THE SUFISM OF THE RUBÁIYÁT
OR THE SECRET OF THE GREAT PARADOX
ITS
SEAL
BY
NORTON F. W. HAZELDINE
SECOND EDITION
Copyrighted 1908
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
In placing this volume before the public I only hope that I may be able to convey to my readers the higher and deeper truths of this most famous of Persian Poets, who so ably attempted to portray to his countrymen the benevolent God the subtle life within the grosser of our material forms.
Also the mysterious force within the grape, which renders possible fermentation, thereby changing its character from matter to spirit. Therefore, I sincerely trust that this may be a means to enlighten many seekers after truth, and to my Critics will but add this line, "that they in me can find no opponent for them," for what little I have done has been to bless, to illuminate, not destroy the works of others, to whom myself with the rest of the world's readers owe our many thanks. Hoping that all may realize the spirit in which I here present it, and may it comfort and bless those who read to learn of its sublime truths, is the sincere wish of thy brother man.
The Author.
NOTES
RUBÁIYÁT. A reading between the lines, a meaning, within a meaning, a paradox.
OMÁR KHAYYÁM. The Tent Maker, an ancient Persian manner of expression signifying the Supreme Creator, for a tent to their minds represented the universe, the earth formed its level or floor, and the heavens its canopy. Again, the expression Astronomer Poet was another title for the Creator. He who laid out the heavens as a garden and placed the stars in design or order. He was also the Controller of the seasons, the Lord of the Vernal Equinox and the Prince of Horsemen.
IRAM. The nameless center of the universe, the womb from whence all things are born; the heavenly garden where J̈amshyd the King of Splendor (or wisdom) sits enthroned, and reads from out the seven orbited cup (the inverted heaven) wherein the orbits of the seven planets circle around within its sphere, and there divines the astronomical mysteries of the seasons, years and all hidden things.
RUSTUM and ZÁL. The personification of the universal positive and negative creative energies, the elements of causation, the great opposites, summer and winter, youth and age, etc.
HÁTIM TAI. The personification of charity, benevolence and generosity.
TAKHT-I-J̈AMSHYD. The throne of wisdom, the mid-heaven, whereon J̈amshyd the King of Splendor (or wisdom) symbolized by the sun when he reaches his zenith at high noon. The ancient Persians like the more modern Parsee do not worship the Sun as God, but to them it is the symbol of God, the All Seeing Eye, the Surveyor of the worlds, etc.
BAHRÁM GÙR. This character symbolizes the sun in the astronomical sign of Sagittarius wherein he represents the ass or old year, which will soon be lost in the swamps of winter or the sign of Capricorn, the extreme point of the southern ecliptic.
SATURN. Lord of the Seventh Heaven, the symbol of old age or ripeness.
MÁH to MÁHI. From fish to moon, an expression denoting the period from conception to birth, the state of transition between matter and spirit and between life and death, or as we use the same expression in the words "it is neither fish nor fowl."
PARWÌN. The Pleiades, the symbol of spirituality, gentleness, kindness, etc.
MUSHTARÌ. The Planet Jupiter, the symbol of benevolence, religion, toleration and big heartedness.
RAMAZÁN. The lunar month, beginning about the middle of March and ending about the middle of April; it is the Easter of the Mohammedans, the birth of regeneration or the spring.
The Sufism of the Rubáiyát
1
Awake! awake! Oh, slumbering souls,
Arise like him who rules the morn and leads forth the stars with song.
Oh, Master hail to Thee! strike Thou with Wisdom's shafts the enemies of man's progression,
Thou who art known as the Dispeller of Mortal Darkness and the Light of the Life to Come.
Lead us by that Sure Path to where the spiritual sun doth rise and where mortal darkness sets beyond the clouds of fear, anger, sorrow, indolence and crime,
Where the great peace reigns and thou oh lord abidest.
2
And before the [1]false morn of Earthly Life doth fade, that Voice Supreme within this tavern cries,
The Sacrifice is ready, loiter not outside, all is prepared, enter in, those wishing here to pray.
This is the way by which the soul doth learn, of god, of worlds, of things known and unknown.
Whilst those who worship through man's carved creeds, pomps, rituals and dumb forms,
Worship like tongueless bells seeking to sound their tidings to the world.
All cries within think! think! think! It was not worse before, nor better than 'tis now.
[1] The False Dawn is the reflection of the coming day upon the horizon before the sun is high enough to reflect himself or the true dawn.
3
Then the Higher Nature springs up the old to greet, which always dwells within the doors where intelligence doth live.
And with a mighty shout calls open wide! come forth! my peace i bring, in truth i greet all ye who love the true.
Earthly Life is short; oh, slumber not I pray, for once ye have onward passed, prayers and repentance then are vain.
Seek while on earth the heavenly goal to find, for mortal life is short and comes but once!
Take heed, time is life's jewel! mark well, this is the way.
4
Thus the new year of life has now commenced and the awakened soul is revived with a love of knowledge deep and true,
Which was written of by [2]mosa, he of the whitened hand and tongue that was slow of speech.
Under the tree of life whose roots in the lives of all are planted deep.
This is the saviour of well-being in which all existence rests and breathes.
[2] The White Hand of Moses does not here signify leprosy, but the white hand of truth, honesty and friendship. It did not signify the color of his skin then, any more than it does now, but simply a moral qualification. Thus the white hand of Moses (or wisdom) was described by the ancient Hebrews as "One who was slow of speech;" and though apparently it may take longer to express itself than untruth or dishonesty in the realm of mental evolution, yet in the end its victory is complete.
5
The night indeed hath passed away, and with it gone that cause of all decay.
[3]The King of Splendor holding the Seven Orbed Cup of Wisdom to the earth,
Through which the Powers of Divination came to their birth in man; commanded, all life's powers to control, though living here in clay:
None but the Wise may divine this power! Nor none may of its commencement know, nor of its end,
Till they the answer for themselves have wrung.
[4]Where gushes the ruby of the vine, that many a past recollection has stored in the Garden of Immortal Memory.
Which when watered by past experience brings forth well ripened fruit.
[3] The King of Splendor here represents the transcending of the supreme intelligence into the realm of intellect or the objective world.
[4] Or the fountain head from whence flows the life forces.
6
[5]The soul of man, the lips of the beloved, in that high inspiring voice with which that inner man doth speak,
Cries, live! live! Live an active useful life; the Nightingale, that Bird of night,
Calls to the Beauteous Rose that blooms by day, to bring life's color to her sallow cheek.
So doth this Voice Divine bid us, to turn to wine the waters of doubt and cold despair.
Thus the deep from out the deep doth call, in voice of thunder, hear ye all! man is born to live.
[5] The soul of man is here called the Lips of God, through which the Spiritual Voice speaks in a different tone, or a high, inspiring sound.
7
[6]Then take this cup and with the fire of resolution fill, lay now aside forevermore those garments of fear and indolence.
The time on earth is far too short to waste on self upbraidings;
Nor stand ye shivering on the banks of repentance, but seek deliverance within.
For the bird of life has taken wing.
[6] The cup here denotes the earthly life, which must be filled with resolution to succeed.
8
[7]Whether one in order or confusion lives, or whether one of the sweets of this life eats, which in the next the bitter must become,
[8]Or those who on the bitter live which in the next the sweet becomes; the law of compensation surely straightens out.
The wine of life is knowledge gained, on which no claims can Justice lay.
The leaves of life are useless works for which Justice decrees that righteous ones must be performed to balance life's account.
[7] The sweets of this life refers to the worldly pleasure, the sensuous enjoyments, which retard our spiritual progress here and for which we suffer in the next if we become a slave to them in this life.
[8] The bitter here refers to the virtuous, strenuous life, the life of denying, renouncing the so-called pleasures, the seeking to conquer our animal qualities.
9
Each month a thousand new thoughts bring but of the thoughts of yesterday which brought the [9]Summer Bearing Rose to view,
On which the King of Splendor sits and rules, all reverence be.
Oh, thou of pristine purity, master and dread judge of all that breathes, who art the light within the light, and who of no distinctions knows.
[9] The Rose is here used as an interrogation point, meaning to ask the question, where springs forth the spirit of regeneration wherewith a man from evil is reclaimed?
10
Rest well content; what matters it to you, whether the dead do live? The quick do surely die.
Let argument and praise thunder as they may, and though the loud voice of orthodoxy bid you to the feast of dread, fear and arrogance, take thou no heed.
All life and death are but transcending states, all is life and all is death to those who know where death is dead.
[10]Thus learn of sleep its opposite awake, from sorrow learn of joy, for between these parallels doth that stream most surely flow,
Which is bereft of name, of form, of life, of death!
It is that which we know as the infinite, from whence come all, and whither all again do go.
[10] Death is not found in the state of Infinitude, thus death ceases to be when the Infinite is reached.
11
Thus between the lines of love and hate, of pure, and impure, the modest, and unchaste, lust of days and lust of fame,
The river of contentment smoothly flows.
The name of slave and monarch cease to be, peace is the names of all in the infinite unity.
12
The book of life beneath the [11]tree, a [12]jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou, oh Memory, well stored with sacred lore,
What wilderness of life doth not then a paradise become?
[11] The Tree of Knowledge.
[12] The jug of wine here denotes the life of opportunities, the loaf of bread experience, with which we wisdom learn and thus memory perfect.
13
Sigh not in vain for what can never be, the glories of the morn depart as wanes the day.
So with each succeeding race to come the Christian Heaven or the Heathen Hell will but live in the dead words of memory.
Every generation a higher conception grasps of Creation's Laws the cause divine of life.
So take the real, no matter what 'tis styled, whether god, jehovah, christ, or buddha, djaina, brahm.
It is the same the sages say, though called by various names, and those who stand the path to bar,
Which unto that temple of supreme peace leads, are but the wanton enemies of god and man.
14
Look around and note what in all nature sighs of self:
Willingly she yields the bounty of her love, Spring unto Summer, Summer to Autumn pledged;
Winter that Chariot of Sorrow to the Steeds of Spring is yoked fast.
Live as it were in this sorrow, from its conquest comes the reward; what ended last night in tempest will with the dawn become calm.
That for which self in sorrow sighs, would surely if gratified sting, for real prayer cannot be offered, till the [13]heart from desire has been freed.
Hold thyself as the rose its petals, which when bloomed, casts its treasures of beauty and perfume, into the garden called earth.
[13] Selfishness stands in the way of spiritual supplication; the prayers for the things which in themselves are forever changing cannot be profitable to any one, but the prayers which spring from the heart for its emancipation are the prayers which count.
15
Learn then in life from uselessness and use, and cast not aside opportunity, youth's golden crown.
For they who shun such moments like desert wastes become, which must be dug and watered again and yet again,
Before the grain will start and bring forth well nourished fruit.
16
Vain are the worldly desires upon which men set their hearts: like a fool who in a mirror looks and wisdom there perceives,
So do the desires of men deceive them, for all created things do surely perish.
And though the like may prosper for awhile, there comes unerringly the fate to all structures that upon the sands are built!
They from sight for aye do pass away.
17
Think not this life of joy and woe the only life there is to know?
It is but here our earthly task, which when completed, fades from view, when its destined hour arrives,
Into that peace which for eternity endures.
18
[14]The Courts wherein the king of splendor holds full sway, betwixt the eagle and the bull and where the lion and the man do play;
He there glories and drinks deep each day at noon, then falling from his throne is speeded to his doom.
This is the sparkling wine of which all on earth may drink, that brings the harvest to the barn,
And is that great cause of life which none can turn, nor yet its harmony destroy.
[14] The Courts here represent the heavens, the King of Splendor the Sun in the month of june when at twelve high noon the Sun is then in 15 degrees of Cancer, when the signs of taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius which form the signs of the Equinox are at the feet as it were of the Celestial King.
19
What puts value on some deed, some thought, some fondly cherished memory of a friend or future hope?
Answer you who value give and take, work! love! grief! and pain!
Work gives the value to deeds done and undone, love adds her charm as does the twilight to the sun;
Grief brings us fear, that subtle mental pain, which binds to earth, till death the knot unties.
20
Ah, this [15]reviving herb that's called the future state, upon its lovely lips, hangs the dew of holier things.
Thine is the [16]ruby which is set in virgin gold, and those who know the fountain head from whence streams forth that light divine,
Have stood face to face with god, and from the bonds of death are free.
[15] The Reviving Herb stands here for immortality.
[16] The Ruby here represents the sum total of life's experience, which is set in Virgin Gold or the ring of eternity.
21
Thus break thou from this wheel of strife and stress, with all its sorrows, fleeting, joys and chilling fears;
Thine [17]arrow having plucked from out thy flesh, no more are pain and grief, thy sorrows ended are,
Tomorrow, what? [18]Thou with thy past totalities shall be joined again.
[17] Pride, Anger, Fear, and Greed, which are the parents of all ills.
[18] The unity with your past existences for life belongs to all times and to all planes.
22
That which is [19]finite is revealed, that which is infinite is concealed, this pair the part of Father and Mother play, till time their purpose doth make plain.
What to our senses seemed so fair, that which our minds so oft aside have cast;
That which in void and emptiness lay hidden, has the fairest of the fair become, when freed from prison.
[19] The Finite is the objective or revealed, the Infinite is the subjective or concealed.
23
That which was the darkness in the darkness hidden, that which was joy enrobed in sorrow's somber garb calls,
We who make merry in this hostelry of life, return the robe of earth to him who will another body make, for some soul to upward take, upon its homeward way.
24
The only thing of profit here to take is the Good from all things, which causes hurt to none.
Those who otherwise partake, the law pronounces invalid, which like the dust must to the dust descend.
Yet in that dust the golden germ is found, which like a thought, a seed brought forth that ripened fruit may bear.
So comes forth again the breath, the birth, the living and the end.
25
Look not to the morrow to solve thy doubts, nor question oracles for good or better days,
As naught from the silence speaks but thou, oh voice divine, the dweller of the heart, who biddest all perform good works.
No day on earth is better than the rest, each day is what you make it, neither more nor less.
They who deliverance seek beyond the clouds, and they who look for reward of good works done, both here themselves deceive.
Rewards my friends are neither then nor there, rewards are sent to those right here, who make no claim on merit won.
26
Neither the sages of the past, nor those yet forth to come, nor what the books have said though of Holy Men inspired, do Him reveal.
To us he only doth reveal himself in works, in acts, in deeds done and undone, and by no other way may we hope him to know or see.
It is but the foolish who cry I save! I save!! For unto the smallest insect, not again can they impart that breath divine when it has onward fled.
Such claims as these, which some lips here do make, by wiser lore are closed at last.
27
Why then consult the Doctor or the Saint, they both from the same place came, and both to the same place go.
But if for confirmation of the Future Life ye seek, look to the Universe and know the same great cause that cast its mould gave you your birth of clay.
Think! know that thou and it are part and part, of which beginning saw no dawn, and eve no ending.
The same doth regulate the hours, the days, the weeks, the years, the infinite time space, and likewise thine.
28
This then is the Law of Fate and how of the way of Freedom all may learn, who freedom seek.
Know thou that thoughts mature into deeds and acts! and all seeds sown in the flesh shall ripen with thy years.
This life is but the harvest of what you've sown before; sift out the tares before thou cast the grain for future years.
29
Out of the Endless came I here! Into the Endless will I once more flow;
Out of it again in trust I come! Better for the trails of dust below.
30
Ushered into being by an Endless Unspent Cause which moveth unto good, and by all on earth adored.
Whence and where I went, only in deep reverence these words were spoke,
Oh Cup, from whence the very Gods have drunk, [20]experience is thy name, Oh let me freely drink from thee, thou slayer of my foes.
[20] Experience is the only teacher, and thus becomes our liberator from the bonds of selfishness and greed, the parents of crime and ignorance.
31
What is it but madness to compare yesterday's sorrows with today's despairs, or tomorrow's triumphs?
For they but lend the means to quicken our perceptions of whence we came, why, and whither we go.
Drink thou of Life's Ruby Wine, and to those who dare for more to ask within themselves the answer will be found!
Drink deep! this is enough!!
32
[21]What if the Sun of the Moon should question why? What if the Stars of the World should ask, where did you die, for what, when and why?
Friends, deep in the hearts of all a Voice exclaims, cease, why, what, whence, and where, the solution thus, is never found.
Dismiss the I, dismiss the you, with you and I dismissed, the universe is thou, in which is found neither what, why, whence, where nor how.
[21] The moral to this paragraph is simply waste not your time in questioning, but act, and thus through action the knowledge you will gain.
33
Then waste not thy life in the letter of dispute, argument is death to the voicing of the Truth.
Religion debate with none. For it but tends to widen out the breach and thus defeat its ends.
Let thine acts declare the life within, happiness doth express the soul that dwells therein.
While sadness that bitter fruit which has been here maintained, is the vine from which all life its being drew,
Ah friends, this is an error sad indeed, for happiness was the grape from which the wine of life was pressed, not sorrow's prickly pears.
34
From those fair points the [22]five great truths, by which we're raised by master hands,
Their secrets then within the man are placed, guard well! For once revealed no more can they be hid!
Thus born of fire the cause of life supreme, in earth your soul was cast, in air thy thoughts took wing.
And from the brooding waters, knowledge took shape and came, as the means of man's deliverance from birth and from the grave.
This triple knowledge has been told how EARTH the body is, and fire the soul, air is life's thoughts, and the waters the sacred lore contain.
Earth the infant, fire the youth, the waters enlightened manhood, and air the carrier to the great unknown beyond the grave.
Of which death is the messenger, not the sting, and the grave the separation of life's elements, and hence the victory of all living things.
[22] Here refers to our intellectual senses, or Intuition, Perception, Retention, Imagination and Analization, which raise us from our lower or physical conditions, and exalt us into our spiritual or higher nature.
35
Thus in the earth thy roots of life are struck, and from thy mother receive their nourishment.
Quickened into being by that cause divine, to be! Who hands to thee the clay [23]to mould, Oh friend, to mould?
[23] All beings are created equal, and each for himself must individualize his work or actions.
36
And this all here may know, how came the first great light to earth, that kindler of love's flame, that consumer of earthly hate.
When thou hast received one ray of this imperishable light then thou art saved [24]though thy temple is destroyed.
[24] When we can perceive that through our conventionalities and self formed opinions we delay our spiritual progress through limitations, we can then embrace the inclusive and forego the exclusive, thus changing our manner of living and entering the path that unto freedom leads.
37
Up to the Eternals cast thy weary eyes, earth is not thy home, no more than heavenly skies.
Question those Heavenly [25]Symbols of Mars the God of War, Jupiter of Benevolence, Mercury of Lore, Venus of Life's Pleasures.
Saturn of Old Age, ask Uranus of what is hidden, the Moon of Bringing Forth, and the Sun of Life's Fecundity, and each will in turn declare that they like thee are dependants,
Upon that one great cause to share, the knowledge of their being, which all may read who dare.
[25] The planets, signs and constellations symbolized to the ancients the universal creative energies, their powers and equivalents.
38
Here then is the Key, thy Will that Door unlocks, thy Future Faith must be the knowledge of thyself.
Shirk not this task for in it ye will find the way in which to solve, that the [26]universe is I!
[26] Through the analyzing of our natures we learn that we are as it were a miniature of the universe and that we are potentially its equal.
39
Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Ether, the elements that compose the sum of all that under heaven blows,
And if ye then should ask, how they their birth received, or whence they came, or of what consist, or where they go, and of their final destiny?
This will all ages answer! He only knows! He Only knows!
40
The Heavenly signs are but the symbols of that book, whose chemistry Birth's secrets here make plain.
Thus are written in characters eternal, where none can erase one word of those recorded histories of men, of things, of worlds.
From off its open pages bound in heaven's eternal blue,
Here then is the veil, the lamp, the voice within; learn thou to be lord and master, prophet, priest and king.
Thy birthright here now enter, and know ye the law of laws, the wise man rules, the fool doth tread where angels fear to go.
41
Thus from the Law of Life and Death we learn, and why with hate and strife this earthly urn doth burn.