Inayatiyya Healing Activity

Prayer as Social Action – Actualizing Prayer 

Sometimes, when you sit still, it can seem as if the silence is actually an ocean of sound/texture/ life, and you rest, feeling a sense of self-awareness – of potential –in that silence – a potential that can change everything. 

“Thy Life is in all forms, Thy Love in all beings.” - Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan 

At a meeting between Pir Zia, the most senior person of the Sufi Healing Order world wide, and some of the senior teachers of the Healing Order in North America, he shared with us an inspiration. He spoke with passion of a practice. We were deeply moved and as with all practices, we did it for over a month before sharing it. I can say, with assurance, the practice worked beyond our expectations, and I’d like to share it with you. 

This class is for those of you who have been waiting, or who are yearning, to be helping the world transform, or to bring something new into your life and the life around you. 

The Orientation: 
This practice begins with an orientation to that which is beyond life, is the source of all life, and which sustains all of life. The first step is to identify and name that for your self. I’ve heard some call this the Divine, or the One, or God, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, or Kwan Yin, or Mary, or Unity, or something else. The first step in this practice is to find the correct name for you. This is what you will orient to. This name is what you will use. The practice uses prayer: communication with that which you identified. I’m going to use the words ‘the Divine’ to describe that. 

Step 1: 

Pray/ask the Divine for what you wish for in the world or in your self or life. Be clear; ask for one thing; be specific. I’ll give a simple example: ‘Dear Divine One, I wish the homeless in my city had food and warmth this winter.” 

Step 2: 

Check your conscience. Is there any place in you where you are blocking this from happening? Are you praying for it and yet are not open to it happening or don’t believe it is possible? Is there something else happening within your thinking or your expectations that holds it back? (For example, you might remember that you have some bags of clothes you never use and never will use, sitting in your attic. You could share them with those in need. Or perhaps you realize you are throwing out food all the time, and decide to eat smaller portions so you aren’t wasting food, and use the money you save to help the hungry.) Or perhaps you have chosen a prayer that is too vague or too large. Check your thinking. Realign your expectations and your thoughts. 

Step 3: 

Do one thing in answer to your prayer. In our example, you could go to a homeless shelter and give a donation of money, time, or food, or blankets. Or you could send blankets to a group that is collecting supplies for a place devastated by a natural disaster. Or you could drive to a place where the homeless live, with supplies, and offer them. Do one thing that brings the answer to your prayer in to the world. 

Step 4: 

Continue to trust that the prayer is being answered. Trust without reason is called faith. Let faith continue to hold open the passage you created, of your prayer into the world. Know, or hold in your feeling, that the prayer is being answered. 

Step 5: 

Go into your life and when the thought of this prayer comes to your mind, remember that the prayer is being answered. (Yes, if you choose to, you could continue to be part of the answer in a physical way.) 

Remember – 
Choose one thing. 
Be clear. 
Ask for what is needed. 
Check your conscience. 
Do one action that answers the prayer. 
Have trust that the prayer is being answered – faith. 

From Pir Vilayat: 

“Are you willing to be what you could be, if you would be, what you might be?” 

And it’s auxiliary: 
“Are you willing to do what you could do, if you would do, 

what you might do? 
And another from me: 

Let go and let the Divine…(and you could help by being part of the answer to your prayer)….. 

May your Life be filled with Blessing,

Devi