The Marriage of the Soul (from The Secret Rose Garden)
by Mahmud ShabistariEnglish version by Florence Lederer
Original Language Persian/Farsi
Descending to the earth, that strange intoxicating beauty of the unseen world
lurks in the elements of nature.
And the soul of man,
who has attained the rightful balance,
becoming aware of this hidden joy,
straightaway is enamored and bewitched.
And from this mystic marriage are born
the poets' songs, inner knowledge,
the language of the heart, virtuous living,
and the fair child Beauty.
And the Great Soul gives to man as dowry
the hidden glory of the world.
 | -- from The Secret Rose Garden: Mahmud Shabistari, Translated by Florence Lederer / Edited by David Fideler |
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Descending to the earth, that strange intoxicating beauty of the unseen world
lurks in the elements of nature.
To dive more deeply into the meaning of these verses, first we need to recognize who "that strange intoxicating beauty of the unseen world" is. Of course, Shabistari is referring to God, the subtle divine presence hidden within the seemingly tangible, concrete world of daily experience.
And the soul of man,
who has attained the rightful balance,
becoming aware of this hidden joy,
straightaway is enamored and bewitched.
As we, through spiritual practice and intelligent yielding, attain "the rightful balance," we can directly perceive that presence within everything, everywhere, most importantly within ourselves. And, perhaps surprisingly, we discover that it is a "joy." Accompanying this recognition of the divine presence everywhere is a flood of bliss and delight. How can a lover of God not then be "enamored and bewitched"?
And from this mystic marriage are born
the poets' songs, inner knowledge,
the language of the heart, virtuous living,
and the fair child Beauty.
I think I particularly like these lines. This is the moment that various traditions refer to as the mystic marriage, the unio mystica -- Union. This moment of profoundest Oneness between the individual soul and the universal Divine is the root experience of all spirituality. You may be aware that the word "yoga" means to yoke or join... in union, but we forget that the word "religion" itself means to reconnect or rejoin; they are essentially the same word. All of these words speak to us of union. This is the core impulse of every religion and spiritual tradition: The union of self with God and all of existence.
That mystic marriage is not just a giddy experience of bliss; something is unlocked within the individual. The mystic perceives himself or herself and reality itself differently, but also unexpected gifts and creativity are revealed within the renewed mind. Not uncommonly, mystics begin to write poetry... or, if they have been writing poetry all along, their poetry takes on a new life, a deeper resonance that carries the breath of the mysteries. (This is why there is such an overlap in the ancient world between poetry and mysticism.)
Mystics also speak of "knowledge" or gnosis, but it is not knowledge in the sense of information or data. It is true that one's intuition may be heightened, but the inner knowledge referred to here is more of a sense of awareness. It is as if one floats in the vast ocean of knowingness. It is more of an all-encompassing recognition of meaning and interrelationship, the sense that this living meaning somehow flows through all of existence, unifying everything in a living self-awareness.
In mystical union, there is less separation between the conscious self and the heart of one's being. In other words, that union is not just about the connection between the individual and some external sense of God or universal consciousness; all the disparate parts within the individual are unified, as well. It is an interior marriage as much as an exterior marriage. That spiritual union results in an interior harmony -- which we might call "the fair child Beauty."
And the Great Soul gives to man as dowry
the hidden glory of the world.
That pervading beauty and harmony, that creativity and knowledge, that centering within the full self, all of that is the wedding gift the mystic receives, which, in turn, becomes the mystic's gift to the world.
Recommended Books: Mahmud Shabistari
