Curriculum of the Sufi Order

Titre: Curriculum of the Sufi Order
Description: In January of 2000, Pir Vilayat created for Representatives of the Sufi Order (now the Inayatiyya) an in-depth study of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings, including “parallels with earlier Sufis, comparative religion, comments and practices,” as said in the opening lesson. Each month, a new lesson was offered to Sufi Order teachers for their students; and subsequently to the murids themselves. The lessons reflected Pir Vilayat’s most current thinking on foundational teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and with them, instructions on how to experience these essential insights and apply them to daily life.

Initially, there were two versions of the Curriculum: one for Representatives that contained resonant pairings of one or more of the Beautiful Names of Allah; and one for murids without the Names. As more and more publications of the Names came into the public arena from other sources, it seemed unnecessary to make a distinction between the two versions’ recipients. Rather, the wazaif (practice with the Names) accompanying specific aspects of the lessons, bring Pir Vilayat’s contribution to the field of commentary on the Names. Thus, the Representatives’ Curriculum is offered here.

Invoking the Beautiful Names, is a sacred practice of Remembrance. While honoring the Names as a holy language, Pir Vilayat cautioned against formulaic, “vain,” repetition. He taught that the archetypes of the Names are living beings, and could be realized when the recitation was one of sincere prayer, sacred attunement, creative beauty, penetrating insight and deep meditation. Ultimately, he enjoined us to pledge to live the quality of the Name, becoming exemplars, albeit limited in expression, of those perfected qualities. Thus, there is nothing casual, fanciful, or superficial about them. To invoke a Name is to open to transformation.

Above all, the lessons relay the dynamism of Pir Vilayat’s thinking, which he distinguished from static “thoughts,” noting that, as with all living beings, the Curriculum is to grow, evolve, and “keep being improved.” Perhaps, dear reader, to “keep being improved” is our task and joy – to evolve ourselves, inspired by Pir Vilayat’s teachings – and thus keep the thinking and embodiment of these lessons alive and real.

We invoke the One
Whose Body is the cosmos of the galaxies and our own bodies,
Whose Mind courses through our thinking,
And Whose Ecstasy arouses our acts of glorification;
Whose Personality is customized as our personalities,
Whose Presence is always there,
Whose consciousness is focalized as our consciousness,
And Whose Reality is beyond our reach.
~ Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Written by Amida Cary
Date de création: 2000s
Sujet: Consciousness; Meditation Practice; Sufi Path; Wazifa/Wazaif
Support: Writing
Identifiant: CSO
Format: PDF
Langue: English
liste des auteurs: Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Classe de ressource: Collection

Contenus

Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 1
Now, January, Year 2000 we proceed systematically in an in-depth study of the teaching to be given as a Curriculum in the classes of the centers of the Sufi Order. It is also available to those organizations dedicated to giving the teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan. These lessons will be sent in priority to active Representatives holding classes, then to mureeds wishing to receive it, then to the public.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 10 -- The Universel
Envisioning the spirituality for the future, Pir o Murshid could see that it was more important to overarch our understanding of the traditional transmissions with the all-encompassing vision of the Message of our time. This clearly defines the Universel: it is orienting our insight in an exciting outreach looking into the future while ranging through the perennial revelation of the divine guidance by the Prophets of all religions as it proceeded step by step historically in the great civilizations.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 2 -- Modes of Thinking
Of course the obstacle standing in the way of our finding fulfillment in our lives lies in the inadequacy of our self-image. But how do we deal with it? Awkwardly one may try to annihilate oneself. The riddle is that one cannot obliterate the personal dimension of one's self by dint of the personal dimension of one's will. Of course the answer is God-consciousness; that is, discovering the bounty of the universe lying in wait potentially in our own being and longing to awaken.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 3 -- Turning Within: Part I
We have seen in the previous lesson that our usual sense of personal identity has the effect of encapsulating ourselves in a limitation - with the consequence that we fail to fulfill the purpose of our lives which is to realize and unfurl the divine perfection invested in our being. The method advocated by Pir o Murshid Inayat Khan was to explore the wider dimension of our being in our participation with the totality by overcoming the habit of contrasting our sense of “me” from what we represent as the universe (or God) as “other.” This we called “the cosmic dimension” of our being.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 4 -- Prayer: The Key to Personal Creativity
The most precious moments in our life erupt when we are moved by our spontaneous urge to pray. Sometimes it is triggered off by desperation. This is recognizing a greater power than one’s own.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 5 -- Turning Within: Part II
Our objective in this sequence to the previous study of turning within, is to explore Pir o Murshid Inayat Khan’s instructions against the background of the ancient Sufis as to how to apply the practice of turning within to gaining insight in our problems and by the same token awaken qualities in our personality lying in wait as potentialities unbeknown to us.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 6 -- Working With Light: Illumination
If you concentrate intensely on light in the environment and then draw your attention to the light surrounding your body, you will discover yourself as an effigy of light of great beauty, and your physical face will now appear as a mask, through which albeit your real being is trying to transpire. It seems like a scintillating kaleidoscopic array of pure effulgence, or the glow of a flame, or the awakening from the perspective of the human dimension of your being.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 7 -- Fashioning Our Personality
Rather than trying in one’s meditations to assess one’s circumstances or figure out one’s problems, Hazrat Inayat Khan recommends working with the self. This will in turn throw new light on one’s situation in life.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 8 -- Fashioning the Self
Our objective in this course of studies illuminated by Hazrat Pir o Murshid’s insight and practical instructions is to crown our person with the cosmic and transcendent investiture with which we are bequeathed by discovering it and unfurling it. As one’s awareness increases, one encounters an imperative need to find fulfillment and meaningfulness in one’s life.
Curriculum of the Sufi Order, Lesson 9 -- Creativity: How Does One Proceed?
Can the findings of the meditators of the perennial esoteric schools who have stalked by their explorations the cosmic code - stretching the human mind beyond its middle range in its ubiquitous, enigmatic no-man’s land - help us to discover who we are, or rather who we are becoming?