thesearchforsimourgh

8/2/2019 TheSearchforSimourgh

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It was in China, late one moonless night,

Te Simorgh rst appeared to mortal sight

He let a eather foat down through the air,

And rumours o its ame spread everywhere;


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Te worlds birds gathered or their conerence

And said: Our constitution makes no sense.

All nations in the world require a king;

How is it we alone have no such thing?

Only a kingdom can be justly run;

We need a king and must inquire or one.


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Te Conference of the BirdsFard ud-Dn Attr 1177 AD

Te journey o the birds takes them through the seven valleys o the quest, love, understanding, independence and detachment, unity, astonishment,

and nally poverty and nothingness. In the valley o the quest one undergoes a hundred diculties and trials. Aer one has been tested and becomes

ree, one learns in the valley o love that love has nothing to do with reason. Te valley o understanding teaches that knowledge is temporary, but

understanding endures. Overcoming aults and weaknesses brings the seeker closer to the goal. In the valley o independence and detachment

one has no desire to possess nor any wish to discover. o cross this dicult valley one must be roused rom apathy to renounce inner and outer

attachments so that one can become sel-sucient. In the valley o unity the Hoopoe announces that although you may see many beings, in reality

there is only one, which is complete in its unity. As long as you are separate, good and evil will arise; but when you lose yoursel in the divine essence,

they will be transcended by love. When unity is achieved, one orgets all and orgets onesel in the valley o astonishment and bewilderment. Te

Hoopoe declares that the last valley o deprivation and death is almost impossible to describe. In the immensity o the divine ocean the pattern o

the present world and the uture world dissolves. As you realize that the individual sel does not really exist, the drop becomes part o the great ocean

orever in peace. Out o thousands o birds only thirty reach the end o the journey. When the light o lights is maniested and they are in peace,

they become aware that the Simurgh is them. Tey begin a new lie in the Simurgh and contemplate the inner world. By annihilating themselves

gloriously in the Simurgh they nd themselves in joy, learn the secrets, and receive immortality. So long as you do not realize your nothingness and

do not renounce your sel-pride, vanity, and sel-love, you will not reach the heights o immortality.


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Te Valley of the Quest

When you enter the rst valley, the Valley o the Quest, a hundred diculties will assail you; you will undergo a hundred trials.

Tere, the Parrot o heaven is no more than a y. You will have to spend several years there, you will have to make great eforts, and

to change your state. You will have to give up all that has seemed precious to you and regard as nothing all that you possess. When

you are sure that you possess nothing, you still will have to detach yoursel rom all that exists. Your heart will then be saved rom

perdition and you will see the pure light o Divine Majesty and your real wishes will be multiplied to innity. One who enters here will

be lled with such longing that he will give himsel up completely to the quest symbolized by this valley. He will ask o his cup-bearer

a draught o wine, and he has drunk it nothing will matter except the pursuit o his true aim. Ten he will no longer ear the dragons,

the guardians o the door, which seek to devour him. When the door is opened and he enters, then dogma, belie and unbelie--all

cease to exist.


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Another bird said: Is audacity

Allowable beore such majesty?

One needs audacity to conquer ear --

But is it right in His exalted sphere?


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Te Valley of Love

Te next valley is the Valley o Love. o enter it one must be a aming re--what shall I say? A man must himsel be re. Te ace o

the lover must be enamed, burning and impetuous as re. rue love knows no aer-thoughts; with love, good and evil cease to exist.

But as or you, the heedless and careless, this discourse will not touch you, your teeth will not even nibble at it. A loyal person stakes

ready money, stakes his head even, to be united to his riend. Others content themselves with what they will do or you tomorrow.

I he who sets out on this way will not engage himsel wholly and completely he will never be ree rom the sadness and melancholywhich weigh him down. Until the alcon reaches his aim he is agitated and distressed. I a sh is thrown onto the beach by the waves

it struggles to get back into the water.

In this valley, love is represented by re, and reason by smoke. When love comes reason disappears. Reason cannot live with the olly

o love; love gas nothing to do with human reason. I you possessed inner sight, the atoms o the visible world would be maniested

to you. But i you look at things with the eye o ordinary reason you will never understand how necessary it is to love. Only a man

who has been tested and is ree can eel this. He who undertakes this journey should have a thousand hearts so that he can sacrice

one at every moment.


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Te Valley of Understanding

Aer the valley o which I have spoken, there comes another--the Valley o Understanding, which has neither beginning nor end. No

way is equal to this way, and the distance to be traveled to cross it is beyond reckoning. Understanding, or each traveler, is enduring;

but knowledge is temporary. Te soul, like the body, is in a state o progress or decline; and the Spiritual Way reveals itsel only in the

degree to which the traveler has overcome his aults and weaknesses, his sleep and his inertia, and each will approach nearer to his

aim according to his efort. Even i a gnat were to y with all its might could it equal the speed o the wind? Tere are diferent ways o

crossing this Valley, and all birds do not y alike. Understanding can be arrived at variously--some have ound the Mihrab, others theidol. When the sun o understanding brightens this road each receives light according to his merit and he nds the degree assigned

to him in the understanding o truth. When the mystery o the essence o beings reveals itsel clearly to him the urnace o this world

becomes a garden o owers. He who is striving will be able to see the almond in its hard shell. He will no longer be pre-occupied with

himsel, but will look up at the ace o his riend. In each atom he will see the whole; he will ponder over thousands o bright secrets.

But, how many have lost their way in this search or one who has ound the mysteries! It is necessary to have a deep and lasting

wish to become as we ought to be in order to cross this dicult valley. Once you have tasted the secrets you will have a real wish to

understand them. As or you who are asleep (and I cannot commend you or this), why not put on mourning? You, who have not seen

the beauty o your riend, get up and search! How long will you stay as you are, like a donkey without a halter!


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Te Valley of Independence and Detachment

Te there comes the valley where there is neither the desire to possess nor the wish to discover. In this state o the soul a cold wind

blows, so violent that in a moment it devastates an immense space; the seven oceans are no more than a pool, the seven planets a mere

sparkle, the seven heavens a corpse, the seven hells broken ice. Ten, an astonishing thing, beyond reason! An ant has the strength o

a hundred elephants, and a hundred caravans perish while a rook is lling his crop.

In order that Adam might receive the celestial light, hosts o green-clad angels were consumed by sorrow. So that Noah might becomea carpenter o God and build the ark, thousands o creatures perished in the waters. Myriads o gnats ell on the army o Abrahah

so that that king would be overthrown. Tousands o the rst-born died so that Moses might see God. Tousands o people took to

the Christian girdles so that Christ could possess the secret o God. Tousands o hearts and souls were pillaged so that Muhammad

might ascend or one night to heaven. In this Valley nothing old or new has value; you can act or not act. I you saw a whole world

burning until hearts were only shish kabab, it would be only a dream compared to reality. I myriads o souls were to all into this

boundless ocean it would be as a drop o dew. I heaven and earth were to burst into minute particles it would be no more than a lea

alling rom a tree; and i everything were to be annihilated, rom the sh to the moon, would there be ound in the depths o a pit

the leg o a lame ant? I there remain no trace o either o men or jinn, the secret o a drop o water rom which all has been ormed

is still to be pondered over.


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Te Valley of Unity

You will next have to cross the Valley o unity. In this valley everything is broken in pieces and then unied. All who raise their

heads here raise them rom the same collar. Although you seem to see many beings, in reality there is only one--all make one which

is complete in its unity. Again, that which you see as a unity is not diferent rom that which appears in numbers. And as the Being

o whom I speak is beyond unity and numbering, cease to think o eternity as beore and aer, and since these two eternities have

vanished, cease to speak o them. When all that is visible is reduced to nothing, what is there le to contemplate?


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Te Valley of Astonishment and Bewilderment

Aer the Valley o Unity comes the Valley o Astonishment and Bewilderment, where one is a prey to sadness and dejection. Tere

sighs are like swords, and each breath a bitter sight; there, is sorrow and lamentation, and a burning eagerness. It is at once day

and night. Tere, is re, yet a man is depressed and despondent. How, in his bewilderment, shall he continue his way? But he who

has achieved unity orgets all and orgets himsel. I he is asked: Are you, or are you not? Have you or have you not the eeling o

existence? Are you in the middle or on the border? Are you mortal or immortal? he will reply with certainty: I know nothing, I

understand nothing, I am unaware o mysel. I am in love, but with whom I do not know. My heart is at the same time both ull and

empty o love.


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Te Valley of Deprivation and Death

Aer the Valley o Unity comes the Valley o Astonishment and Bewilderment, where one is a prey to sadness and dejection. Tere

sighs are like swords, and each breath a bitter sight; there, is sorrow and lamentation, and a burning eagerness. It is at once day

and night. Tere, is re, yet a man is depressed and despondent. How, in his bewilderment, shall he continue his way? But he who

has achieved unity orgets all and orgets himsel. I he is asked: Are you, or are you not? Have you or have you not the eeling o

existence? Are you in the middle or on the border? Are you mortal or immortal? he will reply with certainty: I know nothing, I

understand nothing, I am unaware o mysel. I am in love, but with whom I do not know. My heart is at the same time both ull and

empty o love.


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Te hoopoe answered him: Dear nightingale,

Tis supercial love which makes you quail

Is only or the outward show o things.

Renounce delusion and prepare your wings

For our great quest; sharp thorns deend the roseAnd beauty such as hers too quickly goes.

rue love will see such empty transience


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Another bird said: Is audacity

Allowable beore such majesty?

One needs audacity to conquer ear --

But is it right in His exalted sphere?

Te hoopoe said: Tose who are worthy reach

A subtle understanding none can teach;

Tey guard the secrets o our glorious king

And thereore are not kept rom anything --

But how could one who knows such secrets be

Convicted o the least audacity?

Since he is lled with reverence to the brim,

A breath o boldness is permitted him.

(Te ignorant, its true, can never share

Te secrets o our king. I one should dare

o ape the ways o the initiate,

What does he do but blindly imitate?

Hes like some soldier who kicks up a din

And spoils the ranks with his indiscipline.)

But think o some new pilgrim, some young boy

Whose boldness comes rom mere excess o joy;

He has no certain knowledge o the Way

And what seems rudeness is but loving play --

Hes like a madman -- loves audacity

Will have him walking on the restless sea.

Such ways are laudable; we should admire

Tis love that turns him to a blazing re;

One cant expect discretion rom a fame,

And madmen are beyond reproach or blame --

When madness chooses you to be its prey

Well hear what crazy things you have to say.

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