Hello Jamiat, I hope you all are well. The Inner School Leaders Retreat was held last month, for Representatives and Coordinators and those in training. I found it most inspiring and stimulating. Here are some impressions.
Pir Zia led the morning sessions, on Zoom from Suresnes, with other major teachers leading the afternoon sessions and introducing breakout rooms. An international crowd of about 230 attended.
The title and main topic was “Guidance for the First Station,” referring to the seven Stations that correspond to the seven lataif that make up the Cosmic Whorl. I very much appreciated looking at one Station in such detail.
Pir Zia spent the first few hours reviewing some aspects of the Cosmic Whorl and the Spagyric Gyre, which is the spiral movement from one latifa to the next. He especially emphasized the colors of the lataif, including how they reflect the colors of the planet, with gray rock covered by yellow-brown earth, then the green of trees, the blue of the sky and the black of the night sky.
The first Station corresponds to the qalabiya, the root center at the tailbone and is often especially relevant to new initiates, especially those new to the spiritual path, I would think. Bawa spent hours going over the process of initiation and working with new initiates. He covered in detail the words used, the difference between the Ashiq initiation and the regular initiation into the Inner School, and the various practices appropriate for new initiates.
The wording of the ceremony now refers to saints and sages rather than masters, with that word “master” being such a problem for many of us. He mentioned that not everyone can relate to prophets, but that the role of prophecy is nevertheless central to our teachings. He consistently used the word “Sovereign” to replace “Lord.”
He also talked about initiating in the name of two streams of Sufism. The wording now includes the phrase
in the name of the Silsila-i Sufian of the Nooriyya and the Mahashaikhan
This is also in the leaders manual on the web site (under Inner School Resources). Bawa explained that the Nooriyya refers to the four Sufi tariqas that Murshid was trained in by his murshid, and the Mahashaikhan refers to the Yesuvi tradition that came from Central Asia through Murshid’s paternal ancestors. Both lineages were passed on to Pir Zia.
Most of the retreat was focused on guidance for people dealing with the First Station. Bawa said he intends to have annual Leaders Retreats like this for six more years, to focus on each Station in turn. The First Station corresponds to the root center and is concerned with the battle of life.
Because life means a continual battle one’s success, failure, happiness, or unhappiness mostly depends upon one’s knowledge of this battle. Whatever be one’s occupation in life, whatever be one’s knowledge, if one lacks the knowledge of the battle of life one lacks the most important knowledge of all. -The Battle of Life, in Vol. 6
He suggested a number of wazaif that were appropriate. Each Station has a polarity, which here is hope and fear. He had a lot to say about this, full of insight, including a breath practice and grounding practices. The latifa was the tailbone (qalabiya), the planet was Mars, the color was gray, the Divine Name was Ya Qahir: Victory.
Another major topic was the practice of itisal (sp?). The word means conjunction and refers to the correspondence between the body and the universe, the mind and the Cosmic Mind, the soul and the Universal Soul. That is, itisal is the linkage between the microcosm and the macrocosm. He said the practice was found in Aristotle, in the neo-Platonists, and in other ancient teachers. He gave us a Sufi practice, using simple syllables like Ha and Hu, that cultivates the awareness of that conjunction. We were asked not to teach the practice until we had worked with it ourselves for a year.
Besides these main topics, Bawa talked briefly about a large number of related subjects. It was especially delightful and inspiring to hear his insights and see how they related to this First Station. These topics included the chakras and lataif, kundalini energy, fear and anxiety, wounds of the heart. These all were worthy of contemplation, and I could see how each Station would have a different perspective.
Let me end with a relevant quote, not mentioned in the retreat, that I’ve always found challenging:
With good will and trust in God, self-confidence, and a hopeful attitude towards life, a man can always win his battle, however difficult. - Bowl of Saki, Dec. 23
With love and blessing to you all,
-Jami
Washington, DC