The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
Among the Hindus it is an establised custom to bring flowers to God at
the time of worship. One day Kabir saw a gardener’s wife who collected
flowers for the image of a deity; he said to her: “In the leaves of
the flower lives the soul of vegetation, and the idol to whom thou
offerest flowers is without feeling, dead, without consciousness, in
the sleep of inertness, and has no life; the condition of the
vegetable is superior to that of the mineral. If the idol possessed a
soul, he would chastise the cutter, who, when dividing the matter of
which the image is formed, placed his foot upon the idol’s breast: go,
and venerate a wise, intelligent, and perfect man, who is a
manifestation of Vichnu.”
Kabir showed always great regard for the Fakírs. One day, a number of
Durvishes came to him; he received them with respect in his house; as
he possessed nothing to show his generosity and munificence to them,
he went from door to door to procure something, but having found
nothing, he said to his wife: “Hast thou no friend from whom thou
mayst borrow something?” She answered: “There is a grocer in this
street who threw an eye of bad desire upon me; would I from this
sinner demand something, I should obtain it.” Kabir said: “Go
immediately to him, grant him what he desires, and bring something for
the durvishes.” The woman went to the lewd grocer, and requested the
loan of what she required; he replied: “If thou comest this night to
me, thy request is granted;” the woman consented, and swore the oath
which he imposed upon her to come; after which the grocer gave her
rice, oil, and whatever these men might like. When the Fakírs, well
satisfied, went to rest, a heavy rain began to fall, and the woman
wished to break her engagement; but Kabir, in order to keep her true
to her word, having taken her upon his shoulder, carried her in the
dark and rainy night, through the deep mud, to the shop of the bad
grocer, and placed himself there in a corner. When the woman had
entered into the interior part of the house, and the man found her
feet unsullied, he said to her: “How didst thou arrive without thy
feet being dirty?” The woman concealed the fact. The grocer conjured
her by the holy name of God to reveal the truth; the woman, unable to
refuse, said what had taken place. The grocer, on hearing this,
shrieked and was senseless. When he had recovered his senses, he ran
out and threw himself at Kabir’s feet. Afterwards, having distributed
among the poor whatever he had in his shop, he became a Virágí. Shaikh
Mahmud said:
“When lust seizes the heart of man, God now and then renders
vain his intent.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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