The Rose-Garden of Mystery

سؤال ۱۱

Question 11

What is the part that is greater than its whole? What is the way of seeking that part?

جواب ۱۱

Answer 11

Know that part to be being, which is greater than the whole: for the whole [only] exists, and this is the reverse.

The existent has a multiplicity that is outward, for it has no unity but an inward one.

The being of the whole came to appear through multiplicity, for in the unity of the part it is a covering [that conceals it].

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads بر for در; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads سائر for ساتر.

Since the whole, outwardly, is many, it becomes smaller in measure than its own part.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads بود for شود.

Is it not, after all, the part, being, that is necessary, since being has made it [the whole] subordinate?

The whole has no being in reality, for it is like an accident upon the reality.

The being of the whole comes [as] many and one; it shows as many by way of multiplicity.

Doubtful reading. Printed و آحد with a madda; the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads و واحد, "and one".

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads وحدت for کثرت.

[Its] existence became an accident, which is a collective one; the accident is in itself running toward non-being.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads ان for شد.

With every part of the whole that becomes nothing, the whole too becomes nothing in that instant, because it is [merely] contingent.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads زهر for بهر.

The world is a whole, and at every blink of an eye it becomes non-being and "does not endure two moments."

Once more a world appears; at every moment an earth and a heaven.

At every moment this old one is young; at every breath there is within it gathering and raising [of the dead].

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads ساعت for لحظه; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads حشری for حشر و.

Nothing in it endures for two moments; in the moment that it dies, it comes forth [again].

But this is not the Greatest Catastrophe [Q 79:34]: this is the day of action, and that the day of judgement.

There is a great difference between that and this; beware, do not through ignorance make yourself a captive [reading giriftār with the Midnapore MS; the print has zi guftār].

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads گرفتار for ز گفتار.

Open your eye on the detail and the summary: look at the hour and the day and the month and the year.

تمثیل

Illustration

If you wish to understand this meaning, you too have death and life.

Of whatever there is in the world, low and high, the likeness is evident in your body and soul.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads زیر for شیب.

The world is like you, one determinate person: you have become like its soul, and it like your body.

The human kind has death in three ways: one at every moment, and that is according to the essence;

Know the second to be the voluntary death; the third is the dying of a man that is compelled.

Doubtful reading. As printed, the second hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads سیم مردن مر او را (mar ū-rā for mard-rā (the Midnapore MS in Whinfield's margin, too)), which scans.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads دوم زانها for دو دیگر; the Midnapore MS reads مراورا for مردرا.

Since death and life stand opposite, its life came in three kinds, at three stations.

The world has no voluntary death; of all the world, you have this [alone].

Yet at every moment it is being changed; at the last it too will become like the first.

Whatever becomes manifest at the Gathering becomes evident from you in the death throes.

Your body is like the earth, your head the sky; your senses are the stars, and the soul is the sun.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads inserts موی for after حواست.

Your bones, which are hard, are like mountains; your hair is your plants, and your limbs are trees.

At the time of death your body trembles with remorse, like the earth on the day of resurrection.

The brain becomes confused and the soul darkened; your senses become dim like the stars.

Your pores become like a sea with sweat; you are drowned in it, without head or foot.

O poor man, from the agony of death your bones become through weakness like dyed wool [Q 101:5].

Doubtful reading. As printed, the second hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads ز سستی استخوانها پشم رنگین (zi sustī … without chūn), which scans.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads کوه ها for استخوانها.

Leg becomes twisted with leg [Q 75:29]; every pair becomes single, parted from its mate.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads خفت for جفتی / جفت.

When the spirit is wholly separated from the body, your earth becomes "a level plain on which you see [no crookedness]" [Q 20:106–107].

The work of the world goes after the same fashion as what you see in yourself in that moment.

Subsistence belongs to the Real, and all the rest is passing away; its full exposition is in the Seven Oft-repeated [Q 15:87].

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads بنایش for بیانش.

As "Everyone upon it passes away" [Q 55:26] declared [this], so "in a new creation" [Q 50:15] also made [it] plain.

Whinfield's margin. Other manuscripts reads لبس for لفی.

The bringing into being and the annihilating of the two worlds is like the creation and raising of the soul of Adam's son.

Creation is always in a new creation, though the span of its life is long.

The overflowing of the grace of the Real, exalted is He, is ever, in His own state (shaʾn), in self-disclosure [cf. Q 55:29].

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads از for در.

From that side comes bringing-into-being and completion; from this side, at every moment, change.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads انجا for آنجانب.

But when this phase of the world (dunyā) has passed, there will be subsistence of all on the day of the Hereafter.

For every thing you see has, of necessity, two worlds: one of meaning and one of form.

Union in the first [world] is separation itself; that other [world] is lasting, being from "what is with God" [Q 16:96].

Subsistence (baqāʾ) has become a name of being, but [only] in a place where the one who moves is like the one at rest.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads کان for کو.

When the loci of manifestation come to match the Manifest, in the first [world] the very last [world] shows itself.

Whatever is in potency in this abode has come into act, all at once, in that world.

قاعده

Rule

Every act that first appeared from you, you become able to do after a few times.

With each time, whether it be benefit or harm, something is stored up in your self (nafs).

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads بازی for باری; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads اگه for وگر.

By habit, states become disposition; in time, fruits become fragrant.

From that man learned the crafts, and from that he composed his thoughts.

All deeds and words stored up will be revealed on the day of the Gathering.

When you are stripped of the shirt of the body, fault and virtue will be clear at once.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads هر for هنر.

You will have a body, but without turbidity, that shows the form from within it as water does.

All the secret thoughts will appear there: recite the verse "[the day] when secrets are tried" [Q 86:9].

Then again, in accord with that special world, your qualities of character will become bodies and persons.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads اخلاص for اخلاق.

Just as, from the power of the element, here [in this world] the three kingdoms (mavālīd, the "born things") appeared,

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads وقت for قوت.

so all your qualities of character in the world of the soul (jān) become now lights, now fires.

Determination (taʿayyun) is lifted from being; high and low no longer remain in view.

The death of the body does not remain in the abode of life [Q 29:64]; mould (body) and soul come forth in one colour.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits و.

Your feet and head will all be like the heart; the form of clay will be made pure of darkness.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads و چشم تو for تو جمله.

You will see the Real, exalted is He, without direction; He will disclose Himself to you from the light of the Real.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads هم for از; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads خود for تو; In this and the next couplet the order of the lines is inverted by the Midnapore MS.

I do not know what drunken deeds you will do then: you will throw both worlds into confusion.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads همی for همه.

Think what "their Lord gave them to drink" is; what is "pure" [Q 76:21]? It is being made clear of oneself.

What delight, what fortune, what taste! What bewilderment, what state, what yearning!

Whinfield's margin. * the Midnapore MS زهی شربت زهی لذت زهی ذوق زهی دولت زهی حیرت زهی شوق (footnote at foot of page).

How good the moment when we are without self: absolutely rich, and poor (darvīsh)!

No religion, no reason, no piety, no perception: fallen drunk and bewildered upon the dust.

What do Paradise, the everlasting Garden and the houris weigh there? For no stranger can fit into that privacy.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads بیگان for بیگانه.

Since I saw the vision and drank of that wine, I do not know what will become of me after it.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads دمی for ازان.

After every drunkenness there is a hangover: in this thought the heart has turned to blood, after all.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads وی for پی; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads مستی for مستیی.