In addition to a nectar-like sweetness, many mystics experience a scent that can be rapturously overwhelming or tantalizingly subtle. The aroma is the intoxicating scent of what I sometimes call the Celestial Drink, variously called wine, amrita, rasa, dew, honey. But this blissful scent can also be understood as the perfume worn by the Beloved that awakens sacred ardor upon the spiritual journey.
And, of course, perfume is scented oil, oil being the substance used to anoint and initiate.
To suggest the almost erotic sense of divine union, sometimes the earthier scent of musk is described. Musk is the aphrodisiac oil of the musk deer. Deer, being creatures of profound silence and shyness, are themselves symbols of the elusive Beloved.
The scent of flowers is often evoked, as well. Blossoms and flowers are natural symbols of enlightenment, the unfolding of awareness and the opening of the heart. Let us not forget, though, that flowers have a direct connection to the Celestial Drink, for their sweet perfume emanates from the sweet nectar they hold.
And, of course, the flower precedes the fruit, whose juice ultimately yields wine...
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Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said "This is My Face," said the Beloved |
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Adyashanti A Tendency to Shine |
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Adyashanti Rest and Be Taken |
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Anandamurti (Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan) The violin of all human minds |
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Angelou, Maya A Brave and Startling Truth |
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Ansari, Khwaja Abdullah The one You kill |
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Attar, Farid ud-Din You need patience for this quest |
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Attar, Farid ud-Din The angels have bowed down to you and drowned |
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Avaiyar Vinayagar Agaval |
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Barker, Elsa The Mystic Rose |
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Basho, Matsuo The temple bell dies away |
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Brabazon, Francis Dawn is a Friend |
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Colliver, Andrew This Soul |
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Crashaw, Richard To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus |
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Dadu Dayal So priceless is the birth, O brother |
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Dariya Sahib of Bihar The musk is within the deer |
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Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von My friend, in this one hour you will gain (from Faust) |
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Hafiz O Saghi, pass around that cup of wine, then bring it to me |
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Hayati, Bibi Is it the night of power |
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Herbert, George The Flower |
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Hildegard von Bingen Holy Spirit of Fire |
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Hirshfield, Jane The Envoy |
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Ibn al-Farid, Umar Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way) |
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ibn Gabirol, Solomon Rise and open the door that is shut |
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Ikkyu (Sojun, Ikkyu) I Hate Incense |
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Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures |
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Jakushitsu Gathering Tea |
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Jayadeva When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda) |
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John of the Cross Love's Living Flame |
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Kabir I burst into laughter |
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Kabir Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale |
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Kabir The moon shines in my body |
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Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity |
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Khayyam, Omar [68] That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare |
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Lalla Fool, you won't find your way out by praying from a book |
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Lawrence, D. H. Dolor of Autumn |
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Lawrence, D. H. God is Born |
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Lee, Li-Young Night Mirror |
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Leon, Luis de The Life Removed |
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Machado, Antonio Proverbs and Songs |
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Machado, Antonio Songs |
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Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters |
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Milosz, Czeslaw On Angels |
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Milosz, Czeslaw On Pilgrimage |
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Rahman Baba Soul Train |
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Rilke, Rainer Maria Duration of Childhood |
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Rosenstock, Gabriel Spring With a Thousand Clichés |
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Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin come |
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Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Like This |
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Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin You only need smell the wine |
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Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363) |
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Ryokan The Lotus |
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Sanai, Hakim Naked in the Bee-House |
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Sarton, May Bliss |
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Shabistari, Mahmud The Tavern Haunters |
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Shabistari, Mahmud The Wine of Rapture (from The Secret Rose Garden) |
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Snyder, Gary For All |
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Stafford, William You Reading This, Be Ready |
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Tagore, Rabindranath He's there among the scented trees (from The Lover of God) |
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Tagore, Rabindranath Listen, can you hear it? (from The Lover of God) |
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Tagore, Rabindranath Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain. (from The Lover of God) |
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Takahashi, Shinkichi Gods |
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Trungpa, Chogyam Expose |
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Vaughan, Henry Unprofitableness |
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Vidyapati As the mirror to my hand |
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Wei, Wang Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night |
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Whitman, Walt [6] A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands (from Song of Myself) |
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Whitman, Walt [24] Walt Whitman, a cosmos, of Manhattan the son (from Song of Myself) |