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The Eighth Lesson: Sufiism.1275
Teachings; the “Vine” and the “Grape” the source of the “Wine,” hence
“Sufiism”; the “Tavern” the Temple or Sufi secret “lodge of instruction”; the
“Beloved” is the symbol for “The All-Good,” or God; and the “lover” is always
the Sufi gazing at his Beloved;—the term “the Beloved Damsel” is often used
as a cloak for the Divine One, in the sense of being the object of the ardent
love of the “Lover,” or Sufi; and the terms the “Red Rose” which is beloved
by the “Nightingale,” are used in the same sense of beloved and the lover.
Many Western writers have considered this symbology far-fetched, and
have preferred to read nothing but sensualism and bacchanalian rioting in
the verse of the inspired poets of Persia, but the Sufis know better, and a
careful reading will disclose the hidden meaning—will pull aside the veil.
For instance, read the apparently riotous verses of the “Rubaiyat,” with the
above interpretation, and see if it does not agree with the Inner Teachings:
“And David’s lips are lockt; but in divine
High-piping Pehlevi, with ‘Wine! Wine! Wine!
Red Wine!’—the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That sallow cheek of hers t’ incarnadine.”
* * *
“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”
* * *
“You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse
I made a Second Marriage in my house;
Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.”
* * *
And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,
Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape