Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Alhassanain (p) Network for Islamic Heritage and Thought

ASRAR-I-KHUDI

(The Secrets of the Self)

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal

Translated from the original Persian with introduction and notes

by Reynold A. Nicholson

www.alhassanain.org/english

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4

1. THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF THE ASRAR-I-KHUDI 6

2. THE EGO AND CONTINUATION OF PERSONALITY 7

3. THE EDUCATION OF THE EGO 8

PROLOGUE 10

I: SHOWING THAT THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINATES IN THE SELF AND THAT THE CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF ALL INDIVIDUALS DEPENDS ON STRENGTHENING THE SELF 14

II: SHOWING THAT THE LIFE OF THE SELF COMES FROM FORMING IDEALS AND BRINGING THEM TO BIRTH 16

III: SHOWING THAT THE SELF IS STRENGTHENED BY LOVE 18

IV: SHOWING THAT THE SELF IS WEAKENED BY ASKINGO 21

V: SHOWING THAT WHEN THE SELF IS STRENGTHENED BY LOVE IT GAINS DOMINION OVER THE OUTWARD AND INWARD FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE 23

VI: A TALE OF WHICH THE MORAL IS THAT NEGATION OF THE SELF IS A DOCTRINE INVENTED BY THE SUBJECT RACES OF MANKIND IN ORDER THAT BY THIS MEANS THEY MAY SAP AND WEAKEN THE CHARACTER OF THEIR RULERS 25

VII: TO THE EFFECT THAT PLATO, WHOSE THOUGHT HAS DEEPLY INFLUENCED THE MYSTICISM AND LITERATURE OF ISLAM, FOLLOWED THE SHEEP'S DOCTRINE, AND THAT WE MUST BE ON OUR GUARD AGAINST HIS THEORIES 28

VIII: CONCERNING THE TRUE NATURE OF POETRY AND REFORM OF ISLAMIC LITERATURE 30

IX: SHOWING THAT THE EDUCATION OF THE SELF HAS THREE STAGES: OBEDIENCE, SELF-CONTROL, AND DIVINE VICEGERENCE 34

1. OBEDIENCESERVICE 34

2. SELF-CONTROL 34

3. DIVINE VICEGERENCY 35

X: SETTING FORTH THE INNER MEANING OF THE NAMES OF ALI 38

XI: STORY OF A YOUNG MAN OF MERV WHO CAME TO THE SAINT ALI HAJWIRI - GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIM!) AND COMPLAINED THAT HE WAS OPPRESSED BY HIS ENEMIES 41

XII: STORY OF THE BIRD THAT WAS FAINT WITH THIRSTA 43

XIII: STORY OF THE DIAMOND AND THE COAL 44

XIV: STORY OF THE SHEIKH AND THE BRAHMIN FOLLOWED BY A CONVERSATION BETWEEN GANGES AND HIMALAYA TO THE EFFECT THAT THE CONTINUATION OF SOCIAL LIFE DEPEND ON FIRM ATTACHMENTS TO THE CHARACTERISTIC TRADITIONS OF THE COMMUNITY 45

XV: SHOWING THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE MUSLIM’S LIFE IS TO EXALT THE WORD OF ALLAH , AND THE THAT THE (WAR AGAINST UNBELIVERS), IF IT BE PROMPTED BY LAND-HUNGER, IS UNLAWFUL IN THE RELIGION OF ISLAM 48

XVI: PRECEPTS WRITTEN FOR THE MUSLIMS OF INDIA BY MIR NAJAT NAKSHBAND, WHO IS GENERALLY KNOWN AS BABD SAHR’AI 51

XVII: TIME IS A SWORD 55

XVIII: AN INVOCATION 57

THE END 58

NOTES 60

INTRODUCTION

THE Asrar-i-Khudi was first published at Lahore in 1915.1 read it soon afterwards and thought so highly of it that I wrote to Iqbal, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Cambridge some fifteen years ago, asking leave to prepare an English translation.

My proposal was cordially accepted, but in the meantime I found other work to do, which caused the translation to be laid aside until last year. Before submitting it to the reader, a few remarks are necessary concerning the poem and its author-" Iqbal is an Indian Muslim. During his stay in the West he studied modem philosophy, in which subjects he holds degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Munich.

His dissertation on the development of metaphysics in Persia-an illuminating sketch-appeared as a book in 1908. Since then he has developed a philosophy of his own, on which I am able to give some extremely interesting notes communicated by himself.

Of this, however, the Asrar-i-Khudi gives no systematic account, though it puts his ideas in a popular and attractive form. While the Hind a philosophers, in explaining the doctrine of the unity of being, addressed themselves to the head, Iqbal, like the Persian poets who teach the same doctrine, takes a more dangerous course and aims at the heart. He is no mean poet, and his verse can rouse or persuade even if his logic fail to convince. His message is not for the Mohammedans of India alone, but for Muslims everywhere: accordingly he writes in Persian instead of Hindustani a happy choice, for amongst educated Muslims there are many familiar with Persian literature, while the Persian language is singularly well-adapted to express philosophical ideas in a style at once elevated and charming.

Iqbal comes forward as an apostle, if not to his own age, then to posterity "I have no need of the ear of To-day.

I am the voice of the poet of To-morrow"

and after Persian fashion he invokes the Saki to fill his cup with wine and pour moonbeams into the dark night of his thought.

That I may lead home the wanderer.

And imbue the idle looker-on with restless impatience.

And advance hotly on a new quest.

And become known as the champion of a new spirit."

Let us begin at the end. What is the far-off goal on which his eyes are fixed? The answer to that question will discover his true character, and we shall be less likely to stumble on the way if we see whither we are going. Iqbal has drunk deep of European literature, his philosophy owes much to Nietzsche and Bergson, and his poetry; often remains us of Shelly ; yet he thinks and feels as a Muslim, and just for this reason his influence may be great. He is a religious enthusiast, inspired by the vision of a New Mecca, a world-wide, theocratic, Utopian state in which all Muslims, no longer divided by the barriers of race and country, shall be one. He will have nothing to do with nationalism and imperialism. -These, he says, "rob us of Paradise": they make us strangers to each Other, destroy feelings of brotherhood, and sow the bitter seed of war. He dreams of a world ruled by religion, not by politics, and condemns Machiavelli, that "worshipper of false goods," who has blinded so many. It must be observed that when he speaks of religion he always means Islam. Non-Muslims are simply unbelievers, and (in theory, at any rate) the Jihad is justifiable, provided that it is waged "for God's sake alone." A free and independent Muslim fraternity, having the Ka'ba as its centre and knit together by love of Allah and devotion to the Prophet- such is lqbal's ideal. In the Asrar-i-Khudi and the' Ramuz-i-Bekhudi lie preaches it with a burning sincerity which we cannot but admire, and at the same time points out how it may be attained. The former poem deals with the life of the individual Muslim, the latter with the life of the Islamic community.

The cry "Back to the Koran! Back to Mohammad!" has been heard before, and the responses have hitherto been somewhat discouraging. But on this occasion it is allied with the revolutionary force of Western philosophy, which Iqbal hopes and believes will vitalise the movement and ensure its triumph. He sees that Hindu intellectualism and Islamic pantheism have destroyed the capacity for action, based on scientific observation and interpretation of phenomena, which distinguishes the Western peoples "and especially the English." Now; this capacity depends ultimately on the conviction that Khudi (selfhood, individuality, personality) is real and is not merely an illusion of the mind. Iqbal, therefore, throws himself with all his might against idealistic philosophers and pseudo-mystical poets, the authors, in his opinion, of the decay prevailing in Islam, and argues that only by self affirmation, self-expression, and self development can the Muslims once more become strong and -free. He appeals from the alluring raptures of Hafiz to the moral fervour of Jalalu'd din Rumi, from an Islam sunk in Platonic contemplation to the fresh and vigorous monotheism which inspired Mohammed and brought Islam into existence-2 Here, perhaps, I should guard against a possible misunderstanding lqbal's philosophy is religious, but the does not treat philosophy as the handmaid of religion. Holding that the full development of the individual presupposes a society, he finds the ideal society in what he considers to be the Prophet's conception of Islam. Every Muslim, in striving to make himself a more perfect individual, is helping to establish the-Islamic kingdom of God upon earth.3

The Asrar-i-Khudi is composed in the metre and modelled on the style of the famous Masnavi. In the prologue Iqbal relates how Jalalu'd din Rumi, who is to him almost what Virgil was to Dante, appeared in a vision and bade him arise and sing. Much as be dislikes the type of Sufism exhibited by Hafiz, he pays homage to the pure and profound genius of Jalalu'ddin, though he rejects the doctrine of self-abandonment taught by the great Persian mystic and does not accompany him in his pan theistic Rights.

To European readers the Asrar-i Khudi presents certain obscurities which no translation can entirely remove. These lie partly in the form and would not be felt, as a rule, by any one conversant with Persian poetry. Often, however, the ideas themselves, being associated with peculiarly Oriental ways of thinking, are hard for our minds to follow. I am not sure that I have always grasped the meaning or rendered it correctly; but I hope that such errors are few, thanks to the assistance so kindly given me by my friend Muhammad Shafi, now Professor of Arabic at Lahore, with whom I read the poem and discussed many points of difficulty. Other questions of a more fundamental character have been solved for me by the author himself. At my request he drew up a statement of his philosophical- views on the problem touched and suggested in the book. I will give it in his own words as nearly as possible. It is not, of course, a complete statement, and was written, as he says, "in a great hurry," but apart from its power and originality it elucidates the poetical argument for better than any explanation that could have been offered by me.

1. THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF THE ASRAR-I-KHUDI

"The experience should take place in finite centres and should wear the form of finite this-ness is in the end inexplicable.' These are the words of Prof. Bradley. But starting- with these inexplicable centres of experience, he ends in a unity which -he calls Absolute and in which the finite centres lose their finiteness and distinctness.

According to him, therefore, the finite centre is only an appearance. The test of reality, in his opinion is all-inclusiveness; and since all finiteness is 'infected with relativity, it follows that the latter is a mere illusion. To my mind, this inexplicable finite centre of experience is the fundamental fact of the universe. All life is individual; there is no such thing as universal life. God himself is an individual: He is the most unique individual.4 The universe, as Dr. McTaggart says, is an -association of individual ; but we must add that the orderliness and adjustment which we find in this association is not eternally achieved and complete in itself, it is the result of instinctive or conscious effort. We are gradually travelling from chaos to cosmos and are helpers in this achievement. Nor are the members of the association fixed; new members are ever coming to birth to co-operate in the great task. Thus the universe is not a completed act: it is still in the course of formation. There can be no complete truth about the universe, for the universe has not yet become 'whole.' The process of creation is still going on, and man too takes his share in it, inasmuch as he helps to bring order into at least a portion or the chaos. The Koran indicates the possibility of other creators than God.5

"Obviously this view of man and the universe is opposed to that of the English Neo- Hegelians as well as to all forms of pantheistic Sufiism which regard absorption in a universal life or soul as the final aim and salvation of man.6 The moral and religious ideal of man is not self-negation but self-affirmation, and he attains to this ideal by becoming more and more individual, more and more unique. The Prophet said, 'Takhallaqu bi-akhlaq Allah,' 'Create in yourselves the attributes of God.' Thus man becomes unique by becoming more and more like the most unique Individual. What then is life? It is individual : its highest form, so far, is the Ego (Khudi) in which the individual becomes a self contained exclusive centre. Physically as well as spiritually man is a self-contained centre, but he is not yet a complete individual. The greater his distance from God, the less his individuality. He who comes nearest to God is the completest person. Nor that he is finally absorbed in God. On the contrary, he absorbs God into himself7 The true person not only absorbs the world of matter; by mastering it he absorbs God Himself into his Ego. Life is a forward assimilative movement. It removes all obstructions in its march by assimilating them. Its essence is the continual creation of desires and ideals, and for the purpose of it its preservation and expansion it has invented or developed out of itself certain instruments, ,e.g., senses, intellect, etc., which help in to assimilate obstructions.8 The greatest obstacle in the way of life is matter. Nature ; yet Nature is not evil, since it enables the inner powers of life to unfold themselves.

"The Ego attains to freedom by the removal of all observations in its way. It is partly free, partly determined9 ?, and reaches fuller freedom by approaching the Individual, who is most free-God. In one word, life is an endeavour for freedom.

2. THE EGO AND CONTINUATION OF PERSONALITY

"In man the centre of life becomes an Ego or Person. Personality is a state of tension and can continue only if that state is maintained. If the state of tension is not maintained,, relaxation will ensue. Since personality, or the state of tension, is the most valuable achievement of man, he should see that he does not revert to a state of relaxation. That which tends to maintain the state of tension tends to make us immortal. Thus the idea of personality gives us a standard of value : it settles the problem of good and evil. That which fortifies personality is good, that which weakens it is bad. Art,10 religion, and ethics11 must be judged from the stand-point of personality. My criticism of Plato12 is directed against those philosophical systems which hold up death rather than life as their ideal-systems which ignore the greatest obstruction to life, namely, matter, and teach us to run away from it instead of absorbing it. "As in connexion with the question of the freedom of the Ego we have to face the problem of matter, similarly in connexion with its immortality we have to face the problem of time.13 Bergson has taught us that time is not an infinite line (in the spatial sense of the word 'line') through which we must pass whether we wish it or not. This idea of time is adulterated. Pure time has no length. Personal immorality is an aspiration: you can have it if you make an effort to achieve it. It depends on our adopting, in this life modes of thought and activity which tend to maintain the state of tension. Buddhism, Persian Sufism and allied forms of ethics will not serve our purpose. But they are not wholly useless, because after periods of great activity we need opiates, narcotics, for some time. They forms of thought and action are like, nights in the days of life. Thus, if our activity is directed towards the maintenance of a state of tension, the shock of death is not likely to affect it. After death there may be an interval of relaxation, as the Koran speaks of a barzakh, or intermediate state, which lasts until the Day of Resurrection14 . Only those Egos will survive this state of relaxation who have taken good care during the present life. Although life abhors repetition in its evolution, yet on Bergson's principles the resurrection of the body too, as Wildon Carr says, is quite possible. By breaking up time into moments we spatialise it and then find difficulty in getting over it. The true nature of time is reached when we look into our deepar self.15 Real time is life itself which can preserve itself by maintaining that, particular state of tension (personality) which it has so far achieved. We are subject to time so long as we look upon time as something spatial.. Spatialised time is a fetter which life has forged for itself in order to assimilate the present environment. In reality we are timeless, and it is possible to realise our timelessness even in this life. This revelation, however, can be momentary only.

3. THE EDUCATION OF THE EGO

"The Ego is fortified by love (Ishq)16 . This word is used in a very wide sense and means the desire to assimilate, to absorb. Its highest form is the creation of values and ideals and the endeavour to realise them. Love individualises the lover as well as the beloved. The effort to realise the most unique individuality individualises the seeker and implies the individuality of the sought, for nothing else would satisfy the nature of the seeker. As love fortifies the Ego, asking (sua'l) weakens it." All that is achieved without personal effort comes under sua'l. The son of a rich man who inherits his father's wealth is an 'asker' (beggar); so is every one who thinks the thoughts of others. Thus, in order to fortify the Ego we should cultivate love, i.e. the power of assimilative action, and avoid all forms of 'asking, ie. inaction. The lesson of assimilative action is given by the life of the Prophet, at least to a Muhammadan.17

"In another part of the poem18 I have hinted at the general principles of Muslim ethics and have tried to reveal their meaning in connexion with the idea of personality. The Ego in its movement towards uniqueness has to pass through three stages :

(a) Obedience to the Law.

(b) Self-control, which is the highest form of self-consciousness or Ego-hood!19

(c) Divine vicegerency.20

"This (divine vicegerency, niyabat-e-Alahi) is the third and last stage of human development on earth. The na'ib (vicegerent) is the vicegerent of God on earth. He is the completest Ego, the goal of humanity21 , the acume of life both in mind and body; in him the -discord of our mental life becomes a harmony. This highest power is united in him with the highest knowledge. In this life thought and action, instinct and reason become one. He is the last fruit of the tree of humanity, and all the trial of a painful evolution are justified because he is to come at the end. He is the real ruler of mankind; his kingdom is the kingdom of God on earth. Out of the richness of his nature he lavishes the wealth of life on others, and brings them nearer and nearer to himself. The more we advance in evolution,, the nearer we get to him. In approaching him we are raising ourselves in the scale of life. The development of humanity both in mind and body is a condition precedent to his birth. For the present he is a mere ideal ; but the evolution of humanity is tending towards the production of an ideal race of more or less unique individuals who will become his fitting parents. Thus the Kingdom of God on earth means the democracy of more or less unique individuals, presided over by the most unique individual possible on this earth. Nietzsche had a glimpse of this ideal race, but his atheism and aristocratic prejudices marred his whole conception. "22

Every one, I suppose, will acknowledge that the substance of the Asrar i-Khudi is striking enough to command attention. In the -poem, naturally, this philosophy presents itself under a different aspect. Its audacity of thought and phrase is less apparent, its logical brilliancy dissolves in the glow of feeling and imagination, and it wins the heart before taking possession of the mind. The artistic quality of the poem is remarkable when we consider that its language is not the author's own I have done my best to preserve as much of this as a literal prose translation would allow. Many passages of the original are poetry of the kind that, once read, is not easily forgotten, e.g. the description of the Ideal Man as a deliverer for whom the word is waiting, and the noble invocation which brings the book to an end. Like Jalal'uddin Rumi, Iqbal is found of introducing fables and apologues to relieve the argument and illustrate his meaning with more force and point than would be possible otherwise.

On its first appearance the Asrar-i Khudi took by storm the younger generation of Indian Muslim. ',Iqbal," wrote one of them, "has come amongst us as a Messiah and has stirred the dead with life." It remains to be seen in what direction the awakened one will march. Will they -be satisfied with a glorious but distant vision or the City of God, or will they adapt the new doctrine to other ends than those which its author has in view ? Notwithstanding that he explicitly denounces the idea of nationalism, his admirers are already protesting that he does not mean what he says.

How far the influence of his work may ultimately go I will not attempt to prophesy. It has been said of him that "he is a man of his age and a man in advance of his age; he is also a man in disagreement with his age." We cannot regard his ideas as typical of any section of his co-religionists. They involve a radical change-in the Muslim mind, and their real importance is not to be measured by the fact that such a change is unlikely to occur within a calculable time.

PROLOGUE

WHEN the world-illuming sun rushed, upon Night like a brigand,

My weeping bedewed the face of the rose.

My tears washed away sleep from the eye of the narcissus,

My passion wakened the grass and made it grow.

The Gardener tried the power of my song, 5

He sowed my verse and reaped a sword.

In the soil he planted only the seed of my tears

And wove my lament with the garden, as warp and woof.

Tho' I am but a mote, the radiant sun is mine:

Within my bosom are a hundred dawns. 10

My dust is brighter than Jamshid's cup-23

It knows things that are yet unborn in the world.

My thought hunted down and slung from the saddle a deer.

That has not yet leaped forth from the covert of non-existence.

Fair is my garden ere yet the leaves are green: 15

Unborn roses are hidden in the skirt of my garment.

I struck dumb the musicians where they were gathered together,

I smote the heart-string of the universe,

Because the lute of my genius hath a rare melody:

Even to comrades my song is strange. 20

I am born in the world as a new sun,

I have not learned the ways and fashions of the sky

Not yet have the stars fled before my splendour,

Not yet is my quicksilver astir;

Untouched is the sea by my dancing rays, 25

Untouched are the mountains by my crimson hue.

The eye of existence is not familiar with me;

I rise trembling, afraid to show myself.

From the East my dawn arrived and routed Night,

A fresh dew settled on the rose of the world. 30

I am waiting for the votaries that rise at dawn;

Oh, happy they who shall worship my fire!

I have no need of the ear of To-day,

I am the voice of the poet of To-morrow

My own age does not understand my deep meanings,

My Joseph is not for this market.

I despair of my old companions,

My Sinai burns forsake of the Moses who is coming.

Their sea is silent, like dew,

But my dew is storm-ridden, like the ocean. 40

My song is of another world than theirs:

This bell calls other travellers to take the road,

Many a poet was born after his death,

Opened our eyes when his own were closed.,

And journeyed forth again from nothingness, 45

Like roses blossoming o'er the earth of his grave.

Albeit caravans have passed through this desert,

They passed, as a camel steps, with little sound.

But I am a lover: loud crying is my faith

The clamour of Judgment Day is one of my minions.

My song exceeds the range of the chord,

Yet I do not fear that my lute will break.

Twere better for the water drop not to know my torrent,

Whose fury should rather madden the sea.

No river will contain my Oman:24 55

My flood requires whole seas to hold it.

Unless the bud expand into a bed of roses,

It is unworthy of my spring-cloud's bounty.

Lightnings slumber within my soul,

I sweep over mountain and plain. 60

Wrestle with my sea, if thou art a plain;

Receive my lightning if thou art a Sinai.

The Fountain of Life hath been given me to drink.

I have been made an adept of the mystery of Life.

The speck of dust was vitalised by my burning song:

It unfolded wings-and became a firefly.

No one hath, told the secret which I will tell

Or threaded a pearl of thought like mine

Come, if thou would' st know the secret of everlasting life

Come, if thou would' st win both earth and heaven. 70

Heaven taught me this lore,

I cannot hide it from comrades.

O Saqi arise and pour wine into the cup!

Clear the vexation of Time from my heart

The sparkling liquor that flows from Zemzen25 75

Were a beggar to worship it, he would become a king.

It makes thought more sober and wise, it makes the keen eye keener,

it gives to a straw the weight of a mountain,

And to foxes the strength of lions. 80

It causes dust to soar to the Pleiades

And a drop of waters well to the breadth of the sea.

it turns silence Into the din of Judgment Day,

it makes the foot of the partridge red

with blood of the hawk.

Arise and pour pure wine into my cup, 85

Pour moon beams into the dark night of my thought,

That I may lead home the wanderer

And imbue the idle looker on with rest less impatience;

And advance hotly on a new quest

And become known as the champion of a new spirit: 90

And be to people of insight as the pupil to the eye,

And sink into the ear of the world, like a voice;

And exalt the worth of Poesy

And sprinkle the dry herbs with my tears. "26

Inspired by the genius of the Master of Rum.27 95

I reherarse the sealed book of secret lore.

His soul is the flaming furnace,

I am but as the spark that gleams for a moment.

His burning candle consumed me, I the moth;

His wine overwhelmed my goblet. 100

The master of Rum transmuted my earth to gold

And set my ashes aflame.

The grain of sand set forth from the desert,

That it might win the radiance of the sun.

I am a wave and I will come to rest in his sea, 105

That I may make the glistening pearl mine own.

I who am drunken with the wine of his song.

Draw life from the breath of his words,

'Twas night my heart would fain lament.

The silence was filled with my cries to God. 110

I was complaining of the sorrows of the world.

And bewailing the emptiness of my cup.

At last mine eye could endure no more,

Broken with fatigue it went to sleep.

There appeared the Master, formed in the mould of Truth, 115

Who wrote the Koran in Persian.28

He said, "O frenzied lover,

Take a draught of love's pure wine.

Strike29 the chords of thine heart and rouse a tumultuous strain.

Dash thine head against the goblet and thine eye against the lancet! 120

Make thy laughter the source of a hundred sighs.

Make the hearts of men bleed with thy tears

How long wilt thou be silent, like a bud?

Sell thy fragrance cheap, like the rose!

Tongue-tied, thou art in pain: 125

Cast thyself upon the fire, like rue!

Like the bell, break silence at last, and from every limb.

Utter forth a lamentation!

Thou art fire: fill the world with thy glow!

Make others burn with thy burning! 130

Proclaim the secrets of the old wine seller;30

Be thou a surge of wine, and the crystal cup thy robe!

Shatter the mirror of fear,

Break the bottles in the bazaar

Like the reed- flute, bring a message from the reed-bed 135

Give to Majnun a message from the tribe of Laila!31

Create a new style for thy song,

Enrich the assembly with thy piercing strains

Up, and re-inspire every living soul

Say 'Arise !' and by that word quicken the living 140

Up, and set thy feet on another path

Put aside the passionate melancholy of old !

Become familiar with the delight of singing; bell of the caravan, awake!"

At these words my bosom was enkindled 145

And swelled with emotion like the flute;

I rose like music from the string

To prepare a Paradise for the ear.

I unveiled the mystery of the Self

And disclosed its wondrous secret. 150

My being was an unfinished statue,

Uncomely, worthless, good for nothing.

Love chiselled me: I became a man.

And gained knowledge of the nature of the universe.

I have seen the movement of the sinews of the sky. 155

And the blood coursing in the veins of the moon.

Many a night I wept for Man's sake

That I might tear the veil from Life's mysteries.

And extract the secret of Life's constitution

From the laboratory of phenomena. 160

I who give beauty to this night, like the moon,

Am as dust in devotion to the pure Faith (Islam)

A Faith renowned in hill and dale.

Which kindles in men's hearts a flame of undying song:

It sowed an atom and reaped a sun, 165

It harvested a hundred poets like Rumi and Attar.

I am a sigh: I will mount to the heavens;

I am but smoke, yet am I sprung of fire.

Driven onward by high thoughts, my pen

Cast abroad the secret behind this veil, 170

That the drop may become co-equal with the sea

And the grain of sand grow into a Sahara.

Poetising is not the aim of this Masnavi.

Beauty-worshipping and love-making is not its aim.

I am of India: Persian is not my native tongue; 175

I am like the crescent moon: my cup is not full.

Do not seek from me charm of style in exposition.

Do not seek not from me Khansar and Isfahan.32

Although the language of Hind is sweet as sugar,

Yet sweeter is the fashion of Persian speech. 180

My mind was enchanted by its loveliness.

My pen became as a twig of the Burning Bush.

Because of the loftiness of my thoughts,

Persian alone is suitable to them.

O Reader I do not find fault with the wine-cup.

But consider attentively the taste of the wine.

I: SHOWING THAT THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINATES IN THE SELF AND THAT THE CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF ALL INDIVIDUALS DEPENDS ON STRENGTHENING THE SELF

THE form of existence is an effect of the Self,

Whatsoever thou seest is a secret of the Self,

When the Self awoke to consciousness.

It revealed the universe of Thought.

A hundred words are hidden in its essence: 190

Self-affirmation brings Not-self to light.

By the Self the seed of opposition is sown in the word:

It imagines itself to be other than itself

It makes from itself the forms of others 195

In order to multiply the pleasure of strife.

It is slaying by the strength of its arm

That it may become conscious of its own strength.

Its self-deceptions are the essence of Life;

Like the rose, it lives by bathing itself in blood. 200

For the sake of a single rose it destroys a hundred rose gardens

And makes a hundred lamentation in quest of a single melody.

For one sky it produces a hundred new moons,

And for one word a hundred discourses.

The excuse for this wastefulness and cruelty 205

Is the shaping and perfecting of spiritual beauty.

The loveliness of Shirin justifies the anguish of Farhad.33

One fragrant navel justifies a hundred musk-deer.

'Tis the fate of moths to consume in flame:

The suffering of moths is justified by the candle. 210

The pencil of the Self limped a hundred to-days

In order to achieve the dawn of a single morrow.

Its flames burned a hundred Abrahams34

That the lamp of one Muhammad might be lighted.

Subject, object, means, and causes - 215

All these are forms which it assumes for the purpose of action.

The Self rises, kindles, falls, glows, breathes,

Burns, shines, walks, and flies.

The spaciousness of Time is its arena,

Heaven is a billow of the dust on the road. 220

From its rose-planting the world abounds in roses;

Night is born of its sleep, day springs from its waking.

It divided its flame into sparks

And taught the understanding to worship particulars.

It dissolved itself and created the atoms 225

It was scattered for a little while and created sands.

Then it wearied of dispersion

And by re-uniting itself it became the mountains.

Tis the nature of the Self to manifest itself

In every atom slumbers the might of the Self. 230

Power that is expressed and inert

Chains the faculties which lead to action.

Inasmuch as the life of the universe comes from the power of the Self,

Life is in proportion to this power.

When a drop of water gets of Self s lesson by heart, 235

it makes its worthless existence a pearl.

Wine is formless because its self is weak;

It receives a form by favour of the cup.

Although the cup of wine assumes a form,

It is indebted to us for its motion. 240

When the mountain loses its self, it turns into sands

And complains that the sea surges over it;

The wave, so long as it remains a wave in the sea's bosom.35

Makes itself rider on the sea's back.

Light transformed itself into an eye 245

And moved to and fro in search of beauty;

When the grass found a means of growth in its self,

Its aspiration clove the breast of the garden.

The candle too concatenated itself

And built itself out of atoms; 250

Then it made a practice of melting itself away and fled from its self

Until at last it trickled down from its own eye, like tears.

If the bezel had been more self secure by nature,

It would not have suffered wounds,

But since it derives its value from the superscription, 255

Its shoulder is galled by the burden of another's name.

Because the earth is firmly based on itself,

The captive moon goes round it perpetually.

The being of the sun is stronger than that of the earth

Therefore is the earth fascinated by the sun's eye. 260

The glory of the red beech fixes our gaze.

The mountains are enriched by its majesty

Its raiment is woven of fire,

Its origin is one self-assertive seed.

When Life gathers strength from the Self, 260

The river of Life expands into an ocean

II: SHOWING THAT THE LIFE OF THE SELF COMES FROM FORMING IDEALS AND BRINGING THEM TO BIRTH

LIFE is preserved by purpose

Because of the goal its caravan-bell tinkles.

Life Is latent in seeking,

Its origin is hidden in desire. 270

Keep desire alive in thy heart,

Lest thy little dust become a tomb.

Desire is the soul of this world of hue and scent,

The nature of everything is a storehouse of desire.

Desire sets the heart dancing in the breast. 275

And by its glow the breast is made bright as a mirror.

It gives to earth the power of soaring.

It is a Khizr to the Moses of perception.36

From the flame of desire the heart takes life,

And when it takes life, all dies that is not true. 280

When it refrains from forming desires,

Its opinion breaks and it cannot soar.

Desire keeps the Self in perpetual uproar.

It is a restless wave of the Self s sea.

Desire is a noose for hunting ideals, 285

A binder of the book of deeds.

Negation of desire is death to the living,

Even as absence of heat extinguishes the flame.

What is the source of our wakeful eye?

Our delight in seeing hath taken visible shape. 290

The partridge's leg is derived from the elegance of its gait,

The nightingale's beak from its endeavour to sing.

Away from the seed-bed, the reed became happy:

The music was released from its prison.37

What is the essence of the mind that strives after new discoveries and scales the heavens? 295

Knowest thou what works this miracle

'Tis desire that enriches Life,

And the mind is a child of its womb.

What are social organisation, customs and laws?

What is the secret of the novelties of science? 300

A desire which realised itself by its own strength

And burst forth from the heart and took shape.

Nose, hand, brain, eye, and ear,

Though, imagination, feeling, memory, and understanding

All these are weapons devised by Life for self-preservation 305

In its ceasless struggle,

The object of science and art is not knowledge,

The object of the garden is not the bud and the flower

Science is an instrument for the preservation of Life.

Science is a means of invigorating the Self. 310

Science and art are servants of Life,

Slaves born and bred in its house.

Rise, O thou who art strange to Life 's mystery,

Rise intoxicated with the wine of an ideal, 315

An ideal shining as the dawn,

A blazing fire to all that is other than God,

An ideal higher than Heaven -

Winning, captivating, enchanting men's hearts

A destroyer of ancient falsehood,

Fraught with turmoil, and embodiment of the Last Day. 320

We live by forming ideals,

We glow with the sunbeams of desire!