Story of Báyazíd's—may God sanctify his spirit—saying, “Glory to me! How grand is my estate!” and the objection raised by his disciples, and how he gave them an answer to this, not by the way of speech but by the way of vision (immediate experience).
That venerable
dervish, Báyazíd, came
to his disciples, saying, “Lo, I
am God.”
That master of the
(mystic) sciences said
plainly in drunken
fashion, “Hark, there is no god
but I, so worship me.”
When that ecstasy had passed, they said to him at dawn, “You saidest such and such, and this
is
impiety.”
2105. He said,
“This time, if I make a scandal, come on at once
and dash knives
into me. God transcends
the body, and I am with the body:
ye must kill
me
when I say a thing
like this.” When that (spiritual) freeman gave the injunction, each disciple made ready a knife.
Again he (Báyazíd) became intoxicated by that potent flagon: those injunctions vanished from his
mind.
The Dessert
came: his reason became
distraught. The Dawn came: his candle
became helpless.
2110. Reason is like the prefect:
when the sultan arrives, the
helpless prefect
creeps into a
corner.
Reason is the
shadow of God:
God is the sun: what
power has the shadow
to resist His sun?
When a genie prevails over
(gains possession of) a man, the
attributes of humanity disappear
from the man.
Whatsoever he says, that
genie will (really) have said it:
the
one who belongs to this side
will have spoken from (the control
of)
the one who belongs to yonder side.
Since a genie has this influence and rule, how (much more powerful) indeed must be the
Creator of that
genie!
2115. His (the possessed man's) “he”
(personality)
is
gone: he has in sooth become
the genie: the Turk,
without
(receiving) Divine inspiration, has
become a speaker of
Arabic.
When he comes to himself, he does not know a word
(of Arabic). Inasmuch as a genie has this essence and quality,
Then how, pray, should the Lord of genie and man
have
inferiority to the genie?
If a pot-valiant
fellow has drunk the
blood of a fierce
lion, you will say that
the wine did it, not he;
And if he fashion words
of old (pure) gold, you will say that
the wine has spoken those words.
2120. A wine has this (power to excite)
disturbance and
commotion: has not the
Light of
God that virtue and potency
To make you entirely empty of self, (so that) you should be laid low and He should make the
Word lofty (within
you)?
Though the Qur’án is (dictated) from the lips of the Prophet —if any one says God did not speak
it, he is an infidel.
When the humá of selflessness took
wing (and soared),
Báyazíd began (to repeat)
those words. The flood of bewilderment swept away his
reason: he spoke more strongly
than he had spoken at first,
2125. (Saying), “Within my
mantle there
is naught but God: how
long wilt you seek on
the earth and in heaven?”
All the disciples became frenzied
and dashed their knives at his holy body.
Like the heretics of Girdakúh, every one was ruthlessly stabbing his spiritual Director.
Every one who plunged a dagger into the Shaykh was reversely making a gash in his own body.
There was no mark (of a
wound) on the
body of that possessor
of the (mystic) sciences, while
those disciples were wounded and drowned in blood.
2130. Whoever aimed a blow at his throat saw his own throat
cut, and died
miserably;
And whoever inflicted a blow on his breast, his (own) breast was
riven, and he
became dead for ever;
And he that was acquainted
with that (spiritual) emperor of high fortune, (and) his
heart
(courage) did not consent
to strike a
heavy blow,
Half-knowledge tied his hand,
(so that) he saved his life
and only wounded himself.
Day broke, and the disciples were thinned: wails of lamentation
arose from their house.
2135. Thousands of men and women
came to him (Báyazíd), saying,
“O you in whose single
shirt the two worlds are contained,
If this body of yours were a human body, it would have been destroyed, like a human body, by the
daggers.”
A self-existent one encountered
a selfless one in combat: the self-existent one drove a thorn into his own
eye (hurt himself).
O you who stab the selfless
ones with the sword,
you are stabbing your own
body with it. Beware!
For the selfless one has passed away (in God) and is safe: he is
dwelling in safety for ever.
2140. His form has passed away and he
has become
a mirror: naught is there but the form
(image) of the face of another.
If you spit (at it), you spit at
your own face;
and if you strike at the mirror, you strike at
yourself; And if you see an
ugly face (in
that mirror), it
is you; and if you see Jesus and Mary,
it is you.
He is neither this nor
that: he is
simple (pure and free
from attributes of self): he has placed your image
before you.
When the discourse reached this point, it closed its lips; when the pen reached this point, it broke
to pieces.
2145. Close your lips (O my soul): though eloquence is at your command, do not breathe
a word—and God
best knoweth the
right way.
O you who
are
drunken with the wine
(of
love), you are on the edge
of the roof: sit down or
(else) descend, and
peace be with you!
Every moment
when you enjoy
(union with the Beloved),
deem that delightful moment
to be the edge of the
roof.
Be trembling for
(fear of losing) the delightful
moment: conceal
it like a treasure, do not divulge it.
Lest calamity suddenly befall
(your) plighted love, take heed, go very fearfully
into that place of
ambush.
2150. The spirit's fear of loss at the moment of enjoyment is (the sign of its) departure
(descent) from the hidden roof-edge.
If you do not
see the mysterious roof-edge, (yet) the
spirit is seeing, for it is
shuddering (with fear).
Every sudden chastisement
that has come to pass has taken place on the
edge of the
turret of enjoyment.
Indeed there is no fall except
(on) the edge of the
roof: (take) warning
from (the fate of) the
people of Noah and the people of
Lot.
Explaining the cause of the eloquence and loquacity of that impertinent man in the presence of the Prophet, on
whom be peace.
When the ray (reflexion) of the Prophet's boundless intoxication struck (the objector),
that stupid fellow also became drunken and
merry.
2155. Of course, in consequence of (drunken)
glee he became loquacious:
the intoxicated man neglected
(to observe) respect and began to rave.
Not on every occasion
does selflessness (intoxication) work mischief, (but) wine makes the unmannerly person
more so.
If he (the
wine-drinker) be intelligent, he becomes decorous (displays goodly
qualities when beside himself); and if he be evil-natured,
he
becomes worse.
But since
the majority are
evil and
reprobate, wine has been forbidden to all.
How the Prophet, on whom be peace, explained the cause of his preferring and
choosing the (young) man of Hudhayl as commander and chief of the army over the heads of the elders and veterans.
Cases are
decided by the
general rule (not by
the
exceptions):since the majority are evil, the sword was taken
away from the
hand of the highwayman.
2160. The Prophet said, “O you who
lookest on externals, do not
regard him as a youth
and unskilled.
Oh, there is many a
black beard and the
man (its owner)
old (in wisdom); oh, there is many a
white beard
with a heart
(black) as pitch.
Often have I tested his understanding: that youth has
shown (the ripe experience of)
age in
(handling) affairs.
O son, the (really)
old is the old in
understanding: it is not whiteness of the
hair in the beard
and on the head.
How should he (any old man)
be
older than Iblis? When he lacks
understanding, he is good-for- naught.
2165. Suppose he is a child: (what
matter) when he has the
(life-giving) breath
of Jesus
(and) is purged
of vainglory and
vain desire?
That whiteness of hair is a proof of
maturity to the
bandaged eye that
has little penetration. Since the blind
imitator recognises nothing
but (an external) proof, he continually seeks the way
(to
the truth) in the (out ward)
sign.
For his sake we have said, ‘When you wish to plan (anything),
choose an elder (to advise you).’
He who
has escaped from
the purdah of
blind imitation sees by the
light of God that
which
(really) is.
2170. Without proof and without
exposition the pure Light cleaves its (the object’s) skin and enters into the middle (the
core).
To one who regards
(only) the appearance, what is (the difference between) the
adulterated and genuine coin? How should he know
what is in the
date-basket?
Oh, there is much gold made
black with smoke, that it may be saved
from (falling into)
the hands of every envious thief.
Oh, there is much
copper gilded with gold, that
he (the counterfeiter) may sell it to (those
of)
small understanding.
We, who see the
inward (reality)
of
the whole world, see the heart
and look not on the
outward form.”
2175. The cadis who are concerned with the outward
form (the letter of the law) give judgement according to outward
appearances.
When he (the suspected person) has uttered the profession of the Faith and has shown some
(formal sign of)
true belief, at once these people (the cadis) pronounce
him
a true believer.
There is many
a hypocrite who has taken refuge in this out ward
form and has shed
the
blood of a
hundred true believers in
secret.
Endeavour to become old in intelligence
and religion, that you may
become, like the Universal
Intelligence, a seer of the in
ward (reality).
When the beauteous Intelligence
unveiled its
face (revealed itself)
from non-existence,
He (God)
gave it a robe of honour and a thousand names.
2180. Of those sweet-breathing names
the least is this, that
it (the Intelligence)
is not in
need of any one.
If the Intelligence display its face in visible form, day will be dark beside its light;
And if the
shape of foolishness become
visible, beside it the
darkness of night will be radiant, For it is darker
and more murky than
night; but the miserable bat is a
buyer (seeker) of
darkness.
Little by little accustom yourself to the daylight,
else you will remain a bat deprived
of splendour.
2185. He (the
bat-like person) is
the
lover of every
place where
there is difficulty
and perplexing
doubt, and the enemy
of every place
where there is the lamp of (spiritual)
felicity The intelligent man is he who bath
the lamp: he is the guide and leader of the caravan.
That leader is one who goes after his own light: that selfless traveller is the follower
of himself. His heart
seeks the
darkness of
perplexity in
order that his acquirements
may seem greater
(than
they are),
So that he may preoccupy you with that
difficult question and
make you oblivious of his own
evil nature.
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