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 Paristár, the son of Khurshíd, who was originally of
Isfashán, assumed the elements of body in Patna; the Mobed, when a
youth, was accepted by divine favour, and through the aid of the
Almighty became one of the _Yekánah Bín_, or “seers of unity.” Having
in his early years entered into the service of Azar Kaiván, he
obtained a perfect sanctity through the society of his holy master’s
disciples. He however devoted himself chiefly to the Mobed Sarósh: he
was the author of the _Taprah-i-Mobedi_, or “the Sacerdotal
Kettledrum.” In the year of the Hejirah 1049 (A. D. 1640) he came to
Kashmir, where the author of this work was admitted into his society.
From the nightfal until sunrise, the Mobed Paristár gave himself up to
the Saráíst, which in the celestial language, or the _Desatir_, they
call _Faró_, or “downward:” this rite, according to them, consists in
elevating the feet in the air, and standing on the head; which
position is called in Hindi _Kapal Asan_[336] or “head-seat.” He of a
sudden quitted the body and entered the bowers of Paradise. A Mobed
has said:
“If thou be a wanderer upon the path of spirituality,
Fix not on the (external) robe, the motion of thy heart,
For nothingness will be the dwelling of thy body:
Although in reality thou continuest to move.”
The Mobed Peshkár, the son of Khurshíd, was also born in Patna, and
one year younger than Perishtar (his brother). He became unrivalled
during his age, in the Hindi chaunts and poems of that sect. He was
the _servant of the leader_ Azar Kaiván and his disciples, and whilst
in the service of the Mobed Sarósh he attained the knowledge of God,
and of himself, and he became eminently divested of prejudice and
exempted from human infirmities: being totally unfettered by the bonds
or chains of any sect whatever, and studiously shunning the polemic
domains of prejudice: in short, the eulogium of one creed and the
abhorrence of another, entered not into his system. He came to Kashmir
with his elder brother, with the purpose of departing from thence to
Kathay: he was noted for the imprisonment of the breath, concerning
which the Mobed Húshíyár said: “He once suppressed his breath and
plunged into the water, where he remained immersed during two watches
(six hours), after which interval he again raised his head above the
surface.”
HEMISTICH: “Wherever he may be, O God, guard him in safety!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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