Feb 24 2012
Omar Khayyam – So while the Vessels one by one were speaking
[66] So while the Vessels one by one were speaking
by Omar Khayyam
English version by Edward FitzGerald
So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking:
And then they jogg’d each other, “Brother! Brother!
“Hark to the Porter’s Shoulder-knot a-creaking!”
— from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam / Translated by Edward FitzGerald
/ Photo by BethinAZ /
The new moon is just past. In the next few nights look up at the sliver-thin crescent moon…
With this quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, instead of my own commentary I’ll offer an excerpt of the interpretation given by Paramahansa Yogananda. This gives us an interesting, kaleidoscopic view of the poetry of Omar Khayyam: These are verses written by a Muslim Sufi, translated by a British Christian, and here interpreted by a Hindu Yogi…
“While each soul-awakened devotee expressed his wisdom thoughts, one among them with deeper perception than the rest perceived a marvel all of them were seeking: the ‘little Crescent,’ or third eye of wisdom, hidden in the forehead — the all-seeing eye of divine wakefulness.
“When the others learned of his experience, they understood what he had found: the long-sought gateway to Truth. Then to one another they exclaimed enthusiastically, ‘Brother! Brother! Let us, too, gaze through this soul-window. And let us listen to the Sound that reverberates through the universe. Hark! Our souls vibrate with the great symphony of Life emanating from the all-pervading Music of Creation.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda, from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained, Edited by J. Donald Walters
In other words, the “Vessels” are people or souls. The Crescent — which is, of course, a fundamental symbol of Islam — is, according to Yogananda’s interpretation of this verse, the third eye, the brow’s ajna chakra through which true spiritual vision occurs. It is the doorway of awakening. The Porter is God — the one who carries creation. Old-style porters would tie a rope around a heavy burden to hold it on their shoulder and, as they walked with the weight, that shoulder-knot would make a creaking noise against the shifting strain. This creaking shoulder-knot is the sound that upholds material existence. This is the sound meditators discover in deep stillness. By following this sound in the awareness we finally recognize the crescent doorway that opens unto enlightened awareness.
All that encoded into four dancing lines…
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Omar Khayyam
Iran/Persia (11th Century) Timeline |
Omar Khayyam was best known in his time as a mathematician and astronomer. His theorems are still studied by mathematicians today. His poetry really only became widely read when Edward FitzGerald collected several quatrains (rubaiyat) attributed to Khayyam and translated them into English as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
The common view in the West of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is that it is a collection of sensual love poems. Although some scholars debate this question, many people assert that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi, as well as a poet and mathematician, and that his Rubaiyat can only be truly understood using the language of mystical metaphor.
beautiful , wonderful explanation!
thank you