Vilayat Inayat Khan
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Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, (19 June 1916 - 17 June 2004) was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International. Pir Vilayat’s mother, Ora Ray Baker, was a cousin of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement.
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[edit] Life
Born in London, England, Pir Vilayat was a teacher of meditation and of the traditions of the East Indian Chishti Order of Sufism. His teaching derived from the mystical tradition of the East brought to the West by his father combined with his knowledge of the esoteric heritage and scholarship of western culture. He taught in the tradition of Universal Sufism, which views all religions as rays of light from the same sun.
Vilayat Inayat Khan was educated at the Sorbonne, Oxford, and L'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. During World War II he served in the British Royal Navy and was assigned the duties of mine sweeping during the invasion at Normandy. His sister, Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan served in the French Resistance as a radio operator.
After the war, Pir Vilayat pursued his spiritual training by studying with masters of many different religious traditions throughout India and the Middle East. While honoring the initiatic tradition of his predecessors, Pir Vilayat continually adapted traditional Eastern spiritual practices in keeping with the evolution of Western consciousness.
Pir Vilayat initiated and participated in many international and interfaith conferences promoting understanding and world peace.
He was a relative of Pierre Bernard, a pioneering American yogi, scholar, occultist, philosopher, mystic and businessman. In this way he was also a distant relative to Pierre Bernard's nephew, Theos Bernard, an American scholar of religion, explorer and famous practitioner of Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism.[1]
[edit] Students
Pir Vilayat gave bayat (spiritual initiation) to thousands of people, teaching seminars and retreats around the world. Some of his prominent students include:
- Zia Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat's son and successor as Pir of the Sufi Order International
- Taj Inayat, Vice President of the Sufi Order International, mother of Zia Inayat Khan, co-facilitator of Sufi Retreats
- Gayan and Blanchefleur Macher, co-facilitators of Sufi Retreats
- Shahabuddin David Less
- Saphira Linden, founder of Omega Theater
- Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of Timeshifting, and Elizabeth Lesser, author of Broken Open and The Seeker's Guide, co-founders of Omega Institute
- Donald A. Sharif Graham, editor of The Complete Works of Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan
- Aziza Scott, Head of the Retreat Program of the Sufi Order International, co-founder of The Hollow Read School
- Himayat Inayati, founder of the Raphaelite work and Universal Awakening
- Thomas Atum O'Kane, Transpersonal Psychologist and Teacher
- Jim Anthony, Board Chairman of Seabridge Gold
- Saki Santorelli, author of Heal Thy Self
- Donald T. Weiner, author of Upgrading the Operating System of the Soul
- Puran Bair, author of Living from the Heart, and Susanna Bair, co-founders of the Institute for Applied Meditation
- Yakzan Hugo Valdez
[edit] Bibliography
- Toward the One, (Harper and Row, 1974)
- The Message in Our Time, (Harper and Row, 1978)
- Contributed the foreword to The Complete Sayings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, (Omega Publications, 1978)
- The Call of the Dervish, (Sufi Order Publications, 1981)
- Sufi Masters, (Sufi Order Publications, 1982)
- Introducing Spirituality Into Counseling and Therapy, (Omega Press, 1982)
- That Which Transpires Behind That Which Appears, (Omega Publications, 1994)
- Awakening: A Sufi Experience (Tarcher Putnam, 1999)
- In Search of the Hidden Treasure (Tarcher, 2003)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Columbia University Health Sciences Library: Archives & Special Collections. This is a link to a .doc file, but you can also see it as html. See the content of "Box 20" and "Box 21".
[edit] External links
- The Abode of the Message. The community he founded in an old Shaker Village in New Lebanon, New York
- Attunements for Meditation
- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
