Cognizance
No one can come to know It by any
measure
Its Essence solely via It Self truly
manifest
The mind for Its sake galloping as
fast as possible
Other than powerlessness nothing else
is known or learnt
Its benevolence said, “If you are to
know Me”
“No cognition by means of mind or
senses ever possible”
How can the senses avail to suffice?
As if a hunchback climbing a dome
agile
Mind is the leader but at Its gates [1]
Only Its generosity may carry you
near It Self
Reasoning of mind shall guide you to
no place
Do not stare as others like a mule
dumb founded
The leader on this path is Its
generosity [2]
Its handicraft towards It Self the
reason and eye-opener
O! The one helpless little knowing
about your self [3]
How could you ever come to know the
Lord for real?
If you are lowly in knowledge of your
self
How could you be cognizant of It
Self?
Since you know not the secrets of Its
workmanship
Its knowledge just a bunch of doubt
and ambiguities
Imaginations are inferior in
describing It
Nonsense and boastings filled our
understanding
When it comes time for Its description
Ours: Either metaphoric talk or
denial of It Self
Outer limits of mind on Its path just
bewilderment
Essence of mind towards It just
estrangement
King and owner of mind and love are It
The destinations for seeker and
traveler are It
Our mind just a guide for Its
existence [4]
All beings under the feet of Its
existence
Its ‘verb’ far from ‘inside’ or
‘outside’ [5]
Its Essence superior to “How?” or
“Why?”
Its Essence ventures not to the path
of cognizance [6]
Love and heart chopping the mind to
pieces on this path
Mind unadorned by the eye-shadow of
Its cognition [7]
Unaware of Its deity and holiness
How can we excite the imagination to
seek?
How can an old narration bring to
life something afresh? [8]
Even the prophets are lost by this
story
Its closest companions bewildered by
Its attributes
Language: The term
‘Ma-e-refat’ derived from the Arabic root
word ‘Orf’ which means to know or recognize something specifically. I
tend to use the
words like ‘cognizance’ to translate
the concept.
[1] The foolish and the arrogant
believe that they have the
power or the knowledge to gain access and closeness to the Creator. The
poet
teaches that the only means to be carried towards the Beloved is by Its
own
generosity and no power of mind or senses any other faculty or object
in the
universe can accommodate for that.
Mind is a leader for mankind
for his own daily affairs and
to manipulate the elements and people to its favor. But this is not a
tool
suitable for any approach to the Creator.
[2] The generosity of the Beloved
provides handicrafts
produced by The Excellency, which can sail us towards It Self. These
handicrafts could be anything ranging from revelations, dreams,
accidents, instincts,
unearthing secrets, and messengers… not matter the nature of these,
there are
gifts of generosity from the Beloved to guide us towards It Self, if
and when
It commands it necessary.
[3] For some reason the man thinks that
he knows himself.
What wrong thought gone astray. If you do not know and feel the DNA
within your
cells, what makes you think you know anything within your heart? And if
you
know not your self then you know nothing about It Self the Creator.
[4] Our mind is a guide to inform us
that It is! And not really
much else other than the fact that Beloved exists can be deducted by
our mind
or sensate by our senses. And the existence of this lowly mind is under
Its
power which was metaphoric as feet in the poem.
[5] I used the exact translation of
the Arabic word ‘F-ell’
(which reads like fell with a little pause after ‘f’) which means
‘doing’ or
more poetic the ‘verb’. What the poet says is that the deeds and
actions of
this Super Being are not subject to the most fundamental aspect of the
universe
i.e. inside or outside. It is pure and clean of any such concepts. And
on the
same token It is pure and afar from questions like “why?” or “what?”
which
ordinary creation may be subjected to but not the Creator.
[6] The essence (Zaat) of the Creator
is nothing close the
path of our understanding. Love and heart, which sense this Essence,
tear up
the mind trying to figure It out with no success.
[7] As we have read Ansaari and others
the term eye-shadow
or mascara which is the usage of the Arabic word ‘Kohol’ a dark
substance for
eye-lining the eyelids, is a term used to describe the addition of a
something
beautiful to the eye. Sanaa-ee says that the mind has no such eyeliner
and
therefore unable to comprehend anything of the Creator.
[8] I suspect by the old narrations
the poet means the
revelations or books or some such sarcastic expression of helplessness
as
confessed in the following verse.
© 2003-2002,
Dara Shayda
s
