GULSHAN-I RÂZ

گلشن راز

The Mystic Rose Garden

SHEIKH MAHMÛD SHABISTARI

Edited by: Dr. Necati Aksu
 

QUESTION XI.

634

What is that part which is greater than its whole ?

What is the way to find that part ?

ANSWER XI.

635

Know Absolute Being is that part which is greater than its whole,
The whole is actual being, which is the universe. 1

636

Actual being bears plurality on its outside, 2
For it contains unity only inwardly.

637

Every actual being is manifested through plurality,
For this is as a veil of its unity part.

638

Though this whole is to outward aspect many,
It is smaller in quantity than its own part. 3

639

But in fine actual existence is not Necessary,
For actual existence is a vassal of Necessary Being.

640

This whole has not real absolute being,
For it is as a contingent accident of Reality.

641

The existence of this whole is both plural and single,
And it appears as plural through its plural aspect.

642

Actual being is contingent, for it is a conjunction, 4
The contingent is ever hastening of itself to not being.

643

In every part of this whole, as it becomes non-existent,
This whole itself is becoming non-existent on its contingent side.

644

The world is this whole, and in every ' twinkling of an eye,'
It becomes non-existent and " endures not two moments."

645

Then over again another world is produced,
Every moment a new heaven and a new earth. 5

646

Every moment it is a youth and an old man,
Every moment it is gathered and dispersed.

647

Things remain not in it two moments,
The same moment they perish, they are born again.

648

But this is not the great resurrection day, 6
This is the day of works, that the ' day offaith.'

649

Between this and that is a great difference, Beware !

In ignorance make not yourself entangled.

650

Open your eyes to see amplification and epitome, 7
Behold hour, day, month and year.

 

ILLUSTRATION.

651

If you desire to understand this mystery,
Consider how you also have both life and death.

652

Of every thing in the world above or below 8

An exemplar is set forth in your soul and body.

653

Like you the world is a specific person,
You are to it a soul, and it is a body to you.

654

Death occurs to man in three sorts ; 9
The one every moment is that due to his nature ; 10

655

Of the other two, know one is the death of his will,
The third death is that compulsory on him.

656

And as death and life answer to one another,
His life is of three sorts in three stages. 11

657

The world has not the death of will,
For you alone of all creatures have this death.

658

But every moment the world is changed,
And its last state becomes like to its first.

659

And whatever will be seen in the world at the last day,
Will be also seen in you in your death agony.

660

Your body is as earth, your head as heaven,
Your senses as stars, your soul as the sun.

661

Your bones are as the mountains, for they are hard,
Your hair as plants, and your limbs as trees.

662

On the day of death your body with contrition
Will ' tremble ' like the earth on the day of doom. 12
663

Brain will be confounded and soul darkened,
Your senses will become dim like the stars,  13

664

Your pores will run with sweat like the rivers,
You will.be drowned therein as a helpless log.

665

In your death agony, wretched man !

Your bones will become " soft as dyed wool," 14

666

Leg will be twisted with leg, 15

Every friend will be separated from his fellow. 16

667

And when spirit is wholly separated from body,
Your land will be "a level plain, without hills or valleys." 17

668

In like manner will be the state of the world,
Which you behold in yourself at that hour.

669

Permanence belongs to " The Truth," all else is fleeting,

Its whole fabric is set forth in the " seven chapters." 18

670

Which say " all that is on earth is transitory," 19

And show forth " the new creation. " 20

671

Again the constant annihilation and renovation of the two worlds
Are like the creation and resurrection of the sons of Adam.

672

Continually is creation born again in a new creation,
Though the duration of its life seems long. 21

673

Continually the overflowing bounty of " The Truth "
Is being revealed in His continual " working." 22

674

On this side the world is renewed and perfected,
On that side it is every moment annihilated. 23

675

But when the fashion of this world passes away,
All will be everlasting in the world to come.

676

For every object which you see of necessity
Contains two worlds, form and reality.

677

The " union " of the first is true separation,
The other is what endures for ever in Allah." 24

678

Permanence is a name proper to Necessary Being,
But yet the place where Being dwells is also permanent, 25

679

When the manifestors are suitable to what is manifested,
In this world is seen the world to come. 26

680

Whatsoever exists in potentiality in this "house,"
Will come into actuality in the world to come. 27

 

RULE. 28

681

Whatever action once proceeds from you,
If you repeat it several times, you become master of it.

682

Every time you repeat it, be it gain or loss,
One of these two becomes implanted in your soul.

683

By habit dispositions become habitual,
By length of time fruits gain their savour.

684

By habitual practice men learn their trades,
By habit they learn to collect their thoughts.

685

All man's ingrained actions and sayings
Will be made manifest at the last day. 29

686

When you are stripped of the garment of this body, 30
All your vices and virtues will at once be shown.

687

A body you will have, but one free from stain, 31
In it will be reflected forms as in pure water.

688

All secrets will be revealed in that place,
Read the text "All secrets shall be searched out." 32

689

Again, suitably to that special world
Your dispositions will be embodied and personified.

690

Just as in this world from the potentialities of elements
The three kingdoms of nature are produced. 33

691

So all your dispositions in the world of spirits
Will be made manifest now as lights, now as fires. 34

692

Phenomenal limitations will be removed from Being,
Nor height nor depth will remain in sight. 35

693

The death of the body will abide not in the ' house of life,' 36
External form and soul will appear as one stainless entity.

694

Your head, foot and eye will become as a heart,
Pure from the stain of earthly form.

695

Then the light of " The Truth " will illuminate you,
You will behold face to face " The Truth" Most High.

696

I know not what intoxication will possess you,
You will scatter in confusion the two worlds.

697

Consider what means " their Lord gives them to drink," 37

And what is "pure ivine " ! It is purification from self.

698

What a draught, what lusciousness, what sweetness !

What bliss, what ecstasy, what intoxication !

699

O happy moment when we shall quit our " selves " !

When we shall be most rich in utterest poverty ! 38

700

Without faith or reason, or piety or perception,
Bowed down in the dust, drunken and beside ourselves !

701

Of what account then will be paradise and houris ? 39
For no stranger finds entrance to that secret chamber.

702

When I have seen this vision, and drunk of this cup,
I know not what will come to pass thereafter.

703

Nay, after all intoxication comes headache, 40
This thought again drowns my soul in blood.

1 Lahiji says, "Absolute Being, wajud, by the individualization, tashakkas, and phenomenalization, ta'ayyun, which occur to it, gets the name of maujud, actual being, and therefore wajud is a part of every maujud ; for maujud is wajud plus ta'ayyun. Absolute Being again is greater than its whole because it contains all maujud."

2 I.e., on its phenomenal side. Compare couplet 451.

3 Because Absolute Being is the summum genus embracing all species of actual beings beneath it. L. The Neo Platonists and Dionysius the pseudo Arcopagite held a similar view. Vaughan, I. 96.

4 Conjunction, ijtama'i, coalescence. A compound which contains a perishable part is dissolved and perishes when that part perishes. L.

5 The world is changed in place, time, and quality every moment. Every moment it is clothed with fresh effluxes of Divine manifestations. L.

6 Tamat i kubra, literally the great overthrow or calamity, Sura LXXIX.34 ; also called yaum i din, ' day of faith,' Sura I. 4.

7 The day of judgment is an amplification of the death and resurrection of phe- nomena occurring every moment, just as a year is of a day. L.

8 I.e., spirits and material elements. L.

9 Lahiji says: The first death is that which every existing thing dies, and is every moment born again ; the second the ascetic death to the world, according to the text, "Die before you die; " and the third the separation of soul and body. The first death seems to be the Heracleitean doctrine of the flux of all things (rei panta). Heracleitus is quoted in a passage of Jelal-ud-din Kumi, given in Lumsden's Persian Grammar, II. 323.

10 I.e., necessitated by the contingent phenomenal element in him. L.

11 One in this world, one in the world to come, another in hades. L.

12 Koran, Sura XCIX. 1 : " The earth shall tremble with her trembling."

13 Koran, Sura LXXXI. 2.

14 Koran, Sura CI. 4.

15 Koran, Sura LXXV. 29.

16 Koran, Sura LXX : " A friend shall not ask of a friend."

17 Koran, Sura XX. 105.

18 See note on couplet 207.

19 Koran, Sura LV. 26.

20 Koran, Sura L. 14. and XXIX. 17. Compare Rev. xxi. 1. 5.

21 Owing to the rapidity of the phenomenal effluxes from Being, the phenomenal life of the creature world seems continuous. L.

22 " He is working every day." Koran, Sura LV. 29. See John v. 17.

23 This side=God; that side the phenomenal contingent. L.

24 Koran, Sura XVI. 98.

25 I.e., so long as Being lodges in it. L.

26 When the contingent mirrors of Divine effluxes are polished and fit to reflect the "Manifested," then the invisible is seen in the visible world. L.

27 Here is another reproduction of the Aristotelian doctrines of Dynamis and Energeia, and of habits.

28 This Rule explains how mental qualities will in the world to come be embodied in forms or bodies suitable to evidence and manifest them properly. When Divine names are manifested in suitable mirrors these mirrors are everlasting. L.

29 Dispositions, freed from the stain of the phenomenal, will then be reflected in
perfect mirrors. L.

30 Compare Plato, Gorgias : " And, in a word, whatever was the habit of the body during life would be distinguishable after death When the man is stripped of his body, all the natural or acquired affections of the soul are laid open to view." Jowett's Plato, III. 123. See Rev. xxii. 11.

31 See 1 Cor. xv. 44. In the Shark makhtassar it is said, soul cannot be without a body, and after death it has an " acquired body," a shadowy figure.
32 Koran, Sura LXXXVI. 9.

33 Lahiji, quoting from the Hakk ul Yakin, says potentialities of origin, mubda, come into actuality in the present life, m'aash ; e.g. horn, the potentialities of the elements come forth minerals, animals and men; and so the inner potentialities acquired by men in this world, m'aash, are developed by habit into actuality and evidence in the next world, mu'ad, and there find fit mirrors or forms to represent them.
34 I.e. heaven and hell.

35 Rom. viii. 39.

36 Koran, Sura XXIX. 64 : " Verily the future house is life indeed." Lahiji says that ' knowers ' attain this stage in the present life.

37 " And their Lord shall give them to drink of a most pure wine." Koran, Sura LXXVI. 21.

38 Poor, i.e. by effacing self, and rich by union with " The Truth." L.

39 These all partake of the phenomenal, and are external to real Unity and Unifica tion, tauhid. Lahiji cites :

     " While heaven and hell stand in your way,
       How is your soul cognizant of this mystery ? "
See couplet 338.

40 States of ecstasy in this life are only temporary, and are followed by the reappear- ance of veils and phenomena. L.