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 (messenger, mystery, miracle, mother); the spirit of guidance.
Hello everyone. I’m looking forward to connecting with those of you who can join us this Wednesday at 6:30 for Class #4. I’ll be curious to hear what is moving within folks, in terms of where the inquiry might take us beyond this series.
Today (January 15) is the Urs (Reunification with the Divine) of Samuel Lewis, initiator of the Ruhaniat stream of Sufism that flows from the Chishti River, through Hazrat Inayat Khan. Lewis, or Sufi Ahmed Murad Chishti, is also the originator of Dances of Universal Peace.
This is a commentary by Lewis on the Bowl of Saki for the day of our class- January 17. You can subscribe to the Bowl of Saki, a daily message from Inayat Khan. Lewis’ commentary below, which you can access for every day of the year, is accessible on the Ruhaniat website at this link.
Thought draws the line of fate– Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Sam’s commentary: This is true not only in prayer but in all things. Every exhalation sends something out, and every inhalation draws something in. That which is expelled carries a message, as a flying dove going upward. As soon as another thought is received into the mind, it impedes the upward journey of that breath-message. When any act, thought, speech, or desire strikes the mind-mesh, it is propelled downward toward the earth plane and brings with it the results of a movement which is at the same time personal and individual, and also cosmic, in the sense that the whole sphere endeavors to keep its balance and sends back the compensatory vibrations to those sent out by us.
To overcome this action, Fikr is practiced in some form. In daily Fikr or Darood, when a thought is accompanied by a Divine Breath it can automatically arise through the meshes of the mental net and pass through Djabrut to the Arsh, the throne of God. That is to say, the automatic wish of the average person can rise no higher than the thought or will behind it, but for the spiritual person, the initiate, whose thought and desire are accompanied by Darood, these automatically rise above the mental world into the empyrean unless another thought deliberately interferes. Practice of concentration with Fikr perfects this process.
This link connects you to Forty Lessons on the Breath, by Sufi SAM, as he was often called. Here are three from the list relating to the practice of Darood: “Toward the One”
6. Ryazat: Breathe, identifying yourself with breath. Breathe, holding Darood, i.e., “Toward the One,” with each inhalation and exhalation. Identify yourself with the breath; identify with the Darood. This helps to free you from identification with the body.
7. Practice meditation by repeating the Darood (“Toward the One”) either a prescribed number of times or at least 5 minutes daily. Learn to feel the life-force entering the body. Identify yourself with the breath; identify yourself with the life-force. Do not identify yourself with the body. Thus you will learn to actualize: “This is not my body, this is the temple of God.” This is used as a disciplinary practice for beginners; for more advanced students it is used as a method of identification (fana or yoga).
8. The degree of a person’s spiritual evolution can be measured by the breath—its power, its sweetness, its rhythm, and its tonicity. Spirit and breath become one, and one’s spiritual evolution is measured by the breath.
Nayaz
(Healing Prayer from Inayat Khan)
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 US
And We Pray
Heal Our Bodies, Hearts, and Souls
Amin
See you Wednesday. Ted
