The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 1 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 1 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
The Mobed Khushi is the author of the _Bazm-Gah_ (or “banqueting
house”), in which treatise when describing the stations of Azar
Kaiván’s illustrious disciples and most eminent followers, who are
twelve in number; he enumerates them in this order: _Ardashír_,
_Kharad_, _Shiroíyah_, _Khiradmand_, _Farhad_, _Suhrab_, _Azádah_,
_Bizhen_, _Isfendiar_, _Farshidwird_, _Bahman_ and _Rustam_: the daily
food of each of these individuals was much below ten direms weight:
and they carried the austerities recommended by Kaiván to the utmost
limit, so that no others of his disciples attained to the same rank as
these twelve persons. Of Farhád, Farshídwird, and Bahman, some account
has been given in the preceding part of this work.
In the _Bazm-gah_, Khushi thus states respecting himself: “In the days
of my youth, it was my anxious desire to find _a spiritual guide_. I
therefore had recourse to the eminent doctors of Iran, Turan, Room,
and Hindustan; that is, to Moslems, Hindoos, Guebers, Christians, and
Jews. They all said to me: ‘Quit thy present faith and pass over to
us:’ but my heart felt no inclination to change of religion, to
adopting another, and abandoning opinions, as they did not afford me
sufficient light in the object of my pursuit.
“Whilst a person beholds not the water, why pull off his slippers?”
“Such is the language of the prejudiced; although each of these
doctors praised himself as being free from its influence: I afterwards
beheld, in a vision, a mighty river from which streams and canals
issued forth, all of which after many windings returned back into the
same great river, and were confined within its two banks. I abandoned
the great water, and in order to allay my thirst, directed my steps
towards the rivulets in search of water: but as the banks of their
channels were difficult of access through slime and mud, and carrying
a bowl,[335] I could not reach the stream, and remained in great
perplexity. At length my father came up and said: ‘Entreat God to
conduct thee to the water.’ A voice then reached my ear: ‘This man has
abandoned the river, and directed his face towards the rivulets.’ On
my directing my steps towards the river, a blessed Angel said to me:
‘The great river is Azar Kaiván; the small rivulets are the doctors.’
I then knew that the slime and mud of the banks, the bowl, and the
rivulets refer to prejudice and envy: therefore, being accompanied by
Khoda Jói, I joined myself to Azar Kaiván, and discovered the object
of my inquiries.” Hafiz of Shiraz observes:
“Whither can we turn our face from the high-priest’s threshold?
Happiness dwells in his abode, and salvation within that portal.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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