Al-Batin, the hidden one: my third tattoo ... on a tough spot, on the neck

When u read the meanings of the names of Allah (99 -- did u know there is a story that the camel looks so proud because it is the only creature which knows the 100th name of Allah:) u get the feeling that it is the One -- Brahman -- that is being spoken of. I get the same goose pimply feel  when I read Biblical verses. The mystical experience is unifying and any case beyond words, more implied than spoken of directly. . The religious experience, where rituals overtake the message, can be rather disturbingly me-Vs-u...

Sometimes I worry yoga seems to be headed that way ... pure yoga is unifying, non-dualistic... yoking, uniting, sharing, giving, accommodating, adapting, growing... But u know, when I write on yoga, the sort of hate mail  that some people spit out on the message boards below my article, it makes me really wonder if  ` their yoga'  is different... But more, if these  guys practice yoga at all. Because if they did....

 

Zaheer Chhatriwala (Below is his email, and if u wish to contact him for your tattoos, u will find him in my friends' list on facebook.U can't miss him on facebook either: And his number is 98209 67870)

who did this tattoo, has used English fonts that look Arabic. So I think, that is like, so Wow!  And he has also  slanted the entire word, so that it straddles the neck region in a curve, making it look extra elegant. It does not draw as much attention as my other two tattoos, because it is hidden by my `dreadlocks', but maybe, this is the call I needed, to cut my hair off, close to scalp (it costs a lot, because u need to cut your hair every two weeks! plus high maintenance... I'd done that few years ago, making two hairdressers so nervous they ruined it. I got it right only with the third one!! Then,  since,  I have wavy hair, it would meander everywhere, making me lose that cool look that I wished to sport:). 

Any case, Al-Batin, one of the names of Allah, means, THE HIDDEN ONE, the inner face.   Interestingly Zaheer means the "outer face' !!! did u know that Zaheer?) 

I loved that meaning because it makes the search for that Hidden face so much more exciting, in every moment, in all gestures, in others who align with u, and even in those who disturb that alignment. This meaning of Allah, is one of the most mystical ones, and just now, for me, feels so right -- to be on the look out for this. According to Isamic mystics, reciting this name will reveal the Truth!! And help u see the truth hidden in things! 

Agnostics don't have a reference for a god who is good. But only `feel' the one who is powerful, everywhere, omnipotent, omnipresent, beyond good, or bad.  This One I relate to, is even in things I simply do not understand, in moments that defy explanation.... I am that close. And sometimes, I feel.... fleetingly.

And all my moments, now, and for sure in the future, are only a craving to extend that flighty moment, too soon gone... 

... this is my yoga.... :)

He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward . He has knowledge of all things. (Surat al-Hadid, 57:3)

Eyesight cannot perceive Him, but He perceives eyesight. He is the All-Penetrating, the All-Aware. (Surat al-An‘am, 6:103)