{"id":8530,"date":"2025-02-07T09:21:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8530"},"modified":"2025-02-07T09:21:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:21:49","slug":"attar-about-true-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/07\/attar-about-true-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"Attar – About True Seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"

About True Seekers
\nby Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Sholeh Wolp\u00e9<\/font><\/p>\n

Wayfarer, know that in the battlefield of pain,
\nlove may come with annihilation.
\nYou whose existence is mingled
\nwith nonexistence,
\nyou whose joys are mingled with grief,
\nif you don\u2019t experience some ups and downs,
\nhow will you ever know relief?<\/p>\n

You bravely strike like lightning,
\nthen cover yourself with rubbish
\nto protect against the shock.
\nWhat are you doing?
\nRise up like a true seeker.
\nSet fire to reason
\nand flare into a mad lover.<\/p>\n

If you hesitate over this alchemy,
\nat least come and take a quick look.
\nHow long will you stay in your head?
\nBecome like me, leave your self.
\nFor once, show foresight
\nso that in the end you too can become
\na dervish and joyfully arrive
\nat annihilation of the self.<\/p>\n

I who am neither myself nor other than myself
\nhave traveled beyond reason, good and evil thoughts.
\nI\u2019ve lost my self within myself.
\nThe only cure is the incurable.<\/p>\n

When the sun of poverty landed on me,
\nboth worlds twirled together into a single shaft of light.
\nAnd when I saw that column of light
\nI passed on into no self; became
\na drop of water and joined the stream.<\/p>\n

All that I had won and lost,
\nI threw away into black waters.
\nI disappeared, became lost, void.
\nI became a shadow without a single atom,
\na drop of water that had joined the ocean.
\nGood luck finding that droplet.
\nSuch loss of self is not for all,
\nbut I joined the eternal union
\nand there are many like me.
\nWho in the world, from a dust mote to the moon,
\nwouldn\u2019t want to be lost this way?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Conferences of the Birds<\/a>, by Attar \/ Translated by Sholeh Wolp\u00e9<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Fernando Rodrigues<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I have been thinking this morning of the meandering road that has been the Poetry Chaikhana. I first set up the Poetry Chaikhana website in 2004. That\u2019s twenty years! During those twenty years I have expanded the library of online poetry to include several hundred poets from around the world and throughout history. In the early days I often sent out five or six poem emails a week! That\u2019s when the \u201cdaily poem\u201d was truly a daily poem. I eventually shifted to three a week and finally settled into the current rhythm of one poem email (almost) every week. (I still catch myself wanting to refer to it as the \u201cdaily poem\u201d and have to pivot to \u201cpoem email.\u201d)<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s just hitting me today: Twenty years! There are young adults today who were not even born when I started the Poetry Chaikhana online. On the Internet, anything older than five years seems lost in the mists of prehistory. There are two possible explanation for the Poetry Chaikhana\u2019s survival over these twenty years\u2026 One is, obviously, ancient aliens. The other explanation is you, the Poetry Chaikhana community. Your steady support and comments and, yes, even prayers year after year, through my own personal ups and downs, through the evolving online landscape, your purchase of books, your donations, your poetry suggestions, the stories you\u2019ve shared of your own personal journeys \u2014 all of that together is why the Poetry Chaikhana is still here today.<\/p>\n

At this moment I am feeling immense gratitude for you all. This is my opportunity to say thank you to all of you!<\/p>\n

It is poems like this that still make me say, Wow! I have to share this with all the mad lovers out there! <\/p>\n

What are you doing?
\nRise up like a true seeker.
\nSet fire to reason
\nand flare into a mad lover.<\/i><\/p>\n

Even the poems that are dark and challenging, especially them. The ones I have to gird up to read, where it takes all my courage just to take a quick honest look\u2013<\/p>\n

If you hesitate over this alchemy,
\nat least come and take a quick look.<\/i\n\n--those are the ones most haunt my complacency and, ultimately, become my closest friends.\n\nThese are the voices that call us into us into lands unknown... losing our selves--\n\nI disappeared, became lost, void.
\nI became a shadow without a single atom,
\na drop of water that had joined the ocean.
\nGood luck finding that droplet.
\nSuch loss of self is not for all,
\nbut I joined the eternal union
\nand there are many like me.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2014 in order to arrive precisely at the Self of selves.<\/p>\n

Who in the world, from a dust mote to the moon,
\nwouldn\u2019t want to be lost this way?<\/i><\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Farid ud-Din Attar<\/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
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nMusic of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Conferences of the Birds<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Farid<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nFarid ud-Din Attar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Iran\/Persia (1120? \u2013 1220?) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was born in Nishapur, in what is today north-east Iran. There is disagreement over the exact dates of his birth and death but several sources confirm that he lived about 100 years. He is traditionally said to have been killed by Mongol invaders. His tomb can be seen today in Nishapur.<\/p>\n

As a younger man, Attar went on pilgrimage to Mecca and traveled extensively, seeking wisdom in Egypt, Damascus, India, and other areas, before finally returning to his home city of Nishapur.<\/p>\n

The name Attar means herbalist or healer, which was his profession. (The profession can also carry implications of alchemy.) It is said that he saw as many as 500 patients a day in his shop, prescribing herbal remedies which he prepared himself, and he wrote his poetry while attending to his patients.<\/p>\n

About thirty works by Attar survive, but his masterpiece is the Mantic at-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds). In this collection, he describes a group of birds (individual human souls) under the leadership of a hoopoe (spiritual master) who determine to search for their king, the legendary Simurgh bird (God). The birds must confront their own individual limitations and fears while journeying through seven valleys before they ultimately find the Simurgh and complete their quest. The 30 birds who ultimately complete the quest discover that they themselves are already one with the Simurgh they sought, playing on a pun in Persian (si and murgh can translate as 30 birds) while giving us an esoteric teaching on the presence of the Divine within us collectively.<\/p>\n

Attar\u2019s poetry inspired Rumi and many other Sufi poets. It is said that Rumi actually met Attar when Attar was an old man and Rumi was a boy, though some scholars dispute this possibility.<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was apparently tried at one point for heresy and exiled from Nishapur, but he eventually returned to his home city and that is where he died.<\/p>\n

A traditional story is told about Attar\u2019s death. He was taken prisoner by a Mongol during the invasion of Nishapur. Someone soon came and tried to ransom Attar with a thousand pieces of silver. Attar advised the Mongol not to sell him for that price. The Mongol, thinking to gain an even greater sum of money, refused the silver. Later, another person came, this time offering only a sack of straw to free Attar. Attar then told the Mongol to sell him for that was all he was worth. Outraged at being made to look like a fool, the Mongol cut off Attar\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Whether or not this is literally true isn\u2019t the point. This story is used to teach the mystical insight that the personal self isn\u2019t of much real worth. What is valuable is the Beloved\u2019s presence within us \u2014 and that presence isn\u2019t threatened by the death of the body.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About True Seekers by Farid ud-Din Attar English version by Sholeh Wolp\u00e9 Wayfarer, know that in the battlefield of pain, love may come with annihilation. You whose existence is mingled with nonexistence, you whose joys are mingled with grief, if you don\u2019t experience some ups and downs, how will you ever know relief? You bravely […]<\/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":[44,2582,348,1716,193,2283,658,1709,19],"class_list":["post-8530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-attar","tag-fana","tag-farid-ud-din-attar","tag-integrated-self","tag-muslim-poetry","tag-no-self","tag-self","tag-spiritual-path","tag-sufi-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8530","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=8530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8531,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8530\/revisions\/8531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}