{"id":5790,"date":"2017-06-02T07:38:20","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2017-06-02T07:38:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:38:20","slug":"hakim-sanai-no-tongue-can-tell-your-secret-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/02\/hakim-sanai-no-tongue-can-tell-your-secret-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hakim Sanai – No tongue can tell Your secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

No tongue can tell Your secret
\nby Hakim Sanai<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Priya Hemenway<\/font><\/p>\n

No tongue can tell Your secret
\nfor the measure of the word obscures Your nature.
\nBut the gift of the ear
\nis that it hears
\nwhat the tongue cannot tell.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart\u2019s Desire<\/a>, by Hakim Sanai Al-Ghaznavi \/ Translated by Priya Hemenway<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Sophie Charlotte<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Today we contemplate a verse by the great Sufi poet Sanai. I especially wanted to feature Sanai out of respect the the many people killed by the recent bombing in Afghanistan. In a country traumatized for centuries by the colonial intentions of world superpowers from without and harassed by pockets of reactionary extremism from within, it is worth remembering that Rumi was born in Afghanistan, Sanai was from Afghanistan, Ansari, Rahman Baba\u2026 Afghanistan has given the world some of our greatest spiritual and poetic voices. I bow in deep respect to the people of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

This verse has an elegant subtlety, and is trimmed with a thin edge of wit. Here Sanai is playing with the mystic\u2019s dilemma of words.<\/p>\n

No tongue can tell Your secret
\nfor the measure of the word obscures Your nature.<\/i><\/p>\n

The direct encounter with the Divine can\u2019t truly be put into words. Words are a creation of the limited mind, powerful, certainly, but limited. Words, even when masterfully wielded, can only describe limited aspects of limited reality. Words imply a fracturing of reality into countless objects, an impassible duality of observer and observed, describer and described. How can words properly convey the undivided Wholeness?<\/p>\n

(There is really no \u2018encounter\u2019 the way I just phrased it, because that implies two separates meeting, when there is really only the profound recognition of unity. Words fail the Wholeness.)<\/p>\n

Seeing this limitation, some teachers construct complex frameworks of descriptions. Some hint and suggest and riddle. Some fall silent. What is said and what is left unsaid\u2026 a fascinating game. But it is only the encounter (which is not really an encounter) that conveys the truth of all this. <\/p>\n

The \u201ctongue cannot tell\u201d these things properly. \u201cBut the gift of the ear \/ is that it hears\u201d anyway. That is, when we truly and openly listen, an inner whisper begins to draw the awareness beyond the descriptions, the suggestions, the silences. And suddenly there we stand, outside of all words and concepts that obscure while they define. There we stand, witnessing, participating in the living Wholeness that is the divine nature of undivided Reality.<\/p>\n

I like the game of words, perhaps too much. But it is time for my tongue to rest and let the ear enjoy its gift\u2026<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

And to all of our Muslim friends and neighbors, Ramadan Mubarak! May this Ramadan season be one of blessings and spiritual renewal for you.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Hakim Sanai<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nReal Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nIslamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumi<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Hakim<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nHakim Sanai<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Afghanistan (1044? \u2013 1150?) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Not much is known about Hakim Sanai, often just called Sanai or Sanai of Ghazna. Sanai is one of the earlier Sufi poets. He was born in the province of Ghazna in southern Afghanistan in the middle of the 11th century and probably died around 1150.<\/p>\n

Rumi acknowledged Sanai and Attar as his two primary inspirations, saying, \u201cAttar is the soul and Sanai its two eyes, I came after Sanai and Attar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanai was originally a court poet who was engaged in writing praises for the Sultan of Ghazna.<\/p>\n

The story is told of how the Sultan decided to lead a military attack against neighboring India and Sanai, as a court poet, was summoned to join the expedition to record the Sultan\u2019s exploits. As Sanai was making his way to the court, he passed an enclosed garden frequented by a notorious drunk named Lai Khur.<\/p>\n

As Sanai was passing by, he heard Lai Khur loudly proclaim a toast to the blindness of the Sultan for greedily choosing to attack India, when there was so much beauty in Ghazna. Sanai was shocked and stopped. Lai Khur then proposed a toast to the blindness of the famous young poet Sanai who, with his gifts of insight and expression, couldn\u2019t see the pointlessness of his existence as a poet praising such a foolish Sultan.<\/p>\n

These words were like an earthquake to Hakim Sanai. He abandoned his life as a pampered court poet, even declining marriage to the Sultan\u2019s own sister, and began to study with a Sufi master named Yusef Hamdani.<\/p>\n

Sanai soon went on pilgrimage to Mecca. When he returned, he composed his poetic masterpiece, Hadiqatu\u2019l Haqiqat or The Walled Garden of Truth. There was a double meaning in this title for, in Persian, the word for a garden is the same as the word for paradise, but it was also from within a walled garden that Lai Khur uttered the harsh truths that set Hakim Sanai on the path of wisdom.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Hakim Sanai<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No tongue can tell Your secret by Hakim Sanai English version by Priya Hemenway No tongue can tell Your secret for the measure of the word obscures Your nature. But the gift of the ear is that it hears what the tongue cannot tell. \u2014 from The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart\u2019s Desire, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2082,131,1114,130,19,753],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-afghanistan","tag-hakim-sanai","tag-language","tag-sanai","tag-sufi-poetry","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5791,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions\/5791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}