Passages similar to: The Masnavi — The Travelers who ate the Young Elephant
Source passage
Sufi
The Masnavi
The Travelers who ate the Young Elephant (61-70)
When the pure name (of God) enters the mouth, Neither does impurity nor that impure mouth remain!" The man whose calling "O Allah" was equivalent to God's answering him, "Here am I" 4. That person one night was crying, "O Allah!" That his mouth might be sweetened thereby, And Satan said to him, "Be quiet, O austere one! How long wilt thou babble, O man of many words? No answer comes to thee from nigh the throne, How long wilt thou cry 'Allah' with harsh face?"
One night, when the Angel Gabriel was in the Sidrah he heard God pronounce the words of consent, and he said to himself: 'A servant of God at this...
(3) One night, when the Angel Gabriel was in the Sidrah he heard God pronounce the words of consent, and he said to himself: 'A servant of God at this moment invokes the Eternal, but who can he be? I only know that he must be of great merit, that his body of desire is dead and that his spirit is living.' And at once he set off to find this happy mortal. But though he searched the earth and the islands, the mountains and the plains, he could not find him. So he returned to God, and again heard a favourable response to the prayer.
Once more he flew over earth and sea, but at last he had to ask: 'O God, which way will lead me to }Our servant?' God said: 'Go to the country of Rum, and in a certain Christian monastery you will find him.' Gabriel flew off to the monastery" and there he saw the object of celestial favours bowing before an idol. 'O master of the world,' said Gabriel, ' draw aside the veil from this mystery. How can you answer the prayer of an idolworshipper in a monastery?' God said: 'His heart is darkened. He is unaware that he has lost his
way. Since he strays through ignorance my loving-kindness pardons him and I have opened the way for him to a high estate.' Then the Most High unloosed the man's tongue so that he could pronounce the name of God.
One must not neglect the smallest thing. Renunciation is not bought in a shop; neither can you reach the court of the Most High by paying a small sum.
"Who then knoweth that name, if he cometh out of the body of matter, nor smoke nor darkness nor authority nor ruler of the Fate-sphere nor angel nor...
(3) "Who then knoweth that name, if he cometh out of the body of matter, nor smoke nor darkness nor authority nor ruler of the Fate-sphere nor angel nor archangel nor power can hold down the soul which knoweth that name; but if it cometh out of the world and sayeth that name to the fire, it is quenched and the darkness withdraweth. "And if it sayeth it to the demons and to the receivers of the outer darkness and their rulers and their authorities and their powers, they will all sink down and their flame will burn and they will cry out: 'Holy, holy art thou, most holy of all holies.' "And if one sayeth that name to the receivers of the wicked chastisements and their authorities and all their powers and also to Barbēlō and the invisible god and the three triple-powered gods, straightway if one will say this name in those regions, they will all fall one on another, will be undone and destroyed and cry out: 'O Light of all lights, which is in the boundless lights, remember us and purify us.'" And when Jesus had finished saying these words, all his disciples cried out, wept with loud sobbing, saying: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Bayazid departed from the palace of this world a disciple saw him the same night in a dream and asked this excellent pir how he had escaped...
(2) When Bayazid departed from the palace of this world a disciple saw him the same night in a dream and asked this excellent pir how he had escaped Munkir and Nakir. The Sufi said to him: ' When these two angels questioned me about the Creator, I said to them, "The question cannot be answered precisely, for if I say 'he is my God, and that is all', this will only express a desire on my part; it will be better if you return to God and ask him what he thinks of me. If he calls me his servant, you will know that it is so. If not, then he abandons me to the bonds which hold me. Since it is not easy to obtain union with God, what will it serve me to call him My Lord? If he does not agree to my
service how can I claim him for my master? It is true that I have bowed my head, but it is also necessary that he calls me his slave."'