| June 15, 2007 |
Volume 1, Issue 4 |
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This month we dedicate our HeartStream Pulse to the nature of Father and explore some of the experiences and representations of fathers dear to us. “Whatsoever road I took, it joined
the street which leads to Thee.”
Welcome
to the HeartStream Pulse Newsletter! Events – Welcome
to Sufi Camp -
Aug 24th-26th
at the Happy Valley Conference Center, 2159 Branciforte Drive,
Santa Cruz The Gift of Mendocino Youth Camp by Vilayat (Clif) Coughlin I was raised around the Sufi community, my parents being heavily involved with the Sufi circles. When I was fifteen, I went to a Sufi camp in Minnesota and had a powerful opening experience. Up until that point I had simply thought of Sufism as my parent’s thing, and only after that experience in Minnesota did I start to think of Sufism as my own path. After that, I started attending the main Mendocino camp regularly, and I haven’t missed a year since. I first attended the youth camp after living at the Lama Foundation for a short while. I had become somewhat distraught that I did not see many people in my age group that were really interested in spirituality. (Most of the community at the lama foundation were in their late thirties and over.) Not that those at the Lama Foundation were not wonderful people, but I was beginning to long for connection on a deeper level with people my own age. The youth camp completely changed that. There I met many deep individuals, and found lasting friendship and camaraderie beyond the superficial. The youth camp provides an unique opportunity to explore the path, and also provides refuge in the beautiful redwoods with like minded individuals. The people I have met there are uniquely mature and serious about spiritual matters, and are moving toward the spiritual life in a way which is unusual in the larger culture of my generation; yet are still free spirited and open. There is room for deep conversation, and for fits of laughter; for serious practice, and for spontaneous jam sessions. The Mendocino youth camp is a wonderful gift for young people on the path, and an experience I would recommend to anyone. Learn more... Sufi Heritage - The Father of (Modern) Universal Sufism by George Chipman 
From
its roots predating the birth of Mohammed and the arising of Islam,
Sufism was practiced as a ‘universal’ worship of the Divine. Mohammed
and the arising Islamic faith whole-heartedly accepted the spiritual
authenticity of Sufi practices. Sufism came to prominence in Islamic
Persia where it became the ‘State’ religion during the time of
the great mystical poets Rumi, Kabir, Hafiz and othersInayat, before he was twenty, was singing and playing the vina in the royal courts of the subcontinent. However, soon he was to be called to something beyond worldly success. He met his Murshid, Abu Haimages/shim Sayed Madani and entered the Sufi path. His Murshid had long wanted Sufism to return to its ‘universal’ roots, to be again a universal practice of worship for the people of all faiths. On September 13th, 1910, when Inayat sailed from Bombay to America and Europe with his message and music, he began the journey that his grandfather had spoken of, and that would fulfill the last words of his Murshid, Abu Haimages/shim Sayed Madani, "Fare forth into the world, my child, and harmonize the East and West with the harmony of thy music. Spread the wisdom of Sufism abroad, for to this end art thou gifted by Allah, the most Merciful and Compassionate." In this way, Inayat Khan was to become the ‘Father’ of the (modern) universal Sufism that we know and love today. (Thanks to the International Sufi Movement website, for the information for this article.) An Unusual Initiation: Inayat’s Meeting with Hazrat BabaJan, as related by Rabia Ana Perez by Tofah Eileen Yragui  Hazrat
Inayat Khan is the Father of our three streams of Sufism - Sufi
Movement, Sufi Order and the Ruhaniat, all of which are a part
of the HeartStream Sufi Community. This is a story told by Rabia
Ana Perez at our South Bay Camp last year about Hazrat BabaJan
who saw in the young Inayat Khan a great being and passed to him,
as she did others like Meher Baba, her illumination.Inayat Khan as a young man was a brilliant musician and thought that his path was to be through music. His grandfather Maula Bakhsh Khan saw the light of God around him as he sang a raga one morning and realized that he had to go out and disseminate the teachings of Sufism in another way. It broke the young Inayat Khan’s heart to think he would have to give up that which he loved so much and yet it was a test of his unconditional faith and love. Hazrat BabaJan was from Afghanistan and an elder by the time she saw Inayat Khan in the streets of Delhi. She had a fierce face, was warrior like and loved the many rings she wore. At one point she was willing to have a finger cut off that had become gangrenous instead of taking off the ring. She also had fierce determination and great intuition. She would sit under a Neem tree like a bag lady and watch people go by. She would see the truth as she gazed at people and suddenly she would tell them something of great importance. People began to realize that she was a seer and started to gather in great numbers to hear her teachings. One day she was in the streets of Baroda on the balcony of a second story apartment watching people. She saw the 20 year old Inayat Khan walking by and she called out to him to come up – without hesitation he went up to her flat. She was chewing something - a disgusting blob that she took out of her mouth and handed it to him and said “eat”. He took it without hesitation and popped it into his mouth and began to chew. In that moment, he received illumination. Soon after, he began his path of teaching. (Rabia’s complete stories told at camp will soon be available on the HeartStream website under ‘2006 Camp.’) Poetry of the Sufi Mystics  Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi’s epic six-volume book of poetry known as Mathnawi begins with 18 lines that are the only lines of these volumes actually penned by Rumi. The rest, dictated in Persian and in meter and rhyme, were scribed by Husameddin Chelebi, his dear friend and companion. Below are the beginning lines of this great monumental work, and in a translation by Hazrat Inayat Khan.
To
link to a color page of this poem that you can copy and print,
click here. Poets and Poetry Oops!! Our great apologies for an omission to the article on Eric Schneider in last month’s Pulse which was written by Cynthia Myers. The article was written with a Rumi poem, often recited by Eric, as the opening lines and only with this does the article have clarity. You can see the entire article as it should have been printed by clicking here. Sharing Baraca/The Talking Stick Do you know someone in our community who is up to something spiritual? Perhaps this someone is the one looking back at you in the mirror! We all have an inspirational story to tell and you are invited/encouraged to share yours, your friends, neighbors and relatives too! The Heartstream Pulse is seeking to unveil the unsung heros of our community. We want to hear what inspires you, fills your heart, opens your eyes, elicits your passion, and makes you go Ahhhhhla. Please submit your story or your idea for a story to Tofah Eileen, because we would like to incorporate it into an up-coming issues of The HeartStream Pulse. The next story is our first story in this series. The United I found at the United Nations by Amrita Cottrell  I
recently had the privilege to present my work at the United Nations
in New York City. The presentation was a collaboration of three
people from different areas of the world coming together to share
various aspects in the growing field of sound healing. It was
an example of what can happen when people come together with a
shared intention to raise consciousness about a subject that we
are passionate about. I was delighted to experience what can happen
when we get out of our egos about “our work” and share what we
do in the world from a heart space. I’ve recently been using a
new phrase to describe this change in paradigm. “Don’t keep trying
to get ahead; get a heart instead.”For me the trip to the United Nations was just that, staying in the heart, and not trying to figure things out. I needed to raise the money to make the trip since the UN wasn’t prepared to pay our expenses or even offer us an honorarium. The money for the trip came together easily and effortlessly, thanks to the help of many of you. While the presentation was an experience of a lifetime, the blessings of the trip came in many other ways. The people I met on the trip, a reunion with an old and dear friend who lives in NYC, getting caught in the middle of a parade down Broadway Avenue in honor of a Sikh guru (that was a surreal experience.) There were two experiences that stand out, and I’ll share one with you this month, and the second next month. I arrived at the United Nations at about 10am after taking the red eye from San Jose. I had about four hours before my next appointment, so I said this little prayer, “OK God, I have four hours to spare, put me to work.” I found myself wandering around and looking at the flat screen monitor outside of each conference room that signifies what meeting was taking place in the room...International Trade Law, Sustainable Development, Human Rights, Forestry, Science and Technology, etc. As I walked up and down the hallways I saw people from countries all over the world, and heard languages being spoken that I had never heard before. I realized that even though I have an international organization, my work was beginning to expand in a bigger and deeper way. I turned down one quiet hallway and saw the conference room for the Disarmament Commission. I knew that I had found my assignment, which was to sing peace chants for several hours outside of that conference room. As soon as I began to sing, I felt the hallway fill up with beings from many realms, and these beings were very happy that I was there. I was quiet about what I was doing and didn’t draw attention to my task. It was a moving experience for me, holding space in a very tangible way for peace and unity. Next month I will share another beautiful demonstration of God’s grace as a result of my trip to the United Nations. Calling On The Beloved: A Change of Name. A Change in Perspective by Jay Dravich  A
small but perceptible change is taking place in the consciousness
of the Sufi community in Santa Cruz that reveals itself when it
comes to people writing checks to pay for Sufi events. In the past when checks were written for local Sufi events, more often than not they were written to “The Garden”. Lately, however, more and more checks, for virtually the same events, are being written to “Heartstream Sufi Community”. I believe it’s worth pondering the implications of this shift in check writing. The Garden is a private business that has hosted and nurtured the Sufi community of Santa Cruz for the past five years. Heartstream Sufi Community is a not-for-profit organization, founded this year in Santa Cruz, which nurtures the three Sufi streams of Hazrat Inayat Khan. That people are increasingly making out checks to Heartstream reflects that something far more encompassing than a private enterprise is taking greater responsibility for the health of the Sufi community. It reflects an ever widening sense of ownership to promote local Sufi events. The quarterly gatherings at the Quaker Meeting House are the most recent examples of this trend. These Saturday night dances of Universal Peace are put on by Heartstream with nearly a dozen volunteers working/playing to insure their success. The money the dances earn goes into the Heartstream Sufi bank account to be used for the greater good of the Sufi community. No longer are we dependent upon a couple of people to provide a space and financial resources to share our spiritual journeys. We are becoming a collective of loving hearts capable of sustaining Sufism in Santa Cruz for years to come. This is all part of Santa Cruz emerging as a Sufi center in America. In those communities where five to ten Sufis are able to recognize one another, they will plan an occasional Sufi Dance. Where twenty-five to fifty Sufis share practices, the site becomes widely known within the Dance network. Where 50 to 100 Sufis gather regularly, where there are nearly half a dozen teachers of Sufism sharing what they have learned on a weekly basis, where there is a legal entity that embraces all three pathways of American Sufism, that place is Santa Cruz. Each time someone writes a check payable to Heartstream Sufi Community, that presence grows stronger. Alhamdulillah. Jay If you have an idea for an article about ‘calling on the beloved’, ‘conversations with G-d’ or another topic that you'd like to share with the Sufi community or just me, I'd like to read it. Send it to jdravich@yahoo.com (Keep it to 500 words or less, please.) Food for Letting Go of Thought by George Chipman 
Links to Other Communities Are you interested in some of the other active Sufi groups in the Greater Bay Area? Just visit our links page. Click here.
|
Another
fabulous All Bay Area Sufi Camp is coming up in August, Fri.
24th (4pm) to Sun. 26th (2pm). SAVE THE DATE ON YOUR
CALENDAR and COME CELEBRATE LIFE!!|
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