Three Couplets by Hafez
Perhaps Meher Baba’s last message to his lovers and followers was in the form of three couplets by Hafez that Baba, on the night of the 30th of January 1969 — the night before he was to drop is body — had Aloba carry the two hundred or so steps to Baba’s room from the place they hung in Mandali Hall.
The first of the three couplets reads:
"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."
Hafez, the 14th century Persian mystic poet was a Perfect Master. His most famous book is called The Divan and is still read, studied, and revered throughout the East.
Legend has it, that when Hafez was a young man he became smitten with desire for a beautiful princess, but being not of her royal status and also being not a very physically attractive man, he had really no chance of obtaining the object of his desire.
But there was a penance that he knew, a very severe penance that if he was able accomplish, would give him such powers that he could have anything he desired. The penance is called Chilla-nashini and consists of drawing a circle on the ground around oneself and staying in that circle for forty days and forty nights without food, water, or sleep. It is said that failure to complete the penance could result in insanity or death.
So, the story goes that after Hafez had managed to stay in the circle for thirty nine days an angel of God came to him and asked what it was he wanted. Seeing the effulgent beauty of the angel, Hafez forgot all about the earthly princess and thought instead, if an angel of God can be so beautiful, then how beautiful must be God? and so Hafez answered the angel, I want to see God.
On completion of the penance Hafez was led to a Perfect Master and after some time and much spiritual suffering was given God-Realization.
Returning to the couplet, perhaps the thing that one notices first is what could these days be called the “political incorrectness” of the language. These days, people are often very sensitive to these terms slave and master, but it should be kept in mind that what Hafez is talking about is not a slave, but a fortunate slave; and not a master, but a Perfect Master.
Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher, used to say that man is under many influences which he cannot escape. The choice, Gurdjieff said, was in being able to choose the influences that would act on him. Eruch Jessawala, a close disciple of Meher Baba put it this way, “I had the opportunity to choose being the slave of life or the slave of Meher Baba and chose Meher Baba. On my own, I could not be free.”
Getting past the language, I also find it very interesting that Baba’s message through these couplets was is the context of Baba’s own eminent death. It makes me think, what exactly is meant by the “command of the Master?”
I offer this thought; there are three kinds of commands. The first is when the Master gives you a direct command. “Do this Michael.” It would seem that once the Master has dropped His body, this kind of command is no longer possible.
The second kind of command comes in the form of teachings and messages that the Master has given. Even after the Master drops His body, these teachings and messages survive for some time in books and stories and can be kept alive in the minds and hearts of His followers.
The third kind of command, often the most overlooked, comes in the form of our very lives. For example, a person is hurrying to some important function and gets involved is a minor fender-bender auto accident. The response, “Damn, I don’t need this now — why the hell is this happening to me?” could be seen as a questioning of the command of the Master who works through our lives.
"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."
“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.” Hafez
It is pretty obvious that if the master is Perfect, then He can never be wrong; or, is that really so obvious?
Is it definitely more obvious that if the slave of the Perfect Master is not Perfect, then he can never be anything other than wrong; or is that really so obvious either?
There was a village, and near the single road that led into and out of the village lived a snake who would regularly attack and sometimes even kill the villagers. The villagers were understandably very fearful of the snake.
It so happened that one day a Perfect Master was passing by the village and when he passed by the snake the snake felt a sudden remorse over his behavior. He approached the Master who asked him what he wanted.
“I am feeling remorse,” said the snake.
“Oh really,” replied the Master. “Why are you feeling remorse?”
“Because I have been terrorizing this village and hurting the villagers.”
“I understand,” said the Master, “and you want me to help you?”
“Yes,” said the snake.
“I will help you then,” said the Master, “here is my advice to you, “stop biting the villagers.”
“That’s it?” said the snake.
“That’s it,” said the Master. “Stop biting the villagers and I will help you.”
And so the snake stopped biting. After a few days the villagers noticed that the snake was no longer biting and they began to talk among themselves.
“Perhaps the snake is sick; maybe now is the time to kill him?”
And so the villagers went looking for the snake who was sitting quietly near the entrance to the village.
“There he is!” cried the villagers who began to attack the snake with sticks and rocks. The snake was beaten to within an inch of his life.
Not long after, the Perfect Master was again passing by the village and saw the snake lying beaten and bloody by the side of the road.
“What has happened to you!” He exclaimed to the snake.
“What has happened to me,” moaned the snake. “You told me to stop biting and the villagers attacked me.”
“You fool!” said the Master, “I said stop biting, I never told you to stop hissing.”
“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.”
“I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez
I assume that this quote refers to a time after Hafez accomplished Chilla – nashini and was led to his Master, but before Hafez was God-Realized.
Therefore, his statement about being released from ignorance is quite interesting to me. It puts me in mind of Meher Baba said in the conclusion of God Speaks.
After two hundred pages of the most lucid and detailed explanation regarding God, the theme of creation, and its purpose Meher Baba states:
“God cannot be explained, He cannot be argued about, He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived.
Nevertheless, all that is said here and explained about God to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man still lacks many words and further explanations because the TRUTH is that the Reality must be realized and the divinity of God must be attained and lived.”
What stands out for me is the phrase; to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind, — for is not a mind that is free of intellectual convulsions a mind that is released from ignorance?
And that is my experience with Meher Baba. Meher Baba trues the mind, like a master Indian musician trues the raga he is playing.
I once was at an Indian music concert by the great sarangi player Ram Narayan. He was joined on staged by a highly regarded Indian violin player, himself considered a master musician, and the two played a raga. Ram Narayan would play, and the music was beautiful — deep and meaningful — and then the violin player would play, and his playing was beautiful as well, but then when the music went back to Ram Narayan, he would bring the raga back to true. This same thing happened many times during the concert and the violin player would always look to Ram Narayan with the utmost respect, appreciation, and love. Ram Narayan, through his music, was teaching the violin player, right there in concert, and to his credit, the violin player responded without with gratitude devoid of any ego or defense at the great privilege of being in Ram Narayan’s musical presence.
And that is my experience with Meher Baba. He trues our understanding of that raga we call life — the raga we are still immersed in — the raga which often seems incomprehensible, even terrifying, even cruel. He trues our understanding, shows us, despite how it at times appears to us, that everything is, in truth, an expression of God’s love and compassion for all of his creation.
”I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez
“Praise be to God, what wealth I possess tonight;
for suddenly my Beloved came to me tonight.
When I saw the Loved face, I made obeisance;
by the grace of God, I am blissfully happy tonight.
My ceaseless longing has achieved this union,
I am reaping the reward of that longing tonight.
My slumbering fortune has awakened at last;
The most auspicious night of my life is tonight.
My blood will write “Anal Haq”– "I am the Truth" on the earth;
even if I am crucified like Mansur.
Hafiz feels he has lost himself in this ecstasy
which he possesses tonight”. Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher
“Last night I was given relief from all misery;
I was given the Water of Everlasting Life.
I was overpowered by the Effulgence of Divinity;
I was given a drink from the Divine Goblet.
What a supremely fortunate Dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night –
The night of Qadr (auspicious night) when I was given the authority of Godhood.
As I swooned away with awe and wonder
at the sight of the Loved Face,
The true meaning of lat and manat( fate) was revealed to me.” Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher
Many years ago — it seems like lifetimes — my interest in Sufism led me to the works of the Persian poets and masters. I loved the writing, its imagery, its capacity to illume deep spiritual truths.
Of course none of these great poets like Hafez, Rumi, Al-Ghazali, Kabir, Attar wrote in the English language and I did not speak Persian or Arabic, or in the case of Kabir, Hindi, and so I was at the mercy of the translators, some of whom seemed to be better and some seemed to be worse.
Translation, in general, is such a tricky art; when it is too literal, the flavor — the feeling — of the original is often not conveyed, while, on the other hand, trying too much to capture the spirit can lose the uniqueness of the original as well as the voice of the writer.
Add to this the fact that these writers were not just great writers; they were, in fact, God-Realized and so their “state” — their gnosis — their consciousness was beyond the consciousness and personal experience of their translators.
And so, when later I came to follow Meher Baba, it was with great delight that I learned that Meher Baba would sometimes quote the words of these great Persian masters. Meher Baba would quote, translate into English, and then explain the meaning behind the words.
There is an old saying, “In order to know God, you have to become God,” and perhaps that is why I found something totally different about the translations of Meher Baba; He knew what the Masters were talking about because He was what the Masters were talking about. The two poems by Hafez quoted here today, Meher Baba said, were uttered immediately after Hafez was given God-realization.
“Last night before dawn
I was given relief from all suffering,
I was given the water of everlasting life.
I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.
What a supremely fortunate dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night —
the night when I was given the authority of Godhood.
If my longing is fulfilled and I am in bliss –
What wonder? It is the grace of my Master.
What a wondrous miracle it is to be the slave of the Master;
I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.
Henceforth, I see myself reflected in the mirror of the Beloved
and I see my Real Self.
Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!
For Hafiz has realized the Divine Beloved” — Hafez (quoted from Lord Meher)
God-Realization is just a word. To the average person it means next to nothing and consequently the average person cares next to nothing about it. It is just a weird word.
But then, as the whim — the whim to know who I am — begins to surface into the waking consciousness of the individualized soul, and the person becomes drawn more and more into the reality of the spiritual panorama and begins to realize that there is so much more to be experienced than merely being born, living, and dieing, then, at that point, the person does indeed begins to care more and more about God-Realization and yet, the word God-Realization, still remains to mean next to nothing to him. It is still just a word, a word he is increasingly familiar with, a word he even uses and bandies about, and cares more and more for — but the word itself still remains to mean next to nothing to him.
And how could it be any different? As Kabir says, “Until you experience it, it is not true.” It is so easy to read the words just quoted of Hafez and to say, “How beautiful!” but really, upon hearing those words, does not the mind tend to blur up and repel away from the words, like two magnets in adjacent polarities push harder away from each other the closer they are pushed together?
Still, we can ponder, we can try to fathom the unfathomable and, maybe even, we can cultivate the desire to “drink from the divine goblet,” even to the exclusion of all less wines.
“…relief from all suffering…” just imagine the bliss of that; just imagine not having to figure stuff out anymore, not needing to be concerned with walking the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain, good and bad, right and wrong, attraction and revulsion—all of the dualities that make-up illusory life.
“…relief from all suffering…, because we no longer need to work so hard at sustaining the unsustainable — the illusion of the reality of our false self railing against the insistent assertion of our Real Self, rallying but with the absolute certainty that, no matter what we do, in the very end the righteous claim of our Real Self is destined to prevail and annihilate the false self in the experience of the Highest of the High.
“I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.”
And Hafez acknowledged he could not have done it alone — the gift was given by his Master Attar — given after Hafez became the dust at his Master’s feet. To achieve this God-Realization is no joke. To become dust is no joke; the false-self has to be ground down, pulverized by the hand of the Master to become dust.
Seventy-one:
Gail-vad-gar — Transmuter of Dust into Air
"Oh Dust,
did you really think that your journey was over,
when you found the feet of your Beloved?
You had become helpless and hopeless,
worthless in every way,
but did you think He would allow you to remain
in your pathetic state?
Did you think that your Lord would breathe dust?” — From Meditation and Prayers on 101 Names of God, by Michael Kovitz
“I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.”
“Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!”
Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher
Among other things, I am struck by the line. “Unless you yourself have traversed the path, how can you guide others?”
Year ago, decades ago, before I became a follower of Meher Baba I met an old yogi who, with a few close disciples, was traveling through the United States. He was staying in the home of a follower for a few days — I think maybe five. And this yogi was the real deal, though from what he said, he was not realized. He said that he was on the sixth plane; I think he used the word level, and he said that he could not progress further in the body he was in.
Now the sixth level — the sixth plane — is the final plane before realization. One cannot be higher than the sixth plane and still be in illusion. Meher Baba said that on the sixth plane one see God everywhere and in everything, even with oneself, and yet, as difficult as it is to comprehend, one on the sixth plane does not experience oneself as God.
Well, it so happened, that this yogi invited a few us to meditate with him in the mornings and I, of course, took advantage of the opportunity. So every morning for five days I would go to where he was staying and be met at the door by one of his disciples and escorted into his bedroom where I would sit on the floor with a few other people and meditate with him.
The old yogi would be sitting on the bed — he never said anything at all that I remember — and we would meditate for perhaps an hour after which we were then escorted from the room and out the door. It was exactly the same every day — except for one day.
That day when I arrived there was some obvious commotion going on; the Indian woman disciple was still on her bedding on the floor of the living room. She seemed asleep, but what I gathered was that she was in some kind of higher state and couldn’t get out it — couldn’t “wake up.”
Soon the old yogi came to her and kneeled down beside her and started working on her — the work did not seem gentle to me. I remember that at one point he buried his thumbs deep into the woman’s eye sockets and started pressing very forcefully. He continued this for a few minutes — the beads of perspiration that appeared on his face and head were a testimony to how much he was exerting himself.
I could also see that his work was having an effect on the woman. I could see her coming back; it was such a struggle for both them, the old yogi pulling her back to consciousness, the woman struggling to wake-up.
When it was over, to my surprise, the woman opened her eyes, got up, and started doing her usual things. She seemed totally herself and the yogi went back to his room.
What struck me most about the incident was that this spiritual path can be very dangerous indeed and if you are going to trust a guide with your progress, you had better first ask yourself if you can trust him with your life; because, in fact, that is exactly what you are doing.
Currently there is a homicide trial going on for a man — one of the many self-help gurus found on the West coast — because three people died as a result of participating in a sweat lodge ceremony under the man’s authority.
My guess is that he will be found not guilty because the people entered the lodge willingly and were not prohibited from leaving the lodge at any time. Additionally, they had all signed releases.
I think he will be found not guilty, but from my point of view, if the man had represented himself as being spiritually advanced, meaning that he had claimed knowledge and power beyond that of the average person, then, in fact, he was spiritually responsible for the welfare of the individuals he had convinced of his status.
Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher
The first of the three couplets reads:
"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."
Hafez, the 14th century Persian mystic poet was a Perfect Master. His most famous book is called The Divan and is still read, studied, and revered throughout the East.
Legend has it, that when Hafez was a young man he became smitten with desire for a beautiful princess, but being not of her royal status and also being not a very physically attractive man, he had really no chance of obtaining the object of his desire.
But there was a penance that he knew, a very severe penance that if he was able accomplish, would give him such powers that he could have anything he desired. The penance is called Chilla-nashini and consists of drawing a circle on the ground around oneself and staying in that circle for forty days and forty nights without food, water, or sleep. It is said that failure to complete the penance could result in insanity or death.
So, the story goes that after Hafez had managed to stay in the circle for thirty nine days an angel of God came to him and asked what it was he wanted. Seeing the effulgent beauty of the angel, Hafez forgot all about the earthly princess and thought instead, if an angel of God can be so beautiful, then how beautiful must be God? and so Hafez answered the angel, I want to see God.
On completion of the penance Hafez was led to a Perfect Master and after some time and much spiritual suffering was given God-Realization.
Returning to the couplet, perhaps the thing that one notices first is what could these days be called the “political incorrectness” of the language. These days, people are often very sensitive to these terms slave and master, but it should be kept in mind that what Hafez is talking about is not a slave, but a fortunate slave; and not a master, but a Perfect Master.
Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher, used to say that man is under many influences which he cannot escape. The choice, Gurdjieff said, was in being able to choose the influences that would act on him. Eruch Jessawala, a close disciple of Meher Baba put it this way, “I had the opportunity to choose being the slave of life or the slave of Meher Baba and chose Meher Baba. On my own, I could not be free.”
Getting past the language, I also find it very interesting that Baba’s message through these couplets was is the context of Baba’s own eminent death. It makes me think, what exactly is meant by the “command of the Master?”
I offer this thought; there are three kinds of commands. The first is when the Master gives you a direct command. “Do this Michael.” It would seem that once the Master has dropped His body, this kind of command is no longer possible.
The second kind of command comes in the form of teachings and messages that the Master has given. Even after the Master drops His body, these teachings and messages survive for some time in books and stories and can be kept alive in the minds and hearts of His followers.
The third kind of command, often the most overlooked, comes in the form of our very lives. For example, a person is hurrying to some important function and gets involved is a minor fender-bender auto accident. The response, “Damn, I don’t need this now — why the hell is this happening to me?” could be seen as a questioning of the command of the Master who works through our lives.
"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."
“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.” Hafez
It is pretty obvious that if the master is Perfect, then He can never be wrong; or, is that really so obvious?
Is it definitely more obvious that if the slave of the Perfect Master is not Perfect, then he can never be anything other than wrong; or is that really so obvious either?
There was a village, and near the single road that led into and out of the village lived a snake who would regularly attack and sometimes even kill the villagers. The villagers were understandably very fearful of the snake.
It so happened that one day a Perfect Master was passing by the village and when he passed by the snake the snake felt a sudden remorse over his behavior. He approached the Master who asked him what he wanted.
“I am feeling remorse,” said the snake.
“Oh really,” replied the Master. “Why are you feeling remorse?”
“Because I have been terrorizing this village and hurting the villagers.”
“I understand,” said the Master, “and you want me to help you?”
“Yes,” said the snake.
“I will help you then,” said the Master, “here is my advice to you, “stop biting the villagers.”
“That’s it?” said the snake.
“That’s it,” said the Master. “Stop biting the villagers and I will help you.”
And so the snake stopped biting. After a few days the villagers noticed that the snake was no longer biting and they began to talk among themselves.
“Perhaps the snake is sick; maybe now is the time to kill him?”
And so the villagers went looking for the snake who was sitting quietly near the entrance to the village.
“There he is!” cried the villagers who began to attack the snake with sticks and rocks. The snake was beaten to within an inch of his life.
Not long after, the Perfect Master was again passing by the village and saw the snake lying beaten and bloody by the side of the road.
“What has happened to you!” He exclaimed to the snake.
“What has happened to me,” moaned the snake. “You told me to stop biting and the villagers attacked me.”
“You fool!” said the Master, “I said stop biting, I never told you to stop hissing.”
“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.”
“I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez
I assume that this quote refers to a time after Hafez accomplished Chilla – nashini and was led to his Master, but before Hafez was God-Realized.
Therefore, his statement about being released from ignorance is quite interesting to me. It puts me in mind of Meher Baba said in the conclusion of God Speaks.
After two hundred pages of the most lucid and detailed explanation regarding God, the theme of creation, and its purpose Meher Baba states:
“God cannot be explained, He cannot be argued about, He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived.
Nevertheless, all that is said here and explained about God to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man still lacks many words and further explanations because the TRUTH is that the Reality must be realized and the divinity of God must be attained and lived.”
What stands out for me is the phrase; to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind, — for is not a mind that is free of intellectual convulsions a mind that is released from ignorance?
And that is my experience with Meher Baba. Meher Baba trues the mind, like a master Indian musician trues the raga he is playing.
I once was at an Indian music concert by the great sarangi player Ram Narayan. He was joined on staged by a highly regarded Indian violin player, himself considered a master musician, and the two played a raga. Ram Narayan would play, and the music was beautiful — deep and meaningful — and then the violin player would play, and his playing was beautiful as well, but then when the music went back to Ram Narayan, he would bring the raga back to true. This same thing happened many times during the concert and the violin player would always look to Ram Narayan with the utmost respect, appreciation, and love. Ram Narayan, through his music, was teaching the violin player, right there in concert, and to his credit, the violin player responded without with gratitude devoid of any ego or defense at the great privilege of being in Ram Narayan’s musical presence.
And that is my experience with Meher Baba. He trues our understanding of that raga we call life — the raga we are still immersed in — the raga which often seems incomprehensible, even terrifying, even cruel. He trues our understanding, shows us, despite how it at times appears to us, that everything is, in truth, an expression of God’s love and compassion for all of his creation.
”I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez
“Praise be to God, what wealth I possess tonight;
for suddenly my Beloved came to me tonight.
When I saw the Loved face, I made obeisance;
by the grace of God, I am blissfully happy tonight.
My ceaseless longing has achieved this union,
I am reaping the reward of that longing tonight.
My slumbering fortune has awakened at last;
The most auspicious night of my life is tonight.
My blood will write “Anal Haq”– "I am the Truth" on the earth;
even if I am crucified like Mansur.
Hafiz feels he has lost himself in this ecstasy
which he possesses tonight”. Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher
“Last night I was given relief from all misery;
I was given the Water of Everlasting Life.
I was overpowered by the Effulgence of Divinity;
I was given a drink from the Divine Goblet.
What a supremely fortunate Dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night –
The night of Qadr (auspicious night) when I was given the authority of Godhood.
As I swooned away with awe and wonder
at the sight of the Loved Face,
The true meaning of lat and manat( fate) was revealed to me.” Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher
Many years ago — it seems like lifetimes — my interest in Sufism led me to the works of the Persian poets and masters. I loved the writing, its imagery, its capacity to illume deep spiritual truths.
Of course none of these great poets like Hafez, Rumi, Al-Ghazali, Kabir, Attar wrote in the English language and I did not speak Persian or Arabic, or in the case of Kabir, Hindi, and so I was at the mercy of the translators, some of whom seemed to be better and some seemed to be worse.
Translation, in general, is such a tricky art; when it is too literal, the flavor — the feeling — of the original is often not conveyed, while, on the other hand, trying too much to capture the spirit can lose the uniqueness of the original as well as the voice of the writer.
Add to this the fact that these writers were not just great writers; they were, in fact, God-Realized and so their “state” — their gnosis — their consciousness was beyond the consciousness and personal experience of their translators.
And so, when later I came to follow Meher Baba, it was with great delight that I learned that Meher Baba would sometimes quote the words of these great Persian masters. Meher Baba would quote, translate into English, and then explain the meaning behind the words.
There is an old saying, “In order to know God, you have to become God,” and perhaps that is why I found something totally different about the translations of Meher Baba; He knew what the Masters were talking about because He was what the Masters were talking about. The two poems by Hafez quoted here today, Meher Baba said, were uttered immediately after Hafez was given God-realization.
“Last night before dawn
I was given relief from all suffering,
I was given the water of everlasting life.
I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.
What a supremely fortunate dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night —
the night when I was given the authority of Godhood.
If my longing is fulfilled and I am in bliss –
What wonder? It is the grace of my Master.
What a wondrous miracle it is to be the slave of the Master;
I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.
Henceforth, I see myself reflected in the mirror of the Beloved
and I see my Real Self.
Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!
For Hafiz has realized the Divine Beloved” — Hafez (quoted from Lord Meher)
God-Realization is just a word. To the average person it means next to nothing and consequently the average person cares next to nothing about it. It is just a weird word.
But then, as the whim — the whim to know who I am — begins to surface into the waking consciousness of the individualized soul, and the person becomes drawn more and more into the reality of the spiritual panorama and begins to realize that there is so much more to be experienced than merely being born, living, and dieing, then, at that point, the person does indeed begins to care more and more about God-Realization and yet, the word God-Realization, still remains to mean next to nothing to him. It is still just a word, a word he is increasingly familiar with, a word he even uses and bandies about, and cares more and more for — but the word itself still remains to mean next to nothing to him.
And how could it be any different? As Kabir says, “Until you experience it, it is not true.” It is so easy to read the words just quoted of Hafez and to say, “How beautiful!” but really, upon hearing those words, does not the mind tend to blur up and repel away from the words, like two magnets in adjacent polarities push harder away from each other the closer they are pushed together?
Still, we can ponder, we can try to fathom the unfathomable and, maybe even, we can cultivate the desire to “drink from the divine goblet,” even to the exclusion of all less wines.
“…relief from all suffering…” just imagine the bliss of that; just imagine not having to figure stuff out anymore, not needing to be concerned with walking the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain, good and bad, right and wrong, attraction and revulsion—all of the dualities that make-up illusory life.
“…relief from all suffering…, because we no longer need to work so hard at sustaining the unsustainable — the illusion of the reality of our false self railing against the insistent assertion of our Real Self, rallying but with the absolute certainty that, no matter what we do, in the very end the righteous claim of our Real Self is destined to prevail and annihilate the false self in the experience of the Highest of the High.
“I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.”
And Hafez acknowledged he could not have done it alone — the gift was given by his Master Attar — given after Hafez became the dust at his Master’s feet. To achieve this God-Realization is no joke. To become dust is no joke; the false-self has to be ground down, pulverized by the hand of the Master to become dust.
Seventy-one:
Gail-vad-gar — Transmuter of Dust into Air
"Oh Dust,
did you really think that your journey was over,
when you found the feet of your Beloved?
You had become helpless and hopeless,
worthless in every way,
but did you think He would allow you to remain
in your pathetic state?
Did you think that your Lord would breathe dust?” — From Meditation and Prayers on 101 Names of God, by Michael Kovitz
“I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.”
“Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!”
Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher
Among other things, I am struck by the line. “Unless you yourself have traversed the path, how can you guide others?”
Year ago, decades ago, before I became a follower of Meher Baba I met an old yogi who, with a few close disciples, was traveling through the United States. He was staying in the home of a follower for a few days — I think maybe five. And this yogi was the real deal, though from what he said, he was not realized. He said that he was on the sixth plane; I think he used the word level, and he said that he could not progress further in the body he was in.
Now the sixth level — the sixth plane — is the final plane before realization. One cannot be higher than the sixth plane and still be in illusion. Meher Baba said that on the sixth plane one see God everywhere and in everything, even with oneself, and yet, as difficult as it is to comprehend, one on the sixth plane does not experience oneself as God.
Well, it so happened, that this yogi invited a few us to meditate with him in the mornings and I, of course, took advantage of the opportunity. So every morning for five days I would go to where he was staying and be met at the door by one of his disciples and escorted into his bedroom where I would sit on the floor with a few other people and meditate with him.
The old yogi would be sitting on the bed — he never said anything at all that I remember — and we would meditate for perhaps an hour after which we were then escorted from the room and out the door. It was exactly the same every day — except for one day.
That day when I arrived there was some obvious commotion going on; the Indian woman disciple was still on her bedding on the floor of the living room. She seemed asleep, but what I gathered was that she was in some kind of higher state and couldn’t get out it — couldn’t “wake up.”
Soon the old yogi came to her and kneeled down beside her and started working on her — the work did not seem gentle to me. I remember that at one point he buried his thumbs deep into the woman’s eye sockets and started pressing very forcefully. He continued this for a few minutes — the beads of perspiration that appeared on his face and head were a testimony to how much he was exerting himself.
I could also see that his work was having an effect on the woman. I could see her coming back; it was such a struggle for both them, the old yogi pulling her back to consciousness, the woman struggling to wake-up.
When it was over, to my surprise, the woman opened her eyes, got up, and started doing her usual things. She seemed totally herself and the yogi went back to his room.
What struck me most about the incident was that this spiritual path can be very dangerous indeed and if you are going to trust a guide with your progress, you had better first ask yourself if you can trust him with your life; because, in fact, that is exactly what you are doing.
Currently there is a homicide trial going on for a man — one of the many self-help gurus found on the West coast — because three people died as a result of participating in a sweat lodge ceremony under the man’s authority.
My guess is that he will be found not guilty because the people entered the lodge willingly and were not prohibited from leaving the lodge at any time. Additionally, they had all signed releases.
I think he will be found not guilty, but from my point of view, if the man had represented himself as being spiritually advanced, meaning that he had claimed knowledge and power beyond that of the average person, then, in fact, he was spiritually responsible for the welfare of the individuals he had convinced of his status.
Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher
posted by Michael Kovitz at 8:11 AM
2 Comments:
Dear Michael,
I read most of your article as it was timely for me today. I was quoting these three couplets of Hafiz to a Sufi friend, who probably knows them already, but we are just getting to know each other through a uniquely powerful healing work we are are learning. Anyway, thank you and thank you Baba for directing me to your site. Love in the Beloved One, Susan Smith
Dear Susan,
So happy to hear from you and that this blog 'spoke' to you and your Sufi friend. We have these quotes framed and they hang in our home. They are so powerful and Baba, being the Source/Center of all and everything, has a way, a knack if you will, of translating the Masters in a way like no others can.
My wishes for Darryl and you to always remain happy and steadfast in His Love,
Michael (Ayushya)
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