Zirat
Symbology Activity of the International Sufi Message
Zirat represents a mystical awakening, experienced through working upon oneself, freeing the mind from unwanted thoughts and regrets which, like weeds, present a hindrance on the path of inner culture. The word Zirat means agriculture, referring in this context to the symbolic work of the farmer digging out old roots to prepare the soil for the new crop, and watching over the various stages in the cultivation of the precious seed.
Zirat in Our Time
Amir Smits, Zirat Activty Secretary, July 2017
Play Audio File (51:48)
From the Zirat Papers, the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan: In this journey the soul has passed, not only through the angelic and the djinn spheres but through the rocks and plants and through the lower creation it has risen to become human. Therefore through all the names and forms we see in this world, even of the smallest germs and insects, the soul is working out its perfection to express itself in humanity.
A picture of the journey may be made, as of an angel from the highest heaven who came down and descended in the lowest depth of the earth, and from there, feeling after and longing for paradise it has left, has worked its way through the lower creation and arrived at the form of man.
Although in essence, even after touching the deepest depth of the earth, the soul is divine, in order to realise for itself that divine element, it has a task waiting even after being man, and it is the manner in which that task is accomplished and the object gained, which is taught in Zirat, in which we all unite to offer our homage to the Owner of the Farm. "Zirat is the science of Divine Creation”.
