Baba Tahir

Baba Tahir Hamadani – there is also some other titles like Lurestani and Uryan – is one of great poets and mystics among Lurs. Beside Lurs, he has a wide popularity for Persians, in so far as they translated Baba’s quatrains in Persian along with light Lurian dialect and it is more this translations that is remained for us.

Baba Tahir was major devotee of Shah Khoshin Lurestani (965-1026 A.D.), a Jāma or Dūn (God’s clothing, Avatara) in Yarsan, and was the master of the master of Ayn al-Quddat (1051-1084 A.D.), grand Sufi. Even if, Sometimes, Sufism and Yarsan have not obvious boundary in Western regions of Iran, but it can be said that Baba had been Sufi before his meeting with Shah Khoshin and after that his triaqah (path) is the synthesis of Sufism and Yarsan, as it is evident in a figure like Ayn al-Quddat Hamadani.

Baba Tahir’s written heritage is a book contains quatrains and book of Kalamāt, has been commentated by Ayn al-Quddat Hamadani, contains aphorism on Sufi matters and here is some of them:

- Knowledge (elm) is lightening and [divine] ecstasy (vajd) is burning.

- The end of reason is wondering (tahayyor) and the end of wondering is drunkenness (sokr).

- Heart is God’s instrument for balancing.

- There is nothing between soul and hereafter but one moment.

- Remembrance [of God] (zikr) is life of heart.

- Meditation (murāqiba) is certainty in knowledge (elm ul-yaqin) and [sacred] vision (muŝāhida) is certainty in eye (ayn ul-yaqin).

- He who desires God is separated from people, especially himself among them.

- Loving in truth is compulsory for all men.

- Sufism is a life without any death and is a death without any life.

- Burnings are two types: burn by fire and by light; he who is burned by fire become ash without value, and he who is burned by light become lamp which is useful for men.

Baba’s Dobeyti (quatrain)

 And some quatrains (tran. Elizabeth Curtis Brenton):

har on baqē ke vāreŝ sar be dar bī
modāmeŝ bāqebun xūnin jigar bī
bebāyad kandaŝ az bix o az bon
agar bāresh hama la’l o gohar bī

When Trees to grow beyond their boundaries dare,
They Cause the Gardeners much anxious care;
Down to their very roots they must be pruned,
Though Pearls and Rubies be the Fruits they bear.

 

magar shēr o palanhē ey dil ey dil
be me dāyem be jangē ey dil ey dil
agar dastem rasa xūnet barējim
beuinim ta che rangē ey dil ey dil

A Lion or a Tiger thou might be,
Ever, O Heart, O Heart, at war with me;
Fall but into my hands, I’ll spill thy Blood,
That I may know what to make of thee.

 

xurāyīn cheh-rī-et afrūta tar bī
bejānim tir-i ishqet dūta tar bī
ze che xāl-i roxat zuni sīyāha?
har on nazdik-i khur bī sūta-tar bī

O may thy sunny face grow brighter yet,
May thy love’s arrow split my heart in twain;
Know thou why thy cheek’s mole is so black?
All things become burnt black close to the sun!

 

bē toe yikdam dilim xorram namuna
vagar rūyi toe vīinim qam namuna
agar dard-i dilim qesmat namāyand
dilē bē dard dar ālam namuna

Without thee my heart has no moment’s peace,
And if I see thy face my grief has fled;
If all men had a share in my heart’s grief;
No heart in all the world but would be sad.

 

me on bahrim ke dar zarf āmadistim
chu noqta bar sar-i harf āmadistim
be har alfē alif qaddi barāya
alif ghaddim ke dar alf āmadistim

I am the ocean poured into a jug,
I am the point essential to the letter;
In every thousand one greater man stand out,
I am the greater man of this mine Age!

 

bōra sūta dilun tā mā banālēm
ze dast-i yār-i bē parvā banalēm
baŝēm bā bulbul-i sheidā be gulŝan
agar bulbul nanāla mā banālēm

O Burnt-in-Heart, come ye and mourn with me,
Mourn we the flight of that most lovely Rose;
Hie we with the ecstatic Nightingale to the Garden,
And when she ceases mourning, we will mourn.

 

My Wonders

Painted by Frithjof Schuon

Wonder, I am myself,
In our gazing now;
I am unawares doubtlessly,
But only I am aware of it,
If you permit me.

What is this delusion, I captured with,
I think,
Others have their own eyes.
What a delusion in eyes,
What a disease in body.

It is a businessman,
You can obtain my life again free;
But I am sorry,
Not-seeing is not in my trades.

5/23/2007
Tehran

The Self

Devotee: What is meant by saying that one should enquire into one’s true nature and understand it?

Ramana Maharshi

Master: Experiences such as “I went; I came; I was; I did” come naturally to everyone. From these experiences, does it not appear that the consciousness “I” is the subject of those various acts? Enquiry into the true nature of that consciousness, and remaining as oneself is the way to understand, through enquiry, one’s true nature.

D: How is one to enquire: “Who am I?”

M: Actions such as ‘going’ and ‘coming’ belong only to the body. And so, when one says “I went, I came”, it amounts to saying that the body is “I”. But, can the body be said to be the consciousness “I”, since the body was not before it was born, is made up of the five elements, is non-existent in the state of deep sleep, and becomes a corpse when dead? Can this body which is inert like a log of wood be said to shine as “I” “I”? Therefore, the “I” consciousness which at first arises in respect of the body is referred to variously as self-conceit (tarbodham), egoity (ahankara), nescience (avidya), maya, impurity (mala), and individual soul (jiva) . Can we remain without enquiring into this? Is it not for our redemption through enquiry that all the scriptures declare that the destruction of “self-conceit” is release (mukti)? Therefore, making the corpse-body remain as a corpse, and not even uttering the word “I”, one should enquire keenly thus: “Now, what is it that rises as ‘I’”. Then, there would shine in the Heart a kind of wordless illumination of the form ‘I’ ‘I’. That is, there would shine of its own accord the pure consciousness which is unlimited and one, the limited and the many thoughts having disappeared. If one remains quiescent without abandoning that (experience), the egoity, the individual sense, of the form ‘I am the body’ will be totally destroyed, and at the end the final thought, viz. the ‘I’-form also will be quenched like the fire that burns camphor*. The great sages and scriptures declare that this alone is release.

* i.e., without leaving any sediment.

- Ramana Maharshi, Self Enquiry, trans. Dr T. M. P. Mahadevan.

The Self or the Other

Sheikh Awhaduddin Kirmani says,

The Self

dar āyeneye dūst nazar mīkardam
xod rā ze xodī be xod xabar mīkardam
goftam ke magar kīst dar dīdeye man?
xod būdam o xod be xod nazar mīkardam

I peered
       into the mirror
              of the Beloved
gave conscious as myself
       about the Self
              to my self.

I looked closer:
       was there someone
              reflected
in my eye?
       I was alone.
              I saw myself in me.

 

The Other

īn hastīye to hastīye haste degarast
vīn mastīye to mastīye maste degarast
ro sar be garībāne tafakkor barkaŝ
kīn daste to āsetīne daste degarast

All your existence
       comes from existence
              of the Other.

all your inebration
       flows from drunkenness
              of the Other

Go and wrap yourself
       in the robe
              of meditation
about your arm
       that is the sleeve
              of the Other.

- Awhaduddin Kirmani, Heart’s Witness (Awhaduddin’s Quatrains), tran. Bernd Weischer & Peter Wilson, Quatrains 109 & 117, with applying some chages in the translation.

On seeing and mirror, see borther Sadiq’s wonderful post and its related posts here.

The Door

God says, O Iblis! [=Satan] “My curse shall be upon thee till the Day of Religion (yawm ud-din)” (38:78), [and not for every time]; for the religion of the Day is differing from our religions: a religion for the hereafter in which there is nothing but unity. It [?] is unbelief in this world, but in the way and religion of the voyagers whether unbelief or belief! Both are one and the same thing. Yusof-i Ameri says,

“In the tavern of ruin whether poor or king,
On the way of unification whether prayer or sin,
Before the congress of the highest heaven whether the sun or the moon,
Skins of wandering Dervishes whether white or black.” 

These words are not for everyone. Iblis is related to the way [of unification], anyway, but he invites us from Him and Muhammad (pbuh) invites to Him. Iblis is assigned for sentry of the divine doorway and it be said to him, “you are My lover then adore Our seat and don’t let aliens to pass from the door and constantly whisper:

 My beloved direct me to guard the door,
Don’t let aliens, who do not love Me to enter,
Say him who says love Me,
‘Be self-less!’
This is place of nobody but Me.”

 Sigh! The sin of Iblis is his love with God and the sin of Muhammad, do you know what is? God’s love with him is the sin of the Prophet.

- Ayn al-Quddat Hamidani, Tamhidat (Book of the Contrivances), ed. Afif Osseiran, pp 228-229.

Knowledge

Read Bill Hulet’s excellent writting “Daoism and Science“. I want continue his considerations on science and knowledge by some short words on Daoism and place of the Guanzi for further details which contain in the next posts.

The facts of which we will discuss, of course, are not as simple as the discussion, for ancient China is far away really. Anyway, at one time, there was undoubtedly two different and seemingly two opposite thoughts relative to Laozi and Confucius. But if those have been seen from a deeper point of view, we finds them complementaries of the Chenese tradition: Laozi’s thought (Daoism) as for esoteric souls (who witness the Dao before, within, and after all things), and on the other hand, Confucianism as for exoteric ones. Both thoughts originate from the same more ancient religion in which seem it, in itself, had these two streams.

It is not important that the Guanzi belongs to the era before Daoism or not, but the very important issue is that the Daoist chapters of the Guanzi belong to ancient chinese religion before Laozi and Confucius.

Both Laozi and Guanzi’s perspectives are esoteric, but Laozi’s point of view has somethings that there are not in the Guanzi, including the efforts for establish a way against the Confucian one.

When the Dao falls into disuse
There are benevolence and rectitude;
When cleverness emerges
There is great hypocrisy;
When the six relations are at variance
There are filial children;
When the state is benighted
There are loyal ministers.
Laozi, Ch. 18.

These words are in conflict with Confucian morality and politics which is in fact external imposition. Benevolence (ren仁) and rectitude (yi義) are two honorable concepts for Confucians, for the very reason Laozi has not peaceful relation with them. So mind/heart (xin心) with its limits is dear for exoteric part of people, and therefore, on the contrary, Laozi says, “in governing the people, the sage empties their minds (xin) but fills their bellies” (Ch, 3). We don’t find such these statements in the Guanzi, neither on benevolence and rectitude nor on mind. Guanzi is against mind and at the same time glorify it. He is against mind as store of datas and glorify it for the sake of its another mind which has within itself.

When our minds are well regulated,
Our sense organs are also well regulated.
When our minds are at ease,
Our sense organs are also at ease.
What regulates them is the mind;
What sets them at ease is the mind.
The mind therefore contains an inner mind.
That is to say within the mind there is another mind.
(Guanzi, Nei Ye, VIII)[1]

The another mind within the mind can be translate into Sufism (as a language) as “aql-i aql” (just like “xin zhi xin” 心之心) that Rumi says,

Philosophers stick at the limits of reasons,
Sufis drive the mind of mind.

And also says,

Reasons are two:
The first is obtainable reason,
Which you can gain it if you study in school!
But God (yazdan)[2] grant the another intellect,
Its originates from the center of spirit.

———-
[1] Trans. W. Allyn Rickett, Guanzi, Volume II, p 47.
[2] Yazdan, Persian word, literally means gods in Iran before Islam, but after Islam Sufis use it for refer to the one ultimate Truth as personal God and as the object of prayers.

Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Order passed away from this world on October 10, 2008, in Oxford, England.

Early on the morning of October 10, 2008 the Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh (Nur ‘Ali Shah), surrendered his soul to the Beloved.

For more than fifty years, as the Master of the Order and guide to the Nimatullahi darvishes, he illuminated our path and our hearts with the light he radiated, with the love he had for all creation, with his passionate dedication to the Beloved and service to all, with his spiritual charisma and his loving guidance.

See:
http://www.nimatullahi.org/memoriam

After Love

It is so important that, in the final analyse, the degrees of Love are lower than Knowledge ones, whether in Islamic or Hindu esotericism. Someones have said that Persian or Iranian (commonly Shuhūdī) Sufis first and last are in the path of Love and for them Love has the highest degree of voyage toward God. It is false, beside the consideration of the particular terminology of Persian Sufism, we can find the writtings that are contrary to it.

Maybe Shaikh Ruzbihan Baqli is the best known Sufi that value Love too much. It is interesting to read this words of him in the last chapter of Abhar al-Āshiqīn (Narcissus of Lovers):

States of Love have an end which is the begining of Knowledge. In the Knowledge, Love is perfect. If colours of lover and Beloved become one, station of Unity will be attained. If [voyager] become wonderful at the Knowledge, station of Knowledge will be attained. End of Love is these two stations.

Therefore, if Hindus speak of three “separate” paths, according to Sufis there are three “conjunct” paths. Hindus call these paths respectively as “Karma” (act), “Bhakti” (love) and “Jnana” (knowledge), and Sufis call them as “Khauf” (awful) or “Mo’āmela” (act), “Mahabba” (glow) or “Ishq” (love) and “Ma’refa” (knowledge). End of these all of course is station of “Vahda” (unity).

One chapter (”Knowledge and Love”) of Titus Burckhardt’s book An Introduction to Sufi Doctrine is dedicated to comparison between Sufi and Hindu viewpoints about these paths.

Jam’īya for Ramadan

The more we learn,
The more things are plowed into our minds;
The more we follow the Dao,
The more things are taken out of our minds.
Laozi, translation of Lok Sang Ho, ch. 48.

Ramadhān Mubārak!

I traveled to village Asb-bavāni (northwest of Iran) in the last week for seek of jam’īya. I was couldn’t prepare myself for Ramadan without this journey.

Jam’īya is an important term for Sufis that can translate as “peace of mind”. Not only in Sufism, but according to all esoteric orders, purify of reason is in a relationship with forgetting reason and attending to intellect and, in the higher degree, connecting with the universal Intellect.

Photographer: Don Hong-OaiDon

 

I think tafraqa (rambling of mind) is nearer to us than jam’īya in modern life with varied mechanic and electronic forms, and for the very reason mountains and virgin nature, in which tools of tafraqa is lesser, are good backrests for jam’īya.

Your disheveled hair is cause of our jam’īya;
Then it must be more disheveled.
Merāt ul-’uŝāq.

Main Characters of the Shuhūdīyah School

Before any speaking on symbolism of Sufism whether in Shuhūdīyah or Wujūdīyah forms, it is necessary to note main structure of their languages. We can summarize the various aspects of Shuhūdīyah language in the three major topics. [1]

1- Unity of the Witness and Object of the Witness

For Vedāntists it is known well as unity between Ātmā and Brahmā, and so for the mystical Zoroastrian orders where they understood real meaning of Mazdā and Ahūra as well as their oneness. Mazdā in the etymological sense means knower, witness, and onlooker and so on. However when Hallāj says, “I’m Truth” (An al-Haqq) what he purpose of “I” is not conditional and individual ego but Mazdā, the absolute Self, pure Subject; or when Rumi call his beloved as he who are “more I than me” he refers to Ātmā (pure Consciousness, one and only Self) and not jīvātmā (mortal ego) in Vedāntist terminology

2- Two Complementary Essences

As it be seen in the previous post there is two opposite, or rather complementary, essences in Zoroastrianism, Spenta Mainyū, holy Soul and Angra Mainyū, unholy Soul; as Guénon says every twin which “appears to be an opposition that is valid at a certain level …”, metaphysically “be a complementarity corresponds to a deeper point of view.” [2]

Ayn al-Qudāt speaks of Ahmad (Prophet Muhammad) as the principle of all guidances (in the path of God) and of Iblīs (devil) as the principle of all digression (from path of God). In the Shuhūdī point of view, Iblīs is not God’s enemy and even it cannot be told that he is human’s enemy; he is doorkeeper of God’s presence only who don’t let self lovers and weak ones to pass away from the door.[3]

 

3- Seven Stations in the Spiritual Voyage

There are two orders of Zoroastrian angels, Yazadān and Amšāspandān (both Pahlavian words are plural). Number of Amšāspandān (lit. Immortals which those are vertical and hierarchical) is six beside one central Amšāspand (singular form) which is very Spenta Mainyū. We can also say, borrowing Islamic and Sufi terminology, which Amšāspandān wherein God say “come down angels (Malā’eka) and the Spirit (Rūh)”, [4] are Malā’eka beside Rūh ul-A’zam (the Great Spirit). Amšāspandān manifested in macrocosm, for instance Xurdād in waters and Amurdād in plants. Forby macrocosmic appearance they can be manifest in the human spirit. Therefore, we can speak of them as seven stations (maqām) in the initiatic realization and it is basic of all topics on seven stations, which among such writings Attār’s Mantiq u-ttair (Conversation of Birds) is well known but Ahmad Ghazālī’s Bahr al-Haqqīqa (Ocean of Reality) is best and deepest in the kind.

 

————————

1- Foundation of this writings is some Perennialist and traditional studies (Javīdān Khiradī) that Dr. Bābak Ālīkhānī teaches at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy.

2- Guénon, René, The Great Triad, Trans. Henry D. Fohr, p 14, also see Symbolism of the Cross, Ch. 7.

3- Ayn al-Qudāt, Tamhidat (contrivances), ed. Afīf Osseirān, p. 228.

4- Quran, 97:4.