohammed and Fatima.
Acknowledging the place of the divine Feminine and the contributions of women who have embodied the Divine Ideal is certainly in keeping with Spirit of the teachings. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan spoke of seeing clearly the day when women would lead the way to a new stage in the spiritual evolution.
The prayers are meant to heal and inspire. An essential focus is uncovering the intention implied through the words. In working with the prayers as a personal practice let your heart be your guide in opening the inner doors to the divine. 

Movements of the Prayers
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Prayer trains the soul to be more appreciative of God's goodness. One can pray silently, yes; but sensation is psychological. Saying words has power; they go through the akashas of the body, re-echo on the inner plane of our being. So prayer repeated has greater effect on the soul than silence. Prayer is done for our own benefit, not for God's benefit.
Action is psychological. It makes pictures on every atom of the body of the thought which is behind it. Every atom of the body prays, even the blood cells; the whole being, becomes a prayer. The movements of the prayer are a psychological action. With every movement you perform, you make, as it were, a kind of picture which impresses every atom of your body. The circulation is also affected by movement, and by this circulation the whole being is affected; it is even registered on the skin.

Saum

Following are the movements suggested by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan corresponding to each line of the prayer (see illustrations):
1.	Praise be to Thee, Most Supreme God
hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front

2.	Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-pervading,
hands move in to a few inches from ears, as if to listen better
3. 	The Only Being.
hands move down to sides
4.	Take us in Thy Parental Arms,
 standing bow with hands still at sides
5.	Raise us from the denseness of the earth.
 rising from bow
6.	Thy Beauty do we worship
bowing, but this time hands become perpendicular to the earth, palms down by the end of the downward motion of the bow

7.	To Thee do we give willing surrender,
hold as above
8.	Most Merciful and Compassionate God,
rise from bow, hands clasp each other, at waist level, arms and hands resting against body
9.	The Idealized Lord of the whole humanity,
hold as above
10.	Thee only do we worship, and towards Thee alone we aspire.
	bow with hands to side as number 4 above

11.	Open our hearts toward Thy Beauty,
right hand covers area of chest at left of heart, arm at about 35 degree angle upward

12.	Illuminate our souls with Divine light.
left hand covers area of chest to right of heart, arm at about a 35 degree angle upward, left wrist atop of right wrist, one then makes a quick sign of the cross with the right hand while the left hand drops down to the side, the signing with the right hand is made from forehead to waist, and from left to right shoulder
13.	O Thou, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty!
	hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front

14. 	All-powerful Creator, Sustainer, Judge and Forgiver of our shortcomings;
hands move to clasp over heart

15. 	Lord God of the East and of the West, of the worlds above and below,
at "East'" the head has moved to face left, at "West" the head has moved to face right, at "above" the head has moved to face up, at 'below' the head has moved to face down
16.	And of the seen and unseen beings.
head moves up to face forward

17.	Pour upon us Thy love and Thy light,
hands raise, palms upwards, in front at face level about as far apart as the shoulders, and head moves so one is looking slightly upwards
18.	Give sustenance to our bodies, hearts and souls,
hold as above
19.	Use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooseth,
hold as above
20.	And guide us on the path of Thine Own Goodness.
hold as above
21.	Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life,
hands move closer until edges of palms join
22. 	Until in us be reflected Thy Grace, Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and
hold as above
23. 	Thy Peace hands come down washing over aura and ending standing with hands slightly out, palms facing the ground, fingers pointing out from sides of body, head slightly bowed. 			  
			         
			          Amen 
			



Salat

The movements of Salat are described and illustrated below:
			

1. 	Most gracious Lord, Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity,
	hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front
	
			

2. 	We greet Thee with all humility.
	Thou art the First Cause and the Last Effect, 
	the Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance, 
	Alpha and Omega. 
	Thy Light is in all forms, 
	Thy Love in all beings: 
	in a loving mother, in a kind father, in an innocent child, 
	in a helpful friend, in an inspiring teacher. 
	Allow us to recognize Thee in all Thy holy names and forms: 
	as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. 
	Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, as Zarathushtra, 
	as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed, 
	and in many other names and forms, 
	known and unknown to the world. 
	We adore Thy past, 
	Thy presence deeply enlighteneth our being, 
	and we look for Thy blessing in the future. 
	O Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasul of God! 
	Thou Whose heart constantly reacheth upward, 
	Thou comest on earth with a message, 
	as a dove from above when Dharma decayeth, 
	and speakest the Word that is put into Thy mouth, 
	as the light filleth the crescent moon. 
	Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart 
	be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees.
head slightly bowed, hands clasp at area of heart, elbows down at sides
3.	May the Message of God reach far and wide, illuminating
hands rise head level or higher, and spread apart, palms up
			

4.	and making the whole humanity as one single Family
palms edges come together, arms still extended straight out in front of face
5.	in the Parenthood of God.
	hands come in toward face, and make motion of caressing aura moving down 		ending slightly out from body, palm facing down toward the earth and fingers 		pointing out from sides of body, head slightly bowed.  
				         
				       Amen
			


God Wants to Dance Through Our Beings 
by Arifa Miller

			Calling

The Gods have meant 
That I should dance, 
And by the Gods 
I will. 
For in some mystic hour 
I shall move to unheard rhythms 
Of the cosmic orchestra of heaven, 
And You will know the language 
Of my wordless songs, 
And will come to me-
For that is why I dance. 
			- Ruth St. Denis

To help the Message to its next unfolding, we start with our realizations. I feel inspired by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's teachings on the body movements of the prayers and those connected to healing, and wish to share what these have meant to me. I know now that my body is my teacher. This discovery came through working with creative movement, yoga, dancing to Wazaif, dance as prayer, illness and making love.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan said, "It is through the physical body that the highest and greatest purpose of life is to be achieved." This is an amazing statement. I don't think we have, as yet, fully explored this teaching.
While I was collecting and choosing Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's quotations for the Alchemical Wisdom Cards, I was constantly reminded of the realizations I have been given. They have come through my work as a dancer. They have come from my body's experience in the healing of cancer, and in India recovering from a bull's attack and malaria. These realizations walk hand in hand with the new unfolding of the Message.
We could begin by walking. Not imitating someone else's walk, but walking our own walk; a walk that is an expression of our soul. Start with being connected to how you are feeling. Walk that. Be open to a change in feeling. Let your walk be a blessing to the earth, to the air around you, to the sky above you. Walk as a god or goddess. Be aware of your whole body as you walk. It is making a statement in space. Imagine you are a prophet or archangel. As Shakespeare said, "Pretending makes it so."
Walk in different qualities: the compassion of Quan Yin, the healing power of Archangel Raphael, the faith of Moses, the forgiveness of Christ, the acceptance of Buddha. Perhaps we could remember sometimes, while walking from here to there, to let the walking be a spiritual practice. 
Walk your name! If you have no "spiritual name" choose one for yourself for now, or use the name your parents gave you if it has real significance for you. If you were named after a relative, is there a quality that you carry, perhaps that you inherited from that relative? If your name has a biblical origin or is the name of a saint, is there some quality or qualities associated with that being?
Feel the meaning of your name. Go inside, plum the depths. Mine the depths. Imagine Murshid walking towards you calling you by name. See his eyes gazing happily at you. Your soul is recognized. Walk it. Walk as the embodiment of your name. Have no doubts. Sing your name as an aria. Let your body move into a mudra that says your name in time and space. Walk with the mudra. Let your walk be a Dhikr, moving through illusions and clouds of doubt and fear, reaching towards the unfathomable truth of your being. Imagine walking with this Dhikr toward the challenges of persons or situations that are difficult for you. Then do the walking.
Now, fueled by your experience, go towards the essence of things. It's hard work to get to the essence of things, to go deep and stay there. It is a real discipline to keep going deeper and deeper into the feeling in the cells. Distill your experience, and feel yourself walking toward the goal, the Only Being as embodiment. Don't think, judge or question your movement. Here God's dance is given its freest expression. Trust and go. There is no right or wrong; just be authentic.
Let yourself announce your name to the universe, as the regent calls a name for the King. Stay in the attunement while doing a simple chore. Hear your name or a Wazifa you feel drawn to as a fikr. It will fade but you can return to it later.
We are all dancers. We are dancing all the time. We just don't realize it. Our cells dance, our heart dances. All we are asked to do is to respond to the dance of the soul. That's all. Just respond. It begins from within, not without. Not someone else's idea about how we should be. Not imitation, dogma or duty. Start from your own inner passion. Let yourself be moved.
To "let" is the key. Recently I discovered a new dimension of surrender. I was doing a simple leg stretch while sitting on the floor. The more I surrendered, inside myself, the more I could move. So I take that to mean that the more I willingly surrender to God, the more fully I can serve. I serve when I dance. And I dance God's dance when I serve. Surrender to the dance that wants to happen in me, as me, as you. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: "Let Thy wish become my desire."
Can you imagine that the universe really wants you to dance, wants you to carve into space the dance of your soul, wants you to make a statement with authority, wants you to praise with your total self? Our bodies, when free, speak their own vocabulary. We can trust that. We let ourselves respond to the calling of the Divine Choreographer.
The great value of knowing and trusting the emotion of creativity is that it can lead to the solving of daily problems.
Return, again and again, to the basics. Tune your instrument. Awaken your body and feel it say "Oh! Thank you!" Stretch, using thoughts which bring consciousness to the beauty of what you are doing: "May my stretching be a giving," "I let myself open out to the universe," "I open to receive all God gives me." Observe how you feel, always. Stay alert to the knowing of your body, its innate intelligence. You might work with the asanas and Salutation to the Sun of hatha yoga. Combining our Sufi Invocation with this salutation moves into new and exciting dimensions.
When I stay in a Yoga asana, watching the breath, observing the feelings, l listen patiently. Sometimes l sense a phrase from Murshid or Pir Vilayat. If I can go deep enough I sometimes have an answer to a problem I'm dealing with. I know that it is my own inner voice. It's all about discovering what is behind the world of appearances.
Breathe into the postures. Let the sacredness that inspired these ancient asanas resonate through your own temple, your God-given body. Listen with your heart's ear.
If I very consciously do the movements to Saum and Salat I'm rewarded by sensing a new dimension to these beautiful prayers. Consciously doing the movements means to me to know exactly with my body what I'm saying. Even if it seems that only my arms move, my whole body is aware of the gesture.
I have learned that the body can heal itself. I am learning it many times! Today the most enlightened doctors and scientists recognize the fundamental truth found in the words of Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan's teaching:
Consciously or unconsciously every being is capable of healing himself or others. This instinct is inborn in insects, birds, and beasts, as well as in man. All these find their own medicine and heal themselves and each other in various ways. In ancient days the doctors and healers learned much from animals about the treatment of disease. This shows that natural intuition has manifested in the lower creation as well as in the higher. The scientists of today should not, therefore, claim with pride that they are the inventors of chemical remedies, but should humbly bow their heads in prayer, seeing that each atom of this universe, conscious of its sickness, procures for itself from within or without a means for its restoration. In other words, medicines were not discovered by physicians, but were intuitively found in creation as the necessity for them arose.
						 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

			     
			Outlines of Beauty

I have used my body 
As a gleaming sword 
To cut outlines of beauty 
On the mind of the world.
 		- Ruth St. Denis


The Confraternity: 
The Daily Practice of Prayer 
by Qahira Qalbi 

My smallest work on the inner plane 
is worth more than all I do on the outer plane. 
				- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Prayer is the communion-bridge of "listening in;" the key that opens the heart to hear "Thy Voice which constantly cometh from within." Prayer is the moment we are conscious of God, it is universal thinking. In its higher levels prayer is God being conscious as "us."

Daily Prayers

The Confraternity was created to help us to remember and broadcast prayer in the spirit of "May the Message of God reach far and wide."  Three sets of prayers are repeated three times a day morning, noon and night, perhaps 6 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m.:
Morning 

	 Saum 
	"May the Message of God spread far and wide" x 11 
 	Pir 
	 Universel

Noon 

	 Salat 
	"Pour upon us Thy love and Thy light" x 11 
	 Nabi 
	 Universel

Night 

	 Khatum 
	"Disclose to us Thy Divine Light" x 11 
	 Rasoul 
	 Universel

	 The rhythm of the Confraternity keeps one's inner rhythm smooth and deep and brings to focus a clearer perception of Life's events. 
Imagine saying every day:
"Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our Life, until in us be reflected Thy Grace, Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and Thy Peace. Amen."
Or
"Use us for the purpose Thy Wisdom chooses."
Or
"Open our hearts that we may hear Thy Voice which constantly cometh from within."
Constantly.

Preparation

Before prayer one prepares. The words from Scripture point the way: "Who would ascend unto the Hill of the Lord and who would stand in this Holy Place? The one who has clean hands, the one who has pure heart." 
Prepare for prayer as you would prepare to greet the Beloved. You might choose a special area (indoors or out), a certain cushion or chair, and an altar might be created. Washing one's face and hands and combing your hair helps set an attunement for some.

Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan said, "And I shook the throne of God in Heaven." Our fervant desire in prayer is heard by the inner Self and cultivates the mind, heart and body to uncover realization. Realization is the lens through which we see Life. Each one is in life according to their realization. To contain the new realization that comes from prayer and meditation, one must be strong enough to sustain the new, deeper view that follows the breakthrough. So, "Shaking the Throne" is part of gaining the strength one needs, much like a mother tests her own strength in the birth process and is readied in her mothering role. The father is also strengthened by his guardianship.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you 
Don't go back to sleep 
People are going back and forth across the doorsill 
Where the two worlds touch 
The door is round and open
 Don't go back to sleep.
			-Jelal-ud-din Rumi 


		Nayaz
Beloved Lord, Almighty God!
Through the rays of the sun, 
Through the waves of the air. 
Through the All-pervading Life in space, 
Purify and revivify me, and, I pray, 
Heal my body, heart, and soul. 
Amen.

Although one does hear versions of Nayaz using the plural, this is not what was meant by Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan. The singular nouns and pronouns (me, my body, heart and soul) are a remembrance of the Only Being, Who in manifest form is still One Body, Mind and Heart, the Universe.
Sincerity in prayer is everything. In the beginning prayer seems like talking silently or aloud to oneself, and if "asking for something" is the main reason for praying and no answer comes, the one who prays gets disappointed. Prayer is like love, and the following words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan give guidelines to prayer. Just put "prayer" in place of "love."
Is love pleasure, is love merriment? No. Love is longing constantly; love is presevering untiringly; love is hoping patiently; love is willing surrender; love is regarding constantly the pleasure and displeasure of the Beloved, for love is resignation to the will of the possessor of one's heart, it is love that teaches man: Thou, not I.


Chapter 5

Introduction

Purification is an essential and re-occurring process on the spiritual path. practices of breath and light distill the impressions of life, renew magnetism or energy, clarify and still the mind, open the heart and re-center one in the natural Self.
The awareness of breath lies as a foundation beneath all of the Sufi Order practices because it is the source of life and the carrier of consciousness. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's lecture on "The Philosophy of Breath" provides a framework for understanding its mystical meaning. All initiates are advised to include the purification breaths as part of their daily meditation exercise. The material in this chapter and the accompanying tape provide various ways of unfolding this root practice.
Two other important breath exercises, Qasab and Shaghal, are not covered in this Handbook for Mureeds. It is best that they be individually prescribed and taught. 
If a mureed has first worked with these practices on a group or individual retreat, he/she should consult with his/her guide before taking them outside the retreat format. 
Teachings on the general theme of Breath are presented in the Gatha Class and are also available in Volume XIII of the Sufi Message, entitled Sacred Readings. Instructions related to Qasab or Shaghal may be found in the material associated with the Githa class.
The meditation on "Purifying the Aura" by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan introduces the theme of cleansing our various bodies. Light has a purifying effect on consciousness and we are encouraged to identify ourselves as a being of light, extending this realization into our interactions with others. As the spiritual journey progresses the themes of purification, breath and light become unending sources of inspiration, insight and illumination.

The Philosophy of Breath 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

As the books, precepts, and doctrines of his religion are important to the follower of a religion, so the study of the breath is important to the mystic. We ordinarily think of the breath as that little air that we feel coming and going through our nostrils; but we do not think of it as that vast current that goes through everything, that current which comes from the Consciousness and goes as far as the external being, the physical world. In the Bible it is written that first the word was, and from the word all things came. And before the word was the breath, which made the word. We see that a word can make us happy, a word can make us sorry. 
There is a story told that once a Sufi was healing a child that was ill. He was repeating a few words, and then gave the child to the parents saying, "Now he will be well." Someone who was antagonistic to this said to him, "How can it be possible that by a few words spoken anyone can be healed?" From a mild Sufi an angry answer is never expected, but this time he turned to the man and said, "You understand nothing about it. You are a fool." The man was very much offended. His face was red. He was hot. The Sufi said, "When a word has the power to make you hot and angry, why should not a word have the power to heal?"
Behind the word is the much greater power, the breath. If a person wishes to study the self, to know the self, what is important is not the study of the mind, of the thought, the imagination, nor of the body, but the study of the breath. The breath has made the mind and the body for its expression. It has made all from the vibration to the physical atom, from the finest to the grossest. The breath, the change of the breath can make us sad in the midst of happiness, it can make us joyful in the saddest, the most miserable surroundings. That is why, without reason, in some places we feel glad, in other places a melancholy comes over us. It is the air that makes us so. You may say, "How can the breath make all this? How could it make the body?" I have seen people become in the course of years as their breath is. What exists in the breath is expressed in the form. As the breath is, so the child becomes.
There are two sorts of breath. There is the stronger breath, jelal; and the weaker breath, jemal; and there is the breath that unites the jelal and jemal and by uniting them destroys, annihilates both. This is kemal. By uniting jelal and jemal it forms a circle. This is why the guns and shells and cannons all have a circular form, because the circle is the form of destruction.
All the elements are in the breath, according to the direction which the breath takes: the earth, water, fire, air, and ether. We can taste them in the breath. There are five directions, four outward and one inward. You may say, "What influence can the direction have?" I will say, "If you take a ball and throw it in every direction, the ball will not go equally far at every throw. It will go sometimes further, sometimes not so far." The direction of the breath makes an effect even in our words. Sometimes we say, "Yes, I see," directly. Sometimes we say, "Yes," sarcastically, "I see," and our head is thrown back, the breath comes obliquely, the effect is quite different. If you say, "We cannot feel, perceive the elements in the breath; we do not know where they are," I will say, "This is a science. It cannot be understood in a moment. It is a study."
You will say, "Is the direction the only thing that has influence upon the breath?" There are two other forces that influence it, uruj and nazul, the rise and fall. In the jets of water in a fountain some of the jets rise very high, others less high, others rise only a few inches, according to the force by which they are predestined. So it is with the breath.
The control of the breath: reading books cannot give anyone the control of the breath. For this, practice is needed. Reading the theory of music cannot make anyone a composer, a singer, a piano player. Ask the composers, the singers, the violinists how much they have to practice. The practice of the breath is very difficult and very arduous. We see the yogis sitting for hours in the same position, standing in the same position, practicing for hours in the night or before dawn. By the control of the breath all things are gained. If a man is a great writer, it is because his breath holds the thoughts that are in his mind. Sandow, by the control of breath, developed ideal muscles. Before the control of the breath is learnt, there is the control of the body. This is gained by the practice of postures and positions. If a small child is trained once in the day to sit still for five minutes or four minutes, not to run about, that gives control. If it is trained not to begin to eat at dinner until everybody eats, that gives control.
The ways of the control of the breath are many. It must be done by the realization of the self. But as long as we think that this body is our self, we cannot realize our self. And often we think not only that our body is our self, but we think that our overcoat is our self. If it is miserable, we think that we are miserable; if it is very grand, we think that we are very grand. It is natural that that which is before our view we think is our self. We always remember the words of our great poetess, Zeb-un-Nisa. She says, "If thou thinkest of the rose, thou wilt become the rose. If thou thinkest of the nightingale, thou wilt become the nightingale. Thou art a drop, and the Divine Being is the whole. Whilst thou art alive, hold the thought of the whole before thee, and thou wilt be the whole."
The mystic always consults his breath, in the evening and in the morning, to know whether it is harmonious with the sun, with the moon and the planets. He is always conscious of the breath. For this the Sufi gives a lesson, to be always conscious of the breath. This is called "Fikr." My spiritual teacher, my murshid, once said, "People say that there are many sins and virtues, but I think there is only one." I asked, "What is that?" He said, "To let one breath go without being conscious of it." This is done by concentration.

Purification Breaths
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Purification is the innate tendency of every soul, but it purifies only that part of its being of which it is conscious. There is a Parsi saying, "Purity is the first piety." When striving to purify the body and mind, man often fails to find the real source of their purification. Really speaking, the breath is the source which keeps body and mind alive, and body and mind connected. Impurity of breath turns body and mind impure, and purity of breath gives purity to both. 

Overview

The question of how we should purify the breath may be answered thus, that breath is constituted of the five elements of which both the body and the mind are composed; and it is the same elements which are used by the mystics to purify the breath. After a Sufi has made his breath rhythmic by the practice of fikr and has acquired strength in the breath, he may purify his breath with different elements. 
By breathing on earth he will give all his impurities to earth, and will attract purity from earth. By breathing before water he will purify his breath and will give out impurities to water. By breathing before fire the Sufi purifies his breath by that element. Therefore, incense is burnt in religious places and the adepts in India keep fire before them when practicing meditation. One must purify one's breath by breathing in the open air, which is the air of purification. Life in the open space enables one to purify one's breath by the ether, which pervades the whole space. Purification of the breath not only gives sound health of mind and body, but it gives perpetual youth and long life until one has attained the life eternal. 
The general exercise consists of four times five exhalations and inhalations: 
First five: in by nose - out by nose
Second five: in by nose - out by mouth
Third five: in by mouth - out by nose
Fourth five: in by mouth - out by mouth 
These are done before breakfast, hands hanging down by the side, if possible before an open window. Do inhalations and exhalations slowly, easily and quietly. 
By inhaling visualize that you receive, by exhaling visualize that you radiate. What does one exhale and spread? The divine power of the space, which purifies and revivifies one's life, which inspires one and enables the soul to unfold. This thought must constantly be kept in mind during the exercise. There exist many other forms of this experience, but this is the general prescription. 
If a mureed is weak or ill, he/she sometimes may be allowed to do this exercise sitting or sometimes even while lying in bed. People who have to improve their health may do this exercise twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. 

Purification by Earth - in by nose - out by nose 

The first thing to do is just to feel the zone around your body that is magnetic. When you went to school, you might have drawn the magnetic lines around a magnet, those beautiful curves. So concentrate on that area around your body. Just by concentrating on it you awaken it. Remember that the same thing is true of the planet earth. We are immersed in a whole zone of magnetism. 
Now, as you exhale, you feel a kind of draining of the magnetic field. If you have a very strong magnet and a weaker magnet, you find that the stronger magnet will drain the weaker magnet, draw its magnetism and alter the shape of its field. So just experience that drainage as you exhale. It's a little bit different from ordinary magnets because your consciousness can alter the intensity of the field. 
You can reverse that process, by sucking up the electromagnetic field of the earth into your field as you inhale. This is your electromagnetic breath. 
Now, of course, the field is all around you, but the critical point is the point of junction between the two magnets, which is the bottom of the spinal cord. 
Now perhaps you might think of this: When a piece of iron is magnetized, the molecules are all aligned; when it's not, they're random. In the course of a day, you get a little bit disorganized internally, sort of disheveled, and now, as you breathe in, you're aligning the molecules of your cells. There is an ionic flow up your spinal cord, rising right up above your head. That's kundalini. The consequence is just a lot of magnetism in that zone around your body. 

Purification by Water - in by nose - out by mouth

Now we're going to do the opposite; we're going to draw the pure spirit down through the crown center, by opening the chakra at the top of the head, just like a lotus. As we breathe in, we lift our consciousness very high; we catapult our consciousness very high, with the eyeballs turned upwards, and go through a very drastic purification, which we call the immaculate state, like becoming ice and snow. 
Then we experience ourselves as being pure spirit. Instead of thinking of ourselves as being the vehicles through which spirit descends, we identify ourselves with pure spirit, and we infuse the body with pure spirit, as we exhale. You have the image of a waterfall, or cascade, that is descending. You are that waterfall, and you're investing the body with the waters of life. While vitalizing the body, it also purifies the body. 
It's a baptism of water. The first was a baptism of earth, and this is a baptism of water. 
If you know something about science, you know that water is a very special combination of elements. It's very special because of what they call hydrogen bonding. It has a very vitalizing and purifying action. 
You must think of the spirit, which is now portrayed as water, penetrating in the spaces between the cells, and between the molecules, and between the atoms, and so on. It's just an infiltration of pure energy into what we imagine to be matter, as you exhale. Consequently there is a sensitizing of your body, like a kind of awakening of the matter of the body by the touch of the spirit. The cells are becoming more conscious! 
You could imagine that you're sitting by the Ganges as I was, being vitalized by the stream of the Ganges. It penetrates every cell of the body. 
You exhale through your mouth, but you inhale through your nose. 
As you inhale, you concentrate on catapulting consciousness upwards, and you reach very, very high. But, of course, you realize that the only way to reach high is to strip. The less weight you have, the higher you can be catapulted with the same amount of energy. So you abandon parts of yourself on the way until you become pure spirit. Or rather, you discover that deep layer of your being which is pure spirit by uncovering it. 
It's really a matter of seeing it, of grasping it, of insight, and of realizing "That's what I am." Everything else is a formation: the body, mind, personality, everything, even consciousness. Everything that's a formation is subject to decay, change and transiency, but behind it all, "That's what I am, pure spirit." It is only then that you can vitalize the body with spirit. You feel it in your body very tangibly by this sensitization of the flesh and awakening of consciousness in the flesh. 
One can go further and combine this practice of spirit with the earth energy, which is the magnetic field. As we inhale, we use the magnetism of the earth to catapult our consciousness upwards, so that when we exhale, we are able to bring pure spirit down into the bottom of the body and at the same time, magnetism is being drained into the earth. Then we reverse that process and we draw energy from both ends at the same time, and we add a third element which is the manipura chakra, the solar plexus, prana energy. 

Purification by Fire - in by mouth - out by nose 

Now to follow the sequence of the purification practices, there is the purification with fire, or the baptism of fire. You remember how St. John the Baptist said, "One will come after me who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit." 
This is the baptism with light. The lower pole of the aura is infrared and the upper pole is ultraviolet; in between you have the visible range of radiation. So now as you inhale, you blow upon the fire at the bottom of the spine. Of course the muladara chakra is involved in the process, but the second chakra, swadistana, is the appropriate one that governs combustion of body fuel; or the bioplasmic dimension, let us say, of the aura, which is pure infrared radiation. So there are various ways of doing it. 
You breathe in through the mouth as you draw breath into the fire. So it's the opposite of the bellows, as you are totally concentrated within. You're drawing air from the atmosphere to make the blaze burn more intensely. While you're doing this, you should experience a kind of flush around your body, because you're burning the fuel a little faster, so it increases the temperature. This is similar to the practice of Tumo done by the Tibetans in the snow. You increase the temperature of the body by enhancing combustion in the body. You can tense your muscles as you do that, and you feel immediately a kind of flush of heat. 
As you exhale, through the nose, you radiate light through the heart center, which is like the golden sun. As you continue upwards, transfer your attention to the physical eyes and radiate a blue light; in the third eye radiate a violet light. In the crown center radiate something like the effulgence of a crystal, particularly a diamond. It's colorless and at the same time glistening with all the different hues of the spectrum. 
Now as you transfer your consciousness upwards, your body gets colder and colder, so you get into the very cold light of the ultraviolet, compared with the warm incandescence of the lower part. It's like a flame: at the top of the flame you get a blue-violet color, and at the bottom you have a red. What is important is to concentrate on this cooling sensation as you continue to exhale through the nose, and a warming sensation as you inhale through the mouth.

Purification by Fire, Alternate Method 

You could also do this practice the opposite way: You could start by exhaling through the nose, and heating the body as you exhale. That's the infrared burning more brightly, giving the feeling of heat. Especially concentrate on the second chakra. 
Then as you inhale, through the mouth, you could radiate light through the heart center, eyes, third eye, crown. It's just a little more difficult to radiate as you inhale, but you can of course. The beauty here is that you have this cool feeling as you inhale with your mouth. 
So when you've tried both, then you have a choice between the two and you can do whichever is most in keeping with your being. I personally favor the second solution, because of my experience in my last retreat of the wonderful effect of cooling the body. At that time one is able to concentrate much more on the aura. The body becomes partly anesthetized, and so all the energy goes into radiating the aura rather than in burning body fuel, keeping the body warm. When you breathe in through the mouth, you feel a lovely feeling of coolness. 
So you get to a point where you enjoy the cold, and you see how heat, what they call entropy, is a waste of energy that leaks out by the combustion of matter. This energy can be transmuted into a higher form of energy like light radiation, or pure vibration. 

 Purification by Air - in by mouth - out by mouth 

The next purification is purification by air. We do this practice with the solar plexus, extending consciousness as we exhale. You exhale through the mouth, and you think of the vastness of space, scattering the body. You're concentrating on that aspect of the body which is spread out in space, pure waves rather than particles, where everything intermeshes with everything else. The mind is also scattered, emotions are scattered, and the whole sense of the personal self is scattered, as you breathe out through the mouth. 
So once more there's a cooling effect, because there's no emphasis on body combustion. You know how to huddle your body into a bundle to build up heat, and then if you separate your arms and legs there's a cooling effect. 
As you inhale through the mouth, you don't just confine yourself to your ego consciousness. You think of your ego as a whirlpool that is built out of the convergence of the whole ocean, but you're still conscious of the ocean. It is the ocean. 
So you draw more and more of the vastness into the center. That's prana energy. It's the energy of gravitation; certain areas of space are denser than others. The ego is built up out of the convergence of the forces of the universe. 
This is a wonderful practice because you are not afraid any more of dissolving and not finding yourself back again, because you know that in the next inhaling you will be recovering the sense of your ego. 
The further you expand or scatter, the more energy you scoop into yourself as you inhale. If you think of yourself as a small capacity, you can't draw in much energy, but the very thought of the vastness gives you access to a lot of energy. 
Do not continue to think of your body as being solid. Your body has to really become like air. Totally. It's in your mind of course, but there's a transformation in the notion of the body, because one aspect of the body is pure vibration, scattered.

 Practices Given by Murshid 

Now we will speak about the breathing practices as given by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan himself. Basically, of course, there are the purification practices which consist of the five breaths, five in through the nose and out through the nose, and five in through the nose and out through the mouth, five in through the mouth and out through the nose, and five in through the mouth and out through the mouth. I hope you've got those clearly and if you are in doubt, you must ask about it because that's something so basic. It's a practice given to all mureeds in the beginning, right in the beginning and it's called a purification practice. 
It can be elaborated further, as I have done. Of course, Murshid did say that each one of them corresponds to a certain element and one can think about the different elements, earth, water, fire and air for the first, second, third and fourth breath. He says it should be done standing, if possible, not sitting. There is no retention of breath between the inhaling and exhaling. He says it even should be done before an open window unless one has a tendency to bronchitis and the air is damp in the garden, and, of course, the ideal thing would be to do these practices walking in nature. In fact, Murshid has given many practices that can be done in nature walking and this is one of them. This is so we don't lose our contact with the forces of nature. 
I'd like to generalize a little bit first before we go any further. You see, for Murshid as I hope we all understand, breathing is not just breathing in air. It's the whole of nature breathing in and out; it's a pulsing, inhaling and exhaling. It's drawing in energy, radiating energy. There is an Eastern teaching which Murshid refers to in the teaching given in London in the early days and which is referred to in the Sangithas. The important thing is following the breath into what he calls those fine veins or arteries or capillaries that lead the breath into the flesh. So, the process of breathing, of inhaling, for example, is not terminated in the drawing in of air from the environment into the lungs. It is continued as the breath, oxygen or nitrogen or whatever it is, is drawn deeper and deeper into the cells of the body. That's talking about it from a physiological point of view. From an esoteric point of view, it means drawing energy way deep into one's being and that is why in the more advanced practices of breathing, one has a retention between the inhaling and the exhaling. 
In the purification practices, Murshid says not to prolong the breath too long while inhaling or exhaling. It must be a natural rhythm. Obviously, when you think of your breath, you do breathe more slowly and as a consequence it is much more effective. 
I always advise people to exhale before inhaling in order to clear your lungs of any polluted gases. The purification aspect of the practices means one is exuding the polluted magnetism of one's being into the environment. 
Working with water makes one flow, and a lot of us are blocked. Therefore, we stand in the way of the flow of magnetism through us. So, it's very good to feel that flow of water through us. To the Easterner, the water is very, very important and maybe one day in the West, we'll realize how important the water is, too. In India the rishis sit where the two rivers meet, the confluence of two rivers or the source of two rivers. Perhaps you remember my speaking about Murshid sitting by the lake of Geneva and what all that water meant. I sat on the same bench and there is a very deep experience of communion with water when you're there. So it's good to think about that when you're doing the breath, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. It's a kind of pilgrimage to the source of life.You can think of Elijah. You know, pilgrimage is often to the source of a river, the source of the Ganges. When one bathes in the Ganges, it's so important: that feeling of communication with the water of life. 
The next one is with fire, which is really our encounter with truth. It's accepting to be burned, if necessary. It's a very radical form of purification, the whole power of fire. The rishis sit in front of a fire even though it's hot. Once in the Himalayas we were sitting in a cave. There was a rishi there, a youngish sanyasin. One was almost choked by the smoke of the fire when it blew into your nostrils. Now, you could explain it in terms of keeping the animals away, but there was that communion with fire. One experienced what that means. 
It's like you are purifying the earth. In fact, I remember this rishi sitting very high up in the Himalayas, about thirty years ago, and I was traveling with this raja, the Raja of Tehri Gahrwal. The rishi had an enormous blazing fire and it was too hot in the day. The raja said, "What on earth are you doing?" and was quite upset; he was of a very fiery nature. So I said, "I know what you're doing," and he said, "Yes, what am I doing?" I said, "You're burning the impurities of the world, aren't you?" and he said, "Yes." So, there's a consciousness of burning impurities. That's very important. When you're doing these practices, for example, you can think of the aspects of your being that you don't like and you can burn them, cauterize them. 
The other one is air, which is the symbol of the hermit or the sanyasin who becomes like air. It's detachment, a way of liberation. So, you're not attacking your faults. You're just freeing yourself from them. It's an ultimate form of purification when the others have been exercised. These practices are very important.

Purifying the Aura 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

You may have noticed how the native Americans cleanse their auras with eagle feathers. They hold their hands out like antennae, drawing energy from the four cardinal corners of the earth. They are plugging into the magnetic field of the earth and drawing energy into their magnetic field. This, of course, gives great healing power. 
We are going to work with purifying our auras. By the aura, one means the life field, which includes the magnetic field, the aura of light, the akashic body and many other bodies extending far into space. The first thing that one wants to do is to be aware of the magnetic field and identify with it instead of the body. Perhaps you have seen drawings of the field around a magnet. That phenomenon is to be found around the physical body and possibly is the mold in which the body is built. 
See if you can feel your aura around your shoulders and shoulder blades, extending forward from your heart. Areas that are more intense than others are plumes of magnetic force. You can use your hands to become aware of different thresholds, quantum leaps, in your magnetic field. By placing them in front of the areas mentioned and gradually moving them away, you will note how the field tends to weaken as it gets farther away from the body. 
You may recognize several plumes where one has to concentrate on drainage. Those points correspond to the wings of the Seraphim archangels. The first pair of wings proceed from the temples, as in the Greek statues representing the winged thought. When one does the Sh'ma Yisroel or the Bismallah prayers, one places the hands on the temples. This is also to be found in the movements of the prayer Saum from Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan when we say, "Praise be to Thee....."  While doing this, you can free any tension in your head. By placing your fingers at your temples, you will be releasing the tension which is due to magnetism that has become polluted or stagnant and has not been drained. 
Here is an effective way to drain this polluted energy: Place your hands next to your temples, holding them as if you were going to unscrew a jar. Turn each hand in a counter-clockwise position (which means they will be going in opposite directions, with the right hand turning backwards and the left hand turning forwards). Then gradually move hands outwards away from the temples while continuing the turning movement. You will find a point at some distance from the temples, different for each person, where there is a threshold between one level of energy and another. At this critical point, any fluctuating motion of your fingers is felt immediately in your temples. 
The second pair of wings is in your shoulder blades and the arms are the physical expression of the plumes of energy. The point of junction between the origin of those two wings is the place where the King in the grail legend was struck by the lance when he turned his back and was not facing the truth. It is a very sensitive area and when we are tired or nervous, tension is felt there. 
Now the wings can be folded almost forward to form what the Sufis call the mantle of light, which is a protection against evil and magic. As a practice, you can visualize those wings, originating in the shoulder blades, being wrapped around you as a protection. 
We have been speaking about the wings, and there are other related centers in the life field. They constitute the access of the vortex, like a constellation of centers. We will focus upon the most obvious one, the heart center, through which tremendous energy flows in a forward direction. It actually spreads, fans out, but the main thrust is forward. This is what one feels when you say the Wazifa, Ya Fattah, especially if you also use arm and hand movements that accent the radiation. While the Seraphim are using their wings, they are also radiating energy through the heart. Here you may repeat the movement suggested before, that of making a counter-clockwise turn with your hand, this time from the heart center, gradually moving away from the body. This will release any blocked or inverted energy. 
The third pair of wings is represented symbolically by the wings on the ankles of Hermes, or Mercury, the Messenger. The messenger is the one who uses his winged feet (which means to displace oneself) in order to communicate the order of the heavens on earth, and establish lines of communication between these two spheres. 
The plumes of energy that finally blossom forth as the wings in the ankles start much higher up, in the solar plexus, which is the point of junction, and then divide up in the adrenal glands. You will find that those plumes of energy descend down through the limbs to the sciatic nerves into the feet. 
You can place your fingers on your solar plexus and feel all the tension which is of an emotional nature: worry, fear, love, despair. Once again, you can do the motion of releasing energy, this time from the solar plexus, by turning your hand counter-clockwise as it is moved out from the center. This may lead to creating a circle of light around the solar plexus, which I always recommend to people who come to me and say they are being attacked by bad forces. 
The way of cleansing the magnetism in this area is to move downwards with the fingers, along the legs. Finally, you find the energy gets blocked in the soles of the feet. Foot massage is often the way of releasing a tremendous amount of tension in the magnetic field of the body that got blocked in the feet. Walking barefooted will be very helpful in removing the bottleneck. The other thing is dancing, the dervish dance. Then one is picking up the right foot and one is creating a current, a gap in the energy between the right foot and the left foot. The Russians do that in their very energetic leg dances, and the Spanish in the flamenco dance. You can simply concentrate on the metaphor, "flying without feet." 
One of the modern ways of working with the bottom range of wings is jogging. There was a rishi in India who was one hundred and eight years old and he used to jog every morning. He could hardly walk but he could run. If you can, go jogging bare-footed. Be conscious of the energy flow between the soles of the feet and the earth when you are running. Jogging can be real yoga practice. I dare say that while you are jogging, if you would just visualize that you had wings on your feet, you would jog better, instead of stumping around as many of us do. 
After having cleansed the plumes of energy in one's aura, the next thing to do is to receive a blessing or energy from the celestial beings, and that means attuning oneself to their attunement.

The Awareness of Light in Life 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

When one is initiated into the Sufi Order, we say, "That you may find the path that leads you towards the purpose of your life, illumination." So ours is a way of light. One is a being of light. The task at hand is to become conscious of being a being of light and to make it real. 
I remember one day, looking for a rishi in a cave above Rishikesh. There was a group of people, and someone said, "Yes, there he is, up there." All I could see was just an enormous white light, up on the top of the hill. (I didn't realize it was on the top of the hill. I thought I saw a light somewhere in space.)  I noticed a man in the middle of this light, and he had a beautiful white aura. It was so beautiful to be in his presence. One can work with light, just like a potter can work with clay.
How wonderful it would be if we would be totally luminous and radiant. We would have a wonderful effect upon people around us. As soon as one faces a person who has a bit of light in them, somehow, it brings out one's own. One tends to reflect people. So, while you're having a conversation with a person, you could just be conscious of being a being of light. I find that the clue is really just simply remembering that one is a being of light. It does something to one right away. What is more, remember that the person to whom you are speaking is also a being of light, and that's what establishes the communication. That means you have to have the strength to see the light aspect of that person even though it doesn't come through. That person may be fiery, materialistic, manifest hatred and ugly thoughts in what he/she says or thinks, and yet somehow, you still maintain the awareness of the light there, the light of the soul.


Chapter 6

Introduction

This chapter focuses upon the spiritual practice of Wazifa (plural: Wazaif); the invocation of these names of God facilitates the realization of the divine qualities in the practitioner. Insights into the particular attributes can be found in the various teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan presented here. 
"The Divine Qualities Awakening In Us" by Atum O'Kane examines why Wazaif are suggested as individual practices for mureeds. It also provides information on the various stages of working with this kind of meditation. Pir Vilayat offers some essential thoughts in "Wazifa: The Unfoldment of the Divine Seeds. The theme is amplified by relating Wazaif to the purification breaths, the planes of existence, and corresponding spiritual archetypes which exemplify the various qualities.
In recent years considerable attention has been given to understanding a woman's way of journeying on the path. This topic and suggestions for relevant feminine archetypes are offered by Dakini Lynn Marlow. 
Mureeds are advised not to prescribe Wazaif for themselves. This could have an unbalancing effect. The guide fulfills the role of a doctor prescribing medicines or a mountain guide selecting appropriate pathways for their clients.


On Wazaif
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

 Every spoken word is a re-echo of thought, and every thought is the re-echo of an emotion. And, as the activity from within manifests on the surface, so the word spoken takes its reverse process: it is reproduced on the mind and from the mind it is reproduced on the heart, the factor of feeling. That which comes from within comes involuntarily, and what enters within from without enters voluntarily. Therefore Wazifa is taught by Sufis as a voluntary production of a certain thing on the mind and in the heart, mind being powerful to produce that which is impressed upon it from within and without, and the heart being a still more powerful factor to produce that with which it is impressed from within and without. 
As many times as a word is repeated, even in a whisper, so many records it has produced in one's mind and in the heart. But the number of repetitions is a question of consideration, that it must be in accordance with the law of numbers. The repetition of the same number every day, or a regular increase or decrease in number, set in time, shows rhythm, and in rhythm there is balance. But when there is no consideration of numbers, the rhythm is lost, and so the balance is lost also. The pride of repeating Wazifa should be avoided.
The day and hour of commencement of Wazifa also has it influence upon its effect. A Wazifa commenced during the rise of the moon has a progressive trend, because it is in harmony with nature's tide. But if it is commenced during the wane of the moon, there is always an upset or confusion, as confusion is natural during the darkness of night. 
Sitting in the same place every day when repeating the Wazifa helps it because it creates a growing atmosphere every day. Repeating Wazifa at the same time every day is also desirable, because the invisible forces get accustomed to meet and help at the same time. Without a set time it becomes difficult to gather them. 
Cleanliness of body, and purity of mind and fragrance around, and beautiful thoughts in the mind are the things which give a quicker result. 
It should be secret, and its effect should be kept secret also. Wazifa should be taught by some blessed soul, or a permission should be taken from a holy person before repeating Wazifa. By doing so, a Wazifa produces a thousand-fold effect, because there is some powerful thought working with you at the time, which undoubtedly speeds the success. 
The practice of Wazifa has nothing to do with breath; it is a repeating exercise. Distinctly but softly it must be said. In the Wazifa the word used must always be preceded by the word Ya, except when it is not a holy name, like Barkat. 
The Wazifa is an exercise of adoration, in which the Mureed identifies and connects himself with the Object of his adoration.

The Divine Qualities Awakening in Us 
by Thomas Atum O'Kane

During training within the Sufi Order Wazaif are often suggested to mureeds as part of their daily practices. This may be to help unfold the latent qualities within an initiate. From the Sufi perspective human beings can make God a reality, in the sense that we bring into manifestation in this world the divine attributes such as compassion, beauty and truth. Seeing from this vantage point, when we realize and fulfill the seeds of divinity within our souls, then God is realized and fulfilled through us.
Another purpose in prescribing this kind of practice is to foster in the mureed the spiritual experiences contained in the processes of awakening and illumination. Consciousness expands though this form of meditation and we are able to perceive a greater reality behind the illusory appearance of things. Again Sufism reveals the blessing bestowed upon humanity for it offers the possibility that God knows the Divine Being through our awareness. One of the key insights in this tradition is contained in the phrase, "I (God) am a hidden treasure longing to be found." It also is our longing which leads us to discover that which is closer than our own jugular vein. 
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan made the observation that a person feels at home in the world when he/she discovers his/her life's purpose. This is a third primary intention in working with Wazaif: to help mureeds make their way through the challenges and demands of society while sensing a deeper calling. The Sufi tradition seeks to be in the world, rather than a spirituality that rejects life, yet not be of the world. 

Seed Thoughts
	Included in the next section is a list of the more frequently practiced Wazaif in our training. Insights into their meanings are drawn from seed thoughts gathered from Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's teachings. He has always warned that each Wazifa is a vast realm of realization, emotion and energy which cannot be reduced into the simple formula of a word or phrase. Therefore, these seed thoughts provide an orientation to a deeper discovery as the practice unfolds its infinite richness. 

Names of God
	Wazaif are the names, qualities, attributes or archetypes of God. Sufis view the creation as the intermingling of them by the Divine Artist who is revealing His/Her own being. Remembering they are sacred names, an initiate should be aware that repeating a Wazifa is calling upon an aspect of God. Therefore it is fitting to approach the practice with the appropriate respect and sacredness, as one would in the depth of prayer.
 
Wazifa, Fikr, Fikr-a-Sirr
	By invoking the divine attributes, there is a sequence to the practice which deepens the attunement. One begins by reciting out loud the particular name(s) of God, each one preceded by the "Ya" which means "O!" (for example,Ya Azim, Ya Nur). The "Ya" also activates the heart center before each repetition. During the next stage, Fikr, the practice is said silently and the "Ya" is dropped. Each time it is repeated there is a coordination with a phase of the breath. For example, Nur may be said inwardly on each inhalation and Azim on the exhalation. When suggesting a Wazifa the guide will review the Fikr, noting how to relate it to the breath.
	The last stage is the Fikr-a-Sirr. Here the word is no longer repeated verbally or inwardly. How one meditates on the essence of the quality and related themes while continuing to focus on a particular part of the breath as in the Fikr. The word Sirr refers to the divine secret and the meditator is invited into the deepest dimension of the practice. When the sequence is completed, the silence which follows can hold the greatest gifts and blessings, a culmination of the attunement worked through the three stages. 

Wazifa: 
The Unfoldment of the Divine Seeds 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Wazifa	Description 

Ya Ahad	
	Unity in Multiplicity experienced in consciousness touching the 		innermost depths of our being. Seeing all physical forms as one 		being. 
Ya Alim
	Divine Wisdom, Insight. The wisdom one draws from the universal store-house of the Divine Mind which is completed by the concrete reality of the world. To understand the cause behind the cause and the effect behind the effect.
Ya Azim
	Ecstasy arising out of glorification. A greeting among the Sufis recognizing the beauty of the divine presence in the other. 
Ya Aziz
	Touching the Presence of God, nearness, closeness, intimacy with the Divine. 
Ya Basir
	All Seeing-the vision of the light of the heavenly spheres. 
Ya Batin
	The veiled aspects of God. Turning within and safeguarding the depths of the sacred. 
Ya Fattah
	The Opener of the way. Also said as a pledge to strengthen one's dedication to one's life's purpose. 
Ya Ghani
	All Sufficing-Guide us on the path to Thine own goodness. To make smooth the path in life. 
Ya Ghaffar
	Divine Forgiveness-Reconciliation between a person and God 		or arising out of an opening of hearts between people. 
Ya Hadi
	Divine Guidance-Being guided by a higher power which gives one a sense of direction. 
Ya Haqq
	Divine Truth-Truth in its absolute reality beyond facts.
Ya Hayy
	Divine Life-The advance of the life force and the recharging of magnetism. The Divine Exhalation. 
Ya Inayat
	Gods favor-(See Ya Karim)
Ya Jelal
	Masculine majesty and power. 
Ya Jemal
	Feminine beauty, receptivity and responsiveness. 
Ya Karim
	Kindness-Real kindness is that which gushes out of the heart to the worthy and unworthy. 
Ya Khaliq
	The Creator-Realizing the creator creating through one. It is God who through the human being completes the beauty of nature and this is called art.
Ya Latif
	Fineness of perception and feeling.
Ya Majid
	Magnificent-When one discovers one's divine inheritance and is overwhelmed with its splendor. A sense of awe in participating in the greatness of God. The splendor which transpires behind that which appears. 
Ya Malik
	The archetype of the Divine King or Queen. The aristocracy of the soul.
Ya Muh'yi
	Divine Regeneration-It is being conscious of the divine power of regeneration in the body and psyche or throughout the creation.
Ya Mu-id
	Divine Restoration-To restore all things or beings to their primordial glory when they have lapsed into decay.
Ya Munawwir
	Divine Light in its many manifested forms. The human being as the lamp which holds the light of Nur. The ascending light manifesting through a person as an aura. 
Ya Musawwir
	Divine Creativity. Giving form and embodiment to inspiration. Related to the Jinn sphere of the angelic planes. 
Ya Nur
	The uncreated light of pure intelligence. 
Ya Qadam
	Pre-eternity-The state before manifestation where everything exists as an Archetype. The state of samadhi. 
Ya Qadr
	Divine Power-If our motivation is to imprint the human inheritance with divine qualities and not to seek power for ourselves, we develop spiritual power. 
Ya Qahr
	Divine Sovereignty-The divine bounty remembered through identifying with the dimension of oneself that has always existed, our divine inheritance. Affirming the order governing the universe. 
Ya Qayyum
	Resurrection-To identify with the essence that survives the disintegration of the contingent aspects of the self. To be freed of that which is transient. 
Ya Quddus
	The Holy Spirit-The pure spirit which is the source and quickener of life. Identifying with the core of one's being, like a pure essence devoid of qualities, just subtle energy. 
Ya Rahman
	Magnanimous, unlimited Generosity, Bountifulness, a largeness of heart that accommodates others and their perspectives. Ultimately leads to the encompassing of all beings in the heart of God. 
Ya Rahim
	Divine Compassion-suffering with others in sympathetic solidarity. Experiencing one's heart as a part of God's heart, Who shares in the suffering of all beings. 
Ya Raqib
	Divine Watchfulness-To watch over with a sense of responsibility. 
Ya Razzaq
	Divine Provider-God in the form of nature that provides for our sustenance. 
Ya Shaffee-Ya Kaffee
	Divine Healer-Divine Remedy-It is the divine power that takes away the polluted elements (Shaffee) combined with the divine power of healing (Kaffee). 
Ya Shahid
	The Divine Witness-To have the strength to stand by one's convictions. 
Ya Salam
	Divine Peace-Promotes the experience of a deep peace arising out of unity. 
Ya Sami
	The All Hearing-To hear the word or guidance of the divine. 
Ya Vakil
	The Guardian Angel-Reinforcing the light of one's being especially in encountering difficulty. 
Ya Wadud
	Loving, affectionate. 
Ya Wahhabo
	The unfurling of the many splendored divine attributes. The flow of the bounty dormant in the divine seed into the plant. 
Ya Wajid
	The development of the consciousness of existence. The Logos of "I am." Making God a reality. Concreteness. 
Ya Wali
	Divine Mastery-Harnessing impulses instead of repressing them, which recharges the will with strength and new life. Transmuting emotions and energies for an intended purpose rather than expending them at the Divine Friend. The experience of God as one's closest friend and extending this modeling of friendship to others. 
Ya Wasi
	Encompassing, Containment-Learning to sense the boundaries of your domain. Envision your impact on circumstances as an expression of the divine nostalgia to handle situations in such a way as to actualize the harmony underlying the divine planning. Survey the areas in your life situations within which you exercise some measure of responsibility. 
Ya Wehedo
	Solitude of the Divine Unity (related to Wahid) - In the divine inhalation God resorbs the essence of what was achieved by this manifestation of the divine qualities into an integrated oneness. The longing to withdraw from involvement and multiplicity and be resorbed into the Divine Unity. 
Ya Zahir
	Divine Manifestation as Epiphany-It is the fulfillment of the purpose of the Universe to make the divine intention manifest, knowable and tangible. 

Related Practices

Alhamdulillah
	Everything is due to the grace of God. Often said as expression of praise and thankfulness arising out of the full heart. 
Fazl
	Blessings, attunement to Universal Harmony.
Ishq'Allah Mah'bud Lillah
	Mystical aspiration and longing arising out of the lover and leading to union with the Divine Beloved. 
Subhan Allah
	Divine Purity reflected in a clear conscience and pure intention. 
Dhul Jelal Wa'l Ikram	Lord of Splendor and Power
	What God becomes through us in the course of evolution. Any advancement. 
Hanun Jemil Wa'l Ikram
	Feminine form of the above practice. The Queen of Splendor and Beauty.

On the Number of Repetitions
For Wazaif
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

An esoteric symbology of numbers has played a very important part in the mystical tradition. The number ten really is based upon the ten fingers of the hand, in keeping with our hermetic formula that says man is the measure of all things. That's why one says a foot; it all started with the measurements of the human being. There's a whole metaphysics between the one and the zero, which you find in a computer. So the standard thing is a hundred and one, the one being the number that prevents it from becoming a vicious circle; it breaks the circle by moving out of the circle into a tangent. That's why there's always a one afterwards. For convenience sake I give the practices generally thirty-three times, because most people are so busy they wouldn't be able to do it, and also because people, as they repeat the mantram, tend to say it less well than they do in the beginning. Of course, the numbers can be divided; the Sufi rosary is divided in three parts of thirty-three beads with markers in between. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the numbers are not that important; they are guidelines. Sometimes it's good to have guidelines, and one's going to repeat it thirty-three times. I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that it's better to repeat the Wazifa just a few times, like five times, and then stop, and listen in to the feedback and then say it again a few times and then listen. The total number of times could be thirty-three, because that's a guideline, and if you find you can do it more often, you could say it a hundred and one times. If you feel happy about using any other number, there are certain numbers that one favors, like twenty-one, or eleven. 
For example, you might do the practice Ya Wali thirty-three times, then Ya Hadi thirty-three times (sometimes we give two Wazaif together), and then do them alternating, Ya Wali, Ya Hadi thirty-four times, so altogether it's one hundred. Now, you might say, "Well, then, why one hundred this time and not a hundred and one?" I've often asked myself that. It's purely because the one comes at the end of the last thirty-three and sets up a new cycle. Sometimes setting up a large number is a challenge. In a retreat, for example, if you are supposed to say the Dhikr one thousand times or three thousand times, it forces you to go through with it. There is something to say for these very abundant repetitions. I've done a lot of them myself. The human nature tends to be a little bit lazy so one has to challenge oneself to beat one's records. Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much. If you do the Wazifa the amount of times that seems right for you, well then I wouldn't go by prescription. Say you've done it fifteen times, and every time was just as meaningful and you feel as if you've concentrated as much as you can, well, then just leave it at that. If you find after having done it thirty-three times you feel like doing it a little more, that's okay also. 

Working with Wazifa 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

What we are going to consider here is two things. On one hand the sound, and on the other hand the meaning. I want to leave it to you to play it by ear, sometimes working with the sound, sometimes working with the meaning. As I said before, when you're very tired and you want to get into a high state of attunement, you'll perhaps find it rather difficult to concentrate on a theme. That's why such practices as breathing, mantra, even light, are more accessible to you than concentrating on a theme. Some of these themes are so overwhelming. It's not just a thought; it's a thought loaded with an emotion. I find sometimes that however tired or agitated one is, one can concentrate on a theme. For me, lately, concentrating on a theme is more meaningful than just repeating a mantram. 

Working with Sound

Simply repeating a mantram thirty-three times and saying, "Well, I've done my practices," is not good enough. When you do repeat the mantram, it's necessary to concentrate on three things. First, its important to place the sound in the right center. Actually, the sound is produced in your vocal cord, but a voice producer will teach you how to place the sound in your chest or in your throat or in your nose or in your head. Simply by our concentration, we're able to displace the place where the sound resonates, and to bring it into the chest or right up in the head. 
The sound "a" or "ah" in the mantram is resounded in the heart center, or in the chest, around the anahata chakra, which corresponds to the cardiac plexus. You are actually bombarding your chakra with sound. You're bombarding the nerve cells with vibration. That's exactly what happens if you subject a tray of sand to vibration. It leaves a mark. Believe me, if you were to make a retreat, as I did, repeating the Dhikr twenty-two thousand times a day, you do something to your body. The nerves, the molecules align themselves in an ordered way. You strengthen your whole being. It gives you a tremendous heart power. The power of the heart is a form of energy that you can communicate, like shaking hands with a person: the power of sympathy, a life-giving power, magnetism. Communicativeness is the ability to feel empathy, to communicate with a person by opening the heart chakra. The chakra is often described as a lotus that opens up; it's like a flower made of light. 
The second place where the sound vibrates is the mouth, literally, the palate. You could consider the mouth as a violin, and the chest as a cello. As you know, the wood of the face and back of a cello or a violin vibrates. It picks up the sound and vibrates, and that's what gives you that wonderful sound. A violin-maker showed me. He suspended the back of a cello on a string and knocked on it, and it sounds just like a gong; a much more subtle sound than the sound of metal, a very incredible sound. That's what you're doing to yourself. So it is your palate that vibrates, and the sound of the palate is communicated to the lips, and reaches out into the environment. That sound, which vibrates in the palate, is the sound "u" or "oo."
The third sound is the "i" or "ee," which vibrates above the palate, in the brain. Certain areas of the brain are subjected to a very intense vibration. You can imagine what an effect that has. One of the practices where you have a very intense, sharp "i" is Alim, which means divine understanding. It vibrates in the brain. You have Ya Azim also, which is divine ecstasy. There are areas in the brain like the thalamus, for example, which is linked up with emotion more than the cortical area, which is linked up with thought. If we could conduct our practices with great mastery, we would learn how to explore areas of the brain, so that we would be able to place the sound very precisely in a particular part of the brain rather than another. 

Working with Meaning
                                   
The second thing is to dwell upon the meaning, and then you'll say it very differently. The classical way of doing it was to start repeating the sounds (that's what we call the Wazifa), and then afterwards just think of the meaning while thinking of the sounds. 
That's the classical way of doing it. I prefer doing it like this. You say the sound a few times, like Ya Qadr. Then you say, "No, no, no, that's not good. Now I'm putting my will into it. How can I say Ya Qadr . . . . Ah, that's better. Now, why is it? Ah, yes, what did I do to make the difference? Well, I thought of that word of Murshid, 'There awakens in you the same power that moves the universe.' All of a sudden that power is awakened, that same power that moves the universe.  Now it's coming through me, it's awakened in me. Now I'm saying it quite differently."
That's why it's important to deal with the meaning right from the start, instead of just saying the sound. We have books like a dictionary, where you can read the meanings of all the Wazaif, the ninety-nine names of God, but the meaning is deeper than what one could express in a dictionary. It's something that you have to discover. Of course, I've said to mureeds, "Now, it means this," but you should really discover the meaning. You can't say it in a few words. What I'm trying to do is propose certain sentences of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan which go into the meaning very deeply. 
You might start by saying the sound and feel not totally satisfied with it, and then you could just spend some time dwelling upon the meaning. Again, it's not good enough just to think, "Oh, yes, now I know what it means, it means...." It's better just to dwell upon it, really to experience it. 
Concentration on Qualities

Now I've said before, but it's so important that I feel it should be said again. It's a quality of the total being rather than a quality that comes through in part of the total being. For example, the word power. I could think of a powerful elephant, but that's not the perfection of divine power. That's divine power coming through in a particular way. I could think of the being of Abraham or Moses, or any master for that matter. I'm taking two cases which are a very strong manifestation of divine power. That's getting as close as you can, possibly, to the divine power, because as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says, the Rasul, the prophet, is the very fulfillment of the being of God. Imagine that your being fulfills itself in your brain or in different parts of your body, in the fingernails, for example. In every part there is some expression of your being, but surely in the brain your being finds a greater fulfillment than in your nails. I'm trying to find a way to express what that means, the divine Being fulfilling Himself in this being who is Him, really, Who has become Him more than any other being. So you can say that that divine power has come through there practically in its perfection. 
Therefore, the thought of the particular master or prophet is a very great help in repeating the mantram. You have a very tangible way of seeing this quality real, actuated, really tangible. Instead of just thinking, "divine power" - it's a very vague thing, you see - here it's much more concrete. When Murshid says, "There awakens in you the power that moves the universe," then somehow you get even deeper into the significance of power. It's not the power that moves the elephant, or Abraham, but the power that moves the universe. Somehow your consciousness gets into the total consciousness. Maybe Abraham is an access to that total consciousness, and so you're experiencing power in its perfection. That's what the Wazifa is about. It's realization, really. It's realizing what the purpose of your existence is, when we consider the purpose of unfolding yourself. It is manifesting, actuating, existentiating, the divine inheritance in you. 
So it's a very, very strong thing. It's a very powerful experience. Experiencing how this power comes through in me, instead of just trying to concentrate on power. It's making it very concrete, very accessible. 


Wazifa and the Purification Breaths
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

	The use of tandem Wazaif is helpful in promoting a balanced state by developing the qualities which are in contrast to one another. Our strong qualities will grow stronger with the use of Wazaif on a daily basis and so will our weak qualities be strengthened. Constant repetition will affect a change over a period of time. In the beginning, practice the Wazaif out loud so that the sound is able to permeate your being. As you become familiar, say them on a breath (Fikr). When they are part of your being, you need only think them. 
The Earth Wazifas 

Batin and Zahir, are tandem Wazaif which accompany the earth breath. As one inhales, one withdraws into inner space and experiences the essence, but one also experiences oneself as the void. In the inner space, a new energy flows into the universe and into you. Through the solar plexus you back into the inner space, into the feeling of the veiled one, the consciousness of the Mother of the Universe as defined in Hinduism. During the inhalation, say Ya Batin (accent on the first syllable). It helps to lower the head in order to remind oneself of one's inner space. The contrast to Ya Batin is Ya Zahir and this is said on the exhalation. Zahir is pronounced "zaheer." It means the manifestation, the epiphany, and is always in some way associated with light. The whole of the universe is radiant, the manifestation of God as light; that's the meaning of the word epiphany. When you say Zahir you are conscious of the energy flow outward and become aware of the flow of your magnetic field, your aura. It is helpful here to raise the head and think of radiating the light outward. So that will give you a nice clearness as to the alternation between turning within, the veiled one, the simple Batin, and Zahir, the epiphany, all the stars, the radiance of the universe, the manifestation. 
The Water Wazifas

	Perhaps the key to all Wazaif in the words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan is to discover in yourself the same power that moves the universe, or the same joy that delights the universe, or whatever. It's the cosmic dimension of that quality that sets the pace of the Wazifa. Wahabbo has such a sense of unlimited bounty, vastness, all-encompassingness. It is an excellent choice as a practice when on retreat, but it can be used in the home when one is taking some personal, quiet time to reflect. At these times, you are making a transit from active life and so you are conscious of being pulled into two directions: one is involvement in life, and the other is seeking freedom from involvement. Wahabbo is like a very profuse outpouring of all the qualities coming through your being, becoming a reality in your personality. I would say that Wahabbo is the very epitome of what we would understand as a Wazifa, that is, making God a reality. Refer to that saying of Murshid where he says, "We think that we are a plant but we are, in fact, a seed." The plant is a seed that has unfurled, but one doesn't see the seed any more and that which is apparent now appears in the richness of the plant, and is very little in comparison with the tremendous bounty that is pregnant in the seed. So we identify ourselves with this more limited aspect of our being that is the plant and call it our personality. But at the end of the cycle, the seed reemerges in the heart of the flower and so you could say that our personality is like a plant, and perhaps, ultimately, is a flower, and that the reality of our being, that divine dimension of our being, is latent or virtual within the flower. The Wazifa consists in discovering this latent bounty which is here, not up there, but really is truly here in our being. 
	In the word Wahabbo (pronounced "wuh-hob-bo" by the Indians and "wu-heb-bo" by the Arabs; choose whichever feels right to you), there is profusion, bounty, divine perfection and you have the sense of it being funneled down, consequently limited, but getting concretized to the personality. It should give one a feeling of opening up to all the richness that is coming upon one. Of course, you can't hold it in. It's like a waterfall that overflows and can't be contained by the rocks or pond below so it continues to overflow. Say the word swiftly so the syllables run together like a river passing by from left to right, in a steady stream. Repeat Wahabbo fluently several times before breathing again and feel the effect in your body and your consciousness over a period of time. This Wazifa is said on the exhalation. 
	Now the counterpart of Wahabbo is Wahedo (pronounced "vah-hah-do"). Wahedo is one of the forms of the word Wahid, which means "Thee alone." It is the Jacob's ladder that leads one into what the Sufis call the "solitude of God." Wahid, or Wahadat in metaphysics, is the state in which God resorbs all things in the Oneness. He's experiencing that state of solitude. This is especially good as a practice for a pregnant woman when she needs to go inside to attune to the new being within her. She needs a zone of silence to accomplish this and Wahedo is an aid to the spirit of silence. The way Sufis look upon things is that in His exhaling, God shifts from the state of unity into the state of multiplicity, that is Wahabbo. In His inhaling, God shifts back into unity, withdrawing all things back into the unity again. Every time that we are fraught with desire to fulfill something in life, we are partaking of the divine exhaling; every time that we are drawn into a state where we feel like withdrawing from active life, are able to get back into our roots again, then we are partaking of the divine inhaling, and that's Wahedo. 
	These two Wazaif, Wahedo and Wahabbo, can be used with the early morning purification breaths when breathing in the nose (Wahedo) and out the mouth (Wahabbo). 

The Fire Wazifas

	For the Baptism of Fire: the Wazaif are Ya Hu, sounds like "who" (on the inhalation, through the mouth) and Ya Haqq, sounds like "huck" (on the exhalation, through the nose). 
	When done on the breath, eliminate the word Ya and just breathe in while saying Hu. At the same time, visualize yourself as the flame, sucking air from the environment. Use a soft, windlike breath, not a noisy one, and be aware of the Divine presence that makes one strong in truth. Be aware of the Divine Presence in your inner tabernacle, and in the awe of the Holy of Holys. As you visualize the color of the flame transmuting fire into the light of your being from infrared at the bottom chakra to gold in the solar plexus to green in the throat to blue in the third eye to ultra violet that fans into white light in the crown, you will feel flashes throughout your body which will move from hot to cool as you ascend to the coolness of blue. It is important when one is healing to know how to switch over from hot energy to cool energy. (You may want to try this with someone. Place your hand onto their arm and send hot energy into their being; while you breathe in, concentrate on being pure spirit. As you breathe out again, send very cool magnetism into that person. Without telling the person what you are doing, ask, "How do you feel now?" If you are doing it right, that person should answer, "Very cool.") 
	On the exhalation, say Haqq, (O Truth). "The soul on its journey reaches a plane where it exclaims, 'I am the truth!'" (Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan). Haqq is the truth in its absolute reality beyond the facts that may manifest in existence. It represents what happens to truth in existence as life energies. When a being becomes truth, he reads into the hearts of all beings like an open book. Haqq brings about a Baptism of Fire, courage, unswerving authenticity from the heart. An extraordinary energy comes into you when you dedicate yourself to truth. It cleanses any ambiguity or diplomacy or manipulative deluding that one might be doing without realizing one is doing it. It makes one very upfront and strong. It takes courage to own up; one loses face, but that is what truth means. Never mind if one loses the whole world, if one has become truthful. This is a very powerful form of purification. 

The Air Wazifas 

The Wazaif for the Baptism of Air are Ya Quddus and Ya Hayy.  Ya Quddus sounds like "could uuuse" with the first part of the word cut short and the "dus" elongated on the "uuu" like the French sound "eu." Quddus is said on the inhalation, through the mouth (eliminate Ya when done on the breath). The vibration of Quddus should be felt in the throat when said aloud. Ya Hayy sounds like "hi." The fikr is said on exhalation, through the mouth. 
Quddus stands for the Holy Spirit, the source of life. Concentration is on the immaculate state, purity, the waters of life. 
There is a stage at which by touching a particular phase of existence, one feels raised above the limitations of life, and given that power and peace and freedom, that light and life, which belong to the source of all beings. In other words, in that moment of supreme exaltation, one is not only united with the source of all beings, but dissolved in it; for the source is one's self.
 -- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
Quddus acts as a catalyst, like lightning. The Virgin Mary is a suggested archetype for this Wazifa. 
When saying Hayy, it's like blowing the breath of the pure spirit into the life force. Hayy acts as a catalyst, whipping up qualities existing as the life force into great intensity. Exhale on the breath as a swirling eddy or whirlpool of life. You are that whirlpool. Communicate life wherever you go. This is the energy that proliferates in nature, for example, the orbits of the planets and atoms. 

Planes of Existence 
and Corresponding Wazaif 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

 You can notice in yourself those elements that you have inherited from the different planes, and you know how to refuel those particular qualities by reestablishing contact with those planes. It is not good enough just to have a mental representation of the plane. One has to find a counterpart of the representation of the plane in one's being, and one has to sense the emotion of the plane. Those are two things that we have to observe. Having started with a figurative representation of the plane, one must let oneself be carried into the ecstasy of each plane. 

Heritage of the Planes

For each plane there is a type of angelic being. For the first plane, it is beings who are very active and for the galaxies. The second plane is the plane of the jinns and also nature spirits. The third plane is the plane of the angels, beautiful angels. The fourth plane is the plane of the seraphim, beings of fire; the fifth plane, kerubim, beings of light; the sixth plane, the archangels, like Gabriel and Michael and Raphael and Ophiel, and so on. The seventh plane is called hayoth. 
I would like you to capture something of the being of each one of these archangels, and relate it to your own being, to find out what heritage you carry in you from those archangels. 
The important thing is to discover in your character those things that pertain to each one of those planes. The clue is a sense of familiarity, that this plane is familiar to me; I remember this. This memory is in the unconscious so just imagining it is not good enough. One has to recall one's experience in that plane. We have ancestors in each one of these planes, so there's a memory of having lived in that plane, or having been born several times. If you can recall the moment of your birth in each one of those planes, that is part of the rebirthing process. What happens is that we have so much inheritance that we find it difficult to manifest all of it and so much of it remains recessive, not fulfilled, not expressed. That is within our power. That is what these practices are, to express those features that we are able to sense, to grasp, and this only happens if we are attuned to the emotion of that particular plane.
 
Corresponding Wazaif   
    
For each plane there is a Wazifa. We should concentrate not on the meaning of the Wazifa, as much as the attunement of each Wazifa. At the top is Ahad, seventh plane. Sixth plane, Quddus. Fifth plane, Azim. Fourth plane, Haqq. Third plane, Ishq. Second plane, Alim. First plane, Hayy. 
Now you may wish to add Wazaif to some of those that I suggested. One could add Jamil, for example, to the third plane, and one could add Ya Fattah to the fourth.  Jelal seems to me like the fourth, whereas Ya Karim is the fifth. Wajid means existence, but as all these Wazaif apply to the adjective of the Divine Being, Wajid, is the Existent One. 
You could ascribe other attributes to the different spheres. For the third, Ishq Allah Mabud 'Lillah, and for the fourth, Qayyum. For the second Ya Mussawir, which is the molder; this is where the plans and blueprints of the architects of the universe are being made. 
I don't think there's any point in making a system in one's mind. One falls far below the attunement that is required of us. Just experience what you can by drawing that experience from the memory of the past which has been consigned to the unconscious. Actually, one is still living on all these planes now. It's just like one passed through them, one is still submerged in each one. As Murshid says, there is a veil that separates the planes and that veil is our ignorance. If we lift that veil we will realize that aspect of our being that is functioning on the fifth plane, and that is continually influencing our being. Finally we come to the view that we live on all planes simultaneously. 
A great clue is instead of thinking you are like a vehicle in which all of this inheritance has come, think of yourself as being that inheritance. That makes all the difference. In other words, I am my father who continues to live; I am my grandfather; I am my mother who continues to live; I am my grandmother who continues to live; I am my ancestors who continue to live, and so on. I am all those animals who were my ancestors who continue to live. I am the plants that continue to live. I am the minerals. I am my whole past. I am the past of the universe. I am the present of all the planes, and the divine inheritance which I am supersedes any other inheritance. The inheritances through ancestors and angelic ancestors have accrued to me in the course of time. 
We are able to earmark those idiosyncrasies in our being that we owe to our heritage in the different celestial spheres. That would be moving upwards along the heavenly spheres from low plane to the highest. You are absolutely free to become what you want to be, irrespective of the idiosyncrasies you have inherited, whether from your parents or from the angelic parents, or even directly from one's divine inheritance. 
Of course, one is using the material one has inherited, exactly like a modern artist uses the same paints that ancient artists used, but what he makes of it is different. 

Azim/Alim

Let yourself explore how you feel about these different planes.  What we also want to do is draw the energy or the attunement of one plane and place it in another. We start perhaps with the most typical example of that, which is Ya Azim/Ya Alim. The reason for this association of Azim and Alim is that it is only when one is in love that one can see things clearly. It is only when one is in a state of ecstasy that one can perceive that which is hidden behind the appearance of things. That is the reason why I don't think it is very useful just to work with Alim, except in relationship to Azim. Azim is very closely associated with the vision of Dhul Jelal Wal Ikram. If we want to really contact these planes, we have to realize that these planes are a reality in beings, and although all beings have all planes in them just as we have, still, qualities of a certain plane come out extremely intensely in certain beings who are really the epitome of that particular attunement. 
Ya Azim means how glorious! That is why it is the word that dervishes are saying to each other when they see the splendor coming through each other. The splendor is the result of meditation, contemplating for hours daily the being of God. The consequence is that one's self becomes glorious and magnificent by losing oneself, absorbing oneself so totally in the magnificence of God. 
This is the knowledge that God had without using the consciousness of people, or rather, His/Her consciousness fragmented into a number of focal points. It was this original form of understanding, the divine intelligence. The divine glance is functioning through our focal center, but does not allow itself to limit itself by our focal center that is our personal consciousness. So there are two modes of understanding that we describe as Hu and Ana. The first mode of understanding is where there's no duality; it is not based upon anything that we can contribute to the divine understanding by being the eyes through which He/She sees. The other is where we do contribute, and by this fragmentation of the divine consciousness something is gained.  
We are no more the individual subject who sees. We are the divine being who sees. Our particular vantage point is infused with the divine vantage point; it's transfused by it. 
When you are saying, Ya Alim, what you are saying is that God is the Aware One, is the One who is Aware. The Knower; He/She is the Knower. What Alim means is that God does not allow His/Her understanding to be limited by the understanding that He/She gains through us, those parts of Him/Herself that are being focalized, or fragmented, and somehow He/She transfuses this knowledge with His/Her transcended knowledge. Every time we start perceiving that which transpires behind that which appears, we are participating in the divine action whereby He/She transfuses the knowledge of beings by His/Her transcended knowledge. 
The divine glance then cuts through the perspective of the faction that is the human, the personal, with another perspective, and the consequence is one sees the cause and the purpose behind every situation, instead of just seeing the situation. That is the precise meaning of Alim. 
Ecstacy gives one this ability to let the divine perspective break through one's perspective. One could also say this the other way around; it's a circle because from the moment that one begins to perceive that which transpires behind that which appears, everything appears so beautiful that one is in ecstasy. Being in ecstasy one sees even more what transpires behind that which appears. That is how one departs; one starts in the fifth plane, emotion, and it gives one insight into the situations on the planet. You see that as soon as one lets oneself slip into one's personal vantage point, one has lost one's ecstasy. 

Quduus/Haqq

I want to draw your attention to the relationship between Quddus and Haqq. You get a very, very high state of high altitude, a rarefied state, with Quddus. Don't experience yourself as a body; experience yourself as a soul. The body is something that is added. That is how you get into the feeling of Quddus. Quddus is the catalyst that triggers off the forces of life. Haqq is right down in the first plane, energy. 
Murshid speaks about the human spirit; not just the spirit right up there. He speaks about the human spirit, standing for what one believes at the cost of death. That's the human spirit, and what it does is make a person truthful. That is the rapport between Quddus and Haqq. 
We are in a very very high plane when we touch upon pure spirit. Quite apart from conferring a tremendous amount in both body and mind, the action of pure spirit makes a person turn into truth. That is an attribute to be found in all planes, but its connection is seen very strongly with the fourth plane because it is a plane of reckoning where one is facing oneself; one is facing the truth, what they call a judgment scene. Quddus/Haqq is a very powerful practice. 
The counterpart is Ya Wajid, where you realize this is all one, it is all the existence of God. That's exactly what it means: this is the being of God, this is the existence of God, and therefore, it is God Who exists as me. I do not exist.  It is not true that we exist. The only truth is that God exists.  That means one experiences oneself as being the being of God. 
I believe that was the consciousness of Murshid. That is what Murshid calls God consciousness on Earth. It is the precise opposite of samadhi, the opposite of Ahad. It is seeing the unity of existence, not the kind of crowning unity in the never-never up there, but right down here; this is where the unity is, despite all the differences. It is all God. When one realizes that, one realizes one is the being of God. The consequence is the divine qualities begin to come through. In fact, this is the secret of unfoldment. It is to cease thinking of oneself as a personality, because there is limitation there, but keep on being aware of the fact that one is the divine being. The more one is conscious of being the divine being, the more the divine qualities come through. 

Why the Wazifa
By Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan


The effectiveness of our practice of the Wazifa presents us with a paradox: it depends entirely upon our realization, while on the other had it confers realization. It only works in the Sufi perspective of always looking at oneself from two points of view: the personal and the way things look from the complementary (or opposite) point of view to one's own which the Sufis call the divine point of view. It requires us to push our point of view beyond its limitations in infinite regress and therefore spells emancipation from simplistic, commonplace thinking. This would be aptly illustrated by our mind's ability to always imagine a number greater than the number which we have envisioned so far. Without this dimension of vision, the Wazifa is not a Wazifa and therefore cannot be effective. If it is practiced as a method of boosting psychological idiosyncrasies, it cannot possibly work. It would be simplistic to assume the Wazifa is a prescription to develop a certain quality. This would be missing out on the very seed bed out of which our personality may blossom. 
However, in Sufism this complementarity honors our incentive in participating in our own creativity by opening ourselves to the revelation of the divine skill whereby the divine artist fashions us each uniquely.  This requires us to be sensitive to our intuition of a completely different way of thinking and emoting than our own. Here we recognize two factors in our creativity: unfurling latencies by the power of imagination (at the Mithal level) and actualizing impersonal or transcendent archetypes (at the Lahut level) into our personalities which are their exemplars. Such is spirituality, it represents a further dimension, complementary to the purely psychological one. It is always challenging, unforeseeable, perplexing and exhilarating!

Articulating a Realization by Means of an Idiom

As we know, the Sufis seek the fulfillment of the purpose of life which requires cultivating that precious gift of the universe to us; our human personality. Hence the importance of the Wazifa amongst all our spiritual practices.
The prime orientation in Sufism is awakening in life. However in the Sufi sense, to awaken in life one does need to unfurl one's potentialities and this requires integrating all levels of one's being (wholistically, rather than holistically).
The Wazifa is the practice of invoking a divine name repetitively. The name Ism Ilahi or Asma'ul Husna is a label conveying a quality. 
With us, the name of everything is its outward form; with the Creator, its inward essence. 					- Rumi

The divine names are relations, not ontological realities, occasioned by the entities of the possible things. 			- Ibn 'Arabi

 A mental association is established between the word and its archetypal meaning. By mentioning the "name," one evokes the meaning. Then God makes him journey through His names in order to show him His signs. Thus the servant comes to know that he is designated by every name. It is through these names that God appears to the servant.             - Ibn'Arabi

 In our human understanding, we ascribe a quality to a person or ourselves, but if we envision this quality as God's quality manifesting in us, it will open up our personality to a totally different spectrum, magnitude and status. The Sufis consider the idiosyncrasies of our personality as the exemplars of the divine archetypal qualities. To unfurl these we need to refer back continually to their archetype. The exemplar is known by means of the archetype. If we know that a table is round, it is because roundness is inherently written into our sense of meaningfulness, and contrariwise, the archetype is known by means of the exemplar. For example, after having seen many roses, a child sees their difference with lilies. 

Stages of  Development

When practicing the Wazifa, it is important to assess at which stage you are, and assess the next step in order to progress. One must never skip a stage, otherwise, one may have to backtrack. Following are the developmental stages of the Sufi initiate with regard to the Wazaif:
1. The Empirical Level: Nazut  	Typical Wazifa: Ya Zahir
The dawning of the evolution or consciousness is evidenced by the perceptual experience accompanied by the commonplace naive interpretation, "I feel this object; it is hard, prickly, round .... I feel cold, hungry, angry." This represents a rudimentary stage of human thinking. Any physicist will confirm that matter is not the way it feels or looks. By the same token, our emotions can lead us into subjective make-believe. So our interpretation of experience could be understood as, "this is the way things look from a particular vantage point." It represents a limited opinion, bearing upon a slither of the situation. For example, "Notre Dame in Paris looks like this," neglecting that this is the way it is seen only from a certain angle and it looks totally different from another angle; or again a light-buoy should not be mistaken for the haven. Realization lies a long way ahead, and that is the objective of those who are seeking for greater understanding. 
The same applies to elementary subjective statements which bespeak that the person is caught in a personal, hence biased perspective for which the only therapy is to pull oneself out of that perspective and see things from alternate perspectives. This applies to our perfunctory interpretation of events which we judge from our personal bias and take for granted. 
These are the trite modes of thinking that Yoga brands as illusory or rather deluding maya. The Sufi view highlights the way of avoiding being caught up in them: by considering them to be clues, (signposts) that should never be taken for granted as such, but could lead to the meaningfulness toward which they point. This is what awakening is about. The signpost has fulfilled its purpose when one has left it behind. Lingering in these perfunctory judgments is getting into a rut without issue. 
We shall show them our signs at the horizons and in themselves.
						 	- Qur'an 
At the Nazut level the adept recognizes in the many-splendored aspects of nature clues, ayat, matching qualities that are meaningful to him/her. For example, a lake at moonlight, peace; a colorful dawn, splendor. For the Sufis, God, wrapped in mystery, reveals Him/Herself through these clues at this stage. Earmarking these clues will make the Wazaif that evoke them more meaningful. 
2. The Psychological Level: Khayal   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Alim
At the Khayal level, we are on the lookout for clues whereby God reveals Him/Herself through the way a paramount model of excellence, which Sufis ascribe to the divine nature, is exemplified in our own personality. Once more, we will gain some sense of the Wazaif as we pinpoint the personality feature they evoke in ourselves. 
Behold the world entirely comprised in yourself. The world is man and man is a world.				- Mahmood Shabistari 		
3. The Introspective Level:  Arwah   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Batin
At the Arwah level, we are trying to stalk the divine nature transpiring through that which appears, making allowances for the fact that there is bound to be distortion and defilement in those very precarious and perishable signs, rather than relying upon our interpretation of events. Here we find the converse: rather than searching for the quality evoked by the Wazifa in our personality, such as it is, we capture it trying to surface in our personality as it unfolds. 
The one who tunes himself not only to the external, but to the inner being, and to the essence of all things, gets an insight into the essence of the whole being, and therefore he can, to the same extent find and enjoy even in the seed the fragrance and beauty of the flower. 
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
 As we discover the more germane inner lining of our psyche, we will be aware of the need to debunk the hoax of our psychological projections upon our problems whereby we deceive ourselves by our own assessments of our problems.     
Thought grasps the form of the object directly without the help of categories; illusion and imagination; done away with impressions (samsara); all antecedent mental functions are destroyed. 		- Eliade 

4. The Level of Metaphor (Creative Imagination): Mithal 
Typical Wazifa: Ya Khaliq
At the Mithal level, we consciously participate in the creativity of our personality by unfurling potentialities lying in wait, realizing that our creativity customizes the divine creativity. 
The soul of man is the spirit of the Creator, and therefore has within it the same power of creating by the power of mind as his Creator has. 
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this level we capture the sprouts of our personality as they are surfacing by translating reality in the mental and emotional mode into evanescent forms. 
Thus the ascensions of saints are the ascensions of their spirit, triggering off the visions of their hearts whereby they perceive forms in the intermediary world of embodied spiritual realities. 			- Ibn'Arabi
							
 Here all the essential realities of being are manifested in real images. ... So what the soul shows to itself is precisely its own image, since the earth it projects directly reflects the image premeditated by the soul. 
							- Vide Corbin
 At this stage, we realize that God is revealing His/Her qualities, sifat, which we evoke in our Wazaif in the unfurling of His/Her nature as our personality, albeit restricted by the very limitations we wreak upon this process by your own assessment of what we think are our qualities or defects. Interestingly, these spontaneous thoughts that seem to arise from within and coalesce into images are clues as to how God is trying to manifest through me (and as me) by the qualities that I am awakening in myself.

This requires us to reverse our vantage point in order to discover ourselves through the knowledge God has of Him/Herself through us. God describes Himself to us through ourselves. 
I know God through the knowledge that God has of Himself through me.								- Ibn'Arabi 
5. The Celestial Level:  Malakut   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Quddus
At the Malakut level, our recollection of our celestial nature, to which we attune ourselves, awakens qualities in our self-creativity which would not have arisen if we had continued to identify with our psychological self-image. As man evolves, he ceases to look down on earth, but looks to the heavens.
 If one wants to seek the heavens, one must change the direction of looking.				 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
This is triggered of by our giving vent to our aspiration toward the sublime and the sacred. Man's grade of evolution depends upon the pitch he has attained; it is a certain pitch that makes him conscious of a certain phase of life.					 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
This will awaken our memory of Deja vu prior to our birth. God acquaints them with what corresponds to them in each world by passing with them through the different worlds.			- Ibn'Arabi
However, it does require of us to let go of our commonplace self-image. Now their journey in God involves the dissolving of their composite nature and acquaints them with what corresponds to them in each world of being, by passing with them through the different sorts of worlds. - Ibn'Arabi 
The soul's unfoldment comes from its power which ends in its breaking through the ties of the lower planes. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this point in our evolutionary development, we are living an active and effective reciprocity between ourselves and God, that is, between the qualities that have been actualized in our personality, and the many splendored potentialities that are still latent, the legacy of the divine archetypes manifest in our celestial counterpart, but somewhat defiled in those exemplars of the archetypes of our being that are our idiosyncrasies. 
It is only by glorification that our celestial nature reveals itself to us. Thus our celestial nature serves as a bridge in that reciprocal action between God and man or between the divine and human poles of our being. 
Have Me present to your heart, I shall have you present in myself.
 							- Qur'an 
Therefore according to the Sufis, "we know God through the knowledge that God acquires by our discovering God's qualities in our idiosyncrasies." This antinomy is found in Ibn'Arabi's description of two fundamental spiritual developmental stages: I know God through the knowledge that He has of Himself by my discovering Him.
6. The Level of the Divine Knower as Our Intelligence: Jabarut  
Typical Wazifa: Ya Shahid 
At the Jabarut level, we can see that our realization of the full implications of each Wazifa changes dramatically if we reverse our assumption of being the spectator and invite the Divine Witness to illuminate our point of view. 
You thought that you were the Spectator, the witness (Shahid) of what you experience, but the real witness in you is your angelic counterpart, the witness in the heavens.		 	- Shahabuddin Suhrawardhi 
The consequence is we can now see how our assessment of our self-image was based upon our perception of our personal idiosyncrasies, and how this perspective on our identity was thwarting the actualizing of the bounty in store at the Lahut level of our being, those seminal qualities or attributes, sifat, which we invoke in our Wazaif. 
If we let the divine Witness presiding over our consciousness prevail over our personal perspective, an inherent knowledge accessed through the act of intelligence rather than of consciousness that was being blocked by our judgment breaks through, liberating us from our self-image and flooding our awareness, "awakening the God within," as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says. 
When consciousness is not conscious of anything, it is resorbed in its ground which is intelligence. 		- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan   
Man attains insight into meaningfulness from the divine mind that confers form to material beings. Therefore, to obtain insight into meaningfulness, do not obstruct the gift from above by excessive attachment to the perceptual reality.							- Avicenna
7. The Archetypal Level: Lahut  Typical Wazifa: Ya Kemal
This about-turn in our vantage point (trying to see things from the divine point of view) will open the way to our accessing the Lahut level of our being, where we discover the archetypes of which our idiosyncrasies are the exemplars. Know that there is no form in the lower world without a likeness (mithal) in the higher world. The forms in the higher world preserve the existence of their likeness in the lower worlds. 
Between the two worlds there are tenuities which extend from each form to its likeness...These are like ladders for the angels, while the meanings that descend in these tenuities are like angels. 		- Ibn 'Arabi  
Therefore we now discover our idiosyncrasies and the potentialities of their being further deployed by grasping with our intelligence (rather than our consciousness) the archetypes of which they are the exemplars. 
Since the ephemeral being manifests the form of the eternal, it is by the contemplation of the eternal that God communicates to us the knowledge of Himself....You know yourself with another knowledge, different from that which you had when you knew your Lord by the knowledge that you had of yourself, because it is through Him that you know yourself. - Ibn'Arabi. 
The unfurling of the seeds of our personality triggered off by the creative power of our imagination (at the Mithal level) would be reiteratively tautological and therefore would exclude the possibility for further improvement if it were not for that extra-temporal, extra-samsaric, open ended, transcendent, archetypal matrix of our being at the Lahut level carrying the inexhaustive possibilities of what we mean by divinity, Ulluhiyat, just as the repetitive recycling of the seed in the plant can only be relieved by mutation. 			
Possible things become qualified by existence from behind the veils of the divine attributes.		 			- Ibn'Arabi
 Here is the breakthrough. The one who is conscious of his earthly origin is an earthly man, one who is conscious of his heavenly origin is the son of God. 					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
From the moment that we can see things from the divine point of view, we access dimensions of our being that transfigure our personality radically. Here lies the secret of the Wazifa. This is spirituality. While serving our creativity, imagining the qualities evoked in our Wazaif, as we have seen at the Mithal level, the level of creative imagination does limit the unfurling of these qualities unless we call upon the eternal models of which the seed-bed of our personality is an expression.
One must avoid looking for one's instructions in the realm of imagination ....which only gives indirect indications regarding pure archetypes. 
							- Ibn'Arabi 
Here imagination is not proceeding from inwards outwards, but from upward downward. 
Imagination causes archetypal notions to descend into perceptible forms.
 							- Ibn'Arabi 
Our being grows to its cosmic dimensions. When the inner nature manifested by man's inclinations and faculties has become pure, he contemplates therein whatever is of the same nature as in the cosmos. 
						- Shahabuddin Suhrawardi 
We participate in creating our being through our glorification. By our attunement to the sacred we awaken sublime propensities in our being that would otherwise lie latent. We awaken the God within. 
Allah al makhluk fi'l 'itiqadat: God creates Himself through your prayers. 						- Hadith Qudsi
8. The Unitive Level:  Hahut  Typical Wazifa: Ya Ahad 
The Hahut level of our being represents a whole different stratum. It is the reality that transcends the existential state even as it manifests as our being. 
When the unreality of life fades away, its reality strikes my soul. 									- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
We have risen beyond the conditions in which God can only be known by revealing Him/Herself through His/Her "signs" which requires the existential state at different levels.  
At an advanced stage one learns to grasp God as He is in Himself rather than the knowledge gleaned of Him....The one who is immersed in the vision of multiplicity is in the world in the aspect of the divine names and the names of the world. The one who is immersed in the divine unity is with God in the grasp of His unity, irrespective of the worlds. 		- Ibn 'Arabi 
At this pinnacle, not only the existential state but the programming is by-passed and that means it is unaffected by the feedback from the existential realm. That is why Buddha called it not only beyond existence, but beyond non-existence, in fact beyond conditioning. If you have a whiff of this state, you will experience the most utter freedom, in fact liberation. 
The real Being is only and exclusively God in His essence, dhat and, principle, 'ayn; not under the aspect of His names. In the station of unity, touching upon the unity, one accesses the Supreme knowledge whereby the grasp of the qualities falls away; indeed the qualities cannot add anything to the essence....If the names disappeared the Named One would appear. 	 - Ibn'Arabi 
Do not confuse the perfection of the manifestation through existence where the essence is individuated (like the manifestation of the totality in the parts), with the manifestation of the essence to itself, in itself and for itself.
							- Jami 
Every time that you focus on an object, He will have already escaped you. Knowledge is a veil upon the known.  		- Ibn'Arabi
One feels called upon to forego one's sense of oneself as an individual, but Hallaj points out that this would be contradictory, because one would be availing oneself of one's self to annihilate oneself. 
It is God who elects him and draws him into His state of isolation that he may participate in the mystery [of the divine solitude]. - al Hallaj 
In this ultimate step, the switch-over occurs when we are no more concerned with our personality, and qualities generally, which are, according to the Sufis, the means whereby God manifests Him/Herself. Therefore it is of the resort of the Dhikr rather than the Wazifa. 
When we are face to face, Beloved, I do not know whether to call Thee me, or me Thee. I see myself when Thou art not before me; when I see Thee my self is lost to view. I consider it is good fortune when Thou art alone with me; but when I am not there at all, I think it is the greatest blessing.
 					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
9. The Level of the Overview of the Existential State:  Tawhid   			Typical Wazifa: Ya Mawjud
Having peered behind the curtain, back-stage of the universe, we make an about-turn into awakening in life, which we could call in Sufi terms Tawhid. How do we awaken in life? Those veils that are the appearance of things are only veils concealing reality until one looks from behind the veils. Then we see the divine intention and its fulfillment and realize that instead of being an illusion (a veil) it was the drama and achievement of existence that was the objective behind all we have encountered in our ascent through the spheres. The purpose of the blueprint of your house is your house.  The fulfillment of this whole creation is to be found in humanity. This object is only fulfilled when man has awakened that part of himself which represents the master, that is God Himself. In humanity the divine perfection can be seen. God knows Himself through His manifestation. Manifestation is the self of God, but a self that is limited,  a self that makes His perfection known to Himself when He compares Himself with the limited self we call nature. 	
		
Therefore the purpose of the whole creation is the realization that God gains by discovering His own Perfection through our imperfection.
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
This is the real, whereas reality was the virtuality behind the real. It remains imponderable, bewildering, enrapturing, wrapped in mystery, however much one strives to decipher it. But if one switches over to look at real life situations from the other side of the curtain then one discovers the divine intentions in action. When thou perceivest, thou seest limitation openly, and thou seest Me at the back of the unseen...And I considered the veils; and lo, they were everything that has appeared, and everything that has appeared in that which has appeared....Whoso knows the veil, is near to the unveiling.  
							- Niffari
However it is the kind of knowledge that one can only achieve by doing rather than knowing in theory....By actuating the divine nature in my personality, I confer upon God a mode of existence. 		- Ibn'Arabi 
In order to gain God consciousness, the first condition is to make God a reality, so that He no longer is an imagination....At present there exists only in the world a belief in God; God exists in the imagination. It is such a soul which has touched upon divine perfection that brings to earth a living God who without him would remain on in the heavens....If there is any sign of God to be seen, it is in the God-conscious one. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
To make God a reality, we need to express the divine manner in our personality, hence the importance of the Wazifa. This is awakening in life. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan points to the sudden realization that triggers off this dedication to our purpose in life. 
In man is awakened that spirit whereby the whole universe was created. True exaltation of the spirit resides in he fact that it has come to earth and has realized there its spiritual existence. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
The consequence is that, instead of loosing our individuality or trying to annihilate it, we revalidate it in its uniqueness. 
The soul of every individual is God, but man has a mind and a body which contains God according to the accommodation. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
One is overwhelmed by the discovery that, by trying to see things from the divine point of view, one is conferring upon God a mode of reality, hence 

the value of our personal contribution to the total being of God, however small. Divinity resides in humanity. It is also the outcome of humanity. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this stage, both our personal creativity at the Mithal level and the impersonal dimension of our creativity, attained by exemplifying the divinity of our being at the Lahut level, integrate. You will observe the engendering of the possibilities lying in the spiritual plane into the corporeal world. 
Thoughts shift from the perception of the senses to the imaginary ones; then the intelligible thoughts will descend upon you in the form of perceptions.							 - Ibn'Arabi                                     
It is typified by that state in which, seeing oneself mirrored in another, one recognizes that reality being distorted by lenses, blurring it to the extent that one has failed to see the underlying unity, which is what one means by God.   
He brought the cosmos into existence upon His own Form. Hence He is a mirror within which He sees His own Form....Thou art His Form and He is Thy spirit. 						- Ibn'Arabi
I am the mirror of Thy face, through Thine own eyes, I look upon Thy countenance. 						- Semnani
Of course, the ultimate secret is that rather than by cognizance, the very configuration of our being, rendering states of consciousness corporeal, is powered by divine love. 
I emanated upon thee a force of love so that you might be fashioned according to my glance. 				- Qur'an 
In the course of this peregrination through the stages (maqqam) the Wazaif have revealed a meaningfulness that we could never have clinched in our commonplace thinking, but through our glorification. At first we were assessing values, now it is being rather than meaningfulness that is revealed. It has been a journey of us in God. At first we were motivated by covetousness, then indifference, lastly interest, nostalgia, love, by Ishq Allah.
 Indifference gives great power; but the whole manifestation is a phenomenon of interest. All this world that man has made, where has it come from? It has come from the power of interest. The whole creation and all that is in it are the products of the Creator's interest. But at the same time the power of indifference is a greater one still, because, although motive has a power, yet at the same time motive limits power. Yet it is motive that gives man the power to accomplish things. On the other hand, so long as a man has a longing to obtain any particular object, he cannot go further than that object. 											- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

Invocation of Spiritual Hierarchy, Part I 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 


Invocation of the Masters, Saints, and Prophets: 
Shiva, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, 
Elijah, Ezekiel, Christ, Muhammad 
 
What is most meaningful is to get into the consciousness of all the masters, saints, and prophets, rishis, dervishes, monks, angels, archangels, any being in the universe, and what is more, into the consciousness of the whole galaxy of beings who are all busy celebrating the Cosmic Celebration, which is enacted behind the scene of the stage of life on the planet. What happens on the planet is like a very small light show, a projection on a screen of a reality that is overwhelmingly monumental. Are we able to always keep our awareness of the Cosmic Celebration open, as if windows were open into the cosmic realms, and not just let ourselves be enclosed in our little lives? We can. We're learning how to do it. 
What we want to do now is get into the particular type of vibration of several masters, each representing a totally different aspect of the one and only Being, to the degree of perfection that one rarely finds amongst human beings. This meditation isn't a projection of our imagination, as in the Ideal Master Meditation. We're going to reach specifically into the consciousness of a great prophet.

Shiva 

We start with Shiva, the patron of all the rishis. He is always represented as sitting on top of Mount Kailas, which is the highest mountain on the pilgrim route, representing the sahasrara chakra of the world. He has overcome his human nature, and is in a state of samadhi. Thus, you can only reach him by going into the state of samadhi. It is true that there is no being in the world whom you cannot reach, but in order to reach them you have to be able to enter into their attunement. For example, to climb to the top of the mountain you have to put up with the high altitude. If you want to approach a being who is consumed with fire, you have to be able to withstand the burning. In order to be able to reach a being who has been in the state of solitude and who perhaps has not seen another being for twelve years, you have to have gone through the experience of solitude; otherwise, you cannot attune to his being. We inherit from these beings, but our inheritance from them is often covered over by many things. They're recessive, latent, in the depth of our being, and their influence can be revived if we can attune ourselves to their being. It's not just a matter of imagining what it must be like to be them. You have to get absolutely into their states of consciousness. 

Buddha 

Now we're going to get into the consciousness of Buddha. Can you see him walking? The peace of this walk, the nobility, totally attuned to the consciousness of very high spheres beyond existence, bringing something of the rhythm and atmosphere of these spheres down to the earth. He's continually in contact with the higher planes, totally free from the perspectives that people are caught in, trying to help people to cure themselves of their pain and their anguish, and awaken them from their ignorance. He has compassion for those who suffer, and yet not pity. There's a sense of serenity, heroic overcoming, never giving in to the gravity pull of the earth, the pull of the senses, the pull of the mind, the pull of consciousness; he's  always cosmic. The light that surrounds him is the expression of the extraordinary acuity of awareness, so that wherever he goes he casts his light upon all things. He is totally awake, and his task is to awaken those who come in contact with him by the clarity of his insight. This is not just the Buddha who lived in the fifth or sixth century before Christ; it's Buddha as he is now and can always be reached. There is a certain mode of the divine consciousness that is totally cosmic.
 
Zoroaster 

Let us get into the consciousness of Zoroaster. Zoroaster was a magus, a hierophant, like the three wise men who visited Christ. See him as being somewhat like Athenagorus, the Greek Orthodox archbishop. He is a very powerful cosmic archetype of man, accompanied by armies of angels conducting a ruthless battle against evil, conscious of the whole meaning of life in the planet and anywhere in the universe where there is a great battle. He has an air of victory about him because he represents the forces of light. Parsifal is like Zoroaster, as they both belong to the knighthood of the planet. He sees that the purpose is to purify the earth, to respect the dignity of the bodies of all the archangels:  the body of the archangel of water, the body of the archangel of the earth, the atmosphere around the planet, which is the body of the archangel of air, the plants, the body of the archangel of plants, the animals, the cells in the body of the archangel of animals; everywhere there are beings. Today he is combating against the rape of the planet by pollution, sound pollution, the pollution in minds, to restore the universe to its primeval dignity. These are his very words: "To become an instrument of the transfiguration of the world."  One has to be conscious of transmuting matter into spirit in one's  own flesh. 

Prophets of Israel

Now we are going to get into the consciousness of the prophets of Israel. They seem closer to the western civilization. There are many, though some of them stand out particularly: Abraham, the great ancestor patriarch; Moses, a great pioneer representing the power of God who, while leading the Jews into the desert out of Egypt, was always conscious of the covenant with God and tried to convince men of the importance of following the divine guidance. Melchizedek was the high priest of the Temple of Holocausts in Jerusalem at a time when there wasn't one building in Jerusalem. There were nomads living in tents and they lived in a cave. He consecrated Abraham as a king, for he himself represented power beyond that of the kings, the priesthood of all the religions of the One God. He's a master of peace. Perhaps you can feel his very high energy as the carrier of the Holy Spirit, the anointment, the host, the sacraments. 
Elijah, incorporating the conscience of man, has a kind of power that arises out of the desert and warns kings of their fallacies. He always lives close to the source of life, the water of life. Always reappearing every time a messenger appears on the planet, he is one of the figures that never dies. He is translated into the heavens, but his robe marks the sign of the continuation of his being in all those who represents the ecclesia, the church of all churches. There is Ezekiel, who had the vision of the seven heavens: the Galganim, and the Ophanim, and the Seraphim, and the Cherubim, and the Archangels, and the Heyoth. He was initiated by having his lips burned by the fire from the Seraphim so that he might become a pure instrument of the service of the masters, saints, and prophets. 
There are untold numbers of prophets, all imbued with an incredible strength giving guidance first through the community of the Jewish people, and then beyond that community, reaching into the whole of mankind. They bring a particular quality of emotion, a very mystical combination of suffering and joy. The Jewish people seem to have been chosen to go into the very limits of what we call the limitation of the divine perfection on earth, extremes of suffering, persecution, like in the concentration camps, and still manage to be so exuberant in their joy. It's divine guidance coming right into humanity; it's not up there on the top of Mount Kailas or in the very aloof attunement of Buddha. It started descending in the battle of Kudochetchera of Zoroaster, but now it's  getting much closer into our lives and therefore the emotions are much more tangible; they touch our hearts in addition to our souls. We can encounter something of the beings that I have invoked by tuning ourselves to the emotions that come through the Jewish people when they are praying and invoking the name of God. 


Christ 

Now we come into the consciousness of Christ. You have access to the consciousness of Christ whenever you are aware of the divine perfection in you which was subjected to your own limitation, or whenever you feel that you have betrayed your highest ideal and you ask for forgiveness and divine grace. Every time you recognize in a being that is suffering, perhaps the very being of God, in the form of the beggar who asks for food, for alms, for clothes, for shelter; every time you see a being volunteering to sacrifice her/himself, then you get into the consciousness of Christ, sharing the lives of humanity. 		
That same spirit continued through the early Christian martyrs, exposed to the lions, and through all those who suffered for their ideal and kept their heads high. If one is able to be conscious of the jubilations in the heavens while one is aware of the despair of the soul subjected to suffering, then there is a moment of great victory. In fact, one proclaims as Jesus did the life eternal, those who give their life will find it and those who hang on to their life will lose it. It's  the announcement of resurrection: you are not transient after all. 		
The essence emerges out of the transient part of your being and is eternalized forever. Christ came to announce the victory over death and transiency. It's the ultimate hope. Can you enter into the power of the being of Christ? It's  different than the power of Abraham or Moses. It's the power of the Spirit. He brings the great news, the doors between the earth and heaven open up and the cosmic celebration is real to all men. I hope you feel the presence of millions of beings who respond to our invocation, and feel the jubilation in the heavens. 

Muhammad 

There was a great king in the desert who was born a Bedouin among people struggling to survive. He was struck by the annunciation of his mission in a traumatic initiation that marked him with the light and the fire of the angels. People would say when they came in contact with him they would have to hide their eyes from the blinding light of his eyes. His power came from his utter submission to the divine will and his inspiring this submission in those who followed him. It built up a tremendous force, totally changed the face of the land, and led to one of the most wonderful civilizations and cultures ever known on the planet. The message he brought was one step further into the importance of living right and never losing sight of the divine will. It is so strong that when the call to prayers comes, the Muslims will simply stop everything in the middle of the street and say the prayers. Although he was fighting ruthless opposition, he gave an example of compassion when he forgave the one who killed his very sister. It was the beginning of democracy, a new dispensation. 
Lift your heads up and don't exult in sadness. The world is a field the divine grace has offered you. Cultivate it and rejoice as long as you never lose sight of the divine consciousness, embodied in the formula La illaha illa 'llah. It is that consciousness that made the very being of the dervishes. The dervish is one who is conscious of embodying the divine Being - there is only One Being - and of fulfilling the wish of God towards fulfillment in manifestation. The dervish says, like al-Hallaj, "If you once have a whiff of the divine understanding, your understanding will be shattered. If you can experience the divine power passing through you, you will become the instrument of the power. All you have to do is let the divine operation work in you and let God pronounce His unity through you."  So here we are at the opposite poles to Hinduism and Buddhism, and to the way of liberation. This is the way of fulfillment, and thus we complete the cycle.

 Invocation  of the Spiritual Hierarchy, Part II 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

 One can invoke the presence of all masters, saints and prophets of all time of course, but as they are now working with us, giving us directions. So it's not just a matter of thinking of them as they were in the past, but really getting in contact with their being. It's a matter of attuning ourselves to their state of consciousness, not by just thinking of them and their physical appearance, though their present one is often very similar to the one they had in the past, but with a difference. It's a matter of attuning ourselves to their state of awareness, to their particular form of realization. When we realize what they realized, or something in that particular direction, it rings a bell. There's  a resonance, and a communication is established. So the chronological order is not important, but the way the different masters manifest different rays, different lines, different direction of the spiritual guidance, that's important.

Hindu Tradition  

First we think of the Hindu tradition, which is very, very, very rich. Generally one starts with thinking of Rama, because Rama is the embodiment of the knight, the first chivalry. He was at first an ascetic, banished by his father, but his main action was in life. 
Shiva is the ascetic. Maybe you've seen some pictures of the sanyasin in India. They have become a kind of force of nature, the shakti force of Shiva, the very powerful energy. I would say that Shiva is working with energy. When you feel that tremendous power of nature that is coming through you when you go into the woods and meditate, that is the shakti of Shiva coming through you, and you establish connection with Shiva. 
Krishna is, of course, an anticipation of Christ. He is God having become a child and therefore becoming human. We'll be going into the meaning of this. That's the whole strength of Hinduism: instead of thinking of God right up there, bringing Him right down, seeing Him living right here amongst us. He is lovable and therefore arouses a feeling of love and affection. That's when your heart goes out to God manifesting His creatures. That's Krishna, even when it might be a deer or an animal in the forest or any creature that you feel love for.

Buddhist Tradition  

Now we come to Buddha. He helps us to free ourselves. Every time you feel this call to free yourself from all the conditioning and the ignorance, Buddha is very present in your being. Just see him. Just feel his presence working in you, surrounding you with a zone of silence. 

Zoroastrian Tradition 

To get into the consciousness of Zoroaster you have to experience all the glory of the heavens, because he is really a representative of the angels, rather than of the hierarchy of masters. It means tuning to the consciousness of the angels. One has something very close to that in the Native American holy men, but they seem to be more connected with nature spirits, the highest spirits, at least in  the most advanced of them. 

Egyptian and Greek Traditions 

Ikhnaton is connected with the archangel of the sun, of the solar system, and light. When one discovers one's solar heritage, one is in a state of attunement with Ikhnaton. 
Amongst the Greeks there were a few masters of course. In Pythagoras and Hermes you get an attunement with the akashic world. 
Orpheus, once more totally attuned to the harmony of the spheres, akashic plane. One can get in touch with him by listening to the symphony of the spheres. It's an expression of the divine order, of the order behind the universe. That's the harmony, a very, very important aspect of the being of God. Such harmony is of Serapis, the realm of pure vibration, so it's very impersonal and it's higher than energy. 
 One shouldn't count the philosophers; they were great beings, but I think in the hierarchy you'd have to get in touch with Amoniosaka, who was the teacher of Plotinus, and that's where you come in touch with a very great realized master. 

Hebrew Tradition

Now in the Hebrew tradition, one should start with Noah, although Enoch is earlier; but Enoch is master of occult Hermetic knowledge. It's Noah who has real charge of his people, acting like a prophet. He represents an aspect of God that comes to succor humanity and those in distress. He preserves the essential, the seed of each species, something that people are doing now in our time because many of the species are dying out. So he's connected with the seed of God, all the richness of the divine being in its different forms of existence. Getting into the consciousness of Noah really means getting into the consciousness of God as all the different creatures, not just manifesting, but existing as the different creatures. We experience all that richness of the divine Being. 
Now we come to Abraham, who is a giant amongst prophets. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan calls him the founder of the religion of the one God, to which Beni Israel belongs. When he uses the word "Beni Israel" it includes Christianity and Islam. The greatness of Abraham is such that he is admitted into the presence of God, in its exoteric and its esoteric sense. He is given access to the divine intention. He has access to the planning, and he generates a whole race. He represents, therefore, the seed of God as man, in whom the divine being reaches a fullness, a fulfillment. There's  a great significance in his mission. He is the Rasul, the archetype of Rasul, in which God finds his fulfillment. Of course, he is very wonderful; he's a king. Murshid talks about the trace of the king of kings. Yes, it's to be found in Abraham, and he even says Abraham was the founder of Sufism. Oh, one has to enter into the consciousness of that being, Abraham. 
His perfect counterpart is Melchizedek, the high priest who represents the divine order, whereas Abraham represents the divine power, majesty. It's a different attunement, and both are very, very important. Whenever you are in a very high prayerful condition, you get in tune with Melchizedek. When you're conscious of your mission and what you have to uphold in your life, then you can get into the consciousness of Abraham. It's just like the two faces of Cha'ma in the Kaballah; the one is turned upwards and the other is turned downwards. Your consecration as a priest is where you find your connection with Melchizedek, when you think of yourself as being a priest in the Order of Melchizedek. 
Moses was a tremendous breakthrough of the divine power, intervening once more in saving the Chosen People from the Egyptian tyranny. He represents the divine power in action, whereas that of Abraham is much more stable and kingly. He's more like a general than a king; very fiery and undaunted, full of wrath. Abraham is beyond anger. Moses represents a form of the divine guidance that has to break through incredible obstacles. Therefore, all the dynamism and the being of God break through, sometimes like thunder and lightning, in a very traumatic way. His wrath is to protect the sacredness from being defiled. It's never personal wrath, it's always a sense of indignation at the sacrilege. He's protecting the sacredness of the divine, and if that is not respected and whole, the bottom is taken out of spirituality altogether. Whenever you feel outraged because the dignity of the sacredness you have been entrusted with in your heart has been violated by your being, or by another person's being, or that you haven't lived up to your ideal, that's where the consciousness of Moses comes through very strongly. 
Ezekiel and Isaiah are both visionaries, being granted vision, but it is Elijah who intervenes the most with the destiny of his people by protesting to King Ahab against a slackening in the respect for the sacredness of the religion of the one God. We have come across this many times, and you know you can only attain to the consciousness of Elijah by getting into the immaculate state, totally purified, being baptized again with the Holy Spirit. Isaiah has the foresight to predict the coming of the Messiah, and he was the real founder of the Order of the Essenes. They introduce you into the attunement of those beings who left the world because there was so much corruption in the priesthood of the time, just like the Hesychasts later on, and who lived in the desert preparing the way of the Lord. Once more it's not quite the attunement of the sanyasin; the sanyasin is seeking for his personal liberation. These are beings who are preparing the way for the coming of the messenger, or let's say for the Message. If you're conscious of the importance of the Message, that's where your attunement with Isaiah will open a new perspective. 
He recognizes in Cyrus not just a king, but a representative of the spiritual hierarchy. Here you have a very beautiful example, if you can get into the consciousness of King Cyrus, Khusrau in Iran. He was a wonderful being, is a wonderful being; kingly, a kind of angel being, an angel master. He was the one who liberated the Jews from captivity in Babylon, 526 years before Christ. It gave rise to the flourishing of the Magi, holy men, the wise men as they call them, some of whom attained a very great degree of illumination. They were kings, kings of light and glory. For example Buzurg Mehr and Frashoshtra were Magi. It's  the tradition of the kings that Murshid speaks about. These were particularly luminous because they belonged to the Zoroastrian tradition, which is dedicated to light more than anything else. The whole being becomes very luminous, so whenever you're conscious of the degree of sovereignty that arises out of illumination, you'll get in a state of attunement with the Magi. 
One has to include the tradition of the Hassidim; there were some very great beings among them. They were discovering God in man, which was not accepted by the orthodox, who always considered God to be transcendent. This is what happens when people don't try and figure things out with the mind, but have a real experience of God. They find themselves at loggerheads with the orthodox who are figuring everything out and making systems. 
Perhaps one of the greatest Jewish masters was Simeon Bar Yoshy. They called him the holy lamp: his whole being was just light. He was a man who lived in the first century, shortly after Christ. The Romans were trying to find him and he spent most of his time with his whole body buried with just his head above the sand. There were, of course, many more wonderful beings, like Ezra, Simon the Blind.

Christian Tradition 

Now let's try and get into the consciousness of Christ. Perhaps you've seen the image of the shroud of Turin, because that is a clue. If you are able to get behind the appearance, all of a sudden you see this powerful being coming through, his eyes open, absolutely like he belongs to some other dimension or some other world altogether. He comes right through in your life. He doesn't sit there somewhere on a mountain top; he comes right through with all his power and yet with a simple touch, the human touch, at the same time. It's really a perfect example of God becoming man. Humility. Democracy is the outcome of insight when you see that all this is God. You get democracy instead of aristocracy, or you get this perfect combination between the two that Murshid speaks about. Christ gets in trouble with the law. He has tolerance for the sinners who are despised by other people. His love is so great that he's become the heart of God; not just the being of God, but the heart more than anything else. For the first time you have the prophet really going into suffering, instead of just remaining very aloof or very sovereign. He shares in the suffering of people. He doesn't despise those who are not able to overcome their personal selves. In fact, he is your being, with all your fragility and your struggle, while at the same time being the divine perfection. That's  the only way that the church fathers could say it was divine nature and human nature at the same time, the combination of those two; that's dogma, but it was the only way of saying it. It represents a stage in the descent of God in manifestation, the consciousness of God in manifestation. 
Christ touches one's  heart, just like Krishna, but of course, much more. That's why they portray him as a baby too, because he's so lovable as a baby, like Krishna. You don't portray Buddha as a baby. Christ is really God having become human, and it's the divine perfection that's very vulnerable but still perfect, even though it comes through in a very vulnerable way. Instead of just being triumphant and masterful, with all his overcoming he had accepted suffering and also vulnerability. It's the being of God. We project upon God our ideas of perfection; but our ideas of perfection are our ideas of perfection, but that's not the way the divine perfection is. Here in the being of Christ you can have a greater access to the real meaning of the divine perfection because even if it is perfect, it also includes limitation. 
	Of course we should get into the consciousness of all the Christian saints. There were some very great saints amongst the early church fathers: Bartholomew, Gregory of Palamas, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Serafim, and Anathesias. Well, there were many. Later on, there wereTheresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and many other saints in the Catholic Church, such as Therese of Lisieux. There are still hermits in Mount Athos who have left the churches and the monasteries, and live in a little mud hut, some of them having attained great realization. It's very similar to the beings of the desert, like Isaiah. It's the same tradition, and always they represent the underground work behind the Message. Occasionally, one of them comes into the world and exercises a more tangible influence, like the Archbishop who met Pope Paul VI, a king in the real tradition of the Orthodox Church. In his time, he was a Qutub. When we get into that consciousness of the one who has retired from life, but is acting totally behind the scene to prepare the world for the Message, then we get in contact with these beings and get into their consciousness. We just have to get in contact with the tradition of those who have aligned themselves with Christ and have followed his example. 

Islamic Tradition 

	Now we have the tradition of Islam. From its tremendous culture, manifesting works of art and philosophy and particularly from its most treasured offspring, which is Sufism, we can gather what a tremendous force it represents. Sufism is a combination of the spiritual traditions of the universe and therefore it's  not surprising that Sufism should be the grounds, the root of that tree which is the Message of our time. The reason is because in Sufism there's a realization, a way of looking at things which, although it had been anticipated, had never come through with that clarity. This way of looking you can find amongst early Sufis, like Ibn al'-Arabi and al-Hallaj and so on; but it comes through with great clarity and force in the words, in the whole being, of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. 
	When Murshid says the Rasul is the total fulfillment of the divine being, it's because he manifests the divine perfection. In humanity there's a certain fulfillment. Most men and women manifest one aspect, or few aspects. We'll have to go into this a little later, but for the moment, we have to try and understand the meaning of the Rasul. In the case of Muhammad, he wanted to preserve the transcendence. There was too much of a tendency to reduce God to the qualities of Christ, or even the body of Christ, whereas the being of God can't be reduced to just those qualities, even though they may be perfect. So he restored the balance. You remember those words of Jelal-ud-din Rumi when he says, "To the one who's lost in the Divine Imminence, I reveal my transcendence; and to the one who's lost in the Divine Transcendence, I reveal my imminence." So that's what Muhammad was doing: to remind people not to reduce their idea of God to their image of Christ. The consequence was that he himself had to take a very low profile. It was only later that the Sufis saw how even while he was announcing himself as just the servant of God, he was expressing a particular way in which God was coming through at that time, the Message of that time. Don't say it was imposing the divine order; it was that total sacrifice of the individual. Consequently, by this effacement of the ego, it was possible to bring through the Message much more than where there's a cult of the personality. 
	That's why the Muslims use the word the Message, Risalat. Although it came through very clearly with some of the Jewish prophets, like God told them, "Say this to the people," the message, this communication between the hierarchy and the people, came through perhaps the most strongly in the Qu'ran. So we have in Christ the being of God becoming more and more human; and in the being of Muhammad, and in Islam generally, the will of God, the direction, intention, coming through more and more strongly. 

Sufi Tradition 

Of course all the Sufis embody the special kind of magnetism which comes through from Islam. It's difficult to describe but if you go to Ajmer Sherif and sit there at night time, you see a few murshids praying in the mosques the whole night. You see the atmosphere, the magnetism, that comes through. It's very different from the magnetism of Shiva, the Shakti; it's very, very different, because it's been sanctified by the divine presence. 
	So, would you like to invoke many of the Sufis? Our silsila is just one of the many silsilas. They all have the same origin, in Hazrat, a very high being to whom the Prophet entrusted his succession and the task of maintaining the continuity of the silsila of the Sufis. Sufism was like the spiritual underground behind those instructions given to the mass of the people, "You do this, and don't do that," and so on. The real cream of Islam was communicated in Sufism. Quite apart from our particular silsila, let's think of Abu Yazid Bistami, the one who wanted to have the experience of the divine solitude, the oneness. That's the kind of condition you get to in the Dhikr, just the oneness. There's Al-Hallaj, also known as Mansur Al-Efallaj, who was crucified and who was an epitome of fana and baqa (fana, being totally shattered, and baqa, being overwhelmed) If you say the Dhikr, you mustn't be conscious of being yourself as the one who says it. I'm sure that your heart has been touched by the being of the sacredness of Mansur's consciousness and the intensity of his love for God. 
	Of course, we must mention Mevlana Jelal-ud-din Rumi, Shams-i-Tabriz, Ibn al'-Arabi, Niffari, al-Jili, and of course numerous Sufis of the different silsilas. 
	I'd like to invoke some of the members of the hierarchy, the silsila of the Sufis: Hassan Basri, Rabia al-Adawiyya, Ayaz, Ibrahim Adham al-Balkhi, Hazeifa Tu'l Ma'rashi, Usman Haruni, Hadji Sherif Zindani Chishti, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Qutub-uddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Gangji Shakar, Khawja Nizam ad-din Auliya, Khwaja Ba-Alama Chishti, Kalimullah Jehan Abadi Chishti, Yahia Almadani, Nizam ul Haq Aurangabadi, Fakhr-ul-Haq Aurangabadi, Kale Myan Sahib, Kalimi Delevi, Abu Hashim Madani, and Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan. 
	Now I'd like us to concentrate for a few minutes upon the being of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. I'd like us to do the Dhikr, getting totally into the consciousness of Murshid so it is as though you lose yourself, and it is Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan who is doing the Dhikr through you. 
	Keep getting deeper and deeper into Murshid's consciousness. Perhaps I can convey something of my memory of Murshid. The first thing that struck one is that tremendous majesty, dignity, and also, very strong divine power coming through him as he walked with great resolve and mastery. Every step, every motion was well expressed with total control, total mastery; strong, and very slow, nothing at random, all very much under control. The other thing one notices is a tremendous breadth, breadth of understanding, breadth of vision, breadth of love, compassion, kindness; cosmic, absolutely cosmic. The other thing was certainly a consciousness of the divine qualities, of the divine perfection. It's the consciousness of the divine inheritance which makes the king, and hence, the majesty. Behind that majesty, behind that there's consciousness of the perfection of the king, the inheritance of that perfection. Further than that, there was a sense of holiness like I've never seen in any other, a sense of being entrusted with something very, very holy. 

The Path of the Archetypes
from a Woman's Perspective
 by Dakini Lynn Marlow 

 Seeds of the ancient wisdom of the Sufis were planted in the West in 1910 by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. As with seeds that are transplanted to new soil, so it is with all cultures, spiritual traditions and teachings. New and often unexpected hybrids, a multiplicity of varieties and forms, flower in the new environment.
Sufism is still very new to the soil of twentieth century North America and Europe. We, ourselves, are the seedlings that are taking root and sprouting. Many of us are women, a new breed of women, certainly markedly different in lifestyle, psychology, and culture from the ancient and even modern women of the Middle and Far East who were involved with Sufism in the past. What varieties of flowers will blossom in our hearts?
As modern women treading the spiritual path, we are making revolutionary changes in all aspects of our lives. Few, if any, apt models relate to our situation. Traditional religion and even the ancient esoteric spiritual traditions may, in some ways, be anachronistic, and therefore confusing to apply to our modern lives and psyches. Thus, problems arise for us, especially since spiritual teaching and guidance can be easily misinterpreted. The unique dynamics between a disciple and spiritual teacher (guru) present major challenges and deep questions that open up a Pandora's box of issues for many modern women. Accepting guidance from a Teacher, especially a male teacher (particularly for women who have experienced abuse by men) may inadvertently and unfortunately result in reinforcing destructive psychological patterns, such as low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. This could reinforce separation by subtly supporting over-idealization for another and de-valuation of the self.

Feminine Spirituality

Many developments in attitude in the fields of psychology and health, economics and lifestyle have occurred in recent years. A new approach to spirituality, also rooted in ancient wisdom, has been sprouting in our garden in response to the longing of many women. It focuses on women's unique nature and needs. This new Feminine Spirituality incorporates many new insights gleaned from recent experience. 
The core of Feminine Spirituality is non-dualistic, valuing our earthly experience as much as, if not more than, a heavenly one. It does not claim that some experiences, thoughts, and emotions are more spiritual than others. It sees the value of pain as well as joy. It does not separate sexuality from spirituality. It is in this non-dualistic attitude that Feminine Spirituality meets Ancient Sufism which, above all, expresses the Unity of all creation.
It is in the heart of each one of us that the essence of Sufism and Feminine Spirituality lives. It is in every moment, in each thought, word and action that this essence manifests in our lives. Both Sufism and Feminine Spirituality honor and encourage full expression of our humanity being whole, not perfect. Immanence, "embodied" spirituality, the in-dwelling Presence of Spirit, as opposed to Transcendence, is a common focus. Sufism and Feminine Spirituality value both individuation and relatedness, love and authenticity.
Neither Sufism nor Feminine Spirituality has dogma or doctrine. Both acknowledge that we each are spirit incarnate and do not have need of an intercessor between ourselves and God. Neither Sufism nor Feminine Spirituality have a hierarchical structure. Although there is a silsila in the Sufi tradition, there is no hierarchy as in other traditions. The teacher, Sheik or Murshid, is called the "Friend." In fact, even God is often referred to as Friend, or Beloved, as opposed to just being a Father (or Mother, for that matter) as in some other traditions; leaving us mortals always in the position of child. 

Sufi Order Teachings 

As a twentieth century American woman, I have found the teachings and practices of the Sufi Order of the West supportive of my unique (i.e. different from past generations of women) needs and process of unfoldment. The teachings and practices have encouraged me and given me practical "tools" such as Wazaif, that nurture the seed of my Essence and help me manifest it in my life. Each time I take a step in the inner world working with practices, I heal old wounds and reinforce positive change by transforming attitudes and beliefs about myself and the world. Then I take another step in my life, grounding the practice in reality in all areas of my life, such as my relationships, career and creativity.
Although there is no "hierarchy" in Sufism, there is a tradition of fana fi sheik, which is based on the "do as I do, not as I say" motto. In this teaching, we're encouraged to model ourselves after our teacher. Unfortunately, many of us misunderstand this because it goes against our culturalization. Women especially, have been taught to look outside ourselves for the answers. We often do as others, especially male spiritual teachers, say, or rather our interpretation of what they say. Even when we try to do as they do, we often wind up doing what they do, not as they do. Doing as another does is not mimicking. It is knowing that the teacher is living according to his/her nature and like the teacher, the seed essence also grows within ourselves. Like the teacher, we come to appreciate our unique beauty and strengths; understanding what conditions our essential nature needs to unfold and blossom; and then honoring the unique fragrance that we add to the garden. So we see that fana fi sheik, doing as our teacher does, means living according to our nature, not his or hers.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan speaks of low self-esteem as a basic challenge we face in our lives. This may be even more prevalent in women than in men, due to the differences in our socialization and the amount of abuse that many women experience. Masculine images as well as referring to God in masculine language add to the challenge for women to identify with Divinity within themselves. The rebirth of Goddess Consciousness today helps to rectify and heal these wounds for women. Remembering the ancient traditions of the Goddess, hearing the "myths" and interpreting them in the light of modern (Jungian/Archetypal) psychology helps us relate them to our own lives and thus reclaim aspects of our lost or forgotten divinity.

Goddess Tradition 

In ancient times, the Goddess was known as a trinity. Instead of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of Christianity, there was the Virgin, Mother and Crone (Wise Woman/Destroyer). Working with this model of Divinity as Triple Goddess has been a very rich process for me and others who have explored it. As we come to understand the true meaning of Goddess and Woman, we see the connection more clearly. We shift our self-image, identifying more with the divinity that lies within. In this way we become more whole (holy).
The Virgin is the archetype of a woman who is "one unto herself," not beholden to anyone; it does not necessarily imply sexual chastity or celibacy. There are various models of the Virgin, such as the Warrior and the Sacred Prostitute or Temple Priestess. The Goddess as Warrior gives us a model of a feminine divinity that shows us how to exercise and express our qualities of focus, will, perseverance, and mastery without sacrificing our feminine nature. The Goddess as Temple Priestess (Sacred Prostitute) offers us a model for integrating our sexuality and our bodies in general with our spirituality.
The Mother, the second part of the Trinity, teaches us about nurturing ourselves and others. It has both light and dark aspects. This teaches us boundaries, when to say "no." It shows us a new meaning and model for self-sacrifice.
The Crone as Wise Woman and destroyer teaches us to honor our innate wisdom and intuition and to speak our truth. The Crone also offers us a healthier understanding of cycles, teaching us about death as part of life, not a curse brought by Eve. The Crone shows us a healthier model of letting go and accepting aging. She helps us to create an earth-based spirituality.
There are many Goddesses from ancient traditions. One example is Oshun, the Yoruba Goddess of fertility and dance. She works well as an archetype for working with the practice Ya Azim. Oya is also from the Yoruba tradition and is the Goddess of Lightening. She teaches us about the Crone aspect of ourselves and can be used as an archetype for the practice, Ya Haqq; Inanna and Ereshkigal are sister Sumerian Goddesses. They teach us about balancing out the light and dark aspects of ourselves. 

Chrysalis Connection

I and many other women in the Sufi Order have been exploring a variety of models that integrate new and renewed teachings, such as the above, with the teachings of the Sufi Order. Working with Goddess archetypes and using Wazaif is one example of what is possible. Retreats based on the Triple Goddess, the Elysium Mysteries and Iranian's descent to Ereshkigal are some other ways.
The Chrysalis Connection, the Feminine Council of the Sufi Order, is a basket which offers women support and direction in integrating the wealth of Ancient Sufi teachings as brought to us by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan into our lives and claiming it for our own. We explore the unique effects the practices have on women. We experiment with different styles of doing practices, such as using female archetypes, visualizations, movement and sound that may be different from the ones traditionally taught by men. In addition, several new models of retreats, specifically designed for women, have been developed. Chrysalis also offers a variety of suggestions for incorporating the feminine into the Universal Worship. In general, the Chrysalis Connection offers support, guidance and the opportunity for sharing and dialogue within the context of local Chrysalis Connection circles.
Murshid said that the coming age is the age of woman. We are the women he is speaking of and it is up to us to discover and manifest the meaning of his prophecy, to discover in and for ourselves who we are and what it is we bring to the Message. The Chrysalis Connection invites you to share your insights and experiences with us. Join in the gardening. Together we will plow up the old weeds and cultivate the new seeds, creating and ourselves becoming a beautiful garden. 


Chapter 7

Introduction

Pir Vilayat often refers to the Dhikr (sometimes spelled as Zikr) as the staple food of the Sufis, implying this practice, with its many variations, provides the essential spiritual nourishment sought in this tradition. Different Sufi Orders have their particular ways of repeating certain sacred phrases that form the sound body of the Dhikr. The manner in which our Order evokes the Divine Presence through this practice arises out of the experience of sacredness. It is essential that one learning the Dhikr not only master the outer form, but far more significantly evoke the atmosphere of mystical union which is the heart of this profound spiritual exercise.
The Dhikr is an advanced practice and should only be recited daily if prescribed by one's spiritual guide. This is meant to assure that the powerful effects which it can release are able to be integrated in a balanced way. Like learning to play a musical instrument, the Dhikr is best comprehended when taught by one who knows how to convey its subtlety, power, and beauty. The written material provided in this chapter is meant to accompany and amplify the personal instructions received from one's guide. 
The Dhikr is an endless spiritual treasure and a doorway leading the practitioner from fragmentation and alienation into the unity of the only Being. The insights shared by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and Taj Inayat Glantz, which arise out of their deep communion with the practice, reveal exquisite facets of this jewel. 


The Path of the Heart 
and the Practice of Dhikr 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

On the spiritual path the preparation that is most necessary is to make a location for the knowledge of God, God in one's own heart. If you ask me what I mean by location, the answer is that in the ear, for instance, there is a location for sound that comes from outside. The reason is in the ear there is the space for accommodation, not only for sound, but for every letter and syllable. If it were not for the location that man has in his ear he could not hear, and so location must be created in one's own heart. This construction of the ear is a perfect picture of the location that is in the heart. Outside, the ear is hollow. Its shape is its receptacle, and this is produced by response. The tendency is to take in all that comes. It seems as if some part of the ear has been cut out in order to make a hollow. Some part must be taken out of the heart in order to have capacity. Of course the difficulties of life fill this capacity all the time. 
Then again there is a cover in front of the ear which helps the sound to be retained in order to become distinguishable. In the heart this is produced by the power of concentration. The thoughts of love and sympathy must become distinguished; it is the concentration which allows it to be distinguished. Intuition is the distinction of all that comes to the heart. The heart must allow it to become clear. 
An inside organ of the ear is the vibration; this distinguishes every word. In the heart there is an intuitive faculty; every feeling that comes in the heart vibrates. This makes things distinct to one's view. 
Many consider the heart a picture of the eye, but I consider the heart is more the picture of the ear that hears. The actual sense that can be pictured as the eye is located in the center of the head. 
The work of the intuitive faculty is the perception and conception. There are two ways of knowing, one by the head, the other by the heart. Knowing by the heart is like hearing, and knowing by the head is like seeing. Seeing, no doubt gives satisfaction, but hearing gives a greater satisfaction still. All that is audible touches the depth of one's being, and what is visible becomes reflected on the surface of one's heart. The practice of Dhikr is meant to make that capacity in the heart in order to turn the heart into the ear. Every repetition of Dhikr is like carving something with a chisel. By carving a part of the heart, it may become hollow and it has the capacity to receive all that comes. The sound has power upon heart and soul. When you are given an exercise, its power is the same as the word or the meaning of the word. Therefore, one must cut out the part that hinders the heart to do its proper work. The power of the word is such that all things can be accommodated by it, if one does it rightly. Wonders can be worked by the help of the word. Therefore a mantra is more powerful than a weapon. This is the experience of my whole life.
Of course before one does a deeper practice of Dhikr one must control one's thoughts and feelings. If not, one may do a great harm to oneself or others. We must not direct ill will or anger to anyone, not even to our worst enemy. If one creates compassion, we will tolerate, forgive, and take life easy. Then power increases. There are two things: one is to receive inspiration, the other is to gain power, jemal and jelal. Jemal is mercy and compassion; jelal is self discipline and mastery over one's self.

Preparation for Dhikr 
by Taj Inayat Glantz

Dhikr is the central practice of the Sufis, and I've come to think that it is the only reality. In fact, the historical translation of Dhikr is remembrance, but I view it as actually the way God is. To me, Dhikr and the divine Being are one; there's no difference. Dhikr is simply the way God is. There comes a time when the whole of life also becomes the Dhikr; there is no difference. The practicing of Dhikr as separated from life is somewhat artificial, but it is the means by which we can come to realize the Dhikr that's continually resounding.

Fana - Annihilation

We first have to go into the idea of fana, and what that means, because Dhikr is made up of fana and baqa, which are traditionally translated as annihilation and subsistence, or living in the consciousness of God. There is a story about a parrot which explains this very well. A king had a parrot which he loved so much that he kept it in a golden cage, and was always attending to it himself. The king and queen both paid such great attention to the parrot that everyone in the palace was jealous of it. One day the king was about to go into the forest where the parrot had come from, and he said to it, "My pet, I have loved you and kept you with all the care and attention and fondness that I could. I should like very much to take any message you wish to your brothers in the forest." 
The parrot said, "How kind of you to have offered this for me. Convey to my brothers in the jungle that the king and queen have done their very best to make me happy: a golden cage, all kinds of fruits and nice things of all sorts, and they love me so much. But in spite of all this attention they give me, I long for the forest and desire to dwell among you, free as I used to be before. This always possesses my mind, but I see no way out of it. So, pray, send me your goodwill and love. One only lives in hope. Perhaps one day my wish will be granted." The king went into the forest and approached the tree from which the parrot was taken, and said to the brothers of the parrot, "Oh parrots, there is one whom I have taken from among you to my palace, and I am very fond of him, and he receives all the attention I can give. This is your brother's message."
They listened to the message very attentively, and one after the other dropped to the ground and seemed dead. The king was very depressed, beyond measure. Spellbound, he could not understand what it was that he could have said that would have affected the feelings of those parrots so much. The loving parrots could not bear his message, and he thought, "What a sin I've committed to have destroyed so many lives."
He returned to the palace and went to his parrot and said, "How foolish, oh parrot, to give me such a message that as soon as your brothers heard it, one after the other they dropped down and all lay dead before me." The parrot listened to this, and looked up gently to the sky, and then fell down too. The king was even more sad. "How foolish I was. First I gave his message to them and killed them, and now I gave their message to him and killed him also." It was all most bewildering to the king. What was the meaning of it?
He commanded his servants to put his dead parrot on a gold tray, and bury him with all ceremony. The servants took him out of the cage with great respect and loosened the chains from his feet. And then, as they were laying him out, the parrot suddenly flew away and sat on the roof. The king said, "Oh parrot, you have betrayed me." And the parrot said, "Oh king, this was the aim of my soul, and it is the aim of all souls. My brothers in the jungle were not dead. I asked them to show me the way to freedom, and they showed me. I did as they told me, and now I am free."
There is a sura in the Qur'an which says, "Muta qubla anta mum," which means, "Die before death." A poet says, "Only he attains to the peace of the Lord who loses himself. No man shall see Me and live." To see God, we must become non-existent. So this, in a story, is the meaning of fana, and it's the inner experience of the one who really experiences Dhikr. Dhikr in this case is the message to us, the means by which we die to ourselves, and find the Lord. This is the main theme that runs through all the poems and sayings of the ancient Sufis; they're very much on the theme of fana because it's the very kernel of transformation.
I would like to quote a passage of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the meaning of fana:
Through the whole spiritual process, what we learn is to disillusion the false ego. The annihilation of this false ego is its disillusionment. When once it is disillusioned, then the true ego recognizes its own merit. It is in this realization that the soul is born again, a birth which opens the door of heaven. Very often people are afraid of reading Buddhist books, where the interpretation of nirvana is given as annihilation. No one wants to be annihilated, and people are very much afraid when they read 'annihilation'. But, it is only a matter of the word. The same word in Sanskrit is a beautiful word, muqti, and the Sufis call it fana. If we translate it into English it is annihilation, but when we understand its real meaning, it is going through, or passing through. And to pass through what? To pass through the false conception, which is a necessity first, and to arrive at the true realization.
So in the process of Dhikr, what we're doing is annihilating the false conception that we have of the universe and of ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be reborn in the real knowledge. The "I" in us which says "I do this" and "I did that" and "I like this," that sense of "I" goes through a transformation and becomes the "I" of God. That's another transformation, the transformation of consciousness within the Dhikr.
The mystic on the spiritual path perseveres in wiping out this false ego as much as he can by meditation, concentration, prayer, study, by everything he does. His one aim is to wipe out so much that one day reality, which is always there buried under the false ego, may manifest. It is just like a spring which rises out of the rock and which, as soon as the water has gained power and strength, breaks even through stone and becomes a stream. So it is with the divine spark in man. Through concentration, through meditation, it breaks out and manifests, and where it manifests it washes away the stain of the false ego and turns into a greater and greater stream, which in turn becomes the source of comfort, consolation, healing and happiness for all who come in contact with that spirit.		
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan			
Remember that the whole relationship of the Sufi is one of facing God and allowing the action of God to happen to one, so everything is in relationship to the divine Being. We don't annihilate ourselves; how could we annihilate ourselves? We would simply be using another part of our will.
We have to give up our will and allow ourselves to be acted upon by the divine Being. The easiest way and the most natural way is through the path of love, because through love we naturally wish to become nothing so that the being that we love is able to live in us. In fact, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan even said that meditation is for those who can't love, or don't love enough. Then one has to go through the formal practice of meditation. So, our ability to give ourselves to the Dhikr is related to the degree to which we are able to love the divine Being. Much of Sufi poetry is just about this subject. The Sufi considers God as the Beloved.
The first Dhikr we call the negative Dhikr, which is the full Dhikr: La ilaha illa 'llah hu. The concentration behind it has to do with wiping away the false conception that we have of ourselves and the universe, and replacing it with the being of God. The reason we call it the negative Dhikr is because we're working with doing away with our concepts. After we work in this way for awhile and become more and more in touch with the divine consciousness, and more and more merged into unity with the divine Being, then of course there's nothing left to wipe away, because one is united with the goal. Then it doesn't do any good to say, "I am not me, this isn't the universe, it's all illusion," because one is united in the divine Being. Then one does the positive Dhikr, which is the Dhikr from the point of view of the divine consciousness. It is the consciousness of God, which involves the descent of the divine consciousness into matter and God limited in matter ascending into the state of realization, or into the Christ consciousness. First we have to pass through the negative Dhikr and then we move into the positive Dhikr.

Concentration of Dhikr

There are several emotions that we cultivate behind our practice. It doesn't do any good just to say these words. Perhaps if we said them all day long for forty days, just saying the words, even if we didn't have the concentration behind it, I'm sure it would have a transforming effect, but the power comes in uniting our minds in the concentration of the Dhikr and freeing our hearts from any thoughts in the world and directing them towards the being of God. Then our whole being is united in this concentration, and that's when the Dhikr becomes very deep.
Two passages from the ancient Sufis talk about the inner attitude that the devotee has in prayer or in performing the Dhikr. 
What predominates in the heart of the mystic while he is at prayer is his sense of the mystery of Him in whose presence he stands, and the might of Him whom he seeks, and the love of Him who favors him. And he's conscious of that until he's finished praying, and he departs with a face so changed that his friends would not recognize him, because of the awe that he feels at the majesty of God. And so it is that one who comes into the presence of some king or someone for whom he yearns or whom he fears and stands in his presence, he does so with a different attitude from what was his before he entered, and goes out with an altered countenance. How should it not be so with the Lord of the worlds, who has not ceased to be nor will cease to be and has no equal.	- Harith ibn Asad, Muhasibi 
When entering into prayer you should come into the presence of God as you would on the day of resurrection, when you will stand before Him with no mediator between, and he welcomes you, and you are in confidential talk with Him and you know in whose presence you're standing. When you have lifted your hands and said, "God is great," then let nothing remain in your heart save glorification, and let nothing be in your mind in the time of glorification other than the glory of God most high, so that you forget this world and the next, for glorifying Him. When a man bows in prayer, then it is fitting that he should afterwards raise himself up and bow again until every joint of his body is directed towards the throne of God. And this means that he glorifies God most high until there is nothing in his heart greater than God most glorious and he thinks so little of himself that he feels himself to be less than a mote of dust. Then he raises his head and praises God. He knows that He is listening to him, and when he worships it is fitting for him to worship so that there is nothing in his heart nearer to him. His prayer is thus made perfect, and he will be full of awe and reverence, so that he ceases to be conscious of other things, and while in prayer, he will not be concerned with anything else, and he does not occupy himself with anyone else except the one in whose presence he stands while at prayer.  -  Abu Sa'id Ahmad ibn 'Isa al-Kharra
Thus, if one's mind tends to wander as we do the Dhikr, one always brings it back to the concentration. 

Making God a Reality

Some people might say, "Well, I don't know God, how can I love God?" or "God is so vague, God isn't really a reality to me, how can I feel these feelings without that kind of relationship?" If anyone is in this situation, there's no point in doing a practice unless it corresponds to a real feeling inside. That is really a waste of time, insincere and what Jesus called vain repetitions. It is better to stick with a concentration that may be simpler or more suited to you and keep working on that, than to go on to something that just doesn't ring any bells, so to speak. For the people who feel that "God has not become enough of a reality in my life or my consciousness for me to feel I'm totally annihilating my being into the reality of His Presence," then use the time in the Dhikr, the internal space, to contemplate the blessings you've received in your life, and go from the blessing to the bestower. 
Let a connection grow between what you've received in your life, and then think, "Who is the being who has given it?" That's one way, if you don't feel a personal connection with God, that a connection can start to grow. You don't have to give up just because that hasn't happened in your life. Thankfulness in itself is a power that works in the heart when one really develops the emotion of thankfulness, and there's so much you have to be thankful for. Perhaps you look at your life and you say that there's nothing much in it and you don't have much, but you only have to look around at other people to see really how much there is. So it really just takes an awakened eye to be grateful for what is given. You can spend the whole day concentrating on the blessings in your life, and you don't have to go into any other part of the Dhikr.
The Dhikr ultimately will not have any transforming effect unless it is based on that real link between you and your ideal; that's where it all happens. It's the chemistry between the God ideal, your idea of God and you. However, that is only your conception, and contact with the divine Being just breaks it totally, and shatters it, because His reality is so much more than any conception we could ever have. If we didn't have that conception to start with, He wouldn't have the means by which to reach out to us. The God-ideal becomes our bridge between the soul and the total reality which we call God, but God is way beyond anything that we mean or conceive of or think of when we say God.
God means many different things to different people; when we say God, everybody has a different idea of what it means. Nobody can impose his or her idea on somebody else of what it is; it's a very inner conception. Through the path of Dhikr we give birth to our ideal of God as a means whereby the real God, or divinity, or total self, the true reality, the creative truth, however we want to call it, can break into our being. I hope this is very clear, because the practices have to be real, they have to be sincere, or else they just don't matter. These are tools by which one can work with the practice.
So we have the idea of giving thanks, and that opens the heart to be able to conceive of one who is giving us something in life; and then we have the making of that ideal. If we haven't started to make an ideal of God, part of our Dhikr can be spent in making our God-ideal. How do you make it? Murshid says if you have suffered, say, from lack of friendship in life, you could conceive of God as being the true friend who would always stand by, or you could picture God as the mother, or the father; you could picture God as the creator, creator of the universe. There's so much intelligence and wonder and beauty behind the creation that we simply go from what we can see to what we can't. Murshid talks about the big machine. Well, somebody made the big machine, somebody programmed the machine; there was the computer programmer behind the computer. We start with the mechanistic universe, but behind it we come to the mind that manifested the universe, so we come a little closer to having some kind of road to the divine Being.
Another way of making God a reality is contemplating the mystery and the vastness of life. You know that feeling when you were little, lying in the grass on a summer evening and looking at the stars and just being overwhelmed with the idea that it goes on and on forever and ever and ever. So you concentrate on the word infinity, or forever, or everlasting, or limitless, just those words, and feeling a reality behind what those words imply lifts one a bit into the sense of divinity. 
If we don't have an idea of God, when we annihilate ourselves nothing is reborn in us, there's nothing greater that fills us. What is the point of annihilation unless there's a reality that finds a greater life in us? The idea of perfection is a wonderful concentration, because everywhere we turn in life we see limitation; no matter how wonderful it is, there's always just a hitch in it somewhere. There's always limitation. But in the inner world, in the divine life, there's no limitation, and it's almost inconceivable to us because we're so conditioned to the idea of limitation. It's hard to even imagine, but if we concentrate on, say, love that has no end, a love where there's no end to the depth of the love, a love in which the person would forever sacrifice himself over and over a thousand, a million, unending times out of love, then we start to get just a little bit of the picture of God's love for us. So we take a quality and carry it to its extreme, as much as our mind can encompass in terms of limitlessness and perfection: a beauty that never fades, that is forever growing more beautiful, something like that. Again, this gives us something to work with if we need help in building our image of God. 
Of course, we'll never be stuck with that image. That's one problem with belief, one of the great setbacks of religions. They have a conception that is valuable for that time in history, for that evolution in the unfoldment of the planet, a certain idea of God, a certain idea of the messenger of that time. Then people stick to it and can't allow the belief to carry them to the next step. Obviously our image of God is going to be limited in our ability to conceive of this vastness. But it's an important step. It's a process. Our ability to make a God-ideal is part of the process of realizing God. In the end God bursts through it all and we make a new ideal, and that is shattered until our ideal is so big that it encompasses the reality of God. That's an inner concentration that we can do in the Dhikr.
In the negative Dhikr, you can think on the la ilaha, "This is not my body," and on the illa 'llah hu, "This is the temple of God." That really is the whole of reality in a nutshell, because it's replacing the ideal one has of oneself with the idea of being God. So that's a very easy concentration that one can hold, "This is not my body, this is the temple of God." For those who have a loving nature, the nature of a devotee, on the la ilaha and the illa, what is behind the thought is, "I only want to exist and be one with the one I love." If you love Christ, if you love God, if you love Murshid, if you love the Divine Mother, whatever you love, you just become nothing on the la ilaha and the 'illa, and you become one with your Beloved on the 'illa hu and you do that over and over and over until, as the ancient Sufis say, "Your qualities have been replaced with the qualities of the one you love." Or, "When the lover's statue is carved from a block of wood, what emerges is the Beloved, not the lover." So those are two ways: the way of love, and then the other way, when one hasn't met God enough to be able to love God.

Postive Dhikr

The positive Dhikr is from the point of view of the divine Being. It doesn't make sense from an individual point of view; it's doing the Dhikr from God's point of view. If it's too encompassing to grasp, again there are several other concentrations that are very wonderful. The first of these alternate concentrations is on the la ilaha, on the swing of the head up, rising to the highest point, one thinks of the words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, "Let the heavens be reflected in the earth, Lord." On the illa, one thinks of the earth, and then as one raises one's head on 'llah hu, that the earth may be changed into heaven. It is that song, or saying of Murshid, "Let the heavens be reflected in the earth, Lord, that the earth may be changed into heaven," which makes a wonderful Dhikr practice. When the head comes down, one is aware of the crown center, which is all the inner spheres, the higher spheres. When the crown touches the earth, there's the marriage of the spirit and matter; and from it is born the kingdom of God, which is really what we're all doing, the meaning of our lives. This is all put into the one practice of Dhikr, which is very beautiful. Part of the meaning of what Christ did when he was washing the feet of His disciples was that the energy of his crown was brought into the feet of the disciples, so it was the same ritual of the earth reflecting the heavens and therefore becoming transformed.
Another Dhikr is light, which is simply being aware of light during the whole Dhikr. On the la ilaha, one makes a receptacle, which can be symbolized by the crescent moon, in the heart. One digs one's heart out until it becomes like a chalice, the chalice of the holy grail, the purified heart that is capable of receiving the Christ consciousness because of its purity. On the la ilaha, the heart becomes this holy chalice of light, symbolized by the crescent moon, and one becomes simply the moon in relationship to the divine Being. On the illa, one feels the descent of light through the crown center coming into the heart. On the 'llah hu, the crescent moon grows and becomes the full moon and turns into the sun, which radiates out the light that has been co-mingling between the moon and the star. One just gets deeper and deeper into the worlds of light.
The positive Dhikr is from the divine point of view, so one is no longer concerned with annihilating anything. One is experiencing the merging of the individual with the totality, so what is there to annihilate at that point? Nothing. In Sufi stories, they make fun of the guy who goes on and on with his poems to the Beloved, and the Beloved is sitting right there, but he's more concerned with expressing his sentiment and emotion and so he's going on and on about the Beloved and missing the whole reality. So when the Beloved is there, there's no more concern with prayer or practice or anything, because one is with the One whom one desires. So one experiences the reality behind the universe, and that is the nature of God and the way God is. So on the la ilaha, one experiences God beyond creation, outside of creation. Then on the illa, we experience the other aspect of God, which descends into creation, which is creation: the flower is the manifestation of the seed. All those potentials that were in the seed become visible, they become in the plant. On the illa we start becoming; God becomes.
Naturally there is a limitation when God becomes, because out of the world of perfection and all possibility we come into concrete forms, into the sphere of duality: there's this and that, and each in itself can never manifest the richness of the totality. It is in the combination of all manifestations together that we can see perfection, when we take the whole thing and put it together. In its different forms, in its different pieces, each piece can only manifest so much, and that's where the qualities come in. What is to be discovered in the 'llah as we raise our heads is something so great that I can't say what it is, because you have to discover it. It's like, if I say the word love, what does that have to do with anything, with the reality of what you experience when you love or when you're loved? It's a vague reference to something that you may have experienced, but that's all. So we raise ourselves on the 'llah, and the change between the 'llah and the hu encompasses an enormous amount of evolution.

Dhikr as Awakening

One way we could look at the 'llah is that the supreme intelligence, the all-knowing, has been limited in matter. How much does a stone manifest of divine intelligence? Hardly anything. But that spark which is buried in the heart of that stone, that intelligence which has been crystallized as hard, dense matter, goes through the process of evolution and awakening and is transmuted slowly, over millions of years, into vegetable life, and the vegetable life is transmuted into animal life. There's an awakening process in each sphere. The intelligence is able to reach out and to know itself; it is not limited and confined as it is in the stone. And then up through the human body which is this wonderful instrument that allows the divine intelligence to awaken through it. So on the illa to the 'llah one experiences the divine consciousness ascending and reaching its culmination in the human mind. That mind was always there, that intelligence, creativity, love, compassion, all the qualities that were there in the blueprint had to be blanked out in the stone. All of it comes to life through this process of evolution. You actually feel the whole world awakening through the various spheres, and when you come into the human sphere, there's a tremendous breakthrough of intelligence. However, there are many levels to the human being: some are almost as dense as the stone, and others are sensitive as the Christ. So within the human sphere, there's an awakening throughout history.
That's what the whole Message is for: the messengers have brought the Message so that humanity can awaken and awaken and awaken until we become the instrument through which the divine Being is actually able to awaken and say, "I am." It's like the divine intelligence, which has been trapped and held in the stone of matter and in the stone of our cold hearts, has finally broken through. That's what Murshid says is the whole purpose of manifestation, that God Himself awakens through creation and says, "I am," and becomes aware of His own existence, His own life. So at that point in the Dhikr we are the means through which the divine intelligence awakens and realizes itself in the human being. 

At that point, in order to do it fully, we have to become the Christ, because the Christ, the Messenger, the Rasul, is the being in whom the divine Being realizes Himself; at that moment, we ourselves become the Christ. At that moment, we are the universe; there's nothing else. God has awakened through us, and that's why we can say, "I am the divine Presence." The final stage of the hu is the divine Presence. God is not in heaven. God is not anywhere but here, and we have become the means by which He has manifested Himself, in the hu. That hu is the moment the universe was created for. It's the moment people have suffered for. It's the moment everything has happened for. It's the whole point; it's everything. All the angels, all the masters, everything has been working towards that moment when we say hu and the universe realizes itself, and God realizes Himself through us. That's the positive Dhikr, and that's why I say the Dhikr is God.

The Negative Dhikr 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

The Dhikr is very complex and paradoxical. First there's the negative aspect of the Dhikr: it destroys all our false assumptions. Then there's the positive aspect of it: it gives us a way of looking at things which one could say is the divine point of view. From the moment you have freed yourself from the image of the world, you don't have to keep on affirming that it's an illusion. You have freed yourself from it. From the moment you have overcome the sense of your personal image, you don't have to keep on repeating that you're not who you think you are, because you've already got to that realization. In the positive Dhikr, it is taken for granted that you see very clearly those two things are perfectly illusory. The next thing is to really experience the reality of the universe instead of simply negating the illusion, and really experience the reality of your being instead of just denying that it is what you think it is. Therefore, you call it the positive Dhikr instead of the negative Dhikr. 

First Phase: "La Illaha" 

First of all, there's the circular motion of the head, describing three quarters of a circle: "La illaha," which is the negative aspect; it means there is no divinity: "illa," except God. So you can interpret it in a very elementary way and say, it's the religion of Abraham. It's an affirmation that there aren't many gods, there's only one God. If you go more into detail, you see there's a negation of multiplicity. It's not just that there aren't many gods, only one God; but it really means that all of this is an undivided wholeness. That's exactly what physicists say nowadays. It is indivisible. You cannot divide it. 
Any attempt to think of an electron as a separate particle is bound to fail, because it isn't an entity of itself. There's just the complex which appears, made up of electrons, and there's a bigger complex, and so on and so forth; a smaller wholeness, and a bigger wholeness, but ultimately it's all one whole. That is the "Shema Yisrael, Yahuva Elohenu, Yahuva Echod." The Dhikr says exactly the same thing. It's all one Being. That statement is obviously negative to our sense of ourselves as being entities, so it doesn't just speak about God, it speaks about us assuming we are a person. On the other hand, the opposite is true; the whole point of creation is that God should become a reality, as Murshid says. I use the word "actuality." In other words, you are the purpose of creation. That this total reality should converge and congrue into you and me is the purpose of it all, the miracle of it all; that's what is achieved by it all. 
To come back to the original formula, what it really means is first of all, there's no such a thing as a fragment of the whole, because it's an undivided whole. If you look at each  - we'll have to use the word "function" of the whole, there's no way of saying it, of course  - you'll find that in it the whole is latent, to use David Bohm's word, "enfolded." Something of that wholeness comes through in the limitation that is you. If you're anything, you're a limitation, but what comes through is the divine perfection. So the Dhikr is really discovering the extraordinary combination of the divine perfection and human limitation in oneself. Rather, it is discovering the personal self as being this mixture of divine perfection and human limitation. 
Of course, to be able to affirm that perfection, one has to let oneself be shattered in one's sense of separate "I-ness," let's say egoness. That's what the Dhikr is about. La illaha is the first negation. "There is not," that's what it says; it's negative. There is not: La illaha. La means no. La illaha. Illaha means divinity. There is no divinity, illa (except) 'llah, Allah, the one Being. Now the illa is a very strange word: "except." You could say, "If it were not for."
First of all, as you go into the circle, La illaha (that's three quarters of a circle), remember that the head moves from facing the left shoulder and then the solar plexus and the right shoulder and then turns upwards vertically. One says La during 180  degrees of the circle, moving from left, to solar plexus, to right. Then illaha comes at the end of the upward motion from the right shoulder upwards. So it's "lllllaaaaa illaha," not "la illaha." Illaha is not accentuated. You accentuate La. You can hear the dervishes say "La illaha." It's a total refusal of letting oneself be caught in the illusion of thinking that there are several beings in the world. You're destroying the illusion. 
When you say "La illaha," you can only say it with the power that will eventually transform your being and your life, if you say it with the conviction of one who sees very clearly that the picture we form of the world is not at all the way the world is. That's what you have to do. You do it therefore with very much conviction, with very much strength. La illaha, like a kind of refusal to let yourself be caught into that kind of conditioning. So you're affirming freedom. 

Second Phase: "Illa" 

Now the head comes down, the Sufis say, like a hammer on the heart. It can also be described as an arrow that hits the heart, like the arrow of Eros. At that moment one's sense of oneself is annihilated. First of all, as one makes a circle one annihilates one's image of the outside world. When the head comes down, one annihilates one's sense of oneself. I say "one annihilates;"  one is just lending oneself to the divine action that is annihilating one's sense of the world and one's sense of oneself. 
This is the stroke of the matador, when you actually plunge the dagger into your ego, but it's the divine operation taking place upon you. Of course, there are many dimensions in this. You could just be denying the illusion of the ego, or you could let yourself be shattered by the encounter with the divine ego. You remember the words of al-Hallaj: "If you could ever have a whiff of the divine understanding, your understanding would be shattered." If you could ever come across the greatness of God, your sense of yourself would be totally shattered. So that would be a better way of handling this than trying to overcome the illusion of the self. 
Somehow one has to keep in mind at that particular moment the words of al-Jili, who said "He creates you as He annihilates you and He annihilates you as He creates you." Once again, a paradox. When you're undergoing this traumatic shattering of the self, implicitly within the self that is shattered are the seeds of rebirth. As Christ said, "Does not the plant have to die so the seed may live?" and of course, does not the seed have to die so that the plant may live? Somehow there has to be a traumatic breaking down of something so there may be a rebirth. That's why al-Jili said, "He annihilates you in creating you and He creates you by annihilating you." Remember the words of, I think it's St. Francis, who said, "To become what I am I have to go through a place where I am nothing." St. John of the Cross said something very similar, too. So you go through that place in yourself when you say "illa." 

Third and Fourth Phases: "'Llah Hu"
 
If you remember, one bows one's head and it is only then when you have been totally shattered by the encounter that you can glorify. In fact you're being lifted beyond that very negative place of annihilation. As you lift your head on 'llah you are catapulted, propelled by that force that lifts you above that place of annihilation. You are conducted into an act of glorification and there is the divine Presence. 
So the first two phases of the Dhikr, La illaha illa, are the negative aspect. Then comes the affirmation, 'llah, and the answer, Hu, "I am that I am," a very powerful experience. 
I've already mentioned the difference between manifestation and the Presence. Like for example you meet a person and you think, "Oh, it's wonderful! Look at that. What a personality that person has! Isn't it wonderful to see such beauty or such power or such intelligence or so much light in a person, or so much joy in a person." Well, you're enthused by the qualities of that person. The best way you could say it is, "Isn't it wonderful how God manifests in this person, manifests these wonderful qualities in this person." 
Then when you're in love, you get to a point when what is important for you is the presence of the person you love. You may love the qualities, but the important thing is the Presence. A deeper relationship with God is not in terms of all the wonderful things we're experiencing, but in terms of the Presence that is shattering to one's sense of oneself, the Presence that annihilates and recreates or quickens anew. It's that relationship the Sufis are talking about and which is always described in terms of love, because that's the best exemplification of it. One has to go through this very traumatic encounter with what one understands to be God, until one realizes that in fact it is one's real self, but at first it appears as though it were other than oneself. 

Fikr of the Negative Dhikr 

In the negative Dhikr when you make the circular motion of the head, you think La illaha, you exhale. When the head comes down you think illa, you experience being annihilated by the divine action, and you inhale. You continue inhaling as the head rises when you think the work 'llah, the act of glorification. So both of them are inhaling. When you would be saying Hu, you hold your breath. The beauty of this is that breathing slowly forces you to go through each one of the phases in sufficient time to be able to get into the concentration of each phase. If you breathe slowly you'll just have time to get in each phase and really deepen your experience in each phase. 


The Second, Third, and Fourth Dhikrs 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

The Second Dhikr: "Illa 'llah Hu" (Bowing Dhikr) 

Now we will go into the second form of Dhikr, which is just illah 'llah Hu. Let's say you are in your cell, you have left the world behind, you're feeling happy about turning within. You have surrounded yourself with a zone of silence. You have placed a sentinel at the doors not only of perception, but also of conception. That means you've let your thoughts circulate in the twilight of consciousness, at the edge of your consciousness. Instead of letting yourself be encapsulated, you have discovered this other inverted space, so you are still in contact with all things, but from inside. You are moving from consciousness to consciousness, without passing through the senses and through the framework of time and space. In this state, you're beginning to let a thought beyond your thought come through. 
Remember, and this is very important, you are not the one who is trying to experience. The greatest drawback is to think, well, now, what am I experiencing? No, it's the other way around. The personal self is if anything the object, it's not the subject. What is important is not what you are thinking now. What is important is the thought that is coming through you, not what you are thinking. You can't with your will determine that you're going to think, like a theme of meditation, for example. That's not our method. We're trying to trigger off the breakthrough into a totally different dimension of thinking and experiencing: to divine consciousness. 
So you're sitting in your cell. The best way to do this practice is kneeling, because you are sitting cross-legged, you're the center of the universe; everything is revolving around you. When you're kneeling, you are passive with regard to whatever you're kneeling in front of. That's why there's a difference between meditation and prayer. It's the best station of the body to participate in the cosmic celebration in the heavens. 
We're getting into the consciousness of the recluse. The first thing that we're going to do is surrender our ego consciousness, our sense of identity. You see, you can fight as much as you like against it. You might accept metaphysically that the ego consciousness stands in the way of the higher realization, that it's programmed, but you can't get rid of it by any act of the will. Therefore, the only way to let anything bring about a change is to allow a greater power than your own to shatter you:  the power of your power, the power from which your power comes originally, or the will from which your power is derived. That's what we mean by the divine power or the divine will. 
Whatever remains of one's personal consciousness has to lend itself to the divine operation so there is a surrender there. The curious thing is, once you have surrendered your will (and incidentally, never surrender your will to a person, only to God, to this consciousness of the divine will) then you are lifted up. You're recreated again. You're reborn again. Both stages of the alchemical process come together, almost simultaneously. On one hand there's a dissolution of the ego, and absolutely simultaneously with this you are reinstated again, as al-Hallaj says. Totally renewed. Well, what he says is, "My nasutiat" (that means my personal traits, my idiosyncrasies) "are fana," have been annihilated. As a consequence "Thy lahutiat" (Thy divine nature) "is placed in the place of what was my personal nature." So there are two aspects of the Dhikr: the annihilation, what we call surrender, and then the reinstatement. The reinstatement is in the nature of personality as it manifests the divine qualities. That's as one says, "illa 'llah." When one says "Hu," there's no longer any question of qualities, like my personality. There's only the divine Presence. 
When we go a little more deeply into the meaning of the Dhikr, we see that manifestation and the divine Presence are two very different things. Manifestation, the multifarious forms in which the divine Being manifests, is displayed. That's the epiphany. On the other hand is the divine Presence, which is totally unqualified. There are no qualities, just the Presence. Think of the presence of a person; we're not talking about the qualities of that person, we're talking about the presence of that person. 
So it's illa 'llah Hu. Please do not say, "illa Allah Hu." It's "illa 'llah. When you have two "a's," one after the other in the Arabic language, you don't pronounce the second "a," so it's illa 'llah. There's no "a" in the beginning. It's important to emphasize those two "l's," because it gives a richness to the intonation which you don't get if you just say the one "l." It's very flat if you just say, "illa la." There's nothing at all. It's illa 'llah. Double "l." As you know, al-Hallaj said, "the Hu is the answer to your call," so you say it in a different voice than you say "Allah." Al-Hallaj said, " it is God who answers through your voice," so when you say "Allah," you are the one who is calling, but when you say "Hu" it is the divine Being who is using your tongue to speak to you. It's totally neutral, totally impersonal. 
If you feel like it, you can bow quite deeply, or less deeply, and even more internally, if you like, without having to display it overtly. There's no doubt that when you're on retreat and there's nobody about, you're in your cell, it's a wonderful experience to place your head on the ground as you say "illa." When you say ''llah" you really feel as though you're being lifted by the divine Being. You don't lift yourself. You prostrate, and then somehow the divine action, the divine operation upon you, a will you pursue in yourself beyond your will, lifts you from that position of prostration. Somehow you pursue in yourself that lift that is given to you by raising your consciousness high. If you were to sit trying to experience samadhi, and trying to lift your consciousness with your will, you'd find that you just couldn't do it. It doesn't work that way. One is catapulted by this action that lifts the body, and the soul continues, following this lift further. A good example is the rider of Pegasus. It's said that Pegasus wasn't allowed to reach Olympus, so at a certain stage the rider had to set off on his own. Pegasus gave him that impulse upwards, and then at a certain moment he flew off the back of Pegasus and took off, like a projectile which can be triggered off by a first impact, by a primer. So in the same way there's that moment when somehow you feel you've been lifted, and you just let that upward motion proceed further up. 
Then there is that wonderful moment of suspense when you say "Hu" but nothing's happening. There's no upward motion or downward motion, just a moment of suspense. That is the moment when there is the feeling of the divine Presence beyond any kind of qualities or forms. It's a totally different way of experiencing, because in experiencing, you're always experiencing something tangible. It's a totally different attunement altogether, and so you stay in that state as long as possible. 
First of all, surround yourself with a zone of silence. Place a sentinel at the doors of perception. Feel how wonderful it is just to be free from all the circumstances, from the thinking of your mind, from your emotions; to not even be under the impact of the nature around you. You're enclosing yourself. Also there is the beauty of the repetition, because you don't have to do so much thinking. The repetition does it for you. 
Of course it becomes more and more wonderful when one keeps on doing this for hours and hours. It has really a magical effect upon you, totally transforms your whole attunement. However, there are a few things that we have to avoid. One is that we somehow bring in emotion of a personal nature. Of course it's fine, but nevertheless it takes away the very sacred nature of the experience, and consequently the experience is not as great. The most common emotion that one brings in (when there's a surrender, when the head comes down) is a sense of inadequacy, or of precariousness, being very fragile. There's a sense of perhaps even guilt, of one's weakness, maybe even anxiety. It feels like handing oneself into the hands of God because there's a kind of fear in one. When one's head comes up, there's also a tendency to exult in great joy, in a feeling of relief, of 
being free from all those things that are weighing heavily upon one. When one says "Hu," there's a tendency to experience peace. 
Now, our objective is to be really cosmic, not just have a personal enjoyment or personal experience, and so we have to work with these emotions. The only way to do it is to get into the spirit of the sanyasin. 
When one says "'llah" there's a tendency of outgoing, like when one is glorifying, but the Dhikr is very very internal. In this world, one tends to externalize oneself. When you turn within, you can find an up and down within the space internally, but it's purely figurative, because there's no inside and there's no outside. There's no up and there's no down. At least there's no outgoing when you say "'llah." One could say perhaps better that it's like turning upwards instead of turning forward. Anyway, it's a kind of combination of internal and upward, but not that outgoing " 'llah." You want to really internalize very, very much. 
The other thing is exactly what Christ reproved, vain repetition. The fact of repeating a thought, a word, has an advantage in that you're not thinking. The word takes over for you; but on the other hand you get very easily into a rut and a routine repetition. So how do we do it? The only way to avoid simply vain repetition is to think of the meaning of each phrase as you do it. Otherwise you're just saying the words, and saying the words, and that's all. I don't say that that's not helpful. These words are really magical; they just have a tremendous power, but they have much more power when you really experience the meaning. So what I suggest is that we do the same thing, but this time instead of saying the words aloud, we think them. You'll find if you think the word instead of saying it aloud, it's easier to get into the meaning. So as your head comes down, as you prostrate, you simply experience the great joy of surrendering that tyrant in you that is the ego. As your head comes up, you experience being lifted beyond yourself, and reinstated, reinvested with divine qualities. 
As Fikr, you exhale when you bow, when you prostrate, and then you inhale when your head comes up, when your body comes up. Then you hold your breath during the "Hu." 
Third Dhikr:  "Allah Hu" 

The next Dhikr, which is very similar to the Surrexit, is Allah Hu. 
The thing about these practices, and that applies to all the mantras and Wazaif, is the sound you produce is a feedback system; and therefore you are able to hear the condition of your soul. Especially in this one: one feels the supplication. One feels in some people almost the despair. One feels perhaps, in some, almost a prevailing, and even a kind of affirmation of ego. What is interesting is to watch from the sound of your attunement, and change your attunement to conform to what you feel you would like to do. Learn how to listen to your voice. The Sufis say you hear the voice pronouncing the Dhikr as though it were at the end of the hall. 
I don't know if you've ever played the organ in a cathedral. You are pressing these keys, and there's that enormous sound filling the whole cathedral. That's the kind of thing to do when you're repeating a mantram. You mustn't be the person who's repeating the mantram. You have to listen to the sound as though it were produced by something beyond yourself. Finally you become the instrument of the power working through you and translate it in terms of vibration. 
Fourth Dhikr: "Hu"

The fourth Dhikr is just Hu. Well, that's a very overt way of doing it. It can be done by whispering. Like Hu.... u.... u.... Hu.... u.... u. 
Then you stop repeating the sound, and just let yourself be carried into the feeling of the Hu, which means, of course, the divine transcendence. 


The Positive Dhikr 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

Overview

The  positive Dhikr is a much deeper view. One experiences the reality of the universe instead of simply negating the illusion, and really experiences the reality of one's being instead of just denying that it is what one thinks it is. 
There are, of course, several levels of the Dhikr. In the first stage, one is tracing a circle with one's head, three-quarters of a circle, and one says, "La illaha." One is reaching into the vastness of the universe. In other words, one is freeing oneself from the limited environment. One is destroying the image one has made of the universe, and one is overwhelmed by the vastness of reality which is far beyond any image that one could form of it. 
In the second stage, the head all of a sudden turns downwards, from upwards to downwards. Imagine that the third eye becomes an arrow that hits the solar plexus. In the negative Dhikr, one destroys the image one has made of one's self, which is not what one is, but one's idea of what one is. In this more advanced stage, I discover how the divine perfection descends into manifestation and is squeezed into the forms that arise out of necessity, out of the very fact that multiplicity is fragmented. In short, it is the divine perfection suffering limitation in the conditions of existence. In the second stage, I say "illa." 
In the third stage, the head rises back up towards the zenith, when I say "'llah," which is the proclamation of the great name. In the first level of the Dhikr, I'm glorifying, I'm conscious of the great jubilations of the heavens. In the second stage of Dhikr, I see that the whole of existence glorifies. In fact, the whole of existence seems to be like the emergence of the total Being, and I am that emergence. You, all of us, and every creature and every planet and every atom, everywhere it is the emergence of the One Being. 
To start with, I see very clearly that my body emerges from the fabric of the planet, and my mind emerges from the thinking of the Universe, and my personality emerges from the inheritance that has been passed down through the ages, and my consciousness also emerges from the total consciousness into a focalized, individualized consciousness. I have to be very careful not to let myself be caught in the notion of "my" emergence. It's not beings who emerge; it is the Only Being who emerges in different aspects of the totality. 
Now, the fourth stage of the Dhikr is just "Hu." The head is still upwards, and one discovers something which is not generally experienced, that it is all the divine Presence. 
There is a difference between manifestation and the Presence. All of these forms manifest. They show in the many-splendored aspects of the divine Being, coming forth in different forms and different beings. 
When I say "Hu" I suddenly discover the Presence beyond any form. It's not what I was experiencing in samadhi: the uncreated state of things. No, it is right down in creation. Whatever that Presence is, it's not subject to time. It's not subject to change. It's not focalized. It's not in a form. The qualities that I see manifest something of the Presence, but they are not the Presence and the Presence is not dependent on them. 
Whatever that Presence is, it's something you have to experience. There's no way of saying it. You've been listening to the music, and you've been thrilled by the music. It's beautiful and meaningful, it's lively, and all of a sudden, you discover the Composer. That's what it's like. 
All of a sudden, everywhere you discover this Presence. The form of the Presence in which this manifests is limited. This Presence can never manifest totally. It's just certain aspects that may show forth. 
That's the great moment. 
That's the moment of ecstasy of the Sufi. While the motivation of the yogi was awakening and realization, the Sufi is just moved by the emotion of love. He doesn't try to understand. He's just so moved by the discovery of the Being he loves; although, in fact, it is God who loves, and he is simply the instrument through which the divine love manifests. 
Once more, it's always paradoxical. We get very confused when we try to explain it in words. To understand Sufism, one has to get into the consciousness of the dervish. The dervish is someone who is in love, not with a particular person, but there's no way of saying one is in love with God. At first he is deeply moved by the beauty and the majesty he sees everywhere. Then suddenly he sees that he himself is the beauty he admires. He discovers all those things that he was seeking coming through him and he realizes they belong to the One Being of whom he is a projection. 
Finally he discovers it is the One Consciousness functioning through him. So he gets to a point. He reaches the point which is described by al-Hallaj, when he says, "Once you have been exposed, or had a whiff of the Divine Consciousness, your consciousness is totally shattered." Let's say, your understanding is shattered.
So the dervish is someone who has been shattered by a peek into the divine realization and his understanding has been totally shattered by it. He is faced with this tremendous mystery, that in fact, it is our basic error to think, "I want to know the Universe, or to understand things better" or "I want to know God." 
It's the other way around. There is only One Being. Whatever I mean by "me" is just an offshoot of that Oneness. So the Sufi never says, "I am discovering God." He always says, "It is God who is discovering Himself. The best I can be is an instrument." The Dhikr is the expression of this. You could say, one goes through a very dramatic conversion through the Dhikr. Suddenly, everything looks different, one begins to see from the divine point of view. 
One of the ways of doing the Dhikr is not to repeat it fast. You don't have time to get into the experiences corresponding to these four stages. I find it much better to simply take your time, and don't worry about your breath. Just go into the first stage, and the second and the third. 
The words, which are very remarkable, are signals that now you get into this attunement, now you get into that attunement. One could say we are letting ourselves get carried into the different levels of awareness. 

Positive Dhikr: First Stage, "La Illaha" 

The first thing is, "La illaha." The head moves in three-quarters of a circle. You imagine that the third eye first faces the left shoulder, then the solar plexus, then the top of the head. That's only an indication of the direction the top of the head assumes. Imagine this circle is really enormous; in fact this circle encompasses not only the physical universe but all universes. 
Your consciousness is swept into the vastness, freed from the narrowness of environment. Let yourself be swept into that state of consciousness where all of a sudden you're aware of the vastness of the universe. 
Just imagine! Most of us are simply aware of this little environment. Are we aware of the families of the victims of the air crash, for example? Are we aware of the families of the people who were executed? Are we aware of the people who are being tortured in camps? Are we aware of the people who are dying of hunger? No, we're aware of the immediate environment: the few trees around us; the wind blowing, the sun shining. We are imprisoned in our environment by our senses, and our mind follows suit. 
Here, in the Dhikr, you let yourself be suddenly carried into the realization of the vast expanse of the universe. It doesn't mean you just think of the way the stars look from the earth at nighttime. They look like little dots in the sky. That's looking at the universe from your vantage point, that's not the universe. To see it as it is, your vantage point would have to be spread out through the whole expanse of the universe. The planets would look enormous and the stars even more so. Do you see what it does to your consciousness? Immediately consciousness assumes a vastness which will, in turn, affect your sense of identity. 
If you could extend the field of your vision to the microscopic world, you would have still another mind-boggling dimension, in the infinitely small. You discover the universe is inside the molecule and all of that is spread out in the microscopic world. It is quite incredible! 
If you can, get into the pulsing of life in the cells of the body, continually dividing and moving, changing, and acting, the life proliferating. The effervescence of life is at the organic, biological level. That's not just in your body, but throughout the whole universe. 
Then, get into the consciousness of all people. Your friends: experience what it is like to be a person who is close to you, get into their consciousness. Other people. Your cat, horses, birds, all kinds of animals, chipmunks. The consciousness of the trees and the plants. Then reach right out, not just to the people you know, reach out to people in China, in Africa, people in Indonesia. Reach right out into the consciousness of all these beings and all the animals and all the plants. 
Instead of just thinking of the atoms and the molecules, get into the consciousness of molecules, or the consciousness of the atoms, or the consciousness of the electrons, of the neutrons, or protons. 
Get into the consciousness of the planets. The planets are beings. The cells are beings, endowed with consciousness. The suns are beings. The stars are beings. 
Get into the consciousness of the other universes from the physical universe: universes of light, universes of sound, universes of pure radiance, of pure splendor, even beyond existence, as Buddha does. Realize how we're being squeezed into a very narrow being, a narrow environment. Your consciousness has been stifled in awareness, but it spreads out, permeating the universe at all levels. 
Think of the marvel that somehow you're part of all this! It's impossible to say how, but that it should be at all possible that consciousness should be able to reach out there while participating in your very flesh; that's the perplexing thought that blows the dervish's mind and gets him into the state of ecstasy. It might be a rishi, a  being who has expanded his consciousness. All of that is the experience of "La illaha." 

Positive Dhikr: Second Stage, "Illa" 

Now we're going to go into the second stage. For that, you would have to be able to oversee the whole process of life as though you weren't in the universe. It would be like a samadhi state; you know your body is part of the fabric of the universe, but still, you're able to look at the whole thing while not being enclosed in it. You see the physical universe is like a crystallization, a compressed state of reality, that has gotten squeezed by some kind of constriction. 
It's very difficult for the perfection, the infinite bounty that manifests in the universe, to come through in each offshoot, each creature of that reality. It's too much to come through the creatures. Something comes through, and maybe quite a few attributes. For example the chipmunk has a great sensitivity, but it doesn't have much power. The eagle has power but it has cruelty in it. It's very difficult to combine all these things.  Where are you going to find all these qualities in one being, in one excerpt out of the totality, one emergence out of the totality? 
So if you could get into the divine consciousness, you could see that all of this, the whole universe, is one Being. It's one Being, one Being. There's one consciousness of the one Being. 
What we call the universe is the body, maybe, of that Being; but there are many more aspects of that Being than just His body. There is His personality, the consciousness, many aspects. All one Being! And I have the privilege of being part of that one Being! 
If only you could get into the consciousness of that one Being and see how that Being is getting squeezed into the various fragments of His being. He doesn't simply fragment Himself; each fragment is the totality manifesting in a certain way. That totality is squeezed, as in the Jewish "tzum-tzum." It's the shrinkage of limitation that is the condition of existence. The best thing is to get into the consciousness of Christ being scourged by the Romans, keeping His head high; not entering into the awareness of being bound, or even Christ being crucified; not getting into the self-pity because His body is being tied. He is still being conscious of His perfection; but being aware of the limitation in which that perfection has to function. That's the big thing. 
In the second stage of Dhikr, one is going into the broken heart. One gets very deeply into the suffering, not just of people but of animals and of plants and minerals. One begins to realize the whole fact that suffering is built into the universe. We're living in a world where animals can't survive without hurting each other, can't live without eating each other. That's the crucifixion. It was the condition of freedom. It was the only way each part could be free: to give it an individual will. If you give it an individual will, it will inflict suffering on others. 
So you get into the suffering to the point that your heart is broken. Yet, somehow, you're always aware of the divine perfection. You never identify yourself with the limitation. In fact, that's the only way to meet physical torture, never to let oneself be drawn into it altogether. You can't imagine Christ, for example, cringing under the whip of the Romans, or having self-pity? No, never. 
You always imagine His head high. In the same way, don't let the consciousness of suffering draw you into self-pity, or even pity. There's a difference between compassion and pity. Your heart is moved to the core by the awareness of the suffering, and yet somehow suffering is beautiful; there's an ecstasy of the person who is in a concentration camp being whipped to death, the ecstasy of overcoming self-pity. Great heroism! It is the victory of the consciousness of perfection over any thought of limitation. That's the second stage of Dhikr, when one says, "illa." 
In fact, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan gives a key, and that is: One experiences the emotion of the soul, rather than the emotion of the heart. One avoids sloppy sentimentality. You can't help a person if you express pity for them, which is an emotion of the heart. If you express compassion, that means suffering with the person, sharing the suffering which is the emotion of the soul that has descended into those lower spheres and has accepted the chains, like the man who was chained in the cave of Plato, for example. 
The soul still remains free. You can only help the person who is suffering and help them out of their consciousness of limitation if you yourself are basically free. This is equally true at the physical level and at the mental level. If you go to the dentist, and just think "This is my body and not me," you won't feel the pain. If you have a problem or a situation which is very painful to your mind and is causing you anguish, and you refuse to identify with your mind and just be conscious of the divine investiture that you represent, then it helps you over the anguish. 
When you identify with the person who has been hit, you suffer. The second stage of Dhikr is a very great experience because you are the divine perfection suffering limitation. In other words, you are both the fragment and the totality, because the totality comes through in each fragment of itself. Just like the total DNA of the universe is present in each cell of each body, so is the totality present in each fraction. It is totally paradoxical, but then the truth is always multi-logical, and therefore perplexing. Our minds are continually limiting truth by the limited capacity of the mind to understand. We're misinterpreting reality by oversimplifying it to free our minds. 
What the Sufi is doing is to accept perplexity. It can be expressed in these words: "When I'm conscious of my bubble-self, I'm a fraction of the ocean; and when I'm conscious that I'm the ocean, I realize the ocean is present within the bubble." The second stage in Dhikr is not just seeing how divine perfection is limited, but it's also discovering the divine perfection within limitation. 

Positive Dhikr: Third Stage,  " 'Llah " 

This leads one to the third stage: you have already seen that it's all One Being and it's an overwhelming realization. Now you think of yourself and you try to understand, what does all this mean? You see that in fact this body emerges out of the bodiness of the universe! It's not an entity. It has its roots in the fabric from which it emerges, just like a crystal has emerged from a rock. You can't divide it. It is drawing its reality out of the rock, which it is. It is the continuation of the rock. 
Then you can see your body as absolutely implicated within the planet. Just because you can walk or your body can be projected in a missile to outer space in a spacecraft, it doesn't mean that your body is an independent entity. It is totally part of the physical universe, dependent upon it, drawing it within itself. 
You see how everywhere bodies emerge out of the total bodiness. In fact, what they call the fragmentation of the universe is not just the fragmentation, but the emergence. You can see now that your mind is not "your" mind. "My mind" just emerges out of the thinking of humanity and it has its roots in the total. You can't separate it. "My personality" comes through the inheritance, through the whole past of the race. It has emerged, but it is not separate. It's not an entity. Your consciousness, what you think is "me,"  "I know this" and "I know that" and "I remember this," is also emerging from the total consciousness of the One Being. The consciousness also gets focalized into various lenses. It is one consciousness squeezed into a lens. It is a deformation, consciousness through the lens limited to a certain vantage point, a point of view. One thinks, "This is my view" but it is consciousness which has been limited to a certain vantage point. 
Not just you, but all beings, all of what you think of as beings are all the one reality that is emerging out of its ground. You experience the miracle of life emerging, manifesting, being unmanifest, in a flourish of beauty and skill and consciousness. What it means! What that miracle of life means! So you exult in a cry of glory. That's why the third stage of Dhikr is really our participating in the cosmic Mass, because every time there's emergence from the totality, it glorifies the totality from which it emerges. 
We say "'llah" to express that glory of the emergence of life, that the totality comes through each part of the totality. The previous part was that the totality is limited in each part, and now the thought is how that totality, even though limited, still does emerge in each part. It's a very optimistic, glorious stage. After having gone through the suffering of the second stage, one experiences the jubilation of the third stage. 

Positive Dhikr: Fourth Stage, "Hu" 

Now see if you can, all of a sudden, switch over from the thought of manifestation, of all the bounty that is manifest, the plethora of forms, beings, the body of God, the universe, and just experience the Being beyond any form. Al-Hallaj, the Sufi mystic, expresses this very wonderfully in the language of lovers. He says, "Art Thou there? I would not have presumed to say 'Art Thou there' if Thou hadst not already said 'I am here.'" 
It's the language of lovers. It has gone beyond the point of saying, "How I like the color of your hair," or "How I like your voice." It is saying, "I long for your presence," the presence beyond the form. That is why it is only when one is in love, that one understands the meaning of the Presence. The mind understands the meaningfulness of the forms of manifestation, the tremendous intelligence manifesting all these forms, programming meaningfulness, but the Presence is only revealed to one who is experiencing the miracle of love. "I have admired all of this, but imagine that He is here. Imagine, He is here!"
This is expressed by the words of a great dervish, 'Abd al-Jaffar an-Niffari, an Egyptian dervish, who said, "Why do you seek for God up there? He is here!" You don't have to go into a state of samadhi, tearing yourself away from the physical world. The Presence is there, within the manifested realm. The only thing that is true is that if your attention is on the form, then you don't relate to the Presence. It is a different attunement. So that if one is caught up by the beauty or the wonder of the forms of the world, the universe, one is not able to grasp the Presence. One doesn't have to totally obliterate the forms of manifestation by going into samadhi. 

Fikr of the Positive Dhikr 

When you do the fikr of the positive Dhikr, inhale when you say "La illaha," and exhale when you say "illa 'llah Hu," because you are supposed to have been annihilated, and now you are experiencing existentiation.


Chapter 8

Introduction

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan described the organizational aspects of the Sufi Order as a basket in which the flowers of the teachings can be gathered. The organization is there to serve the divine intention which seeks fulfillment through this esoteric school. 
After an overview by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, information related to leadership positions and bodies in our Esoteric Order is given. The next sections cover legal, administrative, and financial aspects of our organization. The final part reviews various publications which are significant for mureeds.
In recent years considerable effort has been directed toward improving the organizational dimension of our endeavor. With such a valuable teaching that can so benefit humanity it has become increasingly important to build the best possible mans of making it accessible and in a manner in keeping with our sacred mission. 
If you have any questions or suggestions on material related to this chapter or any other themes addressed in this Handbook for Mureeds please contact the Secretariat.


Why the Sufi Order at All?  
Wherefore Organization? 
By Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Every creative idea that has left a mark in our world has needed a systematically constructed underpinning to match the intricacy of the insight manifested as the idea. The more monumental and significant the vision, the more sophisticated the organizational sub-structure.
Think of what it takes in terms of planning just to manage a house and live up to the lifestyle of our civilization in our day and age instead of living in a cave as our ancestors did; what it takes to have one's trip together in one's job or in life generally. Think what it takes to set up a Himalayan expedition so that one or very few humans can enable us to share their view from the summit; or what it takes to obtain those photos of our own magnificent Planet or the moon or other planets, or the galaxies. Think what it takes to actualize the inspiration, the ideas of a composer in a symphony orchestra performance; or to set up the circuitry of a computer so it can serve as an support system for our thinking; or the skillful planning needed for any manufacturing enterprise.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's ideas, updating ideas and experiences elaborated through the ages, bring into focus through his inspiration novel ways of looking at things in the realm of spirituality, and the skills to actualize them, that have a vital purport for those looking for the next echelon in human realization in our particular epoch in the advance of human thinking.
For ideas or creative inspirations to have practical applications and prove beneficial to human society, they need to be communicated, to snowball in a vast outreach. This is what Murshid means by spreading the Message. The tools for communication in our present civilizations are gigantic as compared with the time of Buddha or Laotse. Consequently they require incomparably greater sophistication and organization, which means planning systematically in an orderly fashion. Hence the word "Order" is most appropriate. Think of the orderliness required to set up the planetary telephone network, radio and television and mass media. It requires well-planned structure. 
Murshid called organization the "basket" in which to collect whatever, that is to hold it together so it does not get lost by lack of coherence. Of course it is incomparably more complex than a basket; it consists in a structure. Let us think of it as a live and therefore evolving structure like the biological cell or the whole physical body. I like to call it an organism rather than an organization. Its structure as Murshid set it up is very subtle, to match the spiritual values it incorporates. It has its own raison d'tre. Consequently it cannot rest on the same principles as a secular administration, for example a governmental or political administration. In the same way as the symphony orchestra tries to interpret the inspiration of the composer, a government is elected because it is supposed to represent the needs of the people. This does not imply superiority or status, but rather skill and also realization. Therefore to ensure the transmission carried down by the tradition, albeit updated, it needs to be hierarchical rather than democratic. The contribution to the music by the composer is far greater than that of the flautist, for example. Most of the players could not live up to the skill of the soloists and the soloists could probably not match the conducting of the conductor. There have been cases where, owing to the illness of a conductor, a musician in the orchestra took over triumphantly. However, the ideas of the composer represent the keynote.
Here is an even more apt illustration of a teaching institution like ours: supposing we were to integrate elementary school, high school, university, postgraduate and teachership. Here instead of one composer, the curriculum is driven originally by a few pioneering minds whose ideas and insight set the standard in a curriculum which is not only progressive, therefore graduated, but also continually upgraded. This resembles our format more than the previous one because, in the perspective of the universal Message pioneered by Murshid, the composers are all the masters, saints and prophets of all religions and times instead of one worshipped guru. Moreover, instead of a set score, as one gains in proficiency, one can brainstorm variations on the ancient themes and even explore new ways. At first the pupil must learn the rudiments assiduously. As the novice advances, he/she is invited to participate in a more interactive role. Then he/she is given more incentive to schedule his/her study course. Then he/she is endowed with the incentive to free-wheel in exploring new vistas and therefore offer a personal contribution toward the given curriculum of the institution, updating and upgrading it. Ultimately if the postgraduate has proven him/herself in a high level of proficiency, he/she will take his place in the chair of the teachers setting further standards upon the institution as a whole. 
The hierarchical principle which is the rule in all traditional orders did not present a problem in the past, particularly in the East. In our age of freedom - also because when our soul's sensitivity is awakened, its need for freedom becomes more imperative - most of us are allergic to any form of constraint. All organization does effect a certain amount of constraint upon haphazard or whimsical spontaneity. However, one needs to write into its structure safeguards against thwarting personal creativity which thrives on free enterprise. This has been my concern throughout the time we have been active. In fact I have encouraged personal creativity instead of towing the line. On the other hand, coherence gives punch to creativity and so does concerted cooperation in a shared vision. As Bach meant, one needs to have incentive but curb randomness and prune one's incentive to give room for the inventiveness of each other in a cooperative way. By knowing the laws of harmony, improvisation becomes more coherent. It is the alliance of norms and prohibitions that gives an Indian raga its style, or redundancy that makes a word different from another one. Our thinking, though restricted by our language, gains in clarity by conforming to syntax. Likewise the structure of the Esoteric School reflects that which is traditionally transmitted (though updated) by the Sufi Orders, which sets the aims and restrictions that favor the attainment of awakening, illumination and the attunement to the sacred. In addition, Murshid opened the arcane of the Order to the esotericism of all world religions.
Therefore he purview of those committed in an organization needs to be clearly defined, while one needs to avoid that those appointed to a post with a responsibility should repress those for whom they assume a measure of responsibility and by thwarting their incentive, damage their growth. Moreover we do not enjoin our members to follow blindly. To be authentic, the ranking should be based upon the measure in which those commissioned in a spiritual organization inspire and teach. It is also obviously based upon a sound knowledge of the teaching and particularly its application in fomenting personal growth and helping initiates deal with their problems and achieve by means of mastery though accomplishment. The onus of the administrators is to recognize and assess their post in the structure accordingly. This is precisely the purpose of the degrees of initiation. It is difficult to apply these principles in all fairness based on a valid assessment. We are trying to define the criteria optimally. 

Organizational Structure
of the Esoteric School   

In order to facilitate the passing of transmission, teachings, and training to mureeds, a structure is used which draws upon the classical model of a Sufi Order, but with variations added by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in order to address the needs of our time.

Head of the Order and Succession

In keeping with tradition the Head of the Order designates his/her successor. Pir Vilayat has appointed his son Zia to serve in this role upon his passing or resignation. Although they are related this is not a requirement.

Jamiat Khas

The Jamiat Khas is the esoteric governing body of the Sufi Order which considers how the teachings of the Order are being transmitted. It is comprised of senior teachers of the Sufi Order selected by the Pir of our Order. A rotation allows fresh viewpoints and experiences to take place while at the same time keeping the body to a manageable meeting size. It usually meets semi-annually. 

Jamiat Am

The Jamiat Am consists of those initiated at the level of seven and above. This larger body also considers Esoteric issues and the activities of centers. 

Leadership Roles

The following roles are by appointment and are not viewed as initiations. They are related to various functions in the organizational aspects of the Esoteric School. A coordinator conducts classes in a Sufi Order Center and bears some or primary responsibility for organizing the center. A Guide is concerned with initiating new mureeds and serving as a spiritual guide for those involved in the training. A Representative combines both of the above functions by acting as the Center leader and as a Guide. Regional Representatives are involved in supporting the work within a certain area of North America. They organize and conduct trainings and meetings for leaders and mureeds within a region. A retreat guide is certified to conduct individual and group retreats. For a listing of people in the above roles consult a Centers List, available from the Secretariat.

Legal and Administrative 


Legal Status

The Sufi Order is a tax exempt 501( C )( 3 ) Non-Profit Organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is the Exoteric governing body of the Sufi Order. Its members are appointed by the Sufi Order's Pir. They perform the usual oversight activities of a Board of Trustees and advise on organizational and legal issues. It meets semi-annually. 

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is a subcommittee of the Board which meets monthly via phone conferences to handle the ongoing business of the Order. 

Secretariat

The Secretariat is the North American office of the Sufi Order. Its staff is responsible for providing support for mureeds such as new initiate packets and training materials; coordinating publications such and Heart and Wings and Keeping in Touch; supporting the Pir of the Order by taking care of transcriptions and technical support; helping with the communications among governing bodies, and organizing annual gatherings for training and retreats; and taking care of legal requirements such as IRS filings and Center non-profit status. 
Centers
A Sufi Order Center may offer a variety of activities depending upon the needs of Center members and the availability of people trained to conduct them. Esoteric Class (also called Gatha classes), Universal Worship, Healing Circles, Retreats, and Zira'at Lodges may be offered there. Centers are listed with the Secretariat and are established through a procedure authorized by the Pir of the Sufi Order.


On Abundance, Prosperity and Money 
By Qazi Lee

We don't often consider money in a spiritual conversation. Yet, as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says, spirituality is mastery on both the material as well as the spiritual plane. One must attend to one's duties in life. It is not selfish to want success. It is by success that we are propelled upward. Only if we close our eyes to what lies beyond success do we stand still. There is nothing wrong with devoting one's life to earning money as long as the motive is good and we don't harm anyone in our pursuit. Business achieved in a right manner is in itself a spiritual practice. The importance of integrity, honoring one's word, and maintaining balance are key.
Initiation and spiritual guidance are never charged for in the Sufi Order. However, the Sufi Order itself is supported by dues and donations to continue its important work of disseminating the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. All support is greatly appreciated.
In many traditions, tithing is emphasized. By donating a percentage of one's income to a worthwhile cause, one often can increase the flow of abundance in one's life. It is important to maintain the balance between giving and receiving.
As a mureed, one has access to a vast richness of teachings to bring fulfillment into all areas of one's life. 

Standards for Center Finances 

There may not be a charge for individual instruction in spiritual practices, such as prescribing Wazifa, with mureeds or for Gatha classes. Donations may be requested for message classes and funds gathered may be used for the following purposes: 
1. To pay Center dues to the Secretariat.  
2. To pay for Center expenses such as purchasing tapes or books that mureeds may check out from a Center library. 
3. To pay for other local expenses such as postage and printing for newsletters and telephone calls made as a part of Center business. 
4. If a Regional Representative has a local Center, then funds raised may also be used to help pay for regional expenses such as postage, printing, long distance calls, and travel expenses to other Centers. 
5.	Any other use of funds raised by a Center should be approved by a committee appointed by the Center's Representative, including the Center treasurer and a person elected by the mureeds in the Center to represent them. The treasurer should keep detailed records of income and expenses, and make such information available to any mureed in the center who wishes to see it. With the approval of the Center's finance committee, surplus funds may be used to help pay for the Representative or Coordinator to attend training events.

Financial Ethics Policies

Purposes for a Financial Ethics Policy
1.	To provide clear direction concerning the appropriate methods and approach to handling funds within the Sufi Order, including center, program, regional and national finances. 
2.	To provide guidelines concerning compensation for services provided by individuals within the Sufi Order, as well as direction as to which teachings must be provided without compensation. 
3.	To define areas of concern in financial relations between mureeds and guides that involve financial matters outside the Sufi Order, such as employment relationships and investment solicitation. 
4.	To establish a sense of confidence in Sufi Order stewardship in the process and attitudes surrounding financial matters in and around the Sufi Order that will allow us to have freedom with responsibility and bounty in the financial arena.
Financial Methods and Ethics Training
1.	The annual Leaders' Training shall provide instruction in the Esoteric disciplines needed to develop clarity and mastery in financial matters and practical applications training in that realm. 
2.	The Secretariat will provide models for financial record keeping for Center operations as well as for event presentation. This will come in conjunction with the National Federal Tax registration process. 
3.	Salaried personnel in the Sufi Order shall be paid at a rate that does not exceed "usual and customary" compensation for similar functions and organizations. 
4.	Compensation for seminar presenters shall be specifically defined in advance of the event, and shall not exceed "usual, customary, and reasonable" compensation for similar services paid by similar organizations. (The Executive Committee will provide "sample agreements" showing various acceptable compensation formats.)
 5.	It is not appropriate to charge for spiritual guidance, prescribing Wazaif, or the Gatha/Githa classes. However, it is appropriate to accept donations for expenses related to classes such as room rent, utilities, and refreshments. (Care needs to be exercised in tracking such income and expenses.) 	 
6.	Payment of an individual's expenses for leadership training, Regional Representatives' activities, or other legitimate Center or Sufi Order purpose is acceptable. Such payments will depend on the financial resources of the level of organization involved. Individuals who do not need assistance in paying these expenses are encouraged to continue paying such expenses. In other words, Centers are responsible for center-related expense reimbursement; regions are responsible for that region's expenses; and the Secretariat is responsible for national expenses. Donations for expenses should be organized on the same basis.
Investment Solicitation
1.	Guides shall not solicit or accept investments from their mureeds. If a guide and mureed wish to become involved in an investment relationship, the guidance relationship needs to be terminated, and a six months cooling off period allowed before the investment relationship begins. 
2.	All teachers, former guides and other individuals in positions of respect in the Sufi Order should exercise caution in entering into investment, employment, or other business relations with mureeds, particularly those with whom they have had a special relationship and/or if there is a difference of perceived wisdom or insight between the mureed and teacher involved. 
3.	Working with people that one meets through the Sufi Order, as client or service provider is one way to expand and deepen our work. However, using the Sufi Order as a "prospecting pool" for selling goods and services will detract from our relationships. The basis for distinguishing between those perspectives is the intent and attitude of the individual involved. Usually general advertising appeals, especially using direct mail, are more difficult to keep clear than personal contacts, however, there is no absolute answer to this type of question.
Commercial (or Personal) Use of Sufi Assets
Use of Sufi Order mailing lists, insignia, or other assets of the Sufi Order for personal commercial ventures unrelated to the purposes of the organization is prohibited.
Anyone having questions concerning the appropriateness of any activity described above is encouraged to briefly describe the situation and associated questions in writing, and submit it to the Ethics Committee, c/o the Secretariat office. 

Ethics Committee 

The purpose of the Ethics Committee of the Sufi Order is to deal with reported incidents of possible unethical behavior in interactions between Sufi Order teachers and their students or the public. A further purpose is to advise on procedures to help prevent problems of possible unethical behavior. 
The Committee's functions are: (1) to serve as a body to determine whether there has been an ethical violation in a particular instance; (2) to serve as an advisory board to advise Representatives, Guides and Coordinators concerning what might constitute ethically correct behavior in a particular situation; (3) to serve as a body to establish guidelines of ethical behavior for Representatives, Guides and Coordinators. 
Reports of unethical behavior will be investigated by the Ethics Committee, which will forward its findings and recommendations to the Pir of our Order or a Pir designated representative. The determination of the appropriate sanction (e.g., removal from authority) will be made by the Head of the Sufi Order in consultation with the Ethics Committee. 
All incidents of possible unethical behavior will be reported to the co-chairpersons. The co-chairpersons may consult with other people as necessary in individual cases, but strict confidentiality will be observed at all times. The Ethics Committee will give the Board of Trustees an annual report summarizing the types of cases investigated in a previous year, along with the dispositions, without any identifying information. 

Procedures of the Sufi Order Ethics Committee 

1. Advisory Opinions	
	 
Opinions may be obtained by a teacher from the Ethics Committee regarding the appropriate way to proceed in a situation which appears to the teacher to raise ethical questions. Questions should be submitted in writing to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee. (Please contact the Sufi Order Secretariat for the current Ethics Committee co-chairperson.) The letter should include a brief description of the factual situation and of the concerns which it raises for the teacher. The Ethics Committee will respond to the teacher in writing. All communications in this process will be considered confidential, but a summary of the issue raised and the response will be shared with the Sufi Order Jamiat Am at its annual meeting.
 
2. Ethical Complaints	  

Anyone may file a complaint alleging that a teacher has committed an ethical violation. Complaints should be submitted in writing to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee co-chairpersons. Contact the Secretariat for addresses of the current co-chairpersons, as material should be sent directly to them to maintain confidentiality. The letter should briefly describe the facts of the situation and the teacher's behavior, which the writer believes to constitute an ethical violation. 
The Ethics Committee will investigate the complaint and determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe, based on the existing code of ethics, that an ethical violation has occurred. At a minimum, the Ethics Committee's investigations will include furnishing the teacher against whom the allegations were received with a clear written statement of the charges, and allowing the teacher an opportunity to respond in writing. 
If the Ethics Committee determines either that no ethical violation occurred or that any violation which occurred does not require formal disciplinary action, it will communicate this in writing to the teacher and complainant, along with any suggestion which, in the opinion of the Committee, might help to prevent the recurrence of the problem. Complaints, investigations, and actions by the Ethics Committee not resulting in further proceedings are strictly confidential and privileged, but a summary of the nature of the complaint and the recommended action of the Ethics Committee will be made available to the Jamiat Am at its annual meeting. 
If the Ethics Committee determines there are reasonable grounds to believe an ethical violation has occurred, and that formal disciplinary action is required, it will so notify the Sufi Order's Pir or a Pir designated representative and the teacher. The Sufi Order's Pir or a Pir-designated representative will schedule a meeting with the teacher and his/her designee and will give the teacher or his/her designee at least twenty days advance notice of the meeting. If it is not possible for the teacher (or teacher's designee), the complainant, or any witness to attend the meeting, any of these may participate by scheduled telephone conference call. The Pir of the Sufi Order and members of a sub-committee of the Jamiat Khas deal with possible disciplinary recommendations and may also attend the meeting. At least twenty days in advance of the meeting a copy of all the evidence regarding the allegations which are contained in the Ethics Committee file will be delivered to the teacher or his/her designee.
At the meeting, the teacher or his/her designee will have an opportunity to question the complainant concerning the allegations and the right to present evidence on his/her behalf, including witnesses as to his/her reputation in the community. No disciplinary action may be taken based solely on written or other hearsay statements. The Pir of the Sufi Order or his/her appointed representative will prepare a statement of findings of fact and of recommended actions, which will be submitted to the appointed subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas to deal with disciplinary recommendations. In arriving at a decision for appropriate disciplinary action, the subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas will take into account the protection of students, and the standing of Sufi Order teachers in the eyes of the public.
 
3. Ethical Standards	

Suggestions concerning the revision of ethical standards may be submitted by students or teachers to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee through the Sufi Order Secretariat. Suggestions should be made in writing, and should briefly describe the facts of the situation which raises an ethical concern, the ethical concern it raises, and the recommended ethical standard. If it deems the revisions necessary and/or helpful, the Ethics Committee may submit such revisions to the Sufi Order Jamiat Am for adoption at its annual meeting. 

Ethics Committee Contact

Please send ethical complaints directly to the Ethics Committee to ensure confidentiality. The Sufi Order Secretariat will be able to provide the current Ethics Committee contact person.
Publications

Heart & Wings-A Family Reunion in Print

Heart & Wings is a publication of the Sufi Order. It is distributed three to four times a year free to mureeds, members and friends. It is the one publication which our community receives on a regular basis, providing us with a way to keep connected, and giving us a sense of what the larger whole is doing. Therefore no subject is too small or too large. Heart & Wings news ranges from major world events to announcements of the latest birth in our community (a major world event for the parents!). We welcome your feedback, questions for Pir Vilayat, news, articles, poetry, and ads. Please send to the Secretariat, attention editor of Heart & Wings. 

Keeping in Touch 

Keeping in Touch is a newsletter from Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan exploring the leading edges of spiritual development. Ten to twelve times a year, it is sent to all those current with their Sufi Order membership contributions. Subscriptions are also available from the Secretariat. 

Omega Publications 

Omega Publications is a mail order bookstore which carries a wide variety of works on Sufism and related spiritual paths. Books difficult to find are carried as well as those popular in bookstores throughout the country. A catalogue is available for the asking. 



Sufi Order Addresses



Abode of the Message

				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY 12125
				518-794-8090

Abode Events

				The Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY 12125
				518-794-8045

Healing Order

				Himayat Inayati
				RT2 Box 166
				Leicester, NC  28748
				1-704-683-1219

				Emergency Healing Listing
				Carol McGonegal
				410-849-2520

Heart & Wings	
	
				PO Box 30065
				Seattle, WA  98103
				E-mail: Beauty@Compuserve.com

Kinship Activity	
	
				Shams Kairys
				853 walker Ave
				Oakland, CA 94610
				510-832-8873

Omega Publications 
 	
				The Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030E
				New Lebanon, NY  12125
				800-443-7107 
				E-mail: omegapub@taconic.net

Retreat Concentration
	
				Aziza Scott
				19 South Summer St. PO Box 399
				Nothingham, NH 03290
				603-679-2586


Sacred Spirit Music

				C/OThe Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY  12125
				1-518-794-7860


Sufi Order International Secretariat

				Secretariat de l' Ordre Soufi 	
				23 reu de la Tuilerie
				92150 Suresnes
				France
				011-331-472-84846
				Email:  72167, 1012@compuserve.com


Sufi Order International North American Secretariat   
  	
PO Box 30065
				Seattle WA 98103  
				Ph:  206-525-6992 Fax: 206-525-7013        
				E-mail: SufiOffice@compuseve.com
				
		
Zira'at			
				Wahhaba Phillips
				805 Burleson St
				Grand Prairie, TX 75050
				214-263-0150

A Handbook for Mureeds
Edited by Thomas Atum O'Kane



(c)1996 Sufi Order founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1910

Published by: North American Secretariat P.O. Box 30065 Seattle, WA 98103 206-525-6992 (phone) 206-525-6992 (fax) 
SufiOffice@compuserve.com (E-mail)


Dedication

This Handbook for Mureeds is dedicated to Naqiba Boese, who touched the souls of so many with her joyous love of life, people, and her Father-Mother God! She truly embodies the esprit of a mureed on the path of Love, Harmony and Beauty. We are left with her delicious laughter awakening us to the divine Presence in this very moment.



Acknowledgments

Thank you to all those who helped manifest this Handbook for Mureeds:

Nur Fatima Morrison, for recognizing the need for a mureeds' handbook and calling forth the initial inspiration.

Ma'abud Warner, for his persistent dedication in placing this material in a fitting printed form.

Dorothy Craig and Jyoti McLachlan, for editing with care.

Basira Dufour, for layout and graphic design.

Anne Casperson, for proofreading.

All those whose inspiration and insights are offered in the articles in this handbook.

Much Joy, 
Atum O'Kane 
Editor August 1996






Chapter 1

Introduction

The first chapter in this Mureeds' Handbook gives the reader a context in which to understand the nature of the Sufi Order and its work. Symbols can be a source of continuing revelation so we begin with our symbol, the heart with wings, and a commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. This symbol reveals the soul of our tradition and the orientation of the training provided. A statement of the Sufi Order mission is given to further articulate our purpose and direction.
The article on "Sufi Roots" and the biographical material on the founder of the Order, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, and his son and successor, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, convey some history of the Order and the central figures in its development. The section on the Message, including "Liberated Spirituality," speaks of the vision of an awakening within the consciousness of humanity in our time.
The various activities created by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan to foster individual and planetary spiritual unfoldment are described and the chapter ends with responses to the questions most frequently asked about the Order. 

The Symbol of the Sufi Order
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

The symbol of the Sufi Order is a heart with wings. It explains that the heart is between soul and body, a medium between spirit and matter. When the soul is covered by its love for matter, it is naturally attracted to matter. This is the law of gravitation in abstract form. As it is said in the Bible, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." When man treasures the things of the earth, his heart is drawn to the earth. But the heart is subject not only to gravitation, but also to attraction from on high, and as in the Egyptian symbology, wings are the symbol of spiritual progress, so the heart with wings expresses that the heart reaches upward towards heaven. The crescent in the heart suggests the responsiveness of the heart. The crescent represents the responsiveness of the crescent moon to the light of the sun, for naturally it receives the light which develops it until it becomes the full moon. The principal teaching of Sufism is that of learning to become a pupil, for it is the pupil who has a chance of becoming a teacher, and once a person considers that he is a teacher, his responsiveness is gone. The greatest teachers of the world have been the greatest pupils. It is this principle which is represented by the crescent: the crescent in the heart signifies that the heart which is responsive to the light of God is illuminated. It is the divine light which is represented by the five-pointed star, and the star is reflected in the heart which is responsive to the divine light. The heart which by its response has received the divine light is liberated, as the wings show. In brief, the meaning of the symbol is that the heart responsive to the light of God is liberated.

Mission Statement


To spread the Message of unity and promote the awakening of humanity to the divinity in all, as taught by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and continued by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan.
To provide a program of spiritual training to bring about a deep personal transformation, culminating in a balanced, harmonious and creative life.
To develop spiritual guides capable of giving authentic training in the inner life.
To find new ways to apply the spiritual ideals of love, harmony, and beauty to the challenges and opportunities of everyday life.
To serve God and humanity by helping to relieve suffering, promoting understanding and acceptance among adherents of various faiths, and encouraging the unfoldment of universal loving kinship.

Sufi Roots
by Sharif Graham

The organization now known as the Sufi Order International was founded by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in the early twentieth century. Born July 5, 1882, he was a great Indian musician who was sent by his own Murshid (a Sufi teacher) to the West with the commission to unite East and West in "harmony." He left India in 1910, first touring the United States and then Europe, settling in England during the First World War. He officially registered the Sufi Order in London in 1915, although he always indicated the founding year as 1910. After the War, he moved his family to France and relocated the headquarters of the organization to Geneva. He traveled widely in the 1920's, including two extensive tours of the United States in 1923 and 1926. Every summer, he held a three month Summer School at his home in Suresnes, near Paris. In October of 1923, he gave the name Sufi Movement to the overall organization, within which the Sufi Order continued as the esoteric school. Returning to India for the first time late in 1926, he unexpectedly passed away on February 5, 1927 at only forty-four years of age.
After his passing, the organization he founded fragmented into several independent groups in Europe and America. His eldest son, Vilayat, who was only ten years old at the time of his passing, experienced problems with the leadership of the Sufi Movement, and in 1958 revived the Sufi Order as incorporated by his father in 1915. In the late 1960s this organization became active in the United States, where it grew to more than a hundred centers around the country. In the 1980's there was a striking growth in the organization in Europe, where a summer meditation camp in Switzerland now draws many people from all over the Continent.
However, the roots of the Sufi Order go back well before 1910. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan himself studied with a teacher in the Chishti lineage, the pre-eminent Sufi group in India, which traces back to the thirteenth century. At that time, Moin-ud-Din Chishti, a remarkable wandering teacher, came to India and powerfully established the mystical approach of Sufism on the sub-continent. Sufism is usually seen as "the mysticism of Islam," and it did indeed develop and flower in the context of Islamic civilization, particularly from the ninth century on. However, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, along with many earlier Sufi teachers, insisted that Sufism had its roots much farther back in history, tracing it at least as far as the ancient Greek and Egyptian mystery schools. He also identified Sufism with wisdom, and pointed out that wisdom is not exclusive to any particular community. Mysticism, he maintained, is "pure of distinctions and differences."
In the context of Islam, Sufis trace their heritage back to the Prophet Mohammed himself, particularly through Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, who is seen as the transmitter of the deeply spiritual side of the religion, too fine to be given in the public revelation. A whole chain of transmission is kept, connecting present-day practitioners to spiritual ancestors. The Chishti Order, one of the four major organizations in the Sufi lineage (there are hundreds of minor orders), traces itself through the central Asian town of Chisht, where a crucial figure in the transmission, Khwaja Abu Ishak, resided. But perhaps transmission is a misleading word in this case, since each Pir-o-Murshid not only passed on what he received from his predecessors, but dynamically reinterpreted it for his time.
In the case of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, that reinterpretation, geared specifically to Western seekers, involved setting aside any specific affiliation with the religion of Islam and opening the training to persons of all religious backgrounds. In his teaching in the West, he clearly stated that Sufism did not require anyone to subscribe to any dogma, creed, or indeed any specific teachings. Rather, the Sufi training is designed to intensify and make real the spiritual experience of any seeker, whatever her or his beliefs or religious affiliation. 
When Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was giving his teachings, no other authentic Sufi teachers had been in the West. Subsequently, many other Sufi teachers have come from the East. Some have exhibited a broad outlook similar to Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's; others have presented a traditional view, insisting on the Islamic context. There has been some objection to the use of the name Sufi Order, as though there were no other Sufi Orders when it was first so named. In response to this, the name Sufi Order of the West has sometimes been used, or Sufi Order International, with the sub-headings of "An Interfaith Approach to Spiritual Growth" or "Founded in 1910 by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan."
The Sufi Order, The Sufi Movement, Sufi Contact, and The Sufi Islamic Ruhaniat Society (S.I.R.S.) all draw upon the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan for their inspiration. A feeling of mutual respect now exists among the various organizations, which Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan has likened to the branches that grow from the trunk of the same tree. 

Biography of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was born in India in 1882, in a house which was a school of music. Many people passed through his house: poets, and particularly fakirs, sanyasins and sadhus. There was a tomb not far from the house where sadhus used to meet. Whenever there was a moment when Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was not studying music, he was at that tomb. In his autobiography, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan tells the story of when he was twelve and he decided to run away from home, hoping to live with the sadhus. When he found what pain he was causing his family, he came back. 
When he was a young man his grandfather took him to Nepal. Inayat Khan could see all the treachery of the musicians at court and he was so fed up that he went on a trip into the mountains on his horse. He felt a presence and then saw a great rishi sitting; he said the whole country was filled by the presence of that being. After he approached, they meditated in silence. The rishi was muni, he didn't speak. The next day Inayat fetched his vina and played for the rishi. He never forgot the experience of communication with that great rishi in the mountains.
Inayat became a teacher of music. Eventually he traveled, visiting different maharajahs, in an attempt to reinstate the spiritual value of music. One of the greatest patrons of music was the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Nizam was surrounded by people who prevented young musicians from coming forward into the established positions. Inayat was not allowed to sing at Court. He passed a lady dervish on the road who said to him, "That which you wish will be accomplished today." First, she asked him to come eat from her plate (she was eating with her hands some mushy food). His friend said to him, "Yes, you must eat, and then she will give you a blessing." That same day he went to Hyderabad and was presented to the Prime Minister, Krishna Prasad, a very great Hindu Sufi. Krishna Prasad asked him to sing, and when he heard him he said, "Yes, I'll present you to the Nizam." Great preparations began for the arrival of the Nizam. There was a big procession: horses, elephants, drums, torches, trumpets; the Nizam was approaching. When he arrived and sat on his dais, the Prime Minister asked if Inayat Khan could sing for him. He consented and was so moved by the singing that he stood up. That meant that everybody had to stand. The Nizam took off his ring and gave it to Inayat Khan. He nominated him Tansen of India, the greatest title in music at that time. (Tansen was the greatest singer in Indian history.)
After that, Inayat Khan felt he had fulfilled his work in music and something else was waiting for him. He had visions of a guru, of a murshid, every night. His friends said, "Well, it's a sign you must take initiation with a murshid," so he knocked at the doors of different murshids, asking, "Can you be my murshid?" One day he knocked at the door of a murshid whose name was Khair-un-Mubin. That murshid said, "Not me, but look at the man who is coming in the door." It was Abu Hashim Madani, the face he had seen in his visions. He fell at his feet and said, "May I become your mureed?" The murshid said, "I have been waiting for you so long." That murshid belonged to the Chishti Order and was living in Hyderabad. He had very few mureeds. He wasn't Indian, he was an Arab from the Hedjaz, a guest of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Before Abu Hashim Madani died, he called Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan to his bedside and said he should go to the West and take the Message of Sufism with him. (Up to that time Sufism was known in the West only in books written by university professors.) 
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's description of his first crossing to the United States is prophetic. He left everything. He had no idea what the West was going to be like; he just trusted the instructions that were given to him. With no money, being a young man of twenty-seven, it was a tremendous test. One of his first lectures was given at the house of Dr. Bernard (you may have heard of his book on Hatha Yoga and Land of a Thousand Buddhas.) Dr. Bernard was a medical doctor and a very great yogi.
Dr. Bernard had a half sister who was a cousin of Mary Baker Eddy. She had a vision: there were two Indians, one older than the other, both bearded, and one pointed at her as though to say, "She's the one." She realized when she saw Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan that she was to be his wife. Dr. Bernard was very pro-Hindu. However, when it came to marrying his half-sister to an Indian, that was too much. He destroyed letters from Inayat Khan meant for his half-sister. She slipped out in the middle of the night; they met in London and were married.
The couple traveled to Russia in 1911-12. Inayat was invited to sing and play in the Academy of Music in Moscow, after which he was carried in triumph by the students. He was invited to a Russian monastery where they were interested in finding out more about Sufi ideas. The Russian revolution came, and an escape back to England had to be arranged. 
A son was born to them in 1916, Vilayat (who, as Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, is now head of the Sufi Order founded by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in 1910). Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan settled in Paris and then in Geneva. He taught Sufism and he guided an organization. He described the organization as "being like a ship which is built for a purpose, to carry the people and things from one port to another." 
In the later years of his life Inayat Khan spoke of Sufism as a mother who would give birth to a child, which he called the Message, that is beyond any names or labels. "The Message is the awakening of humanity to the divinity of mankind." He believed the Message would facilitate the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the diversity within, and bring a new life to all facets of human endeavor.
In 1926 Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan returned to India where he died the following year. He left a legacy of inspiration, both in books transcribed from his lectures and in the spiritual transmission passed on to his successors and members of the Sufi Order today.

Note: Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan may also be referred to as Pir-o-Murshid or Murshid. When Murshid appears alone in this Handbook for Mureeds it refers to Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. 


Biography of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan is the eldest son and successor of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order in the West. He traces his spiritual lineage through a long line of Sufi "pirs" (masters), but his teaching is free from any religious bias or attempt to proselytize. His teaching brings the timeless contributions of the ancient Sufi mystics and poets together with the discoveries of psychology and science. He rejects absolutely any attempt to treat him as a "guru," taking pride in the strong, independent and creative qualities of those drawn to be his students.
Pir Vilayat was born in London in 1916, and spent most of his early years in England and France. He graduated from Paris University with a degree in psychology, studied philosophy at Oxford University and music at I'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Pir Vilayat later traveled to the East where he underwent rigorous training in meditation, including long periods of seclusion devoted to spiritual exercises. He also studied the esoterica of the major world religions and the meditation techniques associated with them.
He has traveled the world teaching meditation, lecturing and writing. Books by Pir Vilayat include Toward the One (Harper & Row 1974), The Message in Our Time (Harper & Row 1978), Introducing Spirituality into Therapy and Counseling (Omega Press 1990), and That Which Transpires Behind That Which Appears (Omega Press 1995). Pir Vilayat's forthcoming books will be a culmination of his teachings and spiritual practices. 
Pir Vilayat's lectures open fresh perspectives on the problem of bringing greater understanding and awareness into a life of activity and accomplishment. He approaches this issue from the vantage point of the Hindu rishi, the Buddhist bikku, the Muslim dervish and the Christian monk. The practices of these contemplatives are used to help one confront one's life directly by making one more sensitive to those aspects of self which are truly meaningful. Meditation can be used to develop these deepest and most fulfilling parts of one's being and help one to use them in dealing with personal problems, values, goals and aspirations.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat's father, established the Sufi Order to provide a vehicle for the transmission of spiritual truth consistent with modern western culture, and to act as a bridge between East and West. In keeping with the aims of his father, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan has continued to sponsor and conduct events to promote understanding between East and West. He helps translate the vocabulary of the mystic into the language of the modern person.
The Sufi Order is an inter-religious body honoring all religions, traditions and teachings. Its broadest aim is the unity of humanity in brother/sisterhood and wisdom achieved through tolerance, compassion and respect for freedom. It stresses the ideal of living a deeply spiritual life in the midst of the world. The Sufi Order emphasizes the integrated development of inner life and outer accomplishment.

Note: Within the Sufi Order Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan is often referred to as Pir Vilayat or Pir. The latter is the title for one who is the head of an Order. It also indicates an attainment of mastery and literally means elder.



Sufism and the Message
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

Following are passages from the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the theme of the Message. In the later years of his life he spoke profoundly of a new stage of the evolution of human consciousness that was beginning to emerge. Pir-o-Murshid foresaw the development of planetary consciousness as humanity realized the oneness of the human family and honored the divinity within the soul of each person. Initially he used the term Sufi Message, thereby acknowledging the universal perspective that he ascribed to Sufism. Later he used only "the Message," to describe the Divine response to the cry of a broken world in our time. The Sufi Order seeks to serve the Message, which it recognizes is unfolding through all of life. This spiritual awakening is, of course, not the exclusive property of any tradition but is supported by many groups and individuals throughout the world. 
The quotes reprinted here are from a collection of passages on the theme of The Path which can be obtained through the North American Secretariat. The grammar of the 1920's considered as correct the use of masculine collective pronouns. Use of gender inclusive language is currently encouraged in the Sufi Order.
The Sufi Message, which is now being given in the western world, is the child of that mother who has been known for so many years as Sufism. It connects the two lines of the prophetic mission, the Hindu line and that of Beni Israel, in order that they may become the medium to unite in God the truth of both East and West. It is the same truth, the same religion, the same ideal, which the wise of all ages have held. If there is anything different, it is only a difference of form. The Sufi Message given now has adopted the form suitable for the age. It is a Message without claim, and the group of workers in this Message and those who follow it are called the Sufi Movement. Their work is to tread the spiritual path quietly, unassumingly, and to serve God and humanity. In this lies the fulfillment of the Message.
The Sufi Message is the answer to the cry of humanity today, for it is in agreement with science and it stands in defense of all religions. Our movement renders service to God and humanity, without any intention of forming an exclusive community, but of uniting in this service people of all the different religions. This movement, in its infancy, is only beginning its work, but its culmination will be a world movement. It is the world Message, and the religion which will be the religion of the whole of humanity, a religion which does not distract the mind of any person from his own faith, but makes it more firm, more enlightened, more sympathetic to his own religion. It is a religion which teaches tolerance towards the faith of another, a religion which opens the heart to words of wisdom, no matter what direction they come from. This is not only a church, but a school in which to learn a lesson, the lesson of tolerance; to learn to revere all teachers and to respect all scriptures; a lesson which teaches us that we need not give up our own religion, but that we should embrace all religions in order to make the sacredness of religion perfect.
The Sufi Message, therefore, is not for a particular race, nation or church. It is a call to unite in wisdom. The Sufi Movement is a group of people belonging to different religions who have not left their religions but who have learned to understand them better, and their love is the love for God and humanity instead of for a particular section of it. The principal work that the Sufi Movement has to accomplish is to bring about a better understanding between East and West, and between the nations and races of this world. The note that the Sufi Message is striking at the present time is the note which sounds the divinity of the human soul. If there is any moral principle the Sufi Movement brings, it is this: that the whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. As the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation. Besides, to those who are awakening and feel that now is the moment to learn more of the deeper side of life, of truth, the Sufi Movement extends a helping hand without asking to what religion, sect or dogma they belong. The knowledge of the Sufi is helpful to every person, not only in living his life rightly but in regard to his own religion. The Sufi Movement does not call a man away from his belief or church; it calls him to live it. In short, it is a movement intended by God to unite humanity in brotherhood and in wisdom.
It is in self-realization that the mystery of the whole of life is centered. It is the remedy for all maladies, it is the secret of success in all walks of life, it is a religion and more than a religion. And at this time, when the whole world is upset, the Sufi Message conveys to the world the divine Message. What is wrong with humanity today is that it is not itself, and all the misery of the world is caused by this. Therefore, nothing can answer the need of humanity save this process of the sages and the wise of all ages, which leads souls to self-realization.
The condition of the world today is such that humanity has become abnormal. Man is not only scared of badness, but also of goodness. Man not only dreads war, but also peace. He is not only tired of enmity, but also of friendship. He not only suspects his adversary, but even his own brother. It seems as if the mind of the world is not only tired, but ill-as if humanity has had a nervous breakdown. Individually or collectively, man does not know his life's purpose or goal. The Sufi Message warns humanity to get to know life better and to achieve freedom in life. It warns man to accomplish what he considers good, just and desirable. It warns him before every action to note its consequences by studying the situation, his own attitude and the method he should adopt.
Sufism not only guides those who are religious, mystical or visionary, but the Sufi Message gives to the world the religion of the day, and that is to make one's life a religion, to turn one's occupation or profession into a religion, to make one's ideal a religious ideal. The object of Sufism is the uniting of life and religion, which so far seem to have been kept apart. When a man goes to church once a week and devotes all the other days of the week to his business, how can he benefit by religion? Therefore, the teaching of Sufism is to transform everyday life into a religion so that every action may bear some spiritual fruit.
Sufism is a religion if one wants to learn religion from it, it is a philosophy if one wants to learn wisdom from it, it is mysticism if one wishes to be guided by it in the unfoldment of the soul. And yet, it is beyond all these things. It is the light, it is the life which is the sustenance of every soul and which raises a mortal being to immortality. It is the Message of love, harmony and beauty. It is a divine Message. It is the Message of the time, and the Message of the time is an answer to the call of every soul. The Message, however, is not in its words, but in the divine light and life which heals souls, bringing to them the calm and peace of God.
The work of the Sufi Movement is not to collect all the rainwater in its own tanks, but to make a way for the stream of the Message to flow and to supply water to all the fields of the world. The work of the Sufi Message is sowing; reaping we shall leave to humanity to do, for the fields do not belong to our particular movement. All the fields belong to God. We who are employed to work on this farm of the world must do what we have to do and leave the rest to God. Success we do not trouble about. Let those who strive for it seek some other direction. Truth alone is our success, for the only lasting success is truth.


The Meaning of the Message
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

Blessed mureeds,
Since it is the last evening that I am here and tomorrow I am leaving, I thought it better to say a few words before I leave. The first thing that I want to tell you is that your entrance into the Sufi Order is not only a membership in a society or studentship of a knowledge; it is more than that, and much more valuable than that.
Maybe one day your heart will begin to tell you, sooner or later, of the value, the importance, the need, and the work of the Sufi Cause. Maybe there is one who understands it the moment he begins to enter; there is another who understands it after a month; maybe there is another in whose soul the meaning of the Sufi Message will develop in a year's time. But there will come a day when the meaning of the Message will develop in your soul. 
Therefore it does not depend upon what the Sufi Message is; and if I or anybody else told you, that will make no difference when something from outside tells you what it is. But when your heart begins to tell you, that is the truth. Therefore, He Himself whose Message it is will speak to you of what it is. You will know it by yourself. It is not necessary for anybody to speak to you about it. I appreciate your confidence and trust in me, having come from such a far distance, from such a distant land. I appreciate it beyond words, and especially at this time when there are twenty thousand things of the same kind, whether they are occult or something else. If in the midst of all these many things in this world you have seriously taken to the Sufi Cause, I indeed appreciate it and see in it your insight and recognition of truth.
Nevertheless, to understand the true meaning of the Message will take time; for even for myself it has taken time to understand the meaning of the Message, and I am still trying to understand it. Therefore you may not be disappointed if you do not instantly understand the meaning. But at the same time if no one thinks that it is the Message that is destined to be delivered to humanity, the success of which is not our responsibility, I am not disappointed. If no one came to follow, I would still go on giving it in the strength of that which is behind the Message, the meaning that the Message has and the purpose the Message has to fulfill.
As to myself, I never make any claims. For my friends or mureeds who believe in me, my claim is that I am your friend, that I am your brother, I am your well-wisher. Your happiness is my happiness, and I am sorry in your sorrow. You will always remember the word that my Murshid has said, "Friendship in the path of God and Truth is the greatest friendship, greater than any relationship and friendship in the world." I have realized it in my own life. The happy days I have passed under the instruction of my Murshid I compare with no other time in my life; and even now, when my teacher has departed, I never feel that Murshid is away.
And, as I am leaving you all, that does not mean I really leave you. I am with you. If I am far away from you, I am closer to you for the very reason that I am away from you. In your prayers and practices and studies and meditations you will feel me with you. In your difficulties and troubles my sympathies and prayers and blessings and thoughts will be with you; and to the extent you are conscious of it you will feel it and it will be manifested to you.
And now, only what I have to say is this, that the practices which have been given to you are of the greatest importance in your life. You must consider that in this world you are standing against the struggle of worldly life from morning till evening, and what you need is your spiritual powers well-developed and well-conserved.


Liberated Spirituality
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

To be creative means not to be limited by what we've inherited from the past, but to be something new, to be yourself, to affirm something that has never been done in the past.
We are seeking for a form of liberated spirituality in keeping with the nature of our time. A paradigm shift is happening in the realm of spirituality in our time and, although the old methods have some value, we must also keep moving ahead. We want spirituality that is liberated from a belief system. One way of finding out what it means to be liberated in the realm of spirituality would be, by contrast, to determine what are the features that can be earmarked as establishing the definition of a "cult." I want us to be as free from any of those features that define a cult as one can possibly be.
One of the first aspects is adherence to a dogma or a belief system. Many of the churches of the past and present are based upon belief systems. What we are seeking is to replace a belief that is mandatory with a belief based on experience. Of course we have to take into consideration that we do interpret our experiences, and consequently experience per se is not valid except inasmuch as it is interpreted. For example, in our experience the sun turns around the earth. That's experience. That experience has to be interpreted, and was reinterpreted by Copernicus. 
The other thing that we have to know is that our preconceived ideas limit our experience. Sometimes we have to clear our understanding, since our understanding can stand in the way of our experience. I remember Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan saying, "If there is anything in my teaching that you don't feel comfortable about, you need not accept it and you need not reject it; you can just put it aside." After all, you know that opinion is very relative, and that applies to everybody's opinion. So it's possible that your opinion doesn't see eye to eye with the opinion of someone who has more experience than yourself. You mustn't force yourself to try to adopt an opinion which you can't subscribe to altogether. Just leave it.
The second feature of a cult is a system of authority which one is expected to obey. I'm very familiar with cases where people look to the advice of a guru or a counselor, particularly in desperation. One assumes that the guru or the counselor knows more than oneself, and there's something in human nature that makes one subject oneself to authority; this has been confirmed in psychological experiments. It's a kind of a natural psychological inertia which is built into our programming and answers a certain purpose. It enables human societies, for example, to be structured if they conform to a certain pattern. Otherwise, they would be very chaotic. These general rules in biology and psychology are valid in large numbers, but where you're dealing with more advanced forms of society, they definitely represent a setback. 
I see this in cases where gurus definitely interfere in the lives of people. In desperation people don't always know how to solve their problems, and it would be much easier to let somebody else solve them. The trouble, however, with that kind of solution is that the guru, by so doing, deprives the person of taking the decision upon her or himself, which is just what the problem is about. Consequently, the guru makes the person dependent upon his or her will, whereas the best way to help a person is to make her or him self-motivated. There's a terrible abuse in teachers telling people what to do, and especially in telling people what not to do.
It's true that the need for guidelines is written into the constitution of the human being. Children need to have the security they get by being told they can go so far and no further. If they don't have that, they feel insecure. It's good that there is a kind of structure imposed upon them. On the other hand, at a certain moment one has to wean the child so that she/he is able to take responsibility upon her or himself. There's always that area of security when the child wants to be able to take a vacation. It's good that the child knows there's a home there, some kind of security there that she/he can refer back to, and at the same time start exploring in the "no-man's land" beyond that security area. When I talk about liberated spirituality, I'm talking about the kind of spirituality that is to be recommended for people who have grown through the period of puberty into adulthood. It is possible that some people may need to have a very structured, mandatory life made up for them because they don't trust themselves to venture beyond it. Maybe they're getting a need answered, but I don't feel comfortable with it, and I expect that if you're here, it's because you don't either.
The third aspect is the mode of learning. In the old-fashioned schools one was told just the way things are, and wasn't given much chance of being creative or inventive. It wasn't acceptable to question the teaching that was given to one; one had to just take it as scripture. New methods of pedagogy are giving people a chance of experimenting with an idea and even putting forth ideas that are quite incongruous and then finding out for themselves that they don't click. Or then, perhaps they do click. So, in a sense, the teacher can learn from the pupil, instead of always the other way around; it's not just a one-way system. This spells creativity.
Our forebears were very much turned toward the past, and l find that attitude in many of the spiritual disciplines with which I've been involved myself. For example, in yoga, the very word karma is based on the assumption that the reason why things happen to you now is because of what happened in the past; so it's cause-oriented. But causality has been thrown out of quantum physics quite a long time ago. In the realm of psychology, I'm afraid that some of the schools of psychology are still way back in Newtonian times, or Darwinian times, trying to explain things in terms of causes. The same thing is true in biology. It's not true that species just adapt themselves to the environment; they also adapt the environment to their own sense of purpose. So the pull of the future is at least as strong as the push of the past and perhaps even stronger. Therefore, the new paradigm is introducing purposefulness into our way of thinking instead of causality alone. 
The current way of thinking, especially in the spiritual field, is very much cause-oriented; accounting for the present circumstances by the past. In the realm of psychology, it's very true that many of the complexes and psychological traumas that people have were initiated in childhood. Causality has a part to play in our psychological makeup, but there's another factor, purposefulness, which can offset the influence of causality. This is very important to know, particularly in the realm of psychology. As long as the patient attributes her or his trauma to the past, she/he will never see the way out of it, because she/he will think that she/he is conditioned by the past. The future offers endless possibilities, whereas the past represents a limitation. In the realm of psychology, your whole being can be totally transfigured in one moment from one state to another. It's wonderful because it makes us realize that there is nothing we cannot be. It's only in our mind that we think we are limited by our ancestry and our past and so on.
The most relevant words are to be found in the words of Christ: "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." This means you inherit the many-splendored bounty of the universe. In order to manifest those many-splendored possibilities that are already in you, you have to see it outside yourself. Plotinus said, "That which one cannot discover in one's own self by contemplation, one looks for in experience." Outside, one confirms something that is already inside, but as one does not always have the ability to discover it in contemplation, one seeks for it outside. One is always in search of a wonderful being, because that's how one is able to discover oneself, in another being who displays qualities that are present in oneself. 
When one sees it in another person, that gives one confidence. That's the reason for the whole guru system, always looking for a guru and trying to model oneself upon a guru. The trouble is that one tends to attach oneself to the outer aspect of a guru, like the picture; one tries to imitate the outer aspect of the guru, but the outer aspect stands in the way of the essence. That's the reason why, in Islam, people are not allowed to have pictures because it's considered idolatry. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of difference between the guru and the murshid (the Sufi term for spiritual guide or teacher) in the sense that the guru is supposed to be the perfect model. Devotees have a picture of the guru on an altar, and they have a candle, and the whole life gravitates around that person, especially the outer aspect of that person which is venerated. One doesn't know to what extent one can get caught up in the outer thing. You know that if you're in love with a person and you carry the picture of that person, there comes a time you can't stand looking at the picture any longer because it stands in the way of the real being. That's why Jelal-ud-din Rumi, defining the murshid, said: "The murshid is the destroyer of the idol that people make of him." The murshid has to destroy that picture that you make of him or her so that you're not attached to him or her as a person.
This sounds convincing enough until one realizes that it's not good enough just to manifest what one has inherited from the past. One has to be creative and be something new. It's a constraint, a limitation, to model oneself upon a person. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan opens the way because he teaches meditating on all the masters, saints, and prophets. This is another step toward liberation. Each one of the prophets represent the epitome of one quality in particular (although every master has all the qualities to some extent). I've been advising people to meditate upon a particular messenger or prophet for each mantra they do. This is a much more liberated way of doing things than just meditating on one's guru. 
For example, if you're given a practice to develop power, then you meditate on Abraham; to develop pure spirit, you meditate on Mary; if you want to develop insight, then you meditate on the being of Buddha, and so on. If you meditate on Abraham, you may think of Abraham with a beard, living in the past, and if you think of Mary, you think of her as living at a certain time, and the same with Jesus or Buddha, right back in the past. But how would they be now? If Abraham were living now, maybe he would have shaved his beard, and we still think of Abraham as he was then! And if Christ were to live now, maybe he would be in San Salvador, maybe he would be persona non grata in the church because he's not a Christian. And Mohammed would probably be the president of the World Commission for Disarmament. Buddha would probably be a psychotherapist. We're still caught in our pictures of those prophets in the past. One fools oneself very easily, and gets caught in an image. Liberated spirituality is to free oneself from the image and get into the essence of those beings.
However, remember, there's a catch in what I said. To be creative means not to be limited by what we've inherited from the past, but to be something new, to be yourself, to affirm something that has never been done in the past, because everybody is absolutely unique in her or his way. It's a limitation to try to model oneself upon someone else. The catch is that, as Teilhard de Chardin says, "Omega was already alpha." As Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." The thing about the past is that it started with all possibilities and then, in the course of time, those possibilities got narrowed down. It's like a game of chess with an infinite number of pawns, and then of course, you lose some of them. So the past represents the limitation of all-possibility, and the future represents all-possibility. If you think in terms of what you inherited, you think in terms of the way this inheritance was limited in the course of time. If you think in terms of being creative, you are not limited by any limitation that has accrued in the course of time.

Activities of the Sufi Order

Esoteric School

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan created five activities under the broad umbrella of the Sufi Movement. The Sufi Order is the Esoteric School which focuses on the spiritual training offered in an individualized manner to each mureed. This occurs in the context of a guide-initiate relationship. The material presented in this Handbook for Mureeds relates to the Esoteric School and experiences such as initiation, spiritual practices and retreats are central to the work of the school.

Healing Order

The Healing Order is an international network of people with a focus on healing. Initiation into the Healing Order strengthens one's inner connection with illuminated Beings of Healing, through our link with Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of this order. Members work with healing practices on a daily basis to increase their capacity for the Divine Healing Power to come through. A commitment to healing includes one's own personal healing and involves ongoing purification and clarity of intention. 
The Healing Order aims to make the Sufi Teachings about healing available through seminars and workshops. Special training courses are provided for conductors as well as for members who are involved in professional healing work. 
The Healing Ritual is a group activity of the Healing Order, in which members pray for the healing of those who have asked for their names to be on the Healing List. Healing circles are facilitated by healing conductors and serve those who have asked for healing. Healing conductors may also provide classes in healing. Candidates for the Healing Order are encouraged to contact their local conductor. In addition members are encouraged to visit hospitals, and to help their friends when they are not well.

Zira'at
by Zia Inayat Khan

As above, so below. So goes the ancient alchemical formula, positing an intimate correspondence between the laws of the heavenly and mundane spheres. The physical plane cannot so easily be discounted as merely maya, illusion. The Sufis acknowledge the physical universe as the outer manifestation of an inner order. By the principles of tashbih (immanence) Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan used meditation on natural forms as a catalyst toward experience of formless reality. These meditations occur in the Gayan, Vadan, and Nirtan.
While these fragments are extremely useful as individual contemplations, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan also saw the need for a systematic approach, a comprehensive framework for tashbih meditation involving a set of values allowing various levels of experience. This took shape in Zira'at, founded by Murshid at the Suresnes Summer School of 1926. Murshid modeled Zira'at on the activity which is the very basis of human civilization: agriculture. In agriculture physical laws and natural forces are harmonized with the human mind and its sense of order; ecology and psychology are reconciled. Neither nature nor humanity acting alone can produce the crops which yield "the bread of life."
Murshid, with a musician's sensitivity to rhythm and harmony, perceived in the manner of farming, with all its carefully timed stages, intrinsic parallels with the rhythm of spiritual accomplishment. Ploughing, harrowing, sowing, reaping, threshing, garnering, and farming all have their inner significations. Zira'at (Arabic for agriculture) is an experiential progression through these stages which culminate in spiritual fruition. Central to Zira'at work is a lodge ritual. Performed outdoors, its attunement is to God's immanence. Accordingly, the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether), which collectively constitute God's physical being, are reverenced in turn. Coming to terms with the elements is key to Zira'at, and is maintained as a daily practice by initiates. The ceremony also includes other ritual features that contribute to the sacred space, which invokes a sanctity that is not other-worldly, but here and now.

Universal Worship

The Universal Worship (Church of All) is the religious activity of the Sufi Order. It is so named because its purpose is to promote the unity of religious ideals, to give an opportunity to those belonging to different religions to worship together, and to discover that there is one source from which all scriptures have come.
The work of the Sufi Message is to spread the unity of religion. It is not a mission to promote a particular creed or any church or religion; it is a work to unite the followers of different religions and faiths in wisdom, so that without having to give up their own religion they may strengthen their own faith and focus the true light upon it. In this way a greater trust, a greater confidence will be established in mankind.                    - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
The service consists of three main parts: the lighting of candles, each representing one of the great world religions; an attunement to the Spirit of each religion and to its Message through dances, songs, chants, prayers and/or meditations; and reading from scriptures. Those who conduct the service are ordained as Cherags (male) or Cheragas (female) into the Universal Worship. The Universal Worship services are held in most Sufi Order centers, but Cherag/as may also be invited to perform the service in schools, churches, institutions or centers.

Kinship* 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

This line of work is, really speaking, the fulfillment of every activity of our Order. One activity of our Order is the esoteric school in which people are initiated and advance grade by grade, individually developing their soul towards the attainment of spiritual perfection. There is another activity that is devotional called the Church of All, or the Universal Worship activity. This brings souls to the true religion, which stands above all sects. Whether we strive in the path of religion, or we journey through the path of mysticism, it is for one object that we may be best fitted to live the ideal of Brotherhood. 
If a person was so great a mystic that he was the greatest master or if a person was so pious and religious that he was the greatest saint, still if he did not live the ideal of kinship, it would not avail much. Spiritual realization is attained in practical life by observing the ideal of kinship. At this time when the world needs the ideal of kinship more than ever before in the history of the world, it is our privilege and destiny to do all we can to bring about this ideal in our own lives first, and thus to spread it in the world. Any problem or theory, or doctrine studied, is of no value unless it be practiced. 
Kinship is not something that is learned or taught; kinship is a tendency, a tendency which arises from the heart that is tuned to a proper pitch. A tendency towards kinship, therefore, is the natural tendency in which is the real happiness from which rises harmony and culminates in peace. It is not weighing "what good have you done to me?" but it is trying to do more for another.

* Kinship is the gender inclusive term. Originally Pir-o-Murshid used the term of his time, "brotherhood," in the passages above.



Questions and Answers 
About the Sufi Order

What is the Sufi Order in the West? 

The Sufi Order evolved from the universal spiritual tradition of the Chishti lineage that originated in the East and was brought to the West by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, the founder of the Sufi Order in the West. He was given the task by his Sufi teacher to "unite East with West in the harmony of your music." As the first Sufi teacher in the West, he sought to make the spiritual legacy of Sufism responsive to the needs of our time. He was one of the first to speak of an emerging planetary consciousness as the next stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity.
In the later years of his life Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan spoke of Sufism as a mother who would give birth to a child, which he called the Message, that is beyond any names or labels. He believed the Message would facilitate the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity within, and bring a new life to all facets of human endeavor. The Sufi Order offers classes, seminars, and retreats to all. It is also an esoteric school offering individual training which is entered into through the process of initiation.

Is the Sufi Order a new religion? 

No, the purpose of our work is to help bring together the different organs of one body which are meant to be united and not thrown apart. How do we bring about such a reconciliation? By realizing in ourselves that the essence of all religion is one, is wisdom, and by considering that wisdom to be our religion, regardless of our form. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the objective of the Sufi Order? 
The objective of the Sufi Order is the uniting of life and religion, which, so far, seem to have been kept apart. When a person goes to church once a week and devotes all the other days of the week to his business, how can he benefit by religion? Therefore, the teaching of Sufism is to transform everyday life into a religion so that every action may bear some spiritual fruit. 
                                                               - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the moral principle which guides the work of the Sufi Order? 

If there is any moral principle, it is this: that the whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. And as the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation.              - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Can a person continue to be a member of a religious tradition and become a member of the Sufi Order? 

Yes. The Sufi Order is not concerned with converting or saving others. Our hope is that a person's involvement in the teachings may deepen and expand his or her understanding of the tradition with which he or she is affiliated. 
The Sufi Message does not call a person away from a belief or church; it calls one to live it.                                            -Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

What is the attitude of the Sufi Order towards women? 

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order, offered this insight in the early part of this century: "The hour is coming when women will lead humanity to a higher evolution." Women have always functioned in all roles of spiritual leadership within the Order. Spiritual practices and services are fully integrated and initial attempts have been made to update the language of the teachings to include the feminine. Several of the women teachers in the Order have made rich contributions by developing practices that facilitate an awareness of and a deeper identification with the feminine aspect of the divine.

Are there any dietary or dress regulations for members of the Sufi Order?

 No. The only exception to this, and the only rule in the Sufi Order, is that people attending its activities are asked to refrain from the use of drugs. 

Is there a dogma of the Sufi Order? 

No. This is a path of spiritual liberty as addressed in an article by Pir Vilayat entitled "Liberated Spirituality." (see above)

Must one receive a new name upon entering the Order? 

No. Some members request a spiritual name and use it as a practice. A spiritual name may be viewed as a method to remember a particular divine quality or archetype which is rooted in one's being. It may be a means of shifting one's identity from a limiting self image to one's divine inheritance. Some members use this name in all areas of their life, while others hold it as a private concentration. A member may also refuse a name if it does not seem suitable, or drop it if the name no longer feels relevant. Receiving a spiritual name is a custom in several religious traditions, as in various Catholic religious orders.

Are there any mandatory financial obligations for those who are initiated into the Sufi Order? 

No. There is no financial obligation associated with initiation into the Sufi Order. Those who wish to become active members will be asked to Support its work through annual membership contribution payments to the Secretariat. Such contributions are used to coordinate the distribution of Sufi Order teachings and to facilitate communication among members. Those participating in local centers will be asked to support their local center with a monthly contribution. 
All contributions are solely voluntary unless an activity has inherent costs, as with food and lodging at a facility. This both ensures access regardless of economic status to the teachings and the freedom to sample without financial commitment. One may attend classes in the Esoteric School, attend Universal Worship and Healing Order services, and participate in Zira'at without mandatory payment of membership contributions.

Chapter 2

Introduction

This consideration of initiation begins with Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's insight into various meanings of initiation as they relate to the spiritual journey. In the writings "Initiation: the First Step" and "Objectives of the Training," the focus is on the initial initiation by which one becomes a mureed or student in this Order and eight central areas explored on this path. The text of the initiation ceremony is also included. Frequently this sacred occasion leaves a profound impression, but the particular words spoken are lost among the deep feelings. Some have found it valuable to reflect upon the invocation, blessing, and inner structure of the ritual. The last section is a review of several current approaches to further initiations within the Order. How this will be addressed within a mureed's training should be discussed with one's guide.

Initiation: the Sacred Link
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Much has been written and said about the path of initiation, and people who have been in contact with various schools of occultism have understood it in different ways, and thus have different ideas as to what initiation means. But in point of fact initiation only means a step forward, a step which should be taken with hope and courage, for without courage and hope it would be most difficult to take any forward step.
If I were to explain the meaning of initiation in plain words, I would say that it is like the experience of a person who has never learned how to swim when he steps into the river or into the sea for the first time, without knowing whether he will be able to float or whether he will be swept away and drowned. Every person has had an initiation in the worldly sense in some form or other. When a businessman begins an entirely new enterprise and there is nothing to support him at this moment except the thought, "No matter whether I lose or gain, I will take a step forward; I will go into this enterprise although I do not know what will happen later," he undergoes a worldly initiation. The first attempt of a man who wants to learn to ride, if he has never been on horseback before then he does not know where the horse will take him; this also is an initiation.
But initiation in the real sense of the word, as it is used on the spiritual path, takes place when a person, in spite of having a religion and belief, an opinion and ideas about spiritual things, feels that he should take a step in a direction which he does not know. When he takes the first step, that is an initiation. Al-Ghazali, a great Sufi writer of Persia, has said that entering the spiritual path is just like shooting an arrow at a point one cannot see, so that one does not know what the arrow is going to hit; one only knows one's own action, and one does not see the point aimed at. This is why the path of initiation is difficult for a worldly man. Human nature is such that a man born into this world, who has become acquainted with the life of names and forms, wants to know everything by name and form; he wants to touch something in order to be sure that it exists; without this he does not believe that anything can exist. Therefore, it is difficult for him to undergo an initiation on a path which does not touch any of his senses. He does not know where he is going.
Besides, man has been taught from his childhood a certain faith or belief, and he feels himself so bound to that particular faith or religion that he trembles at every step he may have to take in a direction which perhaps for a moment seems different or even opposite to what he has been taught. Therefore, to take the first step on the path of initiation is difficult for a thoughtful person. No doubt a person who is driven by curiosity may jump into anything, but it is all the same to him whether he has initiation or not. However, for the one who takes initiation seriously the first step is the most difficult.
The meaning of the word initiation can be understood from its association with initiative. It is a fact that every child on earth is born with initiative; but then, as it grows, that spirit more or less dies away, because the knowledge it gathers in its lifetime makes it doubt. This doubt, increasing more and more, very often makes a man lose the power of initiative, and then he does not want to take another step until he is sure whether there is land or water in front of him, and very often water looks like land, and land looks like water. According to the mystics, life is an illusion, and thus man bases his reason upon illusion. Nevertheless, the reasoning power which he acquires helps him in his life in the world, although it is very often just this reasoning which holds him back from taking what is called the initiative.
It is through this spirit of initiative that anyone in the world who has accomplished something great has been able to do so. At the beginning of his efforts people call such a person mad or fanatical, crazy or devoid of reason, but when they see the result they think that he is most wise. Great prophets, the builders of nations, famous inventors, and great discoverers have all proven this. One may ask, then, why they do not see what is before them in the same way that a reasoning person does. They do, but with different eyes. Their point of view is different; it does not always agree with the point of view of the average person, and so it is natural that people should call them fanatical, although they see perhaps more than do all those around them. Those who have helped themselves to achieve success after complete failure, or to get over an illness after great suffering, have only succeeded in this by the spirit of initiative.
There are different kinds of initiation that souls experience. One is natural initiation. A natural unfoldment, for which the soul cannot give any cause or reason, comes to a soul, although no effort or attempt has been made by that soul to experience it. Sometimes this initiation comes after great illness, pain, or suffering. It comes as an opening up of the horizon, it comes as a flash of light, and in a moment the world seems transformed. It is not that the world has changed; it is that the person has become tuned to a different pitch. He begins to think differently, feel differently, see and act differently; his whole condition begins to change. One might say of him that from that moment he begins to live. Such an initiation may come as a vision, as a dream, as a phenomenon, or in any form; one cannot determine the manner in which it will manifest.
Another initiation known to the mystics is the initiation that one receives from a person living on the earth. Every mystical school has its own initiation. In the Orient, where mystical ideas are prevalent and are regarded as most sacred, any person who wishes to tread the spiritual path considers initiation to be the most important thing. If a soul such as Jesus Christ had to be baptized by John the Baptist, no soul on earth can say, "I have risen above initiation."
Initiation by a spiritual teacher means both a trust given by the teacher to the pupil and a trust given by the pupil to the teacher. The progress of the one who is initiated depends upon how much he gives himself to the teacher's guidance. One might give only a finger, another even a part of a finger, while a third would give his whole hand. That makes a great difference, for if a pupil says, "Well, I will give a certain amount of my time and thought to your guidance, will that be enough," the teacher will say, "Yes, if you think it is enough." In reality, it is never enough.
One might wonder if one would not be giving up one's own point of view in order to follow someone else's point of view. But actually, if one has a point of view, one never loses it. The point of view which one loses is not one's own. By looking at a thing from another person's point of view, one only enlarges one's own; then one has two points of view instead of one. If the thought of the "I" happens to be different from that of the teacher, by taking the teacher's thought his own is doubled. The pupil keeps his own point of view just the same, only now he has something for his vision from which to make his choice; the horizon of his thought is expanded. The pupil who closes himself and says, "I will guard my point of view or it will escape me" will never derive any benefit from this attitude.
Also, there are not fixed rules to follow on this path. For every person there is a special rule. But there is one law which applies to everything in life; sincerity, which is the only thing that is asked by a teacher of a pupil, for truth is not the portion of the insincere.
There is another kind of initiation which comes afterwards, and this initiation is also an unfoldment of the soul. It comes as an aftereffect of the initiation that one had from the teacher. It comes as a kind of expansion of consciousness, and the greatness of this initiation depends upon the distance and width of the horizon of the consciousness. Many may claim it, but few realize it. Those who realize do not claim. As the more fruitful a tree is, the more it bends, so the more divine his spiritual realization is, the more humble a person becomes. It is the one who is less fruitful who becomes more pretentious. The really initiated ones hardly ever mention the word initiation; they find no profit in convincing others that they are initiated. They possess their real inner gains, they do not want an outer gain. It is the one who has none who wants recognition from outside. And if we ask what profit we derive from initiation, the answer is that religion, mysticism or philosophy - all that we gain - should help us to achieve one result, and that is to be best fitted for serving our fellow men.

Initiation: The First Step

Initiation on a spiritual path signifies one's desire to undergo a spiritual training. Those who do not elect to make this formal commitment, however, are fully welcome to participate in the teachings and programs offered by the Sufi Order. Those who choose to mark their commitment by initiation are known as mureeds (students). 
Initiation only means a step forward, a step which should be taken with hope and courage, for without courage and hope it would be most difficult to take any forward step.    			-  Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  
Initiation into the Sufi Order demonstrates one's sincerity in entering the Sufi path, strengthens one's powers to do so, and confers a blessing upon the pupil which enables progress. This initiation is the linking of the individual Sufi student with the chain of masters and teachers stretching back through the ages. The link so formed is of lifetime duration and forges a solemn bond, similar to the practice of baptism.
One may be initiated into the Sufi Order by one of its Representatives. Those interested in initiation are encouraged to select a Representative with whom they feel a deep trust and respect, for those qualities are necessary to facilitate the training offered. The Initiate receives spiritual practices from her/his initiator which are designed to promote spiritual realization, facilitate the unfoldment of his/her being and assist in meeting life's challenges and demands. The practices are not compulsory, but are given as a gift.
The only regulation which initiates are asked to observe is a restriction on the use of non-medical drugs. It is Pir Vilayat's belief that drugs can interfere with the practices and spiritual training offered to a student.
A mureed in the Sufi Order is welcome to be initiated into other esoteric traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, or other Sufi Orders. However, it is advised that a student receive his/her daily practices from only one guide and consult the Sufi Order guide about practices he/she is doing from other Orders or traditions. The intention is to safeguard the well being of the student, so he/she is not confused by mixing practices that may not be complementary.

Objectives of the Training

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan has enumerated a series of objectives that he associated with initiation into the Sufi Order, which are quoted here with brief commentary.
The aim is to find God within ourselves, to dive deeply into ourselves, so that we may touch the unity of the whole being. It is toward this end that we are working by the power of initiation, in order that we may receive inspiration and blessing in our life from within.

Self Realization

The first objective is "to realize the Self within and without." The Self is the divine aspect of each human being and is often referred to as our divine inheritance. The Sufi Order also places a strong emphasis on creating a meaningful life in the world, for this can be the means to actualize potential qualities, gifts and archetypes, thereby manifesting the Self without.

Training the Ego

"The path of initiation is the training of the ego, and it is self discipline which is learned on the path." An important element of the above quote is the word "training," for it conveys an image of the ego having a significant role within the human structure when properly disciplined and worked with creatively. The practice of mastery is taught in the Sufi Order as a means to transform the ego into a suitable instrument of serving the divine within.
 
The Art of Personality

"The soul is veiled by covers, one cover over the others, and the rending of these covers allows the soul to emerge and rise higher." This image of lifting the veils is found throughout Sufi poetry and refers to the process of awakening to one's natural state of being. The veils are our distorted identification with past conditioning. The "art of personality" is in the creation of a personality which incorporates, manifests, and actualizes the soul's potential. 

Expansion of Consciousness

"To see into the world unseen" is the exploration of transpersonal states of consciousness. This suggests not reducing reality to a narrow perception of consciousness but reaching beyond these parameters in a quest for direct experience of the deeper and richer and vaster reality of the Only Being. The "inner life" central to mysticism and the Sufi Order training is concerned with developing the capacity to discern the universe within each human being. 
"To kindle the fire of divine love." The awakening of the divine in the human being is the igniting of the love element in the heart. One of the essential criteria for recognizing a realized being is captured in the observation that "the Holy Ones are living streams of love." There is much emphasis placed upon the kindling of the love element in the Sufi training, which sometimes is described as the "Religion of the Heart."

To Know the Divine
 
"To know and communicate with God." The various practices used in the training of initiates facilitate different modes of relating with that ultimate reality which many call God. This path explores different relationships between God and the human being and the understanding that arises from each. An archetypal relationship of particular significance to the Sufi is that of the lover and the Beloved. 

Communication with Nature

"To be able to read into nature's manuscript" represents the mystic's capacity to communicate with all of life, experiencing a world composed of beings rather than things. Learning to read means, in this case, developing the capacity to see, within the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, patterns which illuminate the nature of reality and reveal an underlying unity permeating the micro-macrocosms. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan describes this phenomena as "discovering that which transpires through that which appears."

In Service to Humanity

If we ask what profit we derive from initiation, the answer is that religion, mysticism or philosophy - all that we gain - should help us to achieve one result, and that is to be best fitted for serving other human beings.
					        -  Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan  

The Sufi Order is concerned that its spiritual training not be distorted into a narcissistic self-involvement, but rather enables one to become more sensitive to the human condition throughout the world and better able to respond in a positive and creative manner. The emerging of planetary consciousness is an ideal which the Sufi Order seeks to serve. 

The Initiation Ceremony

Some members have found it beneficial to spend a period of preparation before initiation. This may include a personal retreat, or some other expression of spiritual reflection and practice. During the ceremony it is appropriate for one to be relaxed, open and receptive to the sacredness of the occasion.

Questions     

The spiritual guide begins by asking:
"Is it your wish to become initiated in the Sufi Order?"
"Will you consider the teaching that is given to you as your 			sacred trust?"
"Will you offer your allegiance to the Message of Unity 			brought by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan?"

Invocation      

Toward the One
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
the only Being
United with all the Illuminated Souls,
Who form the Embodiment of the Master,
the Spirit of Guidance.

Initiation

The invocation is followed by a prayer invoking the Masters, Saints, and Prophets of various traditions and the Sufi lineage. During this time the transmission of the Spirit or Baraka, which gives inner life to the Sufi Order, is communicated to the new initiate. 

In the name of God, 
in the name of all masters, saints, and prophets 
who form the hierarchies of the spiritual government of the world, 
in the name of the Pir-o-Murshids of all Sufi Orders 
who support the Message of Unity, 
in the name of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, 
I initiate you into the Sufi Order, 
that you may find the path
that will lead you toward the purpose of your life: 
illumination.

Blessing
     
The ceremony ends with the following blessing:

May God bless you, 
illuminate you, 
protect you, 
and make you fruitful in God's service.

At the end of the ceremony personal practices are usually suggested and demonstrated. If you are initiated by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, then you will need to select another guide for further practices. Due to his extensive travel and service as Head of the Order, Pir Vilayat is not able to function as a personal guide. Contacting a local center and meeting the Representative is a good place to begin this selection process.

Further Initiations

In establishing the Esoteric School, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan created a format of twelve progressive initiations and a series of Study or Gatha classes which are related to these initiations. At present the Order has several different methods of conveying further initiations.
Some guides continue to use the original format in which the first three initiations relate to Gatha Classes 1, 2 and 3. Initiations 4, 5, and 6 are coordinated with the Githa Classes 1, 2, and 3. Initiations 7, 8, and 9 relate to SanGatha classes 1, 2, 3. These classes are composed of teachings from Pir-o-Murshid on various themes, and much of the material is now available in book form.
Another approach is built around an initiation into each of the Study Circles or Gatha classes. In this format there would be four initiations, corresponding to the Gatha, Githa, SanGatha and SanGitha classes. An individual retreat is suggested at each of these initiations as a means to deepen the passage. 
Unrelated to the classes and not designated by a number is an initiation that may be given which acknowledges the development of a particular quality, the completion of a certain stage in one's spiritual journey or the beginning of a new direction. These initiations are outer confirmations of developments within the mureed and they mark significant passages on one's life path. 
Given the various meanings of initiation mentioned in this chapter, it is advisable to clarify this topic in discussions with one's guide so there is a mutual understanding.

Chapter 3

Introduction 

This chapter addresses the themes of guidance as a spiritual gift that may be developed by a mureed through many aspects of the training offered by the Sufi Order. Attending the classes given in Centers, studying the teachings and practices, and taking periodic retreats will deeply support one's path of unfoldment while offering insight into the difficulties that occur in life. 
The heart of the personal training is to be found in the initiate/guide relationship. An accompanying tape provides some understanding of this "special friendship" and the form or container in which guidance and practices are shared. The articles on "Choosing a Guide" and "Completing the Initiate/Guide Relationship" address the beginning and ending stages of working together. 
Mureeds are asked to read the material on ethics so there is clarity on the intention of the Sufi Order and its manner of relating to members. Finally information is provided for those involved in 12-step recovery programs and who would like to integrate this approach with their Sufi path. 

Spiritual Training Model 
The process of spiritual growth involves exploring the evolving relationship of the individual with him/herself, with the guide, and with the broader society. The following summary expresses the spirit in which training is offered in the Sufi Order: 

    Our path is a path of the awakening of God in life in the individual, in humanity, and in the planet.
     The process of awakening of God in each person is unique, and the potentials and desires of the individual shape the path.
     The spiritual training involves a dynamic mentoring relationship, with 			   mutual adaptation throughout the stages of the developmental journey.
      Supporting each person to find and express the voice of his/her true self 		   awakens the spirit of guidance within.	
     Realizing that individual growth is grounded in relationship and commu-		    nity, our goal is to foster these aspects of our life.
      Being fully oneself in the presence of others enables the fulfillment of all relationships.
      Ours is a community of seekers for whom community is ultimately the 			                   expansion of the individual into planetary consciousness.
     "The light of the purpose that one is born to accomplish in life has 
already been kindled in one's soul." Awakening to this purpose is how  we define vocation (calling). The individual is supported by the guide and community in the discovery, expression and evolution of this calling. 

Spiritual Guidance and Training

Teachings on Guidance and Training 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Inner Guidance 

It is the natural tendency of every human being, when he is in a difficulty, to seek guidance, to ask the advice of someone, either of an elderly person or of some friend or relation. People even ask of fortunetellers. However proud a person may be, if he has the opportunity of asking, he will ask as a joke what will happen in his life. There are two things: intelligence, the faculty of knowing; and the knowledge that has been acquired and stored. The intelligence is capable of knowing, but it has no knowledge; the knowledge is gathered from without, from all the experience of the world and of life. Every individual has his accumulated store of experience, and so has every family, every nation, and every race. And it is this store of experience that is the stock of knowledge of that family, nation, or race. Therefore we say that this nation is like this and that nation is like that. 
The Sufi says this whole universe was made in order that God might know Himself. The seed wished to realize what it is, what is in it, and therefore became the tree. Sometimes a person asks someone else for guidance, someone living on earth or one who has passed to the other side; sometimes he asks a saint or sage. Whoever is asked can give knowledge only according to the extent of his knowledge. From that store of knowledge that he has gathered, his advice is given. When a person turns for guidance to God, to the inner Being, then all light and all knowledge are his for his guidance. "But," people say, "how can we attach ourselves with the inner Being, so as to have that guidance?" When the mind is fixed upon anything, then the person becomes linked to that, a current is established between him and it. It may be called the guidance of God or the guidance of the self. If we look within, God is nearer to us than our mind and our body, because He is that life in which, as is said in the Bible, we live and move and have our being. 	 
The soul has within it the inner faculty of guidance, pointing to the person what to do, which way to go. But often a person does not perceive it; he is in confusion. Many are in confusion and remain in confusion all their life, not knowing what they should do in life. This is because he does not hold to that desire that he has. He desires one thing, and then another wish comes and he lets it go. It is just as if a cook were cooking a good dish and were intent upon it, but the housemaid said to him, "A splendid procession is just passing; you ought to see that," and he leaves the dish and goes to look at the procession. Then the dish is spoiled. 
The guidance from the outer knowledge and the guidance from the inner intelligence are both necessary. If the inner light were enough, then man would never have been created; he would have been an angel. This is explained in a story in the Qur'an, in which it is told that when God intended to create man He first told the angels of His intention. They said, "O Lord, why wilt Thou create this being, who will shed blood and cause destruction on the earth? Are not we enough to praise Thee and serve Thee? We are everlastingly occupied in Thy praise and service." Then, when man had been created, God asked him, "What is this and this and this?" And he knew the names of all things, of mountain, tree, and stream, and all things on the earth. God said to the angels, "Do ye know the names of all these things?" And they were obliged to confess, "Lord, we do not know the name of anything on earth. We know only Thy praise." 
The meaning of this story is that experience on earth is needed to acquire knowledge. Without it, only the capacity for knowledge is there. If a man wishes to become a doctor, an architect, an engineer, a poet, a musician, and he studies and acquires all the knowledge of the science or art but does not seek the inner guidance, then he will have all knowledge of the rules, but no inspiration, no gift, no power. The contrary mistake has often been made by mystics, who have thought that the inner light is enough, the inner knowledge, without any learning of the external world. There was in India the great poet Kabir, who came of a family of weavers and spoke the language of the weavers, which is full of the commonest expressions. His book is written in that language and with those words. I do not know how he would be appreciated in the West. In India, where they have always had a great esteem for the people of high knowledge, it is held to be as one of the great blessings of God. 
The secret of the inner guidance is that on whatever the desire of the soul is fixed, to that the way is cleared and all hindrances are swept aside. If you unwaveringly desire anything or to become anything, that you will become. Whether you desire to become an angel or a deva or to be at the feet of God or even more, that you will become. Whatever the self desires, that is its destiny. Therefore one person thinks; "I should go to the war; I should give my life for my nation," and that is his destiny. And another thinks, "I should not hurt even an insect; I should lead a most harmless life," and this is his goal. God bless you. 

Our Spiritual Exercises 

The first thing most necessary for a mureed is to try to keep up the spiritual exercises which are given, without any break. If you are tired, if you were occupied too much, if conditions were not favorable, I do not mean that it is urged upon you, but I mean that it is for your betterment to keep those exercises without a gap between them. 
Would you believe, if I may say so, that the effect of certain practices comes even after ten years or twelve years? A person without patience might think, "I did not have immediate results after two, three months." But he may not think so. If they are seeds which you sow in the ground, they take root and a plant comes. But in order for the plant to be fruitful it takes ten years. This is the spiritual sowing. It might take a much longer time in some cases. In some cases the next day the result might show. There are some plants which come quicker, others which take time to bear fruit. But still the spiritual sowing has its result, and a sure result. Never therefore to doubt, to be discouraged, to give up hope; but to continue, persevering in this path. 
Now the second necessity for the mureed is the study part. It must not be a study only as the reading of a book: it must be a study of engraving upon one's heart the Gathas, Gathekas, all the literature that is given, however simple it might seem to grasp it. Because you will find that it is creative in itself. It is a phrase just now; after six months the same phrase will flourish, there will come branches, flowers, and fruits in that phrase. It is a simple phrase, but it is a living phrase. The more you study and grasp it, the more you hear it, the more you will be creative. Therefore do not consider it a study only, but a meditation, even in your studies. 
The third important thing in the life of a mureed is to live a life of balance between activity and repose, of regularity. Not too much work, nor too much rest: a balance between activity and repose. Because when we put the idea before the world we shall be responsible to show it in our lives. Therefore our lives must be as balanced as possible. Besides that, in eating, in drinking, there must be a kind of moderation, which I am sure many of us have. And a kind of consideration from the meditative point of view. Because for the spiritual growth a certain food is more recommended than another. Therefore we in the spiritual path cannot always be neglectful of that question. 
And now there comes the fourth question, how must our attitude be towards others? Towards the mureeds our attitude must be affectionate sympathy. Towards non-mureeds our attitude must be tolerant sympathy. The best thing in the world is not to force upon others what we understand and what we believe. By forcing it upon others we only spoil them. By discussing, arguing with them, we do not accomplish anything. 
Besides, for a mureed it is most advisable that he must keep his conversation limited so as not to say things which might seem to the others too occult, too mystical, too spiritual. Our conversation must be like an ordinary conversation. Things about spirits and ghosts and elementals, apparitions and all sorts of things people like to talk about their past and present and next incarnation, what they were and what they will be. We must not commit ourselves in talking about these things. These things are for every individual to find out for himself. By talking we neither do good to ourselves nor good to the others. If we can only talk about simple things of everyday life, there are so many things that we shall have enough subjects to speak over with others. Ideas of the air must be left in the air. Standing on the earth we must talk of everyday life, leaving every individual free for himself as we like to be left free ourselves. 
The Sufi does not give a definite idea of these things because Sufism is freedom, freedom of conception, of belief. It does not give people any dogmas, that you must believe this or that. It does not present before humanity particular dogmas, and very often for the same reason Sufism is accused of being against certain dogmas. But it is not so. If we do not speak about them it is not that we are against them, but because we do not like to speak about them. We prefer being silent to talking too much about them. 
These are things of intimate conversation. When a mureed is conversing with his murshid, with his fellow mureed, perhaps one talks about it. These are not the things to talk about at the tea table. It would make the inner laws of life and nature ridiculous. When nature, when life itself covers its laws, then it means that they are best covered. When we uncover them we certainly commit a fault against the hidden nature of things. Therefore, it is called Sufism. By the word Sufism is meant keeping the cover over the hidden laws of nature which are meant to be covered. As soon as one uncovers them it means in the first place one does not know their value. Then he goes no further; he cannot go any further. It is the one who knows their value who will go further. Who has no respect for them, who brings them to the market, cannot go any further; he has a setback. 
As we go further we shall have to face a great trial. As soon as people know that we are interested in these things, they will ask us a lot of questions. They will want us to make a prophecy, want us to say uncommon things that will interest them. We shall be put to test. So you can quite see that it is the path of silence. The more we keep our lips closed the more the way is open, the more doors are open for us. The attitude itself opens them. We do not need to open them. We only need to expect them. What is not common, is not common. When you want to make them common that means putting down Heaven on the earth, instead of raising the earth towards Heaven. Our attitude with others must therefore be humble, unpretentious, and ordinary. 
Now the fifth thing. We must not leave our meditation and prayers just to those fixed times when we do them, because that is only the winding of the thing. But in our everyday life we ought to bring the sense of it into our action, in everything we do at home or outside. We must use that latent power and inspiration aroused by our meditations; we should make use of it. By practicing to make use of it we shall benefit ourselves and others by all we are doing. Now with these words I close my conversation, and would like you now to ask me any question that you may desire, in connection with your work. 

Attitude Toward the Practices 

Now there are three things, besides all other practices, which are most serious. Firstly, the twenty breaths of purification (see Chapter 5) which are given to all mureeds, because this is a kind of air ablution which prepares every person going through the spiritual path for every activity which he is going to take in daily life, and as necessary as one's everyday ablution. And by this I can promise you, that if you will keep up the prescription of purification regularly and steadfastly, it will become as a guarantee of your health. Besides this it prepares to keep your intuition factor clear, so as to think rightly and to act rightly. Therefore, spiritually and physically both, it is the most valuable prescription for you to keep up. 
Secondly, the prayers Saum and Salat are the prayers which are meant to be the prayers for today, for this time; therefore their power is much greater than can be imagined. It is a battery itself, by which a great activity is developed. It is the prayer which the spheres repeat, and someday will reach every part of the world; no part of the world will be left without. These prayers will touch every soul one day or other, either directly or indirectly. By seeing and knowing this more and more, you will realize the power of these prayers a thousand times more than ever. One may say them more times a day than is prescribed. And if you say them more than once, it is better. And if you are able to do them with the movements in all humility, it is best (see Chapter 4). 
There are two ways of saying them: one way is standing; the other bending, bowing, prostrating. It is not a subject which should be considered secondary. For the movements have a great power. No one who has the slightest idea of the occult laws will for one moment think less of the power of the movements. Yet if behind the movement there is no sense, the whole movement is a lost movement. When that movement comes with a great thought, it has a great power, it is dynamic. 
No doubt the Sufi Order keeps all mureeds free to do one kind of movement or the other, or to do no movement at all. This is the Order in which freedom is considered. No mureed is forced to do, no one is urged to follow. You all follow freedom, and freedom is our rule. Only I must tell you what great opportunity you have, what can be of great benefit in your life. 
Thirdly, when one unites with Murshid in thought at the end of one's practices, it is only in order to feel that we are receiving the divine inspiration and blessing of God. 

Sacred Readings and Classes 

(The following is from a lecture Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan gave on the theme of mureedship. Here he is speaking directly with some mureeds that he initiated and guided.) 
I should like to tell you a few words that you may know what it is to become a mureed and initiated. Is it that you have joined a kind of study group, to interest yourself in a kind of new study, a kind of passing interest that you have taken up for a pastime, or is it something you have taken for the sake of curiosity, because you wish to look at what is going on there? If it is for a study, then it is a waste of time; for a student libraries are open with books of all sorts. If it is for a pastime, then there are better occupations for that purpose. If it is for curiosity, in this path the curious ones will never be successful. 
What is it? Have you come into a new religion? What it is is that you have taken a step forward in the same religion you belong to. That step has come by your initiation, and by the power of your initiation you go forwards. Now in this initiation there are a few things which must be remembered. First your attitude towards the teaching which is given and towards the papers which are read. The right attitude is that they should not be taken as a study, but as something more sacred than an intellectual study. Therefore the tendency to weigh, to judge, and to criticize is not the right one in the path of discipleship. In India a phrase of a great saint is very well known: "First observe; if it interests you and appeals to you then learn; and after you have learnt, then judge it." Suppose in the teachings you have found one line which you cannot fit in with your old ideas. Then if you weigh it, there will come a conflict. Therefore in the East it is understood that in the spiritual path the old knowledge will not help, and one must unlearn what one already knows. 
This does not mean that a man must not have his own free opinion, but there is a time for that. For instance, if a subject which Murshid has treated in ten papers is read to you and you begin to judge after hearing the first paper for the first time, it would be premature and spoil the learning. 
Now another thing. What value should be set on the study, that is given as sacred reading? It is not the main thing. Study is a part of the purpose for which the groups meet. But the most essential thing is the meeting of some mureeds together, and the unison with their Murshid. When five mureeds are together, it is like being in the presence of Murshid. The unification and the silence are even more profitable than the reading. 

Working with a Guide

 
Choosing a Guide
by Mahdiah Jacobs Kahn

Initiation, or in Sufi terms Bayat, first of all has to do with the relationship between the pupil and the Murshid. The Murshid is understood to be the counselor on the spiritual path. He does not give anything to or teach the pupil, the mureed, for he cannot give what the latter already has; he cannot teach what his soul has always known. What he does in the life of the mureed is to show him how he can clear his path towards the light within by his own self. This is the only purpose of man's life on earth. One may attain the purpose of life without a personal guide, but to try to do so is to be like a ship traversing the ocean without a compass. To take initiation, then, means entrusting oneself in regard to spiritual matters to a spiritual guide.				 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

These words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan are a clear statement of the mureed/guide relationship and its importance on the spiritual path. The question is, how does one find such a person in the Sufi Order given our current structure? 
If you are reading this Handbook for Mureeds then you have already taken initiation and may or may not have a guide. You may have taken initiation from Pir Vilayat, a traveling teacher or a Representative in the area in which you live and attend classes. You may see reflected in your initiator the teacher you have sought and if that person is accessible as a guide, your training can begin. However, for many people who take initiation in the Sufi Order, the initiator may not be available for ongoing work as a guide. This is particularly true if your initiator is Pir Vilayat whose schedule currently makes him unavailable. 
A new mureed may find that he/she needs someone local who is available for regular meetings and can prescribe and review practices on a regular basis. The selection of such a person is a delicate matter. Many guides will work with the person who has initiated you and will honor your link with a teacher and fill the role of guide and spiritual friend. The process of finding such a person can be the first lessons on the path. In selecting a guide, you might want to meet with several people in your area and just sit with them to see if it is a match. I sometimes suggest to people that we try it for three months to see how it feels. The relationship between a mureed and a guide is a dance that engages us at conscious and unconscious levels. The purpose of the relationship with a teacher is to awaken the inner teacher and ultimately to awaken the Divinity within. 
The first lesson on the spiritual path involves taking the hand of another human being who is on the earth and who has all the concerns of a person living in this world and learning to trust that person. Many of us have issues around trust and these issues will arise as we engage in a relationship with a guide. Everything that stands in the way of our trusting another human being in a close relationship will arise for the new initiate who joins hands in spiritual friendship with another. It is important to feel some trust for the person that you choose to guide you and to know that this trust will be tested over time and that your relationship with your guide will deepen as a result of these tests. Trust, for most of us is a lifelong issue and learning to trust one's guide is a way to learn to trust. Eventually this trust teaches us to trust ourselves and to trust the teacher who lies dormant within. 
The nature of the relationship with the guide is that of a spiritual friendship that grows and changes over time. The spiritual path is made up of a series of stages and in each stage the role of the guide shifts. The mureed may be more dependent on the guide at first as everything is new, but this relationship changes over time and eventually the mureed and the guide become friends in God. 
One should also have a respectful attitude to the Murshid. This is not to raise the honor of the teacher in his own eyes, or in the eyes of others. It is to learn a respectful attitude by first having it towards one who deserves it. The mureed may then be able to develop in his nature the same respect for all . . . . To respect another means to deduct that much vanity from ourselves, the vanity which is only the veil between man and God.  - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
It is sometimes difficult for those of us raised in the West to develop a respectful attitude towards a guide, particularly when we see human frailties in the other. Learning to accept these frailties in others and by extension in ourselves is part of the training. Learning a deep acceptance of the human foibles in others and in ourselves leads us to a respect for life and an acceptance of it that deepens as we see the Divinity intertwined with our humanity reflected in others. It starts with experiencing that respect in our teachers and guides. 
 The rock is the heart of man. The dervish is the Murshid, the spiritual guide, and the word he gives you to utter is this mystery; that by the help of the word the treasure can be found and a door opened by which one can enter into the kingdom in one's heart. - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Some mureeds find the right guide quickly and easily; for others it is a process of trial and error. Sometimes we need to let go of many of our concepts of what this relationship is supposed to be to learn the lessons that are there in all relationships. This is a path of lovers and the relationship between the guide and the mureed is one in which we learn about loving, loving another, loving ourselves and ultimately loving God and knowing that it is all one. 

Completing the Initiate/Guide Relationship
by Atum O'Kane 

Some weeks ago I received a phone call from a mureed who had spent several years mourning the loss of her relationship with her guide. The particular manner in which it ended heightened her sense of abandonment and led her to question the authenticity of the training we offer. Due to unexpected personal difficulties the guide had to withdraw abruptly and was not able to inform the student or create closure. The mureed felt inspired by the ideal of beauty and sacredness with which the bond had been described. In the relationship she had actually touched these elements very deeply and the sudden loss of such a meaningful gift in her life was quite disrupting. The conversation drew my awareness to an area that calls for further clarification in a manner that can be helpful to both the seeker and the guide. Below are some suggestions on terminating this "special friendship," as Murshid calls it. These are offered in the spirit of suggested possibilities. 
In the initial meetings between the guide and the seeker both the eternal nature of the transmission and the temporal changes involved in today's lifestyle can be acknowledged. This involves honoring the sacred bond that unites both parties while recognizing that circumstances may at some point call for the ending of the form. Below are the stages of a ritual or process which can create a framework for conscious closure. It fosters the capacity for each person to go forth in his/her journey with appreciation for what has been shared between them and a sense of completion. The four stages could be addressed through a series of meetings, the intervening time allowing for preparation and review. 
1. Mutual acknowledgment of what has been learned from the training and from each other.
2. The expression of gratitude for all that has been received. Murshid comments that after the time of relating as teacher and student the next phase is captured in the image of two friends on the path of life who journey forward with grateful hearts.
3. Remembering the challenges that have been encountered by the initiate in his/her spiritual quest during the time of the training and what resources have been identified that will be carried into the future.
4. A purification of the heart in which unresolved issues between the two parties are recognized and approached in good faith. Where it is appropriate, forgiveness is sought. Space may also be provided for honoring the feeling of loss which can accompany endings. This stage may be completed with an exchange of blessings or expression of good will for each other's further journey. 
At the very beginning of the training it would be wise to acknowledge that if in the future either party wants to terminate the student/teacher roles, then consideration will be given to a process of conscious closure. If the guide is the one who needs to withdraw then it is advisable for him/her to offer referrals. The Representatives in our Order are volunteers who donate their services usually while meeting the responsibilities of work and family. Life sometimes demands we turn our full attention to certain areas as in a health or family crisis, and they cannot continue to serve others in the same manner. A change may also call for us to move and physical distance can mean it is not practically possible to maintain a role that calls for consistency and contact. One's inner life may lead us in a new direction or a sabbatical may be appropriate for one may be in a stage of re-evaluation, including one's understanding of what it means to be a guide. All of the above are valid reasons for a guide to recognize he/she may need to end a training period. Without a clear process or ritual to honor this passage, the relationship can slide into an uneasy vagueness in which the guide is plagued with guilt and the mureed with abandonment. Conscious closures can be a means to relieve suffering and open the way. In reviewing this theme you may find it valuable to reflect upon how you have dealt with endings in various forms and see what patterns have the potential to be repeated in this aspect of the spiritual guidance relationship. 
The mureed always has the right to terminate working with a particular guide. Mureeds are asked to discuss this with his/her guide before entering into a new relationship. The above steps in the suggested closure process help this change to be made in a manner respectful to both parties. It can be used as a container for marking a passage with the expression of love, harmony and beauty. 
 
Ethics of Spiritual Guidance

Ethics and the Spiritual Community
by Suria Less 

The principle of the Message in our time is to awaken and cultivate that innermost voice, that spirit, which allows us to recognize for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. In their time, the Prophets of the religions of the world gave a law or moral code to guide their followers. The challenge of our time is to find the living source spring of these laws; in other words, the natural morality which arises from a truly living heart (paraphrased from Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Gatha III, Metaphysics). We recognize that no law can take the place of this inner development. 
However, religious law and moral guidelines do represent the human community's effort to safeguard itself and to pass on the experience and wisdom it has gained in recognizing what violates the human spirit and what gives it ease. They continue to sensitize us in our own journeys. It is in this spirit that the Sufi Order has established ethical guidelines. Recognizing both the power and delicacy of the relationship between the teacher or guide and the student (mureed), the Sufi Order has established ethical guidelines to safeguard this relationship and to ensure its integrity. These guidelines affirm the sacred trust, and therefore responsibility, involved in guiding another human being in his/her inner journey. They also establish limits and boundaries for the guidance relationship. 
These are similar to those established for the therapeutic relationship in recognition that the guidance relationship, if it is truly that, is a deep link between two human beings and therefore subject to the powerful forces within the human psyche. When consciousness is brought to these forces they become the very means of transformation. However, when they operate unconsciously they can be destructive. The guidelines help to sensitize both teacher and student to this. 
An Ethics Committee has been established in order to have a means of addressing ethical issues as they arise. The purpose of this committee is to serve as a gathering point for the community to consider ethical questions, to serve as consultant to individuals about ethical concerns, to establish guidelines agreed upon by the community, to determine whether an ethical violation has occurred according to these guidelines, and to address this violation. In its formal functioning, the Ethics Committee investigates reports of unethical behavior and forwards its findings to the ethics subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas, the esoteric advisory body of the Sufi Order. It is this body which determines appropriate sanctions if they are called for. 
Because of the often sensitive nature of the issues brought before the Ethics Committee, it has realized the importance of ongoing support for all involved. To this end, the Ethics Committee now has several counselors who are available to work closely with it to hear and further assess the needs of the parties involved and to offer additional support or referral. In all aspects of its work, this committee observes strict confidentiality. The Ethics Committee is a function of the community. Its functioning and the ethical guidelines require ongoing consideration and refinement to be a living instrument of a living community. 
Hopefully, the Ethics Committee will be seen, not only as a place of complaint, but as a body to focus an open ongoing questioning and discussion of the ethical concerns of our community. Using the Ethics Committee in its consultative function to evaluate an ambiguous situation before it has become truly harmful allows it to function as an extension of the community's compassion toward itself.
If you have an ethical concern related to an activity or function of the Sufi Order or any of its teachers, please contact in writing either of the co-chairpersons of the Ethics Committee, c/o The Secretariat office (See Chapter 8 for Standards for Center Finances, Financial Ethics, and Ethics Committee Procedures).  

Ethical Standards While Teaching 

 Definitions 
The word Teacher as used in these standards applies to anyone who is functioning in an official capacity of the Sufi Order of the West, including Representatives, Guides, Coordinators, and Retreat Guides. 
The word Student as used in these standards applies to initiates of the Sufi Order as well as students at classes, seminars, or retreats.
 
 Scope of Function 
Teachers serve students by giving spiritual guidance along with encouragement and inspiration. Teachers are authorized only to give spiritual guidance and practices established by the Sufi Order in functions approved by the Sufi Order. 
A teacher of the Sufi Order realizes the sacred trust involved in guiding the spiritual development of another human being. With that trust goes the responsibility of honoring the following ethical standards: 
1. Teachers shall not prescribe behavior or make decisions for students. 
2. Teachers are not authorized to engage in psychotherapy in their official capacity in the Sufi Order. 
3. Teachers shall not use the authority and power of their position to exploit students for material, emotional, or other personal gain. 
4. If a teacher has or develops a sexual relationship with a student, the teacher shall transfer the student to another teacher. 
5. Teachers shall not exploit their position for monetary gain. Teachers shall be very cautious about getting involved in any dual relationship with their students. Examples would include employing a student or contracting with a student in any type of business or professional relationship, or seeking investments from students for personal gain. 
6. A teacher needs to be aware if a student has a problem that requires a different type of assistance than can be offered in the role of spiritual guide. For example: 
   A student with physical problems shall be advised to seek proper medical 			treatment. A student with serious psychological problems (severe depres-		sion, anxiety, psychosis, or personality disorder) shall be advised to seek a 		licensed therapist (psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or licensed 			counselor). 
   A student with a drug or alcohol problem shall be advised to seek an 			appropriate substance abuse treatment resource such as a licensed professional, Alcoholics Anonymous, or residential treatment facility. 
   If a student is in treatment for a physical or a psychological problem the 			teacher shall not attempt to discourage or replace the treatment. If a 			student is aware of having a significant physical or psychological problem, the student shall inform the teacher of the problem. A teacher may elect not to give spiritual training to such a student. 
7. If a teacher is unable to function effectively in the role of spiritual guide with a student due to factors such as personality conflicts or other conflict of interest situations as previously outlined, the teacher shall refer the student to another teacher. The same shall apply in the case of a student who has attained a level beyond the ability of the teacher to help the student continue to advance spiritually. 
8. Teachers realize that there may be times in their lives during which they will be unable to function effectively in their role due to factors such as burnout, financial problems or relationship problems. At such a time the teacher shall consult with the Appointments Committee about a reduction in responsibilities or taking a leave of absence until they are able to fulfill their role. 
9. A person wishing to lead a retreat, seminar, or other program in the name of the Sufi Order shall have prior authorization from the Head of the Sufi Order or others delegated with that authority. Teachers shall not present Wazaif, Dhikr, or Shaghal outside of Sufi Order functions without prior approval of the Executive Committee of the Sufi Order. 
The Retreat

The Place of Retreat in the Life of the Mureed
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

A new moon teaches gradualness 
and deliberation and how one gives birth 
to oneself slowly. Patience with small details 
makes perfect a large work, like the universe. 
What nine months of attention does for an embryo 
forty early mornings will do
for your gradually growing wholeness.1
                                                         - Jelal-ud-Din Rumi 

While most may not have the opportunity to take the forty days that Rumi speaks of, we can gain a great benefit by even one or a few days of solitude within the retreat. Periods of retreat in solitude have been central to training of mureeds within the Sufi tradition since antiquity. The retreat, devoted to intensive periods of meditation and reflection, is an opportunity to become more deeply immersed in the inner life and to better know the Sufi practices. It is helpful at every stage on the spiritual path. Here we will describe the purposes and format of the retreat and look at some of the fruits of the retreat process. 

The Purpose of the Retreat 

"The purpose of retreat is to draw near to God, and the heart is filled with joy." So one teacher of old tells us. Another speaks of it as the opportunity to remove the many veils (the ancient Sufis speak of between 22,000 and 70,000!) which stand between us and the truth of things. It is also a time to "re-collect," in the most literal sense. Through the retreat experience we gather together the many aspects of our identity, our hopes, fears, struggles and joys, shining the light of consciousness on and embracing these. We are offered a vision of how the seemingly  contradictory parts of our being fit together in a beautiful tapestry. Finally, through the retreat, we begin to gain a sense of the wholly different sense of identity that is emerging. The fruit of these experiences is that our isolation and sense of separateness gradually lose their grip upon us. Ultimately, the world of unity and light that we touch upon within the retreat becomes a deepening sense of communion with all planes and all aspects of life. 

Challenges and Guidance on Retreat 

Many unique challenges arise during the retreat process. Solitude comes very naturally for some and not so for others. The retreat tends to intensify the soul's transformation, and often opens us rather quickly to areas where healing or deeper realization are emerging. During the retreat there can be periods of great dryness and very strong emotion. Also, during these moments of deep exploration and of opening of the heart, the conscience is magnified. Some individuals, especially drawn to solitude, may find themselves in an unhealthy isolation from which movement back towards life is difficult. 
Because of the intensity of the retreat and the challenges that arise, taking a retreat under the direction of a guide is strongly recommended. The guides for retreats within the Sufi Order of the West have been trained and certified. Each has taken many individual retreats and is familiar with the specific challenges that arise. The guide sits with the retreatant each day, offering practices, support and insight for each of the retreat's stages. 

The Movements of the Soul in the Retreat 

Each and every retreat experience will be different. The same person may be in peace and bliss at one moment on retreat, and feel as though in a storm or fire at another. The retreat experience is literally a microcosm of the soul's entire journey of unfoldment. Given this, in order to describe the feelings and experiences evoked on the retreat, it will help us to look at Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's description of the different stages of the soul's spiritual awakening. 
When a soul first "remembers" its spiritual ground, it is like a deer, sensitive and thirsting for understanding. The forest or mountains become the refuge for the deer-like soul. This is the predominant mood in the beginning of the retreat. The practices that correspond to this stage have to do with encouraging and affirming this inner freedom. They emphasize turning of consciousness away from outer life, and becoming aware of the wounds of the heart and soul. Much of the work of this stage has to do with self-acceptance, especially of those aspects of our being that we tend to push aside. Ultimately we find that our deepest self-acceptance resolves many of our issues with other people. Through compassion and self-understanding, we come back to the roots of our unfulfilled dreams and deep impulses, and see how those that have not been honored have taken away the natural ecstasy at the core of our being. Here we acknowledge and reclaim our entire being, its light and shade. 
The next movement of the soul experienced on a retreat is towards a profound inner stillness. Here the soul becomes like the serpent who sheds its skin. All the veils that keep us from our deepest self fall away. Here we also become like the cobra, who does not have to go out after its food; it waits to receive and is thus guided and inspired. The practices of this stage emphasize the lifting of consciousness and a profound shift in the sense of identity. These changes are accomplished by a relaxation of the personal will, a continually deepening sense of surrender and "unknowing," and an honoring of the soul's expression of sacredness, perhaps through love of beauty, harmony and glorification. 
The final movement in the retreat begins through a reawakening of a sense of meaning within life. In ancient alchemy, this phase was called the "alchemical marriage," in which the heavens and earth, or the inner and outer life, were joined together. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan sometimes spoke of the final stage as requiring the temperament of the lion. He saw that qualities like strength, conviction and even voraciousness were especially necessary for the sensitive soul who must live in the world and not be drowned by the struggles of life. The practices of this last stage emphasize the balancing of certain soul qualities with each other. For example, a retreatant might use practices to balance compassion with strength, possibly with the Wazaif Ya Rahman - Ya Qader; truth with kindness, with Ya Haqq - Ya Karim; or the admixture of inner and outer light, Ya Nur - Ya Zahir. Here also, an emphasis might be placed on Love as the principle that unites all places of reality, perhaps through the Dhikr of love, Ishq Allah Ma'abud Lillah. 
Also within the final part of the retreat, an emphasis is often placed on issues related to a soul's purpose. In the depth of practices, a retreatant glimpses his or her life in a very different way, and gains a deeper understanding of the meaning of the soul's purpose. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan once noted that all meditation practices are but vehicles to lead us to this understanding; once we have found it, our life becomes our practice. This is the key to the "alchemical marriage" and to our happiness and inner peace. The deeper contact with the soul's purpose can be one of the most life-transforming experiences we could have. 

Let loving lead your soul.
Make it a place to retire to, 
a kind of monastery cave, a retreat 
for the deepest core of your being.
                                                     - Attar2 

The Retreat Process
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

Many in the Sufi Order of the West consider the retreat process to be an integral part of their spiritual training. I wish to give particular emphasis to the retreat format as a means of enabling personal transformation.
Individual, small group and large group retreats are available at a number of Centers in North America and Europe. Retreat guides at these Centers have undergone extensive training in the retreat process before being certified as retreat guides in the Sufi Order. In addition, many retreat guides are counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists by profession. 
In the retreat process, the structured patterns and concepts of personal identity are dissolved in a psychologically protected environment. Wherever possible, retreats are held in nature so that the beauty and healing properties of a natural setting complement the retreat process. Diet is generally simple, vegetarian and non-dairy. Often silence is maintained for the period of the retreat. Individuals are encouraged to leave behind thoughts and concerns of everyday life in order to "go within" to discover a deeper self and fundamental inter-connectedness with all dimensions of being. This altered consciousness gives an opportunity to recognize qualities in oneself not always perceived in everyday life, and affords a new vantage point from which to view one's life and problems. Finally, consciously integrating these instincts into the fabric of one's personality, one is prepared to re-enter active life with a renewed vision of identity and purpose. 
The Sufi understanding of self-transformation utilized an alchemical terminology that has been developed to describe the process of transformation. We often think of the alchemists as the primeval chemists, but in fact they were really both psychologists and scientists because they assumed the principle "As above, so below; as below, so above," which meant for them that the same processes that make for the transformation of metals in the womb of the earth also make for the transformation of humans at the psychological level. This is called the ars regia, or royal art. 
In our Sufi retreats we are using one of the techniques devised by an alchemist named Valentius. Basically, it has two halves. The first half is called solve and the second half coagulae, solve meaning "dissolve" and coagulae meaning, in our modem terminology, "rebirthing." Both parts are essential, and in fact there is no use going through the rebirthing process unless one has first gone through the process of dissolving. 
Saint Francis refers to this dissolving process when he says that in order to become what we really are, we have first to go through a stage where we become nothing. This is the "dark night of the soul" referred to by St. John of the Cross. In psychological terms it is a breaking down of the self-image, the ego structure that one builds up over time. It is interesting that life itself does provide for this to some extent through various sorts of crises. For example, you lose your job, your relationship is broken with your spouse, you are without a penny, you have an accident, and there is a death in the family. Everything just goes wrong all at once and sure enough, you are suddenly going through a crisis. 
Now, the outer crisis is always paralleled by an inner crisis. One loses one's self confidence, one's sense of values, one's sense of direction and purpose, and is finally thrown into total confusion. This is truly the dark night of the soul. Or, one may find oneself in a situation where there seems to be no issue, no right thing to do, no escape. This is what is called being in a bind, a no-win situation. Actually, of course, the bind is in the mind, because a bind is really the horizon of one's insight. The situation appears to be such that there is no way out. It is only that one cannot see it. In this type of situation nature itself provides for a breakdown which is for the purpose of a breakthrough as it were. That is, one has to go through a crisis and experience the breakdown in order to come into the clear again. 
An English psychiatrist, R.D. Laing, has this idea of a "breakdown that avers itself to be a breakthrough." Laing considers that it is natural and sometimes even necessary for a person's psyche to break down. It is a sign of the vulnerability and pliability of the psyche, which otherwise would remain sclerosed. In other words, it is sometimes the only way in which one can undergo change. Of course, one should be very carefully guided through this breakdown. Guidance is essential. Otherwise, the crisis becomes chronic and one can sink into a state of schizophrenia or depression or whatever. This is why the psychologists of the future will have to be illuminated beings. By illuminated beings I mean people endowed with a very high attunement and deep insight who can see the real issues behind the apparent ones. 
They will also have to be able to guide people beyond the breakdown and through the rebirthing process. Having passed that dangerous threshold between the breakdown and breakthrough, one can start to work with rebirthing. At least this is the order specified in the original theory of the ars regia. 
I tend to differ somewhat from the traditional alchemists at this point, because I feel that we already have to work with rebirthing while the breakdown is taking place. You'll find this in nature. For example, in the healing of wounds, the new skin or tissue grows before the damaged skin or tissue is eliminated. I am very wary about letting a person go through the dark night without some replacement during the process. 

In the traditional alchemical process there are six stages of breakdown and rebirthing. We have already talked about the first stage, the "dark night of the soul." 
The second stage is called "the rise of Apollo." It is what Jung would call the formation of a new sense of the Self to replace the old self. The ego is replaced by the Self. It is integration at a higher level. Typical of this is a reference that Jung makes to the alchemist who said that one must be careful when distilling that mercury does not escape the retort. This means that if you lift consciousness beyond its usual limits in terms of the personality, it tends to get lost or dissipate. This new sense of self, developed in the second stage of the alchemical process, lifts the point of reference of one's being a peg at a time, so to speak. The alchemists also call this "extracting the essence of one's being" or hanging on to the essence while letting go of the contingency. In the process of rebirthing, the essence of one's being is extracted from all the different aspects of the personality that have been overlaid upon it. Once that essence has been extracted, then it doesn't matter if the rest of the being is dissolved, because that extract is the most important thing. When the fragrance, which is the essence of the flower, has been extracted from the flower, the rest can be thrown away; that's the contingency. 
Hanging on to the essence, then, is what saves one from insanity in the dissolving process. This is in fact the cure, to make the person conscious of his or her real being. Then even if the apparent being breaks down, one is able to survive. If you look upon your personality as a continuity in change and then reach into the consciousness of what you have always been, beyond all change, that is the essence of your being. That is what we do in the practice of samadhi, and it is still part of the second stage. The Greeks put their initiates through that same practice in the Eleusinian mysteries, which is where the term "the rise of Apollo" comes from. 
This process is carried even further in the third stage, called the "immaculate state." The state of nirvana in Buddhism corresponds most closely to this third stage. This is where one gets to the source of life, beyond all forms. In yoga it would be the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, or "formless absorption," where one becomes oblivious to the manifested world and is conscious on the subtler planes. It is represented by the Virgin Mary, the crescent moon, and the water of life. It is a condition of aloofness and detachment; of inner peace rather than joy. This is the end of the dissolution process. It is only after one has experienced oneself as pure spirit that one can proceed to rebirthing. 
Rebirthing is the fourth stage proper, although as I said, there are aspects of it in the dissolution process too. This stage is called alchemical marriage, the "betrothal" between Mother Earth and Father Heaven. It is said that at the moment of birth, two worlds meet. On the one hand, there is all that one has inherited from heaven, and on the other, what one is inheriting from one's ancestry. So rebirthing is always the integration of two different things which merge into consciousness. 
An example of this sort of integration as it applies to working with the personality would be to work on two complementary qualities in attempting to balance the personality such as kindness with power, instead of just kindness; or truthfulness with insight, instead of just truthfulness or just insight. 
It is interesting that in the process of rebirthing, one has to struggle against the image that other people have of one. There is a proverb that says a prophet is without honor in his own country, and this is because people hold you down into the image that they have made of you and which you have made of yourself. So when you have undergone a transformation you have to affirm your being; and unless you can affirm it, people will bring you right back to where you were before. That is why the fifth stage is the affirmation of your being, when you face and overcome the temptation to follow the easier path and just fall back into your personality. The Tibetans have a teaching that may help in this regard. They like to stress the fact that our self-image is precisely that; an image, a mental creation, an object of our imagination. Consequently we can make of it what we want. It is not given. Our bodies are given and we can influence them only to a limited extent, but our self-image is purely the product of our own creative imagination. 
It is not only our self-image, but even the very assumption of individuality which limits us. I think that is why, for example, Buddha speaks about anatta or "non-individuality." The assumption of being an individual is our greatest limitation. That is why the paradigm that I teach now is thinking of oneself as a cone whose base is the whole universe and whose apex is what we think ourselves to be. This image is intended to remind us that we are not just the apex, but the whole cone. Actually there is some reconciliation of the irreconcilables in the pyramid, because somehow the apex is a function of the base and the base is a function of the apex. They influence each other. 
The sixth stage is called by the alchemists "the materialization of spirit and the spiritualization of matter." It is a very extraordinary thing that matter experiences through spirit, and spirit experiences itself through matter. The materialization of spirit is also called incarnation, while the spiritualization of matter is called resurrection.
For me the sixth stage really has to be divided into two parts. The first part, the materialization of spirit, is an awakening "in life," which is the opposite of samadhi. This is where one experiences one's consciousness as a cone; the divine consciousness funneled into what we think is our own personal consciousness, not just the apex. This is why awakening in real life means being aware that one's consciousness is the divine consciousness funneled down, and refusing to let it be limited by the apex of the cone. One can actually practice this while walking in the street. Instead of thinking "I am looking at this," "I am looking at that," one can think "I am the divine consciousness looking at the universe." 

Guidelines for Retreats 
by Aziza Scott 

Sufi Order retreats are for specific periods at regular intervals, not to leave the world, but to be able to contribute to it more fully. The retreat has been developed by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan into a very intense and powerful instrument for human development. The retreat also answers a need felt by many who are overstressed or in need of recharging our energy, confronting ourselves, and healing. 
The retreat has two major aims: awakening beyond life, and awakening into life, giving both realization and transformation. The general method is that of Alchemy: absorption into Oneness and conscious re-creation. Meditation practices of all esoteric schools are applied, as well as Sufi practices such as Wazaif and Dhikr. The techniques of concentration, light, invocation, breath, sound, magnetism, and prayer are all used in the retreat. 
The Alchemical Retreat has six stages: the shattering, the discovery of one's soul, the transcendence, the opening of the heart, the awakening in life, the discovery of one's purpose, and illumination. 
It is recommended that a three-day retreat accompany the Gatha papers, a six- day retreat the Githa papers, and a ten-day retreat the Sangatha papers. Then continue the process of a fourteen-day or twenty-one day retreat at a later date. Doing a series of three-day retreats for the changes of the seasons is a wonderful experience. Generally,  two retreats a year is good maintenance. If a group retreat is available; then one could follow it by an individual retreat experience. Also a retreat could follow a theme such as healing, light, nature, creativity or the Goddess. The spiritual retreat is an essential part of discovering the inner life, and is recommended to all. 
Please call the Sufi Order Secretariat if you would like a list of retreat guides in your area. 

Sufi Recovery Network

A Sufi Order Recovery Network is available for members of the Sufi Order who are already, or who might become, members of a 12-step recovery program. This network, begun in 1989, was developed by and for mureeds whose lives have been affected by their own or others' addictions, co-dependency, or dysfunctional behaviors. 
The purpose of the Recovery Network is evolving, with present focus on: 
   Networking and mutual support among initiates who are in a 12-step 			program
   Providing information about recovery to those in the Sufi Order
   Serving as a resource for retreat guides, representatives, and coordinators
   Offering recovery support groups through Centers and at leadership train-			ing
   Developing retreat models which integrate 12-step experience and Sufi 			practices 
The Sufi Order Recovery Network is available to all those involved in their own recovery and personal growth or who wish to inquire further. 
Please contact the Secretariat for current contacts with the Recovery Network. 


Chapter 4

Introduction

Prayer is a central practice in all of the mystical traditions. This chapter begins with the reflections of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the five different ways of understanding our relations to God. These themes are woven throughout the structure of the prayers used within the Order. The creation of one's own God Ideal is a central part of our training and prayers help to foster this process. They also envision underlying unity contained within the ideals of the World's religions and express the emergence of a planetary consciousness, which is a response to the cry of humanity.
Taj Inayat Glantz helps us unfold the layers of meaning in the Invocation, the cornerstone of the Sufi Order's orientation. Her insights form a framework for understanding the spiritual process called forth in a heart-felt recitation. In the invocation offered by Pir Vilayat, there is a variation on the themes of the original prayer which amplifies the inspiration.
A section in this chapter also addresses the issue of gender inclusive language as one seeks to make the prayers one's own. The body and its capacity to experience and express the ecstasy of the spirit are acknowledged in the movements accompanying the prayers given by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Arifa Miller's reflections on dance as prayer. Finally, the beauty and rhythm of reciting the prayers as a daily practice are evoked in "The Confraternity" by Qahira Qalbi.

Our Relation to God 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Our relation to God is understood in five different ways:
	Idealizing
	Recognizing
	Communicating
	Realizing
	Perfecting

Idealizing

Every sincere and earnest believer in God experiences this stage. It is the stage in which he stands before God in humility and gentleness or with repentance for his sins and for his faults, or looks to heaven and asks for pardon. Whether the being or person he idealizes is much greater or only comparatively greater than himself, he understands that he is a mere drop in relation to the ocean, that he is most limited compared to a most unlimited God, that he is most feeble while the other is Almighty. He realizes that there is a Being filled with all the virtues and goodness and justice and mercy and compassion imaginable. Whatever be his religion, everyone experiences this first stage, being a faithful believer in God.
The first lesson to humanity has been that of idealizing. It is not only the Bible that says, "blessed are the humble, the gentle, the meek;" it is also said in the Qur'an and other sacred books. It was even taught in the old Roman civilization. Each nation that has arrived at the point of understanding and acting according to true humanity has come to understand that man is different from animals only to the extent to which he idealizes. This is greater than art, greater than religion, greater than anything, and is the source of great joy. Before we can enjoy life we must become delicate, sensitive, and evolved. When this is attained, a person experiences a kind of joy in bowing his head such as is not found in ordinary people.
All the various modes of expressing veneration and respect and worship were given to one Being, in recognition that there is only one Being worthy of such expression. By practicing it continually we get to reproduce the same attitude in ourselves. But if this were the end of our way of life, what then shall we think of those who take the other four steps? For, truly, this sherif is only the first step!

Recognizing

Recognizing is the second step; it is called tariqat. At this stage the believer in God thinks of Him not only as in heaven, where all praise, worship, honor, and respect are due to Him, but he recognizes that He is on earth also. For instance, take a person called "John." If you ask him the name of each part of him, he can give a certain name for each, for every part of his body has its name. But which is "John?" Which part of his being is "John?" How shall I recognize "John?" If I recognize him from his head, why not call his head "John" instead of "head?" If I recognize him from his hand, then why do you not call his hand "John," why call it "hand?" If I recognize him from his body, why do you not call his body "John" instead of "body?" But if the body is "John" and the body is dead, where is "John?" Where the dead body is, is "John" there? No, surely "John" is different from his body; yet at the same time he represents himself with his body. It is his inner self that is really "John." Yet it is not his inner self which he shows to our external eyes, which are limited; it is his limited self, which we call "John," which he shows thus. "John" is behind his limited self. Our eyes are only the vehicle for seeing, and we can see something beyond our eyes. We, the ones who see, are the seer.
If we study this more and more carefully, we come to see that God is the creator, and must consider that He must have something to create from. When a sculptor sets to work he has something in mind before he starts. He has to have a piece of rock or stone to work on. Every worker has a certain thing besides himself to create from. So one may ask, "Was there anything besides this world for God to make it from? Where did God get the things to make the universe from?" If He created out of something already made, then that substance out of which He made the universe must have been made by some other god, or perhaps a thousand gods-and even then we may not have come to the end! But this cannot be. The whole creation is from one Being whose wisdom is unlimited, one Being whose art is unlimited, whose power is unlimited. He creates of Himself, with His own power. Therefore the creation and the Creator are not two, just as man and his body are not two. They are two, but at the same time they are not. When you recognize a man, you recognize him not from his body only, but from his spirit as well. If you recognize God, you can recognize Him not only in heaven, but on earth also. Those who recognize Him, see Him in all.
A Hindustani song goes: "Ah! How desirous I was to see the divine Beloved! It is not the fault of the Beloved that you do not see! He is before you! It is the fault of you who recognize Him not. Everything, whatever you see, is nothing else but The Presence of God!" But if you say, "All the world is the presence of God," then what is in heaven? I do not say, "The body is John." I say, "Behind the body is John, even though the body too is John." So God is in heaven, but His manifestation is also God.
Think of how the followers of all the different religions have fought one another! So convinced were some that there were a thousand, or millions or numberless multitudinous gods, whereas others were convinced there is but One. To the mind of the Sufi both are right. Both are opposite to one another in knowledge. One religion desires to teach that all these infinite varieties are just one God, and desires to impress the idea that this is God. Those who have learned that there is one God cannot conceive the idea of many gods! So they fought through all their lives, without ever recognizing who really is their God. They teach that someday they will be taken before Him for judgment, when they are actually before Him all the time, all day long, all night long! Understand this once and a great change of outlook will come; one's thoughts of God will change so much that the whole moral standpoint changes.
One day I was walking in the city and met a dervish with a beautiful personality. He was clothed in rags, but his speech, his voice, his thought, his movement, his atmosphere were so winning. At that time I was very young in the pursuit of philosophy. Youth is a time when pride has full play. So, as we were walking along and he called me "Murshid" (teacher) I was very glad. He addressed me as "Murshid" every time he spoke to me! Presently we met another person who seemed to be without any education, seemingly without any knowledge of philosophy or religion or anything out of the way. He called him "Murshid" also! My pride was broken, for next he came across a policeman and called him "Murshid" too! So then I asked my teacher what could be the meaning of all this, and he said, "Your dervish shows you the first step towards recognizing God: to recognize all beings as your teacher. A foolish person can teach you, a wise person, a learned person, a student, a pious person, a wicked person, even a little child; everyone can teach you something. Therefore, have that attitude towards everybody. Then it may be said that you recognize God. When the chela is ready, the guru appears." That is, when you are ready to discern it, you find your teacher beside you. We can even learn love from doves, and faithfulness from dogs.

Communicating with God

When an ordinary person or an illiterate person meets a poet, perhaps a great poet, he sees the man part and not the poet part. If he is told the person is a poet, he may see the poet part when he meets him. He now sees the poet in his actions, in his words, in everything about him he sees the poet! An ordinary person would not see the poet. On the other hand, a great poet may go among a crowd, and the people only see the man in him, they do not see the poet in him; they do not know how profound his thoughts are. So, once you begin to recognize God in man, you do not see man anymore, but God. The man is the surface, while the God is deep in him. Such recognition brings you in touch with everyone's inmost being, and you know more about them than they know themselves. You know his sorrow, his joys, his secrets. Such a person is called a "seer." The seer sees God with his own eyes, and also recognizes his divine Beloved in every form, in every name. He reaches Him and touches the God part in every being, however limited that individual appears to be on the surface. From now on there comes a softness in his nature, a magnetism, a charm, a beauty in him rarely to be found. Those people who have attained to this stage are able to meet people with awakened minds, and meeting such wish to be with them forever. A very well-known seer went to see Jelal-ud-Din Rumi when he was a chief judge in the city Kazoo. It was Shams-i-Tabriz. He came before the judge in the appearance of a savage. The first thing Shams did in coming before Jelal-ud-Din was to throw his manuscripts into the pond.
Rumi looked at him, wondering about his action and why he should throw away all that knowledge, and asked him the reason for his action. The seeming vagrant said, "Because you have been reading all your life, and now you should do something more. You ought to understand what you are, and where you are. Everything before you is made of letters. If you could read them, then you could read life, and it would be greater than any scripture, better than any tradition that you can hear. It would disclose the secret of all being." Rumi, after having looked at this person and his expression, and having heard all he said, was so won by him that he wrote down in his diary, "The God whom I have been worshipping all my life has today appeared to me in the form of a man."
It is said, "By one's vision of God, one becomes God." And again, "Their self will become God." That happens when we come to see God in everybody. We develop goodness in our actions. Our words become God's words, because we are impressed with all around us, with the mirror all around us. It reflects only goodness. Then we become a museum or picture of goodness. We reflect it all from morning to evening. We reflect forgiveness; we reflect tolerance; we reflect all these lovely qualities because, "If my Beloved is in every kind of man, how thoughtful I ought to be to all." The lover is always very careful when he is with his Beloved. He becomes thoughtful and tender. Now there remain only two more steps:

Realizing

It is after feeling the presence of God and after being in communication with Him that we come to realize Him. When you can touch God in everybody, then God tells you about Himself, because He sees you have no hate, no prejudice. You have seen your Beloved, and your Beloved tells you all. Realization is still difficult, for it involves discerning the difference between me and you. What is the difference? It is a great question or problem. Your "I" and "you" is just like a pair of compasses with which we draw circles on drawing paper. The one point of the compass is the "I," the other point is the "you," and where it joins there is no "I-you." The "I" and "you" only remain as long as we see ourselves. When we rise above them or beyond them, the thought brings us nearer and nearer to God in that consciousness in which we all unite. We are like the two points of the compass. Where they meet there is no "I" or "you." Self-realization is where the word is silent. The sage cannot say more than this because the subject is so vast. When we come to this conception, we find it is altogether too subtle, too vast to express.

Perfecting

Perfection and annihilation is that stage at which there is no longer "I" and no longer "you," where there is what there is.

The Prayers

Invocation

Toward the One, 
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, 
the Only Being, 
United with all the Illuminated Souls, 
Who form the Embodiment of the Master, 
the Spirit of Guidance.

Saum

Praise be to Thee, Most Supreme God, 
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-pervading, 
the Only Being. 
Take us in Thy Parental Arms, 
Raise us from the denseness of the earth. 
Thy Beauty do we worship, 
To Thee do we give willing surrender. 
Most Merciful and Compassionate God, 
The Idealized Lord of the whole humanity, 
Thee only do we worship, 
and towards Thee alone we aspire. 
Open our hearts towards Thy Beauty, 
Illuminate our souls with Divine Light. 
O Thou, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty!
All-powerful Creator, Sustainer, Judge 
and Forgiver of our shortcomings, 
Lord God of the East and of the West, 
of the worlds above and below, 
And of the seen and unseen beings. 
Pour upon us Thy Love and Thy Light, 
Give sustenance to our bodies, hearts and souls, 
Use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooseth, 
And guide us on the path of Thine Own Goodness. 
Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life, 
Until in us be reflected Thy Grace, 
Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and Thy Peace. 
Amen.

Salat

Most gracious Lord, 
Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity, 
We greet Thee with all humility. 
Thou art the First Cause and the Last Effect, 
the Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance, 
Alpha and Omega. 
Thy Light is in all forms, 
Thy Love in all beings: 
in a loving mother, in a kind father, in an innocent child,
in a helpful friend, in an inspiring teacher. 
Allow us to recognize Thee 
in all Thy holy names and forms: 
as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. 
Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, 
as Zarathushtra, as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed, 
and in many other names and forms, 
known and unknown to the world. 
We adore Thy past, 
Thy presence deeply enlighteth our being, 
and we look for Thy blessing in the future. 
Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasul of God! 
Thou Whose heart constantly reacheth upward, 
Thou comest on earth with a message, 
as a dove from above when Dharma decayeth, 
and speakest the Word that is put into Thy mouth, 
as the light filleth the crescent moon. 
Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart 
be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees. 
May the Message of God reach far and wide, 
illuminating and making the whole humanity 
as one single Family in the Parenthood of God. 
Amen.

Khatum

Thou, Who art the Perfection 
of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, 
The Lord of heaven and earth, 
open our hearts, that we may hear Thy Voice, 
which constantly cometh from within. 
Disclose to us Thy Divine Light, 
which is hidden in our souls, 
that we may know and understand life better. 
Most Merciful and Compassionate God, 
give us Thy great Goodness, 
Teach us Thy loving Forgiveness,
Raise us above the distinctions and differences 
which divide us, 
Send us the Peace of Thy Divine Spirit, 
And unite us all in Thy Perfect Being. 
Amen.

Dowa

Save me, my Lord, from the earthly passions 
and the attachments which blind mankind. 
Save me, my Lord, from the temptations
of power, fame, and wealth,
 
which keep man away 
from Thy Glorious Vision. 
Save me, my Lord, from the souls who are constantly
occupied in hurting and harming their fellow-man, and
who take pleasure in the pain of another. 
Save me, my Lord, from the evil eye of envy and jealousy,
which falleth upon Thy bountiful Gifts. 
Save me, my Lord, from falling into the hands 
of the playful children of earth, 
lest they might use me in their games; 
they might play with me and then break me in the end, 
as children destroy their toys. 
Save me, my Lord, from all manner of injury 
that cometh from the bitterness of my adversaries a
nd from the ignorance of my loving friends. 
Amen.

Nayaz

Beloved Lord, Almighty God! 
Through the rays of the sun, 
Through the waves of the air, 
Through the All-pervading Life in space, 
Purify and revivify me, and, I pray, 
Heal my body, heart, and soul. 
Amen.

Nazar

Thou, the Sustainer of our bodies, hearts, and souls, 
Bless all that we receive in thankfulness. 
	       Amen.


Pir

Inspirer of my mind, consoler of my heart, 
healer of my spirit, 
Thy presence lifteth me from earth to heaven, 
Thy words flow as the sacred river, 
Thy thought riseth as a divine spring, 
Thy tender feelings waken sympathy in my heart. 
Beloved Teacher, Thy very being is forgiveness. 
The clouds of doubt and fear 
are scattered by Thy piercing glance. 
All ignorance vanishes in Thy illuminating presence. 
A new hope is born in my heart 
by breathing Thy peaceful atmosphere. 
O inspiring Guide through life's puzzling ways, 
In Thee I feel abundance of blessing. 
Amen.

Nabi

A torch in the darkness, a staff during my weakness, 
A rock in the weariness of life, 
Thou, my Master, makest earth a paradise. 
Thy thought giveth me unearthly joy, 
Thy light illuminateth my life's path, 
Thy words inspire me with divine wisdom, 
I follow in thy footsteps, 
which lead me to the eternal goal. 
Comforter of the broken-hearted, 
Support of those in need, 
Friend of the lovers of truth, 
Blessed Master, thou art the Prophet of God. 
	       Amen.

Rasul

Warner of coming dangers, 
Wakener of the world from sleep, 
Deliverer of the Message of God, 
Thou art our Savior. 
The sun at the dawn of creation, 
The light of the whole universe, 
The fulfillment of God's purpose, 
Thou the life eternal, 
we seek refuge in thy loving enfoldment. 
Spirit of Guidance, 
Source of all beauty, and Creator of harmony, 
Love, Lover, and Beloved Lord. 
Thou art our divine ideal. 
Amen.

A Prayer for Peace

Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, 
that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, 
and speak harmoniously. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may be contented 
and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife 
we may enjoy thy bliss. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, 
tolerate all in the thought of thy grace and mercy. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that our lives may become a 
divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish. 
Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we 
Thy children on earth may all unite in one family. 
Amen.

The Invocation as a Spiritual Practice 
by Taj Inayat Glantz

The invocation is like a lotus or a flower containing a radiant jewel. We need to discover this jewel.
First, hold the word "toward." This already implies a journey, a movement, or a change. Something is going to happen, something is going to change. One can assume that what changes is probably going to be oneself. Feel the beginning of a journey, the readiness, the saying good-bye to old identities, old patterns, and old concepts. This journey is "Toward the One" and it is a journey that Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says lasts from the moment of birth to the moment of death.
One might ask oneself, "Do I want to make this journey Toward the One, do I want to give up who I think I am?" Let your heart answer. In this part of the invocation feel the kinship with all fellow travelers, pilgrims, seekers, contemplatives throughout the ages, who have dared to move beyond the confines of the known while searching, and who have left traces.
The next phrase, "The Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty," gives us some clue, some orientation about what this state of oneness is like. Contemplate for a moment "perfection." One aspect of perfection might be never ending, completely reliable, can never be diminished. So when we think of Love, Harmony, and Beauty this is a description of the One Being; this is the nature of the One to whom we are moving.
People who have had near-death experiences describe sometimes the feeling of moving into a presence which is totally safe, loving, and in this presence all fear is melted away. For a moment see if you can discard all defenses and boundaries, the rigid structures the ego needs to survive, and allow yourself to open to the perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty. It is safe, we will not be hurt or disappointed, and we can dare to believe that the love we have always longed for is a reality.
Notice anything that keeps you from being able to merge, such as old disappointments, skepticism, doubts, and cynicism. Just let the phrase "Love, Harmony, and Beauty" bathe those fears or holdings. In some way we need to become a child again. Just breathe like a Wazifa on the breath "The Perfection of Love and Harmony." We are going toward One who is "The Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty." Then see if you can hold the whole phrase on the breath, so the phrase and breath fill your body.
Then we come to the words "The Only Being," which we can also breathe in and out. We can experience more deeply oneness. We can contemplate the fact of interdependency. Notice how a tree is composed of earth and water and sunlight. Notice how our physical body came forth from our parents as a continuity. 
One can then breathe "Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, The Only Being." There is a change of identity. One's normal identity is surrendered, it doesn't hold up. Allow yourself to be melted, like the star that disappears when the sun rises. Al Hallaj said, "The sun of the divine being has arisen in my heart." This was from the consciousness of being "the Only Being."
The second part of the Invocation is "United with all the Illuminated Souls who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance."
Think of the image of many rivers merging into the ocean. The ocean contains the rivers but it is the ocean. We open to the living stream of blessing. It is real. And if you invoke these beings, this blessing, and this radiance, and come empty to be filled, you can receive this blessing. One just needs to truly want to.
Feel the opening of all barriers between Heaven and Earth, between ourselves and the Buddhas and the Christ beings and the Illuminated Souls whose presence is always here. This opening is always here but by invoking them and opening to them we feel their blessings in our being more strongly and we then become a channel for this blessing in the world.

Variation on a Theme: An Invocation 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Toward the One, 
the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
 the Only Being, 
United with all the Illuminated Souls, 
Who form the Embodiment of the Master,
 the Spirit of Guidance.

We invoke the global being whose body is the physical cosmos, 
whose fabric we share as our bodies, 
and whose celestial shroud is revealed to us 
when we are attuned to our celestial being, 
whose thinking is customized in our thought, 
and whose emotion arouses ecstasy in our soul, 
when we are moved to glorify the splendor behind what we see.

We invoke the global being whose body is the physical cosmos, 
whose fabric we share as our bodies, 
and whose celestial shroud is revealed to us 
when we are attuned to our celestial being, 
whose presence is always there, mostly unbeknownst to ourselves, 
and whose reality transcends any concept we could make of him/her. 
Amen.

Gender Inclusive Language

We live in a time of growing awareness of the significance of the Divine Feminine and the contribution of women to the spiritual development of humanity. For some the original language of the prayers is not fully reflective of this new awakening. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan advised those who were drawn to his teachings to take what is meaningful to them and leave the rest. In this spirit of respecting the inner calling of mureeds, various attempts have been made to use gender inclusive wording in the prayers. An example is found in the following blessing which is offered at the end of the Universal Worship Service. "His" Peace and "His" Presence, found in the original version, has now been replaced with the more inclusive term "God's."

May the Blessing of God rest upon you, 
May God's Peace abide with you, 
May God's presence illuminate your soul, 
Now and forever more. 
Amen.

Other changes that have been explored include the use of Parenthood rather than Fatherhood. The word "master" is sometimes deleted from the Invocation so the prayer contains the phrase "United with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the Spirit of guidance." In the prayer Salat you may find it helpful to name the feminine figures as in Rama and Sita, Shiva and Shakti, Abraham and Sara, Jesus and Mary, Mohammed and Fatima.
Acknowledging the place of the divine Feminine and the contributions of women who have embodied the Divine Ideal is certainly in keeping with Spirit of the teachings. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan spoke of seeing clearly the day when women would lead the way to a new stage in the spiritual evolution.
The prayers are meant to heal and inspire. An essential focus is uncovering the intention implied through the words. In working with the prayers as a personal practice let your heart be your guide in opening the inner doors to the divine. 

Movements of the Prayers
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Prayer trains the soul to be more appreciative of God's goodness. One can pray silently, yes; but sensation is psychological. Saying words has power; they go through the akashas of the body, re-echo on the inner plane of our being. So prayer repeated has greater effect on the soul than silence. Prayer is done for our own benefit, not for God's benefit.
Action is psychological. It makes pictures on every atom of the body of the thought which is behind it. Every atom of the body prays, even the blood cells; the whole being, becomes a prayer. The movements of the prayer are a psychological action. With every movement you perform, you make, as it were, a kind of picture which impresses every atom of your body. The circulation is also affected by movement, and by this circulation the whole being is affected; it is even registered on the skin.

Saum

Following are the movements suggested by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan corresponding to each line of the prayer (see illustrations):
1.	Praise be to Thee, Most Supreme God
hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front

2.	Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-pervading,
hands move in to a few inches from ears, as if to listen better
3. 	The Only Being.
hands move down to sides
4.	Take us in Thy Parental Arms,
 standing bow with hands still at sides
5.	Raise us from the denseness of the earth.
 rising from bow
6.	Thy Beauty do we worship
bowing, but this time hands become perpendicular to the earth, palms down by the end of the downward motion of the bow

7.	To Thee do we give willing surrender,
hold as above
8.	Most Merciful and Compassionate God,
rise from bow, hands clasp each other, at waist level, arms and hands resting against body
9.	The Idealized Lord of the whole humanity,
hold as above
10.	Thee only do we worship, and towards Thee alone we aspire.
	bow with hands to side as number 4 above

11.	Open our hearts toward Thy Beauty,
right hand covers area of chest at left of heart, arm at about 35 degree angle upward

12.	Illuminate our souls with Divine light.
left hand covers area of chest to right of heart, arm at about a 35 degree angle upward, left wrist atop of right wrist, one then makes a quick sign of the cross with the right hand while the left hand drops down to the side, the signing with the right hand is made from forehead to waist, and from left to right shoulder
13.	O Thou, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty!
	hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front

14. 	All-powerful Creator, Sustainer, Judge and Forgiver of our shortcomings;
hands move to clasp over heart

15. 	Lord God of the East and of the West, of the worlds above and below,
at "East'" the head has moved to face left, at "West" the head has moved to face right, at "above" the head has moved to face up, at 'below' the head has moved to face down
16.	And of the seen and unseen beings.
head moves up to face forward

17.	Pour upon us Thy love and Thy light,
hands raise, palms upwards, in front at face level about as far apart as the shoulders, and head moves so one is looking slightly upwards
18.	Give sustenance to our bodies, hearts and souls,
hold as above
19.	Use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooseth,
hold as above
20.	And guide us on the path of Thine Own Goodness.
hold as above
21.	Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life,
hands move closer until edges of palms join
22. 	Until in us be reflected Thy Grace, Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and
hold as above
23. 	Thy Peace hands come down washing over aura and ending standing with hands slightly out, palms facing the ground, fingers pointing out from sides of body, head slightly bowed. 			  
			         
			          Amen 
			



Salat

The movements of Salat are described and illustrated below:
			

1. 	Most gracious Lord, Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity,
	hands raised, elbows pointing out to sides, upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpendicular, palms facing to the front
	
			

2. 	We greet Thee with all humility.
	Thou art the First Cause and the Last Effect, 
	the Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance, 
	Alpha and Omega. 
	Thy Light is in all forms, 
	Thy Love in all beings: 
	in a loving mother, in a kind father, in an innocent child, 
	in a helpful friend, in an inspiring teacher. 
	Allow us to recognize Thee in all Thy holy names and forms: 
	as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. 
	Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, as Zarathushtra, 
	as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed, 
	and in many other names and forms, 
	known and unknown to the world. 
	We adore Thy past, 
	Thy presence deeply enlighteneth our being, 
	and we look for Thy blessing in the future. 
	O Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasul of God! 
	Thou Whose heart constantly reacheth upward, 
	Thou comest on earth with a message, 
	as a dove from above when Dharma decayeth, 
	and speakest the Word that is put into Thy mouth, 
	as the light filleth the crescent moon. 
	Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart 
	be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees.
head slightly bowed, hands clasp at area of heart, elbows down at sides
3.	May the Message of God reach far and wide, illuminating
hands rise head level or higher, and spread apart, palms up
			

4.	and making the whole humanity as one single Family
palms edges come together, arms still extended straight out in front of face
5.	in the Parenthood of God.
	hands come in toward face, and make motion of caressing aura moving down 		ending slightly out from body, palm facing down toward the earth and fingers 		pointing out from sides of body, head slightly bowed.  
				         
				       Amen
			


God Wants to Dance Through Our Beings 
by Arifa Miller

			Calling

The Gods have meant 
That I should dance, 
And by the Gods 
I will. 
For in some mystic hour 
I shall move to unheard rhythms 
Of the cosmic orchestra of heaven, 
And You will know the language 
Of my wordless songs, 
And will come to me-
For that is why I dance. 
			- Ruth St. Denis

To help the Message to its next unfolding, we start with our realizations. I feel inspired by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's teachings on the body movements of the prayers and those connected to healing, and wish to share what these have meant to me. I know now that my body is my teacher. This discovery came through working with creative movement, yoga, dancing to Wazaif, dance as prayer, illness and making love.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan said, "It is through the physical body that the highest and greatest purpose of life is to be achieved." This is an amazing statement. I don't think we have, as yet, fully explored this teaching.
While I was collecting and choosing Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's quotations for the Alchemical Wisdom Cards, I was constantly reminded of the realizations I have been given. They have come through my work as a dancer. They have come from my body's experience in the healing of cancer, and in India recovering from a bull's attack and malaria. These realizations walk hand in hand with the new unfolding of the Message.
We could begin by walking. Not imitating someone else's walk, but walking our own walk; a walk that is an expression of our soul. Start with being connected to how you are feeling. Walk that. Be open to a change in feeling. Let your walk be a blessing to the earth, to the air around you, to the sky above you. Walk as a god or goddess. Be aware of your whole body as you walk. It is making a statement in space. Imagine you are a prophet or archangel. As Shakespeare said, "Pretending makes it so."
Walk in different qualities: the compassion of Quan Yin, the healing power of Archangel Raphael, the faith of Moses, the forgiveness of Christ, the acceptance of Buddha. Perhaps we could remember sometimes, while walking from here to there, to let the walking be a spiritual practice. 
Walk your name! If you have no "spiritual name" choose one for yourself for now, or use the name your parents gave you if it has real significance for you. If you were named after a relative, is there a quality that you carry, perhaps that you inherited from that relative? If your name has a biblical origin or is the name of a saint, is there some quality or qualities associated with that being?
Feel the meaning of your name. Go inside, plum the depths. Mine the depths. Imagine Murshid walking towards you calling you by name. See his eyes gazing happily at you. Your soul is recognized. Walk it. Walk as the embodiment of your name. Have no doubts. Sing your name as an aria. Let your body move into a mudra that says your name in time and space. Walk with the mudra. Let your walk be a Dhikr, moving through illusions and clouds of doubt and fear, reaching towards the unfathomable truth of your being. Imagine walking with this Dhikr toward the challenges of persons or situations that are difficult for you. Then do the walking.
Now, fueled by your experience, go towards the essence of things. It's hard work to get to the essence of things, to go deep and stay there. It is a real discipline to keep going deeper and deeper into the feeling in the cells. Distill your experience, and feel yourself walking toward the goal, the Only Being as embodiment. Don't think, judge or question your movement. Here God's dance is given its freest expression. Trust and go. There is no right or wrong; just be authentic.
Let yourself announce your name to the universe, as the regent calls a name for the King. Stay in the attunement while doing a simple chore. Hear your name or a Wazifa you feel drawn to as a fikr. It will fade but you can return to it later.
We are all dancers. We are dancing all the time. We just don't realize it. Our cells dance, our heart dances. All we are asked to do is to respond to the dance of the soul. That's all. Just respond. It begins from within, not without. Not someone else's idea about how we should be. Not imitation, dogma or duty. Start from your own inner passion. Let yourself be moved.
To "let" is the key. Recently I discovered a new dimension of surrender. I was doing a simple leg stretch while sitting on the floor. The more I surrendered, inside myself, the more I could move. So I take that to mean that the more I willingly surrender to God, the more fully I can serve. I serve when I dance. And I dance God's dance when I serve. Surrender to the dance that wants to happen in me, as me, as you. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: "Let Thy wish become my desire."
Can you imagine that the universe really wants you to dance, wants you to carve into space the dance of your soul, wants you to make a statement with authority, wants you to praise with your total self? Our bodies, when free, speak their own vocabulary. We can trust that. We let ourselves respond to the calling of the Divine Choreographer.
The great value of knowing and trusting the emotion of creativity is that it can lead to the solving of daily problems.
Return, again and again, to the basics. Tune your instrument. Awaken your body and feel it say "Oh! Thank you!" Stretch, using thoughts which bring consciousness to the beauty of what you are doing: "May my stretching be a giving," "I let myself open out to the universe," "I open to receive all God gives me." Observe how you feel, always. Stay alert to the knowing of your body, its innate intelligence. You might work with the asanas and Salutation to the Sun of hatha yoga. Combining our Sufi Invocation with this salutation moves into new and exciting dimensions.
When I stay in a Yoga asana, watching the breath, observing the feelings, l listen patiently. Sometimes l sense a phrase from Murshid or Pir Vilayat. If I can go deep enough I sometimes have an answer to a problem I'm dealing with. I know that it is my own inner voice. It's all about discovering what is behind the world of appearances.
Breathe into the postures. Let the sacredness that inspired these ancient asanas resonate through your own temple, your God-given body. Listen with your heart's ear.
If I very consciously do the movements to Saum and Salat I'm rewarded by sensing a new dimension to these beautiful prayers. Consciously doing the movements means to me to know exactly with my body what I'm saying. Even if it seems that only my arms move, my whole body is aware of the gesture.
I have learned that the body can heal itself. I am learning it many times! Today the most enlightened doctors and scientists recognize the fundamental truth found in the words of Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan's teaching:
Consciously or unconsciously every being is capable of healing himself or others. This instinct is inborn in insects, birds, and beasts, as well as in man. All these find their own medicine and heal themselves and each other in various ways. In ancient days the doctors and healers learned much from animals about the treatment of disease. This shows that natural intuition has manifested in the lower creation as well as in the higher. The scientists of today should not, therefore, claim with pride that they are the inventors of chemical remedies, but should humbly bow their heads in prayer, seeing that each atom of this universe, conscious of its sickness, procures for itself from within or without a means for its restoration. In other words, medicines were not discovered by physicians, but were intuitively found in creation as the necessity for them arose.
						 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

			     
			Outlines of Beauty

I have used my body 
As a gleaming sword 
To cut outlines of beauty 
On the mind of the world.
 		- Ruth St. Denis


The Confraternity: 
The Daily Practice of Prayer 
by Qahira Qalbi 

My smallest work on the inner plane 
is worth more than all I do on the outer plane. 
				- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Prayer is the communion-bridge of "listening in;" the key that opens the heart to hear "Thy Voice which constantly cometh from within." Prayer is the moment we are conscious of God, it is universal thinking. In its higher levels prayer is God being conscious as "us."

Daily Prayers

The Confraternity was created to help us to remember and broadcast prayer in the spirit of "May the Message of God reach far and wide."  Three sets of prayers are repeated three times a day morning, noon and night, perhaps 6 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m.:
Morning 

	 Saum 
	"May the Message of God spread far and wide" x 11 
 	Pir 
	 Universel

Noon 

	 Salat 
	"Pour upon us Thy love and Thy light" x 11 
	 Nabi 
	 Universel

Night 

	 Khatum 
	"Disclose to us Thy Divine Light" x 11 
	 Rasoul 
	 Universel

	 The rhythm of the Confraternity keeps one's inner rhythm smooth and deep and brings to focus a clearer perception of Life's events. 
Imagine saying every day:
"Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our Life, until in us be reflected Thy Grace, Thy Glory, Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and Thy Peace. Amen."
Or
"Use us for the purpose Thy Wisdom chooses."
Or
"Open our hearts that we may hear Thy Voice which constantly cometh from within."
Constantly.

Preparation

Before prayer one prepares. The words from Scripture point the way: "Who would ascend unto the Hill of the Lord and who would stand in this Holy Place? The one who has clean hands, the one who has pure heart." 
Prepare for prayer as you would prepare to greet the Beloved. You might choose a special area (indoors or out), a certain cushion or chair, and an altar might be created. Washing one's face and hands and combing your hair helps set an attunement for some.

Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan said, "And I shook the throne of God in Heaven." Our fervant desire in prayer is heard by the inner Self and cultivates the mind, heart and body to uncover realization. Realization is the lens through which we see Life. Each one is in life according to their realization. To contain the new realization that comes from prayer and meditation, one must be strong enough to sustain the new, deeper view that follows the breakthrough. So, "Shaking the Throne" is part of gaining the strength one needs, much like a mother tests her own strength in the birth process and is readied in her mothering role. The father is also strengthened by his guardianship.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you 
Don't go back to sleep 
People are going back and forth across the doorsill 
Where the two worlds touch 
The door is round and open
 Don't go back to sleep.
			-Jelal-ud-din Rumi 


		Nayaz
Beloved Lord, Almighty God!
Through the rays of the sun, 
Through the waves of the air. 
Through the All-pervading Life in space, 
Purify and revivify me, and, I pray, 
Heal my body, heart, and soul. 
Amen.

Although one does hear versions of Nayaz using the plural, this is not what was meant by Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan. The singular nouns and pronouns (me, my body, heart and soul) are a remembrance of the Only Being, Who in manifest form is still One Body, Mind and Heart, the Universe.
Sincerity in prayer is everything. In the beginning prayer seems like talking silently or aloud to oneself, and if "asking for something" is the main reason for praying and no answer comes, the one who prays gets disappointed. Prayer is like love, and the following words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan give guidelines to prayer. Just put "prayer" in place of "love."
Is love pleasure, is love merriment? No. Love is longing constantly; love is presevering untiringly; love is hoping patiently; love is willing surrender; love is regarding constantly the pleasure and displeasure of the Beloved, for love is resignation to the will of the possessor of one's heart, it is love that teaches man: Thou, not I.


Chapter 5

Introduction

Purification is an essential and re-occurring process on the spiritual path. practices of breath and light distill the impressions of life, renew magnetism or energy, clarify and still the mind, open the heart and re-center one in the natural Self.
The awareness of breath lies as a foundation beneath all of the Sufi Order practices because it is the source of life and the carrier of consciousness. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's lecture on "The Philosophy of Breath" provides a framework for understanding its mystical meaning. All initiates are advised to include the purification breaths as part of their daily meditation exercise. The material in this chapter and the accompanying tape provide various ways of unfolding this root practice.
Two other important breath exercises, Qasab and Shaghal, are not covered in this Handbook for Mureeds. It is best that they be individually prescribed and taught. 
If a mureed has first worked with these practices on a group or individual retreat, he/she should consult with his/her guide before taking them outside the retreat format. 
Teachings on the general theme of Breath are presented in the Gatha Class and are also available in Volume XIII of the Sufi Message, entitled Sacred Readings. Instructions related to Qasab or Shaghal may be found in the material associated with the Githa class.
The meditation on "Purifying the Aura" by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan introduces the theme of cleansing our various bodies. Light has a purifying effect on consciousness and we are encouraged to identify ourselves as a being of light, extending this realization into our interactions with others. As the spiritual journey progresses the themes of purification, breath and light become unending sources of inspiration, insight and illumination.

The Philosophy of Breath 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

As the books, precepts, and doctrines of his religion are important to the follower of a religion, so the study of the breath is important to the mystic. We ordinarily think of the breath as that little air that we feel coming and going through our nostrils; but we do not think of it as that vast current that goes through everything, that current which comes from the Consciousness and goes as far as the external being, the physical world. In the Bible it is written that first the word was, and from the word all things came. And before the word was the breath, which made the word. We see that a word can make us happy, a word can make us sorry. 
There is a story told that once a Sufi was healing a child that was ill. He was repeating a few words, and then gave the child to the parents saying, "Now he will be well." Someone who was antagonistic to this said to him, "How can it be possible that by a few words spoken anyone can be healed?" From a mild Sufi an angry answer is never expected, but this time he turned to the man and said, "You understand nothing about it. You are a fool." The man was very much offended. His face was red. He was hot. The Sufi said, "When a word has the power to make you hot and angry, why should not a word have the power to heal?"
Behind the word is the much greater power, the breath. If a person wishes to study the self, to know the self, what is important is not the study of the mind, of the thought, the imagination, nor of the body, but the study of the breath. The breath has made the mind and the body for its expression. It has made all from the vibration to the physical atom, from the finest to the grossest. The breath, the change of the breath can make us sad in the midst of happiness, it can make us joyful in the saddest, the most miserable surroundings. That is why, without reason, in some places we feel glad, in other places a melancholy comes over us. It is the air that makes us so. You may say, "How can the breath make all this? How could it make the body?" I have seen people become in the course of years as their breath is. What exists in the breath is expressed in the form. As the breath is, so the child becomes.
There are two sorts of breath. There is the stronger breath, jelal; and the weaker breath, jemal; and there is the breath that unites the jelal and jemal and by uniting them destroys, annihilates both. This is kemal. By uniting jelal and jemal it forms a circle. This is why the guns and shells and cannons all have a circular form, because the circle is the form of destruction.
All the elements are in the breath, according to the direction which the breath takes: the earth, water, fire, air, and ether. We can taste them in the breath. There are five directions, four outward and one inward. You may say, "What influence can the direction have?" I will say, "If you take a ball and throw it in every direction, the ball will not go equally far at every throw. It will go sometimes further, sometimes not so far." The direction of the breath makes an effect even in our words. Sometimes we say, "Yes, I see," directly. Sometimes we say, "Yes," sarcastically, "I see," and our head is thrown back, the breath comes obliquely, the effect is quite different. If you say, "We cannot feel, perceive the elements in the breath; we do not know where they are," I will say, "This is a science. It cannot be understood in a moment. It is a study."
You will say, "Is the direction the only thing that has influence upon the breath?" There are two other forces that influence it, uruj and nazul, the rise and fall. In the jets of water in a fountain some of the jets rise very high, others less high, others rise only a few inches, according to the force by which they are predestined. So it is with the breath.
The control of the breath: reading books cannot give anyone the control of the breath. For this, practice is needed. Reading the theory of music cannot make anyone a composer, a singer, a piano player. Ask the composers, the singers, the violinists how much they have to practice. The practice of the breath is very difficult and very arduous. We see the yogis sitting for hours in the same position, standing in the same position, practicing for hours in the night or before dawn. By the control of the breath all things are gained. If a man is a great writer, it is because his breath holds the thoughts that are in his mind. Sandow, by the control of breath, developed ideal muscles. Before the control of the breath is learnt, there is the control of the body. This is gained by the practice of postures and positions. If a small child is trained once in the day to sit still for five minutes or four minutes, not to run about, that gives control. If it is trained not to begin to eat at dinner until everybody eats, that gives control.
The ways of the control of the breath are many. It must be done by the realization of the self. But as long as we think that this body is our self, we cannot realize our self. And often we think not only that our body is our self, but we think that our overcoat is our self. If it is miserable, we think that we are miserable; if it is very grand, we think that we are very grand. It is natural that that which is before our view we think is our self. We always remember the words of our great poetess, Zeb-un-Nisa. She says, "If thou thinkest of the rose, thou wilt become the rose. If thou thinkest of the nightingale, thou wilt become the nightingale. Thou art a drop, and the Divine Being is the whole. Whilst thou art alive, hold the thought of the whole before thee, and thou wilt be the whole."
The mystic always consults his breath, in the evening and in the morning, to know whether it is harmonious with the sun, with the moon and the planets. He is always conscious of the breath. For this the Sufi gives a lesson, to be always conscious of the breath. This is called "Fikr." My spiritual teacher, my murshid, once said, "People say that there are many sins and virtues, but I think there is only one." I asked, "What is that?" He said, "To let one breath go without being conscious of it." This is done by concentration.

Purification Breaths
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Purification is the innate tendency of every soul, but it purifies only that part of its being of which it is conscious. There is a Parsi saying, "Purity is the first piety." When striving to purify the body and mind, man often fails to find the real source of their purification. Really speaking, the breath is the source which keeps body and mind alive, and body and mind connected. Impurity of breath turns body and mind impure, and purity of breath gives purity to both. 

Overview

The question of how we should purify the breath may be answered thus, that breath is constituted of the five elements of which both the body and the mind are composed; and it is the same elements which are used by the mystics to purify the breath. After a Sufi has made his breath rhythmic by the practice of fikr and has acquired strength in the breath, he may purify his breath with different elements. 
By breathing on earth he will give all his impurities to earth, and will attract purity from earth. By breathing before water he will purify his breath and will give out impurities to water. By breathing before fire the Sufi purifies his breath by that element. Therefore, incense is burnt in religious places and the adepts in India keep fire before them when practicing meditation. One must purify one's breath by breathing in the open air, which is the air of purification. Life in the open space enables one to purify one's breath by the ether, which pervades the whole space. Purification of the breath not only gives sound health of mind and body, but it gives perpetual youth and long life until one has attained the life eternal. 
The general exercise consists of four times five exhalations and inhalations: 
First five: in by nose - out by nose
Second five: in by nose - out by mouth
Third five: in by mouth - out by nose
Fourth five: in by mouth - out by mouth 
These are done before breakfast, hands hanging down by the side, if possible before an open window. Do inhalations and exhalations slowly, easily and quietly. 
By inhaling visualize that you receive, by exhaling visualize that you radiate. What does one exhale and spread? The divine power of the space, which purifies and revivifies one's life, which inspires one and enables the soul to unfold. This thought must constantly be kept in mind during the exercise. There exist many other forms of this experience, but this is the general prescription. 
If a mureed is weak or ill, he/she sometimes may be allowed to do this exercise sitting or sometimes even while lying in bed. People who have to improve their health may do this exercise twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. 

Purification by Earth - in by nose - out by nose 

The first thing to do is just to feel the zone around your body that is magnetic. When you went to school, you might have drawn the magnetic lines around a magnet, those beautiful curves. So concentrate on that area around your body. Just by concentrating on it you awaken it. Remember that the same thing is true of the planet earth. We are immersed in a whole zone of magnetism. 
Now, as you exhale, you feel a kind of draining of the magnetic field. If you have a very strong magnet and a weaker magnet, you find that the stronger magnet will drain the weaker magnet, draw its magnetism and alter the shape of its field. So just experience that drainage as you exhale. It's a little bit different from ordinary magnets because your consciousness can alter the intensity of the field. 
You can reverse that process, by sucking up the electromagnetic field of the earth into your field as you inhale. This is your electromagnetic breath. 
Now, of course, the field is all around you, but the critical point is the point of junction between the two magnets, which is the bottom of the spinal cord. 
Now perhaps you might think of this: When a piece of iron is magnetized, the molecules are all aligned; when it's not, they're random. In the course of a day, you get a little bit disorganized internally, sort of disheveled, and now, as you breathe in, you're aligning the molecules of your cells. There is an ionic flow up your spinal cord, rising right up above your head. That's kundalini. The consequence is just a lot of magnetism in that zone around your body. 

Purification by Water - in by nose - out by mouth

Now we're going to do the opposite; we're going to draw the pure spirit down through the crown center, by opening the chakra at the top of the head, just like a lotus. As we breathe in, we lift our consciousness very high; we catapult our consciousness very high, with the eyeballs turned upwards, and go through a very drastic purification, which we call the immaculate state, like becoming ice and snow. 
Then we experience ourselves as being pure spirit. Instead of thinking of ourselves as being the vehicles through which spirit descends, we identify ourselves with pure spirit, and we infuse the body with pure spirit, as we exhale. You have the image of a waterfall, or cascade, that is descending. You are that waterfall, and you're investing the body with the waters of life. While vitalizing the body, it also purifies the body. 
It's a baptism of water. The first was a baptism of earth, and this is a baptism of water. 
If you know something about science, you know that water is a very special combination of elements. It's very special because of what they call hydrogen bonding. It has a very vitalizing and purifying action. 
You must think of the spirit, which is now portrayed as water, penetrating in the spaces between the cells, and between the molecules, and between the atoms, and so on. It's just an infiltration of pure energy into what we imagine to be matter, as you exhale. Consequently there is a sensitizing of your body, like a kind of awakening of the matter of the body by the touch of the spirit. The cells are becoming more conscious! 
You could imagine that you're sitting by the Ganges as I was, being vitalized by the stream of the Ganges. It penetrates every cell of the body. 
You exhale through your mouth, but you inhale through your nose. 
As you inhale, you concentrate on catapulting consciousness upwards, and you reach very, very high. But, of course, you realize that the only way to reach high is to strip. The less weight you have, the higher you can be catapulted with the same amount of energy. So you abandon parts of yourself on the way until you become pure spirit. Or rather, you discover that deep layer of your being which is pure spirit by uncovering it. 
It's really a matter of seeing it, of grasping it, of insight, and of realizing "That's what I am." Everything else is a formation: the body, mind, personality, everything, even consciousness. Everything that's a formation is subject to decay, change and transiency, but behind it all, "That's what I am, pure spirit." It is only then that you can vitalize the body with spirit. You feel it in your body very tangibly by this sensitization of the flesh and awakening of consciousness in the flesh. 
One can go further and combine this practice of spirit with the earth energy, which is the magnetic field. As we inhale, we use the magnetism of the earth to catapult our consciousness upwards, so that when we exhale, we are able to bring pure spirit down into the bottom of the body and at the same time, magnetism is being drained into the earth. Then we reverse that process and we draw energy from both ends at the same time, and we add a third element which is the manipura chakra, the solar plexus, prana energy. 

Purification by Fire - in by mouth - out by nose 

Now to follow the sequence of the purification practices, there is the purification with fire, or the baptism of fire. You remember how St. John the Baptist said, "One will come after me who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit." 
This is the baptism with light. The lower pole of the aura is infrared and the upper pole is ultraviolet; in between you have the visible range of radiation. So now as you inhale, you blow upon the fire at the bottom of the spine. Of course the muladara chakra is involved in the process, but the second chakra, swadistana, is the appropriate one that governs combustion of body fuel; or the bioplasmic dimension, let us say, of the aura, which is pure infrared radiation. So there are various ways of doing it. 
You breathe in through the mouth as you draw breath into the fire. So it's the opposite of the bellows, as you are totally concentrated within. You're drawing air from the atmosphere to make the blaze burn more intensely. While you're doing this, you should experience a kind of flush around your body, because you're burning the fuel a little faster, so it increases the temperature. This is similar to the practice of Tumo done by the Tibetans in the snow. You increase the temperature of the body by enhancing combustion in the body. You can tense your muscles as you do that, and you feel immediately a kind of flush of heat. 
As you exhale, through the nose, you radiate light through the heart center, which is like the golden sun. As you continue upwards, transfer your attention to the physical eyes and radiate a blue light; in the third eye radiate a violet light. In the crown center radiate something like the effulgence of a crystal, particularly a diamond. It's colorless and at the same time glistening with all the different hues of the spectrum. 
Now as you transfer your consciousness upwards, your body gets colder and colder, so you get into the very cold light of the ultraviolet, compared with the warm incandescence of the lower part. It's like a flame: at the top of the flame you get a blue-violet color, and at the bottom you have a red. What is important is to concentrate on this cooling sensation as you continue to exhale through the nose, and a warming sensation as you inhale through the mouth.

Purification by Fire, Alternate Method 

You could also do this practice the opposite way: You could start by exhaling through the nose, and heating the body as you exhale. That's the infrared burning more brightly, giving the feeling of heat. Especially concentrate on the second chakra. 
Then as you inhale, through the mouth, you could radiate light through the heart center, eyes, third eye, crown. It's just a little more difficult to radiate as you inhale, but you can of course. The beauty here is that you have this cool feeling as you inhale with your mouth. 
So when you've tried both, then you have a choice between the two and you can do whichever is most in keeping with your being. I personally favor the second solution, because of my experience in my last retreat of the wonderful effect of cooling the body. At that time one is able to concentrate much more on the aura. The body becomes partly anesthetized, and so all the energy goes into radiating the aura rather than in burning body fuel, keeping the body warm. When you breathe in through the mouth, you feel a lovely feeling of coolness. 
So you get to a point where you enjoy the cold, and you see how heat, what they call entropy, is a waste of energy that leaks out by the combustion of matter. This energy can be transmuted into a higher form of energy like light radiation, or pure vibration. 

 Purification by Air - in by mouth - out by mouth 

The next purification is purification by air. We do this practice with the solar plexus, extending consciousness as we exhale. You exhale through the mouth, and you think of the vastness of space, scattering the body. You're concentrating on that aspect of the body which is spread out in space, pure waves rather than particles, where everything intermeshes with everything else. The mind is also scattered, emotions are scattered, and the whole sense of the personal self is scattered, as you breathe out through the mouth. 
So once more there's a cooling effect, because there's no emphasis on body combustion. You know how to huddle your body into a bundle to build up heat, and then if you separate your arms and legs there's a cooling effect. 
As you inhale through the mouth, you don't just confine yourself to your ego consciousness. You think of your ego as a whirlpool that is built out of the convergence of the whole ocean, but you're still conscious of the ocean. It is the ocean. 
So you draw more and more of the vastness into the center. That's prana energy. It's the energy of gravitation; certain areas of space are denser than others. The ego is built up out of the convergence of the forces of the universe. 
This is a wonderful practice because you are not afraid any more of dissolving and not finding yourself back again, because you know that in the next inhaling you will be recovering the sense of your ego. 
The further you expand or scatter, the more energy you scoop into yourself as you inhale. If you think of yourself as a small capacity, you can't draw in much energy, but the very thought of the vastness gives you access to a lot of energy. 
Do not continue to think of your body as being solid. Your body has to really become like air. Totally. It's in your mind of course, but there's a transformation in the notion of the body, because one aspect of the body is pure vibration, scattered.

 Practices Given by Murshid 

Now we will speak about the breathing practices as given by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan himself. Basically, of course, there are the purification practices which consist of the five breaths, five in through the nose and out through the nose, and five in through the nose and out through the mouth, five in through the mouth and out through the nose, and five in through the mouth and out through the mouth. I hope you've got those clearly and if you are in doubt, you must ask about it because that's something so basic. It's a practice given to all mureeds in the beginning, right in the beginning and it's called a purification practice. 
It can be elaborated further, as I have done. Of course, Murshid did say that each one of them corresponds to a certain element and one can think about the different elements, earth, water, fire and air for the first, second, third and fourth breath. He says it should be done standing, if possible, not sitting. There is no retention of breath between the inhaling and exhaling. He says it even should be done before an open window unless one has a tendency to bronchitis and the air is damp in the garden, and, of course, the ideal thing would be to do these practices walking in nature. In fact, Murshid has given many practices that can be done in nature walking and this is one of them. This is so we don't lose our contact with the forces of nature. 
I'd like to generalize a little bit first before we go any further. You see, for Murshid as I hope we all understand, breathing is not just breathing in air. It's the whole of nature breathing in and out; it's a pulsing, inhaling and exhaling. It's drawing in energy, radiating energy. There is an Eastern teaching which Murshid refers to in the teaching given in London in the early days and which is referred to in the Sangithas. The important thing is following the breath into what he calls those fine veins or arteries or capillaries that lead the breath into the flesh. So, the process of breathing, of inhaling, for example, is not terminated in the drawing in of air from the environment into the lungs. It is continued as the breath, oxygen or nitrogen or whatever it is, is drawn deeper and deeper into the cells of the body. That's talking about it from a physiological point of view. From an esoteric point of view, it means drawing energy way deep into one's being and that is why in the more advanced practices of breathing, one has a retention between the inhaling and the exhaling. 
In the purification practices, Murshid says not to prolong the breath too long while inhaling or exhaling. It must be a natural rhythm. Obviously, when you think of your breath, you do breathe more slowly and as a consequence it is much more effective. 
I always advise people to exhale before inhaling in order to clear your lungs of any polluted gases. The purification aspect of the practices means one is exuding the polluted magnetism of one's being into the environment. 
Working with water makes one flow, and a lot of us are blocked. Therefore, we stand in the way of the flow of magnetism through us. So, it's very good to feel that flow of water through us. To the Easterner, the water is very, very important and maybe one day in the West, we'll realize how important the water is, too. In India the rishis sit where the two rivers meet, the confluence of two rivers or the source of two rivers. Perhaps you remember my speaking about Murshid sitting by the lake of Geneva and what all that water meant. I sat on the same bench and there is a very deep experience of communion with water when you're there. So it's good to think about that when you're doing the breath, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. It's a kind of pilgrimage to the source of life.You can think of Elijah. You know, pilgrimage is often to the source of a river, the source of the Ganges. When one bathes in the Ganges, it's so important: that feeling of communication with the water of life. 
The next one is with fire, which is really our encounter with truth. It's accepting to be burned, if necessary. It's a very radical form of purification, the whole power of fire. The rishis sit in front of a fire even though it's hot. Once in the Himalayas we were sitting in a cave. There was a rishi there, a youngish sanyasin. One was almost choked by the smoke of the fire when it blew into your nostrils. Now, you could explain it in terms of keeping the animals away, but there was that communion with fire. One experienced what that means. 
It's like you are purifying the earth. In fact, I remember this rishi sitting very high up in the Himalayas, about thirty years ago, and I was traveling with this raja, the Raja of Tehri Gahrwal. The rishi had an enormous blazing fire and it was too hot in the day. The raja said, "What on earth are you doing?" and was quite upset; he was of a very fiery nature. So I said, "I know what you're doing," and he said, "Yes, what am I doing?" I said, "You're burning the impurities of the world, aren't you?" and he said, "Yes." So, there's a consciousness of burning impurities. That's very important. When you're doing these practices, for example, you can think of the aspects of your being that you don't like and you can burn them, cauterize them. 
The other one is air, which is the symbol of the hermit or the sanyasin who becomes like air. It's detachment, a way of liberation. So, you're not attacking your faults. You're just freeing yourself from them. It's an ultimate form of purification when the others have been exercised. These practices are very important.

Purifying the Aura 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

You may have noticed how the native Americans cleanse their auras with eagle feathers. They hold their hands out like antennae, drawing energy from the four cardinal corners of the earth. They are plugging into the magnetic field of the earth and drawing energy into their magnetic field. This, of course, gives great healing power. 
We are going to work with purifying our auras. By the aura, one means the life field, which includes the magnetic field, the aura of light, the akashic body and many other bodies extending far into space. The first thing that one wants to do is to be aware of the magnetic field and identify with it instead of the body. Perhaps you have seen drawings of the field around a magnet. That phenomenon is to be found around the physical body and possibly is the mold in which the body is built. 
See if you can feel your aura around your shoulders and shoulder blades, extending forward from your heart. Areas that are more intense than others are plumes of magnetic force. You can use your hands to become aware of different thresholds, quantum leaps, in your magnetic field. By placing them in front of the areas mentioned and gradually moving them away, you will note how the field tends to weaken as it gets farther away from the body. 
You may recognize several plumes where one has to concentrate on drainage. Those points correspond to the wings of the Seraphim archangels. The first pair of wings proceed from the temples, as in the Greek statues representing the winged thought. When one does the Sh'ma Yisroel or the Bismallah prayers, one places the hands on the temples. This is also to be found in the movements of the prayer Saum from Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan when we say, "Praise be to Thee....."  While doing this, you can free any tension in your head. By placing your fingers at your temples, you will be releasing the tension which is due to magnetism that has become polluted or stagnant and has not been drained. 
Here is an effective way to drain this polluted energy: Place your hands next to your temples, holding them as if you were going to unscrew a jar. Turn each hand in a counter-clockwise position (which means they will be going in opposite directions, with the right hand turning backwards and the left hand turning forwards). Then gradually move hands outwards away from the temples while continuing the turning movement. You will find a point at some distance from the temples, different for each person, where there is a threshold between one level of energy and another. At this critical point, any fluctuating motion of your fingers is felt immediately in your temples. 
The second pair of wings is in your shoulder blades and the arms are the physical expression of the plumes of energy. The point of junction between the origin of those two wings is the place where the King in the grail legend was struck by the lance when he turned his back and was not facing the truth. It is a very sensitive area and when we are tired or nervous, tension is felt there. 
Now the wings can be folded almost forward to form what the Sufis call the mantle of light, which is a protection against evil and magic. As a practice, you can visualize those wings, originating in the shoulder blades, being wrapped around you as a protection. 
We have been speaking about the wings, and there are other related centers in the life field. They constitute the access of the vortex, like a constellation of centers. We will focus upon the most obvious one, the heart center, through which tremendous energy flows in a forward direction. It actually spreads, fans out, but the main thrust is forward. This is what one feels when you say the Wazifa, Ya Fattah, especially if you also use arm and hand movements that accent the radiation. While the Seraphim are using their wings, they are also radiating energy through the heart. Here you may repeat the movement suggested before, that of making a counter-clockwise turn with your hand, this time from the heart center, gradually moving away from the body. This will release any blocked or inverted energy. 
The third pair of wings is represented symbolically by the wings on the ankles of Hermes, or Mercury, the Messenger. The messenger is the one who uses his winged feet (which means to displace oneself) in order to communicate the order of the heavens on earth, and establish lines of communication between these two spheres. 
The plumes of energy that finally blossom forth as the wings in the ankles start much higher up, in the solar plexus, which is the point of junction, and then divide up in the adrenal glands. You will find that those plumes of energy descend down through the limbs to the sciatic nerves into the feet. 
You can place your fingers on your solar plexus and feel all the tension which is of an emotional nature: worry, fear, love, despair. Once again, you can do the motion of releasing energy, this time from the solar plexus, by turning your hand counter-clockwise as it is moved out from the center. This may lead to creating a circle of light around the solar plexus, which I always recommend to people who come to me and say they are being attacked by bad forces. 
The way of cleansing the magnetism in this area is to move downwards with the fingers, along the legs. Finally, you find the energy gets blocked in the soles of the feet. Foot massage is often the way of releasing a tremendous amount of tension in the magnetic field of the body that got blocked in the feet. Walking barefooted will be very helpful in removing the bottleneck. The other thing is dancing, the dervish dance. Then one is picking up the right foot and one is creating a current, a gap in the energy between the right foot and the left foot. The Russians do that in their very energetic leg dances, and the Spanish in the flamenco dance. You can simply concentrate on the metaphor, "flying without feet." 
One of the modern ways of working with the bottom range of wings is jogging. There was a rishi in India who was one hundred and eight years old and he used to jog every morning. He could hardly walk but he could run. If you can, go jogging bare-footed. Be conscious of the energy flow between the soles of the feet and the earth when you are running. Jogging can be real yoga practice. I dare say that while you are jogging, if you would just visualize that you had wings on your feet, you would jog better, instead of stumping around as many of us do. 
After having cleansed the plumes of energy in one's aura, the next thing to do is to receive a blessing or energy from the celestial beings, and that means attuning oneself to their attunement.

The Awareness of Light in Life 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

When one is initiated into the Sufi Order, we say, "That you may find the path that leads you towards the purpose of your life, illumination." So ours is a way of light. One is a being of light. The task at hand is to become conscious of being a being of light and to make it real. 
I remember one day, looking for a rishi in a cave above Rishikesh. There was a group of people, and someone said, "Yes, there he is, up there." All I could see was just an enormous white light, up on the top of the hill. (I didn't realize it was on the top of the hill. I thought I saw a light somewhere in space.)  I noticed a man in the middle of this light, and he had a beautiful white aura. It was so beautiful to be in his presence. One can work with light, just like a potter can work with clay.
How wonderful it would be if we would be totally luminous and radiant. We would have a wonderful effect upon people around us. As soon as one faces a person who has a bit of light in them, somehow, it brings out one's own. One tends to reflect people. So, while you're having a conversation with a person, you could just be conscious of being a being of light. I find that the clue is really just simply remembering that one is a being of light. It does something to one right away. What is more, remember that the person to whom you are speaking is also a being of light, and that's what establishes the communication. That means you have to have the strength to see the light aspect of that person even though it doesn't come through. That person may be fiery, materialistic, manifest hatred and ugly thoughts in what he/she says or thinks, and yet somehow, you still maintain the awareness of the light there, the light of the soul.


Chapter 6

Introduction

This chapter focuses upon the spiritual practice of Wazifa (plural: Wazaif); the invocation of these names of God facilitates the realization of the divine qualities in the practitioner. Insights into the particular attributes can be found in the various teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan presented here. 
"The Divine Qualities Awakening In Us" by Atum O'Kane examines why Wazaif are suggested as individual practices for mureeds. It also provides information on the various stages of working with this kind of meditation. Pir Vilayat offers some essential thoughts in "Wazifa: The Unfoldment of the Divine Seeds. The theme is amplified by relating Wazaif to the purification breaths, the planes of existence, and corresponding spiritual archetypes which exemplify the various qualities.
In recent years considerable attention has been given to understanding a woman's way of journeying on the path. This topic and suggestions for relevant feminine archetypes are offered by Dakini Lynn Marlow. 
Mureeds are advised not to prescribe Wazaif for themselves. This could have an unbalancing effect. The guide fulfills the role of a doctor prescribing medicines or a mountain guide selecting appropriate pathways for their clients.


On Wazaif
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

 Every spoken word is a re-echo of thought, and every thought is the re-echo of an emotion. And, as the activity from within manifests on the surface, so the word spoken takes its reverse process: it is reproduced on the mind and from the mind it is reproduced on the heart, the factor of feeling. That which comes from within comes involuntarily, and what enters within from without enters voluntarily. Therefore Wazifa is taught by Sufis as a voluntary production of a certain thing on the mind and in the heart, mind being powerful to produce that which is impressed upon it from within and without, and the heart being a still more powerful factor to produce that with which it is impressed from within and without. 
As many times as a word is repeated, even in a whisper, so many records it has produced in one's mind and in the heart. But the number of repetitions is a question of consideration, that it must be in accordance with the law of numbers. The repetition of the same number every day, or a regular increase or decrease in number, set in time, shows rhythm, and in rhythm there is balance. But when there is no consideration of numbers, the rhythm is lost, and so the balance is lost also. The pride of repeating Wazifa should be avoided.
The day and hour of commencement of Wazifa also has it influence upon its effect. A Wazifa commenced during the rise of the moon has a progressive trend, because it is in harmony with nature's tide. But if it is commenced during the wane of the moon, there is always an upset or confusion, as confusion is natural during the darkness of night. 
Sitting in the same place every day when repeating the Wazifa helps it because it creates a growing atmosphere every day. Repeating Wazifa at the same time every day is also desirable, because the invisible forces get accustomed to meet and help at the same time. Without a set time it becomes difficult to gather them. 
Cleanliness of body, and purity of mind and fragrance around, and beautiful thoughts in the mind are the things which give a quicker result. 
It should be secret, and its effect should be kept secret also. Wazifa should be taught by some blessed soul, or a permission should be taken from a holy person before repeating Wazifa. By doing so, a Wazifa produces a thousand-fold effect, because there is some powerful thought working with you at the time, which undoubtedly speeds the success. 
The practice of Wazifa has nothing to do with breath; it is a repeating exercise. Distinctly but softly it must be said. In the Wazifa the word used must always be preceded by the word Ya, except when it is not a holy name, like Barkat. 
The Wazifa is an exercise of adoration, in which the Mureed identifies and connects himself with the Object of his adoration.

The Divine Qualities Awakening in Us 
by Thomas Atum O'Kane

During training within the Sufi Order Wazaif are often suggested to mureeds as part of their daily practices. This may be to help unfold the latent qualities within an initiate. From the Sufi perspective human beings can make God a reality, in the sense that we bring into manifestation in this world the divine attributes such as compassion, beauty and truth. Seeing from this vantage point, when we realize and fulfill the seeds of divinity within our souls, then God is realized and fulfilled through us.
Another purpose in prescribing this kind of practice is to foster in the mureed the spiritual experiences contained in the processes of awakening and illumination. Consciousness expands though this form of meditation and we are able to perceive a greater reality behind the illusory appearance of things. Again Sufism reveals the blessing bestowed upon humanity for it offers the possibility that God knows the Divine Being through our awareness. One of the key insights in this tradition is contained in the phrase, "I (God) am a hidden treasure longing to be found." It also is our longing which leads us to discover that which is closer than our own jugular vein. 
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan made the observation that a person feels at home in the world when he/she discovers his/her life's purpose. This is a third primary intention in working with Wazaif: to help mureeds make their way through the challenges and demands of society while sensing a deeper calling. The Sufi tradition seeks to be in the world, rather than a spirituality that rejects life, yet not be of the world. 

Seed Thoughts
	Included in the next section is a list of the more frequently practiced Wazaif in our training. Insights into their meanings are drawn from seed thoughts gathered from Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's teachings. He has always warned that each Wazifa is a vast realm of realization, emotion and energy which cannot be reduced into the simple formula of a word or phrase. Therefore, these seed thoughts provide an orientation to a deeper discovery as the practice unfolds its infinite richness. 

Names of God
	Wazaif are the names, qualities, attributes or archetypes of God. Sufis view the creation as the intermingling of them by the Divine Artist who is revealing His/Her own being. Remembering they are sacred names, an initiate should be aware that repeating a Wazifa is calling upon an aspect of God. Therefore it is fitting to approach the practice with the appropriate respect and sacredness, as one would in the depth of prayer.
 
Wazifa, Fikr, Fikr-a-Sirr
	By invoking the divine attributes, there is a sequence to the practice which deepens the attunement. One begins by reciting out loud the particular name(s) of God, each one preceded by the "Ya" which means "O!" (for example,Ya Azim, Ya Nur). The "Ya" also activates the heart center before each repetition. During the next stage, Fikr, the practice is said silently and the "Ya" is dropped. Each time it is repeated there is a coordination with a phase of the breath. For example, Nur may be said inwardly on each inhalation and Azim on the exhalation. When suggesting a Wazifa the guide will review the Fikr, noting how to relate it to the breath.
	The last stage is the Fikr-a-Sirr. Here the word is no longer repeated verbally or inwardly. How one meditates on the essence of the quality and related themes while continuing to focus on a particular part of the breath as in the Fikr. The word Sirr refers to the divine secret and the meditator is invited into the deepest dimension of the practice. When the sequence is completed, the silence which follows can hold the greatest gifts and blessings, a culmination of the attunement worked through the three stages. 

Wazifa: 
The Unfoldment of the Divine Seeds 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Wazifa	Description 

Ya Ahad	
	Unity in Multiplicity experienced in consciousness touching the 		innermost depths of our being. Seeing all physical forms as one 		being. 
Ya Alim
	Divine Wisdom, Insight. The wisdom one draws from the universal store-house of the Divine Mind which is completed by the concrete reality of the world. To understand the cause behind the cause and the effect behind the effect.
Ya Azim
	Ecstasy arising out of glorification. A greeting among the Sufis recognizing the beauty of the divine presence in the other. 
Ya Aziz
	Touching the Presence of God, nearness, closeness, intimacy with the Divine. 
Ya Basir
	All Seeing-the vision of the light of the heavenly spheres. 
Ya Batin
	The veiled aspects of God. Turning within and safeguarding the depths of the sacred. 
Ya Fattah
	The Opener of the way. Also said as a pledge to strengthen one's dedication to one's life's purpose. 
Ya Ghani
	All Sufficing-Guide us on the path to Thine own goodness. To make smooth the path in life. 
Ya Ghaffar
	Divine Forgiveness-Reconciliation between a person and God 		or arising out of an opening of hearts between people. 
Ya Hadi
	Divine Guidance-Being guided by a higher power which gives one a sense of direction. 
Ya Haqq
	Divine Truth-Truth in its absolute reality beyond facts.
Ya Hayy
	Divine Life-The advance of the life force and the recharging of magnetism. The Divine Exhalation. 
Ya Inayat
	Gods favor-(See Ya Karim)
Ya Jelal
	Masculine majesty and power. 
Ya Jemal
	Feminine beauty, receptivity and responsiveness. 
Ya Karim
	Kindness-Real kindness is that which gushes out of the heart to the worthy and unworthy. 
Ya Khaliq
	The Creator-Realizing the creator creating through one. It is God who through the human being completes the beauty of nature and this is called art.
Ya Latif
	Fineness of perception and feeling.
Ya Majid
	Magnificent-When one discovers one's divine inheritance and is overwhelmed with its splendor. A sense of awe in participating in the greatness of God. The splendor which transpires behind that which appears. 
Ya Malik
	The archetype of the Divine King or Queen. The aristocracy of the soul.
Ya Muh'yi
	Divine Regeneration-It is being conscious of the divine power of regeneration in the body and psyche or throughout the creation.
Ya Mu-id
	Divine Restoration-To restore all things or beings to their primordial glory when they have lapsed into decay.
Ya Munawwir
	Divine Light in its many manifested forms. The human being as the lamp which holds the light of Nur. The ascending light manifesting through a person as an aura. 
Ya Musawwir
	Divine Creativity. Giving form and embodiment to inspiration. Related to the Jinn sphere of the angelic planes. 
Ya Nur
	The uncreated light of pure intelligence. 
Ya Qadam
	Pre-eternity-The state before manifestation where everything exists as an Archetype. The state of samadhi. 
Ya Qadr
	Divine Power-If our motivation is to imprint the human inheritance with divine qualities and not to seek power for ourselves, we develop spiritual power. 
Ya Qahr
	Divine Sovereignty-The divine bounty remembered through identifying with the dimension of oneself that has always existed, our divine inheritance. Affirming the order governing the universe. 
Ya Qayyum
	Resurrection-To identify with the essence that survives the disintegration of the contingent aspects of the self. To be freed of that which is transient. 
Ya Quddus
	The Holy Spirit-The pure spirit which is the source and quickener of life. Identifying with the core of one's being, like a pure essence devoid of qualities, just subtle energy. 
Ya Rahman
	Magnanimous, unlimited Generosity, Bountifulness, a largeness of heart that accommodates others and their perspectives. Ultimately leads to the encompassing of all beings in the heart of God. 
Ya Rahim
	Divine Compassion-suffering with others in sympathetic solidarity. Experiencing one's heart as a part of God's heart, Who shares in the suffering of all beings. 
Ya Raqib
	Divine Watchfulness-To watch over with a sense of responsibility. 
Ya Razzaq
	Divine Provider-God in the form of nature that provides for our sustenance. 
Ya Shaffee-Ya Kaffee
	Divine Healer-Divine Remedy-It is the divine power that takes away the polluted elements (Shaffee) combined with the divine power of healing (Kaffee). 
Ya Shahid
	The Divine Witness-To have the strength to stand by one's convictions. 
Ya Salam
	Divine Peace-Promotes the experience of a deep peace arising out of unity. 
Ya Sami
	The All Hearing-To hear the word or guidance of the divine. 
Ya Vakil
	The Guardian Angel-Reinforcing the light of one's being especially in encountering difficulty. 
Ya Wadud
	Loving, affectionate. 
Ya Wahhabo
	The unfurling of the many splendored divine attributes. The flow of the bounty dormant in the divine seed into the plant. 
Ya Wajid
	The development of the consciousness of existence. The Logos of "I am." Making God a reality. Concreteness. 
Ya Wali
	Divine Mastery-Harnessing impulses instead of repressing them, which recharges the will with strength and new life. Transmuting emotions and energies for an intended purpose rather than expending them at the Divine Friend. The experience of God as one's closest friend and extending this modeling of friendship to others. 
Ya Wasi
	Encompassing, Containment-Learning to sense the boundaries of your domain. Envision your impact on circumstances as an expression of the divine nostalgia to handle situations in such a way as to actualize the harmony underlying the divine planning. Survey the areas in your life situations within which you exercise some measure of responsibility. 
Ya Wehedo
	Solitude of the Divine Unity (related to Wahid) - In the divine inhalation God resorbs the essence of what was achieved by this manifestation of the divine qualities into an integrated oneness. The longing to withdraw from involvement and multiplicity and be resorbed into the Divine Unity. 
Ya Zahir
	Divine Manifestation as Epiphany-It is the fulfillment of the purpose of the Universe to make the divine intention manifest, knowable and tangible. 

Related Practices

Alhamdulillah
	Everything is due to the grace of God. Often said as expression of praise and thankfulness arising out of the full heart. 
Fazl
	Blessings, attunement to Universal Harmony.
Ishq'Allah Mah'bud Lillah
	Mystical aspiration and longing arising out of the lover and leading to union with the Divine Beloved. 
Subhan Allah
	Divine Purity reflected in a clear conscience and pure intention. 
Dhul Jelal Wa'l Ikram	Lord of Splendor and Power
	What God becomes through us in the course of evolution. Any advancement. 
Hanun Jemil Wa'l Ikram
	Feminine form of the above practice. The Queen of Splendor and Beauty.

On the Number of Repetitions
For Wazaif
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

An esoteric symbology of numbers has played a very important part in the mystical tradition. The number ten really is based upon the ten fingers of the hand, in keeping with our hermetic formula that says man is the measure of all things. That's why one says a foot; it all started with the measurements of the human being. There's a whole metaphysics between the one and the zero, which you find in a computer. So the standard thing is a hundred and one, the one being the number that prevents it from becoming a vicious circle; it breaks the circle by moving out of the circle into a tangent. That's why there's always a one afterwards. For convenience sake I give the practices generally thirty-three times, because most people are so busy they wouldn't be able to do it, and also because people, as they repeat the mantram, tend to say it less well than they do in the beginning. Of course, the numbers can be divided; the Sufi rosary is divided in three parts of thirty-three beads with markers in between. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the numbers are not that important; they are guidelines. Sometimes it's good to have guidelines, and one's going to repeat it thirty-three times. I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that it's better to repeat the Wazifa just a few times, like five times, and then stop, and listen in to the feedback and then say it again a few times and then listen. The total number of times could be thirty-three, because that's a guideline, and if you find you can do it more often, you could say it a hundred and one times. If you feel happy about using any other number, there are certain numbers that one favors, like twenty-one, or eleven. 
For example, you might do the practice Ya Wali thirty-three times, then Ya Hadi thirty-three times (sometimes we give two Wazaif together), and then do them alternating, Ya Wali, Ya Hadi thirty-four times, so altogether it's one hundred. Now, you might say, "Well, then, why one hundred this time and not a hundred and one?" I've often asked myself that. It's purely because the one comes at the end of the last thirty-three and sets up a new cycle. Sometimes setting up a large number is a challenge. In a retreat, for example, if you are supposed to say the Dhikr one thousand times or three thousand times, it forces you to go through with it. There is something to say for these very abundant repetitions. I've done a lot of them myself. The human nature tends to be a little bit lazy so one has to challenge oneself to beat one's records. Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much. If you do the Wazifa the amount of times that seems right for you, well then I wouldn't go by prescription. Say you've done it fifteen times, and every time was just as meaningful and you feel as if you've concentrated as much as you can, well, then just leave it at that. If you find after having done it thirty-three times you feel like doing it a little more, that's okay also. 

Working with Wazifa 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

What we are going to consider here is two things. On one hand the sound, and on the other hand the meaning. I want to leave it to you to play it by ear, sometimes working with the sound, sometimes working with the meaning. As I said before, when you're very tired and you want to get into a high state of attunement, you'll perhaps find it rather difficult to concentrate on a theme. That's why such practices as breathing, mantra, even light, are more accessible to you than concentrating on a theme. Some of these themes are so overwhelming. It's not just a thought; it's a thought loaded with an emotion. I find sometimes that however tired or agitated one is, one can concentrate on a theme. For me, lately, concentrating on a theme is more meaningful than just repeating a mantram. 

Working with Sound

Simply repeating a mantram thirty-three times and saying, "Well, I've done my practices," is not good enough. When you do repeat the mantram, it's necessary to concentrate on three things. First, its important to place the sound in the right center. Actually, the sound is produced in your vocal cord, but a voice producer will teach you how to place the sound in your chest or in your throat or in your nose or in your head. Simply by our concentration, we're able to displace the place where the sound resonates, and to bring it into the chest or right up in the head. 
The sound "a" or "ah" in the mantram is resounded in the heart center, or in the chest, around the anahata chakra, which corresponds to the cardiac plexus. You are actually bombarding your chakra with sound. You're bombarding the nerve cells with vibration. That's exactly what happens if you subject a tray of sand to vibration. It leaves a mark. Believe me, if you were to make a retreat, as I did, repeating the Dhikr twenty-two thousand times a day, you do something to your body. The nerves, the molecules align themselves in an ordered way. You strengthen your whole being. It gives you a tremendous heart power. The power of the heart is a form of energy that you can communicate, like shaking hands with a person: the power of sympathy, a life-giving power, magnetism. Communicativeness is the ability to feel empathy, to communicate with a person by opening the heart chakra. The chakra is often described as a lotus that opens up; it's like a flower made of light. 
The second place where the sound vibrates is the mouth, literally, the palate. You could consider the mouth as a violin, and the chest as a cello. As you know, the wood of the face and back of a cello or a violin vibrates. It picks up the sound and vibrates, and that's what gives you that wonderful sound. A violin-maker showed me. He suspended the back of a cello on a string and knocked on it, and it sounds just like a gong; a much more subtle sound than the sound of metal, a very incredible sound. That's what you're doing to yourself. So it is your palate that vibrates, and the sound of the palate is communicated to the lips, and reaches out into the environment. That sound, which vibrates in the palate, is the sound "u" or "oo."
The third sound is the "i" or "ee," which vibrates above the palate, in the brain. Certain areas of the brain are subjected to a very intense vibration. You can imagine what an effect that has. One of the practices where you have a very intense, sharp "i" is Alim, which means divine understanding. It vibrates in the brain. You have Ya Azim also, which is divine ecstasy. There are areas in the brain like the thalamus, for example, which is linked up with emotion more than the cortical area, which is linked up with thought. If we could conduct our practices with great mastery, we would learn how to explore areas of the brain, so that we would be able to place the sound very precisely in a particular part of the brain rather than another. 

Working with Meaning
                                   
The second thing is to dwell upon the meaning, and then you'll say it very differently. The classical way of doing it was to start repeating the sounds (that's what we call the Wazifa), and then afterwards just think of the meaning while thinking of the sounds. 
That's the classical way of doing it. I prefer doing it like this. You say the sound a few times, like Ya Qadr. Then you say, "No, no, no, that's not good. Now I'm putting my will into it. How can I say Ya Qadr . . . . Ah, that's better. Now, why is it? Ah, yes, what did I do to make the difference? Well, I thought of that word of Murshid, 'There awakens in you the same power that moves the universe.' All of a sudden that power is awakened, that same power that moves the universe.  Now it's coming through me, it's awakened in me. Now I'm saying it quite differently."
That's why it's important to deal with the meaning right from the start, instead of just saying the sound. We have books like a dictionary, where you can read the meanings of all the Wazaif, the ninety-nine names of God, but the meaning is deeper than what one could express in a dictionary. It's something that you have to discover. Of course, I've said to mureeds, "Now, it means this," but you should really discover the meaning. You can't say it in a few words. What I'm trying to do is propose certain sentences of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan which go into the meaning very deeply. 
You might start by saying the sound and feel not totally satisfied with it, and then you could just spend some time dwelling upon the meaning. Again, it's not good enough just to think, "Oh, yes, now I know what it means, it means...." It's better just to dwell upon it, really to experience it. 
Concentration on Qualities

Now I've said before, but it's so important that I feel it should be said again. It's a quality of the total being rather than a quality that comes through in part of the total being. For example, the word power. I could think of a powerful elephant, but that's not the perfection of divine power. That's divine power coming through in a particular way. I could think of the being of Abraham or Moses, or any master for that matter. I'm taking two cases which are a very strong manifestation of divine power. That's getting as close as you can, possibly, to the divine power, because as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says, the Rasul, the prophet, is the very fulfillment of the being of God. Imagine that your being fulfills itself in your brain or in different parts of your body, in the fingernails, for example. In every part there is some expression of your being, but surely in the brain your being finds a greater fulfillment than in your nails. I'm trying to find a way to express what that means, the divine Being fulfilling Himself in this being who is Him, really, Who has become Him more than any other being. So you can say that that divine power has come through there practically in its perfection. 
Therefore, the thought of the particular master or prophet is a very great help in repeating the mantram. You have a very tangible way of seeing this quality real, actuated, really tangible. Instead of just thinking, "divine power" - it's a very vague thing, you see - here it's much more concrete. When Murshid says, "There awakens in you the power that moves the universe," then somehow you get even deeper into the significance of power. It's not the power that moves the elephant, or Abraham, but the power that moves the universe. Somehow your consciousness gets into the total consciousness. Maybe Abraham is an access to that total consciousness, and so you're experiencing power in its perfection. That's what the Wazifa is about. It's realization, really. It's realizing what the purpose of your existence is, when we consider the purpose of unfolding yourself. It is manifesting, actuating, existentiating, the divine inheritance in you. 
So it's a very, very strong thing. It's a very powerful experience. Experiencing how this power comes through in me, instead of just trying to concentrate on power. It's making it very concrete, very accessible. 


Wazifa and the Purification Breaths
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

	The use of tandem Wazaif is helpful in promoting a balanced state by developing the qualities which are in contrast to one another. Our strong qualities will grow stronger with the use of Wazaif on a daily basis and so will our weak qualities be strengthened. Constant repetition will affect a change over a period of time. In the beginning, practice the Wazaif out loud so that the sound is able to permeate your being. As you become familiar, say them on a breath (Fikr). When they are part of your being, you need only think them. 
The Earth Wazifas 

Batin and Zahir, are tandem Wazaif which accompany the earth breath. As one inhales, one withdraws into inner space and experiences the essence, but one also experiences oneself as the void. In the inner space, a new energy flows into the universe and into you. Through the solar plexus you back into the inner space, into the feeling of the veiled one, the consciousness of the Mother of the Universe as defined in Hinduism. During the inhalation, say Ya Batin (accent on the first syllable). It helps to lower the head in order to remind oneself of one's inner space. The contrast to Ya Batin is Ya Zahir and this is said on the exhalation. Zahir is pronounced "zaheer." It means the manifestation, the epiphany, and is always in some way associated with light. The whole of the universe is radiant, the manifestation of God as light; that's the meaning of the word epiphany. When you say Zahir you are conscious of the energy flow outward and become aware of the flow of your magnetic field, your aura. It is helpful here to raise the head and think of radiating the light outward. So that will give you a nice clearness as to the alternation between turning within, the veiled one, the simple Batin, and Zahir, the epiphany, all the stars, the radiance of the universe, the manifestation. 
The Water Wazifas

	Perhaps the key to all Wazaif in the words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan is to discover in yourself the same power that moves the universe, or the same joy that delights the universe, or whatever. It's the cosmic dimension of that quality that sets the pace of the Wazifa. Wahabbo has such a sense of unlimited bounty, vastness, all-encompassingness. It is an excellent choice as a practice when on retreat, but it can be used in the home when one is taking some personal, quiet time to reflect. At these times, you are making a transit from active life and so you are conscious of being pulled into two directions: one is involvement in life, and the other is seeking freedom from involvement. Wahabbo is like a very profuse outpouring of all the qualities coming through your being, becoming a reality in your personality. I would say that Wahabbo is the very epitome of what we would understand as a Wazifa, that is, making God a reality. Refer to that saying of Murshid where he says, "We think that we are a plant but we are, in fact, a seed." The plant is a seed that has unfurled, but one doesn't see the seed any more and that which is apparent now appears in the richness of the plant, and is very little in comparison with the tremendous bounty that is pregnant in the seed. So we identify ourselves with this more limited aspect of our being that is the plant and call it our personality. But at the end of the cycle, the seed reemerges in the heart of the flower and so you could say that our personality is like a plant, and perhaps, ultimately, is a flower, and that the reality of our being, that divine dimension of our being, is latent or virtual within the flower. The Wazifa consists in discovering this latent bounty which is here, not up there, but really is truly here in our being. 
	In the word Wahabbo (pronounced "wuh-hob-bo" by the Indians and "wu-heb-bo" by the Arabs; choose whichever feels right to you), there is profusion, bounty, divine perfection and you have the sense of it being funneled down, consequently limited, but getting concretized to the personality. It should give one a feeling of opening up to all the richness that is coming upon one. Of course, you can't hold it in. It's like a waterfall that overflows and can't be contained by the rocks or pond below so it continues to overflow. Say the word swiftly so the syllables run together like a river passing by from left to right, in a steady stream. Repeat Wahabbo fluently several times before breathing again and feel the effect in your body and your consciousness over a period of time. This Wazifa is said on the exhalation. 
	Now the counterpart of Wahabbo is Wahedo (pronounced "vah-hah-do"). Wahedo is one of the forms of the word Wahid, which means "Thee alone." It is the Jacob's ladder that leads one into what the Sufis call the "solitude of God." Wahid, or Wahadat in metaphysics, is the state in which God resorbs all things in the Oneness. He's experiencing that state of solitude. This is especially good as a practice for a pregnant woman when she needs to go inside to attune to the new being within her. She needs a zone of silence to accomplish this and Wahedo is an aid to the spirit of silence. The way Sufis look upon things is that in His exhaling, God shifts from the state of unity into the state of multiplicity, that is Wahabbo. In His inhaling, God shifts back into unity, withdrawing all things back into the unity again. Every time that we are fraught with desire to fulfill something in life, we are partaking of the divine exhaling; every time that we are drawn into a state where we feel like withdrawing from active life, are able to get back into our roots again, then we are partaking of the divine inhaling, and that's Wahedo. 
	These two Wazaif, Wahedo and Wahabbo, can be used with the early morning purification breaths when breathing in the nose (Wahedo) and out the mouth (Wahabbo). 

The Fire Wazifas

	For the Baptism of Fire: the Wazaif are Ya Hu, sounds like "who" (on the inhalation, through the mouth) and Ya Haqq, sounds like "huck" (on the exhalation, through the nose). 
	When done on the breath, eliminate the word Ya and just breathe in while saying Hu. At the same time, visualize yourself as the flame, sucking air from the environment. Use a soft, windlike breath, not a noisy one, and be aware of the Divine presence that makes one strong in truth. Be aware of the Divine Presence in your inner tabernacle, and in the awe of the Holy of Holys. As you visualize the color of the flame transmuting fire into the light of your being from infrared at the bottom chakra to gold in the solar plexus to green in the throat to blue in the third eye to ultra violet that fans into white light in the crown, you will feel flashes throughout your body which will move from hot to cool as you ascend to the coolness of blue. It is important when one is healing to know how to switch over from hot energy to cool energy. (You may want to try this with someone. Place your hand onto their arm and send hot energy into their being; while you breathe in, concentrate on being pure spirit. As you breathe out again, send very cool magnetism into that person. Without telling the person what you are doing, ask, "How do you feel now?" If you are doing it right, that person should answer, "Very cool.") 
	On the exhalation, say Haqq, (O Truth). "The soul on its journey reaches a plane where it exclaims, 'I am the truth!'" (Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan). Haqq is the truth in its absolute reality beyond the facts that may manifest in existence. It represents what happens to truth in existence as life energies. When a being becomes truth, he reads into the hearts of all beings like an open book. Haqq brings about a Baptism of Fire, courage, unswerving authenticity from the heart. An extraordinary energy comes into you when you dedicate yourself to truth. It cleanses any ambiguity or diplomacy or manipulative deluding that one might be doing without realizing one is doing it. It makes one very upfront and strong. It takes courage to own up; one loses face, but that is what truth means. Never mind if one loses the whole world, if one has become truthful. This is a very powerful form of purification. 

The Air Wazifas 

The Wazaif for the Baptism of Air are Ya Quddus and Ya Hayy.  Ya Quddus sounds like "could uuuse" with the first part of the word cut short and the "dus" elongated on the "uuu" like the French sound "eu." Quddus is said on the inhalation, through the mouth (eliminate Ya when done on the breath). The vibration of Quddus should be felt in the throat when said aloud. Ya Hayy sounds like "hi." The fikr is said on exhalation, through the mouth. 
Quddus stands for the Holy Spirit, the source of life. Concentration is on the immaculate state, purity, the waters of life. 
There is a stage at which by touching a particular phase of existence, one feels raised above the limitations of life, and given that power and peace and freedom, that light and life, which belong to the source of all beings. In other words, in that moment of supreme exaltation, one is not only united with the source of all beings, but dissolved in it; for the source is one's self.
 -- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
Quddus acts as a catalyst, like lightning. The Virgin Mary is a suggested archetype for this Wazifa. 
When saying Hayy, it's like blowing the breath of the pure spirit into the life force. Hayy acts as a catalyst, whipping up qualities existing as the life force into great intensity. Exhale on the breath as a swirling eddy or whirlpool of life. You are that whirlpool. Communicate life wherever you go. This is the energy that proliferates in nature, for example, the orbits of the planets and atoms. 

Planes of Existence 
and Corresponding Wazaif 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

 You can notice in yourself those elements that you have inherited from the different planes, and you know how to refuel those particular qualities by reestablishing contact with those planes. It is not good enough just to have a mental representation of the plane. One has to find a counterpart of the representation of the plane in one's being, and one has to sense the emotion of the plane. Those are two things that we have to observe. Having started with a figurative representation of the plane, one must let oneself be carried into the ecstasy of each plane. 

Heritage of the Planes

For each plane there is a type of angelic being. For the first plane, it is beings who are very active and for the galaxies. The second plane is the plane of the jinns and also nature spirits. The third plane is the plane of the angels, beautiful angels. The fourth plane is the plane of the seraphim, beings of fire; the fifth plane, kerubim, beings of light; the sixth plane, the archangels, like Gabriel and Michael and Raphael and Ophiel, and so on. The seventh plane is called hayoth. 
I would like you to capture something of the being of each one of these archangels, and relate it to your own being, to find out what heritage you carry in you from those archangels. 
The important thing is to discover in your character those things that pertain to each one of those planes. The clue is a sense of familiarity, that this plane is familiar to me; I remember this. This memory is in the unconscious so just imagining it is not good enough. One has to recall one's experience in that plane. We have ancestors in each one of these planes, so there's a memory of having lived in that plane, or having been born several times. If you can recall the moment of your birth in each one of those planes, that is part of the rebirthing process. What happens is that we have so much inheritance that we find it difficult to manifest all of it and so much of it remains recessive, not fulfilled, not expressed. That is within our power. That is what these practices are, to express those features that we are able to sense, to grasp, and this only happens if we are attuned to the emotion of that particular plane.
 
Corresponding Wazaif   
    
For each plane there is a Wazifa. We should concentrate not on the meaning of the Wazifa, as much as the attunement of each Wazifa. At the top is Ahad, seventh plane. Sixth plane, Quddus. Fifth plane, Azim. Fourth plane, Haqq. Third plane, Ishq. Second plane, Alim. First plane, Hayy. 
Now you may wish to add Wazaif to some of those that I suggested. One could add Jamil, for example, to the third plane, and one could add Ya Fattah to the fourth.  Jelal seems to me like the fourth, whereas Ya Karim is the fifth. Wajid means existence, but as all these Wazaif apply to the adjective of the Divine Being, Wajid, is the Existent One. 
You could ascribe other attributes to the different spheres. For the third, Ishq Allah Mabud 'Lillah, and for the fourth, Qayyum. For the second Ya Mussawir, which is the molder; this is where the plans and blueprints of the architects of the universe are being made. 
I don't think there's any point in making a system in one's mind. One falls far below the attunement that is required of us. Just experience what you can by drawing that experience from the memory of the past which has been consigned to the unconscious. Actually, one is still living on all these planes now. It's just like one passed through them, one is still submerged in each one. As Murshid says, there is a veil that separates the planes and that veil is our ignorance. If we lift that veil we will realize that aspect of our being that is functioning on the fifth plane, and that is continually influencing our being. Finally we come to the view that we live on all planes simultaneously. 
A great clue is instead of thinking you are like a vehicle in which all of this inheritance has come, think of yourself as being that inheritance. That makes all the difference. In other words, I am my father who continues to live; I am my grandfather; I am my mother who continues to live; I am my grandmother who continues to live; I am my ancestors who continue to live, and so on. I am all those animals who were my ancestors who continue to live. I am the plants that continue to live. I am the minerals. I am my whole past. I am the past of the universe. I am the present of all the planes, and the divine inheritance which I am supersedes any other inheritance. The inheritances through ancestors and angelic ancestors have accrued to me in the course of time. 
We are able to earmark those idiosyncrasies in our being that we owe to our heritage in the different celestial spheres. That would be moving upwards along the heavenly spheres from low plane to the highest. You are absolutely free to become what you want to be, irrespective of the idiosyncrasies you have inherited, whether from your parents or from the angelic parents, or even directly from one's divine inheritance. 
Of course, one is using the material one has inherited, exactly like a modern artist uses the same paints that ancient artists used, but what he makes of it is different. 

Azim/Alim

Let yourself explore how you feel about these different planes.  What we also want to do is draw the energy or the attunement of one plane and place it in another. We start perhaps with the most typical example of that, which is Ya Azim/Ya Alim. The reason for this association of Azim and Alim is that it is only when one is in love that one can see things clearly. It is only when one is in a state of ecstasy that one can perceive that which is hidden behind the appearance of things. That is the reason why I don't think it is very useful just to work with Alim, except in relationship to Azim. Azim is very closely associated with the vision of Dhul Jelal Wal Ikram. If we want to really contact these planes, we have to realize that these planes are a reality in beings, and although all beings have all planes in them just as we have, still, qualities of a certain plane come out extremely intensely in certain beings who are really the epitome of that particular attunement. 
Ya Azim means how glorious! That is why it is the word that dervishes are saying to each other when they see the splendor coming through each other. The splendor is the result of meditation, contemplating for hours daily the being of God. The consequence is that one's self becomes glorious and magnificent by losing oneself, absorbing oneself so totally in the magnificence of God. 
This is the knowledge that God had without using the consciousness of people, or rather, His/Her consciousness fragmented into a number of focal points. It was this original form of understanding, the divine intelligence. The divine glance is functioning through our focal center, but does not allow itself to limit itself by our focal center that is our personal consciousness. So there are two modes of understanding that we describe as Hu and Ana. The first mode of understanding is where there's no duality; it is not based upon anything that we can contribute to the divine understanding by being the eyes through which He/She sees. The other is where we do contribute, and by this fragmentation of the divine consciousness something is gained.  
We are no more the individual subject who sees. We are the divine being who sees. Our particular vantage point is infused with the divine vantage point; it's transfused by it. 
When you are saying, Ya Alim, what you are saying is that God is the Aware One, is the One who is Aware. The Knower; He/She is the Knower. What Alim means is that God does not allow His/Her understanding to be limited by the understanding that He/She gains through us, those parts of Him/Herself that are being focalized, or fragmented, and somehow He/She transfuses this knowledge with His/Her transcended knowledge. Every time we start perceiving that which transpires behind that which appears, we are participating in the divine action whereby He/She transfuses the knowledge of beings by His/Her transcended knowledge. 
The divine glance then cuts through the perspective of the faction that is the human, the personal, with another perspective, and the consequence is one sees the cause and the purpose behind every situation, instead of just seeing the situation. That is the precise meaning of Alim. 
Ecstacy gives one this ability to let the divine perspective break through one's perspective. One could also say this the other way around; it's a circle because from the moment that one begins to perceive that which transpires behind that which appears, everything appears so beautiful that one is in ecstasy. Being in ecstasy one sees even more what transpires behind that which appears. That is how one departs; one starts in the fifth plane, emotion, and it gives one insight into the situations on the planet. You see that as soon as one lets oneself slip into one's personal vantage point, one has lost one's ecstasy. 

Quduus/Haqq

I want to draw your attention to the relationship between Quddus and Haqq. You get a very, very high state of high altitude, a rarefied state, with Quddus. Don't experience yourself as a body; experience yourself as a soul. The body is something that is added. That is how you get into the feeling of Quddus. Quddus is the catalyst that triggers off the forces of life. Haqq is right down in the first plane, energy. 
Murshid speaks about the human spirit; not just the spirit right up there. He speaks about the human spirit, standing for what one believes at the cost of death. That's the human spirit, and what it does is make a person truthful. That is the rapport between Quddus and Haqq. 
We are in a very very high plane when we touch upon pure spirit. Quite apart from conferring a tremendous amount in both body and mind, the action of pure spirit makes a person turn into truth. That is an attribute to be found in all planes, but its connection is seen very strongly with the fourth plane because it is a plane of reckoning where one is facing oneself; one is facing the truth, what they call a judgment scene. Quddus/Haqq is a very powerful practice. 
The counterpart is Ya Wajid, where you realize this is all one, it is all the existence of God. That's exactly what it means: this is the being of God, this is the existence of God, and therefore, it is God Who exists as me. I do not exist.  It is not true that we exist. The only truth is that God exists.  That means one experiences oneself as being the being of God. 
I believe that was the consciousness of Murshid. That is what Murshid calls God consciousness on Earth. It is the precise opposite of samadhi, the opposite of Ahad. It is seeing the unity of existence, not the kind of crowning unity in the never-never up there, but right down here; this is where the unity is, despite all the differences. It is all God. When one realizes that, one realizes one is the being of God. The consequence is the divine qualities begin to come through. In fact, this is the secret of unfoldment. It is to cease thinking of oneself as a personality, because there is limitation there, but keep on being aware of the fact that one is the divine being. The more one is conscious of being the divine being, the more the divine qualities come through. 

Why the Wazifa
By Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan


The effectiveness of our practice of the Wazifa presents us with a paradox: it depends entirely upon our realization, while on the other had it confers realization. It only works in the Sufi perspective of always looking at oneself from two points of view: the personal and the way things look from the complementary (or opposite) point of view to one's own which the Sufis call the divine point of view. It requires us to push our point of view beyond its limitations in infinite regress and therefore spells emancipation from simplistic, commonplace thinking. This would be aptly illustrated by our mind's ability to always imagine a number greater than the number which we have envisioned so far. Without this dimension of vision, the Wazifa is not a Wazifa and therefore cannot be effective. If it is practiced as a method of boosting psychological idiosyncrasies, it cannot possibly work. It would be simplistic to assume the Wazifa is a prescription to develop a certain quality. This would be missing out on the very seed bed out of which our personality may blossom. 
However, in Sufism this complementarity honors our incentive in participating in our own creativity by opening ourselves to the revelation of the divine skill whereby the divine artist fashions us each uniquely.  This requires us to be sensitive to our intuition of a completely different way of thinking and emoting than our own. Here we recognize two factors in our creativity: unfurling latencies by the power of imagination (at the Mithal level) and actualizing impersonal or transcendent archetypes (at the Lahut level) into our personalities which are their exemplars. Such is spirituality, it represents a further dimension, complementary to the purely psychological one. It is always challenging, unforeseeable, perplexing and exhilarating!

Articulating a Realization by Means of an Idiom

As we know, the Sufis seek the fulfillment of the purpose of life which requires cultivating that precious gift of the universe to us; our human personality. Hence the importance of the Wazifa amongst all our spiritual practices.
The prime orientation in Sufism is awakening in life. However in the Sufi sense, to awaken in life one does need to unfurl one's potentialities and this requires integrating all levels of one's being (wholistically, rather than holistically).
The Wazifa is the practice of invoking a divine name repetitively. The name Ism Ilahi or Asma'ul Husna is a label conveying a quality. 
With us, the name of everything is its outward form; with the Creator, its inward essence. 					- Rumi

The divine names are relations, not ontological realities, occasioned by the entities of the possible things. 			- Ibn 'Arabi

 A mental association is established between the word and its archetypal meaning. By mentioning the "name," one evokes the meaning. Then God makes him journey through His names in order to show him His signs. Thus the servant comes to know that he is designated by every name. It is through these names that God appears to the servant.             - Ibn'Arabi

 In our human understanding, we ascribe a quality to a person or ourselves, but if we envision this quality as God's quality manifesting in us, it will open up our personality to a totally different spectrum, magnitude and status. The Sufis consider the idiosyncrasies of our personality as the exemplars of the divine archetypal qualities. To unfurl these we need to refer back continually to their archetype. The exemplar is known by means of the archetype. If we know that a table is round, it is because roundness is inherently written into our sense of meaningfulness, and contrariwise, the archetype is known by means of the exemplar. For example, after having seen many roses, a child sees their difference with lilies. 

Stages of  Development

When practicing the Wazifa, it is important to assess at which stage you are, and assess the next step in order to progress. One must never skip a stage, otherwise, one may have to backtrack. Following are the developmental stages of the Sufi initiate with regard to the Wazaif:
1. The Empirical Level: Nazut  	Typical Wazifa: Ya Zahir
The dawning of the evolution or consciousness is evidenced by the perceptual experience accompanied by the commonplace naive interpretation, "I feel this object; it is hard, prickly, round .... I feel cold, hungry, angry." This represents a rudimentary stage of human thinking. Any physicist will confirm that matter is not the way it feels or looks. By the same token, our emotions can lead us into subjective make-believe. So our interpretation of experience could be understood as, "this is the way things look from a particular vantage point." It represents a limited opinion, bearing upon a slither of the situation. For example, "Notre Dame in Paris looks like this," neglecting that this is the way it is seen only from a certain angle and it looks totally different from another angle; or again a light-buoy should not be mistaken for the haven. Realization lies a long way ahead, and that is the objective of those who are seeking for greater understanding. 
The same applies to elementary subjective statements which bespeak that the person is caught in a personal, hence biased perspective for which the only therapy is to pull oneself out of that perspective and see things from alternate perspectives. This applies to our perfunctory interpretation of events which we judge from our personal bias and take for granted. 
These are the trite modes of thinking that Yoga brands as illusory or rather deluding maya. The Sufi view highlights the way of avoiding being caught up in them: by considering them to be clues, (signposts) that should never be taken for granted as such, but could lead to the meaningfulness toward which they point. This is what awakening is about. The signpost has fulfilled its purpose when one has left it behind. Lingering in these perfunctory judgments is getting into a rut without issue. 
We shall show them our signs at the horizons and in themselves.
						 	- Qur'an 
At the Nazut level the adept recognizes in the many-splendored aspects of nature clues, ayat, matching qualities that are meaningful to him/her. For example, a lake at moonlight, peace; a colorful dawn, splendor. For the Sufis, God, wrapped in mystery, reveals Him/Herself through these clues at this stage. Earmarking these clues will make the Wazaif that evoke them more meaningful. 
2. The Psychological Level: Khayal   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Alim
At the Khayal level, we are on the lookout for clues whereby God reveals Him/Herself through the way a paramount model of excellence, which Sufis ascribe to the divine nature, is exemplified in our own personality. Once more, we will gain some sense of the Wazaif as we pinpoint the personality feature they evoke in ourselves. 
Behold the world entirely comprised in yourself. The world is man and man is a world.				- Mahmood Shabistari 		
3. The Introspective Level:  Arwah   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Batin
At the Arwah level, we are trying to stalk the divine nature transpiring through that which appears, making allowances for the fact that there is bound to be distortion and defilement in those very precarious and perishable signs, rather than relying upon our interpretation of events. Here we find the converse: rather than searching for the quality evoked by the Wazifa in our personality, such as it is, we capture it trying to surface in our personality as it unfolds. 
The one who tunes himself not only to the external, but to the inner being, and to the essence of all things, gets an insight into the essence of the whole being, and therefore he can, to the same extent find and enjoy even in the seed the fragrance and beauty of the flower. 
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
 As we discover the more germane inner lining of our psyche, we will be aware of the need to debunk the hoax of our psychological projections upon our problems whereby we deceive ourselves by our own assessments of our problems.     
Thought grasps the form of the object directly without the help of categories; illusion and imagination; done away with impressions (samsara); all antecedent mental functions are destroyed. 		- Eliade 

4. The Level of Metaphor (Creative Imagination): Mithal 
Typical Wazifa: Ya Khaliq
At the Mithal level, we consciously participate in the creativity of our personality by unfurling potentialities lying in wait, realizing that our creativity customizes the divine creativity. 
The soul of man is the spirit of the Creator, and therefore has within it the same power of creating by the power of mind as his Creator has. 
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this level we capture the sprouts of our personality as they are surfacing by translating reality in the mental and emotional mode into evanescent forms. 
Thus the ascensions of saints are the ascensions of their spirit, triggering off the visions of their hearts whereby they perceive forms in the intermediary world of embodied spiritual realities. 			- Ibn'Arabi
							
 Here all the essential realities of being are manifested in real images. ... So what the soul shows to itself is precisely its own image, since the earth it projects directly reflects the image premeditated by the soul. 
							- Vide Corbin
 At this stage, we realize that God is revealing His/Her qualities, sifat, which we evoke in our Wazaif in the unfurling of His/Her nature as our personality, albeit restricted by the very limitations we wreak upon this process by your own assessment of what we think are our qualities or defects. Interestingly, these spontaneous thoughts that seem to arise from within and coalesce into images are clues as to how God is trying to manifest through me (and as me) by the qualities that I am awakening in myself.

This requires us to reverse our vantage point in order to discover ourselves through the knowledge God has of Him/Herself through us. God describes Himself to us through ourselves. 
I know God through the knowledge that God has of Himself through me.								- Ibn'Arabi 
5. The Celestial Level:  Malakut   		Typical Wazifa: Ya Quddus
At the Malakut level, our recollection of our celestial nature, to which we attune ourselves, awakens qualities in our self-creativity which would not have arisen if we had continued to identify with our psychological self-image. As man evolves, he ceases to look down on earth, but looks to the heavens.
 If one wants to seek the heavens, one must change the direction of looking.				 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
This is triggered of by our giving vent to our aspiration toward the sublime and the sacred. Man's grade of evolution depends upon the pitch he has attained; it is a certain pitch that makes him conscious of a certain phase of life.					 - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
This will awaken our memory of Deja vu prior to our birth. God acquaints them with what corresponds to them in each world by passing with them through the different worlds.			- Ibn'Arabi
However, it does require of us to let go of our commonplace self-image. Now their journey in God involves the dissolving of their composite nature and acquaints them with what corresponds to them in each world of being, by passing with them through the different sorts of worlds. - Ibn'Arabi 
The soul's unfoldment comes from its power which ends in its breaking through the ties of the lower planes. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this point in our evolutionary development, we are living an active and effective reciprocity between ourselves and God, that is, between the qualities that have been actualized in our personality, and the many splendored potentialities that are still latent, the legacy of the divine archetypes manifest in our celestial counterpart, but somewhat defiled in those exemplars of the archetypes of our being that are our idiosyncrasies. 
It is only by glorification that our celestial nature reveals itself to us. Thus our celestial nature serves as a bridge in that reciprocal action between God and man or between the divine and human poles of our being. 
Have Me present to your heart, I shall have you present in myself.
 							- Qur'an 
Therefore according to the Sufis, "we know God through the knowledge that God acquires by our discovering God's qualities in our idiosyncrasies." This antinomy is found in Ibn'Arabi's description of two fundamental spiritual developmental stages: I know God through the knowledge that He has of Himself by my discovering Him.
6. The Level of the Divine Knower as Our Intelligence: Jabarut  
Typical Wazifa: Ya Shahid 
At the Jabarut level, we can see that our realization of the full implications of each Wazifa changes dramatically if we reverse our assumption of being the spectator and invite the Divine Witness to illuminate our point of view. 
You thought that you were the Spectator, the witness (Shahid) of what you experience, but the real witness in you is your angelic counterpart, the witness in the heavens.		 	- Shahabuddin Suhrawardhi 
The consequence is we can now see how our assessment of our self-image was based upon our perception of our personal idiosyncrasies, and how this perspective on our identity was thwarting the actualizing of the bounty in store at the Lahut level of our being, those seminal qualities or attributes, sifat, which we invoke in our Wazaif. 
If we let the divine Witness presiding over our consciousness prevail over our personal perspective, an inherent knowledge accessed through the act of intelligence rather than of consciousness that was being blocked by our judgment breaks through, liberating us from our self-image and flooding our awareness, "awakening the God within," as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says. 
When consciousness is not conscious of anything, it is resorbed in its ground which is intelligence. 		- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan   
Man attains insight into meaningfulness from the divine mind that confers form to material beings. Therefore, to obtain insight into meaningfulness, do not obstruct the gift from above by excessive attachment to the perceptual reality.							- Avicenna
7. The Archetypal Level: Lahut  Typical Wazifa: Ya Kemal
This about-turn in our vantage point (trying to see things from the divine point of view) will open the way to our accessing the Lahut level of our being, where we discover the archetypes of which our idiosyncrasies are the exemplars. Know that there is no form in the lower world without a likeness (mithal) in the higher world. The forms in the higher world preserve the existence of their likeness in the lower worlds. 
Between the two worlds there are tenuities which extend from each form to its likeness...These are like ladders for the angels, while the meanings that descend in these tenuities are like angels. 		- Ibn 'Arabi  
Therefore we now discover our idiosyncrasies and the potentialities of their being further deployed by grasping with our intelligence (rather than our consciousness) the archetypes of which they are the exemplars. 
Since the ephemeral being manifests the form of the eternal, it is by the contemplation of the eternal that God communicates to us the knowledge of Himself....You know yourself with another knowledge, different from that which you had when you knew your Lord by the knowledge that you had of yourself, because it is through Him that you know yourself. - Ibn'Arabi. 
The unfurling of the seeds of our personality triggered off by the creative power of our imagination (at the Mithal level) would be reiteratively tautological and therefore would exclude the possibility for further improvement if it were not for that extra-temporal, extra-samsaric, open ended, transcendent, archetypal matrix of our being at the Lahut level carrying the inexhaustive possibilities of what we mean by divinity, Ulluhiyat, just as the repetitive recycling of the seed in the plant can only be relieved by mutation. 			
Possible things become qualified by existence from behind the veils of the divine attributes.		 			- Ibn'Arabi
 Here is the breakthrough. The one who is conscious of his earthly origin is an earthly man, one who is conscious of his heavenly origin is the son of God. 					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
From the moment that we can see things from the divine point of view, we access dimensions of our being that transfigure our personality radically. Here lies the secret of the Wazifa. This is spirituality. While serving our creativity, imagining the qualities evoked in our Wazaif, as we have seen at the Mithal level, the level of creative imagination does limit the unfurling of these qualities unless we call upon the eternal models of which the seed-bed of our personality is an expression.
One must avoid looking for one's instructions in the realm of imagination ....which only gives indirect indications regarding pure archetypes. 
							- Ibn'Arabi 
Here imagination is not proceeding from inwards outwards, but from upward downward. 
Imagination causes archetypal notions to descend into perceptible forms.
 							- Ibn'Arabi 
Our being grows to its cosmic dimensions. When the inner nature manifested by man's inclinations and faculties has become pure, he contemplates therein whatever is of the same nature as in the cosmos. 
						- Shahabuddin Suhrawardi 
We participate in creating our being through our glorification. By our attunement to the sacred we awaken sublime propensities in our being that would otherwise lie latent. We awaken the God within. 
Allah al makhluk fi'l 'itiqadat: God creates Himself through your prayers. 						- Hadith Qudsi
8. The Unitive Level:  Hahut  Typical Wazifa: Ya Ahad 
The Hahut level of our being represents a whole different stratum. It is the reality that transcends the existential state even as it manifests as our being. 
When the unreality of life fades away, its reality strikes my soul. 									- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
We have risen beyond the conditions in which God can only be known by revealing Him/Herself through His/Her "signs" which requires the existential state at different levels.  
At an advanced stage one learns to grasp God as He is in Himself rather than the knowledge gleaned of Him....The one who is immersed in the vision of multiplicity is in the world in the aspect of the divine names and the names of the world. The one who is immersed in the divine unity is with God in the grasp of His unity, irrespective of the worlds. 		- Ibn 'Arabi 
At this pinnacle, not only the existential state but the programming is by-passed and that means it is unaffected by the feedback from the existential realm. That is why Buddha called it not only beyond existence, but beyond non-existence, in fact beyond conditioning. If you have a whiff of this state, you will experience the most utter freedom, in fact liberation. 
The real Being is only and exclusively God in His essence, dhat and, principle, 'ayn; not under the aspect of His names. In the station of unity, touching upon the unity, one accesses the Supreme knowledge whereby the grasp of the qualities falls away; indeed the qualities cannot add anything to the essence....If the names disappeared the Named One would appear. 	 - Ibn'Arabi 
Do not confuse the perfection of the manifestation through existence where the essence is individuated (like the manifestation of the totality in the parts), with the manifestation of the essence to itself, in itself and for itself.
							- Jami 
Every time that you focus on an object, He will have already escaped you. Knowledge is a veil upon the known.  		- Ibn'Arabi
One feels called upon to forego one's sense of oneself as an individual, but Hallaj points out that this would be contradictory, because one would be availing oneself of one's self to annihilate oneself. 
It is God who elects him and draws him into His state of isolation that he may participate in the mystery [of the divine solitude]. - al Hallaj 
In this ultimate step, the switch-over occurs when we are no more concerned with our personality, and qualities generally, which are, according to the Sufis, the means whereby God manifests Him/Herself. Therefore it is of the resort of the Dhikr rather than the Wazifa. 
When we are face to face, Beloved, I do not know whether to call Thee me, or me Thee. I see myself when Thou art not before me; when I see Thee my self is lost to view. I consider it is good fortune when Thou art alone with me; but when I am not there at all, I think it is the greatest blessing.
 					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
9. The Level of the Overview of the Existential State:  Tawhid   			Typical Wazifa: Ya Mawjud
Having peered behind the curtain, back-stage of the universe, we make an about-turn into awakening in life, which we could call in Sufi terms Tawhid. How do we awaken in life? Those veils that are the appearance of things are only veils concealing reality until one looks from behind the veils. Then we see the divine intention and its fulfillment and realize that instead of being an illusion (a veil) it was the drama and achievement of existence that was the objective behind all we have encountered in our ascent through the spheres. The purpose of the blueprint of your house is your house.  The fulfillment of this whole creation is to be found in humanity. This object is only fulfilled when man has awakened that part of himself which represents the master, that is God Himself. In humanity the divine perfection can be seen. God knows Himself through His manifestation. Manifestation is the self of God, but a self that is limited,  a self that makes His perfection known to Himself when He compares Himself with the limited self we call nature. 	
		
Therefore the purpose of the whole creation is the realization that God gains by discovering His own Perfection through our imperfection.
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
This is the real, whereas reality was the virtuality behind the real. It remains imponderable, bewildering, enrapturing, wrapped in mystery, however much one strives to decipher it. But if one switches over to look at real life situations from the other side of the curtain then one discovers the divine intentions in action. When thou perceivest, thou seest limitation openly, and thou seest Me at the back of the unseen...And I considered the veils; and lo, they were everything that has appeared, and everything that has appeared in that which has appeared....Whoso knows the veil, is near to the unveiling.  
							- Niffari
However it is the kind of knowledge that one can only achieve by doing rather than knowing in theory....By actuating the divine nature in my personality, I confer upon God a mode of existence. 		- Ibn'Arabi 
In order to gain God consciousness, the first condition is to make God a reality, so that He no longer is an imagination....At present there exists only in the world a belief in God; God exists in the imagination. It is such a soul which has touched upon divine perfection that brings to earth a living God who without him would remain on in the heavens....If there is any sign of God to be seen, it is in the God-conscious one. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
To make God a reality, we need to express the divine manner in our personality, hence the importance of the Wazifa. This is awakening in life. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan points to the sudden realization that triggers off this dedication to our purpose in life. 
In man is awakened that spirit whereby the whole universe was created. True exaltation of the spirit resides in he fact that it has come to earth and has realized there its spiritual existence. 	- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
The consequence is that, instead of loosing our individuality or trying to annihilate it, we revalidate it in its uniqueness. 
The soul of every individual is God, but man has a mind and a body which contains God according to the accommodation. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
One is overwhelmed by the discovery that, by trying to see things from the divine point of view, one is conferring upon God a mode of reality, hence 

the value of our personal contribution to the total being of God, however small. Divinity resides in humanity. It is also the outcome of humanity. 
						- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 
At this stage, both our personal creativity at the Mithal level and the impersonal dimension of our creativity, attained by exemplifying the divinity of our being at the Lahut level, integrate. You will observe the engendering of the possibilities lying in the spiritual plane into the corporeal world. 
Thoughts shift from the perception of the senses to the imaginary ones; then the intelligible thoughts will descend upon you in the form of perceptions.							 - Ibn'Arabi                                     
It is typified by that state in which, seeing oneself mirrored in another, one recognizes that reality being distorted by lenses, blurring it to the extent that one has failed to see the underlying unity, which is what one means by God.   
He brought the cosmos into existence upon His own Form. Hence He is a mirror within which He sees His own Form....Thou art His Form and He is Thy spirit. 						- Ibn'Arabi
I am the mirror of Thy face, through Thine own eyes, I look upon Thy countenance. 						- Semnani
Of course, the ultimate secret is that rather than by cognizance, the very configuration of our being, rendering states of consciousness corporeal, is powered by divine love. 
I emanated upon thee a force of love so that you might be fashioned according to my glance. 				- Qur'an 
In the course of this peregrination through the stages (maqqam) the Wazaif have revealed a meaningfulness that we could never have clinched in our commonplace thinking, but through our glorification. At first we were assessing values, now it is being rather than meaningfulness that is revealed. It has been a journey of us in God. At first we were motivated by covetousness, then indifference, lastly interest, nostalgia, love, by Ishq Allah.
 Indifference gives great power; but the whole manifestation is a phenomenon of interest. All this world that man has made, where has it come from? It has come from the power of interest. The whole creation and all that is in it are the products of the Creator's interest. But at the same time the power of indifference is a greater one still, because, although motive has a power, yet at the same time motive limits power. Yet it is motive that gives man the power to accomplish things. On the other hand, so long as a man has a longing to obtain any particular object, he cannot go further than that object. 											- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

Invocation of Spiritual Hierarchy, Part I 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 


Invocation of the Masters, Saints, and Prophets: 
Shiva, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, 
Elijah, Ezekiel, Christ, Muhammad 
 
What is most meaningful is to get into the consciousness of all the masters, saints, and prophets, rishis, dervishes, monks, angels, archangels, any being in the universe, and what is more, into the consciousness of the whole galaxy of beings who are all busy celebrating the Cosmic Celebration, which is enacted behind the scene of the stage of life on the planet. What happens on the planet is like a very small light show, a projection on a screen of a reality that is overwhelmingly monumental. Are we able to always keep our awareness of the Cosmic Celebration open, as if windows were open into the cosmic realms, and not just let ourselves be enclosed in our little lives? We can. We're learning how to do it. 
What we want to do now is get into the particular type of vibration of several masters, each representing a totally different aspect of the one and only Being, to the degree of perfection that one rarely finds amongst human beings. This meditation isn't a projection of our imagination, as in the Ideal Master Meditation. We're going to reach specifically into the consciousness of a great prophet.

Shiva 

We start with Shiva, the patron of all the rishis. He is always represented as sitting on top of Mount Kailas, which is the highest mountain on the pilgrim route, representing the sahasrara chakra of the world. He has overcome his human nature, and is in a state of samadhi. Thus, you can only reach him by going into the state of samadhi. It is true that there is no being in the world whom you cannot reach, but in order to reach them you have to be able to enter into their attunement. For example, to climb to the top of the mountain you have to put up with the high altitude. If you want to approach a being who is consumed with fire, you have to be able to withstand the burning. In order to be able to reach a being who has been in the state of solitude and who perhaps has not seen another being for twelve years, you have to have gone through the experience of solitude; otherwise, you cannot attune to his being. We inherit from these beings, but our inheritance from them is often covered over by many things. They're recessive, latent, in the depth of our being, and their influence can be revived if we can attune ourselves to their being. It's not just a matter of imagining what it must be like to be them. You have to get absolutely into their states of consciousness. 

Buddha 

Now we're going to get into the consciousness of Buddha. Can you see him walking? The peace of this walk, the nobility, totally attuned to the consciousness of very high spheres beyond existence, bringing something of the rhythm and atmosphere of these spheres down to the earth. He's continually in contact with the higher planes, totally free from the perspectives that people are caught in, trying to help people to cure themselves of their pain and their anguish, and awaken them from their ignorance. He has compassion for those who suffer, and yet not pity. There's a sense of serenity, heroic overcoming, never giving in to the gravity pull of the earth, the pull of the senses, the pull of the mind, the pull of consciousness; he's  always cosmic. The light that surrounds him is the expression of the extraordinary acuity of awareness, so that wherever he goes he casts his light upon all things. He is totally awake, and his task is to awaken those who come in contact with him by the clarity of his insight. This is not just the Buddha who lived in the fifth or sixth century before Christ; it's Buddha as he is now and can always be reached. There is a certain mode of the divine consciousness that is totally cosmic.
 
Zoroaster 

Let us get into the consciousness of Zoroaster. Zoroaster was a magus, a hierophant, like the three wise men who visited Christ. See him as being somewhat like Athenagorus, the Greek Orthodox archbishop. He is a very powerful cosmic archetype of man, accompanied by armies of angels conducting a ruthless battle against evil, conscious of the whole meaning of life in the planet and anywhere in the universe where there is a great battle. He has an air of victory about him because he represents the forces of light. Parsifal is like Zoroaster, as they both belong to the knighthood of the planet. He sees that the purpose is to purify the earth, to respect the dignity of the bodies of all the archangels:  the body of the archangel of water, the body of the archangel of the earth, the atmosphere around the planet, which is the body of the archangel of air, the plants, the body of the archangel of plants, the animals, the cells in the body of the archangel of animals; everywhere there are beings. Today he is combating against the rape of the planet by pollution, sound pollution, the pollution in minds, to restore the universe to its primeval dignity. These are his very words: "To become an instrument of the transfiguration of the world."  One has to be conscious of transmuting matter into spirit in one's  own flesh. 

Prophets of Israel

Now we are going to get into the consciousness of the prophets of Israel. They seem closer to the western civilization. There are many, though some of them stand out particularly: Abraham, the great ancestor patriarch; Moses, a great pioneer representing the power of God who, while leading the Jews into the desert out of Egypt, was always conscious of the covenant with God and tried to convince men of the importance of following the divine guidance. Melchizedek was the high priest of the Temple of Holocausts in Jerusalem at a time when there wasn't one building in Jerusalem. There were nomads living in tents and they lived in a cave. He consecrated Abraham as a king, for he himself represented power beyond that of the kings, the priesthood of all the religions of the One God. He's a master of peace. Perhaps you can feel his very high energy as the carrier of the Holy Spirit, the anointment, the host, the sacraments. 
Elijah, incorporating the conscience of man, has a kind of power that arises out of the desert and warns kings of their fallacies. He always lives close to the source of life, the water of life. Always reappearing every time a messenger appears on the planet, he is one of the figures that never dies. He is translated into the heavens, but his robe marks the sign of the continuation of his being in all those who represents the ecclesia, the church of all churches. There is Ezekiel, who had the vision of the seven heavens: the Galganim, and the Ophanim, and the Seraphim, and the Cherubim, and the Archangels, and the Heyoth. He was initiated by having his lips burned by the fire from the Seraphim so that he might become a pure instrument of the service of the masters, saints, and prophets. 
There are untold numbers of prophets, all imbued with an incredible strength giving guidance first through the community of the Jewish people, and then beyond that community, reaching into the whole of mankind. They bring a particular quality of emotion, a very mystical combination of suffering and joy. The Jewish people seem to have been chosen to go into the very limits of what we call the limitation of the divine perfection on earth, extremes of suffering, persecution, like in the concentration camps, and still manage to be so exuberant in their joy. It's divine guidance coming right into humanity; it's not up there on the top of Mount Kailas or in the very aloof attunement of Buddha. It started descending in the battle of Kudochetchera of Zoroaster, but now it's  getting much closer into our lives and therefore the emotions are much more tangible; they touch our hearts in addition to our souls. We can encounter something of the beings that I have invoked by tuning ourselves to the emotions that come through the Jewish people when they are praying and invoking the name of God. 


Christ 

Now we come into the consciousness of Christ. You have access to the consciousness of Christ whenever you are aware of the divine perfection in you which was subjected to your own limitation, or whenever you feel that you have betrayed your highest ideal and you ask for forgiveness and divine grace. Every time you recognize in a being that is suffering, perhaps the very being of God, in the form of the beggar who asks for food, for alms, for clothes, for shelter; every time you see a being volunteering to sacrifice her/himself, then you get into the consciousness of Christ, sharing the lives of humanity. 		
That same spirit continued through the early Christian martyrs, exposed to the lions, and through all those who suffered for their ideal and kept their heads high. If one is able to be conscious of the jubilations in the heavens while one is aware of the despair of the soul subjected to suffering, then there is a moment of great victory. In fact, one proclaims as Jesus did the life eternal, those who give their life will find it and those who hang on to their life will lose it. It's  the announcement of resurrection: you are not transient after all. 		
The essence emerges out of the transient part of your being and is eternalized forever. Christ came to announce the victory over death and transiency. It's the ultimate hope. Can you enter into the power of the being of Christ? It's  different than the power of Abraham or Moses. It's the power of the Spirit. He brings the great news, the doors between the earth and heaven open up and the cosmic celebration is real to all men. I hope you feel the presence of millions of beings who respond to our invocation, and feel the jubilation in the heavens. 

Muhammad 

There was a great king in the desert who was born a Bedouin among people struggling to survive. He was struck by the annunciation of his mission in a traumatic initiation that marked him with the light and the fire of the angels. People would say when they came in contact with him they would have to hide their eyes from the blinding light of his eyes. His power came from his utter submission to the divine will and his inspiring this submission in those who followed him. It built up a tremendous force, totally changed the face of the land, and led to one of the most wonderful civilizations and cultures ever known on the planet. The message he brought was one step further into the importance of living right and never losing sight of the divine will. It is so strong that when the call to prayers comes, the Muslims will simply stop everything in the middle of the street and say the prayers. Although he was fighting ruthless opposition, he gave an example of compassion when he forgave the one who killed his very sister. It was the beginning of democracy, a new dispensation. 
Lift your heads up and don't exult in sadness. The world is a field the divine grace has offered you. Cultivate it and rejoice as long as you never lose sight of the divine consciousness, embodied in the formula La illaha illa 'llah. It is that consciousness that made the very being of the dervishes. The dervish is one who is conscious of embodying the divine Being - there is only One Being - and of fulfilling the wish of God towards fulfillment in manifestation. The dervish says, like al-Hallaj, "If you once have a whiff of the divine understanding, your understanding will be shattered. If you can experience the divine power passing through you, you will become the instrument of the power. All you have to do is let the divine operation work in you and let God pronounce His unity through you."  So here we are at the opposite poles to Hinduism and Buddhism, and to the way of liberation. This is the way of fulfillment, and thus we complete the cycle.

 Invocation  of the Spiritual Hierarchy, Part II 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

 One can invoke the presence of all masters, saints and prophets of all time of course, but as they are now working with us, giving us directions. So it's not just a matter of thinking of them as they were in the past, but really getting in contact with their being. It's a matter of attuning ourselves to their state of consciousness, not by just thinking of them and their physical appearance, though their present one is often very similar to the one they had in the past, but with a difference. It's a matter of attuning ourselves to their state of awareness, to their particular form of realization. When we realize what they realized, or something in that particular direction, it rings a bell. There's  a resonance, and a communication is established. So the chronological order is not important, but the way the different masters manifest different rays, different lines, different direction of the spiritual guidance, that's important.

Hindu Tradition  

First we think of the Hindu tradition, which is very, very, very rich. Generally one starts with thinking of Rama, because Rama is the embodiment of the knight, the first chivalry. He was at first an ascetic, banished by his father, but his main action was in life. 
Shiva is the ascetic. Maybe you've seen some pictures of the sanyasin in India. They have become a kind of force of nature, the shakti force of Shiva, the very powerful energy. I would say that Shiva is working with energy. When you feel that tremendous power of nature that is coming through you when you go into the woods and meditate, that is the shakti of Shiva coming through you, and you establish connection with Shiva. 
Krishna is, of course, an anticipation of Christ. He is God having become a child and therefore becoming human. We'll be going into the meaning of this. That's the whole strength of Hinduism: instead of thinking of God right up there, bringing Him right down, seeing Him living right here amongst us. He is lovable and therefore arouses a feeling of love and affection. That's when your heart goes out to God manifesting His creatures. That's Krishna, even when it might be a deer or an animal in the forest or any creature that you feel love for.

Buddhist Tradition  

Now we come to Buddha. He helps us to free ourselves. Every time you feel this call to free yourself from all the conditioning and the ignorance, Buddha is very present in your being. Just see him. Just feel his presence working in you, surrounding you with a zone of silence. 

Zoroastrian Tradition 

To get into the consciousness of Zoroaster you have to experience all the glory of the heavens, because he is really a representative of the angels, rather than of the hierarchy of masters. It means tuning to the consciousness of the angels. One has something very close to that in the Native American holy men, but they seem to be more connected with nature spirits, the highest spirits, at least in  the most advanced of them. 

Egyptian and Greek Traditions 

Ikhnaton is connected with the archangel of the sun, of the solar system, and light. When one discovers one's solar heritage, one is in a state of attunement with Ikhnaton. 
Amongst the Greeks there were a few masters of course. In Pythagoras and Hermes you get an attunement with the akashic world. 
Orpheus, once more totally attuned to the harmony of the spheres, akashic plane. One can get in touch with him by listening to the symphony of the spheres. It's an expression of the divine order, of the order behind the universe. That's the harmony, a very, very important aspect of the being of God. Such harmony is of Serapis, the realm of pure vibration, so it's very impersonal and it's higher than energy. 
 One shouldn't count the philosophers; they were great beings, but I think in the hierarchy you'd have to get in touch with Amoniosaka, who was the teacher of Plotinus, and that's where you come in touch with a very great realized master. 

Hebrew Tradition

Now in the Hebrew tradition, one should start with Noah, although Enoch is earlier; but Enoch is master of occult Hermetic knowledge. It's Noah who has real charge of his people, acting like a prophet. He represents an aspect of God that comes to succor humanity and those in distress. He preserves the essential, the seed of each species, something that people are doing now in our time because many of the species are dying out. So he's connected with the seed of God, all the richness of the divine being in its different forms of existence. Getting into the consciousness of Noah really means getting into the consciousness of God as all the different creatures, not just manifesting, but existing as the different creatures. We experience all that richness of the divine Being. 
Now we come to Abraham, who is a giant amongst prophets. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan calls him the founder of the religion of the one God, to which Beni Israel belongs. When he uses the word "Beni Israel" it includes Christianity and Islam. The greatness of Abraham is such that he is admitted into the presence of God, in its exoteric and its esoteric sense. He is given access to the divine intention. He has access to the planning, and he generates a whole race. He represents, therefore, the seed of God as man, in whom the divine being reaches a fullness, a fulfillment. There's  a great significance in his mission. He is the Rasul, the archetype of Rasul, in which God finds his fulfillment. Of course, he is very wonderful; he's a king. Murshid talks about the trace of the king of kings. Yes, it's to be found in Abraham, and he even says Abraham was the founder of Sufism. Oh, one has to enter into the consciousness of that being, Abraham. 
His perfect counterpart is Melchizedek, the high priest who represents the divine order, whereas Abraham represents the divine power, majesty. It's a different attunement, and both are very, very important. Whenever you are in a very high prayerful condition, you get in tune with Melchizedek. When you're conscious of your mission and what you have to uphold in your life, then you can get into the consciousness of Abraham. It's just like the two faces of Cha'ma in the Kaballah; the one is turned upwards and the other is turned downwards. Your consecration as a priest is where you find your connection with Melchizedek, when you think of yourself as being a priest in the Order of Melchizedek. 
Moses was a tremendous breakthrough of the divine power, intervening once more in saving the Chosen People from the Egyptian tyranny. He represents the divine power in action, whereas that of Abraham is much more stable and kingly. He's more like a general than a king; very fiery and undaunted, full of wrath. Abraham is beyond anger. Moses represents a form of the divine guidance that has to break through incredible obstacles. Therefore, all the dynamism and the being of God break through, sometimes like thunder and lightning, in a very traumatic way. His wrath is to protect the sacredness from being defiled. It's never personal wrath, it's always a sense of indignation at the sacrilege. He's protecting the sacredness of the divine, and if that is not respected and whole, the bottom is taken out of spirituality altogether. Whenever you feel outraged because the dignity of the sacredness you have been entrusted with in your heart has been violated by your being, or by another person's being, or that you haven't lived up to your ideal, that's where the consciousness of Moses comes through very strongly. 
Ezekiel and Isaiah are both visionaries, being granted vision, but it is Elijah who intervenes the most with the destiny of his people by protesting to King Ahab against a slackening in the respect for the sacredness of the religion of the one God. We have come across this many times, and you know you can only attain to the consciousness of Elijah by getting into the immaculate state, totally purified, being baptized again with the Holy Spirit. Isaiah has the foresight to predict the coming of the Messiah, and he was the real founder of the Order of the Essenes. They introduce you into the attunement of those beings who left the world because there was so much corruption in the priesthood of the time, just like the Hesychasts later on, and who lived in the desert preparing the way of the Lord. Once more it's not quite the attunement of the sanyasin; the sanyasin is seeking for his personal liberation. These are beings who are preparing the way for the coming of the messenger, or let's say for the Message. If you're conscious of the importance of the Message, that's where your attunement with Isaiah will open a new perspective. 
He recognizes in Cyrus not just a king, but a representative of the spiritual hierarchy. Here you have a very beautiful example, if you can get into the consciousness of King Cyrus, Khusrau in Iran. He was a wonderful being, is a wonderful being; kingly, a kind of angel being, an angel master. He was the one who liberated the Jews from captivity in Babylon, 526 years before Christ. It gave rise to the flourishing of the Magi, holy men, the wise men as they call them, some of whom attained a very great degree of illumination. They were kings, kings of light and glory. For example Buzurg Mehr and Frashoshtra were Magi. It's  the tradition of the kings that Murshid speaks about. These were particularly luminous because they belonged to the Zoroastrian tradition, which is dedicated to light more than anything else. The whole being becomes very luminous, so whenever you're conscious of the degree of sovereignty that arises out of illumination, you'll get in a state of attunement with the Magi. 
One has to include the tradition of the Hassidim; there were some very great beings among them. They were discovering God in man, which was not accepted by the orthodox, who always considered God to be transcendent. This is what happens when people don't try and figure things out with the mind, but have a real experience of God. They find themselves at loggerheads with the orthodox who are figuring everything out and making systems. 
Perhaps one of the greatest Jewish masters was Simeon Bar Yoshy. They called him the holy lamp: his whole being was just light. He was a man who lived in the first century, shortly after Christ. The Romans were trying to find him and he spent most of his time with his whole body buried with just his head above the sand. There were, of course, many more wonderful beings, like Ezra, Simon the Blind.

Christian Tradition 

Now let's try and get into the consciousness of Christ. Perhaps you've seen the image of the shroud of Turin, because that is a clue. If you are able to get behind the appearance, all of a sudden you see this powerful being coming through, his eyes open, absolutely like he belongs to some other dimension or some other world altogether. He comes right through in your life. He doesn't sit there somewhere on a mountain top; he comes right through with all his power and yet with a simple touch, the human touch, at the same time. It's really a perfect example of God becoming man. Humility. Democracy is the outcome of insight when you see that all this is God. You get democracy instead of aristocracy, or you get this perfect combination between the two that Murshid speaks about. Christ gets in trouble with the law. He has tolerance for the sinners who are despised by other people. His love is so great that he's become the heart of God; not just the being of God, but the heart more than anything else. For the first time you have the prophet really going into suffering, instead of just remaining very aloof or very sovereign. He shares in the suffering of people. He doesn't despise those who are not able to overcome their personal selves. In fact, he is your being, with all your fragility and your struggle, while at the same time being the divine perfection. That's  the only way that the church fathers could say it was divine nature and human nature at the same time, the combination of those two; that's dogma, but it was the only way of saying it. It represents a stage in the descent of God in manifestation, the consciousness of God in manifestation. 
Christ touches one's  heart, just like Krishna, but of course, much more. That's why they portray him as a baby too, because he's so lovable as a baby, like Krishna. You don't portray Buddha as a baby. Christ is really God having become human, and it's the divine perfection that's very vulnerable but still perfect, even though it comes through in a very vulnerable way. Instead of just being triumphant and masterful, with all his overcoming he had accepted suffering and also vulnerability. It's the being of God. We project upon God our ideas of perfection; but our ideas of perfection are our ideas of perfection, but that's not the way the divine perfection is. Here in the being of Christ you can have a greater access to the real meaning of the divine perfection because even if it is perfect, it also includes limitation. 
	Of course we should get into the consciousness of all the Christian saints. There were some very great saints amongst the early church fathers: Bartholomew, Gregory of Palamas, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Serafim, and Anathesias. Well, there were many. Later on, there wereTheresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and many other saints in the Catholic Church, such as Therese of Lisieux. There are still hermits in Mount Athos who have left the churches and the monasteries, and live in a little mud hut, some of them having attained great realization. It's very similar to the beings of the desert, like Isaiah. It's the same tradition, and always they represent the underground work behind the Message. Occasionally, one of them comes into the world and exercises a more tangible influence, like the Archbishop who met Pope Paul VI, a king in the real tradition of the Orthodox Church. In his time, he was a Qutub. When we get into that consciousness of the one who has retired from life, but is acting totally behind the scene to prepare the world for the Message, then we get in contact with these beings and get into their consciousness. We just have to get in contact with the tradition of those who have aligned themselves with Christ and have followed his example. 

Islamic Tradition 

	Now we have the tradition of Islam. From its tremendous culture, manifesting works of art and philosophy and particularly from its most treasured offspring, which is Sufism, we can gather what a tremendous force it represents. Sufism is a combination of the spiritual traditions of the universe and therefore it's  not surprising that Sufism should be the grounds, the root of that tree which is the Message of our time. The reason is because in Sufism there's a realization, a way of looking at things which, although it had been anticipated, had never come through with that clarity. This way of looking you can find amongst early Sufis, like Ibn al'-Arabi and al-Hallaj and so on; but it comes through with great clarity and force in the words, in the whole being, of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. 
	When Murshid says the Rasul is the total fulfillment of the divine being, it's because he manifests the divine perfection. In humanity there's a certain fulfillment. Most men and women manifest one aspect, or few aspects. We'll have to go into this a little later, but for the moment, we have to try and understand the meaning of the Rasul. In the case of Muhammad, he wanted to preserve the transcendence. There was too much of a tendency to reduce God to the qualities of Christ, or even the body of Christ, whereas the being of God can't be reduced to just those qualities, even though they may be perfect. So he restored the balance. You remember those words of Jelal-ud-din Rumi when he says, "To the one who's lost in the Divine Imminence, I reveal my transcendence; and to the one who's lost in the Divine Transcendence, I reveal my imminence." So that's what Muhammad was doing: to remind people not to reduce their idea of God to their image of Christ. The consequence was that he himself had to take a very low profile. It was only later that the Sufis saw how even while he was announcing himself as just the servant of God, he was expressing a particular way in which God was coming through at that time, the Message of that time. Don't say it was imposing the divine order; it was that total sacrifice of the individual. Consequently, by this effacement of the ego, it was possible to bring through the Message much more than where there's a cult of the personality. 
	That's why the Muslims use the word the Message, Risalat. Although it came through very clearly with some of the Jewish prophets, like God told them, "Say this to the people," the message, this communication between the hierarchy and the people, came through perhaps the most strongly in the Qu'ran. So we have in Christ the being of God becoming more and more human; and in the being of Muhammad, and in Islam generally, the will of God, the direction, intention, coming through more and more strongly. 

Sufi Tradition 

Of course all the Sufis embody the special kind of magnetism which comes through from Islam. It's difficult to describe but if you go to Ajmer Sherif and sit there at night time, you see a few murshids praying in the mosques the whole night. You see the atmosphere, the magnetism, that comes through. It's very different from the magnetism of Shiva, the Shakti; it's very, very different, because it's been sanctified by the divine presence. 
	So, would you like to invoke many of the Sufis? Our silsila is just one of the many silsilas. They all have the same origin, in Hazrat, a very high being to whom the Prophet entrusted his succession and the task of maintaining the continuity of the silsila of the Sufis. Sufism was like the spiritual underground behind those instructions given to the mass of the people, "You do this, and don't do that," and so on. The real cream of Islam was communicated in Sufism. Quite apart from our particular silsila, let's think of Abu Yazid Bistami, the one who wanted to have the experience of the divine solitude, the oneness. That's the kind of condition you get to in the Dhikr, just the oneness. There's Al-Hallaj, also known as Mansur Al-Efallaj, who was crucified and who was an epitome of fana and baqa (fana, being totally shattered, and baqa, being overwhelmed) If you say the Dhikr, you mustn't be conscious of being yourself as the one who says it. I'm sure that your heart has been touched by the being of the sacredness of Mansur's consciousness and the intensity of his love for God. 
	Of course, we must mention Mevlana Jelal-ud-din Rumi, Shams-i-Tabriz, Ibn al'-Arabi, Niffari, al-Jili, and of course numerous Sufis of the different silsilas. 
	I'd like to invoke some of the members of the hierarchy, the silsila of the Sufis: Hassan Basri, Rabia al-Adawiyya, Ayaz, Ibrahim Adham al-Balkhi, Hazeifa Tu'l Ma'rashi, Usman Haruni, Hadji Sherif Zindani Chishti, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Qutub-uddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Gangji Shakar, Khawja Nizam ad-din Auliya, Khwaja Ba-Alama Chishti, Kalimullah Jehan Abadi Chishti, Yahia Almadani, Nizam ul Haq Aurangabadi, Fakhr-ul-Haq Aurangabadi, Kale Myan Sahib, Kalimi Delevi, Abu Hashim Madani, and Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan. 
	Now I'd like us to concentrate for a few minutes upon the being of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. I'd like us to do the Dhikr, getting totally into the consciousness of Murshid so it is as though you lose yourself, and it is Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan who is doing the Dhikr through you. 
	Keep getting deeper and deeper into Murshid's consciousness. Perhaps I can convey something of my memory of Murshid. The first thing that struck one is that tremendous majesty, dignity, and also, very strong divine power coming through him as he walked with great resolve and mastery. Every step, every motion was well expressed with total control, total mastery; strong, and very slow, nothing at random, all very much under control. The other thing one notices is a tremendous breadth, breadth of understanding, breadth of vision, breadth of love, compassion, kindness; cosmic, absolutely cosmic. The other thing was certainly a consciousness of the divine qualities, of the divine perfection. It's the consciousness of the divine inheritance which makes the king, and hence, the majesty. Behind that majesty, behind that there's consciousness of the perfection of the king, the inheritance of that perfection. Further than that, there was a sense of holiness like I've never seen in any other, a sense of being entrusted with something very, very holy. 

The Path of the Archetypes
from a Woman's Perspective
 by Dakini Lynn Marlow 

 Seeds of the ancient wisdom of the Sufis were planted in the West in 1910 by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. As with seeds that are transplanted to new soil, so it is with all cultures, spiritual traditions and teachings. New and often unexpected hybrids, a multiplicity of varieties and forms, flower in the new environment.
Sufism is still very new to the soil of twentieth century North America and Europe. We, ourselves, are the seedlings that are taking root and sprouting. Many of us are women, a new breed of women, certainly markedly different in lifestyle, psychology, and culture from the ancient and even modern women of the Middle and Far East who were involved with Sufism in the past. What varieties of flowers will blossom in our hearts?
As modern women treading the spiritual path, we are making revolutionary changes in all aspects of our lives. Few, if any, apt models relate to our situation. Traditional religion and even the ancient esoteric spiritual traditions may, in some ways, be anachronistic, and therefore confusing to apply to our modern lives and psyches. Thus, problems arise for us, especially since spiritual teaching and guidance can be easily misinterpreted. The unique dynamics between a disciple and spiritual teacher (guru) present major challenges and deep questions that open up a Pandora's box of issues for many modern women. Accepting guidance from a Teacher, especially a male teacher (particularly for women who have experienced abuse by men) may inadvertently and unfortunately result in reinforcing destructive psychological patterns, such as low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. This could reinforce separation by subtly supporting over-idealization for another and de-valuation of the self.

Feminine Spirituality

Many developments in attitude in the fields of psychology and health, economics and lifestyle have occurred in recent years. A new approach to spirituality, also rooted in ancient wisdom, has been sprouting in our garden in response to the longing of many women. It focuses on women's unique nature and needs. This new Feminine Spirituality incorporates many new insights gleaned from recent experience. 
The core of Feminine Spirituality is non-dualistic, valuing our earthly experience as much as, if not more than, a heavenly one. It does not claim that some experiences, thoughts, and emotions are more spiritual than others. It sees the value of pain as well as joy. It does not separate sexuality from spirituality. It is in this non-dualistic attitude that Feminine Spirituality meets Ancient Sufism which, above all, expresses the Unity of all creation.
It is in the heart of each one of us that the essence of Sufism and Feminine Spirituality lives. It is in every moment, in each thought, word and action that this essence manifests in our lives. Both Sufism and Feminine Spirituality honor and encourage full expression of our humanity being whole, not perfect. Immanence, "embodied" spirituality, the in-dwelling Presence of Spirit, as opposed to Transcendence, is a common focus. Sufism and Feminine Spirituality value both individuation and relatedness, love and authenticity.
Neither Sufism nor Feminine Spirituality has dogma or doctrine. Both acknowledge that we each are spirit incarnate and do not have need of an intercessor between ourselves and God. Neither Sufism nor Feminine Spirituality have a hierarchical structure. Although there is a silsila in the Sufi tradition, there is no hierarchy as in other traditions. The teacher, Sheik or Murshid, is called the "Friend." In fact, even God is often referred to as Friend, or Beloved, as opposed to just being a Father (or Mother, for that matter) as in some other traditions; leaving us mortals always in the position of child. 

Sufi Order Teachings 

As a twentieth century American woman, I have found the teachings and practices of the Sufi Order of the West supportive of my unique (i.e. different from past generations of women) needs and process of unfoldment. The teachings and practices have encouraged me and given me practical "tools" such as Wazaif, that nurture the seed of my Essence and help me manifest it in my life. Each time I take a step in the inner world working with practices, I heal old wounds and reinforce positive change by transforming attitudes and beliefs about myself and the world. Then I take another step in my life, grounding the practice in reality in all areas of my life, such as my relationships, career and creativity.
Although there is no "hierarchy" in Sufism, there is a tradition of fana fi sheik, which is based on the "do as I do, not as I say" motto. In this teaching, we're encouraged to model ourselves after our teacher. Unfortunately, many of us misunderstand this because it goes against our culturalization. Women especially, have been taught to look outside ourselves for the answers. We often do as others, especially male spiritual teachers, say, or rather our interpretation of what they say. Even when we try to do as they do, we often wind up doing what they do, not as they do. Doing as another does is not mimicking. It is knowing that the teacher is living according to his/her nature and like the teacher, the seed essence also grows within ourselves. Like the teacher, we come to appreciate our unique beauty and strengths; understanding what conditions our essential nature needs to unfold and blossom; and then honoring the unique fragrance that we add to the garden. So we see that fana fi sheik, doing as our teacher does, means living according to our nature, not his or hers.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan speaks of low self-esteem as a basic challenge we face in our lives. This may be even more prevalent in women than in men, due to the differences in our socialization and the amount of abuse that many women experience. Masculine images as well as referring to God in masculine language add to the challenge for women to identify with Divinity within themselves. The rebirth of Goddess Consciousness today helps to rectify and heal these wounds for women. Remembering the ancient traditions of the Goddess, hearing the "myths" and interpreting them in the light of modern (Jungian/Archetypal) psychology helps us relate them to our own lives and thus reclaim aspects of our lost or forgotten divinity.

Goddess Tradition 

In ancient times, the Goddess was known as a trinity. Instead of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of Christianity, there was the Virgin, Mother and Crone (Wise Woman/Destroyer). Working with this model of Divinity as Triple Goddess has been a very rich process for me and others who have explored it. As we come to understand the true meaning of Goddess and Woman, we see the connection more clearly. We shift our self-image, identifying more with the divinity that lies within. In this way we become more whole (holy).
The Virgin is the archetype of a woman who is "one unto herself," not beholden to anyone; it does not necessarily imply sexual chastity or celibacy. There are various models of the Virgin, such as the Warrior and the Sacred Prostitute or Temple Priestess. The Goddess as Warrior gives us a model of a feminine divinity that shows us how to exercise and express our qualities of focus, will, perseverance, and mastery without sacrificing our feminine nature. The Goddess as Temple Priestess (Sacred Prostitute) offers us a model for integrating our sexuality and our bodies in general with our spirituality.
The Mother, the second part of the Trinity, teaches us about nurturing ourselves and others. It has both light and dark aspects. This teaches us boundaries, when to say "no." It shows us a new meaning and model for self-sacrifice.
The Crone as Wise Woman and destroyer teaches us to honor our innate wisdom and intuition and to speak our truth. The Crone also offers us a healthier understanding of cycles, teaching us about death as part of life, not a curse brought by Eve. The Crone shows us a healthier model of letting go and accepting aging. She helps us to create an earth-based spirituality.
There are many Goddesses from ancient traditions. One example is Oshun, the Yoruba Goddess of fertility and dance. She works well as an archetype for working with the practice Ya Azim. Oya is also from the Yoruba tradition and is the Goddess of Lightening. She teaches us about the Crone aspect of ourselves and can be used as an archetype for the practice, Ya Haqq; Inanna and Ereshkigal are sister Sumerian Goddesses. They teach us about balancing out the light and dark aspects of ourselves. 

Chrysalis Connection

I and many other women in the Sufi Order have been exploring a variety of models that integrate new and renewed teachings, such as the above, with the teachings of the Sufi Order. Working with Goddess archetypes and using Wazaif is one example of what is possible. Retreats based on the Triple Goddess, the Elysium Mysteries and Iranian's descent to Ereshkigal are some other ways.
The Chrysalis Connection, the Feminine Council of the Sufi Order, is a basket which offers women support and direction in integrating the wealth of Ancient Sufi teachings as brought to us by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan into our lives and claiming it for our own. We explore the unique effects the practices have on women. We experiment with different styles of doing practices, such as using female archetypes, visualizations, movement and sound that may be different from the ones traditionally taught by men. In addition, several new models of retreats, specifically designed for women, have been developed. Chrysalis also offers a variety of suggestions for incorporating the feminine into the Universal Worship. In general, the Chrysalis Connection offers support, guidance and the opportunity for sharing and dialogue within the context of local Chrysalis Connection circles.
Murshid said that the coming age is the age of woman. We are the women he is speaking of and it is up to us to discover and manifest the meaning of his prophecy, to discover in and for ourselves who we are and what it is we bring to the Message. The Chrysalis Connection invites you to share your insights and experiences with us. Join in the gardening. Together we will plow up the old weeds and cultivate the new seeds, creating and ourselves becoming a beautiful garden. 


Chapter 7

Introduction

Pir Vilayat often refers to the Dhikr (sometimes spelled as Zikr) as the staple food of the Sufis, implying this practice, with its many variations, provides the essential spiritual nourishment sought in this tradition. Different Sufi Orders have their particular ways of repeating certain sacred phrases that form the sound body of the Dhikr. The manner in which our Order evokes the Divine Presence through this practice arises out of the experience of sacredness. It is essential that one learning the Dhikr not only master the outer form, but far more significantly evoke the atmosphere of mystical union which is the heart of this profound spiritual exercise.
The Dhikr is an advanced practice and should only be recited daily if prescribed by one's spiritual guide. This is meant to assure that the powerful effects which it can release are able to be integrated in a balanced way. Like learning to play a musical instrument, the Dhikr is best comprehended when taught by one who knows how to convey its subtlety, power, and beauty. The written material provided in this chapter is meant to accompany and amplify the personal instructions received from one's guide. 
The Dhikr is an endless spiritual treasure and a doorway leading the practitioner from fragmentation and alienation into the unity of the only Being. The insights shared by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and Taj Inayat Glantz, which arise out of their deep communion with the practice, reveal exquisite facets of this jewel. 


The Path of the Heart 
and the Practice of Dhikr 
by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

On the spiritual path the preparation that is most necessary is to make a location for the knowledge of God, God in one's own heart. If you ask me what I mean by location, the answer is that in the ear, for instance, there is a location for sound that comes from outside. The reason is in the ear there is the space for accommodation, not only for sound, but for every letter and syllable. If it were not for the location that man has in his ear he could not hear, and so location must be created in one's own heart. This construction of the ear is a perfect picture of the location that is in the heart. Outside, the ear is hollow. Its shape is its receptacle, and this is produced by response. The tendency is to take in all that comes. It seems as if some part of the ear has been cut out in order to make a hollow. Some part must be taken out of the heart in order to have capacity. Of course the difficulties of life fill this capacity all the time. 
Then again there is a cover in front of the ear which helps the sound to be retained in order to become distinguishable. In the heart this is produced by the power of concentration. The thoughts of love and sympathy must become distinguished; it is the concentration which allows it to be distinguished. Intuition is the distinction of all that comes to the heart. The heart must allow it to become clear. 
An inside organ of the ear is the vibration; this distinguishes every word. In the heart there is an intuitive faculty; every feeling that comes in the heart vibrates. This makes things distinct to one's view. 
Many consider the heart a picture of the eye, but I consider the heart is more the picture of the ear that hears. The actual sense that can be pictured as the eye is located in the center of the head. 
The work of the intuitive faculty is the perception and conception. There are two ways of knowing, one by the head, the other by the heart. Knowing by the heart is like hearing, and knowing by the head is like seeing. Seeing, no doubt gives satisfaction, but hearing gives a greater satisfaction still. All that is audible touches the depth of one's being, and what is visible becomes reflected on the surface of one's heart. The practice of Dhikr is meant to make that capacity in the heart in order to turn the heart into the ear. Every repetition of Dhikr is like carving something with a chisel. By carving a part of the heart, it may become hollow and it has the capacity to receive all that comes. The sound has power upon heart and soul. When you are given an exercise, its power is the same as the word or the meaning of the word. Therefore, one must cut out the part that hinders the heart to do its proper work. The power of the word is such that all things can be accommodated by it, if one does it rightly. Wonders can be worked by the help of the word. Therefore a mantra is more powerful than a weapon. This is the experience of my whole life.
Of course before one does a deeper practice of Dhikr one must control one's thoughts and feelings. If not, one may do a great harm to oneself or others. We must not direct ill will or anger to anyone, not even to our worst enemy. If one creates compassion, we will tolerate, forgive, and take life easy. Then power increases. There are two things: one is to receive inspiration, the other is to gain power, jemal and jelal. Jemal is mercy and compassion; jelal is self discipline and mastery over one's self.

Preparation for Dhikr 
by Taj Inayat Glantz

Dhikr is the central practice of the Sufis, and I've come to think that it is the only reality. In fact, the historical translation of Dhikr is remembrance, but I view it as actually the way God is. To me, Dhikr and the divine Being are one; there's no difference. Dhikr is simply the way God is. There comes a time when the whole of life also becomes the Dhikr; there is no difference. The practicing of Dhikr as separated from life is somewhat artificial, but it is the means by which we can come to realize the Dhikr that's continually resounding.

Fana - Annihilation

We first have to go into the idea of fana, and what that means, because Dhikr is made up of fana and baqa, which are traditionally translated as annihilation and subsistence, or living in the consciousness of God. There is a story about a parrot which explains this very well. A king had a parrot which he loved so much that he kept it in a golden cage, and was always attending to it himself. The king and queen both paid such great attention to the parrot that everyone in the palace was jealous of it. One day the king was about to go into the forest where the parrot had come from, and he said to it, "My pet, I have loved you and kept you with all the care and attention and fondness that I could. I should like very much to take any message you wish to your brothers in the forest." 
The parrot said, "How kind of you to have offered this for me. Convey to my brothers in the jungle that the king and queen have done their very best to make me happy: a golden cage, all kinds of fruits and nice things of all sorts, and they love me so much. But in spite of all this attention they give me, I long for the forest and desire to dwell among you, free as I used to be before. This always possesses my mind, but I see no way out of it. So, pray, send me your goodwill and love. One only lives in hope. Perhaps one day my wish will be granted." The king went into the forest and approached the tree from which the parrot was taken, and said to the brothers of the parrot, "Oh parrots, there is one whom I have taken from among you to my palace, and I am very fond of him, and he receives all the attention I can give. This is your brother's message."
They listened to the message very attentively, and one after the other dropped to the ground and seemed dead. The king was very depressed, beyond measure. Spellbound, he could not understand what it was that he could have said that would have affected the feelings of those parrots so much. The loving parrots could not bear his message, and he thought, "What a sin I've committed to have destroyed so many lives."
He returned to the palace and went to his parrot and said, "How foolish, oh parrot, to give me such a message that as soon as your brothers heard it, one after the other they dropped down and all lay dead before me." The parrot listened to this, and looked up gently to the sky, and then fell down too. The king was even more sad. "How foolish I was. First I gave his message to them and killed them, and now I gave their message to him and killed him also." It was all most bewildering to the king. What was the meaning of it?
He commanded his servants to put his dead parrot on a gold tray, and bury him with all ceremony. The servants took him out of the cage with great respect and loosened the chains from his feet. And then, as they were laying him out, the parrot suddenly flew away and sat on the roof. The king said, "Oh parrot, you have betrayed me." And the parrot said, "Oh king, this was the aim of my soul, and it is the aim of all souls. My brothers in the jungle were not dead. I asked them to show me the way to freedom, and they showed me. I did as they told me, and now I am free."
There is a sura in the Qur'an which says, "Muta qubla anta mum," which means, "Die before death." A poet says, "Only he attains to the peace of the Lord who loses himself. No man shall see Me and live." To see God, we must become non-existent. So this, in a story, is the meaning of fana, and it's the inner experience of the one who really experiences Dhikr. Dhikr in this case is the message to us, the means by which we die to ourselves, and find the Lord. This is the main theme that runs through all the poems and sayings of the ancient Sufis; they're very much on the theme of fana because it's the very kernel of transformation.
I would like to quote a passage of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan on the meaning of fana:
Through the whole spiritual process, what we learn is to disillusion the false ego. The annihilation of this false ego is its disillusionment. When once it is disillusioned, then the true ego recognizes its own merit. It is in this realization that the soul is born again, a birth which opens the door of heaven. Very often people are afraid of reading Buddhist books, where the interpretation of nirvana is given as annihilation. No one wants to be annihilated, and people are very much afraid when they read 'annihilation'. But, it is only a matter of the word. The same word in Sanskrit is a beautiful word, muqti, and the Sufis call it fana. If we translate it into English it is annihilation, but when we understand its real meaning, it is going through, or passing through. And to pass through what? To pass through the false conception, which is a necessity first, and to arrive at the true realization.
So in the process of Dhikr, what we're doing is annihilating the false conception that we have of the universe and of ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be reborn in the real knowledge. The "I" in us which says "I do this" and "I did that" and "I like this," that sense of "I" goes through a transformation and becomes the "I" of God. That's another transformation, the transformation of consciousness within the Dhikr.
The mystic on the spiritual path perseveres in wiping out this false ego as much as he can by meditation, concentration, prayer, study, by everything he does. His one aim is to wipe out so much that one day reality, which is always there buried under the false ego, may manifest. It is just like a spring which rises out of the rock and which, as soon as the water has gained power and strength, breaks even through stone and becomes a stream. So it is with the divine spark in man. Through concentration, through meditation, it breaks out and manifests, and where it manifests it washes away the stain of the false ego and turns into a greater and greater stream, which in turn becomes the source of comfort, consolation, healing and happiness for all who come in contact with that spirit.		
					- Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan			
Remember that the whole relationship of the Sufi is one of facing God and allowing the action of God to happen to one, so everything is in relationship to the divine Being. We don't annihilate ourselves; how could we annihilate ourselves? We would simply be using another part of our will.
We have to give up our will and allow ourselves to be acted upon by the divine Being. The easiest way and the most natural way is through the path of love, because through love we naturally wish to become nothing so that the being that we love is able to live in us. In fact, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan even said that meditation is for those who can't love, or don't love enough. Then one has to go through the formal practice of meditation. So, our ability to give ourselves to the Dhikr is related to the degree to which we are able to love the divine Being. Much of Sufi poetry is just about this subject. The Sufi considers God as the Beloved.
The first Dhikr we call the negative Dhikr, which is the full Dhikr: La ilaha illa 'llah hu. The concentration behind it has to do with wiping away the false conception that we have of ourselves and the universe, and replacing it with the being of God. The reason we call it the negative Dhikr is because we're working with doing away with our concepts. After we work in this way for awhile and become more and more in touch with the divine consciousness, and more and more merged into unity with the divine Being, then of course there's nothing left to wipe away, because one is united with the goal. Then it doesn't do any good to say, "I am not me, this isn't the universe, it's all illusion," because one is united in the divine Being. Then one does the positive Dhikr, which is the Dhikr from the point of view of the divine consciousness. It is the consciousness of God, which involves the descent of the divine consciousness into matter and God limited in matter ascending into the state of realization, or into the Christ consciousness. First we have to pass through the negative Dhikr and then we move into the positive Dhikr.

Concentration of Dhikr

There are several emotions that we cultivate behind our practice. It doesn't do any good just to say these words. Perhaps if we said them all day long for forty days, just saying the words, even if we didn't have the concentration behind it, I'm sure it would have a transforming effect, but the power comes in uniting our minds in the concentration of the Dhikr and freeing our hearts from any thoughts in the world and directing them towards the being of God. Then our whole being is united in this concentration, and that's when the Dhikr becomes very deep.
Two passages from the ancient Sufis talk about the inner attitude that the devotee has in prayer or in performing the Dhikr. 
What predominates in the heart of the mystic while he is at prayer is his sense of the mystery of Him in whose presence he stands, and the might of Him whom he seeks, and the love of Him who favors him. And he's conscious of that until he's finished praying, and he departs with a face so changed that his friends would not recognize him, because of the awe that he feels at the majesty of God. And so it is that one who comes into the presence of some king or someone for whom he yearns or whom he fears and stands in his presence, he does so with a different attitude from what was his before he entered, and goes out with an altered countenance. How should it not be so with the Lord of the worlds, who has not ceased to be nor will cease to be and has no equal.	- Harith ibn Asad, Muhasibi 
When entering into prayer you should come into the presence of God as you would on the day of resurrection, when you will stand before Him with no mediator between, and he welcomes you, and you are in confidential talk with Him and you know in whose presence you're standing. When you have lifted your hands and said, "God is great," then let nothing remain in your heart save glorification, and let nothing be in your mind in the time of glorification other than the glory of God most high, so that you forget this world and the next, for glorifying Him. When a man bows in prayer, then it is fitting that he should afterwards raise himself up and bow again until every joint of his body is directed towards the throne of God. And this means that he glorifies God most high until there is nothing in his heart greater than God most glorious and he thinks so little of himself that he feels himself to be less than a mote of dust. Then he raises his head and praises God. He knows that He is listening to him, and when he worships it is fitting for him to worship so that there is nothing in his heart nearer to him. His prayer is thus made perfect, and he will be full of awe and reverence, so that he ceases to be conscious of other things, and while in prayer, he will not be concerned with anything else, and he does not occupy himself with anyone else except the one in whose presence he stands while at prayer.  -  Abu Sa'id Ahmad ibn 'Isa al-Kharra
Thus, if one's mind tends to wander as we do the Dhikr, one always brings it back to the concentration. 

Making God a Reality

Some people might say, "Well, I don't know God, how can I love God?" or "God is so vague, God isn't really a reality to me, how can I feel these feelings without that kind of relationship?" If anyone is in this situation, there's no point in doing a practice unless it corresponds to a real feeling inside. That is really a waste of time, insincere and what Jesus called vain repetitions. It is better to stick with a concentration that may be simpler or more suited to you and keep working on that, than to go on to something that just doesn't ring any bells, so to speak. For the people who feel that "God has not become enough of a reality in my life or my consciousness for me to feel I'm totally annihilating my being into the reality of His Presence," then use the time in the Dhikr, the internal space, to contemplate the blessings you've received in your life, and go from the blessing to the bestower. 
Let a connection grow between what you've received in your life, and then think, "Who is the being who has given it?" That's one way, if you don't feel a personal connection with God, that a connection can start to grow. You don't have to give up just because that hasn't happened in your life. Thankfulness in itself is a power that works in the heart when one really develops the emotion of thankfulness, and there's so much you have to be thankful for. Perhaps you look at your life and you say that there's nothing much in it and you don't have much, but you only have to look around at other people to see really how much there is. So it really just takes an awakened eye to be grateful for what is given. You can spend the whole day concentrating on the blessings in your life, and you don't have to go into any other part of the Dhikr.
The Dhikr ultimately will not have any transforming effect unless it is based on that real link between you and your ideal; that's where it all happens. It's the chemistry between the God ideal, your idea of God and you. However, that is only your conception, and contact with the divine Being just breaks it totally, and shatters it, because His reality is so much more than any conception we could ever have. If we didn't have that conception to start with, He wouldn't have the means by which to reach out to us. The God-ideal becomes our bridge between the soul and the total reality which we call God, but God is way beyond anything that we mean or conceive of or think of when we say God.
God means many different things to different people; when we say God, everybody has a different idea of what it means. Nobody can impose his or her idea on somebody else of what it is; it's a very inner conception. Through the path of Dhikr we give birth to our ideal of God as a means whereby the real God, or divinity, or total self, the true reality, the creative truth, however we want to call it, can break into our being. I hope this is very clear, because the practices have to be real, they have to be sincere, or else they just don't matter. These are tools by which one can work with the practice.
So we have the idea of giving thanks, and that opens the heart to be able to conceive of one who is giving us something in life; and then we have the making of that ideal. If we haven't started to make an ideal of God, part of our Dhikr can be spent in making our God-ideal. How do you make it? Murshid says if you have suffered, say, from lack of friendship in life, you could conceive of God as being the true friend who would always stand by, or you could picture God as the mother, or the father; you could picture God as the creator, creator of the universe. There's so much intelligence and wonder and beauty behind the creation that we simply go from what we can see to what we can't. Murshid talks about the big machine. Well, somebody made the big machine, somebody programmed the machine; there was the computer programmer behind the computer. We start with the mechanistic universe, but behind it we come to the mind that manifested the universe, so we come a little closer to having some kind of road to the divine Being.
Another way of making God a reality is contemplating the mystery and the vastness of life. You know that feeling when you were little, lying in the grass on a summer evening and looking at the stars and just being overwhelmed with the idea that it goes on and on forever and ever and ever. So you concentrate on the word infinity, or forever, or everlasting, or limitless, just those words, and feeling a reality behind what those words imply lifts one a bit into the sense of divinity. 
If we don't have an idea of God, when we annihilate ourselves nothing is reborn in us, there's nothing greater that fills us. What is the point of annihilation unless there's a reality that finds a greater life in us? The idea of perfection is a wonderful concentration, because everywhere we turn in life we see limitation; no matter how wonderful it is, there's always just a hitch in it somewhere. There's always limitation. But in the inner world, in the divine life, there's no limitation, and it's almost inconceivable to us because we're so conditioned to the idea of limitation. It's hard to even imagine, but if we concentrate on, say, love that has no end, a love where there's no end to the depth of the love, a love in which the person would forever sacrifice himself over and over a thousand, a million, unending times out of love, then we start to get just a little bit of the picture of God's love for us. So we take a quality and carry it to its extreme, as much as our mind can encompass in terms of limitlessness and perfection: a beauty that never fades, that is forever growing more beautiful, something like that. Again, this gives us something to work with if we need help in building our image of God. 
Of course, we'll never be stuck with that image. That's one problem with belief, one of the great setbacks of religions. They have a conception that is valuable for that time in history, for that evolution in the unfoldment of the planet, a certain idea of God, a certain idea of the messenger of that time. Then people stick to it and can't allow the belief to carry them to the next step. Obviously our image of God is going to be limited in our ability to conceive of this vastness. But it's an important step. It's a process. Our ability to make a God-ideal is part of the process of realizing God. In the end God bursts through it all and we make a new ideal, and that is shattered until our ideal is so big that it encompasses the reality of God. That's an inner concentration that we can do in the Dhikr.
In the negative Dhikr, you can think on the la ilaha, "This is not my body," and on the illa 'llah hu, "This is the temple of God." That really is the whole of reality in a nutshell, because it's replacing the ideal one has of oneself with the idea of being God. So that's a very easy concentration that one can hold, "This is not my body, this is the temple of God." For those who have a loving nature, the nature of a devotee, on the la ilaha and the illa, what is behind the thought is, "I only want to exist and be one with the one I love." If you love Christ, if you love God, if you love Murshid, if you love the Divine Mother, whatever you love, you just become nothing on the la ilaha and the 'illa, and you become one with your Beloved on the 'illa hu and you do that over and over and over until, as the ancient Sufis say, "Your qualities have been replaced with the qualities of the one you love." Or, "When the lover's statue is carved from a block of wood, what emerges is the Beloved, not the lover." So those are two ways: the way of love, and then the other way, when one hasn't met God enough to be able to love God.

Postive Dhikr

The positive Dhikr is from the point of view of the divine Being. It doesn't make sense from an individual point of view; it's doing the Dhikr from God's point of view. If it's too encompassing to grasp, again there are several other concentrations that are very wonderful. The first of these alternate concentrations is on the la ilaha, on the swing of the head up, rising to the highest point, one thinks of the words of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, "Let the heavens be reflected in the earth, Lord." On the illa, one thinks of the earth, and then as one raises one's head on 'llah hu, that the earth may be changed into heaven. It is that song, or saying of Murshid, "Let the heavens be reflected in the earth, Lord, that the earth may be changed into heaven," which makes a wonderful Dhikr practice. When the head comes down, one is aware of the crown center, which is all the inner spheres, the higher spheres. When the crown touches the earth, there's the marriage of the spirit and matter; and from it is born the kingdom of God, which is really what we're all doing, the meaning of our lives. This is all put into the one practice of Dhikr, which is very beautiful. Part of the meaning of what Christ did when he was washing the feet of His disciples was that the energy of his crown was brought into the feet of the disciples, so it was the same ritual of the earth reflecting the heavens and therefore becoming transformed.
Another Dhikr is light, which is simply being aware of light during the whole Dhikr. On the la ilaha, one makes a receptacle, which can be symbolized by the crescent moon, in the heart. One digs one's heart out until it becomes like a chalice, the chalice of the holy grail, the purified heart that is capable of receiving the Christ consciousness because of its purity. On the la ilaha, the heart becomes this holy chalice of light, symbolized by the crescent moon, and one becomes simply the moon in relationship to the divine Being. On the illa, one feels the descent of light through the crown center coming into the heart. On the 'llah hu, the crescent moon grows and becomes the full moon and turns into the sun, which radiates out the light that has been co-mingling between the moon and the star. One just gets deeper and deeper into the worlds of light.
The positive Dhikr is from the divine point of view, so one is no longer concerned with annihilating anything. One is experiencing the merging of the individual with the totality, so what is there to annihilate at that point? Nothing. In Sufi stories, they make fun of the guy who goes on and on with his poems to the Beloved, and the Beloved is sitting right there, but he's more concerned with expressing his sentiment and emotion and so he's going on and on about the Beloved and missing the whole reality. So when the Beloved is there, there's no more concern with prayer or practice or anything, because one is with the One whom one desires. So one experiences the reality behind the universe, and that is the nature of God and the way God is. So on the la ilaha, one experiences God beyond creation, outside of creation. Then on the illa, we experience the other aspect of God, which descends into creation, which is creation: the flower is the manifestation of the seed. All those potentials that were in the seed become visible, they become in the plant. On the illa we start becoming; God becomes.
Naturally there is a limitation when God becomes, because out of the world of perfection and all possibility we come into concrete forms, into the sphere of duality: there's this and that, and each in itself can never manifest the richness of the totality. It is in the combination of all manifestations together that we can see perfection, when we take the whole thing and put it together. In its different forms, in its different pieces, each piece can only manifest so much, and that's where the qualities come in. What is to be discovered in the 'llah as we raise our heads is something so great that I can't say what it is, because you have to discover it. It's like, if I say the word love, what does that have to do with anything, with the reality of what you experience when you love or when you're loved? It's a vague reference to something that you may have experienced, but that's all. So we raise ourselves on the 'llah, and the change between the 'llah and the hu encompasses an enormous amount of evolution.

Dhikr as Awakening

One way we could look at the 'llah is that the supreme intelligence, the all-knowing, has been limited in matter. How much does a stone manifest of divine intelligence? Hardly anything. But that spark which is buried in the heart of that stone, that intelligence which has been crystallized as hard, dense matter, goes through the process of evolution and awakening and is transmuted slowly, over millions of years, into vegetable life, and the vegetable life is transmuted into animal life. There's an awakening process in each sphere. The intelligence is able to reach out and to know itself; it is not limited and confined as it is in the stone. And then up through the human body which is this wonderful instrument that allows the divine intelligence to awaken through it. So on the illa to the 'llah one experiences the divine consciousness ascending and reaching its culmination in the human mind. That mind was always there, that intelligence, creativity, love, compassion, all the qualities that were there in the blueprint had to be blanked out in the stone. All of it comes to life through this process of evolution. You actually feel the whole world awakening through the various spheres, and when you come into the human sphere, there's a tremendous breakthrough of intelligence. However, there are many levels to the human being: some are almost as dense as the stone, and others are sensitive as the Christ. So within the human sphere, there's an awakening throughout history.
That's what the whole Message is for: the messengers have brought the Message so that humanity can awaken and awaken and awaken until we become the instrument through which the divine Being is actually able to awaken and say, "I am." It's like the divine intelligence, which has been trapped and held in the stone of matter and in the stone of our cold hearts, has finally broken through. That's what Murshid says is the whole purpose of manifestation, that God Himself awakens through creation and says, "I am," and becomes aware of His own existence, His own life. So at that point in the Dhikr we are the means through which the divine intelligence awakens and realizes itself in the human being. 

At that point, in order to do it fully, we have to become the Christ, because the Christ, the Messenger, the Rasul, is the being in whom the divine Being realizes Himself; at that moment, we ourselves become the Christ. At that moment, we are the universe; there's nothing else. God has awakened through us, and that's why we can say, "I am the divine Presence." The final stage of the hu is the divine Presence. God is not in heaven. God is not anywhere but here, and we have become the means by which He has manifested Himself, in the hu. That hu is the moment the universe was created for. It's the moment people have suffered for. It's the moment everything has happened for. It's the whole point; it's everything. All the angels, all the masters, everything has been working towards that moment when we say hu and the universe realizes itself, and God realizes Himself through us. That's the positive Dhikr, and that's why I say the Dhikr is God.

The Negative Dhikr 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

The Dhikr is very complex and paradoxical. First there's the negative aspect of the Dhikr: it destroys all our false assumptions. Then there's the positive aspect of it: it gives us a way of looking at things which one could say is the divine point of view. From the moment you have freed yourself from the image of the world, you don't have to keep on affirming that it's an illusion. You have freed yourself from it. From the moment you have overcome the sense of your personal image, you don't have to keep on repeating that you're not who you think you are, because you've already got to that realization. In the positive Dhikr, it is taken for granted that you see very clearly those two things are perfectly illusory. The next thing is to really experience the reality of the universe instead of simply negating the illusion, and really experience the reality of your being instead of just denying that it is what you think it is. Therefore, you call it the positive Dhikr instead of the negative Dhikr. 

First Phase: "La Illaha" 

First of all, there's the circular motion of the head, describing three quarters of a circle: "La illaha," which is the negative aspect; it means there is no divinity: "illa," except God. So you can interpret it in a very elementary way and say, it's the religion of Abraham. It's an affirmation that there aren't many gods, there's only one God. If you go more into detail, you see there's a negation of multiplicity. It's not just that there aren't many gods, only one God; but it really means that all of this is an undivided wholeness. That's exactly what physicists say nowadays. It is indivisible. You cannot divide it. 
Any attempt to think of an electron as a separate particle is bound to fail, because it isn't an entity of itself. There's just the complex which appears, made up of electrons, and there's a bigger complex, and so on and so forth; a smaller wholeness, and a bigger wholeness, but ultimately it's all one whole. That is the "Shema Yisrael, Yahuva Elohenu, Yahuva Echod." The Dhikr says exactly the same thing. It's all one Being. That statement is obviously negative to our sense of ourselves as being entities, so it doesn't just speak about God, it speaks about us assuming we are a person. On the other hand, the opposite is true; the whole point of creation is that God should become a reality, as Murshid says. I use the word "actuality." In other words, you are the purpose of creation. That this total reality should converge and congrue into you and me is the purpose of it all, the miracle of it all; that's what is achieved by it all. 
To come back to the original formula, what it really means is first of all, there's no such a thing as a fragment of the whole, because it's an undivided whole. If you look at each  - we'll have to use the word "function" of the whole, there's no way of saying it, of course  - you'll find that in it the whole is latent, to use David Bohm's word, "enfolded." Something of that wholeness comes through in the limitation that is you. If you're anything, you're a limitation, but what comes through is the divine perfection. So the Dhikr is really discovering the extraordinary combination of the divine perfection and human limitation in oneself. Rather, it is discovering the personal self as being this mixture of divine perfection and human limitation. 
Of course, to be able to affirm that perfection, one has to let oneself be shattered in one's sense of separate "I-ness," let's say egoness. That's what the Dhikr is about. La illaha is the first negation. "There is not," that's what it says; it's negative. There is not: La illaha. La means no. La illaha. Illaha means divinity. There is no divinity, illa (except) 'llah, Allah, the one Being. Now the illa is a very strange word: "except." You could say, "If it were not for."
First of all, as you go into the circle, La illaha (that's three quarters of a circle), remember that the head moves from facing the left shoulder and then the solar plexus and the right shoulder and then turns upwards vertically. One says La during 180  degrees of the circle, moving from left, to solar plexus, to right. Then illaha comes at the end of the upward motion from the right shoulder upwards. So it's "lllllaaaaa illaha," not "la illaha." Illaha is not accentuated. You accentuate La. You can hear the dervishes say "La illaha." It's a total refusal of letting oneself be caught in the illusion of thinking that there are several beings in the world. You're destroying the illusion. 
When you say "La illaha," you can only say it with the power that will eventually transform your being and your life, if you say it with the conviction of one who sees very clearly that the picture we form of the world is not at all the way the world is. That's what you have to do. You do it therefore with very much conviction, with very much strength. La illaha, like a kind of refusal to let yourself be caught into that kind of conditioning. So you're affirming freedom. 

Second Phase: "Illa" 

Now the head comes down, the Sufis say, like a hammer on the heart. It can also be described as an arrow that hits the heart, like the arrow of Eros. At that moment one's sense of oneself is annihilated. First of all, as one makes a circle one annihilates one's image of the outside world. When the head comes down, one annihilates one's sense of oneself. I say "one annihilates;"  one is just lending oneself to the divine action that is annihilating one's sense of the world and one's sense of oneself. 
This is the stroke of the matador, when you actually plunge the dagger into your ego, but it's the divine operation taking place upon you. Of course, there are many dimensions in this. You could just be denying the illusion of the ego, or you could let yourself be shattered by the encounter with the divine ego. You remember the words of al-Hallaj: "If you could ever have a whiff of the divine understanding, your understanding would be shattered." If you could ever come across the greatness of God, your sense of yourself would be totally shattered. So that would be a better way of handling this than trying to overcome the illusion of the self. 
Somehow one has to keep in mind at that particular moment the words of al-Jili, who said "He creates you as He annihilates you and He annihilates you as He creates you." Once again, a paradox. When you're undergoing this traumatic shattering of the self, implicitly within the self that is shattered are the seeds of rebirth. As Christ said, "Does not the plant have to die so the seed may live?" and of course, does not the seed have to die so that the plant may live? Somehow there has to be a traumatic breaking down of something so there may be a rebirth. That's why al-Jili said, "He annihilates you in creating you and He creates you by annihilating you." Remember the words of, I think it's St. Francis, who said, "To become what I am I have to go through a place where I am nothing." St. John of the Cross said something very similar, too. So you go through that place in yourself when you say "illa." 

Third and Fourth Phases: "'Llah Hu"
 
If you remember, one bows one's head and it is only then when you have been totally shattered by the encounter that you can glorify. In fact you're being lifted beyond that very negative place of annihilation. As you lift your head on 'llah you are catapulted, propelled by that force that lifts you above that place of annihilation. You are conducted into an act of glorification and there is the divine Presence. 
So the first two phases of the Dhikr, La illaha illa, are the negative aspect. Then comes the affirmation, 'llah, and the answer, Hu, "I am that I am," a very powerful experience. 
I've already mentioned the difference between manifestation and the Presence. Like for example you meet a person and you think, "Oh, it's wonderful! Look at that. What a personality that person has! Isn't it wonderful to see such beauty or such power or such intelligence or so much light in a person, or so much joy in a person." Well, you're enthused by the qualities of that person. The best way you could say it is, "Isn't it wonderful how God manifests in this person, manifests these wonderful qualities in this person." 
Then when you're in love, you get to a point when what is important for you is the presence of the person you love. You may love the qualities, but the important thing is the Presence. A deeper relationship with God is not in terms of all the wonderful things we're experiencing, but in terms of the Presence that is shattering to one's sense of oneself, the Presence that annihilates and recreates or quickens anew. It's that relationship the Sufis are talking about and which is always described in terms of love, because that's the best exemplification of it. One has to go through this very traumatic encounter with what one understands to be God, until one realizes that in fact it is one's real self, but at first it appears as though it were other than oneself. 

Fikr of the Negative Dhikr 

In the negative Dhikr when you make the circular motion of the head, you think La illaha, you exhale. When the head comes down you think illa, you experience being annihilated by the divine action, and you inhale. You continue inhaling as the head rises when you think the work 'llah, the act of glorification. So both of them are inhaling. When you would be saying Hu, you hold your breath. The beauty of this is that breathing slowly forces you to go through each one of the phases in sufficient time to be able to get into the concentration of each phase. If you breathe slowly you'll just have time to get in each phase and really deepen your experience in each phase. 


The Second, Third, and Fourth Dhikrs 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

The Second Dhikr: "Illa 'llah Hu" (Bowing Dhikr) 

Now we will go into the second form of Dhikr, which is just illah 'llah Hu. Let's say you are in your cell, you have left the world behind, you're feeling happy about turning within. You have surrounded yourself with a zone of silence. You have placed a sentinel at the doors not only of perception, but also of conception. That means you've let your thoughts circulate in the twilight of consciousness, at the edge of your consciousness. Instead of letting yourself be encapsulated, you have discovered this other inverted space, so you are still in contact with all things, but from inside. You are moving from consciousness to consciousness, without passing through the senses and through the framework of time and space. In this state, you're beginning to let a thought beyond your thought come through. 
Remember, and this is very important, you are not the one who is trying to experience. The greatest drawback is to think, well, now, what am I experiencing? No, it's the other way around. The personal self is if anything the object, it's not the subject. What is important is not what you are thinking now. What is important is the thought that is coming through you, not what you are thinking. You can't with your will determine that you're going to think, like a theme of meditation, for example. That's not our method. We're trying to trigger off the breakthrough into a totally different dimension of thinking and experiencing: to divine consciousness. 
So you're sitting in your cell. The best way to do this practice is kneeling, because you are sitting cross-legged, you're the center of the universe; everything is revolving around you. When you're kneeling, you are passive with regard to whatever you're kneeling in front of. That's why there's a difference between meditation and prayer. It's the best station of the body to participate in the cosmic celebration in the heavens. 
We're getting into the consciousness of the recluse. The first thing that we're going to do is surrender our ego consciousness, our sense of identity. You see, you can fight as much as you like against it. You might accept metaphysically that the ego consciousness stands in the way of the higher realization, that it's programmed, but you can't get rid of it by any act of the will. Therefore, the only way to let anything bring about a change is to allow a greater power than your own to shatter you:  the power of your power, the power from which your power comes originally, or the will from which your power is derived. That's what we mean by the divine power or the divine will. 
Whatever remains of one's personal consciousness has to lend itself to the divine operation so there is a surrender there. The curious thing is, once you have surrendered your will (and incidentally, never surrender your will to a person, only to God, to this consciousness of the divine will) then you are lifted up. You're recreated again. You're reborn again. Both stages of the alchemical process come together, almost simultaneously. On one hand there's a dissolution of the ego, and absolutely simultaneously with this you are reinstated again, as al-Hallaj says. Totally renewed. Well, what he says is, "My nasutiat" (that means my personal traits, my idiosyncrasies) "are fana," have been annihilated. As a consequence "Thy lahutiat" (Thy divine nature) "is placed in the place of what was my personal nature." So there are two aspects of the Dhikr: the annihilation, what we call surrender, and then the reinstatement. The reinstatement is in the nature of personality as it manifests the divine qualities. That's as one says, "illa 'llah." When one says "Hu," there's no longer any question of qualities, like my personality. There's only the divine Presence. 
When we go a little more deeply into the meaning of the Dhikr, we see that manifestation and the divine Presence are two very different things. Manifestation, the multifarious forms in which the divine Being manifests, is displayed. That's the epiphany. On the other hand is the divine Presence, which is totally unqualified. There are no qualities, just the Presence. Think of the presence of a person; we're not talking about the qualities of that person, we're talking about the presence of that person. 
So it's illa 'llah Hu. Please do not say, "illa Allah Hu." It's "illa 'llah. When you have two "a's," one after the other in the Arabic language, you don't pronounce the second "a," so it's illa 'llah. There's no "a" in the beginning. It's important to emphasize those two "l's," because it gives a richness to the intonation which you don't get if you just say the one "l." It's very flat if you just say, "illa la." There's nothing at all. It's illa 'llah. Double "l." As you know, al-Hallaj said, "the Hu is the answer to your call," so you say it in a different voice than you say "Allah." Al-Hallaj said, " it is God who answers through your voice," so when you say "Allah," you are the one who is calling, but when you say "Hu" it is the divine Being who is using your tongue to speak to you. It's totally neutral, totally impersonal. 
If you feel like it, you can bow quite deeply, or less deeply, and even more internally, if you like, without having to display it overtly. There's no doubt that when you're on retreat and there's nobody about, you're in your cell, it's a wonderful experience to place your head on the ground as you say "illa." When you say ''llah" you really feel as though you're being lifted by the divine Being. You don't lift yourself. You prostrate, and then somehow the divine action, the divine operation upon you, a will you pursue in yourself beyond your will, lifts you from that position of prostration. Somehow you pursue in yourself that lift that is given to you by raising your consciousness high. If you were to sit trying to experience samadhi, and trying to lift your consciousness with your will, you'd find that you just couldn't do it. It doesn't work that way. One is catapulted by this action that lifts the body, and the soul continues, following this lift further. A good example is the rider of Pegasus. It's said that Pegasus wasn't allowed to reach Olympus, so at a certain stage the rider had to set off on his own. Pegasus gave him that impulse upwards, and then at a certain moment he flew off the back of Pegasus and took off, like a projectile which can be triggered off by a first impact, by a primer. So in the same way there's that moment when somehow you feel you've been lifted, and you just let that upward motion proceed further up. 
Then there is that wonderful moment of suspense when you say "Hu" but nothing's happening. There's no upward motion or downward motion, just a moment of suspense. That is the moment when there is the feeling of the divine Presence beyond any kind of qualities or forms. It's a totally different way of experiencing, because in experiencing, you're always experiencing something tangible. It's a totally different attunement altogether, and so you stay in that state as long as possible. 
First of all, surround yourself with a zone of silence. Place a sentinel at the doors of perception. Feel how wonderful it is just to be free from all the circumstances, from the thinking of your mind, from your emotions; to not even be under the impact of the nature around you. You're enclosing yourself. Also there is the beauty of the repetition, because you don't have to do so much thinking. The repetition does it for you. 
Of course it becomes more and more wonderful when one keeps on doing this for hours and hours. It has really a magical effect upon you, totally transforms your whole attunement. However, there are a few things that we have to avoid. One is that we somehow bring in emotion of a personal nature. Of course it's fine, but nevertheless it takes away the very sacred nature of the experience, and consequently the experience is not as great. The most common emotion that one brings in (when there's a surrender, when the head comes down) is a sense of inadequacy, or of precariousness, being very fragile. There's a sense of perhaps even guilt, of one's weakness, maybe even anxiety. It feels like handing oneself into the hands of God because there's a kind of fear in one. When one's head comes up, there's also a tendency to exult in great joy, in a feeling of relief, of 
being free from all those things that are weighing heavily upon one. When one says "Hu," there's a tendency to experience peace. 
Now, our objective is to be really cosmic, not just have a personal enjoyment or personal experience, and so we have to work with these emotions. The only way to do it is to get into the spirit of the sanyasin. 
When one says "'llah" there's a tendency of outgoing, like when one is glorifying, but the Dhikr is very very internal. In this world, one tends to externalize oneself. When you turn within, you can find an up and down within the space internally, but it's purely figurative, because there's no inside and there's no outside. There's no up and there's no down. At least there's no outgoing when you say "'llah." One could say perhaps better that it's like turning upwards instead of turning forward. Anyway, it's a kind of combination of internal and upward, but not that outgoing " 'llah." You want to really internalize very, very much. 
The other thing is exactly what Christ reproved, vain repetition. The fact of repeating a thought, a word, has an advantage in that you're not thinking. The word takes over for you; but on the other hand you get very easily into a rut and a routine repetition. So how do we do it? The only way to avoid simply vain repetition is to think of the meaning of each phrase as you do it. Otherwise you're just saying the words, and saying the words, and that's all. I don't say that that's not helpful. These words are really magical; they just have a tremendous power, but they have much more power when you really experience the meaning. So what I suggest is that we do the same thing, but this time instead of saying the words aloud, we think them. You'll find if you think the word instead of saying it aloud, it's easier to get into the meaning. So as your head comes down, as you prostrate, you simply experience the great joy of surrendering that tyrant in you that is the ego. As your head comes up, you experience being lifted beyond yourself, and reinstated, reinvested with divine qualities. 
As Fikr, you exhale when you bow, when you prostrate, and then you inhale when your head comes up, when your body comes up. Then you hold your breath during the "Hu." 
Third Dhikr:  "Allah Hu" 

The next Dhikr, which is very similar to the Surrexit, is Allah Hu. 
The thing about these practices, and that applies to all the mantras and Wazaif, is the sound you produce is a feedback system; and therefore you are able to hear the condition of your soul. Especially in this one: one feels the supplication. One feels in some people almost the despair. One feels perhaps, in some, almost a prevailing, and even a kind of affirmation of ego. What is interesting is to watch from the sound of your attunement, and change your attunement to conform to what you feel you would like to do. Learn how to listen to your voice. The Sufis say you hear the voice pronouncing the Dhikr as though it were at the end of the hall. 
I don't know if you've ever played the organ in a cathedral. You are pressing these keys, and there's that enormous sound filling the whole cathedral. That's the kind of thing to do when you're repeating a mantram. You mustn't be the person who's repeating the mantram. You have to listen to the sound as though it were produced by something beyond yourself. Finally you become the instrument of the power working through you and translate it in terms of vibration. 
Fourth Dhikr: "Hu"

The fourth Dhikr is just Hu. Well, that's a very overt way of doing it. It can be done by whispering. Like Hu.... u.... u.... Hu.... u.... u. 
Then you stop repeating the sound, and just let yourself be carried into the feeling of the Hu, which means, of course, the divine transcendence. 


The Positive Dhikr 
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

Overview

The  positive Dhikr is a much deeper view. One experiences the reality of the universe instead of simply negating the illusion, and really experiences the reality of one's being instead of just denying that it is what one thinks it is. 
There are, of course, several levels of the Dhikr. In the first stage, one is tracing a circle with one's head, three-quarters of a circle, and one says, "La illaha." One is reaching into the vastness of the universe. In other words, one is freeing oneself from the limited environment. One is destroying the image one has made of the universe, and one is overwhelmed by the vastness of reality which is far beyond any image that one could form of it. 
In the second stage, the head all of a sudden turns downwards, from upwards to downwards. Imagine that the third eye becomes an arrow that hits the solar plexus. In the negative Dhikr, one destroys the image one has made of one's self, which is not what one is, but one's idea of what one is. In this more advanced stage, I discover how the divine perfection descends into manifestation and is squeezed into the forms that arise out of necessity, out of the very fact that multiplicity is fragmented. In short, it is the divine perfection suffering limitation in the conditions of existence. In the second stage, I say "illa." 
In the third stage, the head rises back up towards the zenith, when I say "'llah," which is the proclamation of the great name. In the first level of the Dhikr, I'm glorifying, I'm conscious of the great jubilations of the heavens. In the second stage of Dhikr, I see that the whole of existence glorifies. In fact, the whole of existence seems to be like the emergence of the total Being, and I am that emergence. You, all of us, and every creature and every planet and every atom, everywhere it is the emergence of the One Being. 
To start with, I see very clearly that my body emerges from the fabric of the planet, and my mind emerges from the thinking of the Universe, and my personality emerges from the inheritance that has been passed down through the ages, and my consciousness also emerges from the total consciousness into a focalized, individualized consciousness. I have to be very careful not to let myself be caught in the notion of "my" emergence. It's not beings who emerge; it is the Only Being who emerges in different aspects of the totality. 
Now, the fourth stage of the Dhikr is just "Hu." The head is still upwards, and one discovers something which is not generally experienced, that it is all the divine Presence. 
There is a difference between manifestation and the Presence. All of these forms manifest. They show in the many-splendored aspects of the divine Being, coming forth in different forms and different beings. 
When I say "Hu" I suddenly discover the Presence beyond any form. It's not what I was experiencing in samadhi: the uncreated state of things. No, it is right down in creation. Whatever that Presence is, it's not subject to time. It's not subject to change. It's not focalized. It's not in a form. The qualities that I see manifest something of the Presence, but they are not the Presence and the Presence is not dependent on them. 
Whatever that Presence is, it's something you have to experience. There's no way of saying it. You've been listening to the music, and you've been thrilled by the music. It's beautiful and meaningful, it's lively, and all of a sudden, you discover the Composer. That's what it's like. 
All of a sudden, everywhere you discover this Presence. The form of the Presence in which this manifests is limited. This Presence can never manifest totally. It's just certain aspects that may show forth. 
That's the great moment. 
That's the moment of ecstasy of the Sufi. While the motivation of the yogi was awakening and realization, the Sufi is just moved by the emotion of love. He doesn't try to understand. He's just so moved by the discovery of the Being he loves; although, in fact, it is God who loves, and he is simply the instrument through which the divine love manifests. 
Once more, it's always paradoxical. We get very confused when we try to explain it in words. To understand Sufism, one has to get into the consciousness of the dervish. The dervish is someone who is in love, not with a particular person, but there's no way of saying one is in love with God. At first he is deeply moved by the beauty and the majesty he sees everywhere. Then suddenly he sees that he himself is the beauty he admires. He discovers all those things that he was seeking coming through him and he realizes they belong to the One Being of whom he is a projection. 
Finally he discovers it is the One Consciousness functioning through him. So he gets to a point. He reaches the point which is described by al-Hallaj, when he says, "Once you have been exposed, or had a whiff of the Divine Consciousness, your consciousness is totally shattered." Let's say, your understanding is shattered.
So the dervish is someone who has been shattered by a peek into the divine realization and his understanding has been totally shattered by it. He is faced with this tremendous mystery, that in fact, it is our basic error to think, "I want to know the Universe, or to understand things better" or "I want to know God." 
It's the other way around. There is only One Being. Whatever I mean by "me" is just an offshoot of that Oneness. So the Sufi never says, "I am discovering God." He always says, "It is God who is discovering Himself. The best I can be is an instrument." The Dhikr is the expression of this. You could say, one goes through a very dramatic conversion through the Dhikr. Suddenly, everything looks different, one begins to see from the divine point of view. 
One of the ways of doing the Dhikr is not to repeat it fast. You don't have time to get into the experiences corresponding to these four stages. I find it much better to simply take your time, and don't worry about your breath. Just go into the first stage, and the second and the third. 
The words, which are very remarkable, are signals that now you get into this attunement, now you get into that attunement. One could say we are letting ourselves get carried into the different levels of awareness. 

Positive Dhikr: First Stage, "La Illaha" 

The first thing is, "La illaha." The head moves in three-quarters of a circle. You imagine that the third eye first faces the left shoulder, then the solar plexus, then the top of the head. That's only an indication of the direction the top of the head assumes. Imagine this circle is really enormous; in fact this circle encompasses not only the physical universe but all universes. 
Your consciousness is swept into the vastness, freed from the narrowness of environment. Let yourself be swept into that state of consciousness where all of a sudden you're aware of the vastness of the universe. 
Just imagine! Most of us are simply aware of this little environment. Are we aware of the families of the victims of the air crash, for example? Are we aware of the families of the people who were executed? Are we aware of the people who are being tortured in camps? Are we aware of the people who are dying of hunger? No, we're aware of the immediate environment: the few trees around us; the wind blowing, the sun shining. We are imprisoned in our environment by our senses, and our mind follows suit. 
Here, in the Dhikr, you let yourself be suddenly carried into the realization of the vast expanse of the universe. It doesn't mean you just think of the way the stars look from the earth at nighttime. They look like little dots in the sky. That's looking at the universe from your vantage point, that's not the universe. To see it as it is, your vantage point would have to be spread out through the whole expanse of the universe. The planets would look enormous and the stars even more so. Do you see what it does to your consciousness? Immediately consciousness assumes a vastness which will, in turn, affect your sense of identity. 
If you could extend the field of your vision to the microscopic world, you would have still another mind-boggling dimension, in the infinitely small. You discover the universe is inside the molecule and all of that is spread out in the microscopic world. It is quite incredible! 
If you can, get into the pulsing of life in the cells of the body, continually dividing and moving, changing, and acting, the life proliferating. The effervescence of life is at the organic, biological level. That's not just in your body, but throughout the whole universe. 
Then, get into the consciousness of all people. Your friends: experience what it is like to be a person who is close to you, get into their consciousness. Other people. Your cat, horses, birds, all kinds of animals, chipmunks. The consciousness of the trees and the plants. Then reach right out, not just to the people you know, reach out to people in China, in Africa, people in Indonesia. Reach right out into the consciousness of all these beings and all the animals and all the plants. 
Instead of just thinking of the atoms and the molecules, get into the consciousness of molecules, or the consciousness of the atoms, or the consciousness of the electrons, of the neutrons, or protons. 
Get into the consciousness of the planets. The planets are beings. The cells are beings, endowed with consciousness. The suns are beings. The stars are beings. 
Get into the consciousness of the other universes from the physical universe: universes of light, universes of sound, universes of pure radiance, of pure splendor, even beyond existence, as Buddha does. Realize how we're being squeezed into a very narrow being, a narrow environment. Your consciousness has been stifled in awareness, but it spreads out, permeating the universe at all levels. 
Think of the marvel that somehow you're part of all this! It's impossible to say how, but that it should be at all possible that consciousness should be able to reach out there while participating in your very flesh; that's the perplexing thought that blows the dervish's mind and gets him into the state of ecstasy. It might be a rishi, a  being who has expanded his consciousness. All of that is the experience of "La illaha." 

Positive Dhikr: Second Stage, "Illa" 

Now we're going to go into the second stage. For that, you would have to be able to oversee the whole process of life as though you weren't in the universe. It would be like a samadhi state; you know your body is part of the fabric of the universe, but still, you're able to look at the whole thing while not being enclosed in it. You see the physical universe is like a crystallization, a compressed state of reality, that has gotten squeezed by some kind of constriction. 
It's very difficult for the perfection, the infinite bounty that manifests in the universe, to come through in each offshoot, each creature of that reality. It's too much to come through the creatures. Something comes through, and maybe quite a few attributes. For example the chipmunk has a great sensitivity, but it doesn't have much power. The eagle has power but it has cruelty in it. It's very difficult to combine all these things.  Where are you going to find all these qualities in one being, in one excerpt out of the totality, one emergence out of the totality? 
So if you could get into the divine consciousness, you could see that all of this, the whole universe, is one Being. It's one Being, one Being. There's one consciousness of the one Being. 
What we call the universe is the body, maybe, of that Being; but there are many more aspects of that Being than just His body. There is His personality, the consciousness, many aspects. All one Being! And I have the privilege of being part of that one Being! 
If only you could get into the consciousness of that one Being and see how that Being is getting squeezed into the various fragments of His being. He doesn't simply fragment Himself; each fragment is the totality manifesting in a certain way. That totality is squeezed, as in the Jewish "tzum-tzum." It's the shrinkage of limitation that is the condition of existence. The best thing is to get into the consciousness of Christ being scourged by the Romans, keeping His head high; not entering into the awareness of being bound, or even Christ being crucified; not getting into the self-pity because His body is being tied. He is still being conscious of His perfection; but being aware of the limitation in which that perfection has to function. That's the big thing. 
In the second stage of Dhikr, one is going into the broken heart. One gets very deeply into the suffering, not just of people but of animals and of plants and minerals. One begins to realize the whole fact that suffering is built into the universe. We're living in a world where animals can't survive without hurting each other, can't live without eating each other. That's the crucifixion. It was the condition of freedom. It was the only way each part could be free: to give it an individual will. If you give it an individual will, it will inflict suffering on others. 
So you get into the suffering to the point that your heart is broken. Yet, somehow, you're always aware of the divine perfection. You never identify yourself with the limitation. In fact, that's the only way to meet physical torture, never to let oneself be drawn into it altogether. You can't imagine Christ, for example, cringing under the whip of the Romans, or having self-pity? No, never. 
You always imagine His head high. In the same way, don't let the consciousness of suffering draw you into self-pity, or even pity. There's a difference between compassion and pity. Your heart is moved to the core by the awareness of the suffering, and yet somehow suffering is beautiful; there's an ecstasy of the person who is in a concentration camp being whipped to death, the ecstasy of overcoming self-pity. Great heroism! It is the victory of the consciousness of perfection over any thought of limitation. That's the second stage of Dhikr, when one says, "illa." 
In fact, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan gives a key, and that is: One experiences the emotion of the soul, rather than the emotion of the heart. One avoids sloppy sentimentality. You can't help a person if you express pity for them, which is an emotion of the heart. If you express compassion, that means suffering with the person, sharing the suffering which is the emotion of the soul that has descended into those lower spheres and has accepted the chains, like the man who was chained in the cave of Plato, for example. 
The soul still remains free. You can only help the person who is suffering and help them out of their consciousness of limitation if you yourself are basically free. This is equally true at the physical level and at the mental level. If you go to the dentist, and just think "This is my body and not me," you won't feel the pain. If you have a problem or a situation which is very painful to your mind and is causing you anguish, and you refuse to identify with your mind and just be conscious of the divine investiture that you represent, then it helps you over the anguish. 
When you identify with the person who has been hit, you suffer. The second stage of Dhikr is a very great experience because you are the divine perfection suffering limitation. In other words, you are both the fragment and the totality, because the totality comes through in each fragment of itself. Just like the total DNA of the universe is present in each cell of each body, so is the totality present in each fraction. It is totally paradoxical, but then the truth is always multi-logical, and therefore perplexing. Our minds are continually limiting truth by the limited capacity of the mind to understand. We're misinterpreting reality by oversimplifying it to free our minds. 
What the Sufi is doing is to accept perplexity. It can be expressed in these words: "When I'm conscious of my bubble-self, I'm a fraction of the ocean; and when I'm conscious that I'm the ocean, I realize the ocean is present within the bubble." The second stage in Dhikr is not just seeing how divine perfection is limited, but it's also discovering the divine perfection within limitation. 

Positive Dhikr: Third Stage,  " 'Llah " 

This leads one to the third stage: you have already seen that it's all One Being and it's an overwhelming realization. Now you think of yourself and you try to understand, what does all this mean? You see that in fact this body emerges out of the bodiness of the universe! It's not an entity. It has its roots in the fabric from which it emerges, just like a crystal has emerged from a rock. You can't divide it. It is drawing its reality out of the rock, which it is. It is the continuation of the rock. 
Then you can see your body as absolutely implicated within the planet. Just because you can walk or your body can be projected in a missile to outer space in a spacecraft, it doesn't mean that your body is an independent entity. It is totally part of the physical universe, dependent upon it, drawing it within itself. 
You see how everywhere bodies emerge out of the total bodiness. In fact, what they call the fragmentation of the universe is not just the fragmentation, but the emergence. You can see now that your mind is not "your" mind. "My mind" just emerges out of the thinking of humanity and it has its roots in the total. You can't separate it. "My personality" comes through the inheritance, through the whole past of the race. It has emerged, but it is not separate. It's not an entity. Your consciousness, what you think is "me,"  "I know this" and "I know that" and "I remember this," is also emerging from the total consciousness of the One Being. The consciousness also gets focalized into various lenses. It is one consciousness squeezed into a lens. It is a deformation, consciousness through the lens limited to a certain vantage point, a point of view. One thinks, "This is my view" but it is consciousness which has been limited to a certain vantage point. 
Not just you, but all beings, all of what you think of as beings are all the one reality that is emerging out of its ground. You experience the miracle of life emerging, manifesting, being unmanifest, in a flourish of beauty and skill and consciousness. What it means! What that miracle of life means! So you exult in a cry of glory. That's why the third stage of Dhikr is really our participating in the cosmic Mass, because every time there's emergence from the totality, it glorifies the totality from which it emerges. 
We say "'llah" to express that glory of the emergence of life, that the totality comes through each part of the totality. The previous part was that the totality is limited in each part, and now the thought is how that totality, even though limited, still does emerge in each part. It's a very optimistic, glorious stage. After having gone through the suffering of the second stage, one experiences the jubilation of the third stage. 

Positive Dhikr: Fourth Stage, "Hu" 

Now see if you can, all of a sudden, switch over from the thought of manifestation, of all the bounty that is manifest, the plethora of forms, beings, the body of God, the universe, and just experience the Being beyond any form. Al-Hallaj, the Sufi mystic, expresses this very wonderfully in the language of lovers. He says, "Art Thou there? I would not have presumed to say 'Art Thou there' if Thou hadst not already said 'I am here.'" 
It's the language of lovers. It has gone beyond the point of saying, "How I like the color of your hair," or "How I like your voice." It is saying, "I long for your presence," the presence beyond the form. That is why it is only when one is in love, that one understands the meaning of the Presence. The mind understands the meaningfulness of the forms of manifestation, the tremendous intelligence manifesting all these forms, programming meaningfulness, but the Presence is only revealed to one who is experiencing the miracle of love. "I have admired all of this, but imagine that He is here. Imagine, He is here!"
This is expressed by the words of a great dervish, 'Abd al-Jaffar an-Niffari, an Egyptian dervish, who said, "Why do you seek for God up there? He is here!" You don't have to go into a state of samadhi, tearing yourself away from the physical world. The Presence is there, within the manifested realm. The only thing that is true is that if your attention is on the form, then you don't relate to the Presence. It is a different attunement. So that if one is caught up by the beauty or the wonder of the forms of the world, the universe, one is not able to grasp the Presence. One doesn't have to totally obliterate the forms of manifestation by going into samadhi. 

Fikr of the Positive Dhikr 

When you do the fikr of the positive Dhikr, inhale when you say "La illaha," and exhale when you say "illa 'llah Hu," because you are supposed to have been annihilated, and now you are experiencing existentiation.


Chapter 8

Introduction

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan described the organizational aspects of the Sufi Order as a basket in which the flowers of the teachings can be gathered. The organization is there to serve the divine intention which seeks fulfillment through this esoteric school. 
After an overview by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, information related to leadership positions and bodies in our Esoteric Order is given. The next sections cover legal, administrative, and financial aspects of our organization. The final part reviews various publications which are significant for mureeds.
In recent years considerable effort has been directed toward improving the organizational dimension of our endeavor. With such a valuable teaching that can so benefit humanity it has become increasingly important to build the best possible mans of making it accessible and in a manner in keeping with our sacred mission. 
If you have any questions or suggestions on material related to this chapter or any other themes addressed in this Handbook for Mureeds please contact the Secretariat.


Why the Sufi Order at All?  
Wherefore Organization? 
By Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Every creative idea that has left a mark in our world has needed a systematically constructed underpinning to match the intricacy of the insight manifested as the idea. The more monumental and significant the vision, the more sophisticated the organizational sub-structure.
Think of what it takes in terms of planning just to manage a house and live up to the lifestyle of our civilization in our day and age instead of living in a cave as our ancestors did; what it takes to have one's trip together in one's job or in life generally. Think what it takes to set up a Himalayan expedition so that one or very few humans can enable us to share their view from the summit; or what it takes to obtain those photos of our own magnificent Planet or the moon or other planets, or the galaxies. Think what it takes to actualize the inspiration, the ideas of a composer in a symphony orchestra performance; or to set up the circuitry of a computer so it can serve as an support system for our thinking; or the skillful planning needed for any manufacturing enterprise.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's ideas, updating ideas and experiences elaborated through the ages, bring into focus through his inspiration novel ways of looking at things in the realm of spirituality, and the skills to actualize them, that have a vital purport for those looking for the next echelon in human realization in our particular epoch in the advance of human thinking.
For ideas or creative inspirations to have practical applications and prove beneficial to human society, they need to be communicated, to snowball in a vast outreach. This is what Murshid means by spreading the Message. The tools for communication in our present civilizations are gigantic as compared with the time of Buddha or Laotse. Consequently they require incomparably greater sophistication and organization, which means planning systematically in an orderly fashion. Hence the word "Order" is most appropriate. Think of the orderliness required to set up the planetary telephone network, radio and television and mass media. It requires well-planned structure. 
Murshid called organization the "basket" in which to collect whatever, that is to hold it together so it does not get lost by lack of coherence. Of course it is incomparably more complex than a basket; it consists in a structure. Let us think of it as a live and therefore evolving structure like the biological cell or the whole physical body. I like to call it an organism rather than an organization. Its structure as Murshid set it up is very subtle, to match the spiritual values it incorporates. It has its own raison d'tre. Consequently it cannot rest on the same principles as a secular administration, for example a governmental or political administration. In the same way as the symphony orchestra tries to interpret the inspiration of the composer, a government is elected because it is supposed to represent the needs of the people. This does not imply superiority or status, but rather skill and also realization. Therefore to ensure the transmission carried down by the tradition, albeit updated, it needs to be hierarchical rather than democratic. The contribution to the music by the composer is far greater than that of the flautist, for example. Most of the players could not live up to the skill of the soloists and the soloists could probably not match the conducting of the conductor. There have been cases where, owing to the illness of a conductor, a musician in the orchestra took over triumphantly. However, the ideas of the composer represent the keynote.
Here is an even more apt illustration of a teaching institution like ours: supposing we were to integrate elementary school, high school, university, postgraduate and teachership. Here instead of one composer, the curriculum is driven originally by a few pioneering minds whose ideas and insight set the standard in a curriculum which is not only progressive, therefore graduated, but also continually upgraded. This resembles our format more than the previous one because, in the perspective of the universal Message pioneered by Murshid, the composers are all the masters, saints and prophets of all religions and times instead of one worshipped guru. Moreover, instead of a set score, as one gains in proficiency, one can brainstorm variations on the ancient themes and even explore new ways. At first the pupil must learn the rudiments assiduously. As the novice advances, he/she is invited to participate in a more interactive role. Then he/she is given more incentive to schedule his/her study course. Then he/she is endowed with the incentive to free-wheel in exploring new vistas and therefore offer a personal contribution toward the given curriculum of the institution, updating and upgrading it. Ultimately if the postgraduate has proven him/herself in a high level of proficiency, he/she will take his place in the chair of the teachers setting further standards upon the institution as a whole. 
The hierarchical principle which is the rule in all traditional orders did not present a problem in the past, particularly in the East. In our age of freedom - also because when our soul's sensitivity is awakened, its need for freedom becomes more imperative - most of us are allergic to any form of constraint. All organization does effect a certain amount of constraint upon haphazard or whimsical spontaneity. However, one needs to write into its structure safeguards against thwarting personal creativity which thrives on free enterprise. This has been my concern throughout the time we have been active. In fact I have encouraged personal creativity instead of towing the line. On the other hand, coherence gives punch to creativity and so does concerted cooperation in a shared vision. As Bach meant, one needs to have incentive but curb randomness and prune one's incentive to give room for the inventiveness of each other in a cooperative way. By knowing the laws of harmony, improvisation becomes more coherent. It is the alliance of norms and prohibitions that gives an Indian raga its style, or redundancy that makes a word different from another one. Our thinking, though restricted by our language, gains in clarity by conforming to syntax. Likewise the structure of the Esoteric School reflects that which is traditionally transmitted (though updated) by the Sufi Orders, which sets the aims and restrictions that favor the attainment of awakening, illumination and the attunement to the sacred. In addition, Murshid opened the arcane of the Order to the esotericism of all world religions.
Therefore he purview of those committed in an organization needs to be clearly defined, while one needs to avoid that those appointed to a post with a responsibility should repress those for whom they assume a measure of responsibility and by thwarting their incentive, damage their growth. Moreover we do not enjoin our members to follow blindly. To be authentic, the ranking should be based upon the measure in which those commissioned in a spiritual organization inspire and teach. It is also obviously based upon a sound knowledge of the teaching and particularly its application in fomenting personal growth and helping initiates deal with their problems and achieve by means of mastery though accomplishment. The onus of the administrators is to recognize and assess their post in the structure accordingly. This is precisely the purpose of the degrees of initiation. It is difficult to apply these principles in all fairness based on a valid assessment. We are trying to define the criteria optimally. 

Organizational Structure
of the Esoteric School   

In order to facilitate the passing of transmission, teachings, and training to mureeds, a structure is used which draws upon the classical model of a Sufi Order, but with variations added by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in order to address the needs of our time.

Head of the Order and Succession

In keeping with tradition the Head of the Order designates his/her successor. Pir Vilayat has appointed his son Zia to serve in this role upon his passing or resignation. Although they are related this is not a requirement.

Jamiat Khas

The Jamiat Khas is the esoteric governing body of the Sufi Order which considers how the teachings of the Order are being transmitted. It is comprised of senior teachers of the Sufi Order selected by the Pir of our Order. A rotation allows fresh viewpoints and experiences to take place while at the same time keeping the body to a manageable meeting size. It usually meets semi-annually. 

Jamiat Am

The Jamiat Am consists of those initiated at the level of seven and above. This larger body also considers Esoteric issues and the activities of centers. 

Leadership Roles

The following roles are by appointment and are not viewed as initiations. They are related to various functions in the organizational aspects of the Esoteric School. A coordinator conducts classes in a Sufi Order Center and bears some or primary responsibility for organizing the center. A Guide is concerned with initiating new mureeds and serving as a spiritual guide for those involved in the training. A Representative combines both of the above functions by acting as the Center leader and as a Guide. Regional Representatives are involved in supporting the work within a certain area of North America. They organize and conduct trainings and meetings for leaders and mureeds within a region. A retreat guide is certified to conduct individual and group retreats. For a listing of people in the above roles consult a Centers List, available from the Secretariat.

Legal and Administrative 


Legal Status

The Sufi Order is a tax exempt 501( C )( 3 ) Non-Profit Organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is the Exoteric governing body of the Sufi Order. Its members are appointed by the Sufi Order's Pir. They perform the usual oversight activities of a Board of Trustees and advise on organizational and legal issues. It meets semi-annually. 

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is a subcommittee of the Board which meets monthly via phone conferences to handle the ongoing business of the Order. 

Secretariat

The Secretariat is the North American office of the Sufi Order. Its staff is responsible for providing support for mureeds such as new initiate packets and training materials; coordinating publications such and Heart and Wings and Keeping in Touch; supporting the Pir of the Order by taking care of transcriptions and technical support; helping with the communications among governing bodies, and organizing annual gatherings for training and retreats; and taking care of legal requirements such as IRS filings and Center non-profit status. 
Centers
A Sufi Order Center may offer a variety of activities depending upon the needs of Center members and the availability of people trained to conduct them. Esoteric Class (also called Gatha classes), Universal Worship, Healing Circles, Retreats, and Zira'at Lodges may be offered there. Centers are listed with the Secretariat and are established through a procedure authorized by the Pir of the Sufi Order.


On Abundance, Prosperity and Money 
By Qazi Lee

We don't often consider money in a spiritual conversation. Yet, as Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan says, spirituality is mastery on both the material as well as the spiritual plane. One must attend to one's duties in life. It is not selfish to want success. It is by success that we are propelled upward. Only if we close our eyes to what lies beyond success do we stand still. There is nothing wrong with devoting one's life to earning money as long as the motive is good and we don't harm anyone in our pursuit. Business achieved in a right manner is in itself a spiritual practice. The importance of integrity, honoring one's word, and maintaining balance are key.
Initiation and spiritual guidance are never charged for in the Sufi Order. However, the Sufi Order itself is supported by dues and donations to continue its important work of disseminating the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. All support is greatly appreciated.
In many traditions, tithing is emphasized. By donating a percentage of one's income to a worthwhile cause, one often can increase the flow of abundance in one's life. It is important to maintain the balance between giving and receiving.
As a mureed, one has access to a vast richness of teachings to bring fulfillment into all areas of one's life. 

Standards for Center Finances 

There may not be a charge for individual instruction in spiritual practices, such as prescribing Wazifa, with mureeds or for Gatha classes. Donations may be requested for message classes and funds gathered may be used for the following purposes: 
1. To pay Center dues to the Secretariat.  
2. To pay for Center expenses such as purchasing tapes or books that mureeds may check out from a Center library. 
3. To pay for other local expenses such as postage and printing for newsletters and telephone calls made as a part of Center business. 
4. If a Regional Representative has a local Center, then funds raised may also be used to help pay for regional expenses such as postage, printing, long distance calls, and travel expenses to other Centers. 
5.	Any other use of funds raised by a Center should be approved by a committee appointed by the Center's Representative, including the Center treasurer and a person elected by the mureeds in the Center to represent them. The treasurer should keep detailed records of income and expenses, and make such information available to any mureed in the center who wishes to see it. With the approval of the Center's finance committee, surplus funds may be used to help pay for the Representative or Coordinator to attend training events.

Financial Ethics Policies

Purposes for a Financial Ethics Policy
1.	To provide clear direction concerning the appropriate methods and approach to handling funds within the Sufi Order, including center, program, regional and national finances. 
2.	To provide guidelines concerning compensation for services provided by individuals within the Sufi Order, as well as direction as to which teachings must be provided without compensation. 
3.	To define areas of concern in financial relations between mureeds and guides that involve financial matters outside the Sufi Order, such as employment relationships and investment solicitation. 
4.	To establish a sense of confidence in Sufi Order stewardship in the process and attitudes surrounding financial matters in and around the Sufi Order that will allow us to have freedom with responsibility and bounty in the financial arena.
Financial Methods and Ethics Training
1.	The annual Leaders' Training shall provide instruction in the Esoteric disciplines needed to develop clarity and mastery in financial matters and practical applications training in that realm. 
2.	The Secretariat will provide models for financial record keeping for Center operations as well as for event presentation. This will come in conjunction with the National Federal Tax registration process. 
3.	Salaried personnel in the Sufi Order shall be paid at a rate that does not exceed "usual and customary" compensation for similar functions and organizations. 
4.	Compensation for seminar presenters shall be specifically defined in advance of the event, and shall not exceed "usual, customary, and reasonable" compensation for similar services paid by similar organizations. (The Executive Committee will provide "sample agreements" showing various acceptable compensation formats.)
 5.	It is not appropriate to charge for spiritual guidance, prescribing Wazaif, or the Gatha/Githa classes. However, it is appropriate to accept donations for expenses related to classes such as room rent, utilities, and refreshments. (Care needs to be exercised in tracking such income and expenses.) 	 
6.	Payment of an individual's expenses for leadership training, Regional Representatives' activities, or other legitimate Center or Sufi Order purpose is acceptable. Such payments will depend on the financial resources of the level of organization involved. Individuals who do not need assistance in paying these expenses are encouraged to continue paying such expenses. In other words, Centers are responsible for center-related expense reimbursement; regions are responsible for that region's expenses; and the Secretariat is responsible for national expenses. Donations for expenses should be organized on the same basis.
Investment Solicitation
1.	Guides shall not solicit or accept investments from their mureeds. If a guide and mureed wish to become involved in an investment relationship, the guidance relationship needs to be terminated, and a six months cooling off period allowed before the investment relationship begins. 
2.	All teachers, former guides and other individuals in positions of respect in the Sufi Order should exercise caution in entering into investment, employment, or other business relations with mureeds, particularly those with whom they have had a special relationship and/or if there is a difference of perceived wisdom or insight between the mureed and teacher involved. 
3.	Working with people that one meets through the Sufi Order, as client or service provider is one way to expand and deepen our work. However, using the Sufi Order as a "prospecting pool" for selling goods and services will detract from our relationships. The basis for distinguishing between those perspectives is the intent and attitude of the individual involved. Usually general advertising appeals, especially using direct mail, are more difficult to keep clear than personal contacts, however, there is no absolute answer to this type of question.
Commercial (or Personal) Use of Sufi Assets
Use of Sufi Order mailing lists, insignia, or other assets of the Sufi Order for personal commercial ventures unrelated to the purposes of the organization is prohibited.
Anyone having questions concerning the appropriateness of any activity described above is encouraged to briefly describe the situation and associated questions in writing, and submit it to the Ethics Committee, c/o the Secretariat office. 

Ethics Committee 

The purpose of the Ethics Committee of the Sufi Order is to deal with reported incidents of possible unethical behavior in interactions between Sufi Order teachers and their students or the public. A further purpose is to advise on procedures to help prevent problems of possible unethical behavior. 
The Committee's functions are: (1) to serve as a body to determine whether there has been an ethical violation in a particular instance; (2) to serve as an advisory board to advise Representatives, Guides and Coordinators concerning what might constitute ethically correct behavior in a particular situation; (3) to serve as a body to establish guidelines of ethical behavior for Representatives, Guides and Coordinators. 
Reports of unethical behavior will be investigated by the Ethics Committee, which will forward its findings and recommendations to the Pir of our Order or a Pir designated representative. The determination of the appropriate sanction (e.g., removal from authority) will be made by the Head of the Sufi Order in consultation with the Ethics Committee. 
All incidents of possible unethical behavior will be reported to the co-chairpersons. The co-chairpersons may consult with other people as necessary in individual cases, but strict confidentiality will be observed at all times. The Ethics Committee will give the Board of Trustees an annual report summarizing the types of cases investigated in a previous year, along with the dispositions, without any identifying information. 

Procedures of the Sufi Order Ethics Committee 

1. Advisory Opinions	
	 
Opinions may be obtained by a teacher from the Ethics Committee regarding the appropriate way to proceed in a situation which appears to the teacher to raise ethical questions. Questions should be submitted in writing to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee. (Please contact the Sufi Order Secretariat for the current Ethics Committee co-chairperson.) The letter should include a brief description of the factual situation and of the concerns which it raises for the teacher. The Ethics Committee will respond to the teacher in writing. All communications in this process will be considered confidential, but a summary of the issue raised and the response will be shared with the Sufi Order Jamiat Am at its annual meeting.
 
2. Ethical Complaints	  

Anyone may file a complaint alleging that a teacher has committed an ethical violation. Complaints should be submitted in writing to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee co-chairpersons. Contact the Secretariat for addresses of the current co-chairpersons, as material should be sent directly to them to maintain confidentiality. The letter should briefly describe the facts of the situation and the teacher's behavior, which the writer believes to constitute an ethical violation. 
The Ethics Committee will investigate the complaint and determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe, based on the existing code of ethics, that an ethical violation has occurred. At a minimum, the Ethics Committee's investigations will include furnishing the teacher against whom the allegations were received with a clear written statement of the charges, and allowing the teacher an opportunity to respond in writing. 
If the Ethics Committee determines either that no ethical violation occurred or that any violation which occurred does not require formal disciplinary action, it will communicate this in writing to the teacher and complainant, along with any suggestion which, in the opinion of the Committee, might help to prevent the recurrence of the problem. Complaints, investigations, and actions by the Ethics Committee not resulting in further proceedings are strictly confidential and privileged, but a summary of the nature of the complaint and the recommended action of the Ethics Committee will be made available to the Jamiat Am at its annual meeting. 
If the Ethics Committee determines there are reasonable grounds to believe an ethical violation has occurred, and that formal disciplinary action is required, it will so notify the Sufi Order's Pir or a Pir designated representative and the teacher. The Sufi Order's Pir or a Pir-designated representative will schedule a meeting with the teacher and his/her designee and will give the teacher or his/her designee at least twenty days advance notice of the meeting. If it is not possible for the teacher (or teacher's designee), the complainant, or any witness to attend the meeting, any of these may participate by scheduled telephone conference call. The Pir of the Sufi Order and members of a sub-committee of the Jamiat Khas deal with possible disciplinary recommendations and may also attend the meeting. At least twenty days in advance of the meeting a copy of all the evidence regarding the allegations which are contained in the Ethics Committee file will be delivered to the teacher or his/her designee.
At the meeting, the teacher or his/her designee will have an opportunity to question the complainant concerning the allegations and the right to present evidence on his/her behalf, including witnesses as to his/her reputation in the community. No disciplinary action may be taken based solely on written or other hearsay statements. The Pir of the Sufi Order or his/her appointed representative will prepare a statement of findings of fact and of recommended actions, which will be submitted to the appointed subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas to deal with disciplinary recommendations. In arriving at a decision for appropriate disciplinary action, the subcommittee of the Jamiat Khas will take into account the protection of students, and the standing of Sufi Order teachers in the eyes of the public.
 
3. Ethical Standards	

Suggestions concerning the revision of ethical standards may be submitted by students or teachers to the Sufi Order Ethics Committee through the Sufi Order Secretariat. Suggestions should be made in writing, and should briefly describe the facts of the situation which raises an ethical concern, the ethical concern it raises, and the recommended ethical standard. If it deems the revisions necessary and/or helpful, the Ethics Committee may submit such revisions to the Sufi Order Jamiat Am for adoption at its annual meeting. 

Ethics Committee Contact

Please send ethical complaints directly to the Ethics Committee to ensure confidentiality. The Sufi Order Secretariat will be able to provide the current Ethics Committee contact person.
Publications

Heart & Wings-A Family Reunion in Print

Heart & Wings is a publication of the Sufi Order. It is distributed three to four times a year free to mureeds, members and friends. It is the one publication which our community receives on a regular basis, providing us with a way to keep connected, and giving us a sense of what the larger whole is doing. Therefore no subject is too small or too large. Heart & Wings news ranges from major world events to announcements of the latest birth in our community (a major world event for the parents!). We welcome your feedback, questions for Pir Vilayat, news, articles, poetry, and ads. Please send to the Secretariat, attention editor of Heart & Wings. 

Keeping in Touch 

Keeping in Touch is a newsletter from Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan exploring the leading edges of spiritual development. Ten to twelve times a year, it is sent to all those current with their Sufi Order membership contributions. Subscriptions are also available from the Secretariat. 

Omega Publications 

Omega Publications is a mail order bookstore which carries a wide variety of works on Sufism and related spiritual paths. Books difficult to find are carried as well as those popular in bookstores throughout the country. A catalogue is available for the asking. 



Sufi Order Addresses



Abode of the Message

				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY 12125
				518-794-8090

Abode Events

				The Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY 12125
				518-794-8045

Healing Order

				Himayat Inayati
				RT2 Box 166
				Leicester, NC  28748
				1-704-683-1219

				Emergency Healing Listing
				Carol McGonegal
				410-849-2520

Heart & Wings	
	
				PO Box 30065
				Seattle, WA  98103
				E-mail: Beauty@Compuserve.com

Kinship Activity	
	
				Shams Kairys
				853 walker Ave
				Oakland, CA 94610
				510-832-8873

Omega Publications 
 	
				The Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030E
				New Lebanon, NY  12125
				800-443-7107 
				E-mail: omegapub@taconic.net

Retreat Concentration
	
				Aziza Scott
				19 South Summer St. PO Box 399
				Nothingham, NH 03290
				603-679-2586


Sacred Spirit Music

				C/OThe Abode of the Message
				RD 1 Box 1030D
				New Lebanon, NY  12125
				1-518-794-7860


Sufi Order International Secretariat

				Secretariat de l' Ordre Soufi 	
				23 reu de la Tuilerie
				92150 Suresnes
				France
				011-331-472-84846
				Email:  72167, 1012@compuserve.com


Sufi Order International North American Secretariat   
  	
PO Box 30065
				Seattle WA 98103  
				Ph:  206-525-6992 Fax: 206-525-7013        
				E-mail: SufiOffice@compuseve.com
				
		
Zira'at			
				Wahhaba Phillips
				805 Burleson St
				Grand Prairie, TX 75050
				214-263-0150
