Dear Friends,

Thank you for your participation in the first meeting of Right Relationship: We Can Work it Out. In this course Rahimah and Abraham point the way toward freeing ourselves of the habitual relational patterns that generate conflict and cause suffering. Through listening, honesty, and deep self-enquiry we can cultivate an open space of compassionate unified awareness.

A Note and Suggested Practice from Abraham and Rahimah:

Dear Ones, Thank you for joining us in Right Relationship. Our time together is devoted to developing mastery in our human interactions. In the interim between our meetings, we invite you to engage in a practice at home which builds on our experience with Ya Rahman and Ya Rahim. These wazaif, which invoke compassion and mercy, are excellent medicine for how we experience ourselves and each other in relationship to family, community, and the world. The full explanation of the practice can be found on the River of Guidance Web Hub.

Practice and Readings from Class 1

Practice

Cultivating Compassion and Mercy

From the source of all comes Rahm, the Womb of Love. From Rahm, the first 2 beautiful names of the beloved One, Rahman and Rahim are birthed

Rahman is the Sun of love... positive active = compassion

Rahim is the Moon of love .. receptive = mercy

1. Ya Rahman (yaa raḥ-MAAN)

Ya Rahman is endless love. It is the infinite, unconditional reality of love. This is the Name said in the Qur’an to be inscribed on the heart of Allah. In other words, God’s essence necessarily includes this quality of love. Ya Rahman might be imagined as the inner self of God, an infinite container that is incredibly compassionate, kind, and tender. It is the sun of loving compassion that is endlessly shining. Ya Rahman includes all the other divine Names. It is the source of all; it is the gate that opens onto all God’s qualities, and an inner secret of each one.

The root meaning comes from the word rahm, “womb.” Allah provides human beings a womb to be born into and through which to have the realization of the love that is at the very foundation of all that exists.

2. Ya Rahim (yaa ra-ḤEEM)

Ya Rahim is the embodiment of loving mercy, and it brings the gentle touch of divine mercy. Nothing other than Ya Rahim possesses the mercy that pours forth freely and fully reaches all beings and all things, without exception. It is an all-pervading infinite presence that is manifesting into a boundless number of finite things.

Its root meaning, like that of Ya Rahman (1), comes from the Arabic word for womb, rahm. It carries an inner feeling that is naturally connected with childhood. Ar-Rahim actively brings divine love into human relationships. It enables each and every being to more fully manifest loving mercy.

Excerpts From Physicians of the Heart: A Sufi View of the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah

Ya Rahman Ya Rahim Practice.

This practice invites us to invoke, experience, and cultivate the qualities of compassion and mercy. We offer a suggested practice sequence that invokes Rahman and Rahim though the vibration of their sound and an observational practice during daily life.

Sound Practice:

a)Recite Ya Rahman Ya Rahim as a pair out loud (11 or 33 X or …)

b) place these beautiful sounds on the swing of the breath, Ya Rahman on the in breath, Ya Rahim on the out breath.

c) let go of the sounds and sit in the atmosphere of your practice

Observation and Remembrance

Allow this breath awareness to accompany you throughout your day, returning to it as you remember

During this waking time take note of your inner experience, invoking Rahman and Rahim on the breath, when you remember….What do you notice when in this experience? Also take note of what else arises in the course of your day.. Do you notice when you are reacting? When you are triggered?

Notice when you are able to reset your breath to Rahman/Rahim holding these qualities on your breath again.

How do you reset? When you are in the thick of a reaction, how long does it take you to remember? What do you do with your reactions?

We invite you to keep a journal of any reflections you may have during the experience of this practice. Note especially how these wazifas affect your sense of inner balance, steadiness, and well being, and also how this practice may affect your perception of another human being, or alter your speech or behavior.

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Practice shared in class 1:

Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim w Partners

One partner radiates and intones Ya Rahman, the other is receptive and intones Ya Rahim.

This practice is usually done in a simple rhythm of 4 slow beats to each wazifa

Ya Rahman Ya Rahim

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Agree who will begin with Ya Rahman and who will respond with Ya Rahim.

Take a moment or two to breathe, tune and center either in the radiance of Ya Rahman or in the receptivity of Ya Rahim.

The partner who is tuning to Ya Rahman goes first. The partner who is tuning to Ya Rahim responds so goes second.

Repeat each pair 4X .. You may use radiating hands mudra with Ya Rahman and receiving mudra with Ya Rahim.

Partner A: Partner B

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Switch wazifas with your Partner: Take a moment or two to allow for an internal shift to the wasifa you haven’t done.

Again, Alternate back and forth

Ya Rahman Ya Rahim

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Partner B: Partner A

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Ya Rahman …...Ya Rahim

Take a moment or two to let the entire experience settle into your awareness. Note what you have experienced.

Share verbally with one another about your experience.

Quotes drawn from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Vol. VIII

Pairs of Opposites, p. 98

“The purpose of our life on earth is to look at all the distinctions and differences without being overwhelmed by them…We should go on, rising above them all, and at the same time experiencing them all…the one who has received all the good that has come to them with grateful thanks and who has felt it, and at the same time has also felt the harm done to them and has forgiven and pardoned it all, that is the one who has seen the world and who will go beyond it.” (ie., be awakened in the world)

p. 99

“As the people of different races, nations, and religions each have their own standards of right and wrong, their own conception of good and evil, and their own ideas about sin and virtue, it is difficult to discern the law governing these opposites. It becomes clear, however, when one understands the law of vibrations. Every…being seems separate on the surface of existence…on the innermost plane they all become One… any peace produced on the surface comforts the whole, and…returns as peace to the producer.”

Resist not Evil, p. 105

“…a real teacher is the one who always teaches themself…Life is a place where it is necessary to move gently.

Whether..in thought, speech, or action, the rhythm must be controlled; the law of harmony must be observed…”

p. 106

“…As soon as one realizes that one cannot expect from anyone something of which they are not capable, one becomes tolerant.

The difficulty is that everyone demands more of another person in the way of thought(fulness) and consideration, of kindness and love, than they do of themselves…”

p. 108

“…No one can reach the highest summits of life, of wisdom , in a moment; even a whole lifetime is too short. Yet hope is necessary…”

Judging, p. 111

“There is the law but there is also love; law is a habit and love is being…

If there is anything that will bring satisfaction it is diving deep into love,

and then we shall realize that there is nothing which is not just;

we shall never again say that anything is unjust.

This is the point one reaches, and they call it the culmination of wisdom…

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Bowl of Saki Commentary by Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti , Formatted by Farrunnissa Lila Rosa

Daily Gratitudes #2, #10, and #11.

Click links the below to download:

A Harvest of Gratitude

2 Daily Gratitude

10 Daily Gratitude

11 Daily Gratitude

Dear friends,

Bismillah Er Rahman Er Rahim. Thank you for joining us for Right Relationship: We Can Work It Out. May the seeds of self-inquiry and heart concentration that we explored during this Course continue to nourish our lives as peacemakers and conscious relational beings.

With love and gratitude,

Abraham and Rahimah

Right Relationship: DEEP LISTENING PRACTICE

Deep Listening involves opening the ears of our hearts and listening to what others share with unconditional acceptance and compassion—no judgment, critique, advice, or trying to fix it, just listening. Such listening can help create a safe container for deep sharing and, in doing so, affirm our unity and interconnected nature.

The Practice of Muhasiba

In our tool kit to be in right relationship with others, we have a remarkable Sufi practice that helps us to see clearly whether we are in right relationship with ourselves. Muhabisa is the practice of looking at our own actions, words, and thoughts with full responsibility remembering that we remain in the stream of unconditional mercy and compassion. In reviewing our actions with full integrity we are able to have clearer interactions with others. Knowing that compassion and mercy are flowing toward us, we can more easily face difficult interactions without have to make the other wrong, or misunderstand ourselves or others with unconscious projections, or other defenses.

We can review our actions, words, and thoughts each day and say Estaferallah for that which falls short of the mark. We can say Alhamdulillah for that which hits the mark. We do not have to hold on to either with a sense of failure or success. We can set our intention for the next day to move in the world with a clearer heart.

Download: Class 2 notes