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Hazrat Farid ud Din Attar was
born in Nishapur and lived about 1119-1220 (Another source mentions he lived
about 1136-1230). He lived close to 100 years and was killed by the Mongol
invaders. His tomb is in Nishapur
Different stories are told about the death of Attar. One common story is as
follow: He was captured by a Mongol. One day someone came along and offered
a thousand pieces of silver for him. Attar told the Mongol not to sell him
for that price since the price was not right. The Mongol accepted Attar's
words and did not sell him. Later someone else comes along and offers a sack
of straw for him. Attar counsels the Mongol to sell him because that is how
much he is worth. The Mongol soldier becomes very angry and cuts off Attar's
head so he dies to teach a lesson.
Attar is one of the most ancient poets of Persia. His work has been the
inspiration of Rumi and many other mystic poets of Persian Empire. Rumi
considered Attar the spirit and Sanai the eyesight , both of whom his poetic
masters. Attar met Rumi at the end of his life when Rumi was only a boy and
gave his book Asrarnameh as a present to him.
Attar took his name from his occupation. He was a druggist, perfumist and a
doctor in addition to being a poet. Attar saw as many as 500 patients a day
in his shop where he prescribed herbal extractions/medicine which he made
himself.
In his shop, he also wrote while seeing patients. Attar wrote 114 pieces,
the same number of surah in the holy book of Koran. About thirty of his
works survived. To name a few of his works are love stories, biographies of
saints, Asrarnameh ("The Book of Secrets"), a collection of quatrains,
Illahinameh ("The Book of God") and the last not the least, his most well
known masterpiece of Mantiq at-Tayr ("The Bird of the Sky") known as "The
Conference of the Birds"
In The Book of God, he describes six human capacities and abilities: ego,
imagination, intellect, thirst for knowledge, thirst for detachment, and
thirst for unity. In The book of Secrets, he uses a collection of small
stories to elevate the spiritual state of the reader.
In "The Conference of the Birds," Attar explains seven valleys (veils) which
the "Bird of the Sky" goes through and passes to meet Simurgh (God). This is
a process that each of us goes through. What we make of ourselves and what
we become, good or bad, happy or unhappy, satisfied or dissatisfied, we do
ourselves.
Poetry:
- Looking for your own face
Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral.
You can never see your own face,
only a reflection, not the face itself.
So you sigh in front of mirrors
and cloud the surface.
It's better to keep your breath cold.
Hold it, like a diver does in the ocean.
One slight movement, the mirror-image goes.
Don't be dead or asleep or awake.
Don't be anything.
What you most want,
what you travel around wishing to find,
lose yourself as lovers lose themselves,
and you'll be that.
Translated by Coleman Barks, 'The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of
Persia'
- Mystic Silence
From each, Love demands a mystic silence.
What do all seek so earnestly? Tis Love.
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts,
In Love no longer "Thou" and "I" exist,
For self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul
Behold the Friend, Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds
Will find that the secret of them both is Love.
Translated by James Fadiman ,'Essential Sufism'
- The Triumph of the Soul
Joy! Joy! I triumph! Now no more I know
Myself as simply me. I burn with love
Unto myself, and bury me in love.
The centre is within me and its wonder
Lies as a circle everywhere about me.
Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me.
I am the merchant and the pearl at once.
Lo, Time and Space lie crouching at my feet.
Joy! Joy! When I would reveal in a rapture.
I plunge into myself and all things know.
Translated by Margaret Smith, 'The Persian Mystics'
- Invocation
We are busy with the luxury of things.
Their number and multiple faces bring
To us confusion we call knowledge. Say:
God created the world, pinned night to day,
Made mountains to weigh it down, seas
To wash its face, living creatures with pleas
(The ancestors of prayers) seeking a place
In this mystery that floats in endless space.
God set the earth on the back of a bull,
The bull on a fish dancing on a spool
Of silver light so fine it is like air;
That in turn rests on nothing there
But nothing that nothing can share.
All things are but masks at God's beck and call,
They are symbols that instruct us that God is all.
Translated by Raficq Abdulla, 'Conference of the Birds'
- In the Dead of night
In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,
But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God;
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."
Translated by Andrew Harvey, 'Perfume of the Desert'
Reference: Best Iran
Courtesy:
Darveish
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Darveish