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
It is known that the Hindus, that is, the legalists attached to the
Smriti (holy scripture), light up a fire, and with it sacrifice a
sheep, not without reciting spells and prayers; which they call
performing _Hóm_. The Jnánindra says: “Our fire is piety, and in it I
burn the wood of duality; instead of a sheep, I sacrifice egotism:
this is my _Hóm_.” Thus he interprets the whole religion of the
Hindus, and a great number of men became his disciples. He has a
nephew, called _Gangu_, ten years old, and younger than Sádarshan. One
day, Gangu was crying from anger; the author of this book said to him:
“Yesterday thou saidst: ‘The world and what it contains are but
illusion;’ now, why dost thou cry?” He replied: “If the world is
nothing, then my crying has no reality; I am not in contradiction with
myself.” So saying, he continued to cry.
“_The socíety of good men renders good._”
Jaganath, eight years old, is the son of a Jnáníndra; he brought a
puppy into a house where an idol was worshipped, put him there in the
idol’s place, and drew the mark of cast on his head. The boy was
asked: “What art thou doing?” He answered: “The stone has no life; why
should you not rather worship the puppy than this idol? Besides, each
person worships what he finds agreeable. Because this worship is a
play, I play with this dog.” And none of the people of the house
raised a hand on account of the boy’s liberty, but uttered blessings
upon him.
In the year 1049 of the Hejira (1639 A. D.) the author of these pages
visited in Kachmir a Jnáníndra, and was delighted with his society. He
called him his _atma_, that is, his “intellectual soul.” The Jnáníndra
was asked: “Who is thy disciple?” He answered: “It is he who, having
arrived to the self-existent God, knows and sees himself to be nothing
else but God.”
At the time when the writer of this book was walking with a Hindu
pious man on the border of the lake of Kashmir, a Sanyási who had
pretensions to independence, joined us. There, a meal was brought to
us, and the Sanyási eat with that pious man. After this, he began to
boast: “Hitherto I have not eat any flesh: it is but now that I have
tasted some.” The Jnání offered a cup of wine to him, who drank it for
the sake of discarding care. He then reassumed the theme of
self-praise. The pious philosopher had some bread of the bazar, which
according to the Hindu faith is still more prohibited than wine,
brought upon the table-cloth. The Sanyási broke a bit of the bread,
eat it, and again praised himself without measure: “Now,” said he, “am
I free of all bonds.” The wise smiled, and said: “Nothing remains but
to eat cow-flesh.” The Sanyási, as soon as he heard this, left the
company.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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