A photo of Murshida Habiba and Chaitanya Kabir

Murshida Habiba and Chaitanya Kabir

Boulder, Colorado, USA

WHERE’S HEAVEN? HOW FAR IS FOREVER?

— Murshida Habiba —

I was raised Christian, Disciples of Christ, and I always asked a million questions. Things like, ‘Where’s heaven?’ ‘How far is forever?’ Things like that—until I got them all pretty disgusted with me at the church we went to. I never could really figure out, as a child, questions like: ‘What’s going on? Where is the love? I don’t understand....’ And so I ended up spending most of my childhood in the top of an apple tree, just looking at the clouds, reading books.

— Chaitanya Kabir —

I’d been sitting with Osho for a few days. I was sitting in a room, and all those previous days, my mind had been rattling on how I wasn’t going to do this initiation. Everybody was saying what a great thing this was. And my mind was completely rattling on how I couldn’t do this, there’s no way. I was too busy doing my music, my advanced degrees, whatever. And as I sat there, Osho looked at me and said, ‘You, are you ready to be initiated?’

Some voice that I’m not quite sure how it came out was like, ‘Yes.’ So I went up and got initiated. He gave me the name Chaitanya Kabir. Kabir means ‘vast;’ it’s one of the 99 names of Allah in Arabic and then Chaitanya is Sanskrit for ‘consciousness.’ So together the name means ‘vast consciousness.’

Daniel’s Reflection

I used to hang out in Boulder, Colorado as much as I could. My friend, Mona El-Hebawy, an Egyptian Sufi introduced me to Boulder’s best finds for the seeker: Tuesday night international folk dancing next to the tea house, Wednesday night meditation at the Unitarian church, and Sufi Zeker ceremonies. All very Boulder!

It was through the Boulder Sufi community that I was introduced to Murshida Habiba and her husband, Chaitanya Kabir. Their stories pointed out to me so vividly that our spiritual journeys are punctuated by people we are supposed to meet— or at least with whom great meaning can be made because they have come into our lives. And among those who come into our lives, people we regard as our teachers hold a special place in our hearts. I used to hang out in Boulder, Colorado as much as I could. My friend, Mona El-Hebawy, an Egyptian Sufi introduced me to Boulder’s best finds for the seeker: Tuesday night international folk dancing next to the tea house, Wednesday night meditation at the Unitarian church, and Sufi Zeker ceremonies. All very Boulder! It was through the Boulder Sufi community that I was introduced to Murshida Habiba and her husband, Chaitanya Kabir. Their stories pointed out to me so vividly that our spiritual journeys are punctuated by people we are supposed to meet— or at least with whom great meaning can be made because they have come into our lives. And among those who come into our lives, people we regard as our teachers hold a special place in our hearts.  

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