NATURE MEDITATIONS
From
The collected works of
Hazrat Inayat Khan
NOTES
Original Editor's Note, 1980
The Nature Meditations were dictated by Hazrat Inayat Khan to his secretary, Sheikh Sirday van Tuyll, at his first Summer School in Wissous, France, in 1921. Since that time they have been privately circulated among a few initiates in the Sufi Order.
This first published edition is based on a copy of Sirdar's original manuscript. A very few changes have been made to correct errors in typing and transcription.
The phrases were given so that they could be repeated silently on the breath. This is indicated by roman type for the inhalation, parentheses where the breath is held, and italics for the exhalation.
Hazrat Inayat Khan called the Nature Meditations "the cream of the Message."
Current Editor's Note, 2006
This version contains changes in the archaic use of some words and phrases such as "Thee" and "Thou Art" to the more current uses for this time. As one statement that Inayat Khan made more than once was to "not change his words"; this editing is done with deep consideration and conscious continuity.
This writing is available through the kindness and permission of the Sufi Order International. We thank them. You may order a copy of the book itself through Omega Publications.
You may also Download a copy here as a Word Document.
CONTENTS
Introduction by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
"Nature" by Hazrat Inayat Khan
NATURE MEDITATIONS
Trees
For the Beauty of Spring
For All that Gives Seed and Fruit
Landscape
Mountains
Space
Sky
Sun
Moon
Darkness of Night
Sky with Stars
Clouds
Rain
Snow
Water
Wind
Storm
Ocean
Air
Fire
Animals
Human Nature
Human Beings
Woman
Man
Childhood
Old Age
The Sage
The Prophet
On the Silence and Stillness in Nature
On Light and Shadow
On Colors
On God
General
On Movement
Different Movements
On Straight Lines
On Horizontal Lines
The Cross
The Circle
Flowers
Roses
Prayers for the Passing Stage
The Second Process
What Color Flowers One Should Give
What Different Flowers Give
Stones
Use of Colors
Higher Contemplations
INTRODUCTION
by
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Disciples of Hazrat Inayat Khan who had the great privilege of attending the Summer School at Suresnes in the suburbs of Paris, and especially the earlier one in the midst of the wheat field at Wissous, will never forget the impression of perfect resonance between the master and nature. While ostensibly breathing in the magnetism of the earth at each step, he was bestowing upon her his particular quality of cosmic power and opening his body to serve as a bridge conducting celestial magnetism into the bowels of the earth. Quickening the trees and flowers with a different life, his breath sanctified the whole union with the divine consciousness.
What solitude in nature meant to him comes across strongly in the last scene of his play The Bogey Man. Here he portrays his real self, the recluse, in his natural setting, and hints at what an estrangement it meant to commune with worldly values made by man. Was not his nature to show how one can and should enrich and complete our secular way of life and adumbrate the values motivating the holy man, whose way of thinking he was representing?
In the Nature Meditations, Hazrat Inayat Khan gives us a means of introducing this way of thinking, feeling, and experiencing into our everyday routine. Obviously man's need for oneness with nature is not fulfilled simply by hiking or camping in nature, but by penetrating into the consciousness of the trees and the flowers, of the planet and the atoms, experiencing what it would be like to be that flower or tree and getting into the spirit of the wind on a landscape or of a musical note: in fact, switching to a totally different focus of consciousness, tuning in to a transfigured world which, as the Sufis say, "transpires through that which appears." This means discovering a whole other dimension of life and re-establishing a bond with nature which has been so often violated; and it requires a sacred tryst between man and nature, his promise to respect her and to sanctify his relationship with her in the name of God.
Nature Meditations
The phrases that follow were given so that they could be repeated silently on the breath. This is indicated by roman type for the inhalation, parentheses where the breath is held, and italics for the exhalation.
TREES
Trees with branches downwards:
I see Your hand
blessing me.
Trees rising upwards:
Praying for me
with hands raised upwards.
Trees in the night:
My heart stands in waiting and hope
as the trees stand still through the darkness of night.
FOR THE BEAUTY OF SPRING,
FIELDS WITH FLOWERS
I see Your beloved beauty
in all colors and forms.
Let my spirit reflect, O Beloved,
the beauty of Your color and form.
FOR ALL THAT GIVES
SEED AND FRUIT
A field with corn:
You are the life
and You are life's sustenance.
LANDSCAPE
I feel Your presence in this landscape
which draws my heart so close to You.
This landscape in my heart
is a reflection of Your beauty.
MOUNTAINS
Let me stand by truth in all calamities
as the mountain stands unshaken through storms.
Strengthen my heart in Your faith
as the rock of the mountain.
Help me to climb the mountain path
which leads to Your shrine.
I look up to You with raised head and hands stretched
in worship as the mountain.
SPACE
As invisible as space
(and as inconceivable as time)
is Your being, O Lord!
To rise above worry and fear:
You are present
all through space.
To seek the truth in mystery
I behold through space
Your limitless presence.
Let me greet You in space,
O formless and colorless God.
Artistic:
Fill my heart with Your beauty
as You fill with Your creation empty space.
SKY
Envelop me as in the light of Your divine spirit
raise me from the denseness of the earth.
SUN
Sunshine:
Let the sun of Your glory
shine in my heart.
Sunrise:
Raise my soul towards You
with the rise of the sun.
Sunset:
Let me unite with You
at the sunset.
Sun
Let the sun of Your divine spirit rise from my heart,
that morn may break out of the dance of life.
MOON
Moonlight:
Let my heart reflect Your light
as the moon reflects the sun.
Rising Moon:
Let my soul advance toward You
as the rising moon progresses towards fullness.
Waning Moon:
Let Your light be my torch
through the darkness of mind.
[Against troubles of worldly life.]
Let Your light guide my path
through the darkness of mind.
[Against confusion in the spiritual path.]
For the day of the full moon:
Fill my heart with Your light
so fully as the full moon.
DARKNESS OF NIGHT
Through the darkness of night
my soul seeks for You.
SKY WITH STARS
Let my heart become a planet
in Your heaven.
Let me receive Your divine message
as the stars receive light from Your hidden face.
Poetical:
Fill my heart with Your love
that my every teardrop may become a star.
[Jemal asking for wisdom and beauty.]
CLOUDS
Still clouds filled with color and light:
Let me reflect Your light through my thoughts
as the clouds reflect in color the light of the sun.
Let from my heart rise clouds
bringing to view Your beauty and color.
Let Your beauty shine through my heart
as through the clouds come and spread out the rays of the sun.
Rain clouds and clouds of storm:
While the clouds of Your mercy are to be sent on earth,
the feelings of my heart ascend towards You.
When dark clouds surround the sky and people seek for the sun,
so in my dark hours I look for You.
The sky is surrounded by dark clouds
and my heart by gloom, seeking after Your light, my beloved sun.
When the sun is covered by clouds and darkness prevails,
then my heart cries aloud, "My sun, my beloved sun."
The dark clouds brought romance
between You, my Beloved, and me.
RAIN
Send the shower of Your mercy and compassion
on humanity.
SNOW
Let Your knowledge cover my heart
as the snow covers the ground.
Let my heart melt in Your light
as the snow before the sun.
Let my heart show the purity of snow
in the path of righteousness.
Pour on me Your eternal life
as snow on earth.
Make my heart delighted
by the snowfall of Your knowledge of Truth.
WATER
Spring
Let the stream of Your wisdom and joy rise in my soul
as the spring of water.
Open my heart
that Your stream may rise up as the spring.
Let my life become the spring of Your infinite life,
running eternally forever and ever.
Running water:
My life is running towards You, my ocean,
as the river runs to the sea.
Still water:
Let my heart reflect Your calm
as the stillness of the water.
[The most inspiring is the spring; next comes running water, and the least inspiring is still water]
WIND
Strong wind:
My soul blows towards You
as the wind.
Gentle, soft wind [the wind fluttering in leaves]:
You blow my heart's fire
by fanning it with the fluttering leaves.
Every leaf becomes Your finger
when You fillest the flute with Your breath.
Let me receive Your message
as the branches which swing in ecstasy.
STORM
My soul is still pointing to You
Though my life is going through a storm.
Your invasion as through the storm
arouses my deepest passion for You.
I hold ear to the depth of Your blessing
when the storm breaks through life's sea.
OCEAN
Let my heart become the ocean
of Your divine perfection.
My head bends in humility and rises with Your might
as the ever-rising waves of the sea.
The waves of joy rise in my heart
when I see Your nature manifest in the sea.
I stand like the bubble
in You, my ocean.
My life is a wave
of the ocean of Your eternal life.
You are the ocean
and I am the wave.
Let me not be drowned
in the sea of mortal life.
Teach me, Lord, to walk
over life's sea.
AIR
Speak, God, to me
through the air.
Heal me, God,
by the waves of the air.
In the air I hear
Your consoling voice.
In the touch of the air
I feel Your sympathetic caress.
Lift my soul, air,
and carry it to His divine spheres.
The air moves my heart
to tears in Your love.
The air brings Your message
and turns me into ecstasy.
I rise above birth and death
through the waves of the air.
FIRE
Fire, divine purifier,
purify my heart.
Fire, O power of God,
purify my mind from all evil.
Fire, in You, I see
the Maker, Purifier, and Healer, God.
Let love's fire remain in my heart
and all else be burnt.
Let me live in Your warmth;
raise me above the coldness of the earth.
Kindle, Lord, fire in my heart,
that life may become clearer to me.
Let the tortures of life burn up all
which keeps me from rising to Your spheres of freedom and peace.
Destroy, Lord, my infirmities
by the fire of Your love.
Raise my soul up
as the rising of the flame.
Let my false self be turned into ashes
that my true self be born as a phoenix.
ANIMALS
Group of animals:
I am sure that You care for me
as You look after Your speechless creatures.
O Shepherd of humanity,
You look after all Your creatures.
HUMAN NATURE
Human beings [for both men and women]:
In man I see, my beloved Lord.
Your own image.
I stand at Your gate
when I am in the presence of man.
When I greet man,
I bow at Your gate.
I find Your shrine
at the heart of man.
Woman [meditations for man on woman]:
I gently approach woman
lest I may disturb Your womanly tenderness.
Your divine mercy is reflected
through the heart of the mother.
I recognize Your divine grace
in the tenderness of woman's heart.
In woman's virtue
I recognize Your divine purity.
I experience Your divine perfection
with woman who completes my life.
Man [meditations for woman on man]:
In man I recognize
Your loving protection.
My soul's ideal is manifest to me
in the form of man.
In the arms of man I experience
Your divine embrace.
I experience Your divine perfection
with man, who completes my life.
Raise me above the denseness of life
and allow me to recognize man in You.
You are the man
all souls look to You for love.
Childhood:
I see Your divine purity
in the innocent face of the child.
Your message I receive
through the happy smiles of the infant.
The air of heaven the child brings to me
when it comes on earth.
I depend entirely on Your protection, my Lord,
as an innocent child.
Guide me aright, my Lord;
I am as a child in Your divine path.
Purify my heart
as the heart of an innocent child.
Old age:
Let me approach near to You
as I grow old.
In my veneration for the aged,
I worship You, O Lord.
Bless me through the kind glance of the aged
and teach me in their words.
The Sage or godly man:
To the godly man to whom all angels bow,
I bow.
Let Your servant, O Lord,
be my master.
My holy pilgrimage
is the sacred dwelling of the sage.
The presence of the godly man
for me is the holy river.
It is You who comes on earth
to save humanity in the form of the sage.
Let my heart reflect
the spirit of the holy ones.
Let me enter Your dwelling
through the heart of Your holy one.
Let me become Your body,
You become my spirit, O holy one.
On the prophet:
Let me recognize Your visage
in the image of Your avatar.
Teach me, O Lord,
through the words of Your messenger.
Warn me, Lord, through Your prophet,
before I step into error.
Heal my soul
through the inspiring glance of Your messiah.
I see Your spirit, O rasul,
under the veil of my spiritual guide.
Divinity I see
in the spirit of rasul.
Your own ideal I see
in the perfection of rasul.
My heart is no more mine,
it is Your own, my spiritual guide.
My soul is Your spirit, O rasul,
now I exist no more.
I gave heart and soul to my guide, my teacher,
and what remains now is You, O Lord.
ON THE SILENCE AND STILLNESS
IN NATURE
Through the silence of nature,
I attain Your divine peace.
O sublime nature,
in Your stillness let my heart rest.
You are patiently awaiting the moment
to manifest through the science of sublime nature.
O nature sublime, speak to me through silence,
for I am awaiting in silence like you the call of God.
O nature sublime,
through Your silence I hear Your cry.
My heart is tuned to the quietness,
that the stillness of nature inspires.
ON LIGHT AND SHADOW
All light is Your radiance,
and shade is the shadow of Your beauty.
You are in both: in light as radiance,
in the dark as shade.
You change Your place,
but not Yourself, O light.
Light is Your manifestation;
shade is Your withdrawing.
In the light You are manifest;
in the shade You are hidden.
Light is Your eye
and shade is its pupil.
The shade adds to the light
as zero adds to the figure.
Light represents Your heavens
and shade Your earth.
ON COLORS
Yellow:
In yellow I see
the flame of Your light.
I see in yellow
Your love and Your light.
You have adorned with yellow
the earth and Your heavens.
Let my heart ripen
as a green leaf ripens to yellow.
I see Your two wings
in the green water and the yellow earth.
Let the yellow flames of Your divine light
turn my false ego into ashes.
Saffron:
In saffron shines
the light of Your majesty.
Saffron is the color
of Your kingly grandeur.
In saffron I feel
Your passionate love.
Saffron brings
enchantment and heavenly joy to my heart.
Brown:
In brown I watch
Your soft smiles proving to me Your mild nature.
Your ripe nature
manifests in brown.
In brown I see
Your constant endurance.
Your charity of heart
manifests in the color brown.
Gold:
O Alchemist eternal,
turn my heart into gold.
Orange:
In orange I see
Your light culminated, perfected.
The sun brings to me
Your greetings, clad to an orange garb.
I see in orange
the glorious vision of Your heavenly riches.
Through orange You bring delight
to my yearning heart.
In orange I see
Your wisdom and Your compassion.
Red:
In the red color I see
Your glowing countenance.
In red I see
the bleeding of Your heart in sympathy for Your creatures.
Red shows me
Your life in its perfect glow.
Red brings life
to my hungry heart.
Dye my heart red,
that it may take the color of Your own life.
Violet:
O ever-youthful Beloved, from violet I hear
Your silent groan of heart.
Beloved, I hear Your soft lamentation
in violet.
Purple:
In purple I find
Your deepest woes.
I sympathize with Your grief
seeing it manifest in purple.
Scarlet:
Your deep sorrow spears through my heart,
rising through the scarlet blood.
Scarlet brings to my heart
Your eternal martyrdom.
Pink:
The color pink raises in my heart
love for Your being.
Blue:
In the blue color I get
the glimpse of Your heavens,
I see heaven shining out
in Your blue eyes.
I behold the blue of Your eyes
in the sky.
Out of blue comes Your uplifting influence,
which raises me from earth.
In blue I see
the purity of Your nature.
Raise me high
in the blue spheres of Your heaven.
I feel Your presence most
when all is blue to me.
Green:
In the green color I see
Your life springing.
I see Your two wings
in the green water and the yellow earth.
The green carpet of Your heaven
is spread on the earth.
Reflect, God, Your compassion
in the tone of the green nature.
Your heart's emotions
are expressed in the ever-rising waves of the green sea.
Through green You speak;
through blue You are silent.
Let my soul move in Your Thought
as the green in the forest.
Give me the patience of the green trees
that stand still, awaiting Your command.
I ask for the bowl of green poison
that brings the life that follows death.
[From the initiation of Shiva, compare bowl of bitterness.]
White:
In white I see Your purity
manifested to my eyes.
In white lilies I bring You
an offering of my open heart.
Black:
In the color black
I feel the depth of Your being.
You show in black
Your eternal being.
In black You give me a proof
of being above all changes.
Who is behind utter darkness,
Your endless self.
Black is death,
yet life eternal.
Grey:
I recognize Your face
covered under the grey veil.
In grey I see the sign
of the maturity of Your spirit.
In the heart of grey
the world is reflected.
Your heavens are supported
by grey ceilings.
My deep sigh rises as a grey vapor
for Your consoling words as rain.
ON GOD
You know all my needs
and You shall grant them.
O knower of my heart,
fulfill my desires.
It is You whom I see
in all names and forms.
You are closer to me
than myself.
Let Your might strengthen me,
(Your light inspire me),
and let Your love move my soul to the ultimate joy.
Make me conscious of You,
that I may lose the consciousness of my being.
Let every movement of life
whisper Your name to my ears.
God, be You before me when I am awake,
and with me when I am asleep.
In Your nature
I feel Your presence.
O, Creator,
who are hidden under Your wonderful creation.
Speak, God to me
through Your nature.
I stand as a bridge
between You and Your nature.
Lift, God, the curtain
which divides You from me.
Remove the wall from my sight
that I may attain Your presence.
Unveil Your face, O Lord,
that I may behold Your vision.
GENERAL
For general cases and to raise the faculty to find new ones:
Let earth reflect heaven,
that I may read life as an open book.
Let the sun of Your divine spirit rise from my heart
that man may break out of the darkness of life.
Let Your world become
my life's expression.
Talk through me, my Lord;
the ears of my heart are listening.
Let my life be fruitful
in its every aspect.
ON MOVEMENT
I touch Your life in movement,
and feel Your spirit in stillness.
Let Your every movement become a word for me,
which was lost for me so long.
Every movement of nature
is a signal from You.
Every movement covers
Your voice.
The whole universe is an instrument
whose rhythm is conducted by Your baton.
Let me see Your divine movement
in all moving things of the universe.
Let me see the secret
hidden behind Your movement.
DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS
Inward movement means strength and control.
Outward movement means exhaustion and expulsion.
Zigzag movement means strength but destruction.
Side movement directed from right to left means strength and power.
Side movement directed from left to right means gentleness and modesty.
Side movement directed upwards means love and purity.
Side movement directed downwards means affection and humility.
ON STRAIGHT LINES
In the straight line
You are still.
The straight line tells me
You are the Only Being.
The straight line speaks
of Your justice.
The straight line shows me
the path to You.
The straight line expresses
the beginning of creation.
The straight line tells us
that You are One Alone.
The straight line cries aloud
that there is none besides You.
The straight line promises
His ease.
The straight line represents
clearness.
ON HORIZONTAL LINES
The horizontal line expresses the hindrances on the path.
The horizontal line conveys death.
The horizontal line suggests stillness.
The horizontal line is the obstacle.
The horizontal line is preventive of action.
The horizontal line shows annihilation.
The horizontal line is expressive of mortality.
The horizontal line is a sign of failure.
THE CROSS
The horizontal line with the vertical is the sign of perfection.
The horizontal line with the vertical is the sign of life.
The horizontal line with the vertical is the sign of perfect joy.
The horizontal line with the vertical is the sign of experience.
The horizontal line with the vertical is the cause of resurrection.
The horizontal line with the vertical is the means of divine perfection.
THE CIRCLE
The circle is the sign of God.
The circle is the sign of perfection.
The circle is the sign of unchangeableness.
The circle is the sign of the beginning of life
and of the extinction of life.
The circle is the sign of beginning and of ending.
The circle is the sign of the source and of the goal.
The circle means nothing, everything, and all things.
The circle is life and is death.
The circle is richness.
The circle is an unending pain and an everlasting joy.
The circle is the lake in which the souls are lost and the fountain
where the souls arise.
The circle expresses the whirlwind through all the aspects of life.
The circle represents the world.
The circle represents the planets.
The circle represents the secret.
The circle represents the opening and the closing.
The circle represents the absorption and the expulsion.
FLOWERS
I see Your mystery
hidden under the petals of the flowers.
Flowers are
Your dancing rhythm.
In flowers I see
the female beauty of Your spirit.
The flowers tell me
how beautiful You art.
In the color of flowers
I see the color of Your countenance.
In the form of flowers
I behold Your image.
I see Your skill, O perfect Artist,
in the making of flowers.
Flowers speak to me
of Your loveliness.
Out of flowers comes a fragrance
which moves my heart to ecstasy.
The sweet fragrance of the flowers
brings to me the message of Your sweetness.
Who made the flowers so beautiful,
(colored them and gave them fragrance).
it is You, my Lord.
[The style of Zarathustra]
ROSES
The rose offers to me Your message of love,
I offer to You my devotion in rose.
In the rose I see
Your delightful countenance.
Let my heart bloom in Your love
as the rose.
My lips are closed with prayer in them
as the rosebud.
Empower my heart that I may pull myself together
like the heart of the rose controlling its petals.
Let me retain Your beauty,
which I have as the rose.
The divine spark in me is as a drop from Your ocean,
let me preserve it as the rose preserves the dewdrop.
In the red rose I see
Your heart bleeding over the corruption of humanity.
In the white rose I see
the purity of Your divine being.
In the pink rose I see
Your divine love and compassion.
In the cream rose I see
Your wisdom.
In the yellow rose I see
Your divine light.
Oh, turn my heart red
like Your lovely red rose.
My heart turns into a pink rose
in Your divine love.
PRAYERS FOR THE PASSING STAGE
A second step is not in words, but in looking at the picture in the mind. A further stage is not saying the prayers aloud but holding the picture in the mind and thinking or saying the prayer without expressing it in words. Keep it in feeling and recognize in it the divine being. Make your breath rhythmic as you do this.
A stage in passing from the first step to the second one is not seeing each separate thing as an action in God, but seeing the whole nature as one living face of God.
The prayers of this practice are:
Every form I see is
Your own form, my Lord.
Every sound I hear is
Your own voice.
In the fragrance I smell
the perfume of Your spirit.
In every word spoken to me
I hear Your voice, my Lord.
All that touches me is
Your own touch.
In everything I taste
I experience the syrup of Your delicious spirit.
In every place
I recognize You, my Lord.
Every word that touches my ears
is Your message.
Everything that touches me thrills me
with the joy of Your kiss.
Wherever I roam
I need You;
Wherever I reach
I find You, my Lord.
Wherever I look I see
Your glorying face;
whatever I touch
I touch Your beloved hand.
Whomever I see,
I see You in his soul.
From whomever I take anything,
I take it from You.
Whomever I give something,
I give it humbly to You.
Whoever comes to me,
to me it is Your call.
To whomever I call,
I call at Your own gate.
Whenever I nod to anyone,
I bow before Your throne.
In showing my sympathy to anyone
I express my love to You, my beloved.
THE SECOND STAGE
In the second process no words are used. There are two ways of doing this, with open eyes fixed upon nature or with closed eyes creating the picture of nature in one's own mind. Including the prayers, there are three different processes, with a passing step from the first to the second.
WHAT COLOR FLOWERS
ONE SHOULD GIVE
One should use:
For a dying person, white flowers, with the thought that
his passing should be peaceful.
For disorders of the blood, white flowers, preferably jasmine.
For nervous young people of an emotional nature who have not
found themselves, white lilies.
For nervous persons unstable in mind and body, yellow flowers.
Tulips are best, but all kinds of yellow flowers are good.
For anemia, red tulips, red roses, red flowers of any kind.
For a person who fears death, who is restless and in despair on
his sickbed, pink roses or pink flowers.
For persons who are so strongly impressed by illness that they
can't get better, blue flowers.
For obsessed persons or those who are ill from some evil spirit's
influence, any kind of orchid.
(but always remember the thought behind the flower.)
WHAT DIFFERENT FLOWERS GIVE
The rose gives development.
The orchid gives artistry.
White flowers give development of character.
Flowers with perfume give personality.
Yellow flowers give brilliance.
Sapphire flowers give joy.
Purple flowers give weight to the personality.
STONES
Emerald = progress, productivity, especially in beauty and art.
Sapphire = art and inspiration.
Ruby = love; sorrow and difficulties.
Topaz = harmony.
Diamond = righteousness.
Never use a pearl. It stands for imprisonment because it comes out of a shell. It brings confinement and wealth, with all the sorrows which belong to it.
Do not wear an opal. It has all colors; it represents positive and negative, and that is not good. There must be either one or the other. They are both good, but not at the same time.
USE OF COLORS
Healing colors are light colors:
White, cream, spring green, sky blue, flower yellow.
For skin disease:
White, cream.
For nervous illness and consumption:
Sky blue.
For nervous illness:
Flower yellow.
For worn-out, depleted, and old people:
Spring green.
For crippled people:
Sandalwood color (yellow-brown earth).
For orphans:
Spring green, yellow, pink, sky blue.
For the blind:
Sky blue.
For the insane:
Sandalwood color.
For cremation halls:
Smoke color, from grey to white going upwards.
[never use mauve for this occasion. It is the color of mourning and is bad for the dead. A person who is expecting danger or sorrow has a mauve aura.]
For students' building:
Dark amber and red, with an amber light for inspiration, or for youth, imagination, intellectual studies.
For prisons:
Blue of all shades.
For business places:
Deep, striking colors; blue, pink.
For churches and devotion:
Red, pink, blue, green, yellow, silver, gold.
For the higher aspect (illumination): Red.
For aspiration: Blue.
For spreading a religious message: Green
For virtue (piety): Silver.
For grace and benediction: Gold
For clothing:
In daily life do not wear purple, especially not purple in which red dominates, for it brings destruction. For mysticism and spiritual purposes purple is good, but not for daily life.
Do not wear red and blue in combination. This brings thunder, and when fire is in the air it brings destruction.
For convents [nuns]:
Mauve (not scarlet).
For monasteries [monks]:
Pink, cream.
For virgin girls:
Turquoise.
For future brides:
Coral red.
For consoling:
Spring green, yellow.
To calm down:
The least striking colors, yellowish brown. Mountain, thickly
covered with green, deep valleys.
Against melancholy:
Apricot. The more sky, stars, sun, moon, the better.
To get above lower Thoughts:
Cream. Angels, churches, domes.
HIGHER CONTEMPLATIONS
These meditations, designated "for higher initiates (in the Sufi Order) only" in the original manuscript, are presented here as a separate group.
TREES
Let my mind bear sweet fruit and fragrant flowers,
as this tree is planted on the soil of Your spirit.
MOUNTAINS
Let Your might be my might
to lift the mountains of life's responsibility.
EARTH
I bend towards the Mother Earth
in delight to the Father in heaven.
SPACE
Earth into earth, water into water,
let my soul immerse in You through space.
SUN
Let the sun of Your divine spirit rise from my heart,
that morn may break out of the dance of life.
MOON
Let Your perfection be mine
and my imperfection be lost as the darkness in the full moon.
SKY WITH STARS
Open a way through Your heavens,
that I may arrive at Your dwelling place.
Let my soul reflect Your light,
that every glance I cast may become a comet.
[Jelal asking for power]
CLOUDS
I shall penetrate the black heart
of the clouds to reach You, my Lord.
AIR
Air, carry the message of my feeling heart
far and beyond.
FIRE
Let the flame that rises in my heart
illuminate my path.
HUMAN NATURE
Woman [meditations for man on woman]:
Woman, my steppingstone
in the ascent towards Your shrine.
I experience Your perfection
in the union with my other half.
[for beloved and married ones.]
Childhood:
Teach me innocence, O Lord,
through the child, an angel on earth.
I rise above all worries and bitterness of life
as a child.
Old Age:
My soul is getting to be aged
and my heart is turning grey by Your silver light.
The Sage or Godly Man:
I lose my self in the self of the godly man
to unite with You.
ON THE SILENCE AND STILLNESS
IN NATURE
O nature sublime, pregnant of divine spirit,
manifest as a prayer, which rises from heart.
Speak, God, in silence,
this moment my heart is in tune with the stillness of Your nature.
Though the ever-moving is my nature,
You are my very being, O stillness.
ON LIGHT AND SHADOW
In the light I see Your beauty;
in shade I find Your mystery.
Light is Your face,
and shade is Your bosom.
ON GOD
Let my self turn
into Your being.
Let my life become
Your soul.
Let me forget myself
in Your consciousness.
I drink the wine of Your presence
and lose myself in its intoxication.
One more cup, my beloved,
that I may entirely lose myself.
Let me be drowned in Your divine ocean
as a pearl in wine.
GENERAL
Unfold Your secret through nature
and reveal Your mystery through my heart.
[This one will rouse the faculty of finding other nature prayers for oneself;
if the prayer is continued, one finds others.]
Let my mind bear sweet fruit and fragrant flowers,
as this tree is planted on the soil of Your spirit.
You may order a copy of the book itself through Omega Publications.