Worthy Home for the bird of our soul--reflection on the first Hidden Word from the Persian

In the Name of the Lord of Utterance, The Mighty.

1. O YE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MINDS TO KNOW AND EARS TO HEAR!

The first call of the Beloved is this: O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness. Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal.

Recitation and transliteration by the Utterance Project: 

My own transliteration from the Persian: 

Bé-nám-e gúyande-ye taváná.

Ay ṣáḥibán húsh va gúsh!

Avval sorúsh-e dúst ínast:

Ay bolbol-e ma‘naví, juz dar golbon-e ma‘ání já-y magozín,

va ay hod-hod-e solaymán-e ‘ishq, juz dar sabáy-e jánán vaṭan magír,

va ay anqáy-e baqá, juz dar qáf-e vafá maḥall mapazír,

ínast makán-e tou, agar be-lá-makán be-par-e ján barparí,

va áhang-e maqám-e khúd rayigán nimáʼí. 

Some thoughts on the mixing of the literary devices and the message in this first Persian Hidden Word:

minds to know and ears to hear in the Persian is húsh va gúsh. In an elegant rhyme, Bahá’u’lláh emphasizes and links a distinguishing facet of the human reality--the power of our minds to discern and know (húsh) and the power of our ears to hear (gúsh), inviting us to hear, fully engage, reflect, and understand what He is teaching in these short, gem-like utterances.

The first call of the Beloved is this in the Persian is Avval sorúsh-e dúst ínast where "sorúsh" continues to the above rhyme while "dúst" is a near-rhyme, inviting the reader to meditate on the links between húsh ("minds to know"), gúsh ("ears to hear"), and sorúsh ("message"). Sorúsh is a poetic way to say "message" in Persian--a word that may also refer to a messenger angel such as Gabriel himself, i.e. "a heavenly message direct from the angel Gabriel." Bahá’u’lláh thus identifies Himself with the angelic messenger Gabriel or the Holy Spirit itself in the near-rhyme dúst ("the Beloved" or dear-Friend); one is constantly receiving messages from many directions in the world (e.g., family, friends, business-associates, politicians, religious leaders, media figures) yet it is the heavenly, promised Manifestation of God to which we should really attune ourselves and be shaped & transformed by, as He is the One and only who is both supremely Wise and advises us purely for our own sakes and well-being (without any alternative motive or self-interest mixed in).

"O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit." --Bahá’u’lláh

As the nightingale, in Persian poetry, sings its love for the rose throughout the night, so Bahá’u’lláh summons human beings to be nightingales of the spiritual realm of God's beauty.

O mystic nightingale! Bahá’u’lláh calls his human listeners bolbol-e ma‘naví--"mystic nightingales." In Persian classical poetry, the nightingale has been celebrated for its love for the rose (gol), singing its praises throughout the night. In The Conference of the Birds by Farīd ud-Dīn ʿAṭṭār (1145-1221), the hoopoe bird that guides her others birds to the Great King (the Simurgh) warns the nightingale to seek only the Rose that is eternal, never fading, and without thorns. Likewise, here Bahá’u’lláh acts as our spiritual guide who warns us to Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. The word translated as "the spirit" may also be understood as "[inner] significance," encouraging us not to be content with outward or superficial meanings but to go deeper to find the inner, spiritual reality deposited in the reality of all things. Indeed, the word for "mystic" (ma‘naví) and "spirit" (ma‘ání) are etymologically close, doubly emphasizing that the bird of the human heart is best suited for the mystical, the inner significance, the spiritual.

in the rose-garden of the spirit: I am fascinated by the spiritual realm signified here as a "rose-garden" (golbon-e) in which we can abide--beholding, smelling, and adoring its diverse roses with its varied colors & perfumes and delicate petals. In the Qur'an and Bahá’í Writings the human soul is also compared to a garden which we can water, nurture, and prune that it only grows beautiful plants, trees, and flowers.

Abide not: Shoghi Effendi in his matchless translation preserves the double-emphasis Bahá’u’lláh declares in the Persian joz (except, only) ...ma- (not, do not [archaic negation instead of modern-day na- in Persian). It is clear and without equivocation: the rose-garden of the spirit is the only proper place for us to abide. This double-emphasis is also used in the next two addresses within this Hidden Word to the "messenger of the Solomon of love" and "immortal phoenix." 

"O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved" --Bahá’u’lláh

In this line, translated as "messenger," in the Persian Bahá’u’lláh calls human beings hod-hod or hoopoe. The Eurasian hoopoe who in the Qur'an is King Solomon's special envoy to the Queen of Sheba. Here, we're called to be special envoys of God's loving-kindness to each and all.

O messenger of the Solomon of love! How wondrous to be called as and to being a messenger of love! And not a message of love from anyone but from the ultimate King! Messenger in the original-Persian is hod-hod--literally "hoopoe." A gorgeous bird that itself looks like it is wearing a crown with its crest, it is this same bird that acts as guide of the other birds, including the nightingale, in Farīd ud-Dīn ʿAṭṭār's The Conference of Birds. In Qur'an 27:20, the hoopoe is a wise-bird that travels to Sheba on Solomon's behalf and reports on the mighty kingdom of a queen who rules there, yet whose people worship the sun as its deity. Solomon then sends with this hoopoe an invitation to submit to the one universal God--the Gracious, the Merciful. This bird is a symbol of virtue in Persia. How wondrous to see ourselves as wise, virtuous, royal birds that carry messages of love from God our King! Bahá’u’lláh says "Grant, I beseech Thee, O Thou Who art the Everlasting King and the Sovereign Protector of all men, that I may be enabled to manifest that which shall cause the hearts and souls of men to soar in the limitless immensity of Thy love, and to commune with Thy Spirit." (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 311). 'Abdu'l-Bahá says that our fellow human creatures must be treated with "infinite, loving care, and tenderly fostered in the embraces of mercy, so that they may taste the spiritual honey-sweetness of God's love; that they may become like unto candles shedding their beams across this darksome world, and may clearly perceive what blazing crowns of glory the Most Great Name, the Ancient Beauty, hath set on the brows of His beloved, what bounties He hath bestowed on the hearts of those He holdeth dear, what a love He hath cast into the breasts of humankind, and what treasures of friendship He hath made to appear amongst all men." (Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 19)

• love: The word used in the Persian (originally from Arabic) is ‘ishq--an intense, ardent love, which in Sufi theosophical writings is often considered the highest form of love and perhaps the last stage in our ascent towards God in which all love is burned away and only beholding the beatific vision of God and communing with Him remains.
  

Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved: This line emphasizes contemplation of one's true home by using the words sabá (home, haven) and vaṭan (shelter, dwelling, motherland) sandwiching jánán (well-beloved, dear-one, life, soul). A central truth in Buddhism is that an abode is the location/state/structure of our thoughts, attention, and emotions. Buddhism invites one to cultivate the four brahmaviharas--'heavenly abodes' of loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. When we cultivate thoughts, feelings, and actions of loving-kindness, it is in loving-kindness we dwell, no matter where ever one may be physically located at the moment. Poetry distinguishes between a house (a place one may live) from a home--a place of living that is associated with feelings of safety, being at easy, accepted, warm, cozy, a constant hug, like the Norwegian and Danish hygge. Home is often associated with family, e.g., parents, children, and/or spouse. It is possible that Bahá’u’lláh is alluding to motifs in Abrahamic extra-biblical commentaries that the Queen of Sheba that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (sometimes called Bilqís in extra-Quranic commentaries) became more than associates, trading partners, and mutual monotheists but dear-friends or even lovers. Whatever the case, Bahá’u’lláh reminds us to the singular direction of our affections, attachments, thoughts, and actions is to be our divine Well-Beloved. The Christian tradition frequently emphasizes the complete acceptance and love of God for each of us, even though we be imperfect or sinful. Each Abrahamic tradition emphasizes the Forgiving as an essential attribute of God. Yet this is not a home of stagnation or self-complacency. Child development research finds that a child needs a safe point (or parent) to work from to explore, learn, and grow. From the home of the Well-Beloved, completely safe, loved, accepted, and encouraged, one can grow in the garden of one's soul such heavenly abodes as loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, also becoming a heavenly abode for others.

"O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness." --Bahá’u’lláh

 Here, Bahá’u’lláh calls human beings as that mythic, eternal bird which flies high and takes refuge on the highest mountains in the clouds, like the phoenixes to renew ourselves in the fire of the love of God and dwell on that highest mountain which is faithfulness to God. 

and O immortal phoenix! The word anqá ('phoenix') is also used in Persian for griffin--the mythic creature with the back of a lion and front of an eagle, the king of beasts and the king of birds combined in one--and so emphasizing our majesty and power as human beings. The griffin is also known to guard treasures, and Bahá’u’lláh in a later Persian Hidden Word tells us to "Make My love thy treasure, and cherish it even as thy very sight and life." Nonetheless, the preferred translation Shoghi Effendi gives us here is phoenix. We human beings are here called "immortal phoenixes." A phoenix is that mythical bird that lives forever, renewing itself cyclically and being reborn in fire, can carry heavy loads, and which are very loyal to its friends. In a Bahá’í context, the soul is immortal, and we renew ourselves in the fire of God's love (as well as the fire of God's tests sent out of God's love for our individual and collective growth). Only God knows the loads we can carry in service to others, while we're promised to not be tested beyond our capacities, but also discern for ourselves patterns of life to be able to typically serve with equanimity. Loyalty or faithfulness as key spiritual virtue of our phoenix-souls is emphasized next with:

dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness: The theme of abodes and homes is reiterated in this line with qáf ("mount" or mountain) and maḥall (place, spot, location, habitation, dwelling), sandwiching vafá ("faithfulness"). Shoghi Effendi seems to combine for the translation "dwell not" the original word maḥall with the verb in the Persian mapazír (ma- ["do not"] + pazír [receive, accept, embrace, seize]). Like the rose-garden of the spirit, or the home of our Well-Beloved, faithfulness--metaphorized here as a mountain--is a place to embrace for our dwelling. Of note is that the Persian words here anqá (phoenix), baqá (immortal), and vafá (faithfulness) are rhymes or near-rhymes, reinforcing the deep links of the concepts.

"Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal." --Bahá’u’lláh

Therein is thy habitation: In Persian, ínast makán-e tou, reinforcing even further the dwelling-place theme with the word makán (place, location, resting-place, or "habitation").

if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest: To me, the translation conveys perfectly the alliterative emphasis on the metaphorical power of flight of the soul (ján) in the original Persian be-par-e ("on the wings of" or by the plumage of) and barparí ("thou soarest"). This line contains lovely coherence and unity with the co-main-theme of this Hidden Word (with abiding, dwelling) that our human soul is a kind of bird (nightingale, hoopoe, and/or phoenix [or griffin]).

to the realm of the infinite: The location to which Bahá’u’lláh summons the reader is that unique place without limits, of infinitude. The Persian, drawn partly from Arabic, be-lá-makán is a kind of compound word that is perhaps literally translated as be- ("to) + lá-makán as "no-place," which a non-authorative, alternate translator renders as "the Placeless." Limitless expanse, vastness without borders, or an entirely transcendent location is the feel of this realm of the infinite.

and seekest: The word translated as "seekest" áhang also contains meanings of "intending" or "determining to," inviting us to determine to use our own human agency towards our most valued goal, rather than just be swayed in the wind by sociological and psychological forces constantly at work on us. Áhang also contains meanings of tune, melody, or harmony, reminding us to be conscientious of the song which the bird of our heart is constantly singing.

to attain thy goal: What a wonderful reminder to keep our key and most fundamental goal always at the center of our heart! The words in the Persian for this phrase are of great interest:

• maqám--place or location or station. In Sufi literature, the spiritual wayfarer or seeker is guided by the spiritual master to pass through various maqámát ("stations") until one attained the intimate presence and blissful good-pleasure of God. It is of this imagery of "stations" or "valleys" that Bahá’u’lláh writes about in The Seven Valleys.
• khúd--one's self, one's own. While always containing social ramifications, one's life journey is always deeply one's own; only we ourselves, walking with our God, are responsible for its direction and the paint we paint on the canvas of life.
• rayigán--freely. We ultimately have great power & capacity to freely direct our own life, our consciousness, our thoughts, attitudes, our actions--all our choice.
• nimáʼí--to do, complete, or perform, from the verb nimúdan. Although perhaps intended and found in the quietude of our own heart, this goal, this station, to which we freely seek and intend, is ultimately, an action, we must actively step or fly to on the wings of our soul, even while carried on the wind of the sacred breath, the Holy Spirit embodying message, of the Lord of Utterance, the Mighty.