In point of fact,
whatever one makes of oneself, one becomes that. The source of happiness or
unhappiness is all in man himself. When he is unaware of this, he is not able
to arrange his life, but as he becomes more acquainted with this secret, he
gains mastery, and the process by which this mastery is attained is the only
fulfillment of the purpose of this life. It is this process which is explained
by Attar in his description of the seven valleys through which this Bird of the
Sky has passed.
The Valley of the Quest
When you enter
the first valley, the Valley of the Quest, a hundred difficulties will assail
you; you will undergo a hundred trials. There, the Parrot of heaven is no more
than a fly. You will have to spend several years there, you will have to make
great efforts, and to change your state. You will have to give up all that has
seemed precious to you and regard as nothing all that you possess. When you are
sure that you possess nothing, you still will have to detach yourself from all
that exists. Your heart will then be saved from perdition and you will see the
pure light of Divine Majesty and your real wishes will be multiplied to
infinity. One who enters here will be filled with such longing that he will
give himself up completely to the quest symbolized by this valley. He will ask
of his cup-bearer a draught of wine, and he has drunk it nothing will matter
except the pursuit of his true aim. Then he will no longer fear the dragons,
the guardians of the door, which seek to devour him. When the door is opened
and he enters, then dogma, belief and unbelief--all cease to exist.
The Valley of Love
The next
valley is the Valley of Love. To enter it one must be a flaming fire--what
shall I say? A man must himself be fire. The face of the lover must be
enflamed, burning and impetuous as fire. True love knows no after-thoughts;
with love, good and evil cease to exist.
But as for you,
the heedless and careless, this discourse will not touch you, your teeth will
not even nibble at it. A loyal person stakes ready money, stakes his head even,
to be united to his Friend. Others content themselves with what they will do
for you tomorrow. If he who sets out on this way will not engage himself wholly
and completely he will never be free from the sadness and melancholy which
weigh him down. Until the falcon reaches his aim, he is agitated and
distressed. If a fish is thrown onto the beach by the waves it struggles to get
back into the water.
In this valley,
love is represented by fire, and reason by smoke. When love comes reason
disappears. Reason cannot live with the folly of love; love has nothing to do
with human reason. If you possessed inner sight, the atoms of the visible world
would be manifested to you. But if you look at things with the eye of ordinary
reason you will never understand how necessary it is to love. Only a man who
has been tested and is free can feel this. He who undertakes this journey
should have a thousand hearts so that he can sacrifice one at every moment.
The Valley of Understanding
After the
valley of which I have spoken, there comes another--the Valley of
Understanding, which has neither beginning nor end. No way is equal to this
way, and the distance to be travelled to cross it is beyond reckoning.
Understanding,
for each traveller, is enduring; but knowledge is temporary. The soul, like the
body, is in a state of progress or decline; and the Spiritual Way reveals
itself only in the degree to which the traveller has overcome his faults and
weaknesses, his sleep and his inertia, and each will approach nearer to his aim
according to his effort. Even if a gnat were to fly with all its might could it
equal the speed of the wind? There are different ways of crossing this Valley,
and all birds do not fly alike. Understanding can be arrived at variously--some
have found the Mihrab, others the idol. When the sun of understanding brightens
this road, each receives light according to his merit and he finds the degree
assigned to him in the understanding of truth. When the mystery of the essence
of beings reveals itself clearly to him, the furnace of this world becomes a
garden of flowers. He who is striving will be able to see the almond in its
hard shell. He will no longer be pre-occupied with himself, but will look up at
the face of his Friend. In each atom he will see the whole; he will ponder over
thousands of bright secrets.
But, how many
have lost their way in this search for one who has found the mysteries! It is
necessary to have a deep and lasting wish to become as we ought to be in order
to cross this difficult valley. Once you have tasted the secrets you will have
a real wish to understand them. But, whatever you may attain, never forget the
words of the Koran, "Is there anything more?"
As for you who
are asleep (and I cannot commend you for this), why not put on mourning? You,
who have not seen the beauty of your Friend, get up and search! How long will
you stay as you are, like a donkey without a halter!
Then there
comes the valley where there is neither the desire to possess nor the wish to
discover. In this state of the soul a cold wind blows, so violent that in a
moment it devastates an immense space; the seven oceans are no more than a
pool, the seven planets a mere sparkle, the seven heavens a corpse, the seven
hells broken ice. Then, an astonishing thing, beyond reason! An ant has the
strength of a hundred elephants, and a hundred caravans perish while a rook is
filling his crop.
In order that
Adam might receive the celestial light, hosts of green-clad angels were
consumed by sorrow. So that Noah might become a carpenter of God and build the
ark, thousands of creatures perished in the waters. Myriads of gnats fell on
the army of Abraham so that the king would be overthrown. Thousands of the
first-born died so that Moses might see God. Thousands of people took to the
Christian girdles so that Christ could possess the secret of God. Thousands of
hearts and souls were pillaged so that Muhammad might ascend for one night to
heaven. In this Valley nothing old or new has value; you can act or not act. If
you saw a whole world burning until hearts were only shish kabab, it would be
only a dream compared to reality. If myriads of souls were to fall into this
boundless ocean it would be as a drop of dew. If heaven and earth were to burst
into minute particles it would be no more than a leaf falling from a tree; and
if everything were to be annihilated, from the fish to the moon, would there be
found in the depths of a pit the leg of a lame ant? If there remain no trace of
either of men or jinn, the secret of a drop of water from which all has been
formed is still to be pondered over.
The Valley of Unity
You will next
have to cross the Valley of unity. In this valley everything is broken in
pieces and then unified. All who raise their heads here raise them from the
same collar. Although you seem to see many beings, in reality there is only
one--all make one which is complete in its unity. Again, that which you see as
a unity is not different from that which appears in numbers. And as the Being
of whom I speak is beyond unity and numbering, cease to think of eternity as
before and after, and since these two eternities have vanished, cease to speak
of them. When all that is visible is reduced to nothing, what is there left to
contemplate?
After the
Valley of Unity comes the Valley of Astonishment and Bewilderment, where one is
a prey to sadness and dejection. There, sighs are like swords, and each breath
a bitter sight; there, is sorrow and lamentation, and a burning eagerness. It
is at once day and night. There, is fire, yet a man is depressed and
despondent. How, in his bewilderment, shall he continue his way? But he who has
achieved unity forgets all and forgets himself. If he is asked: "Are you,
or are you not? Have you or have you not the feeling of existence? Are you in
the middle or on the border? Are you mortal or immortal?" he will reply
with certainty: "I know nothing, I understand nothing, I am unaware of
myself. I am in love, but with whom I do not know. My heart is at the same time
both full and empty of love.
The Valley of Deprivation and Death
Last of all
comes the Valley of Deprivation and Death, which is almost impossible to
describe. The essence of the Valley is forgetfulness, dumbness and distraction;
the thousand shadows which surround you disappear in a single ray of the
celestial sun. When the ocean of immensity begins to heave, the pattern on its
surface loses its form; and this pattern is no other than the world present and
the world to come. Whoever declares that he does not exist acquires great
merit. The drop that becomes part of this great ocean abides there for ever and
in peace. In this calm sea, a man, at first, experiences only humiliation and
overthrow; but when he emerges from this state he will understand it as
creation, and many secrets will be revealed to him.
Many beings
have missed taking the first step and so have not been able to take the
second--they can only be compared to minerals. When aloe wood and thorns are
reduced to ashes they both look alike--but their quality is different. An
impure object dropped into rose-water remains impure because of its innate
qualities; but a pure object dropped into the ocean will lose its specific
existence and will participate in the ocean and in its movement. In ceasing to
exist separately it retains its beauty. It exists and non-exists. How can this
be? The mind cannot conceive it.
Farid al-Din
Attar (1142-1220)
[Translated by
C. S. Nott]
Fariduddin Attar was one of the earliest Sufi poets of Persia, and there is no doubt that the work of Attar was the inspiration of Rumi and of many other spiritual souls and poets of Persia. He showed the way to the ultimate aim of life by making a sort of picture in a poetic form. Almost all the great teachers of the world, when they have pointed out the right way to seeking souls, have had to adopt a symbolical form of expression, such as a story or a legend which could give a key to the one who is ready to understand and at the same time interest the one who is not yet ready. Thus, both may rejoice, the one who sleeps, and the one who is already awakened. This method has been followed by the poets of Persia and India, especially the Hindustani poets. They have told their stories in a form which would be acceptable, not only to the seekers after truth, but to those in all the different stages of evolution.
Attar's best known work is called Mantiq-ut-Tair, or the 'Colloquy of the Birds,' from which the idea of the 'Blue Bird' has been taken today. Very few have understood the idea of the 'Blue Bird', or the 'Bird of the Sky.' It contains a very ancient teaching, through the use of the Persian word for sky. This teaching points out that every soul has a capacity, which may be called the 'sky,' and that this capacity can accommodate earth or heaven, whichever it partakes of and holds within itself. When one walks in a crowd, what does one see? One sees numerous faces, but one might better call them various attitudes. All that we see in individuals, all that presents itself to us, has expression, atmosphere and form. If we give it one name, it is the attitude, whatever attitude they have towards life, right or wrong, good or bad; they are themselves that attitude. Does this not show how appropriate the word 'sky' is?
Fariduddin Attar was one of the earliest Sufi poets of Persia, and there is no doubt that the work of Attar was the inspiration of Rumi and of many other spiritual souls and poets of Persia. He showed the way to the ultimate aim of life by making a sort of picture in a poetic form. Almost all the great teachers of the world, when they have pointed out the right way to seeking souls, have had to adopt a symbolical form of expression, such as a story or a legend which could give a key to the one who is ready to understand and at the same time interest the one who is not yet ready. Thus, both may rejoice, the one who sleeps, and the one who is already awakened. This method has been followed by the poets of Persia and India, especially the Hindustani poets. They have told their stories in a form which would be acceptable, not only to the seekers after truth, but to those in all the different stages of evolution.
Attar's best known work is called Mantiq-ut-Tair, or the 'Colloquy of the Birds,' from which the idea of the 'Blue Bird' has been taken today. Very few have understood the idea of the 'Blue Bird', or the 'Bird of the Sky.' It contains a very ancient teaching, through the use of the Persian word for sky. This teaching points out that every soul has a capacity, which may be called the 'sky,' and that this capacity can accommodate earth or heaven, whichever it partakes of and holds within itself. When one walks in a crowd, what does one see? One sees numerous faces, but one might better call them various attitudes. All that we see in individuals, all that presents itself to us, has expression, atmosphere and form. If we give it one name, it is the attitude, whatever attitude they have towards life, right or wrong, good or bad; they are themselves that attitude. Does this not show how appropriate the word 'sky' is?
Flow of Life
Read more here: http://chippit.tripod.com/seven_valleys.html
and here: https://fundamentalbelief.blogspot.com/2013/03/fariduddin-attar-and-his-seven-valleys.html
and here: https://fundamentalbelief.blogspot.com/2013/03/fariduddin-attar-and-his-seven-valleys.html
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