SCHEDULE OF EVENTS AND CLASSES

MONTHLY MEDITATIONS

Please join our Monthly mediations found on the Information Bar under Meditations. These weekly concentrations are sent out in the pray to gather our hearts and minds together for the benefit of all beings. Each month a weekly meditation theme is given. Join when you can during that week with many members around the world who are holding the light of truth, wisdom, compassion and kindness.

*************NEW CLASSES**************

We are happy to announce a new semester of on-line classes that will be starting in Sept 14, 2024 and run through May 24, 2025. Aadya Murshida will be offering a Healing Class, an Esoteric Study Class (Gatha Papers) only for Sufi initiates (non-public), and those those interested in the Comparative World Religions class, please contact me directly at [email protected] or [email protected] for registration. All classes will begin in Sept, 2024. Please go to the Institute tab on the upper scroll bar and from the drop-down menu you will be able to see information on the class dates for the Gatha Study Circle, The Healing Class and the World Religion Classes. You can also read the Biographies about the teachers under the Faculty tab.

Join the on-line community and connect however you can. Your presence, dedication, and collective prayers bring blessings
to our activities and transform us into a community of seekers of the One Divine Source in all things. We look forward to seeing you in our on-line community and in our classes.

A preliminary version of the Sanctuary Sharda Sufi Center brochure as a PDF file is available for downloading.

Donations invited for all classes.

Please read this donation request Generosity Through Donations from Aadya Murshida.

In the last two years, our online presence has increased and our online classes are filling to capacity. We have an entire trust of the Divine providence toward our work whose only foundation it belongs. The Sufi Universal Fraternal Institute has been established and carried on without regard to the support of any person. No one desiring the benefit of Sufi guidance and knowledge has at any time been excluded for considerations of wealth or lack of it. Not for one moment do we doubt that the means that are needed will be found. And therefore we call upon all the members who are participating in our program, and those who know our work, our aim, and our thought, are of like mind with us asking them to join their endeavors with ours and send in any donation possible to strengthen and help the delivery of the Message of Love, Harmony and Beauty. 

Please remember us in your charitable giving
In addition to donations for classes, we accept donations for maintaining the local center by supporting administrative needs and spreading the Sufi Message of Love, Harmony, and Beauty to grade schools, universities, and local and prison libraries.

Your support is gratefully received. Please send donations through Square button on this page to the Sufi Universal Fraternal Institute. We are a non-profit 501c3 religious/educational institute for higher learning. 

For further information send an e-mail message to our local center (s[email protected]).

Personal Retreats

The practice of enclosure (Khilvat) has always been a part of the mystical Sufi tradition for the purpose of gaining insight into the language of the heart. The teaching that arises from the experience of divine communication is one that is deeply healing and balancing to the mental, emotional, and physical nature of our being. Retreat is a chance to sit in silence, freeing ourselves from the conditioning that keeps us hidden behind a mask of illusionary difficulties. As we listen to the power of our inner voice, the music of the spheres opens and a sense of inner knowing arises. The concealment of our busy worlds becomes calm and we are more able to face our needs and challenges with untrammeled fearlessness so that our lives may become more meaningful and our soul purpose and highest blueprint can then be fulfilled.

This retreat is a private mentoring with Aadya Murshida that covers esoteric practices of breath, meditation, physical exercises, concentration, Wazifa (Sacred Attributes), music and Zikar (Prayer). The recommended retreat time depends on prior experience and gauges from 4 days, 8 days, 12 days, 21 days to a full 40-day commitment.

A studio living space with kitchen and bathroom is available for short-term personal retreats at $125 per day. During a personal retreat, Aadya Murshida gives practices for the entire day and personally guides the student in their practices morning and evening. One hot, vegan meal at midday is prepared especially for the student. There are other arrangements available for longer retreats.

Contact Aadya Murshida at [email protected] for information.

Monthly Classes

On-Going Two-year/Comparative World Religions and Ministerial (Cherag) Training
Classes begin online starting January 2024 through June 2024, and goes through a two-year program. Each online term consists of a meeting every month so that individual study can be accomplished. Dates for classes will be given upon registration. Students from different time zones will be requested to adjust the timing to Pacific Standard Time. When students complete the study online an Ordination is offered in person where the student participates in a ceremony of blessing.. The cyber platform will be given with entry code once registration is completed for the class. Please send an email to the following address and request a registration form: [email protected]
The online sessions are for students who desire preparation for ordination as Cherags (Ministers-Light Bearers) and also for chaplaincy, pastoral counseling, and hospice work or prison advocacy. The material in the two-year program has two aspects:

1. Term I: (First Year) Contains esoteric studies based on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and his philosophy of the Unity of Religious Ideals and the classic and contemporary literature of Sufi Mysticism.
2. Term II: Mystical Perspectives of Spiritual Liberty. (Second Year Contains scriptural study: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other world religions such as Sikhism, Taoism, Divine Feminine, Confucius/Mencius, the Native American Indian Tradition and the African Diaspora.

The term beginning the month of January 2024 will cover the mystical aspects of the World Religions, the Essence of Spiritual Liberty and sectional readings from the Sacred Scriptures, master Mystics, and added readings from various authors. PLEASE USE THE SCROLL BAR AT THE TOP OF PAGE AND GO TO: ABOUT SUFISM. CLICK THE DROP DOWN MENU FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE START-UP CLASS.

A student begins at the beginning of the term (Start Date, Jan. 2024 through June 2024). The training requires a two-year commitment to complete both terms. (Each term is broken into six-month sessions, with a summer break and holidays respected.) This training is available for students through an online connection. Instructions will be available for non-local students to participate. Students who complete four six-month terms receive ordination at the end of the two years.

Healing Ritual
Please call for time and further information

Monthly Healing Meeting Saturday of every month starting in January 2024. A commitment is requested for one year. Once the group is formed new members can only join when the new class is formed the following year. .

Contact Aadya Murshida at [email protected] for information.

Esoteric Studies Classes
Gatha Study Class
Monthly classes for mureeds (initiates of Sufism) will be focusing on the esoteric teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan: Gathas, Githas, Sangathas, and Sangithas. The classes are designed for each person depending on the person’s initiation into the esoteric activity. A commitment of one year for each section of the study is requested. The start date will begin on January 2024 through June of the same year and a virtual meetings once every month and going through the year with a summer break (July and August). Dates of the class will be given upon registration. These classes are free for Sufi Initiates but all donations are welcomed as they support the collective work and spreading of the Message of Love, Harmony and Beauty.

Contact Aadya Murshida at [email protected] for information and questions. Infinite Blessings surround you.

SEMINARS AND LECTURES PAST AND PRESENT

In Reverence to my Venerable Mentor, Dr. Rina Sircar

Sunday, June 23rd, 2019 at 11am, Cultural Integration Fellowship, 2650 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA. 94118.

Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, invited Dr. Rina Sircar in 1974 to teach in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Rina fulfilled her professional obligations up until 2013 and was named the distinguished Haridas Chaudhuri Professor and World Peace Buddhist Chair. As her devoted student, I had the privilege of studying with Rina for 12 years, where I was fortunate to receive her spiritual transmission from her early mentors, the Very Venerable U Thittila, an Abhidhamma and Pali scholar and the Very Venerable Taungpulu Tawya Kabe-Aye Sayadaw, a reclusive forest monk in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Love, Healing and Blessings fill my memory of Rina and may they be imparted to you, the listener, with the same authentic spirit of the ancient lineage she lived. All guests are cordially invited.

Summer SUFI Seminar and Emersion in Nature at the Nez Perce Ceremonial Ground in Oregon.

Dates set for September 14-21st, 2019

We will study the sacred teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and the Manuscript of Nature. Tenting is the best inexpensive option but there are motels and AirBnB accommodations in the area as well. We will meet each day for Prayers and Teachings, Meditations and Sacred Practices in the morning. We will share lunch and then visit sacred holy sites and walk in the beautiful hills of Wallowa in the afternoon closing with a fire-circle and chanting in the evening hours. Honored guests from the Nez Perce elders will be joining us and offering insight and inspiration to our gathering. Updates on this information will be forthcoming. For more information write: [email protected] We hope you will join us and celebrate the grace and beauty of our precious nature. 

Seminar April 27, 28, 29, 2018

Sufi Teachings on the Inner Life:

April 27, 28, 29th 2018. Offered by Aadya Murshida Ph.D. at Khankah Jamshed, 6507 N. Princeton St. Portland, Oregon 97203. For information contact: Naqib Khaliq Amir at 971-322-7333.

The Inner Life is a call to balance the heart and mind for a special journey. It is a spiritual journey that takes away the division of sacred and profane, and rather offers tools that lead us to independence through Divine association. The Inner Life is a way of getting rid of grudges and the heaviness of debt. It is a way of directing all activity with wisdom; every moment, every action, every thought, every word becomes an opportunity to fulfill one’s Divine plan and the reason why we were born at this time. Please come and join us and let us meet in this special holy remembrance. 

Seminars

September 10-14, 2018

Seminar on Deep Ecumenism and Interspirituality of the Wisdom Traditions. This seminar will be offered at the Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality on Campus in Boulder, Colorado. For those students interested in just attending the seminar or matriculating for a Certificate, Masters, or Doctoral degrees, please contact the following address for information. foxinstitute-cs.org or call 720-880-FICS

Date scheduled for 2019. This will be posted in the New Year. Seminar on The Pathway to happiness with Aadya Murshida at the Temple of Peace, 575 Haiku Road, Haiku, Maui, Hawaii 96708. For information call Kedar or Shelley at 808-281-9157

When the human consciousness is focused on happiness and connects to the Divine Source within the living heart, one enters into a state of being whose love and influence can change the course of human existence on this planet forever. This seminar will address the five-star principles for wholesome understanding. We will discuss what is necessary for rebooting your specific aims and goals in the direction that will ensure your spiritual, mental, physical, social, and financial prosperity. The teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and the great Sufi Masters give us information that illustrates these main objectives. Please come and join us.

April 8th 2018

Lecture on Aadya Murshida (Dr. Ana Perez-Chisti’s) publication-The Bearers of Light-Cherag Stories Vol. I. Gathering begins at 11 am. Location: Cultural Integration Fellowship, 2650 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA. 94118. For more information please call 415-668-1559. All are welcomed.

Sufis have been engaged in service to the community as ministers (Cherags) for many decades. Dr. Ana Perez-Chisti will tell stories about her many experiences that took place during her officiating of marriages, funerals, house blessings, and baptisms. These stories encompass mystical insight, humor, and wisdom.

May 19-21st, 2017

Sufi Mysticism and Ethics for Today’s Challenges.

Let us remember to stand against the struggle that worldly life brings to us. To keep oneself awake to meet the challenges of the day, we will turn to the valuable practices that were given by our Sufi Master Teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan and apply the spiritual ethics to attain inspiration so we can meet the unexpected with calm, sincerity, and devotion.

Please come and join Aadya Murshida and members of the Portland Community for a three-day seminar starting Friday, May 19th in the evening 7 pm -Introduction, Prayers and Zikar, Saturday, May 20th, 9-5-Lecture and Practice, and Sunday, May 21st, 10-1 pm -Universal Worship followed by a pot-luck lunch at the following address:

Khankah Jamshed, 6507 N. Princeton, Portland, OR. 97203. For Information and directions call 971-322-7333. Contribution requested

April 22-23, 2017

Sufism Symposium sponsored by the International Association of Sufism. Embassy Suites Hotel, 101 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael, California 94903. 415-499-9222.

Introductory Remarks and Meditation Practices for the Awakening of the Soul as given by Avicenna, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Ibn al-Arabi by Aadya Murshida (Dr. Perez Chisti)

November 13th, 2016

Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing, Berkeley, CA. 9:30 am

Lecture and Panel Discussion: When the state of the world makes us angry: How should the Faith Community respond? The Berkeley Buddhist Temple invites all members of faith to join Aadya Murshida (Dr.Perez-Chisti) for this morning of shared presentations.

• April 24th, 2016,
• Lecture and Presentation: Ancient Sufi Teaching Stories, 11 am

The Cultural Integration Fellowship invites all members to attend Aadya Murshida (Dr. Perez-Chisti’s) presentation on Ancient Sufi Teaching Stories. She offers these stories as a window into being a living example of love, harmony, and beauty. These stories were brought to the West by the mystic, Hazrat Inayat Khan who disclosed the Sufi path of attuning oneself to the Divine Spirit of Guidance that lives in the heart of each person. Powerful and deeply perceptive, these stories guide a person toward a spiritual ideal. We are located at 2650 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA. 94118. For further information please call: 415-668-1559 or write: [email protected]

• November 2, 2015
  The Sacred Meaning of Words and Experiences
  11 am at the Cultural Integration Fellowship
  2650 Fulton St., San Francisco
  In Sufism, the sacred meaning of words can be found in the word, “Tawhid” which means asserting the Oneness of God’s Holy Name in all things.
  Freewill offering.
  Click to download a PDF version of the flyer for the lecture. For more information, call 415/668-1559 or visit www.culturalintegrationfellowship.org

Special Events

• July 30th 2016, 2pm
• The Creation Spirituality Communities Ordination Ceremony

The honorary elders of the Creation Spirituality Community, Aadya Perez-Chisti, Jeremy Taylor, Matthew Fox, Mel Bricker, Kaleo and Elise Ching, Marlene DeNardo, Larry Edwards, Susan Evans, Grace Hogan, Michael Mansfield, Jill Martin, and Carol Vaccariello received ordination for their dedicated years of work and support in Liberation Theological tradition. All are invited to attend the service at the Graduate Theological Seminary, 2700 Hearst Ave. Berkeley, CA.

Please take note of our SUFI Institute program for Course offerings in Creation Spirituality. “If all of creation had been whispering the story of its own spirituality for 13.5 billion years…we would call that story Creation Spirituality.”(Matthew Fox)

• February 5th, 2016
• Urs Celebration of Hazrat Inayat Khan
• St. Albans Church, 1501 Washington Ave. Albany, California 94706, 7:30 pm
  Aadya Murshida invites all members of the Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan and members of the SUFI Universal Fraternal Institute to attend the Holy occasion of his Urs in Albany, CA on February 5, 2016. For details, please download the flyer.
• 1501 Washington Ave.
• March 19th, 2016
• Vernal Equinox Zikar practice of Hazrat Inayat Khan
• Zikar will be offered in the evening at 7 pm at Sanctuary Sharda, at 7 pm. All Sufi members are invited to attend. Please be on time and plan to leave the Sanctuary in silence

• May 7th, 2016
• Cherags Ordination Ceremony,
• All members are invited to attend the Ordination of Cheragas (Reverends), Vairaja Backston, Sophia Katherine Jensen, Dalair Linda Hennessy and Joi Jencuyah at Sanctuary Sharda. A Universal Worship Service will precede the ordination ceremony at 11 am and followed by a Vegetarian Luncheon offered and prepared by the Cheragas. For more information and directions please contact, Aadya Murshida at [email protected]

• May 18-21st, 2016
• Federation of the Sufi Message – Berlin, Germany.
• The Federation gathering invites all Sufis worldwide to join in the honoring of the Sacred teachings of the originator of the Sufi Message, Hazrat Inayat Khan. A bus tour around Berlin will be included taking visitors to the many places Murshid spoke in the grand metropolitan area. A special tree was planted in the park near Brandenburg Gate in honor of his teachings in Germany. All are invited. For more information please email: Petra Beate Schildbach at [email protected]

Blessings of a tree planted near a park by
Brandenburg Gate in honor of Hazrat
Inayat Khan’s teaching in Berlin. Members
of the Federation of the Sufi Message
gather around and share prayers of gratitude.

• June 17th, 2016
• Urs Celebration of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
• Aadya Murshida  and the members of the Sufi Order International invite all members to attend the celebration. The service will be held at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, CA. 94707, 7:30pm Donations are requested.

• March 27-29, 2015
  International Sufism Symposium
  20th Year Celebration
  The Nature of Self, Reality & Consciousness
  San Rafael, California
  For more information, visit http://www.IAS.org/programs/sufismsymposium/ or call 415/472-6959.
• July 10-26, 2015
  International Summer School: Unity in Diversity
  Universel Murad Hassil, Katwijk, Netherlands
  with Pir-O-Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan and experienced Sufi teachers
  Click to download a PDF flyer with details and a registration form.
  For more information, visit http://www.sufimovement.org. You can view information and register online at the Dutch website: www.soefi.nl/zomerschool.

“You can do nothing better in sympathy and in devotion to the Cause and in sympathy to your Murshid, than to preserve the words once spoken before you.”
—Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan