This is a transcript of a handwritten collection of writings by Atiya.
The transcription is verbatim, (with the exception of spelling) making no attempt to add punctuation. In many cases formatting of the handwritten selection has been preserved.
undated
God's dream of beauty became the Earth.
God's dream of Harmony is expressed in every living thing.
Examine a leaf, know its' functions, life
and how most are sacrificed for the sake of the tree.
God's will is found only in his work - in the nature of all things.
Aug. 5th 1973
In the quiet hours
of the night
great peace grows
around me.
Filling me then with
vibrant life
abounding love
joy.
A shadow cannot be cast upon the light.
July 29th 1973
The power of the Ocean
as it roars along the sands
As it bursts into foam
Ebbs back again to sea
Returning always
Pulled by the moon
Drawn to the Earth
Roaring waves, snarling, smiling
or smoothly rolling
Returning always
To the whole of the sea
And so are we sent out
Pulled, and drawn
and tried
but
Returning always
undated
Within this body Divine Lord make your home
With these hands oh Lord do your work.
In this non-existence
then
I will be free
Your gentleness, your joy
and humor
Sometimes through me is
expressed
Yet in my self I recognize
your essence
Feeling empty
when you have gone.
undated
As the dead moon reflects and spreads the Sun's light, so may we being not so dead reflect ever so dimly, bits of Divine radiance.
undated
For Ann Nicholas Cleveland Oh
To you a rose
His flower
What would I do without
His presence and his
love?
Ever vibrant, glowing ever
being scented
by his special rose
undated
Poor Darling -
My beloved pupil
So you have taken trivia from my home?
How it grieves my heart
That I have failed
to teach you
better.
Sunday July 29 1973
Your presence was near by, my heart rejoiced !
How lucky those who knew you well, to see your smile, and hear your voice.
To walk beside you in the trees.
How I longed to hear you laugh.
And so you laughed.
How much I understood from this.
So much you have tried to teach me dear Inayat
and how little I have understood.
Yet you keep trying
My patient Teacher.
June 4th 1980
My soul awaits your decision - afraid to desire.
Needing the serenity that says again and again
I trust, knowing your love
Oh glorious love
I need your gentle
touch
and
The constant awareness
of your being
That I may die
to my own lack of
faith.
Atiya
May 15th 1973
Your rose scented hands caressed my brow, your sweet voice, gentle as the evening breeze instructed me toward your path.
How can I aspire toward this which is so high?
I held out my hands, "Let these be your tools", my answer.
"Let it be" - "I will be with you always"
"Be gentle always, but be firm"
"Be kind and thoughtful but do not indulge others" " Continue in love and forgiveness, while holding fast to your convictions - for patience is a mark of Saints and endurance is the exemplification of faith.
Remain open to others who will come but be alert and wary of deceivers who would obstruct your path, you will known them by their vibration.
Every need will be filled an every question will be answered for in the question is hidden the answer.
Joy in life is a state of mind and being. Perfection is in the creation of harmony and joy. Joy can be found in all things but greatly in the constant remembrance of God and his bounty with gratitude flowing from the human heart opens it towards pure joy.
Be ever aware of the beauty in a single petal, the perfection of a leaf. God is beauty, love, harmony, but quite definitely all is God. His work is an extension of his being
When something offends you, let it pass for by holding it in your mind you give it strength and substance. By pulling it from your mind you don not feed it by the strength of mind.
By constantly holding an adverse picture you project this into being
(- There was much much more but my mind was far too out of shape to retain )
undated
The way of the Sufi is the way of the heart
Wisdom without heart is like Power without Wisdom - doomed to disaster. The way of the Sufi is one Path toward Truth. This is the goal of many. Having Truth as a goal without preconceived ideas about what Truth is. We learn by allowing things we believe to be true to drop away as realization from within enlarges that which then becomes our personal truth.
Each must realize for oneself. No one can give or teach Truth. One can only help to guide the way toward the personal realization of it.
All of the conflicts between groups throughout the world, throughout history are due to man's inability to understand the relationship between the "Truth" he believes or has realized and that seemingly different Truth of his neighbor. Truth is always the same.
Then how can differences exist? That part of Truth realized by each individual is the all of that one's truth or realization the rest is belief. Only when more of the truth is realized does that known part widen for each person.
Others realize their truth as they follow their different ways seeing their own personal realizations as the ALL of truth. This being different from the TRUTH of others then come to the conclusion that one or the other is wrong - but Realization cannot be false as that which is realized from within is TRUTH - perhaps only a small part but the only part that one truly knows.
The Sufi therefore honors all paths and teaches recognizing in each truth as accepted by many. One can only progress when one can stop being concerned with the differences in truths of others with one's own and keep one's thoughts on the basic truth in all, trying to use the tools of all men to get a broader picture of Truth from these studies of the realizations of other people throughout history.
July 1st 1974
Today again you came to me
And gave me of yourself to see
Your form against the light
your gentle presence filled the room
Your scents so faintly sweet
Did fill my heart until tears did fall
What gift you had I am not sure
Somehow I know its regret for me.
undated
Please Oh Lord
be patient with me
So I may learn to
find
You here
In everyone I meet
each day as well as
birds and flowers
To feel your touch
in sun or storm.
To know your presence
lives within
That being unworthy
doesn't exist
For who am I to say
when you are here.
undated
The Apex of life is
faith
Faith builds roads toward realization when it is not fettered by restrictive boundaries.
Restrictions and boundaries encase any soul whose vision is edged by tenets of belief.
Faith retains its' full beauty only while it is free and unfettered by these boundaries.
undated
Joy is in freedom
The soul is not free when it is bound by the fetters of personal attachment
Duty - a blessing and a bane gives growth by confinement.
While duty holds us in tight confines - our souls and hearts remain free only if we recognize that these bindings of duty are transient.
Tolerance becomes a virtue only when it is in freedom without fear.
Anyone who tolerates in weakness has no virtue only fear
Fear is not meekness
Fear is weakness
Love abounds only when there is strength.
Be strong - be free.
Love must be balanced or it swings from high to low like a teetering child. It must be returned to be truly given.
undated
Note to Inayat
Your teacher was here the other night.
He filled the room with jasmine - vibrance.
I know you love him dearly holding him in great reverence
But to us here, your roses are the most dear.
Your wonderful son filled this house and our hearts with his music
Yet it was you who filled our hearts with tears of joy at your nearness.
Dear Inayat how we love you. Do you like our dance?
Lonely flowers bloom on strange stems
Dear Lord, keep my choice buds bursting forth into the promised flowers.
I've watered them in tears and fed them with my love and your wisdom
from your joyful Inayat
who has stolen away
my heart
undated
My Murchid - there it is again My - and yet you do belong to me as well as others.
When you seem mine alone I know I stray from what you teach.
Dear Murchid help me have a wider vision and a wider heart
To see a little of what you see in others
And then perhaps one day with you and the others lead me nearer to the beginning.
Atiya
undated
The sun is shining now bringing the young plants from the seeds.
The sun within my heart shines too giving growth from within.
undated
What can I do Inayat
when others profess your
path and go astray
I am sad with you
yet
What can I do?
When others hold up your
words that have been
twisted
I am sad with you
yet
What can I do?
When others ask for help
along your path
In this I am glad
with you
and this
I can do.
Atiya
undated
Beset by the daily cares that block my vision I seek in vain
After trials and failures finally the realization makes it all so clear. Help is as near as a moment's thought. Rumi has said as close as the vein of his throat - but it is even closer than this - within my very heart waiting, hoping to be asked to help ease the load.
Having laid aside the weights my spirits soar in ever raising waves of joy -
Why must we always wait so long for this?
undated
In my hands I hold
that which is
beautiful
Protected and treasured
-
In my heart I hold
that which is
glowing
-
Warm and delightful
In my mind I find
that which is
troubled
forgetting the beauty - the glow
attempting to bring me
far below the
desire of my soul
That I might raise
high
and Fly with you
to where my errant
mind can no longer
deceive
my heart.
July 3rd 1976
Looking for a Guru
So you have decided to find a teacher for your spiritual search, and you have been shopping around?
Have you not been told that "When the pupil is ready a teacher will appear"? This does not mean by supernatural means. It means that your teacher, the one you need at the time will be nearby when you have prepared yourself to the point where he or she is needed.
This preparation has to do largely with the condition of your heart, mind, and ego. The outward preparations and affectations are meaningless in attracting to yourself the one who can help you to help yourself find yourself and your relationship to those around you.
Unfortunately in our eagerness to proceed we think we can be the ones who choose, Sometimes we do, and sometimes we choose and choose and change from one to another gradually losing both faith and hope that we can find "that for which we yearn" We all want today, now, the things that only our own effort, and time can give us.
Patience is the first clue toward finding your personal teacher. Those who follow first one teacher and then another always finding a reason for their change have been those who have not waited, but have jumped like fish to the bait at the sight of a robe or the other trappings of a "path".
The teacher you need does not have to be known and does not need trappings. Trappings, robes and lines can be the mark of an actor as well as a spiritual guide. Know your guide by your heart and your personal untuned reactions to that person. The guide who is right for your friend is not always right for you.
By using your heart rather than you will have taken your first real step towards truth. Your guide is the one whose heart answers to the call of your own heart.
Atiya
undated
I asked my teacher "Is this now, this grief I bear, is this what life is all about?"
He nodded gravely "No, and yet with this you grow or fall This answer is your question."
I asked my teacher "When others attribute words to you that are not yours What do I say?"
He laughed, "This means they lack the strength to stand alone Do not fear, in this they show their weakness Falseness always falls away when Truth comes near.
Stand tall and silent be
Others know it too, it is
not I whose words they quote
As time goes by they
will stand exposed
With empty hands
++++++
It matters little
what men say
As truth remains the same
God in his love of Harmony
and Beauty
Created the World
In Balance and Beauty
Man with disorder and Ego
Equilates ugliness with
Beauty
Mocking and defying Him
Yet screams of God's Will
While sullying God's dream
made reality
The following was found, handwritten on a separate sheet of paper:
"These are our works, these works our souls display;
Behold our works when we have passed away."
Sufism is the realization of the Truth in all faiths, the understanding that the differences are in the window dressing. Each faith like a set of clothes, an outfit geared to the way of life of a people - all made to cover the same girl - (truth).
Atiya 1919-1994