The sun’s breath
I tell a significant, short and beautiful story via a "customer review" I wrote on this Wisdom of Hafiz Oracle Deck if you scroll down to the reviews section on the above link.
And the title to this blog post: 'The Sun's Breath,' were three words my teacher once said to me about Hafiz, and were the title we were going to use for my third Hafiz publication back in 1997. We were so far along with that publication that we even had an ISBN number all in place, and the book announced at Amazon; but then a major publisher bought the book that then became my bestselling Hafiz book, titled, The Gift.
This Wisdom of Hafiz Oracle Deck was on the stove for some three years, and in reading some of the 45 pieces of Hafiz verse (most all fragments from unpublished poems-rendering) ... I got a bit overwhelmed with thanks ... in feeling I was able to do Hafiz some real justice. Forty-three of the 45 pieces of verse featured in this deck are published for the first time.
“Love, loves what it loves because of trust.”
That is the very first piece of Hafiz verse offered in this deck and for the subject/card titled: Engage Trust.
Trust seems essential in the relationships one can most value in one’s life. What wing does not trust the sky? The sky in another heart, the sky in love?
What root does not have hope and trust for the earth to give it life? That is a nice line, that just popped in ... to say hello. And don't we really have some kind of root in whatever we look at? If one wants to get subtle, nuanced: don't we really have a hope ... in whatever we turn our gaze toward, or reach for? Sure thing I think. And I think the more we know what is going on, the better, and the less exploitable we become into acts of unkindness, and maybe so many fears. Yeah we get duped there!
I so dig the way Rumi and Hafiz get into the fundamentals of the human being, and then so creatively and effectively address those— our vital needs in a poetic, charming, intelligent and often ... so cool a manner. A way we can then (and want to) imbibe that … wisdom. And is not wisdom freedom? And a real alchemy stone, especially if lived? In some ways Hafiz and Rumi are to me, Carl Jung times ten, gone poet.
Wisdom is freedom. That is what Rumi & Hafiz's chuck wagons are loaded with: freedom! Gourmet freedoms served beautifully.
And another story about my teacher was the reason for this last card in the deck titled: Listen.
That story is: my teacher, who I mentioned somewhat in detail in my last blog was named Eruch Jessawala. He often made himself very accessible to people who traveled from around the world to visit Meher Baba's private residence at Meherazad, outside of Ahmednagar, India. That is where Eruch lived with Meher Baba for many years; and where Eruch had invited me to stay with him off and on over a twelve year stretch, until his passing.
People visiting Meherazad would often, if they could, have some private time with Eruch. There was a period of some years when Eruch would invite those wanting private time with him into a small cabin where he lived, that bore resemblance to a kind of tool shed, he lived so simply, and exemplified such an extraordinary humility. And I would notice that many who came away from that private time with Eruch would be weeping, or appeared to have been.
And I remember once saying to a woman, who came out of Eruch's room with tears on her cheek: “Why are you crying?” And she replied, “Because no one has ever listened to me so deeply and responded with so much insight and love."
Being able to walk with Eruch hundreds of times alone over that twelve year stretch, in the very early mornings with him, I would ask him questions about a whole range of things. But more often than not, about Hafiz, Rumi, poetry, art, and theology, you might say. But I once asked him: "How can you listen so deeply to people and with so much love?” And he responded, "Who do you think I see everyone as?" And a big thought came to my mind that I did not voice, but then he answered, responding to my unspoken thought, as he had so many times to my thoughts.
But in this instance he said, "Yes. I see everyone as God. For God is all there really is. I see everyone, most, most everyone, as God with amnesia; as a great and profound and wonderful king or queen who has forgotten who they are and thus can suffer so many things ... a great and powerful and wise queen and king would never suffer. I see God asking me (Her/His servant) for advice. And that is profoundly humbling to me. And then with all of my heart I listen. I listen as if I am listening to God. And then try and say something helpful as tenderly, as tenderly as I can."
So with all that in mind, the above, I one day come across a juncture in doing one of my (of several thousand now) renderings of Hafiz. And where I felt it was so legitimate to craft this, then crafted the below, which is really the only verse in this deck that was published before, and as said now appears as card/section 45, titled: Listen. With that Hafiz verse-rendering (via my teacher) being:
How do I listen to others? As if everyone were my beloved Master, speaking to me...his last cherished words.
—Hafiz from The Gift
Yes, what a wonderful service listening to others can be. And what a wonderful strength that also is.
“Sweet the way the moon can perfectly listen to anything we might say. And then always, always place her head upon our feet with her light, in knowing our extraordinary worth.”
Hafiz toooo! Knock us out my old friend, help wake us up. And be more kind to ourselves and others.
I rambled here a bit. That brownie and coffee clicked in. And think Hafiz— and my dear teacher— poked me in the ribs ... toooo!
A big hug O yeah!