April 2017 Message

Beloved Family,

Since our last letter, I began my travels by teaching at the Annual Jamiat Aam in Madison WI along with Murshid(a)s Darvesha and Allaudin. After that I had the privilege of providing music for the great Huston Smith’s Memorial, along with other musicians in our family.

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Then came three weeks of solid travel, first to Aotearoa - New Zealand and Australia. In Auckland I presented a Sufi evening with lots of Dances, then a three-day weekend retreat on Lake Taupo, which is very much like Lake Tahoe, at the Tauhara Centre. My hosts were Catherine and Nasir Grace and Jamila Cranston-Buckley. We thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air, expansive views, beautiful birds and a wonderful sangha from all over New Zealand and beyond.

New Zealand and Australia are incredibly beautiful gems on our planet and each is a wonderful part of our Sufi family!

My hosts in Sydney were Arjuna and Karen Weiss, who live in the Bondi Beach area, much like Santa Cruz with amazing beaches, colorful birds and creative people.

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After a weekend non residential retreat in Sydney, we traveled three hours to the Blue Mountains and had a five day residential retreat with many of the “elders” of the Australian sufi community. Whenever I wasn’t teaching I had my camera in hand to catch the “heaven of birds” that was all around me.

Please welcome Anna Zebunissa Parker who I initiated into our family. She had formerly been first in the Sufi Movement and more recently the Inayati Order. She and Arjuna have been president and VP of the Australian DUP organization and now they will also work together through the Ruhaniat.

In mid May I will host the Federation of the Sufi Message Gathering at the Abode. Two weeks later in the beginning of June, I'll be in the East Coast again with Tamam presenting at the Sufi Festival at Omega Institute.

Later June will take me to Russia. July I will direct the Mendocino Sufi Camp along with a wonderful staff. August I'll join the staff of the NW Sufi Camp.

And most important, Malik, our Murshid Sam Dargah Project Manager, is now at Lama beginning the last construction phase to complete the Dargah. Our Dargah Completion Celebration at Lama Mountain is August 24-27, with most of our Murshid circle attending. I will include some pics of the finished 32 massive wooden Corbels that Michael Kothrade carved and just delivered to the job site. The day Malik began this phase of the work it snowed on the mountain!

Much love, Shabda

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Recite 101x YA MALIK ~ YA MALIKAL MULK

3. Ya Malik (yaa MA-lik)

The quality of al-Malik is to hold everything in the universe in the hands of the one and only being. It is an all-inclusive and majestic embrace. The word for angel, malak, is closely related to this name. Angels are made of light and are held in the hands of Allah. The light of al-Malik holds the inner essence of each and every thing. Each thing's essence never leaves this majestic embrace and never returns to it because it is permanently rooted in it. Ya Malik, thus experienced as holding everything's essence in the inner world, is naturally paired in repetition with Ya Malikal-Mulk (83), the majestic force that holds all outer forms.

By combining the two Names in repetition, you are brought to a balanced confidence in heaven and earth. Invocation of Ya Malik, Ya Malikal-Mulk is an antidote for all who feel abandoned and don't believe they belong anywhere. A person in this condition is constantly negating the reality of inner majesty or denying the reality of outer majesty. The recitation of these two related Names as a pair is also useful for those who do not feel entitled to possess things and who are afraid of the grossness of the material realm.

83. Ya Malikal-Mulk (yaa MAA-li-kal-MULK)

Malikul-Mulk expresses that each and every manifestation in the universe completely depends on being held by God. Malikul-Mulk describes permanence in the midst of change. Things (mulk) are always in flux-coming and going, strong and weak. They are transient. Even though the world has this appearance, invocation of Ya Malikal-Mulk brings the realization that all manifestation never leaves the hands of Allah. In accord with Arabic grammar, when using "Ya" we say Ya Malikal-Mulk; without the "Ya" the name is slightly different: we say Malikul-Mulk.

Both elements of the Name, malik and mulk, derive from the same root-malaka-which means to hold in the hands. Calling on this divine quality is like reaching down into the stream of time and grasping eternal essence in its majesty. It is king and controller. Invocation of Ya Malikal-Mulk helps you overcome the dichotomy that arises from how you may be perceived by others because, from the perspective of this divine Name, whether you are viewed as high or low is irrelevant.

Repetition of Ya Malikal-Mulk is especially recommended for all who, because of lack of intimacy in their family experience, are hesitant to trust relationships with people. It is also a remedy for all who are afraid to fully engage in this world because of its coarseness. See Ya Malik (3), with which we recommend it be paired in recitation.

To hear the pronunciation: Ya Malik ~ Ya Malikal-Mulk

TEXT and COMMENTARY to STUDY

This month we finish reading Yours in the Infinite, a series of letters from Hazrat Inayat Khan to Murshida Rabia Martin, pages 73-82. Following the letters in the document is A sunrise in the West-Hazrat Inayat Khan's Legacy in California written by Murshid Wali Ali. Read pages 83-101

Click here to download the document.