The Sufi Order seeks
God with an open heart

TO UNDERSTAND the Sufi Order, one has only to look
at its symbol — a heart with wings. The heart is a recep-
tacle on earth of the divine spirit,

divine spirit it soars heavenward.

Up on the eleventh heaven
(floor, actually) of Vancouver res-
ident Margaret Gabriel’s highrise
apartment, she looks at me direct-
ly with her pale blue eyes and of-
fers her definition of a Sufi: ‘To
be a Sufi is to have an open
heart.”’

Gabriel is a member o! the Sufi
Order, a modern branch founded
in the early 1900s by Hazrat In-
ayat Khan and based on the age-
old precepts of Sufism. It’s not
entirely certain where Sufism had
its roots, but its mysticism is
rooted in aacient [slam.

Although different orders over
the centuries have employed dif-
ferent’ methods, ultimately the
Sufi goal is to seek God in the
heart of mankind.

It does this without prescribing
a specific dogma, but through
teaching and meditation.

The Sufi Order is now lead by
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. His
benign face, almost on the verge
of a wink, smiles from a frame in
Gabriel’s living room, alongside

mini-statues of the Chinese god--

dess Kwan-Yin, Mary and Bud-
dha.

The order has a strong inter-
faith message, describing itself as
a community of seekers who are
drawn to the same ideals of ser-
vice to God and to humanity.

The first Sunday in every month
the group holds a Universal Wor-
ship Service, in which people of
all religions can worship together
and listen to readings from the
world’s scriptures. The service is
presently held in the Quaker
meeting house on 1090 West 70th

ft.

Gabriel believes what attracts
people to the universal worship
service is that they are ‘‘looking
for ways to worship and glorify
God, and they’re having trouble
with the old way of doing
things.’’ She describes the service
as ‘ta chance to express a longing
for God."

Herself a Catholic, Gabriel
points out that to be a member of
the Sufi Order one does not have
to abandon one’s own religion.
She has found that her involve-
ment with Sufism nas lead her to
a greater understanding of the
Catholic mass.

In the beginning of the univer-
sal worship service, an altar stands
with eight candles on it: only one,
the fargest, is lit. It represents

God.

Three ‘‘cherags,"’ Sufi Order
initiates trained to conduct the
service, (ideaily, there’s one to
represent each major religion)
enter and one says the invocation:
Toward the One, the Perfection of
Love. Harmony and Beauty, the
Only Being, united with all the il-
luminated souls, who form the
embodiment of the Master, the

Spirit of Guidance.*
Then, each of the six candles

representing the six main religions
of the world, Hinduism, Bud-
dhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam are lit to
these words: *’fo the Glory of the
omnipresent God, we kindle the
light symbolically representing the

Point in the .
Right Direction

By Barbara Black
News Reporier

Hindu (or other) religion..."’

Finally, the last candle is fit
with this invocation: — ‘To the
Glory of the omnipresent God we
kindle the light symbolically rep-
resenting all those who, whether
known or unknown to the world,
have held aloft the light of Truth
through the darkness of human
ignorance."’ A cardle is sometimes
lit for other istons such as
Sikhism, natic «figion or the
divine feminine, a.7s Gabriel.

The cherag then reads from the
scriptures of each religion, a silent
meditation follows and then a

and when it holds the

sermon or lecture on a spiritual
theme.

Also offered every third Friday
is the Dances of Universal Peace,
a kind of interfaith celebration of
the divinity in all.

For many it is a moving experi-
ence, says Gabriel. ‘You usually
pass someone, hold their hands
and look deep into their eyes, and
you see who that person really is,
you see that divine person.’*

“The first three years [ just
cried. | just felt my heart was
opened. J felt almost as though
my true self was being recognized.
It's just so beautiful, you really
feel the unity of it.”

The next universal worship ser-
vice will be held on Sunday, Aug.
4 at the Quaker meeting house.
People of all faiths are invited to
attend. Call Margaret Gabriel at
669-9098 or Carol Sill 688-3174
for further information.

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