{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/srg/srg03.htm","path":"isl/srg/srg03.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/srg/srg03.htm","text":"The Secret Rose Garden, by Florence Lederer, [1920]\n| The light of light is His beauty heart-ravishing, And His bewitching state the union of unions. As He goes by, so all souls follow Grasping the hem of His garment. | \n\"It is inward glow that makes the S\u016bf\u012b, not the religious habit.\"\nSA\u2019D UD DIN MAHM\u016aD SHABISTAR\u012a was born at Shabistar, near Tabriz, about A.D. 1250.\nHe wrote the Gulshan i R\u0101z, or Secret Rose Garden, as a reply to questions put forth by a S\u016bf\u012b doctor of Herat named Dmir Syad Hosaini.\nVery little is known of Mahm\u016bd Shabistar\u012b's life. He wrote beside the Gulshan i R\u0101z two treatises on S\u016bfiism called Hakk ul Yakin and Risala i Shad\u012bd.\nWe learn he had a very favourite disciple called Shaikh Ibrahim.\nThe Gulshan i R\u0101z was introduced into Europe by two travellers in 1700. Later, copies of the poem were found in several European libraries.\nIn 1821 Dr. Tholuck, of Berlin, published extracts, and in 1825 a German translation of part of the poem appeared in another of his books. Afterwards a verse translation and the Persian text was published by Von Hammer Purgstall in Berlin and Vienna.\nThe Gulshan i R\u0101z was translated into English and published, with the Persian text and extracts from Hammer's edition and Lajihi's notes, by Mr. Whinfield in 1880.\nReaders of S\u016bf\u012b poetry for the first time are liable to be amazed, perhaps even repelled, by the extravagant language, by the familiarity with the Deity, by the apparent disregard of all human and Divine laws. But on further examination the wonder of the S\u016bf\u012bs' love for their Beloved shines out with a clear intensity, a beautiful luminous brightness.\nThey are in love with The One, and their love\ntakes the form of exquisite songs of praise and wonder:\nVaughan says:\n\"Oriental mysticism has become famous by its poets, and into poetry it has thrown all its force and fire.\"\nLove is the S\u016bf\u012bs' theme, Divine, Eternal Love, and into this sea of Love they cast themselves headlong.\nR\u016bm\u012b sings:\n\"If we are called madmen or drunkards,\n \u2019Tis because of the Cupbearer and the Cup.\"\n\"Because my mouth has eaten of His sweetmeats\n In a clear vision I can see Him face to face.\"\nIn reading the enraptured poetry of the S\u016bf\u012bs, it should be borne in mind that, though the\nsymbols of earthly love and beauty are freely used, yet the real meaning is concealed. No doubt this was originally done to keep secret their mystic love, lest the profane should scoff. But as time went on certain words began to have a recognized meaning amongst themselves. For instance:\nEMBRACES and KISSES are raptures of love.\nSLEEP is contemplation, PERFUME the wish for Divine favour.\nIDOLATERS mean men of the pure faith, not infidels.\nWINE, which was forbidden by Mahomet to his followers, was used as a word-symbol by the S\u016bf\u012bs to denote spiritual knowledge, and the WINE-SELLER means the spiritual guide.\nA TAVERN is a place where the wine of Divine love inebriates the pilgrim.\nINTOXICATION means religious ecstasy, MIRTH the joy in the love of the Deity.\nBEAUTY means the glory of the Beloved.\nCURLS and TRESSES mean plurality veiling the face of Unity from its lovers.\nThe CHEEK means Divine essence of names and qualities.\nThe DOWN is the world of pure spirits which is nearest to Divinity.\nThe MOLE on the cheek is the point of indivisible Unity.\nThe TORCH is the light kindled in the heart by the Beloved.\nWe thus see that to the S\u016bf\u012b the love between man and woman is a shadowed picture of the love between the soul and God, and just as a lover will dream of his beloved, singing her praises, and thirsting for a sight of her face, so do the S\u016bf\u012bs eternally dream of their God, ever contemplating His attributes, and consumed with a burning desire for His presence.\nThe history of mysticism contains many impassioned love songs to the Absolute, but in S\u016bf\u012b poetry there is a peculiar richness, a depth, a colour which fascinates and charms so many of us.\nS\u016bf\u012b poetry abounds in allegories and love romances, the stories of Layl\u0101 and Majn\u016bm, Y\u016bsuf and Zulaik\u0101, Sal\u0101m\u0101n and Abs\u0101l, in which it is easy to read the hidden meaning of passion for the Absolute. Various are the love themes of the S\u016bf\u012bs; we hear songs of: the nightingale in love with the rose, the moth fluttering round the light of the candle, the moaning dove who has lost her mate, the snow melting in the desert and mounting as vapour to the sky, of a dark night in the desert through which a frenzied\ncamel madly plunges, of a reed torn from its bed and made into a flute whose plaintive music fills the eyes with tears. 1\nThe S\u016bf\u012bs' conception of the Beloved is essentially personal, though there is nothing to show that they worshipped Him as a person, or assigned to Him a form.\nBeing pantheists, they probably believed that He was the One Light shining in myriad forms through the whole universe, One essence remaining the same.\nAnd J\u0101m\u012b declares:\nThe S\u016bf\u012bs realized that it is impossible in spatial terms to describe that which is even beyond pure spirit.\nPlotinus has told us in a beautiful passage that a\n\"We must not be surprised that that which excites the keenest of longings is without any form, even spiritual form, since the soul itself, when inflamed with love for it, puts off all the form which it had, even that which belongs to the spiritual world.\" 1\nThe inability to describe to the uninitiated the secret love of the mystic for the Unknowable is made the subject of an exquisite poem by the Indian poet Tagore:\n\"I boasted among men that I had known you. They see your picture in all works of mine. They come and ask me who is he? I know not how to answer them. I say, 'Indeed, I cannot tell.' They blame me and they go away in scorn. And you sit there smiling. I put my tales of you into lasting songs. The secret gushes out from my heart. They come and ask me, 'Tell me all your meaning.' I know not how to answer them. I say, 'Ah, who knows what they mean.' They smile and go away in utter scorn. And you sit there smiling.\" 2\nThe S\u016bf\u012bs believed that the phenomenal world is the Unreal, that the reason men are blind to the existence of the Real world, which is the Spiritual, is because there are veils and mists separating the soul from God.\nThis world appears Real to the man who cannot use his spiritual eye and view the Beyond. Having no discernment of the Unseen, he does not believe in its existence.\nBut whosoever becomes aware of the Divine Light shining in the heart, and who realises the love of God in the soul, is able to pass from the Unreal to the Real; he will see:\nSo exquisite is the vision of the All-Beautiful that whoever has had this vision instantly becomes enamoured, and leaves the world of shadows and change to contemplate the One.\nHe will not rest until he has purified his life, cast aside everything that may be a hindrance in his path, and he will spend his whole life in communion with God, at the same time pouring out\nin love-songs and praise all the worship and adoration of his soul.\nWhen the S\u016bf\u012b has passed to the Real World he is able to see earthly existence in its true light:\nPassing through a world of shadows he fixes his eye on Eternity; the happenings of the universe appear to him unworthy of exultation, grief, or sorrow.\nEarthly love seems worthless, insipid, and dull, compared to his flaming devotion for the Unchangeable.\nHe has one desire, one aim, one goal--to reach the bliss which he has briefly touched in rare moments of ecstasy and rapture.\nTo find the far-off mystic city which\nI have already said that little is known of Shabistar\u012b's life, but of his learning and knowledge of S\u016bfiism there is ample evidence in this book; and though he does not charm with the subtle fascination of Hafiz, though he has not the originality of R\u016bm\u012b or in style cannot compare with the elegance of J\u0101m\u012b, yet in plainness and directness of speech, and in earnestness of purpose, he perhaps outweighs them all. He gives us a clear, bright vision in brilliant sunshine of Virtue and Vice, Reality and Illusion, Wisdom and Ignorance.\nWe do not find ourselves in the twilight of a faintly-coloured land where we sometimes wander, drawn hither by the sweet voices of the S\u016bf\u012bs, where, midst the delicate perfumes of an Oriental garden, the lover is singing entrancing\nlove-songs, whether of earthly passion or of Divine intoxication remains a matter of heated controversy to this day.\nNeither are we given such daring advice as J\u0101m\u012b gives when he sings:\nMahm\u016bd's vision of Reality was direct and distinct, not the oblique view which is the vision of some mystics, and from this Reality he is able to distinguish sharply between the conflicting forces of Good and Evil.\nHe makes a passionate appeal to humanity to seek for the Truth, to desire the substance and not the mirage, to ignore the allurement and illusion of earthly love, and instead to centre on the Beloved all the heart's adoration.\nIt is nearly seven hundred years since Mahm\u016bd planted his garden with roses of Love and Adoration, of Reason and of spiritual Illumination. Since then many have wandered there, lingering in the secret paths and plucking the scented\nblossoms to carry back into the world of shadows and unreality. What is the fadeless colour of these Roses? What is their lasting grace of form, and what perfumed attar from them lingers on through the ages?\nThe poem opens with the statement of the sole existence of the One Real Being, and of the illusion of this world's mirage. How is man to reach knowledge of God? By thought, for--\nBut reason and sense cannot throw off the apparent reality of the phenomenal world. Reason looking at the Light of Lights is blinded like a bat by the sun. It is then a consciousness arises in the soul of its own nothingness. At this point (annihilation of the self) it is possible for man to discern the light of the Spirit. In this world are mirrored the various attributes of Being, and each atom of Not-Being reflects some one Divine attribute:\nAnd these atoms are ever longing to rejoin their source.\nThe journey to the Beloved has only two stages: dying to self and uniting with the Truth.\nWhen man's lower self is dead, the real self remains and is above the dominion of the law.\nThese two stages--the \"journey to God\" and the \"journey down to God\"--are a circuit. He who has revolved round this circuit is a perfect man.\nOn being born into this world man is possessed by evil passions, and if he gives way to them his soul is lost. But in each soul there is an instinct for God and a longing for holiness. If man will foster this instinct and develop this longing, a Divine light will shine on him, and he, repenting, turns and journeys towards God; casting away self, he will meet and be united with the Truth in spirit.\nThis is the holy state of the saints and prophets.\nBut the man must not rest in this Divine union. He must return to this world of unreality, and in the downward journey must keep the ordinary laws and creeds of men.\nThis phenomenal existence, i.e. Not-being, is an illusion which is typified by considering the unreality of echoes and reflections and by pondering on past and future time, and on passing\nevents, which seem at the moment of their existence to be real, but fading into the past become vague and shadowy.\nThe dispositions acquired by man in this life will in the next world be manifested in spiritual bodies; each form will be appropriate to its past life. The material idea of Paradise and houris will then be known to be an idle tale. No quality or distinction will remain for the perfect will. Then drink of the cup of union with God.\nSuch is the hope of the S\u016bf\u012bs, but in this world the intoxication of the cup of union is followed by the headache of separation.\nAll round his garden Mahm\u016bd has planted these roses of Reason, Belief, Knowledge, and Faith; they are blooming everywhere, beautiful in their vivid colouring of Truth and Purity. But it is in the centre that we find a Rose-tree of glory unequalled, glowing with the blossoms of love's devotion; this is the tree which Mahm\u016bd planted with all his heart's adoration--the description of the perfect face of the Beloved.\nIt is at this spot we wait entranced, and through the mystic stillness we seem to hear the voice of him who, long ago for love's sake, planted this Rose-tree, echoing his sublime utterance:\nFLORENCE LEDERER.\n16:1 See R. A. Nicholson's Mystics of Islam, p. 117.\n16:2 Mystics of Islam, R. A. Nicholson.\n16:3 J\u0101m\u012b's Lawa\u2019ih, translated by E. H. Whinfield.\n17:1 Philosophy of Plotinus, by Dean Inge.\n17:2 Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore.","title":"The Secret Rose Garden: Introduction","type":"page"}