Door Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), vertaling door Frederik van Eeden.

85 Pagina’s | 2018 | Paperback | Uitgeverij Calbona, Amsterdam | ISBN: 9789492954329.

Rabindranath Tagore is een Indiaas schrijver, dichter, mysticus. Hij wordt in India op handen gedragen en men zou kunnen zeggen, dat hij in zich de essentie van de Indiase cultuur draagt; een cultuut die essentieel religieus is en als het ware communiceert met een andere, verborgen werkelijkheid.
Hij ontving de Nobelprijs voor literatuur in 1913.

Door Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), vertaling door Liesbeth Meyer.

82 Pagina’s | 2007 | Hardcover | SA Uitgeverij, Amsterdam | ISBN: 9789076389141.

De Wassende Maan werd het tweede werkje, na Geetanjali, waarmee Europa kennis kon maken met Tagore. Het werd bestempeld als kinderproza, geschreven rond het begin vande twintigste eeuw, een periode gekenmerkt door persoonlijk verlies.

De benaming kinderproza is in feite niet helemaal op zijn plaats; veel meer is het proza die een wijsheid omvat die iedere volwassene zal aanspreken. Het weerspiegelt een eenvoud van ongekende waarde.

Door Saadi (ca. 1212-1295), uit het Perzisch vertaald door J.T.P. de Bruijn.

271 Pagina’s | 5e druk, 2020 | Uitgeverij Bulaaq, Amsterdam | ISBN: 9789054600541

Oorspronkelijke titel: Golestaan

De Rozentuin is een onbetwist hoogtepunt in de klassieke Perzische literatuur. Het is een prozawerk met vele korte gedichten, zodat het ook tot de poëzie kan worden gerekend. Het gaat over machtigen en rijken tegenover onderdrukten, over oprechtheid tegenover veinzerij, over mystiek, erotiek en morele waarden.

Saadi (ca. 1212-1295) was zowel mysticus als hoveling, maar bovenal dichter. Na zijn opleiding in Bagdad reisde hij rond in de islamitische wereld. Zijn boek geeft weer wat hij leerde over vorsten en bedelmonniken, hovelingen en krijgslieden, kooplieden en pelgrims.

De Rozentuin was het eerste literaire werk uit Perzië dat in Europa bekend werd. In 1654 verscheen er een Nederlandse vertaling via het Duits, later hebben Bilderdijk en Leopold er fragmenten van vertaald. Saadi wordt – niet alleen door de Perzen – bewonderd om zijn puntige stijl en nuchtere wijsheid.

J.T.P. de Bruijn (1931) studeerde Arabisch, Perzisch en Turks en was tot voor kort hoogleraar Perzich te Leiden. Van zijn hand verscheen Een karavaan uit Perzië, een omvangrijke en geroemde bloemlezing klassieke Perzische poëzie. (Bulaaq, 2002)

Door Erich en Leo Kaniok.

140 Pagina’s | Eerste & tweede druk 2008, derde druk 2010 | Hardcover | Asoka, een imprint van Milinda Uitgevers, Geraardsbergen | ISBN: 9789056701925.

‘In de wereld van de kennis voegt men elke dag iets toe. In de wereld van de TAO laat men iedere dag iets los’.
Deze uitspraak van Lao Tse is nu misschien wel actueler dan ooit. In onze huidige samenleving zijn we bezeten van vooruitgang. Wat het leven je ook heeft gebracht, het is nooit genoeg. We willen altijd iets anders of meer, dan dat we nu hebben. We denken dat onze bestemming voor ons ligt en we er hard voor moeten werken om die te bereiken. Niet steeds meer willen bereiken, maar de diepte van elke moment ervaren, daarin ligt de TAO verborgen.
De verhalen in dit boek helpen bij de herkenning dat er geluk ligt in elke handeling die je uitvoert, en niet alleen in het resultaat van die handeling. Dit is de kracht van TAO, de schoonheid van een weg, die tevens het doel is.

Afkomstig van p. 80 – ‘Zijn zonder Titel’:

” Op een dag kwam de gouverneur van Lu voor het eerst op bezoek bij Lao Tse. Een van zijn leerlingen liet Lao Tse het visitekaartje van de gouverneur zien waarop stond: ‘Kitagaki, Gouverneur van Lu’. ‘Met zo’n man wil ik niets te maken hebben’, zel Lao Tse tegen zijn leerling. ‘Zeg maar tegen hem dat hij rechtsomkeert maakt’. De leerling bracht het kaartje terug en verontschuldigde zich. ‘O nee, het was mijn fout’, zei de gouverneur en met een potlood kraste hij de woorden ‘Gouverneur van Lu’ door. ‘Breng het alstublieft nog een keer naar uw leraar’. Toen Lao Tse het kaartje zag, riep hij uit: ‘O, is dat Kitagaki? Breng hem binnen, ik wil hem graag ontmoeten. “

Door Jaap Goedegebuure.

256 Pagina’s | Uitgegeven in 2015 | Softcover | Uitgeverij Vantilt, Nijmegen | ISBN: 9789460042348.

In het spreken en schrijven over de mystieke ervaring komen twee begrippen telkens terug: licht en donker. Het pad naar het verlossende inzicht gaat door de duistere nacht en wie uiteindelijk ziende wordt, moet eerst blind zijn geweest. Dat geldt voor Paulus, voorganger en rolmodel van alle christelijke mystici, maar ook voor Dante die na een dwaaltocht door een donker woud en een afdaling in de hel mocht opgaan naar het van licht doorstraalde paradijs.

‘Licht’ is het sleutelwoord in het werk van Nederlandstalige dichters die Jaap Goedegebuure in dit boek bijeengebracht heeft. Herman Gorters extatische verzen zijn ingegeven door een ware lichtdronkenschap, Bertus Swaanswijk koos het pseudonym Lucebert om aan te geven dat hij de grauwe Hollandse atmosfeer wilde laten verdampen in de hitte van zijn bliksemende gedichten. ‘Het licht, Gods witte licht breekt zich in kleuren‘, schreef Nijhoff, daarmee en metafoor scheppend voor de tegenstelling tussen de buitenaardse werkelijkheid waarin de mystici willen opgaan en het gefragmenteerde bestaan waarmee ze het moeten doen. Goedegebuure laat het witte licht breken in een bont gezelschap dat christenen, agnosten, atheïsten, moslims, Indiagangers en zen-adepten omvat.

Afkomstig uit Hoofdstuk 2 – ‘Een Wonder uit Zielegrond – Mystieke Tendensen in het Symbolisme’ (p. 49 & 50):

” Als onwisselbaren schat

Draagt de ziel heur rijk gemis

Door de bonte wildernis

Van de groote menschenstad:

Heel de volheid van haar hart,

Nardus in zijn broos albast –

O te liefelijken last

Voor dees markt van vreugd en smart! “

Poems by Joy Mills (1920 – 2015).

182 Pages | First Quest Edition 2017 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835609432.

Joy Mills, past president of the American and Australian Theosophical Societies, received the Subba Row Medal from the Society’s General Council in 2010, honoring her major contribution to Theosophical literature. Joy’s poems in this collection were found after her passing. Written over decades, they reveal a love for nature, a keen understanding of life’s complexities, and a deep spiritual Wisdom.

From the front cover:

And Unto Us

” Some-soon upon a high
Far distant hill
Beneath the Sky
We shall find
The fragments of a faith
Lost time out of mind.
‘And unto us . . .’ shall be,
Familiars of the Stars,
The dawning of Infinity. “

By Sir Edwin Lester Arnold (1832 – 1904), introduction by Alan Jacobs.

188 Pages | First published in 1885 as The Celestial Song, this is the 2006 edition | Hardcover | Watkins Publishing, London |  ISBN: 9781842931240.

” There lives a Master in the hearts of Men, maketh their deeds, by subtle pulling-strings, dance to what tune He will. With all thy Soul Trust Him, and take Him for thy succour, Prince! “

The Bhagavad Gita, or Song Celestial, is the sacred testament central to Hinduism, the most ancient of the great world religions. Brahman is the Absolute Supreme Reality underlying all forms. Human beings accumulate Karma as a result of their actions in innumerable incarnations, until they obtain liberation through the practices of devotion and knowledge. The Bhagavad Gita, as the essential gospel of Hinduism, explains mankind’s predicament and points the way to freedom.

This poetic gospel is attributed to the Divine Messenger, Lord Krishna, who on the battlefield gives the warrior-prince, Arjuna, detailed and profound spiritual guidance. Arjuna is perplexed by his involvement in a war and Lord Krishna unveils inspiring philosophical wisdom leading to the solution of Arjuna’s problem and his self-realization.

Text in Devanāgarī and translation by Mohini Mohun Chatterji (1858 – 1936).

228 Pages | First edition 1932, 2nd to 5th reprints 1947 – 1983, 6th reprint 1995, 7th reprint 1999 | Hardcover | The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar |  ISBN: 8170592526.

The English translation appeared for the first time in Vols. VII (1885 – 18886 and IX (1887 – 1888) of The Theosophist.

Vivekachudamani literally means ‘crest jewel of wisdom’. It is an important work of Śrī Samkarācārya, one of the greatest sages of Ancient India. Endowed with lofty and sharp intellect, he wrote many incisive commentaries on great standard works of Hindu philosophy. But they are beyond the reach of those, who have not attained a high proficiency in Sanskrit and other collateral philosophical disciplines. Here in Vivekachudamani he distils the quintessence of what he taught, that is, the non-dual or Vedanta or Advaita Vedanta in easy Sanskrit verses, whose sublimity of content is matched only by their lyrical beauty. Each verse is presented here with a free-running English translation.

By Śrī Śaṃkara-Bhagavatpāda with transliteration, English translation, commentary, diagrams and an appendix on Prayoga by Pandit S. Subrahmany Sastri and T.R. Srinivasa Ayyangar.

288 Pages | First published in 1937, sixth printing 1985 | Hardcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 0835670678.

The Saundarya-laharārī, ’the Ocean of Beauty’, eminently shares the characteristics of a poem displaying the finest touches of poetical fancy, (ii) a Stotra, hymn, in praise of the Goddess Tripurasundarī, (iii) a series of Mantra-s, mystic formulae, to be used by the Upāsaka along with the corresponding Yantra-s, diagrams, wherein the Devī is to be conceived as abiding, and (iv) an exposition of the Agama-s and Tantra-s, bearing on the worship of the Supreme Being in Its aspect of the Śakti, Creative Energy, known as  the Śrī-vidyā, embodying the underlying principles of Vaidika-dharma and as such having the sanction of the Veda-s. In its first forty-one stanzas it encompasses the Ananda-laharī, ’the Ocean of the Blisfully Sublime’.

From Page 220:

” 78. Sthiro gangāvartah stana-mukula-romāvali-latā-

nijāvālaṃ kuṇdaṃ kusumasara-tejo-huta-bhujaḥ ;

Rater līlāgāraṃ kim api tava nābhir giri-sute

biladvāraṃ siddher girisa-nayanānāṃ vijayate.

O Daughter of the Mountain! all glory to Thy navel (which may be characterized) in some such way (as) a motionless eddy of the Gangā, a trench for the growth of the creeper of the line of down, with the breasts as buds; the pit for maintaining the sacrificial Fire of the prowess of the flower-arrowed (Kusuma-Śāra); the pleasure-bower of Rati; the mouth of the cavern for the attainment (of Yoga) by Girisa’s eyes! “
 

By Glenn H. Mullin, Foreword by His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

270 Pages | First Quest Edition 1994 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607003.

The Tibetan tradition of mystical verse is brought stunningly to life by renowned translator Glenn Mullin through these spontaneous outpourings of the ecstasy of enlightenment. Step into the visionairy of the outspoken and unconventional Second Dalai Lama, who was ‘crazed’ by the wisdom of the nature of reality. Prefaced by a readable and comprehensive introduction to the life and times of this wise exponent of spiritual knowledge, these poems are shining, lyric illuminations of Buddhist life. Each is prefaced by a translator’s preamble.

From Chapter 11 – ‘A Prayer of Pure Aspirations’ (p. 193):

Part One: A Call to the Guru:

” Most kind root guru, who always rests

On a sun and moon above my head,

I, a humble disciple, call out to you

With emotion surging in the depths of my heart.

From wherever you may physically be in this world,

Send forth a mystical emanation to heed me.

Reveal your radiant countenance to me;

And may we never ever become parted. “

By George R.S. Mead (1863 – 1933).

107 Pages | The Theosophical Publishing Society London and Benares, 1906| Photo copy | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 1564591557.

As to the contents and style of this Song, it must be confessed that we have to do with a poem of far less originality than the Hymn of the Robe of Glory, and I have taken it as a subject not so much for its intrinsic merits, as because it affords an opportunity to set forth some information on that great mystery, which was in antiquity generally known as the ‘Sacred Marriage’.

From page 74:

” The Rite of the Sacred Marriage must have been dramatically set forth in some of the inner rituals of the Christianized Gnosis. At any rate we definitely know that this was the case among the Marcosians, for Irenaeus (I. xxi 3), tells us:

Some of them prepare a Bridal Chamber and celebrate a mystery-rite with certain invocations on those who are being perfected; and they declare that what is being solemnized by them is a Sacred Marriage, in likeness with the Unions Above. “

By George Robert Stowe Mead (1863 – 1931).

75 Pages | First published in 1907, Quest book edition 1973 | Paperback | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835604322.

According to Mead the translator of this beautiful Hymn of Jezus, there is strong reason to presume that this work is a very early Christian Mystery ritual. Perhaps the oldest Christian ritual preserved to us.

G.R.S. Mead was a renowned British scholar and a recognized authority on Christian origins and Gnostic and Hermetic literature. He died in 1933, but his works are still widely read. In his commentary on this Hymn in ritual form he has offered and interpretation of its inner, spiritual meaning.

” If then, we have before us not a Hymn, but the remains of a mystery-ritual, there must have been two people in the circle. One of them was the Master, the Initiator. Who was the other? Manifestly, the one to be initiated. Now the ultimate end of all Gnosis was the at-one-ment or union of little man with the Great Man, of the human Soul with the Divine Soul… “

By Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa (1875–1953).

122 Pages | Published in 1953 | Hardcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | No ISBN.

Selected and arranged by E.N.

This Volume of Poems by Jinarājadāsa is presented in fulfilment of a verbal promise made to him in 1949, further enjoined by a clause is his last Will, to the effect that after his death there should be published certain poems written in notebooks carefully preserved by him from 1909, when he first adopted the poetic method for giving expression to his feelings, thoughts and aspirations. Not many of these have previously appeared in print, although from time to time he has quoted a number to illustrate some point in a lecture or a book, and has on several occasions given readings from this poems to Theosophical audiences. I am indebted to the Manager of the Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar Madras, for permission to reproduce here a few poems which have already appeared in one or two of the author’s prose works.

From Page 3:

LACRIMAE RERUM
(To ‘Little Flower’)

” This I see – that Nature is but a glass

Before which Form and Formless transient pass.

This I think – that a Hand unseen but kind,

To joys of Life my tranced eyes unbind.

This I feel – that life is a darkened room,

Where yearning I fulfil a weary doom.

This I know – that in inmost heart I cry

From life’s oppressive shadow-show to fly.

For this I AM: my flower-heart unfurled,

Turns to a Sun not of this shadow-world.

And so I cull the perfume of each thing,

And to you, dearest Shadow, tearful bring. “

France, 1913.

By Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut.

170 Pages | First Quest Edition 1999 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835607674.

‘Before any garden or grape or wine existed, our Soul was drunk on eternal wine’.  – Rumi.

Intoxicate your Soul with Harvey’s & Hanut’s favourite Sufi teaching stories, sayings and ecstatic poetry, featuring new translations of Rumi. In the hope of awakening the sacred heart in all of us and infusing its passion into all the choices of life, this anthology has been created. Only those poems, stories or philosophical fragments are included, that have directly inspired the authors. They wanted each section to ‘smell of the desert’ and to inebriate with its fragrance. Sufi talk or instruction is never linear; Sufi poets and sheikhs will try almost anything to shock their listeners awake, will swerve from the highest philosophy to the fragment of a great ode of Hafiz or Rumi, to a story in yesterday’s newspaper, to a joke from Nasrudin.

From Chapter ‘The Inner Secret’; (p. 64):

THE SWING

” Between the posts of ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’

The mind has strung a swing:

On it bang all beings, all worlds

And it never stops swaying.

Millions of beings sit on it

And the sun and the moon also.

Millions of eras come and go

But the swing remains.

Everything swings!

Sky and earth, air and water

And the Beloved Himself

As He comes into form – 

Seeing this

Has made Kabir a servant. “

– Kabir.

By Clara Margaret Codd (1876 – 1971) and Dorothy Codd.

76 Pages | Published in 1964 | Softcover| Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | No ISBN.

This little work consists of a selection of poems written by the sisters Codd.

From page 1 & 2:

To The God In My Heart

” Ah! Thou most beautiful,
Mysterious, pure,
And high above my Soul as life and death,
Whence comest thou?
Dear God! Dear God!

Ah! Thou strange visitant,
And yet not strange,
My soul cries for Thee through the veil which
. . . shades
My clearer sight,
And loves, loves, loves.

Whence comes that wondrous world,
Still, far, and sweet,
Which opens to my soul, and makes my heart
Stand still, forget
She lives, she beats?

Ah! I have lived so long,
Eternities!
Such long, long years surge in my memory,
Such years and years
Of long-dead sweets.

So, then. within the circle of these arms,
As though a cross upheld through all the worlds;
So, then, within the boundary of his heart,
Grown greater than the seas, and deep as hell;
Come thou, O world, I that have ache of thee,
And pity that shall fill a thousand years
For every tear of thine! And thee, thou soul
Amongst all other souls so well-beloved,
If thou hast will to come –

Aye! If thou art blind, and know not –
Little one, come! “

By Harindranath Chattophadyaya (1898 – 1990) with a Foreword by Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa (1875–1953).

Chattopadyaya 135 Pages | Published on Sept. 2nd 1950 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | No ISBN.

From the Foreword:

For over half a century the poetry of England and the United States has been balefully influenced by the prevailing materialism of our age. They remind me of our Indian ants, who bite the yellow rind only and never penetrate into the sweet pulp. The Poetry of today with its rhythms and imageries appeals mainly to the mind. Not that they are not exquisite in their way; they can certainly do give delight. Yet nevertheless, it can be said of these poets:

‘Tis ye, ’tis your estrang-ed faces,

That miss the many-splendoured thing’.

Of course here and there are a few exceptions like Alice Meynell, Francis Thompson, A.E. Yeats, Cousins and a few others. But in the main, I who love poetry greatly, have felt a profound dissatisfaction with the poems I have read.

From the Prelude:

” I AM a vagabond, but never ask me
From where I came.
I only know that I came like a shadow,
I’ll pass like a flame.
Every man that you meet on the roadway
And in the street,
Without his knowing hides a great vagabond’s
Tune in his feet.
What is the sun but a vagabond’s laughter?
What are the stars but a vagabond’s tears?
And the wide world is a wandering vagabond
Looking for some one through the long years. “

By Sir Edwin Lester Arnold (1832 – 1904).

154 Pages | First edition 1970, Quest Miniature Series 1975 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835604187.

The incomparable religious classic of India . . .

In exquisite poetic allegory, Sir Edwin Lester Arnold translates the revered and sacred story of Arjuna and Krishna, representing the eternal struggle between the personality and the Immortal Self.

” Take my last word. My utmost meaning have! Precious thou art to Me; right well-be-loved! Listen! I tell thee for thy comfort this. Give Me thy heart! Adore Me! Serve Me! Cling in faith and love and reverence to Me! So shalt thou come to Me! I promise true, For thou art sweet to Me! “

By Sir Edwin Lester Arnold (1832 – 1904).

154 Pages | First edition 1970 | Hardcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 0835672301.

The incomparable religious classic of India . . .

In exquisite poetic allegory, Sir Edwin Lester Arnold translates the revered and sacred story of Arjuna and Krishna, representing the eternal struggle between the personality and the Immortal Self.

” Take my last word. My utmost meaning have! Precious thou art to Me; right well-be-loved! Listen! I tell thee for thy comfort this. Give Me thy heart! Adore Me! Serve Me! Cling in faith and love and reverence to Me! So shalt thou come to Me! I promise true, For thou art sweet to Me! “