Please refer to the schedule of events for Zira’at gatherings at the Abode on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/872722196175515/hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=7691474710966862
One of the activities which Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan developed for spiritual cultivation is called Ziraat, which is Urdu for “cultivation”. This activity was inaugurated in 1926.
About Zira’at
Zira’at uses the language and dynamic process of agriculture as a way to symbolically describe the inner life, as well as to bridge the spiritual and material worlds.
Zira’at is an initiatic activity that is open to all who feel a commitment to spiritual awakening and to the protection and preservation of the natural world. Initiation in Ziraat confirms a pledge to affirm and cultivate the divine seed within us, and to support the sustenance and vitality of all nature.
Activities in a Zira’at gathering, referred to as a lodge, are designed to cultivate our inner worlds and to deepen our inter- and intra-personal connections with nature, with particular focus on our relationship with the five elements. Nature meditations, breathing practices, narrative and poetic readings, prayers, ceremonies and contemplations of our spiritual unfoldment as illustrated through farming are among the methods used to awaken more fully in life. Today, in these times of environmental crisis, Zira’at offers a much needed way in which to understand and engage with the natural world.
Inayatiyya Hudson Valley Center 