(A few thoughts of God outweigh a load of books)
Why Carry? Hafiz, Why carry a whole load of books Upon your back Climbing this mountain, When tonight, Just a few thoughts of God Will light the holy fire.
The Only One From man’s perspective In this intricate game of love, It is so easy to become confused And think you are the do-er. But from God’s Infinite Certainty, He always Knows That He is the only One Who should ever be put on trial.
Let’s stop reading about God— We will never understand Him. Jump to your feet, wave your fists, Threaten and warn the whole Universe That your heart can no longer live Without real love!
(Love as volcanic demand, not polite petition)
You Better Start Kissing Me Throw away All your begging bowls at God’s door, For I have heard the Beloved Prefers sweet threatening shouts, Something on the order of: “Hey, Beloved, My heart is a raging volcano Of love for you! You better start kissing me— Or Else!”
That’s the Whole Idea Fire has a love for itself— It wants to keep burning. It is like a woman Who is at last making love To the person she most desires. Find a Master who is like the Sun. Go to His house In the middle of the night. Smash a window. Act like a great burglar— Jump in. Now, Gather all your courage— Throw yourself into His bed! He will probably kill you. Fantastic— That’s the whole idea!
So the whole world could have died Like Hafiz, Dancing so happily, Filled with Ecstasy and Unbearable Divine Light.
(The soul poised at the edge of eternal freedom)
A Tethered Falcon My heart sits on the Arm of God Like a tethered falcon Suddenly unhooded. I am now blessedly crazed Because my Master’s Astounding Effulgence Is in constant view. My piercing eyes, Which have searched every world For Tenderness and Love, Now lock on the Royal Target— The Wild Holy One Whose Beauty Illuminates Existence. My soul endures a magnificent longing. I am a tethered falcon With great wings and sharp talons poised, Every sinew taut, like a Sacred Bow, Quivering at the edge of my Self And Eternal Freedom, Though still held in check By a miraculous Divine Golden Cord. Beloved, I am waiting for You to free me Into Your Mind And Infinite Being. I am pleading in absolute helplessness To hear, finally, your Words of Grace: Fly! Fly into Me! Hafiz, Who can understand Your sublime Nearness and Separation?
He discovers that the essence of life is the expression of beauty—it is Poetry. He arrives at a stage in Love’s Journey where everyone becomes a Poet!
(The secret game of seeing God everywhere)
“Start seeing everything as God, But keep it a secret.”
But let’s keep playing. Let’s go deeper, Go deeper. For if we do, Our spirits will embrace And interweave. Our union will be so glorious That even God Will not be able to tell us apart. There is a wonderful game We should play with everyone And it goes like this…
Your Beautiful Parched, Holy Mouth A poet is someone Who can pour Light into a spoon, Then raise it To nourish Your beautiful parched, holy mouth.
When a drop from my Emerald Sea Touches your soul’s mouth, It will dissolve everything but your Joy And an Eternal Wonder. Then, The Beloved will gladly hire you As His minstrel To go traveling about this world, Letting everyone upon this earth Hear The Beautiful Names of God Resound in a thousand chords! Hafiz himself is singing tonight In Resplendent Glory, For the cup in my heart Has revealed the Beloved’s Face, And I have His oath in writing That He will never again depart. O Hafiz, take one of your tears, For you are weeping like a golden candle— Throw one tear into the Ocean of your own verse And let the wounds Of every lover of God who kneels in prayer And comes close to your words Begin, right now, To disappear.
(God’s laughter as the rhythm of divine love)
God ’s Laughter Hafiz tells us that the Beloved’s nature is pure Joy. The closer we come to Him, the more we are able to hear and feel God’s Laughter. The rhythm of His Laughter is the music of the dance of life. That music is the essence of Love, and it is the radiant core of every song of Hafiz.
“I am happy even before I have a reason.”
And the Beloved replied, Indeed, Hafiz, I do know Everything— But it is fun playing dumb once in a while. And I love intimate chat And the warmth of your heart’s fire.
(Laughter as a soul waking up)
Laughter What is laughter? What is laughter? It is God waking up! O it is God waking up! It is the sun poking its sweet head out From behind a cloud You have been carrying too long, Veiling your eyes and heart. It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure That is your Real body—called Truth. It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight To embrace everyone and everything in this world.
What is this precious love and laughter Budding in our hearts? It is the glorious sound Of a soul waking up!
Tripping over Joy What is the difference Between your experience of Existence And that of a saint? The saint knows That the spiritual path Is a sublime chess game with God And that the Beloved Has just made such a Fantastic Move That the saint is now continually Tripping over Joy And bursting out in Laughter And saying, “I Surrender!” Whereas, my dear, I am afraid you still think You have a thousand serious moves.
Silence A day of Silence Can be a pilgrimage in itself. A day of Silence Can help you listen To the Soul play Its marvelous lute and drum. Is not most talking A crazed defense of a crumbling fort? I thought we came here To surrender in Silence, To yield to Light and Happiness, To Dance within In celebration of Love’s Victory!
(Little by little turning into God)
Skinning Your Knees on God Little by little, You will turn into stars. Even then, my dear, You will only be A crawling infant, Still skinning your knees on God. Little by little, You will turn into The whole sweet, amorous Universe In heat On a wild spring night, And become so free In a wonderful, secret And pure Love That flows From a conscious, One-pointed, Infinite need for Light. Even then, my dear, The Beloved will have fulfilled Just a fraction, Just a fraction! Of a promise He wrote upon your heart. When your soul begins To Ever bloom and laugh And spin in Eternal Ecstasy— O little by little, You will turn into God.
O Purity, O dear Truth and Friend within me, Why didn’t you tell me sooner You could do all this— Cut the reins of illusion, So we can all Just go wild Loving God And everyone all day!
A Wild, Holy Band Your breath is a sacred clock, my dear— Why not use it to keep time with God’s Name?
Forever Dance I am happy even before I have a reason. I am full of Light even before the sky Can greet the sun or the moon. Dear companions, We have been in love with God For so very, very long. What can Hafiz now do but Forever Dance!
(The life and trials of Hafiz)
His father was a coal merchant who died when Hafiz was in his teens. To help support the family, Hafiz worked as a baker’s assistant by day and put himself through school at night, using part of his salary to pay his tuition. Over many years, he mastered the subjects of a “classical” medieval education: Quranic law and theology, grammar, mathematics and astronomy. He also mastered calligraphy, which in the centuries before printing was a highly refined art form.
A poet is someone Who can pour Light into a Spoon.
Hafiz’s livelihood depended solely on patronage. Everyone admired his literary brilliance, but his poetry boldly celebrated ideas that bordered on heresy, and he had enemies among the rigorously orthodox who “blacklisted” him whenever they came to power. Periodically, he would fall out of favor and lose his position, both at court and in the college. He could sometimes use his skills as a copyist to support his family until his fortunes improved. At least once, however, he was forced to leave Shiraz. For several years he lived as an exile, often in dire poverty. Finally a new, more tolerant regime allowed him to return home and resume his career. During the long, unsettled middle period of his life, first his son and later his wife passed away. Some scholars associate many of his deeply felt verses of grief, separation and loss with these events.
These arrangements were initiated and partially funded by a contemporary spiritual figure from India who loved Hafiz, Avatar Meher Baba. This modern world teacher frequently quoted couplets of Hafiz to illustrate his own discussions of spiritual principles. Meher Baba explained that the love poetry of Hafiz contained all the secrets of the spiritual path—for the true subject matter of spirituality is Love. Spiritual Student We have been in love with God For so very, very long.
We have been in love with God For so very, very long.
His Divan (collected poems) is a classic in the literature of Sufism, an ancient spiritual tradition whose special emphasis is intense, often ecstatic, one-pointed devotion to God.
Modern spiritual figures, notably Avatar Meher Baba, have used the example of Hafiz and Attar to illustrate how challenging and difficult it can be to serve an authentic spiritual teacher. In his discourses on the role of the master, Meher Baba explains that, regardless of external appearances, a teacher must always aid internal processes of growth that support increasingly broader designs of love. Along the way, the student’s limited ego is dissolved—or as Hafiz says, ground to dust. Meher Baba described this process as “hell on earth” for Hafiz. He said, “Hafiz, so to speak, broke his head at the feet of his master,” day after day, year after year, for forty long years.
(Forty days of purification and union with God)
This time he drew a circle on the ground and sat within it for forty days and nights, without leaving it for food, drink or even to relieve himself. On the fortieth day, the angel again appeared to him and asked what he desired. Hafiz discovered that during the forty days all his desires had disappeared. He replied instantly that his only wish was to serve his teacher.
As they drank together, the intoxicating joy of the wine opened his heart and dissolved every trace of separateness. With a great laugh of delight, Hafiz was forever drowned in love and united with God, his divine Beloved.
Levels of Love All I know is Love, And I find my heart Infinite And Everywhere!
In spiritual literature, “forty” is often used to indicate a term of learning or change, such as the “forty days and forty nights” of Noah’s Flood. Forty is also called “the number of perseverance,” marking a period of growth through testing, trial and purification.
Jesus, following the ancient practice of the prophets, went into the desert for a great seclusion of forty days, which he described as a period of purification and preparation for the next stage of his work. The Buddha attained final enlightenment after forty days of continuous meditation. One can find many examples, East and West. These tales of Hafiz share other common symbols. There is the “mystic circle,” which is an image of completion or perfection. And there is the glass of wine Attar gives Hafiz. A glass or cup is a vessel, which can often represent the human heart, or even the human being as a vessel of love. “Wine” stands for love in many spiritual traditions. Aged wine, such as Attar shares with Hafiz, can represent the purified (distilled) essence of knowing or love.
Attar constantly counsels “patience” to remind Hafiz that every stage of love must be fully explored, honored and lived. As the term nears its end, Hafiz reaches a new height of desperation and longing for his Beloved.
When he has truly accomplished this (dawn of the final day), he finds that the force of love has consumed his limited personality and all its desires, even the desire for God. He has realized that one cannot “master” love, one can only serve as a vessel of love (a glass of wine).
(The many names for union across traditions)
“perfect love” or “perfect knowing” may seem extraordinary, yet it is a belief shared by most spiritual systems. It is called by many names—“union with the Father,” “nirvikalpa samadhi,” “the highest development of consciousness,” “God-realization,” “Qutubiyat” or simply “Perfection.”
Write a thousand luminous secrets Upon the wall of Existence So that even a blind man will know Where we are, And join us in this Love!
For Hafiz does not see God as separate from the world—wherever there is love, there is the Beloved. The Indian Sufi teacher Inayat Khan explained, “The mission of Hafiz was to express to a fanatical religious world that the presence of God is not to be found only in heaven, but also here on earth.”
Hafiz shares his intoxication with the magic and beauty of divine life that pulsates everywhere around us and within us. He scorns hypocrisy and mediocrity and urges us to rise on the wings of love. He challenges us to confront and master the strongest forces of our own nature. He encourages us to celebrate even the most ordinary experiences of life as precious divine gifts. He invites us to “awake awhile” and listen to the delightful music of God’s laughter.