Monday, September 20, 2021

1. Excerpts - The Book of Mirdad

 Never be so foolish as to give your life away so cheap. Many have attempted it before you, but none ever returned to tell the tale

I cannot explain why his terror had a reverse effect on me. Instead of deterring me, it spurred me on and fixed me firmer than before in my purpose

Die to Live, or live to die

My trust is henceforth your trust. Be faithful in your trust

To break the seals you need a lip other than the familiar piece of flesh below your nose

Unseal your selves, and all will be unsealed

Your I is but your consciousness of being, silent and incorporeal, made vocal and corporeal

If it (I) be steady, your world is steady; then no powers above, and no powers below can sway you right or left. If it be shifting, your world is shifting; and then are you a helpless leaf caught in an angry whirl of wind

Can one thing be at once two self-excluding things? Neither is it the one , nor the other, excepting your I has made it evil; another I has made it good

Nor is the light in your eyes the light of you alone. It is as well the light of all that share the Sun with you (The entire paragraph, and 2 paragraphs above & below it)

All is a store of wisdom for the wise. To the unwise wisdom herself is folly (Brilliant!)

MIRDAD: Too brief a self-forgetfulness is sleep. Better, it is to drown the self, awake, then sip forgetfulness by thimblefuls of sleep. What seek you of Mirdad? 
Micayon: We came to find out who are you.
MIRDAD: When with men, I am a god. When with God, I am a man. Have you found out, Micayon?
Micayon: You speak a blasphemy.
MIRDAD: Against Micayon’s God – perhaps. Against the god of Mirdad – never.
(Superb!)

If you could know me well, Micayon, first know Micayon well

For man is held by everything he holds. Release your grip on things if you would not be in their grip

You price a loaf of bread. Why not price the Sun, the Air, the earth, the Sea and the sweat and ingenuity of Man without which there could have been no loaf?

Set no limits to yourselves. Spread out till you meet God wherever you meet yourselves

Each creature’s accounts are balanced every twinkling of an eye. Nothing is hid. Nothing is left un-weighed

There is nor ‘more’ nor ‘less’ in Love . The moment you attempt to grade and measure Love it slips away leaving behind it bitter memories. Nor is there ‘now’ and ‘then’ , nor ‘here’ and ‘there’ in Love

Speech is at best an honest lie. While silence is at worst a naked verity

Out of a thousand words uttered there may be one, and one only, that need in truth be uttered. The rest but cloud the mind, and stuff the ear, and irk the tongue, and blind the ear as well

Out of the boundless Space; out of the vastness of your hearts draw blessings on the world. For everything that is a blessing to the world is to you a blessing. Pray for the good of all the creatures. For every good of every creature is a your good as well

Is not this world a common treasury wherein each man, each thing, deposit all they have for the maintenance of all?

Do the clouds sell you their rain, and the Sun his warmth and light? (and other examples)

All time is lifetime, my Companions. There are no halts and starts in Time. (and few immediate next lines)

In the axis all is peace. On the rim all is commotion. Where would you rather be?

Be neither volatile to joy, nor condensable to sorrow. But be serenely equable to both

As you die continually when living, so do you live continually when dead; if not in this body, then in the body of another form

When you love everything, you are attached to nothing (Beautiful!)

Chapter 21 - The Omniwill (Marvelous!)

Be kind to men of every race and clime, my companions (and the next 5 sentences)

If I had my choice, I would choose to live, like a phoenix, on the aroma of things, not on their flesh 

Himbal: Why does Shamadam persecute our Master while our Master loves Shamadam?
MIRDAD: Not me Shamadam persecutes, Shamadam persecutes Shamadam

Aye, fight! But not your neighbour. Fight rather all the things that cause you and your neighbour to fight

Micayon: How shall we stand aside while our Master is being chained like a criminal?

MIRDAD: Have not the least anxiety for my sake. Be at peace. So shall they do to you someday; but they shall harm themselves and not you

But I am that dreamer, and mine is that dream. Mine also is the vision of that maiden and the summit. It haunts me till this day and gives me no repose. It made me a stranger to myself. Because of it Micayon no longer knows Micayon

In his pathetic rush to cover up his nakedness Man has put on too many aprons which in the course of years have struck so tightly to his skin that he no longer distinguishes between them and his skin. (+whole paragraph)

How could a centipede ever advance an inch if each leg were to move in contrary direction to others, or block the progress of the others, or plot destruction for the others? Is not mankind a monster centipede whose man legs are nations?

To conquer Time you must fight Time with Time. To vanquish Space you must let Space eat Space. To play the kindly host to either is to remain the prisoner of both, and the hostage to the endless antics of Good and Evil

To prove a thing is to disprove its opposite. To prove its opposite is to disprove it. God has no opposites. How shall you prove or disprove Him?

Dark passions breed and prosper in the dark. Allow them the freedom of light if you would decrease their brood

Preach Life to the dying, and to the living, Death. But to those who yearn to overcome preach deliverance from both

Chance is the plaything of the wise. Fools are the playthings of Chance

Aim well, and any result is a good result

<Almost entire Chapter 35 is worth pondering over>

You are the flood , the Ark and the commander. Your passions are the flood. Your body is the ark. Your faith is the commander. But penetrating all is your will. And hovering over all is your understanding

All that the world can give you is a body – an Ark in which to sail the sea of dual life. And that you owe to no man in the world......Shipbuilders are you all. And sailors are you all......The Ark is ready!!

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