A caravanserai is an inn in some eastern countries with a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans, and hospitality for travellers.
The Caravanserai is a new open and informal group at Facebook for people interested in a broad range of fields such as spirituality, mysticism and similar traditions; psychology; cultural research; education; learning; human rights and humanitarian concerns; the environment, and creativity ... or whatever material, news or internet links you feel would interest other members here.
Feel free to take part in formal discussion; to share your experience, or to simply engage in relaxed chat.
You can find The Caravansarai discussion group at Facebook.
The frame story behind the name "caravansarai" can be found in the writer, thinker and Sufi mystical teacher Idries Shah's works:
The caravanserai
The notion of transience is reflected in a Sufi parable about the enigmatic Khidr ("The Green One") of pre-Islamic lore.
Once Khidr went to a king's palace and made his way right up to the throne. Such was the strangeness of his appearance that none dared to stop him. The king, who was Ibrahim ben Adam , asked him what he was looking for.
The visitor said, "I am looking for a sleeping place in this caravanserai."
Ibrahim answered, "This is no caravanserai -- this is my palace."
The stranger said, "Whose was it before you?"
"My father's," said Ibrahim.
"And before that?"
"My grandfather's."
"And this place where people come and go, staying and moving on, you call other than a caravanserai?"
~ Idries Shah, The Way of the Sufi, p238.
See The Idries Shah Foundation.
Image: Camels back to barn before sunset.
Image author: Bruno Befreetv.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.
• By Etienne de L'Amour ~ Google+