Lesson 1
Welcome To The Course
Welcome to the course:
I start with the poem by Hazrat Hafez:
سلامی چو بوی خوش آشنایی
بدان مردم دیده روشنایی
درودی چو نور دل پارسایان
بدان شمع خلوتگه پارسایی
Salutations to the day of friendship’s delight
To the pupils that have seen the light.
Greeting the heart of the righteous, bright,
To the candle of the sanctuary of the right.
“Hafez Shirazi”
Namaste !
I’m Nobieh and welcome to a journey into Persian poetry with me!
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful ways to greet each other is with the word in Sanskrit language and gesture of Namaste!
As namaste means : I see and recognize the divine in you, and from the divine in me I bow down to the divine in you and the divine I see in everything... In another way it is that from my inner light I bow down to the inner light in you and the light of divine in All...
We have different words to greet each other in different languages like in Farsi we use the word “ Salam” coming from an Arabic root Salam alaikum which means peace upon you. As in Farsi language, some words entered into the language from different languages like we have many Arabic words like “ Salam” as I mentioned but in Farsi the word for Salam is “ durood “ , some people who wants to speak pure Farsi use durood instead of Salam.
And in English Hello, in French bonjours, in Spanish hola!
And many other ways to greet each other.
My favorite and most meaningful is Namaste, also there is a Sufi expression which I love and you will hear at the end of all your guided meditation which is : YA HOO!
HOO is used as the name of GOD. The one. The beloved. and you hear in most Darvish "Zekr" or mantra in another way of saying it, the word
" HOO". YA HOO , means in the name of the one and only truth, the one without any name just called " HOO" ...
What is yours?
Write to me in the comment if you have a favorite word or sentence to greet each other....
So I came here to introduce you to the world of Persian Sufi Poetry!
Persian poetry and the world of some Persian Sufi poets and masters like Molana Rumi, Hafez, Saadi, Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Shams Tabrizi, Attar Neishaboori, Alghazali & Mahmood Shabestari.
The language of Persian poetry is very complicated to understand and most of the poems from Rumi, Hafez, Saadi, Khayam, and other sages whose poetry is written in Farsi language, is very complicated to translate.
Unfortunately, most of Rumi and Hafez's poetry, even with the famous translators, are fake or an interpretation of the poem from other second-hand translations from people who did not even speak a word of Farsi.
all these poems you find in their original language, every word is a code and refers to a philosophical idea and needs an interpretation even for a Farsi-spoken person.
Some are impossible to translate to transmit the real message to the West.
We as Iranians, grew up with that culture, and spirituality was part of our lives.
Although I was not from a religious background and religion was not practiced in my family, we always knew and grew up listening to Molana Rumi, Hafez, and all these Sufi mystics, as it is part of our culture.
In this course, I selected a few of the Persian Sufi poets and mystics from the Golden Age of Sufism around the late 12th to 14th century.
I’ll introduce you to each poet, and then go through some poems and their meaning.
Then, I'll take you into a meditation with the aspects of our sufi master of the day.
I hope you enjoy this journey with me, and we’ll dive deep into the mystical world of Persian Sufi poetry together…
May Love and the light of “ Hagh” meaning truth and one of the names of God, be upon us throughout our journey…
Let’s start with an introduction to what and who a Sufi is :
Diving deeper into the world of the Persian Sufis and poets from whom the most beautiful Poems have been shared, illuminating our world with their magic…
They shined the divine light from their devoted heart, and most of these poets, like Molana Rumi, Hafez, Khayam, Hakim Sanai, Shams, Attar Neishaboori, Mahmood Shabestari and many more are from the time when the cruelest army of humans ( The Mongols) violently attacked Persia... During the time of the Mongol invasions of the region. It was a terrible time of massacres by the invading armies, Yet it was also during this time that the Golden Age of Persian Sufism emerged.
As so many divisions were happening in this part of the world, these sufis talked about " ONE-NESS", Unity.
In today’s world, we are going through so much. It can sometimes be challenging to stay motivated, hopeful, and happy… But the only refuge is to look within our hearts and focus on the light in our souls when we can’t see it in the outside world… Once we find and reconnect to the light within, we can shine our lights on others and illuminate our world with our Love…
Sufis who are people on the path of Love, can remind us beautifully of that Love...
The path of the Sufis is the path of Love. All the Sufi poets of that time talk about dropping the identification with the world, The death of the Ego, and rebirth in the light of Love. To get drunk with the divine’s vine means to drink from that nectar, which is the divine love song, and rejoice in a new world free from worldly desires and attachments…
Beloved master “Osho” talks beautifully about SUFIS in his selective talks “ Sufis, people of the path” :
“Sufism is the art of removing the hindrance between you and you, between the self and the self, between the part and the whole.
A few things about the word ’Sufi’. An ancient Persian dictionary has this for the entry ’Sufi.’... the definition goes in rhyme: SUFI CHIST – SUFI, SUFIST. WHO IS A SUFI? A SUFI IS A SUFI. This is a beautiful definition. The phenomenon is indefinable. ’A Sufi is a Sufi.’ It says nothing, and yet it says well. It says that the Sufi cannot be defined; there is no other word to define it or synonym. there is no possibility of defining it linguistically; there is no other indefinable phenomenon. You can live it, and you can know it, but through the mind, through the intellect, it is not possible. You can become a Sufi – that is the only way to know what it is. You can taste the reality yourself, it is available. You need not go into a dictionary; you can go into existence.``
“For a Sufi, God is not an idea but his lived reality. It is not somewhere sitting on a throne high in the heavens, no – it is here now, all over the place and everywhere. God is just a name for the totality of existence.”
As Osho described it so beautifully, the Sufi drops the idea of God and Lives in God.
The stage where Sufis reach God and achieve the UNION is called “ FANA”. The word means to vanish. To become one with God. The union with the divine.
So, let's begin the journey!
YA HOO!
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Lesson 2
Meditation With The Great Persian Sufi Poet Molana Jallalledin Rumi
Welcome to the course:
I start with the poem by Hazrat Hafez:
سلامی چو بوی خوش آشنایی
بدان مردم دیده روشنایی
درودی چو نور دل پارسایان
بدان شمع خلوتگه پارسایی
Salutations to the day of friendship’s delight
To the pupils that have seen the light.
Greeting the heart of the righteous, bright,
To the candle of the sanctuary of the right.
“Hafez Shirazi”
Namaste !
I’m Nobieh and welcome to a journey into Persian poetry with me!
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful ways to greet each other is with the word in Sanskrit language and gesture of Namaste!
As namaste means : I see and recognize the divine in you, and from the divine in me I bow down to the divine in you and the divine I see in everything... In another way it is that from my inner light I bow down to the inner light in you and the light of divine in All...
We have different words to greet each other in different languages like in Farsi we use the word “ Salam” coming from an Arabic root Salam alaikum which means peace upon you. As in Farsi language, some words entered into the language from different languages like we have many Arabic words like “ Salam” as I mentioned but in Farsi the word for Salam is “ durood “ , some people who wants to speak pure Farsi use durood instead of Salam.
And in English Hello, in French bonjours, in Spanish hola!
And many other ways to greet each other.
My favorite and most meaningful is Namaste, also there is a Sufi expression which I love and you will hear at the end of all your guided meditation which is : YA HOO!
HOO is used as the name of GOD. The one. The beloved. and you hear in most Darvish "Zekr" or mantra in another way of saying it, the word
" HOO". YA HOO , means in the name of the one and only truth, the one without any name just called " HOO" ...
What is yours?
Write to me in the comment if you have a favorite word or sentence to greet each other....
So I came here to introduce you to the world of Persian Sufi Poetry!
Persian poetry and the world of some Persian Sufi poets and masters like Molana Rumi, Hafez, Saadi, Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Shams Tabrizi, Attar Neishaboori, Alghazali & Mahmood Shabestari.
The language of Persian poetry is very complicated to understand and most of the poems from Rumi, Hafez, Saadi, Khayam, and other sages whose poetry is written in Farsi language, is very complicated to translate.
Unfortunately, most of Rumi and Hafez's poetry, even with the famous translators, are fake or an interpretation of the poem from other second-hand translations from people who did not even speak a word of Farsi.
all these poems you find in their original language, every word is a code and refers to a philosophical idea and needs an interpretation even for a Farsi-spoken person.
Some are impossible to translate to transmit the real message to the West.
We as Iranians, grew up with that culture, and spirituality was part of our lives.
Although I was not from a religious background and religion was not practiced in my family, we always knew and grew up listening to Molana Rumi, Hafez, and all these Sufi mystics, as it is part of our culture.
In this course, I selected a few of the Persian Sufi poets and mystics from the Golden Age of Sufism around the late 12th to 14th century.
I’ll introduce you to each poet, and then go through some poems and their meaning.
Then, I'll take you into a meditation with the aspects of our sufi master of the day.
I hope you enjoy this journey with me, and we’ll dive deep into the mystical world of Persian Sufi poetry together…
May Love and the light of “ Hagh” meaning truth and one of the names of God, be upon us throughout our journey…
Let’s start with an introduction to what and who a Sufi is :
Diving deeper into the world of the Persian Sufis and poets from whom the most beautiful Poems have been shared, illuminating our world with their magic…
They shined the divine light from their devoted heart, and most of these poets, like Molana Rumi, Hafez, Khayam, Hakim Sanai, Shams, Attar Neishaboori, Mahmood Shabestari and many more are from the time when the cruelest army of humans ( The Mongols) violently attacked Persia... During the time of the Mongol invasions of the region. It was a terrible time of massacres by the invading armies, Yet it was also during this time that the Golden Age of Persian Sufism emerged.
As so many divisions were happening in this part of the world, these sufis talked about " ONE-NESS", Unity.
In today’s world, we are going through so much. It can sometimes be challenging to stay motivated, hopeful, and happy… But the only refuge is to look within our hearts and focus on the light in our souls when we can’t see it in the outside world… Once we find and reconnect to the light within, we can shine our lights on others and illuminate our world with our Love…
Sufis who are people on the path of Love, can remind us beautifully of that Love...
The path of the Sufis is the path of Love. All the Sufi poets of that time talk about dropping the identification with the world, The death of the Ego, and rebirth in the light of Love. To get drunk with the divine’s vine means to drink from that nectar, which is the divine love song, and rejoice in a new world free from worldly desires and attachments…
Beloved master “Osho” talks beautifully about SUFIS in his selective talks “ Sufis, people of the path” :
“Sufism is the art of removing the hindrance between you and you, between the self and the self, between the part and the whole.
A few things about the word ’Sufi’. An ancient Persian dictionary has this for the entry ’Sufi.’... the definition goes in rhyme: SUFI CHIST – SUFI, SUFIST. WHO IS A SUFI? A SUFI IS A SUFI. This is a beautiful definition. The phenomenon is indefinable. ’A Sufi is a Sufi.’ It says nothing, and yet it says well. It says that the Sufi cannot be defined; there is no other word to define it or synonym. there is no possibility of defining it linguistically; there is no other indefinable phenomenon. You can live it, and you can know it, but through the mind, through the intellect, it is not possible. You can become a Sufi – that is the only way to know what it is. You can taste the reality yourself, it is available. You need not go into a dictionary; you can go into existence.``
“For a Sufi, God is not an idea but his lived reality. It is not somewhere sitting on a throne high in the heavens, no – it is here now, all over the place and everywhere. God is just a name for the totality of existence.”
As Osho described it so beautifully, the Sufi drops the idea of God and Lives in God.
The stage where Sufis reach God and achieve the UNION is called “ FANA”. The word means to vanish. To become one with God. The union with the divine.
So, let's begin the journey!
YA HOO!
read more
Lesson 3
Meditation With The Great Persian Sufi Poet Hafez Shirazi
Welcome to an introduction to the great Sufi mystic, Hafez!
Shams Eddin Muhammad Khajeh Hafez Shirazi is one of Iran's most beloved and famous poets from the early 14th century. He is considered by many from different cultures to be one of the seven literary wonders of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe both agreed that Hafez is a poet for poets. As Emerson said of Hafez: "He fears nothing. He sees too far; he sees throughout. Such is the only man I wish to meet or become."
Hafez was born in Shiraz, which is why he is known as Hafez Shirazi. However, he fell out of favor with Shah Shoja, the King of Iran at that time. To ensure his safety, Hafez left Shiraz and went into self-imposed exile in Esfahan. His poems mainly express his longing for Shiraz, Shakh-e Nabat (the beautiful woman he loved), and his spiritual master, Attar. Several years later, upon the invitation of Shah Shoja, he ended his exile and returned to Shiraz, where he was reinstated to his post at the college.
Longing to be united with his Creator, at age 60, he began a forty-day and night vigil by sitting in a circle where he had drawn himself. On the morning of the fortieth day, which also marked the fortieth anniversary of his meeting with his master, Attar, he went to his master. After drinking a cup of wine given by Attar, he attained Cosmic Consciousness or God-Realization. During this phase, he composed more than half of his poems and continued to teach his small circle of disciples. His poetry at this time speaks with the authority of a Master who is united with God.
In Sufism, each soul is considered part of the Divine Being, and the Sufi seeks complete union with the Divine. This union is made possible by recognizing that a human being is the ultimate reality they seek. In one of his poems, Hafez expresses great admiration for "Mansoor e Hallaj," a Persian mystic who was brutally tortured and executed on charges of dissension. Hallaj professed pure pantheism when he said, "I am the Truth," which was literally interpreted as "I am God" by the religious authorities of the time. In his poem, Hafez openly sympathizes with Hallaj and states that Hallaj's only sin was revealing the secret: "That friend, by whom the gibbet’s head grew high, did wrong when he told others the secrets of the sky."
Hafez was often called "Lasan El Gheib," which means "the one who speaks the language of secrets." Many Iranians have used the book of Hafez to seek insights from this Sufi mystic, considered the bearer of unknown secrets.
Hafez passed away at the age of 70 in Shiraz, and he was buried in Musalla Gardens along the banks of Roknabadi River, which is now called Hafezieh.
Please note that the pronunciation of Hafez is "Hafeeeeeeeeeeeez," similar to how you say "fal'e'n," and not "Hafiiiiz" like "cheeze!"
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Lesson 4
Meditation With Great Persian Sufi Poet Attar Neishaboori
Welcome to an introduction to the great Sufi mystic " Attar".
Attar Neishaboori was a 13-century poet in the northeastern ancient city of Neyshaboor, currently a city in the Iranian Province of Khorasan.
His name “ Attar,” which means a perfumer or pharmacist and herbalist may indicate that he, his father, or his grandfather practiced that trade.
Attar is one of the most famous Sufi masters and mystic poets of Iran. His works inspired Molana Rumi, Hafez & many other mystic poets. `Attar, along with “ Hakim Sanai “ are two of the greatest influences on Rumi in his Sufi path.
Rumi has mentioned both of them with the highest esteem several times in his poetry. Rumi praises `Attar as follows:
“Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street.”
Attar, as I mentioned before, means herbalist, druggist and perfumist, and during his lifetime in Persia, much of the medicines and drugs were based on herbs.
He says he "composed his poems in his “ Daru khaneh “ which means "a chemist's shop.
Some of his most famous books :
Asrar Nameh (Book of Secrets) about Sufi ideas. This is the work that the aged Shaykh gave Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rumi when Rumi's family stayed over at Nishapur on its way to Konya, Turkey.
Elahi Nameh (Divine Book), is about zuhd or asceticism. In this book `Attar framed his mystical teachings in various stories that a caliph tells his six sons, who are kings and seek worldly pleasures and power.
Manteq al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds)
Tadhkirat al-Awliya (Memoirs of Saints),
According to his own writings, Sufism was meant to be a spiritual search for a union with God. This search throughout history has taken many forms, but for Attar it was quite specific. Parallels may be seen with Dante. According to Attar, the spiritual pilgrimage of man brings him through seven successive valleys.
The seven valleys , attar talks about “ Haft Vadi” are :
1- TALAB ( Quest)
2-ESHGH ( Love)
3-MAREFAT (Understanding)
4-ESTEGHNA ( Independence)
5-TOHID ( unity)
6-HEIRAT ( Astonishment)
7-FAGHR & FANA ( Nothingness)
Influence on Rumi
Attar is one of the most famous mystic poets of Iran. His works were the inspiration of Rumi and many other mystic poets. Attar, along with Sanai were two of the greatest influences on Rumi in his Sufi views. Rumi has mentioned both of them with the highest esteem several times in his poetry. Rumi praises Attar:
"Attar roamed the seven cities of love—We are still just in one alley".
"Attar was the spirit, and Sanai its two eyes. We come after Sanai and Attar."
Rumi is said to have met Attar during his childhood, who gave him a copy of Asrar Nameh and brought him on his knee."
Rumi also said : Attar is the heart of the persian poetry.He recited in another poem about the greatness of Attar’s words and wisdom :
من آن مولا ی رومی ام
که از نطقم شکر ریزد
ولیکن در سخن گفتن غلام شیخ عطارم
I am the one called Master Rumi whose language is as sweet as sugar,
But in the art of poetry I am a humble servant in front of Sheikh Attar.
Hope that you enjoy the journey of delightful inspiration from this mystical Sufi master " Attar".
See you on the next step "Poem reading from our Sufi master of the day"! Who is one of my favourites! ;). Meanwhile, feel the Love in the gap...
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Lesson 5
Meditation With Great Persian Sufi Poet Hakim Sanai
Welcome to introduction to Hakim Sanai,
Hakim Sanaii Ghaznavi, Persian poet and Sufi master of the eleventh century from Khorasan in ancient Persia now located in Afghanistan. Sanai is considered one of the most influential early mystics from the Persian region and the author of The Walled Garden of Truth or Hadighat ol Haghighat.
Sanai’s teaching through his later poetry was about how individuals had to abandon their sense of self to achieve real spiritual enlightenment. Integral to this was love, without which we are all lost and separated from God. Works such as The Walled Garden of Truth are written in a commonly simple way but with metaphors that reveal the spiritual meaning of the text and have been heavily studied by theologians over the years.
“ Sufism is one of the most profound, most authentic experiments and inquiries into the truth that has happened on this earth. And Hakim Sanai is one of the three greatest Sufis in the whole history of human consciousness. He makes up the trio of the three great masters, Attar, Rumi and Sanai.” Osho
Rumi acknowledged Hakim Sanai and Attar as his primary inspirations, saying, “Attar is the soul and Sanai its two eyes, I came after Sanai and Attar.”
Sanai wrote many mystical verses in The Walled Garden of Truth or The Hadiqat al Haqiqa, his masterwork and the first Persian mystical epic of Sufism. Dedicated to Bahram Shah ( The king of the time), the work expresses the poet’s ideas on God, love, philosophy, and reason. For nearly 900 years, The Walled Garden of Truth has been consistently read as a classic and employed as a Sufi textbook.
Now, let's explore and dive more into the message of the poems of Hakim Sanai.
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Lesson 6
Meditation With Great Persian Sufi Poet Hakim Omar Khayam
Certainly! Here's the corrected text:
**Welcome to an introduction to Hakim Omar Khayyam,**
Omar Khayyam, the astronomer, philosopher, mathematician, and poet of Persia, was born in the city of Neishaboor in Khorasan in the latter half of the 11th century and died in the first quarter of the 12th century. His father, Ibrahim, may have been a tentmaker (Khayyam means tentmaker).
Omar obtained a remarkable education in philosophy and mathematics, and at an early age, he attained great fame in the latter field. He made such a name for himself that the king of the time in Persia, Sultan Saljugh Malek Shah, invited him to Isfahan to undertake the astronomical observations necessary for the reform of the calendar. To accomplish this, an observatory was built there, and a new calendar was produced, known as the Jalālī or Maliki calendar.
He also produced fundamental critiques of Euclid's theory of parallels as well as his theory of proportion. In addition to his outstanding achievements in geometric algebra, Khayyam was also the first mathematician to consider what is today known as the Khayyam-Saccheri quadrilateral, which is a quadrilateral with two equal sides that are perpendicular to the base. Touted as "the philosopher of the world" by medieval scholar Al-Zamakhshari, Khayyam also contributed to the philosophy of mathematics in the context of Persian mathematics and philosophy; he discussed concepts such as mathematical order, the distinction between natural and mathematical bodies, and the importance of axioms in geometry.
He achieved fame in Persia during his time, particularly as an astronomer and mathematician, but he is mostly known in the Western world for his poetic writings, thanks to English poet Edward FitzGerald's translation and adaptation of his quatrains, which he collected in "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," published in the late 19th century. FitzGerald's transliterations of Khayam's poems are adapted for English readers in poetic language, but some are not so adaptable to the original poems. They are, however, highly free translations, and more recently, several more faithful renderings of the quatrains have been published.
In the poetry reading section, I'll take you into Khayam's quatrains in its original language, the English poetic translation of FitzGerald's, and the direct translation and meaning of the poems. Also, if you speak French, then I have a surprise for you as I've also added the French translations in the poetry section! ;)
So, my dear friend, see you in the poetry reading from Khayam. Meanwhile, sending you loving lights of Love.
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Lesson 7
Meditation With Great Persian Sufi Poet Saadi Shirazi
Welcome to an introduction to the Sufi mystic and poet, Saadi Shirazi:
Saadi Shirazi was one of the greatest Persian poets of all time. He was born in Shiraz in the 13th century. He is one of the most influential Persian poets in the medieval period, admired for his artistry in expressing the deepest moral and social thoughts in the simplest words for all ages. He is well-known as the "Master of Speech" among Persian scholars and one of the best poets of classical Persian literature. His two outstanding literary masterpieces are Golestan and Bustan.
According to his poems, he left home to explore the world in 1225, contemporaneous with the Mongol invasion of Persia. In Golestan, composed in 1258, he portrays himself as a person who has lived for 50 years but is still naive and does not know much about life.
After leaving Shiraz, he went to Nizamiye University in Baghdad and studied Islamic sciences, theology, law, history, and Arabic literature. He traveled to different countries, such as Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, for thirty years. He also visited Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina. He wrote about his travels and adventurous life in both Bustan and Golestan. He lived much of his life as a wandering dervish.
Saadi was a man of learning and traveling, mingling with a diverse group of people, including intellectuals, merchants, preachers, farmers, ordinary people, and the survivors of the Mongol invasion, as well as Sufi dervishes and even thieves in remote areas far from the invaded regions. He did his best to study society and to preach and advise people to gravitate toward wisdom and morality. He finally returned to his city of birth, Shiraz, in his late forties and completed his masterpiece called Bustan. Apparently, he spent the rest of his life in Shiraz and was greatly respected by the ruler and the people. He has been titled as Sheikh because of his great knowledge.
**Bustan**:
His best-known work, Bustan, was completed in 1257. Bustan is primarily in verse and includes 183 stories in ten chapters about virtues such as justice, kindness, love, modesty, liberality, generosity, satisfaction, happiness, and the ecstatic practices of dervishes. It addresses all people to have a better and happier life and was called Saadi Nameh in older versions. It contains about 4000 verses.
**Golestan**:
His masterpiece, Golestan, was completed in 1258, a year after composing Bustan. It is composed in prose and includes 8 chapters that mainly focus on the kings' morality, the dervishes' behavior, the benefits of contentment, silence and talking at the proper time, love and youthfulness, weakness in old age, and education. Interspersed among the stories are short poems.
Golestan of Saadi is one of the most effective books in prose in Persian literature. Saadi attempts to advise people to live freely and improve the quality of their lives in Golestan. It contains different pieces of advice and quotations, offering insights into the cultural and social conditions of Saadi's time. Some characters and stories are real, while some are fictional. It is one of the first Persian books printed by a printing machine in 1824 in Tabriz.
One of his famous quotes is, "Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste." Another famous poem focuses on the kinship of all humans. The same poem is used to grace the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York with this call for breaking all barriers: "Of one Essence is the human race; thus has Creation put the Base; One Limb impacted is sufficient, For all Others to feel the Mace."
We'll go through the whole poem in the poems section.
Meanwhile, I'm sending you Love in the Gap.
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Lesson 8
Meditation With The Great Persian Sufi Poet Mahmood e Shabestari
Welcome to an introduction to the Sufi poet of the day, Mahmood e Shabestari.
Mahmud Shabestari is one of the most celebrated Persian poets of the 13th-14th century, although he was more of a Mystic thinker than a poet. He lived in Persia (Iran) during the time of the Mongol invasions of the region, a period marked by terrible massacres by the invading armies, exacerbating internal strife and religious sectarianism. Paradoxically, during this tumultuous time, the Golden Age of Persian Sufism emerged.
Shabestari's work "Secret Rose Garden" (the Gulistan-i Raz, which can also be translated as "The Rose Garden of Mystery") is considered one of the greatest works of Persian Sufism.
In the "Secret Rose Garden," Shabestari conveys a viewpoint of Sufi realization similar to the perspective of the great Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi, albeit expressed through elegant Persian poetic language.
The value of Shabestari's work was recognized almost immediately, leading to numerous commentaries by other Sufi mystics. The "Secret Rose Garden" quickly gained a reputation as one of the central works of Sufism.
As Shabestari beautifully puts it:
"Go sweep out the chamber of your heart.
Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved.
When you depart out, He will enter in,
In you, void of yourself, will He display His beauties."
Stay tuned to discover more of Shabestari's poems in the next lesson.
In the meantime, I am sending you love in the Gap!
YA-HOO.
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Lesson 9
Final Words From Nobieh
My beloved soul friend!
Congratulations on completing this poetic, mystical journey!
I hope that you enjoyed the whole journey with me.
Thank you for trusting me on this path, and may the way of love continue to inspire you, and may you grow and illuminate into its shining bright light…
LOVE is the only language we connect with…
Please be in touch with me, and I would love to hear from you soon about your intake from this course.
Loving lights & abundant joy!!
Love you,
Thank you,
Bless you,
Nobieh
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