Sufism Reoriented - Fifty Years Later (Page 2 of 3)

Spiritual Studies
Participants in Sufism Reoriented are enrolled as students in a spiritual school of continuing education. As outlined by Meher Baba in the Sufi Charter, educational activities take several forms, including regular weekly classes on spiritual subjects, retreats, seminars and workshops. However, an essential part of the learning of any spiritual school is carried out through practice. Principles discussed and studied in classes have no real meaning unless and until they inform one’s actions in everyday life. No purpose is served by discussing or studying spiritual principles unless these principles can be silently validated in the simple acts of day-to-day living; spiritual learning must be practiced and polished through one’s daily actions and one’s interactions with close companions in life. From this perspective, all activities of this Sufi community are educational. They are intended to help students move closer to God by supporting and nurturing appropriate patterns of spiritual life.

The Sufi musical play based on God Speaks. Performers sing the Manonash Calypso.

     Within this broad framework, programmes are organized to address specific educational needs. For each of these programmes, Meher Baba and Murshida Duce developed policies and guidelines to help participants learn the subject matter more easily.
     Regular weekly classes on spiritual subjects are generally held in fall and spring semesters with a break for winter holidays and a summer recess. All Sufi course material is prepared or supervised by the Murshid. Most of the classes are also presented by the Murshid in the form of lectures or discussions. Some classes are presented as dramatic or musical programmes by Sufi actors and musicians.
     To be eligible to attend Sufi classes, students must first complete a series of prerequisite readings. The readings consist of books by and about Avatar Meher Baba. Meher Baba directed his Sufis to become familiar with the major themes of his life and work. He especially wanted them to review his own writings on spiritual principles, since this subject matter is the primary spiritual literature of our time
     Sufi classes are gatherings to celebrate the Avatar: By joining together in adoration and love for the Avatar, members of the Sufi community help expand and enrich a reservoir of love which forms during their meetings. This flowing spring of love is offered to Meher Baba. Students benefit individually from their participation in this process; moreover, the palpable flow of love generated during group meetings can be used to support the Avatar’s work in the material world and beyond. This dimension of Sufi work is accomplished best in weekly classes and devotional meetings. The most important reason for regular attendance at Sufi classes is to participate in this central process.
     Daily Remembrance of Meher Baba: Meher Baba invited all Sufis to join him by summoning his presence, his love and his radiance every day. He asked Sufis to do this in two ways:
to meditate on him for fifteen minutes each day;
to repeat his name for thirty minutes each day.
     Though Sufis also join together in group meditation on Meher Baba, this daily remembrance is normally done individually. The time, place and manner of meditation is left up to each person, though most Sufis try to adopt the same time and place each day. Meher Baba did not prescribe any formal plan for this brief period of daily meditation and remembrance. One simply thinks of him, focusing one’s thoughts and feelings on the Beloved in any way that brings joy and refreshment. Many are stimulated to think of him by contemplating his image using paintings, photographs, pictures in books or images on videotapes prepared especially for Sufi meditation. Similarly, Meher Baba invited Sufis to repeat his name aloud for thirty minutes each day. Many students say his name by singing it to the melodies of favourite Sufi music. Audiotapes for this purpose were created by Sufi musicians and singers and distributed to participants in Sufism.
     Meher Baba noted that spiritual students should not try to evaluate their “progress” in meditation, an idea prompted by the ego, which seeks to subvert the process in any way it can. Spiritual students commonly experience periods when meditation may appear to lose its joy and refreshment and remembrance becomes an effort. Nonetheless, Meher Baba encouraged Sufis to continue to do these practices faithfully every day as a way of continually renewing their inward connection with him, of summoning him and keeping his presence in their surround, irrespective of what the ego might impose upon their outward awareness.
     The Consortium of the Arts: Many Sufis participate in the arts as a way to enrich their understanding of harmony and creativity in life. To support this approach, Murshida Duce created a special organization within Sufism Reoriented, the Consortium of the Arts, with a faculty drawn from her own Sufi students with professional training in the arts.

The Sufis perform devotional songs at the Meherabad Music and Arts Centre in the summer of 2002.

     The Consortium sponsors courses of study in the fine and performing arts for the pleasure and personal development of the participants and also as a way for Sufis to celebrate Meher Baba’s life and work. In the performing arts, Consortium poets, composers, actors, dancers and musicians have explored spiritual themes through music, mime and puppetry, musical comedy, drama and theatre. Programmes are based on Meher Baba’s messages, vignettes from the Master’s life and the work of great spiritual figures of the past. Many of these programmes are presented as Sufi classes and form part of the curriculum of Sufi studies. In the fine arts, Sufi painters, sculptors, photographers and craftsmen have developed creative ways to portray Meher Baba’s image in many different media, including murals, portraiture, prints, collage, marble and bronze sculpture, ceramics and computer graphics. Many paintings from Sufism’s art collection are on display at the Sufi Center in Walnut Creek and Washington, DC.
     Spiritual Pilgrimage: Meher Baba encouraged all his lovers to visit places centrally associated with his life and work, for such settings are inundated with a palpable force of the Avatar’s love. Sufis have sponsored pilgrimage tours to many locations in Asia and Europe that have been blessed by the Avatar’s presence. From time to time, an entire season of spiritual study is devoted to programmes of group pilgrimage.
     Meher Baba’s Home in India and his Samadhi: Meher Baba especially invited his lovers to visit his tomb, or samadhi, on Meherabad Hill, near Ahmednagar, India. He called this site the most important centre of pilgrimage for this Avataric cycle and explained that the major portion of his universal work was done on this hill. One of Meher Baba’s companions noted, “The love stored up here will nourish the hearts of God’s lovers for centuries to come.” Sufi devotees of Meher Baba have made pilgrimages to his home in India ever since Murshida Duce first traveled there to meet the Master in 1948. Sufi pilgrims accepted many invitations from Meher Baba to join him for meetings and events in India during the 1950s and 1960s at Meherabad, at his home at Meherazad and at his summer residence in Pune.
     Since Meher Baba’s passing in 1969, a steady stream of Sufis, their children — and now their grandchildren — have enjoyed the privilege of making this pilgrimage to India. Murshida Duce urged every Sufi to make this journey, and Sufism Reoriented has always extended help and assistance to companions traveling to the Master’s home in India.