{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/srg/srg13.htm","path":"isl/srg/srg13.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/srg/srg13.htm","text":"The Secret Rose Garden, by Florence Lederer, [1920]\nYou are bound by a chord\n To the soul of the creatures before you,\n Therefore they are subject to your dominion,\n And the soul of each is hidden in you.\n In the midst of the world you are the kernel,\n The centre of the world.\n . . . The world of reason and mind is your fortune,\n Earth and heavens your garments.\n . . Your natural powers are ten thousand\n Transcending limits and reckonings.\n\"I\" AND \"you\" are but the lattices,\n In the niches of a lamp,\n Through which the One Light shines.\n\"I\" and \"you\" are the veil\n Between heaven and earth;\n Lift this veil and you will see\n No longer the bond of sects and creeds.\n When \"I\" and \"you\" do not exist,\n What is mosque, what is synagogue?\n What is the Temple of Fire?\nREPEAT an action several times\n And you master it;\n Habit makes dispositions\n As fruits become ripe by time.\n By practice man learns a trade,\n By habit he collects his thoughts.\nRemember at the last day\n All your habits and actions\n Will be clearly seen,\n For the garment of the body\n Will be stripped. And the form left\n Will reflect your vices and virtues,\n As objects are reflected in pure water.\nAgain, your dispositions will be embodied,\n Made manifest as lights and fires;\n For all phenomenal limitations will be removed.\n You who are pure from earthly form,\n Illumined by the Truth,\n Will appear all heart,\n From your stainless love.\n Then will you be possessed by intoxication,\n Scattering in confusion the two worlds.\nIF there were no sweepers in the world\n The world would be buried in dust.\nTo become a faithful servant,\n Cultivate faith and sincerity,\n Renew your belief every instant\n While unbelief dwells in your heart.\nAbandon the wish to be seen of men,\n Cast off the blue-patched robe\n Of the dervish\n And bind on the Magian girdle.\nBe a believer, be a believer, be a believer!\nIF He sheds His Light on you,\n You become near to Him\n And far from your own existence.\n For by nearness to Him\n You become far from yourself.\nWhat profit is there to you\n In your non-existent existence?\nVIRTUE and equity,\n Courage and temperance,\n Are the four qualities of the sage.\nHe is not over-cunning or a fool,\n His appetites are under control,\n From cringing and boasting he is free,\n And from foolhardiness and cowardice.\nAll virtues lie between\n Excess and defect,\n A narrow path betwixt\n Hell's bottomless abyss,\n Fine and sharp as a sword blade,\n Which permits no lingering\n Or turning round.\nEquipoise is the summit of perfection,\n Becoming like a simple essence.\nAs the rays of the sun\n Shine upon the earth,\n So the Light from the Spirit World\n Shines brightly on him\n Who has attained this equilibrium.\nTHE prophet, resplendent in his perfection,\n Is as the sun's bright light,\n And the saint, concealing his saintship,\n Is as the subdued light of the moon.\n By fellowship, the saint\n Is intimate with the prophet,\n And finding entrance to that secret chamber,\n He loves and is beloved by the Truth.\nTHE two worlds produced the soul of Adam,\n Which, though first in thought, was created last.\nIn man's self is disclosed the final cause,\n For there is none beyond him.\nO first, who are also the substance of the last!\n O hidden, who are also the essence of the manifest!\n You, who day and night are wondering about yourself,\n Think of self no more,\n For the end of such thought is confusion.\nTHE heavens and the stars\n At the appointed time will disappear.\n A wave will strike the earth,\n And lo! it vanishes.\nOnly the Truth will remain Unchangeable.\nAnd you at that moment,\n Passing from this dream-life,\n With self discarded,\n Will be one with the Beloved.\nOh! Master, ponder on your coming and your going,\n And the thousand existences that lie before you!\nREAD the writing on your heart,\n And you will understand whatever you desire,\n For on the day he kneaded the clay,\n He wrote on your heart, by grace, the faith.\nIN spite of his inheritance,\n The perfect man is a slave\n And does the work of a slave.\n The law is his outer garment,\n Though his inner is the mystic path.\n He is famed for knowledge and devotion,\n But he is far from all these,\n For he is absorbed in the contemplation of the One.\n . . . When his pilgrimage is over\n He receives the crown of Khalifate.","title":"The Secret Rose Garden: Part IX. Man: His Capabilities and His Destiny","type":"page"}