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Awakening:
A Sufi Experience
by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
In
this bold and accessible work, Pir Vilayat takes us
step-by-step toward a new form of consciousness, in which
our way of seeing the world around us expands in concentric
circles until we are looking through the eyes of the
cosmos--or the eyes of God. In Eyes of God, Pir Vilayat
integrates ancient Sufi wisdom into our contemporary
physical understanding of the world to provide a wholly
fresh perspective that will change how we see both. "Pir
Vilayat is a source and a resource, a living bridge between
East and West. In his eighties now, he keeps getting better!
Pir is brilliant, and as lively a companion on the path as
you're likely to find." -- Coleman Barks
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About
Awakening:A Sufi Experience, and its Author
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was born
in London in 1916, the son of the Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Khan and
Ora Ray Baker. His father is said to have attended the British
Congress of the International New Thought Alliance in 1917 along with
F.L. Rawson and many other British New Thought leaders. It was
while he was giving a Veena recital at the RAMAKRISHNA ASHRAM in San
Francisco that he met, and fell in love with, Miss Ora Ray Baker -
"a sensitive, fragile, feylike American girl" who was the
niece of Mrs. Mary Eddy Baker, the founder of the Christian Science
Movement. They got married in Paris, and Inayat Khan rechristened her
as "Sharada Ameena Begum".
In a family photograph, Inayat Khan stands in a long loose robe,
and with a flowing white beard, looking a bit like Poet
RabindranathTagore. His wife, clad in a sari in the Parsi style, looks
serene, gentle, and charming. Her head is covered with the "Pallu"
in true Indian style. Pir Vilayat and his siblings surround their
mystical looking parents with peaceful smiles upon their faces.
Pir Vilayat's early years were thus imbued with both the rich mystical
tradition of the East and the heritage of the West.
His later training also reflects
the synthesis of East and West. He studied philosophy and graduated
with a degree in psychology from Paris University, later did
postgraduate work at Oxford, and also studied music at l'Ecole Normale
de Musique de Paris. He then began an intensive practice of meditation
in India and the Middle East with Sufi masters and teachers of various
meditative disciplines, and carried out long periods of seclusion and
retreat.
In 1926 his
father named him to be his successor and head of the Sufi Order in the
West.
It was at Suresnes, France, that
his father, Inayat Khan, developed the Universal Worship
service that is now associated with the "Sufi Order in the
West". The ritual consists of an invocation, a reading from each
of the holy books of the world's major religions, and the lighting of
a candle for each tradition. A candle is also lit for all those
individuals or religious systems (unknown or forgotten) that have
inspired mankind. The ritual continues with a discourse, and ends with
a blessing.
The "dances of universal
peace" developed by Samuel Lewis in conjunction with the Sufi
Order are known throughout the world as a spiritual practice mixing
meditation, song, and dance. The essential nonsectarian message of the
Sufi Order International is still expressed in the Universal Worship
service which honors all the world's major religions by reading
passages from their holy books.
"Beware of confining
yourself to a particular belief and denying all else, for much
good would elude you - indeed, the knowledge of reality would
elude you. Be in yourself for all forms of belief, for God is too
vast and tremendous to be restricted to one belief rather than
another." (Awakening - A Sufi Experience by Pir
Vilayat Inayat Khan, Jeremy P. Tarcher - Putnam, New York, 1999,
p. VIII)
About
The Sufis, by Idries Shah
Introduction by Robert Graves
A seminal book of the century"
-- Washington Post
"The most comprehensive, informative work on Sufism."
-- New York Times Book
Review
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First published in 1964, Idries
Shah's definitive work, The Sufis, completely overturned
Western misconceptions of Sufism, revealing a great spiritual and
psychological tradition encompassing many of the world's greatest
thinkers: Sadi, Attar, Rumi, Ibn El-Arabi, El-Ghazali, Omar Khayyam,
Francis of Assisi and many others.
The astonishing impact of Sufism on
the development of Western civilization from the seventh century is
traced through the work of Roger Bacon, John of the Cross, Raymond
Lully, and Chaucer. Many of the greatest traditions, ideas and
discoveries of the West are traced to the teachings and writings of
Sufi masters working centuries ago.
But The Sufis is far more
than an historical account. In the tradition of the great Sufi
classics, the deeper appeal of this remarkable book is in its
ability to function as an active instrument of instruction, in a way
that is so clearly relevant to our time and culture.
This book by one of the major
Teachers of our time is an invaluable source of information not only
on the Sufi teaching itself, but also on various aspects of Western
Esoteric thought. The chapter on The Philosopher's Stone provides
essential keys to the understanding of Alchemy. Idries Shah expertly
balances on the edge between revelation and misinformation,
exemplifying the manner used in the past by adepts of this Art. One
may come to the conclusion that the author, unlike many other
writers, had first-hand knowledge on the subject, and fourteen
pages written by him on Alchemy may well be worth more than
many voluminous studies by some experts.
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