GULSHAN-I RÂZ

گلشن راز

The Mystic Rose Garden

SHEIKH MAHMÛD SHABISTARI

Edited by: Dr. Necati Aksu
 

QUESTION XIII.

717

What means the mystic by those expressions of his 1

What does he indicate by " eye " and " lip ?"

718

What seeks he by " cheek," " curl," " down," and "mole ?"

He, to wit, who is in " stations " and " states ?" 2

ANSWER XIII.

719

Whatsoever is seen in this visible world,

Is as a reflection from the sun of that world.

720

The world is as curl, down, mole and brow,
For everything in its own place is beautiful.

721

The epiphany is now in beauty, now in majesty, 3
Cheek and curl are the similitudes of those verities. The attributes of "

722

The Truth " are mercy and vengeance,
Cheek and curl of fair ones are types of these two.

723

When these words are heard by the sensual ear,

At first they denote objects of sense.

724

The spiritual world is infinite,
How can finite words attain to it ? 4

725

How can the mysteries beheld in ecstatic vision
Be interpreted by spoken words ?

726

When mystics treat of these mysteries,
They interpret them by types.

727

For objects of sense are as shadows of that world, 5

And this world is as an infant, and that as the nurse,

728

I believe that these words were at first assigned
To those mysteries in their original usage.

729

They were afterwards assigned to objects of sense by usage of the vulgar
(For what know the vulgar of these mysteries ?)

730

And when reason turned its glance on the world,
It transferred some words from that place. 6

731

The wise man has regard to analogy,
When he turns his mind to words and mysteries.

732

Although perfect analogies are unattainable,
Nevertheless continue steadfast in seeking them.

733

In this matter none can judge you,
For there is no leader of the sect here save " The Truth." 7

734

Yet so long as you retain yourself, Beware !

Beware ! And observe the expressions used in the law.

735

The license of mystics is in three " states," 8
Annihilation, intoxication, and the fever of love.

736

All who experience these three " states "
Know the use of these words and their meanings.

737

But if you experience not these " states "
Be not an ignorant infidel blindly repeating them. 9

738

These mystic " states " are not mere illusions,
All men reach not the mysteries of the mystic path.

739

O friend, vain babbling proceeds not from men of truth,
To know these states requires either revelation or faith. 10

740

I have explained the usage of words and their meanings
To you in brief, and if you attend you will understand.

741

In applying them look to their final intent,
And regard all the attributes of each.

742

Use them in comparisons in manner proper thereto,
Carefully abstain from applying them otherwise.

743

Now that this rule is well established,
I will show you more of these types.

 

INDICATION

OF THE EYE AND THE LIP.

744

See what proceeds from the eye and the lip,

Consider their attributes in this place. 11

745

From His eye proceed languishing and intoxication,
From His ruby lip 12 the essence of being. 13

746

Because of His eye all hearts are burning,
His ruby lip is healing to the sick heart.

747

Because of His eye hearts are drunken and aching,
By His ruby lip all souls are clothed. 14

748

Though the world is not regarded by His eye,
His lip ever and anon shows compassion.

749

Sometimes with humanity He charms our hearts,
Sometimes He grants help to the helpless.

750

By smiles He gives life to man's water and clay,
By a breath He kindles the heaven into a flame. 15

751

Every glance of His eye is a snare baited with corn,

Every corner thereof is a wine shop.

752

With a frown He lays waste the creature world,
With one kiss He restores it again every moment.

753

Because of His eye our blood is ever boiling,
Because of His lip our souls are ever beside themselves.

754

By a frown of His eye He plunders the heart,
By a smile on His lips He cheers the soul.

755

When you ask of His eye and lip an embrace, 16

One says "nay," and the other "yea."

756

By a frown He finishes the affair of the world,
By a kiss He ever and anon revives the soul.

757

One frown from Him and we yield up our lives,
One kiss from Him and we rise again.

758

As the " twinkling of an eye " 17 comes the last day,
By a breath the spirit of Adam was created.

759

When the world reflects on His eye and His lip,

It gives itself up to the worship of wine. 18

760

All existence is not regarded by His eyes,
They regard it only as the illusion of a dream.

761

Man's existence is but intoxication or a sleep,
What relation does the dust bear to the Lord of Lords ?

762

Reason draws a hundred perplexities from this
That He said " thou mightest be formed after mine eye." 19
 

INDICATION

OF THE CUBL. 20

763

The story of the curl of The Beloved is very long,
What is it meet to tell of this seeing it is a mystery ?

764

Ask not of me the story of that knotted curl,
It is a chain leading mad lovers captive.

765

Last night I spoke straightforwardly of that stately form, 21

But the tip of the curl replied, " Conceal it."

766

Thence crookedness prevailed over straightness,
And the enquirer's path was twisted awry.

767

By that curl all hearts are enchained, 22

By that curl all souls are borne to and fro.

768

A hundred thousand hearts are bound on every side,
No heart escapes from the yoke thereof.

769

If He shakes aside those black curls of His
No single infidel is left in the world.

770

If He leaves them continually in their place,
There remains not in the world one faithful soul.

771

That spider's web of His is spread as a net to ensnare,
In wantonness He puts it aside from off His face. 23

772

If His curls were shorn, what harm were it ?
If night were destroyed, would not day be increased ?

773

As He plunders the caravan of reason,
With His own hands He binds it with knots. 24

774

That curl is never at rest for a moment,
Now it brings morning and now evening.

775

With His face and His curl He makes day and night,
Sporting with them in marvellous fashion. 25

776

The clay of Adam became leavened at the moment
When it caught the perfume of that amber scented curl. 26

777

My heart holds of that curl an ensample, 27
So that it too cannot rest for a moment.

778

Therefore every moment must I begin my work afresh, 28

And pluck my heart out of my bosom.

779

Therefore is my heart troubled by that curl,
Because it veils my burning heart from His face.

 

INDICATION

OF THE CHEEK AND THE DOWN. 29

780

The cheek in this place is the theatre of Divine beauty,
And the down signifies the vestibule of Almightiness.

781

His cheek scores a line through beauty,
Saying " without me is no comeliness of face." 30

782

The down is a verdant growth in the spirit world
Therefore is it named the " mansion of life." 31

783

With the blackness of His curl turn day into night,
In His down seek the well-spring of life.

784

Like Khizr the prophet in a " hidden place " 32
Like His down, quaff the water of life. 33

785

If you see His face and His down, of a surety
You will know plurality and unity every whit. 34

786

From the curl you learn the affair of this world,
In the down you read at large the " the hidden secret."

787

If one sees the down on His face,
Yet my heart sees His face in that down. 35

788

His cheek is as the " seven verses," 36
Every letter whereof is an ocean of mysteries.

789

Hidden beneath each hair on that cheek
Are a thousand oceans of mysteries from the unseen world.

790

See the heart is the " throne of God on the water," 37

The down on the cheek is the adornment of souls.

 

INDICATION

OF THE MOLE. 38

791

On that cheek the point of His mole is single,
It is a centre which is the basis of the circling circumference.

792

From that centre is drawn the circle of the two worlds,
From that centre Adam's heart and soul.

793

Because of that mole the heart is bleeding sore,

For it is a reflection of the point of the black mole, 39

794

Like His mole the state of the heart is black blood,
For there is no way of escape from that station.

795

Plurality finds not entrance into Unity,
There are no two points in the root of Unity. 40

796

I know not if His mole is the reflection of my heart,
Or my heart the reflection of the mole on that fair face.

797

If my heart springs from the reflection of His mole,
Or if the reflection of my heart is seen in that place. 41

798

If my heart is in His face, or that mole in my heart,
This dark secret is hidden from me.

799

If this heart of mine be the reflection of that mole,
Why are its states so various ? 42

800

Sometimes it is sick like His intoxicating eye,
Sometimes fluttering like His curl.

801

Sometimes gleaming as a moon like that face,
Sometimes dark like that black mole.

802

Sometimes it is a mosque, sometimes a synagogue,
Sometimes a hell, sometimes a heaven.

803

Sometimes exalted above the seventh heaven,
Sometimes sunken below ' this mound ' of earth.

804

After devotion and asceticism it becomes again
Addicted to wine, lamp and beauty.

1 Mystic, mard i ma'niy. He who turns his face from the world of forms to that of verity, and holds intuitive certainty. L. Ma'niy, interior rei conditio. Freytag.

2 See Istilahat us Sufiah, p. 35 : "Hal, ' state,' is that which occurs to the heart spontaneously and without effort, like grief or fear, or expansion or cheerfulness, or desire or joy, and which ceases as soon as the natural dispositions of the soul manifest themselves, without being followed by similar states, for if a state becomes predo minant, it is called mukam, ' station. '" This definition is evidently derived from
Aristotle's account of energeia and hexis. " And, in a word, from like energies arise habits." Nicom. Eth. II. 1, 7. The Sufis applied the words to ecstatic states. See couplet 585.

3 Koran, Sura LV. 27 : " But the face of thy Lord shall endure, clothed with beauty and (terrible) majesty," i.e. jamal and jalal. See note on couplet 633.

4 Compare couplet 54.

5 See Milton's Paradise Lost, V. 574 :

" What if earth

     Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein

     Each to other like, more than on earth is thought ? "

6 I.e. to sensible objects from spiritual L.

7 Because these mysteries are apprehended only in ecstatic states. L. Compare 1 Cor. ii. 15 : " He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man."

8 I. e., when mystics are beside themselves, and powerless to control their expres sions. L. Compare Jeremy Taylor : " When they suffer transportations beyond the burden and support of reason, they suffer they know not what, and call it what they please."

9 Unless a man personally experience ecstatic states his use of their types is mere taklid (L.), i. e. cant, blindly copying or repeating.

10 If you cannot experience them you must take them in trust. L.

11 I. e., in the world of mystery. Eye signifies frowns and coquetry holding aloof from its slave, lip mercy and kindness granting union. L.

12 See Hafiz, Ode 305 (Brockhause) :

     " Since first Hafiz learned to tell the story of Thy ruby lip,

       From his pen the eternal fount of life is flowing evermore."

13 Koran, Sura XV. 29: "We breathed into him of our spirit," which the Sufis interpret as the constant efflux of Being by which all things subsist, the khila't of Being thrown over the nakedness of Not being. L. See couplet 645.

14 Literally, ' veiled.' Compare Psalm xxxii. 1 : " Whose sin is covered."

15 I. e., of jealousy, because the Divine 'deposit ' was entrusted to man. L. See note on couplet 264.

16 I. e., union with the Absolute. L.

17 Koran, Sura LIV. 50. See 1 Cor. xv. 52.

18 The Eternal Cupbearer pours the wine of Being into the cup of Not being, and hence fills it with the intoxication and illusion of phenomenal being. L.

19 Koran, Sura XX. 40 : "I bestowed my love upon thee, that thou mightest be fashioned after mine eye."

20 Curl means plurality veiling the face of Unity from its lovers. L.

21 I. e., Unity. L.

22 I.e., from beholding Unity. See Hafiz (Brockhaus),0de 338 :

     " From the meshes of thy tresses there are none who can get free,

       Thou dost slay thy wretched lovers with no fear of penalty."

23 See Hafiz, Ode 10 :

     " My bosom's fowl spread out his net, and caught peace for his prey,

       Then thou didst loose that net thy hair, and peace straight flew away."

24 Reason cannot transcend plurality. L.

25 Compare the Vulgate : "Ludens in orbe terrarum." By veiling and unveiling His face, He makes light and darkness, faith and infidelity, &e. L.

26 Adam obtained the ' deposit,' the faculty of displaying all the Divine attributes, when the khila't of plurality was conferred on him. L.

27 Heart is the epitome of man, who is the epitome of the world of phenomena. Hence it contains all the opposite qualities, light and dark, good and evil, &c. L.

28 I. e., plurality obscures Unity afresh. L.

29 The check means the Divine essence in respect of the manifestation of all its names and qualities. The down is the world of pure spirits, which is nearest to Divinity. L. See couplet 120.

30 His manifested beauty sums up and surpasses all beauty. L.

31 Koran, Sura XXIX. 64 : " Truly the future mansion is life indeed."

32 See note on couplet 124.
33 Passing from land of darkness, i e. the veil of plurality, quaff the water of life (unity), in the verdant mead, or oasis or down (the spirit world). L.

34 The down the spirit world is the first plural emanation which veils the face of unity. L. Curl, the sensible world.

35 One sees the phenomenal world, and infers from it " The Truth ;" another sees " The Truth" first in all that he sees. See couplet 85. L.

36 I.e. Fatiha, which contains the whole essence of the Koran, as the cheek is the manifestation of the seven names of God. L.

37 Alluding to the Hadis : " The heart of the believer is the throne of God," and the text, " His throne was set on the water." Koran, Sura XL 9. The heart is the down or oasis (spirit world) sprouting on the face like water. L.

38 Mole means the point of Unity the ' hidden Ipseity,' single in itself, but embracing all phenomena. L.

39 See note on couplet 151. Both are sources of life and existence. L.

40 Hence Unity and heart must be one. Which is the original, and which the reflection ? L.

41 I.e. His face. L.

42 The point of Unity is fixed and stable, but the heart is disquieted by constant change of emotions, brightened by Divine epiphanies and darkened by the veil of plurality, now in the spiritual mosque, now in the formal synagogue, now sunk in the hell of carnal affections, now raised to the heaven of spiritual emotions. L.