From: bahram@somewhere.in.heaven.edu
Subject: Pieces-XXVIII (In the Street of the Perfume Sellers)
Organization: Mars People International.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 12:54:59 GMT



		ABOVE

	   The ritual of him who has seen the Shah (Truth) is above anger and
	kindness, infidelity and religion....

					Jalaludin Rumi (Mathnavi)
			****************

		HAT OR HEAD

	He who sleeps on the Road will lose either his hat or his head.

					Nizami (Treasury of Mysteries)
			****************

		MAN, HIS ORIGIN AND DESTINATION

	MAN, we say we know, originates from far away; so far, indeed, that in 
	speaking of his origin, such phrases as `beyond the stars' are
	frequently employed. Man is estranged from his origins. Some of his 
	feelings (but not all of them) are slight indicators of this. This is 
	why we speak of `separation from the beloved'; but these are technical
	terms, and those who employ them to increase their emotional life 
	are--increasing their emotional life.
	   Man has the opportunity of returning to his origin. He has forgotten
	this. He is, in fact, `asleep' to the reality....
	   If man finds himself again, he will be able to increase his existence
	infinitely. If he does not, he may dwindle to vanishing-point. Those
	who see a threat or promise in such a statement are unsuitable for this
	work. There is no threat or promise in facts: only in the interpretation
	man makes of them.
	   People have been sent, from time to time, to try to serve man and 
	save him from the `blindness' and `sleep' (which today would be better
	described as `amnesia') which is always described in our technical
	literature as a local disease. These people are always in touch with the
	Origin, and they bring the `medicine' which is half the cure. The other
	half, as in orthodox terrestial medicine, is the activity of that which
	is acted upon, to attain its own regeneration with the minimum of aid. 
	These cosmic doctors--a literal translation of a most ancient term--
	often live in the world almost unnoticed, like the camel in the desert.
	They have been of all races, and they have belonged to all faiths.

					Ustad Hilmi, Mevlevi
			****************

		APPETITE

	   `I have been unable to eat anything for three days.'
	   `Good heavens, Mulla--with your appetite? You must be very ill.'
	   `Not at all: nobody has asked me out to eat, that's all.'

					Idries Shah
			****************
										
		IN THE STREET OF THE PERFUME SELLERS

	A SCAVENGER, walking down the street of the perfume-sellers, fell down
	as if dead. People tried to revive him with sweet odours, but he only
	became worse.
	   Finally a former scavenger came along, and recognized the situation.
	He held something filthy under the man's nose and he immediately
	revived, calling out: `This is indeed perfume!'
	   You must prepare yourself for the transition in which there will be 
	none of the things to which you have accustomed yourself. After death 
	your identity will have to respond to stimuli of which you have a chance
	to get a foretaste here.
	   If you remain attached to the few things with which you are familiar,
	it will only make you miserable, as the perfume did the scavenger in the
	street of the perfume-makers.
		
	%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
	
	This parable explains itself. Ghazzali uses it in the eleventh-century
	*Alchemy of Happiness* (Kimiay-i Sa'adat) to underline the Sufi teaching
	that only some of the things of familiar existence have affinities with
	the `other dimension'.

 					Idries Shah (Tales Of the Dervishes)	
			****************

		INSTINCT

	   `There are some things', said Nasrudin, `that you positively know,
	inwardly, must be untrue.'
	   `Can I have an example?' asked someone who was always looking for
	evidence of the supernormal.
	   `Certainly. For instance, the other day when I was walking along,
	I overheard a rumour that I was dead.'

					Idries Shah
			****************

		WORLD WITHIN YOURSELF

	In an instant, rise from time and space.
	Set the world aside and become a world within yourself.

					Shabistari (Secret Garden, 
								Gulshan-i Raz)
			****************

		HE WHO...

	He who knows, and knows that he knows, follow him.
	He who knows, but does not know that he knows--he is asleep: wake him;
	He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, he wishes to learn--teach
	   him;
	He who knows not, and is ignorant that he does not know--reject him.

					Ghazzali
			****************

		TRANSITION

	IT is related that Shamsi Tabrizi plunged some books into water and took
	them out completely dry. Jalaludin Rumi is said to have been profoundly
	impressed by this feat, and to have accepted the teaching of Tabrizi as
	a consequence.
	   But Akib Haidar is reported to have received this information with 
	incredulity. `How,' he asked, `could a man of Rumi's stature believe 
	that what is obviously a conjuring trick might prove anything about the
	importance of Shams?'
	   Haidar preoccupied himself with this question for years. He decided
	to assume that Rumi would not have been deceived by a trick. He assumed
	further that Shams had indeed performed the deception. What remained to
	be found out was the meaning of the demonstration; for it was in this,
	Haidar believed, that a clue might be found to the secret language of
	the elect.
	   The Hujjat Ahil was the great chief of the Sufis of the age, and 
	Haidar, when he found his way to him, asked the question which had been
	perplexing him for seventeen years.
	   Ahil, as soon as the question was put to him, said:
	   `Precisely, your assumptions are correct, but man is so obtuse that 
	he can rarely see why such things are done. Tabrizi performed the trick 
	in order to illustrate that there was a "transition" from the possible
	to the impossible, and back again, The trick is no more than an
	illustration, but it is highly instructional. If, for instance, you draw
	a picture of a cow walking into a barn for a countryman, you will be
	able to illustrate to him a hypothetical fact--that a cow can walk into
	a barn. If the countryman were to object that "this is not a cow, but 
	rather a piece of paper" this would show his stupidity, because even a 
	piece of paper can be used to indicate the possible. Similarly, the dry
	books showed the possible transcending of reality which man can attain.'

					Idries Shah (Thinkers of the East)
			****************

		WHEN YOU FACE THINGS ALONE

	   `You may have lost your donkey, Mulla, but you don't have to grieve
	over it more than you did about the loss of your first wife.'
	   `Ah, but if you remember, when I lost my wife, all you villagers
	said: "We'll find you someone else." So far, nobody has offered to 
	replace my donkey.'

					Idries Shah
			****************

		THE HIGHER LAW

	There are three indications of real generosity: to remain steadfast 
	without resisting, to praise without the emotion of generosity, and 
	to give before being asked.

					Maaruf Karkhi
			****************

		HASAN OF BASRA

	When he was asked: `What is Islam, and who are the Muslims?' he 
	answered:
	   `Islam is in the books, and Muslims are in the tomb.'

					Idries Shah (The Way of the Sufi)
			****************

		RAISING OF THE DEAD

	   Once Ruhu'llah[1] and his older brother were walking in town. A
	Muslim clergyman riding on his donkey spotted the two boys and from
	their appearance he knew they were strangers in Zanjan. So he went to
	them and said, `Who are you?'
	   Ruhu'llah answered, `We are sons of Varqa, a native of Yazd.'
	   `What is your name?' the clergyman demanded.
	   `My name is Ruhu'llah,' came the answer.
	   `That is a great name,' said the clergyman. `Christ was Ruhu'llah [
	Spirit of God ] and he used to raise the dead and give them life.'
	   `Sir, if you slow down the pace of your donkey,' Ruhu'llah declared
	with great enthusiasm, `I too shall raise you from the dead and give
	you a new life!'
	   The clergyman hurriedly left saying, `You two must be Babi[2]
	children!'

	%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

	[1]: Ruhu'llah son of Varqa (one of the disciples of Baha'u'llah) was
	     martyred at the age of twelve after witnessing the martyrdom of his
	     father Varqa who was pierced in the stomach with a dagger and cut
	     into pieces before his eyes by Hajibu'd-Dawlih in the Prison of
	     Tehran.
	[2]: For many years in Persia Baha'is were known as Babis

					Adib Taherzadeh (The Revelation of 
							Baha'u'llah, Volume-4)
			****************

		DARK AND LIGHT

	Evening precedes morning, and night becomes dawn.

					Hafiz
			****************
					
		LOVE

	Do you think you love your Creator? Love your fellow-creature first.

					The Prophet Mohammed
			****************

		EVOLUTION

	Every form you see has its archetype in the placeless world;
	If the form perished, no matter, since its original is everlasting.
	Every fair shape you have seen, every deep saying you have heard,
	Be not cast down that it perished; for that is not so.
	Whereas the spring-head is undying, its branch gives water continually;
	Since neither can cease, why are you lamenting?
	Conceive the Soul as a fountain, and these created things as rivers:
	While the fountain flows, the rivers run from it.
	Put grief out of your head and keep quaffing this river water;
	Do not think of the water failing; for this water is without end.
	From the moment you came into the world of being,
	A ladder was placed before you that you might escape.
	First you were a mineral, later you turned to plant,
	Then you became animal: how should this be a secret to you?
	Afterwards you were made man, with knowledge, reason, faith;
	Behold the body, which is a portion of the dust-pit, how perfect it 
	   has grown!
	When you have travelled on from man, you will doubtless become an angel;
	After that you are done with this earth: your station is in heaven.
	Pass again even from angelhood: enter that ocean,
	That your drop may become a sea which is a hundred seas of `Oman.
	Leave this `Son,' say ever `One' with all your soul;
	If your body has aged, what matter, when the soul is young?

					Jalaludin Rumi
			****************
			
		THE DAY OF HIM WHOM GOD SHALL MAKE MANIFEST

	SINCE that Day is a great Day it would be sorely trying for thee to 
	identify thyself with the believers. For the believers of that Day are
	the inmates of Paradise, while the unbelievers are the inmates of the
	fire. And know thou of a certainty that by Paradise is meant recognition
	of and submission unto Him Whom God shall make manifest [Baha'u'llah], 
	and by the fire the company of such souls as would fail to submit unto
	Him or to be resigned to His good-pleasure. On that Day thou wouldst 
	regard thyself as the inmate of Paradise and as a true believer in Him,
	whereas in reality thou wouldst suffer thyself to be wrapt in veils and
	thy habitation would be the nethermost fire, though thou thyself wouldst
	not be cognizant thereof.

					Bab
			****************

		COMMANDMENTS

	   O ye peoples of the world! Know assuredly that My commandments are
	the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My
	mercy for My creatures. Thus hath it been sent down from the heaven of
	the Will of your Lord, the Lord of Revelation. Were any man to taste the
	sweetness of the words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to
	utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in his possession,
	renounce them one and all, that he might vindicate the truth of even one
	of His commandments, shining above the Dayspring of His bountiful care
	and loving-kindness. 
	   Say: From My laws the sweet smelling savour of My garment can be 
	smelled, and by their aid the standards of Victory will be planted upon
	the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My 
	omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: "Observe My 
	commandments, for the love of My beauty." Happy is the lover that hath 
	inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden
	with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He
	who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My
	bountiful favour, will circle around My commandments that shine above 
	the Dayspring of My creation.
	   Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay,
	rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and
	power. To this beareth witness that which the Pen of Revelation hath 
	revealed. Meditate upon this, O men of insight!

					Baha'u'llah
			****************

		EXHORTATION

	...These are my final words of exhortation. I have repeatedly summoned
	you to the cause of the unity of the world of humanity, announcing 
	that all mankind are the servants of the same God, that God is the 
	creator of all; He is the Provider and Life-giver; all are equally 
	beloved by Him and are His servants upon whom His mercy and compassion
	descend. Therefore, you must manifest the greatest kindness and love 
	toward the nations of the world, setting aside fanaticism, abandoning
	religious, national and racial prejudice.
	   The earth is one native land, one home; and all mankind are the 
	children of one Father. God has created them, and they are the
	recipients of His compassion. Therefore, if anyone offends another, he
	offends God. It is the wish of our heavenly Father that every heart 
	should rejoice and be filled with happiness, that we should live
	together in felicity and joy. The obstacle to human happiness is racial
	or religious prejudice, the competitive struggle for existence and 
	inhumanity toward each other.
	   Your eyes have been illumined, your ears are attentive, your hearts
	knowing. You must be free from prejudice and fanaticism, beholding no
	differences between the races and religions. You must look to God, for
	He is the real Shepherd, and all humanity are His sheep. He loves them
	and loves them equally. As this is true, should the sheep quarrel among
	themselves? They should manifest gratitude and thankfulness to God, and
	the best way to thank God is to love one another.
	   Beware lest ye offend any heart, lest ye speak against anyone in his
	absence, lest ye estrange yourselves from the servants of God. You must
	consider all His servants as your own family and relations. Direct your
	whole effort toward the happiness of those who are despondent, bestow 
	food upon the hungry, clothe the needy, and glorify the humble. Be a
	helper to every helpless one, and manifest kindness to your fellow
	creatures in order that ye may attain the good pleasure of God. This is
	conducive to the illumination of the world of humanity and eternal 
	felicity for yourselves. I seek from God everlasting glory in your
	behalf; therefore, this is my prayer and exhortation.

					`Abdu'l-Baha
			*****************
		
      			*****




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