Subud Life
Introduce Yourself - Introducing myself: Yafiah Katherine
Yafiah - Oct 19, 2006 - 07:33 AM
Post subject: Introducing myself: Yafiah Katherine
Hello all,
I live in Spain but come from England where I used to live in Devon. I've been in Subud since 1972 and I spend most of my time writing and studying. I write Sufi poetry, fiction, and academic stuff on Islam and Sufism. I'm a bit isolated up here in the mountains but I take the long bus ride down to Orgiva for latihan at Jaramuza. I also love dancing, by the way, and used to do choreography and performance. It's great to be here on the forum and I'm also enjoying Subud Radio.
Ramadan Mubarak!
love,
Yafiah
greenlore - Oct 21, 2006 - 04:48 AM
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Welcome to the forum, Yafiah!
As you are knowledgeable about Sufism, I would like to hear your thoughts on the following article (link below) about the connection between Subud and Sufism. Thanks - Mike
http://www.raymondo.demon.co.uk/subud/sufi.htm
Yafiah - Oct 21, 2006 - 10:37 AM
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Hello Dear Mike,
Thank you for the welcome. I am familiar with the article by Dirk Campbell to which you refer and the subject of Sufism and Subud has often been in my thoughts. To answer your question fully I will need to write a longer message and I intend to start working on that, so this is to let you know it might take a few days. For the present I will say that I can only speak from my own experience and, with due respect to Idries Shah, I would not choose him as my starting point for a comparison as he is not generally representative of the many Sufi brother/sisterhoods. I perceive many parallels between Sufi practice and experience with the practice of the latihan kedjiwaan, however I would not speak of influences or even connections but more of an experience of spiritual realities that are open to those practising latihan and also to the sincere Sufi. The Real (Al-Haqq in Arabic) is the Real, and is present in the inner content of all religions for those surrendered sufficiently to receive it through the blessing of the One (God, Allah, Yahweh). In the latihan we are greatly helped in this surrender by receiving the contact between the power of God within us to God's guidance. Like a piercing of the veils of the ego (nafsu) to let in the light and to enable our souls to grow. We receive this as a gift whose benefit is beyond imagining. I speak only from my limited experience and from what I have understood from Bapak's talks in addition to some knowledge and experience of the Sufi way. It would be good to know what you know about Sufi's or any specific questions you have so I can attempt a better answer. You are welcome to email me privately if you wish as the answer is bound to be long and I don't know if others here are also interested.
Ramadan Mubarak.
Yafiah
HarunKennedy - Oct 21, 2006 - 11:29 AM
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I am Yafiah. Especially since you appear to write with humility and sincerity. I would very much like to learn more.
Thanks.
Harun.
Yafiah - Oct 21, 2006 - 12:04 PM
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Hello Harun. Thank you for your interest. As soon as I am able I will post a more thorough response to Mike's question on here. In the meantime I forgot to mention that if you wish to take a look, there is a website that has excerpts from the writings of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. He is the 13th century Sufi master whom Bapak spoke of as having a similar experience to the latihan. He is also in the chain of transmission of many Sufi orders. His writings have been translated by Subud brother Muhtar Holland and this is the website of the publishers, Al-Baz, created by Subud brother Ruslan Moore. I find the excerpts from 'Secret of Secrets' very good.
http://www.al-baz.com/shaikhabdalqadir/
Happy reading,
Yafiah
greenlore - Oct 23, 2006 - 05:40 AM
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I am not knowledgeable enough about Sufism to ask you intelligent questions about it, Yafiah. However, it seems to me that the latihan is the very essence of the Sufi practice of dihkr, the remembrance of God. Is that a sensible conclusion? - Mike
Yafiah - Oct 23, 2006 - 08:37 PM
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You are right Mike. Zikr (or Dhikr) which means remembering God, is the heart of the Sufi way. In Subud we can say that latihan is our Zikr and it comes through our surrender. In latihan, even before becoming Muslim, I often repeated a word and it would come spontaneously without my understanding it. Now i recognize many of these words as the Names of God that are also used in Sufi Zikr.
Will be posting more soon as promised, insh'allah (God willing)
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