URS DATE: January 25, 2016
Rabia with Amina, taken at the Abode in 2011
Hazrat Inayat Khan
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I have so many dear and wonderful memories of Rabia, I hardly know what to say… She was one of the grandmothers–and grandes dames– of the Abode. She was so warm and welcoming to all! So very many deep and stimulating conversations over tea in her apartment at the top of Vakil with that beautiful painting of Pir Vilayat presiding. When Mountain Road School was housed in Vakil and I was one of the teachers, I often took my breaks up in her apartment. She cared so deeply about everyone and everything.
Visiting her in these last couple of years was very different. In place of scintillating conversation there were shared moments of deep and peaceful silence, gazing into those beautiful eyes. Most of her words were in the form of prayers and songs–shared and remembered when so many other words were gone. Her bright shining light will live on in our hearts…
In remembering Rabia there is one memory that stands out for me and never fails to bring me joy. There was a QiGong workshop at the Abode that Rabia, Aftab, and I all attended. Regrettably, I’ve forgotten the presenter’s name. But she had a wonderful teaching style where she would teach us a fixed pose which would require a lot of focus and concentration and then follow it with a free-form dance that she called Chakra Rock. We all pranced and danced around the Meditation Hall and each time I would pass Rabia or Aftab we would share so much gaiety and delight. We could simultaneously experience the absurdity, silliness, and sacredness. When everything is now said and done, this appreciation for all aspects of life is what I will treasure the most.
Oh Rabia! Comforter of the broken hearted, Support of those in need, Friend of the lovers of Truth.
My life was expanded and clarified by your presence. How you served the Message – as a healer, as a cherag, as a mentor, as a teacher, as a friend, a sage, an elder, as a sensual woman, as a model of learning from birth to grave… With all this, I believe the little ways you served us had the most enormous impact. For instance, you brought Inayat Khan’s teaching to life for travelers with intimate breakfasts in your attic apartment; you taught us the reward of service while mending (and re-mending) your beloved friend Pir Vilayat’s shirts and vestments; you healed wounded hearts with patient unconditional love for all who came into your embrace. Your joyful atmosphere is still palpable at the Abode of the Message, especially in the sunny courtyard and in the sacredness of the meditation hall you so faithfully tended.
Oh Rabia, You will be remembered as a true Master and Exemplar of the Inayati message.
Rabia had the voice of an angel, the intellect of a spiritual Einstein, and the heart of a warrior of love. When visitors came to the Abode, she made sure they had a meal, a friendly conversation, and a place to lay their heads at night. She repaired Pir Vilayat’s robes with her practiced needle and thread. In her beautifully arranged top floor apartment above the old Mountain Road school, I recall walls lined with books, extra beds tucked here and there for the visitor, artwork, flowers, and always the atmosphere of her engaging spirit. I first met her in India, at the Hope project. She took me with her to the Kalachakra initiation that the Dalai Lama was offering in New Delhi at the time.
She balanced such complexity, a fierce and loving spirit of truth, profound hospitality and patience coupled with the ability to enter like a surgeon into a companion’s deepest issues.
Rabia, Aftab, and Arifa were the palpable presence of the Divine Mother in her her glory and power, living in the tiny town of New Lebanon, and maintaining the world.
At my first mountain camp, I walked into the tent for the first time, knowing no one. Everyone was in the middle of a dance, and Rabia looked up at me with a beautific smile, and extended her hand for me to join in. She always lived in my heart after that, and it was always a highlight to see her smiling face year after year.