{"id":6450,"date":"2019-05-29T08:48:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T15:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6450"},"modified":"2019-05-29T08:48:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T15:48:53","slug":"mahmud-shabistari-one-light-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/29\/mahmud-shabistari-one-light-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahmud Shabistari – One Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Light
\nby Mahmud Shabistari<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Andrew Harvey<\/font><\/p>\n

What are \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d?
\nJust lattices
\nIn the niches of a lamp
\nThrough which the One Light radiates.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d are the veil
\nBetween heaven and earth;
\nLift this veil and you will see
\nHow all sects and religions are one.<\/p>\n

<\/em>Lift this veil and you will ask \u2014
\nWhen \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d do not exist
\nWhat is mosque?
\nWhat is synagogue?
\nWhat is fire temple?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\/ Image by Pieroc<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

With the recent ratcheting up of tensions between the US and Iran, I thought it would be worthwhile to be reminded of the cultural and spiritual richness has come to us from Iran\/Persia. Mahmud Shabistari is one of my favorite poets from the golden age of Persian Sufism\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d \u2014 What is Shabistari talking about here? \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d is the normal perception of existence. Here \u201cI\u201d stand, and \u201cYou\u201d are a separate entity over there. It is the perception of duality in which we see the entire universe as a fragmented space of disconnected beings and objects. On the one hand, that perception allows us to feel supremely important in contrast to all else, but it also isolates us and imprisons us in a physicalized notion of reality. Even when we touch, we never quite make contact. The heart ever yearns for real unity.<\/p>\n

To show us the way out of this perceptual trap, Shabistari has given us an image to contemplate: a lamp surrounded by latticework. The lamp shines with a single light, but the lattices divide up the radiance into several individual shafts of light. He tells us the world of separation between \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d is like that \u2014 one light divided into many rays.<\/p>\n

Think about this image for a moment. So long as we look outward, we only see separated beams of light reaching through the air and patterning the wall. But the moment it occurs to us to look at the lamp itself, we turn around and discover the single light that is its source within. Finally seeing that one light, we then know that there has only ever been that one light. Does the lattice somehow create many lights of the one light? No. It is still the one light, but expressing itself through the many beams. To prove this to ourselves, all we need do is remove the latticework, and then the light shines everywhere, undivided. And the whole time the light itself has never changed its action or nature.<\/p>\n

Shabistari makes an interesting shift in the second part of this verse. The separation of \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d expands to encompass the realm of the world\u2019s religious divisions. And the metaphor of the lamp\u2019s lattice has become a veil (which, of course, covers the face of the Beloved). Even the many sects and religions are one\u2014when we finally look inward toward the light that shines at the heart of each tradition. To one who has lifted the veil and witnessed the underlying Beauty, the distinctions of each tradition and theology no longer separate them. Instead, we can say that the best of each religious tradition adorns the Face differently\u2014but it is the same Face.<\/p>\n

Lift this veil\u2026<\/i>
\n\u2026and separation is lost, the soul\u2019s isolation ends. And every place becomes a place of worship.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Mahmud Shabistari<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Secret Rose Garden: Mahmud Shabistari<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nBeyond Faith and Infidelity: The Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mahmud Shabistari<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
\n\"Mahmud<\/a><\/td>\n\nMahmud Shabistari<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Iran\/Persia (1250? \u2013 1340) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n

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

<\/p>\n

Mahmud Shabistari lived in Persia (Iran) during the time of the Mongol invasions of the region. It was a terrible time of massacres by the invading armies, exacerbating internal strife and religious sectarianism. Yet it is also during this time that the Golden Age of Persian Sufism emerged.<\/p>\n

Shabistari\u2019s Secret Rose Garden (the Gulistan-i Raz<\/i>, which can also be translated as The Rose Garden of Mystery) is considered to be one of the greatest works of Persian Sufism.<\/p>\n

In the Secret Rose Garden, Shabistari expresses a viewpoint of Sufi realization similar to the perspective of the great Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi, but expressed through elegant Persian poetic language.<\/p>\n

The value of Shabistari\u2019s work was recognized almost immediately. Many commentaries on the work by other Sufi mystics soon began to appear. The Secret Rose Garden quickly was regarded as one of the central works of Sufism.<\/p>\n

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

One Light by Mahmud Shabistari English version by Andrew Harvey What are \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d? Just lattices In the niches of a lamp Through which the One Light radiates. \u201cI\u201d and \u201cYou\u201d are the veil Between heaven and earth; Lift this veil and you will see How all sects and religions are one. Lift this […]<\/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":[205,60,57,1784,91,936,19,839],"class_list":["post-6450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-iranian-poetry","tag-light","tag-mahmud-shabistari","tag-mustard-seed","tag-persian-poetry","tag-separation","tag-sufi-poetry","tag-unity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450","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=6450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6451,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450\/revisions\/6451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}