R2-D2

شهاب‌الدین سهروردی :)

هان تا سر رشته خرد گم نکنی 
خود را ز برای نیک و بد گم نکنی
 
رهرو توئی و راه توئی منزل تو 
هشدار که راه خود به خود گم نکنی

From here

Could we get some more Sohravardi, please.

Could we get some more Sohravardi, please, thank you. 

Humankind has not woven the

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.

Chief Seattle, 1854

Lakota Instructions for

Lakota Instructions for Living

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,
if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.

passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

Native American Prayer Oh,

Oh, Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me, I am small and weak,
I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold
the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things
you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have
hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my Spirit may come to you without shame.

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)

Farah Rusta

I sincerely hope that you find the Peace that you are looking for - !

I read your comments in Fariba Amini's blog, referenced above, and unfortunately, your personal attacks on her and her family, primarily stem from your diehard, and perhaps even blind and illogiocal support of the late Shah - Not being able to tolerate someone that has an opposing Political view to yours!!

I would appreciate if you try not to be disruptive in this blog - This is not a Political blog - It's meant to bring, hopefully, some level of perspective with reference to the viriolic attacks that took place at Fariba's blog - From both sides!!

If you have something constructive and positive to say, then please go ahead - Otherwise, I would appreciate if you hold your Peace :) - !

Sincerely,

R D

P.S. From what I understand, Jahanshah has suspended your account once in the past for being abusive towards others - Please don't abuse your privileges!!

According to Mr. Bob Marley

Sick and tired of ism kism

go to Heaven in Jesus name,

We know, you must understand,

The Mighty God is the living man,

You could fool some people some time

But you can't fool all the peole all the time,

So, get up satnd up, stand up for your rights,

God,Woman,Wine

Dear Rea,Nice to meet you :=) .

A Concept

that is perhaps almost impossible to fully come to terms with, regardless of what one's faith may be -

Much appreciate the beautiful poems, both in Farsi and English, which are quite meaningful :)

H.

Red Wine

مولوی عزیز و حافظ شیرازی!!

این حافظ بیچاره چه گناهی کرده که از دید نگارنده ما از عزّت افتاده و فقط به شیرازی بودنش بسنده شده و آن دیار بلخ چه جرمی‌ مرتکب شده که نگارنده از الحاق به مولوی محرومش کرده؟

FR

از حافظ شیرازی

در نظربازی ما بی‌خبران حیرانند
من چنینم که نمودم دگر ایشان دانند

عاقلان نقطه پرگار وجودند ولی
عشق داند که در این دایره سرگردانند

جلوه گاه رخ او دیده من تنها نیست
ماه و خورشید همین آینه می‌گردانند

عهد ما با لب شیرین دهنان بست خدا
ما همه بنده و این قوم خداوندانند

مفلسانیم و هوای می و مطرب داریم
آه اگر خرقه پشمین به گرو نستانند

وصل خورشید به شبپره اعمی نرسد
که در آن آینه صاحب نظران حیرانند

لاف عشق و گله از یار زهی لاف دروغ
عشقبازان چنین مستحق هجرانند

مگرم چشم سیاه تو بیاموزد کار
ور نه مستوری و مستی همه کس نتوانند

گر به نزهتگه ارواح برد بوی تو باد
عقل و جان گوهر هستی به نثار افشانند

زاهد ار رندی حافظ نکند فهم چه شد
دیو بگریزد از آن قوم که قرآن خوانند

گر شوند آگه از اندیشه ما مغبچگان
بعد از این خرقه صوفی به گرو نستانند

غزلیات

Where is God ?!

Where is God ?! ... well i see him each time i see a naked beautiful woman or each time i drink a good old spanish red wine :=) .

God, the way that Gheisar Aminpour explain it

پیش از اینها خاطرم دلگیر بود,از خدا در ذهنم این تصویر بود

آن خدا بی رحم بود و خشمگین ,خانه اش در آسمان،دور از زمین

بود، اما در میان ما نبود, مهربان وساده و زیبا نبود

در دل او دوستی جایی نداشت ,مهربانی هیچ معنایی نداشت

هر چه می پرسیدم، ازخود، ازخدااز زمین، از آسمان، از ابرها

زود می گفتند : این كار خداست ,پرس وجو از كار او كاری خداست

هرچه می پرسی، جوابش آتش است ,آ ب اگر خوردی، عذابش آتش است

تا ببندی چشم، كورت می كند, تا شدی نزدیك، دورت می كند

كج گشودی دست، سنگت می كند, كج نهادی پای، لنگت می كند

با همین قصه، دلم مشغول بود, خوابهایم، خواب دیو وغول بود

خواب می دیدم كه غرق آتشم ,در دهان اژدهای سركشم

در دهان اژدهای خشمگین, بر سرم باران گرز آتشین

محو می شد نعره هایم، بی صدا, در طنین خنده ی خشم خدا

نیت من، در نماز و در دعا ,ترس بود و وحشت از خشم خدا

هر چه می كردم، همه از ترس بود,مثل از بر كردن یك درس بود

مثل تمرین حساب وهندسه ,مثل تنبیه مدیر مدرسه

تلخ، مثل خنده ای بی حوصله ,سخت، مثل حل صدها
مسئله

مثل تكلیف ریاضی سخت بود,مثل صرف فعل ماضی سخت بود

تا كه یك شب دست در دست پدرراه افتادم به قصد یك سفر

در میان راه، در یك روستا, خانه ای دیدم، خوب وآشنا

زود پرسیدم : پدر، اینجا كجاست ؟گفت، اینجا خانه ی خوب خداست

گفت : اینجا می شود یك لحضه ماند, گوشه ای خلوت، نمازی ساده خواند

با وضویی، دست و رویی تازه كردبا دل خود، گفتگویی تازه كرد

گفتمش، پس آن خدای خشمگین, خانه اش اینجاست ؟ اینجا، در زمین ؟

گفت : آری، خانه او بی ریاست , فرشهایش از گلیم و بوریاست

مهربان وساده و بی كینه است ,مثل نوری در دل آیینه است

عادت او نیست خشم و دشمنی , نام او نور و نشانش روشنی

خشم، نامی از نشانی های اوست ,حالتی
از مهربانی های اوست

قهر او از آشتی، شیرین تر است ,مثل قهر مهربان مادر است

دوستی را دوست معنی می دهد, قهر هم ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌با دوست معنی می دهد

هیچ كس با دشمن خود قهر نیست ,قهری او هم نشان دوستی است

تازه فهمیدم خدایم، این خداست ,این خدای مهربان وآشناست

دوستی، از من به من نزدیك تر,از رگ گردن به من نزدیك تر

آن خدای پیش از این را باد برد, نام او را هم دلم از یاد برد

آن خدا مثل خیال و خواب بودچون حبابی، نقش روی آب بود

می توانم بعد از این، با این خدا ,دوست باشم، دوست، پاك وبی ریا

می توان با این خدا پرواز كردسفره ی دل را برایش باز كرد

می توان درباره ی گل حرف زد,صاف وساده، مثل بلبل حرف زد

چكه چكه مثل باران راز گفت ,با دو قطره، صد هزاران راز گفت

می توان با او صمیمی حرف زد, مثل یاران قدیمی حرف زد

می توان تصنیفی از پرواز خواندبا الفبای سكوت آواز خواند

می توان مثل علفها حرف زدبا زبانی بی الفبا حرف زد

می توان درباره ی هر چیز گفت ,می توان شعری خیال انگیز گفت

مثل این شعر روان وآشنا :"پیش از اینها فكر می كردم خدا

Where is god, our imaginary friend ?

In every olive tree, trust me. ;o)

.....

Hi! RD,

  The video you posted is absolutely beautiful.....I like all the quotes and I have saved the video......I also like Rumi's quote in your blog! God and religions are touchy subjects...........religions are behind many wars, armed conflicts, controversy ( of the ground zero mosque) and debates (on IC) in the world......it is sad......I hope we can all get along!

Thank you for your beautiful blog!

...

Friends,

I would like to encourage everyone to share your views on the subject of God, and the concept of Divinity, as you so wish ...

However, I would like to kindly request to maintain the discussions on an educational, and positive level ...

Many Tks,

R D

....

Thank you, RD, for the great blog!

I will be back after work!

I always like Rumi!

Sohravardi's prayer to the Daena/Perfect Nature (my trans.)

چند کلمه از مولوی عزیز

پرده دیگر مزن جز پرده دلدار ما
آن هزاران یوسف شیرین شیرین کار ما

یوسفان را مست کرد و پرده‌هاشان بردرید
غمزه خونی مست آن شه خمار ما

جان ما همچون سگان کوی او خون خوار شد
آفرین‌ها صد هزاران بر سگ خون خوار ما

در نوای عشق آن صد نوبهار سرمدی
صد هزاران بلبلان اندر گل و گلزار ما

دل چو زناری ز عشق آن مسیح عهد بست
لاجرم غیرت برد ایمان بر این زنار ما

آفتابی نی ز شرق و نی ز غرب از جان بتافت
ذره وار آمد به رقص از وی در و دیوار ما

چون مثال ذره‌ایم اندر پی آن آفتاب
رقص باشد همچو ذره روز و شب کردار ما

عاشقان عشق را بسیار یاری‌ها دهیم
چونک شمس الدین تبریزی کنون شد یار ما

دیوان شمس - غزلیات

Daena

BTW since Persian has no gender pronominals, the translation ending with the pronominal "him" is misleading. Anyway, since this a debate that has occured here before, let me offer the following.

Recently trying to establish the etymological meaning of certain key Avestan concepts, I came across something quite interesting when trying to pin down the pre-Zarathushtrian meaning of Daena. You will note that the Avestan Daena is where the word din (religion) originates in the semitic languages (i.e. Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic and Arabic). Daena in its Avestan context is a Yazata (a titular or governing-guardian angel/divinity) but simultaneously denoting "conscience" or even "genius." Every individual has both their own unique relationship to Daena in the universal sense as well as their own personal Daena in the singular sense. Daena is also the guardian-angel/spirit-form one will meet in the postmortem state and who will guide one across the Chinvat Bridge and  over to the Pleroma of the All-Light of Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spenta (provied one has led the righteous life). Zarathushtra's career as Prophet begins when his own Daena reveals Herself to him bringing him the glad-tidings of Ahura Mazda (i.e. very reminscent btw to the symbolic narrative of Muhammad and his experience of  the Archangel Gabriel). There are approximately 17 hymns addressed to Daena in the Gathas. The symbolic gender of Daena is usually presumed to be female.

Now looking through various sources to figure out the pre-Zarathushtrian usages and meanings of Daena, I hit upon one definition that holds the pre-Zarathushtrian concept of Daena as denoting "a woman who possesses," thus to be possessed by a woman is to be in possession of Daena. To me this is quite profound since it is in the Zarathushtrian context the same notion of the feminine Kundalini (viz. the embodied Divine Feminine in each person) found in Tantric Hinduism or the Goddess/Shekinah motif one finds in countless other spiritual cultures, not to mention the motif guiding the fideli d'amore (the lieges of love) which accounts Dante, the troubadour mystics of the late middle ages/early rennaissance, Rumi and countless other Sufis as constituting a single universal brotherhood of the cultus of the One Eternal Woman. Finding out this definition was an epiphany that briefly made me understand Asha Zarathushtra even better than before.

So to go back to the question of where is God, where is the Divine: let us go back to basics. No Divinity can ever be found in books or abstract concepts, let alone religious ideologies. It has also become a euphemistic cliche to say "find God within yourself," because there is a night and day difference between the cliche and what that actually means for real. For starters, stop listening to religious people and the quotations from their scriptures.  Simply put, with minor exceptions, they do not know. To find the Divine first it is necessary to become divinized, and  to be divinized is to know the self. Contrary to what many of the contemporary religions say, the first place to begin that journey is within your own body, and from your own body to build up beyond the sensual aspect of it - or, rather, sublimate it.

To build your body into a sacred temple, whatever that means to you, is to make your inner self ready to receive the Divine. Once you have completed that process to your own satisification, you become your own sacred temple and as such the where of the Divine then occurs within yourself. You are then the locus and the situs of Divinity. At such a stage you do not need or require any formal religion. You may pick and choose from all of them as you wish, or discard all of them altogether, even making up your own. In essence this is one of the eternal messages of Zarathushtrianism at its inner, esoteric core. But in more practical terms than that, for a man to fall deeply in love with a woman whom he can make the focus of his exclusive adoration (and she vice versa) is in practical terms the fastest way to rupture into another plane and find the where of God - and this is not just a euphemism or metaphor, it can become quite literal in its experiential dimensions if it is implimented correctly.

My Sufi shaykh once put it in these terms to me. He said a woman represents the principle of ecstatic love ('ishq) and a man that of light (nur). When joined together, they become haqiqat (Ultimate Reality). But for this process to be successful one must allow the Daena to possess by completely surrendering to Her.

Ana'l-Haqq!

-

May we be amongst those who are to bring about the transfiguration of the Earth - Zoroastrian prayer

Is God Speaking to us?

Yes, He is.

And most often falsely... on purpose. 

...

Dear faryarm,

Thank you for your kind words ...

I do believe that indeed, if there is a God, that he is capable of communicating with his creation, the human beings, in a myriad of ways ...

This could take place through the words of his prophets: Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, and others -

Or, through direct communication and inspiration of his people - And I Mean Anybody - So Long As That Person Has An Open Heart .....

When I read the works of great men such as Mowlana (Rumi),  or for that matter, great souls of the Western Culture, such as Meister Eckhart of Germany, there is absolutely no question in my mind, none whatsoever, that God is speaking through them ..... 

We Should Never Put God In A Box And Limit His Reach - God Is Greater Than Any Thought, Or Imagination, That We Could Possibly Conjure Up - By Limiting God, We Are Indeed Limiting Ourselves ...

Again, Many Tks For Your Comment,

Sincerely,

R D

Is God Speaking to us?

Dear R2D2

Thank you for the Touching words...

I thought to share the following in confirmation of Rumi's beautiful poem about God. 

O SON OF BEING! 
Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation. 

O MOVING FORM OF DUST! 
I desire communion with thee, but thou wouldst put no trust in Me. The sword of thy rebellion hath felled the tree of thy hope. At all times I am near unto thee, but thou art ever far from Me. Imperishable glory I have chosen for thee, yet boundless shame thou hast chosen for thyself. While there is yet time, return, and lose not thy chance. 

O SON OF MAN! 

The light hath shone on thee from the horizon of the sacred Mount and the spirit of enlightenment hath breathed in the Sinai of thy heart. Wherefore, free thyself from the veils of idle fancies and enter into My court, that thou mayest be fit for everlasting life and worthy to meet Me. Thus may death not come upon thee, neither weariness nor trouble. 

O SON OF BEAUTY! 

By My spirit and by My favor! By My mercy and by My beauty! All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power, and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice

O CHILDREN OF MEN! 

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory. 

From the HIDDEN WORDS.

...

Friends,

After reading, and participating in the debates and discussions that took place at the following blog: The Greatest Sin, by Fariba Amini, I decided to post this English translation of a short poem by our beloved Mowlana (Rumi) to hopefully put things in better perspective -