Çilingir Sofrası 39 / Medine-i Münevvere, Aydınlanma Kenti (with English subtitles)

0:01Çilingir Sofrası 39 / Medine-i Münevvere / City of Enlightenment ***Translated by Prof.Dr.Nükhet Kardam***

0:03In short, according to Veda, the oldest and sacred book of Hinduism,

0:08Brahma is eternal and is not a personal God.

0:20This is different in the Torah.

0:24The God in Torah is a personal God.

0:29In Hinduism, there is no personal God

0:34Brahma is

0:36harmony.

0:38For instance symphony means sounds are in love with each other

0:44They feel an empathy or sympathy towards each other and what do we say,

0:51philarmonic,

0:53means love of harmony (meshk)

1:05Of course, there is a difference in the harmony of music composed by different composers

1:15At our table (Çilingir Sofrası), there is also harmony

1:18And they are not supposed to be all the same We can’t say there is only one kind or that they are absolute

1:24Even today’s music would be different than yesterday’s, every moment the world is renewed.

1:29Now is the time to say new things.

1:38So flowing is good, but staying put is good as well

1:42As Heraclitus said, everything flows (panta rei)

1:46But if you are constantly flowing, there is no reference to anything.

1:50You are constantly flowing.

1:54If you stay put the whole time, that doesn’t work either. Water becomes stagnant if it doesn’t flow

2:00if it flows constantly then there is alluvion

2:03So there must be both stillness and flow

2:07That means there should be a balance between flowing and staying put

2:10SInan: Those who stay put become ‘er’ (wise)

2:14First stay put and become ‘er’, then you can travel and see others you will recognize others who are ‘er’ (wise)

2:25So in Sanskrit, that's called Brahma.

2:31Brahma is an impersonal God

2:37It means, nonpersonal, cosmic God or cosmic order

2:43but out of this cosmic order emerges nature

2:48So the impersonal Brahma that is unlike any other

2:54which has no relationship with any other turns out to be

3:00The creator of existence In this case, there is a relationship between Brahma and existence

3:06there is manifestation, there are activities

3:12Brahma shows up in attributes in nature

3:19Now some people think that nature is above human beings

3:24They say to me, nature is superlative to humans because it is God’s artwork

3:31The human being is comparatively helpless they say,

3:36as if human beings are separate from God

3:41So I have an answer for them

3:43If I say flowers, bees etc., they will say a painter’s flowers cannot be as beautiful as a flower in nature.

3:50I ask, brother, what is the most beautiful sound in nature of the best quality?

3:57They say it is the nightingales’ songs

4:00I ask them: don’t you see a difference between a nightingale’s song and a Beethoven symphony?

4:03If you don’t see any difference, then there is nothing to say

4:06There are sounds in nature

4:10But it is the human being who composes art with those sounds

4:13and turns them into superlative forms such as in a symphony

4:19It doesn’t have to be a symphony but think about a symphony performed by 110 people

4:25playing different instruments All these different instruments

4:31produce a common sound and we listeners melt listening to it

4:35The sound itself

4:37is Brahma,

4:39an impersonal God There is no personal God, there is no conductor

4:41But in fact, yes, there is a conductor.

4:44There are also servants of God (kul) playing in the orchestra there are also the servants of God

4:48who are playing their own parts in the orchestra

4:57Let’s say my violin is an ‘esma-i hass’

4:59The piece I am playing is the work of the violin

5:01but I am performing it for the ‘whole’, for the symphony

5:06When it is my time to play, I join the symphony with my violin

5:10someone else comes in with their instrument

5:12and joins the symphony

5:14Doing it both for herself, as well as for the whole symphony

5:17The conductor is like Rab, watching everyone

5:24and managing the timing of different instruments sometimes everyone plays together, other times

5:30the conductor points to the violinists and asks them to play their part

5:33The conductor is like Rab.

5:36Where is Uluhiyet?

5:38In the whole symphony

5:40Everything is inside that: the servant (kul), harmony, Rab

5:47Sounds exist in nature, but it is the human hand

5:52that turns them into a symphony, to spirituality,

5:58to something we listen to for hours and get lost in it

6:02But is it possible to listen to a symphony from beginning to end?

6:09Not as background music but actually listen?

6:13This can’t be done unless the soul is

6:15trained to listen like that

6:18In order to do this, one has to listen many many times

6:25to acquire the ability to really

6:28listen to an entire symphony

6:30Sinan: To be able to listen like that is a particular ability.

6:32If we ask someone living in a rural area

6:36to listen to a symphony

6:40They would not be interested

6:42Sinan: Because they might never heard a symphony

6:44It is not about whether they heard a symphony before.

6:51If they heard a flute (kaval), let’s say, they might be completely engrossed in it, so that means they understand and enjoy music.

7:00It is a matter of perception.

7:03For example, when we turn to teenagers

7:08We know that they enjoy pop music

7:13But a sixteen year old is not ready to enjoy a long, continuous piece

7:20like a symphony because He or she is still hyperactive

7:25Overtime hyperactivity will become less and less and the teenager will become more balanced

7:29so that ability to follow something over a long period would increase

7:32A teenager who is sixteen years old

7:36Sinan: is without a name. (ATSIZ)

7:38He has a name, a horse, which means he has a partner

7:45A lover, and lets say they both mount their horses and are riding together

7:49So far so good

7:51As they are going they are passionate

7:58Both as individuals And they arouse passion in each other

8:02as partners this is a sacred partnership in adolescence

8:07it is amazing What we call love is

8:13the passion between them we are not talking about sensual pleasure

8:18Yes, that is there too, but what is important is the spiritual dance

8:21Spiritual dance between them

8:23She is moving away, he is moving towards her They are dancing towards each other

8:27and then they move away from each other One does a summersault and moves across the stage as in ballet

8:38This passion in adolescence is the essence of the symphony

8:49this contestation

8:51It is like the electron and proton.

8:55they can’t move away from each other yet they can’t meet either

8:58The best example of this is the Bektashi Semah

9:04When you watch a Bektashi semah

9:07you see the men and women moving like birds Like cranes

9:15Men and women run towards each other as if fluttering their wings

9:19They turn and turn but they never touch each other

9:25If they touch, the magic would disappear

9:28and it would turn into sensual pleasure

9:31When they don’t touch,

9:38the harmony between them brings forth the spirituality

9:44that’s what is meant by ‘I said Leyla Leyla, but I found Mevla’

9:50But there is also the Mevlevi semah

9:54Why is there no fluttering of wings in the Mevlevi semah?

9:59Because in the former there was love But in the Mevlevi Semah, love was finalized

10:05The secret of Oneness emerged So the dervishes are turning around their own axes

10:14This is the station of Abraham

10:17Abraham was ‘Hanif’ (believed in the Oneness of God prior to Islam)

10:23He became the Sun.

10:26Turning around his own axis

10:30like a gyroscope

10:32like the earth which turns on its own axis

10:35but simultaneously revolves around the sun

10:37So that means let’s look at the Mevlevi Semah

10:40where dervishes turn but at the same time they turn around the Shaikh who represents the sun

10:44who is holding his collar

10:45Sinan: Why does the shaikh openhis collar?

10:47He is not opening his collar.

10:50Sinan: He moves slowly towards the center

10:52He is holding his collar, saying that his movement comes from an internal place

10:57No one is making me move, that is what sun means

11:03Sinan: that means from me to me Yes

11:04Others open one hand saying I take it from you diyorum

11:08They turn around themselves then go and revolve around the sun (Shams)

11:14like all planets who revolve around themselves and around the sun

11:20Planets are called ‘seyyare’ - an appropriate word which also means to watch and to travel

11:25What are you watching? The sun The earth is watching the sun as well

11:30but also switches from day to night, night to day Venus is watching the sun

11:38we are all performing the Semah, both in relationship to each other and in relation to the sun

11:46So this turning both around our own axis and in relation to the sun is a ‘symphony’

11:51Listening to the flute is nice too but one has to evolve to be able to listen to a symphony

11:58It is good to have local instruments in fact it is very good

12:05And nothing to look down on

12:08What do we mean by evolution?

12:10A natural consciousness of a villager whose work is to raise animals

12:16work the land that’s fine and must be done

12:23but the villager doesn’t need the kind of intelligence related to industry A villager does not need this kind of intelligence

12:29By intelligence I mean theoretical knowledge

12:32A villager needs practical knowledge And can succeed in his work

12:36But intelligence should evolve toward s the ‘city’

12:39Evolving towards is the city is ‘Medina’’

12:42We call it ‘City’ or ‘Kent’ Not any city

12:51Yes, Medina is a city We say ‘kent’

12:54that means city as well

13:01But there is ‘Medina’.

13:03This word comes ‘Din’

13:05Din means religion

13:10Medina means the place judgment the place where justice

13:16is served

13:24So Prophet Muhammad went to the town of Yesrib

13:27He and his followers went

13:30to Yesrib as ‘muhacir’ (refugees)

13:33The people who met them are called ‘ensar’ (hosts)

13:36who welcomed Prophet Muhammed,

13:40Yesrib means a place

13:42of oasis, where one relies on intuition, one’s own perception but you can’t have justice this way.

13:48Why?

13:50There were many different groups there, Jews, Christians, pagans, Muslims

13:57How were they going to live together?

14:02A convention was held,

14:06representatives of each group were present.

14:09They agreed on common values

14:13Prophet Muhammed was the head of this convention

14:15The result was a written document,

14:19the famous Medina Charter.

14:24In this Charter:

14:25There is no forcing anyone to change their religion

14:29No compulsion Christians remain Christians, Jews remain Jews

14:33Pagans remain Pagans Muslims remain Muslims

14:39A common charter was produced

14:43so that everyone could live together

14:46Peacefully

14:49No one is going to force the other to live like them.

14:52That’s what we mean by - there is no compulsion in religion

14:56Once this Charter was accepted, Prophet Muhammed got up and said

15:00From now on, this city will not be called Yesrib (Yesrib means oasis)

15:10From now on this city’s name is "Medine-i Münevvere"

15:15Enlightened City,

15:18City of Enlightenment

15:21Nur, Münevver, Münevvere Medina All comes from ‘Light’

15:29Did you ever run into the word ‘Enlightened CIty or City of Enlightenment’ anywhere else?

15:32We don’t recognize the value of our own culture and see it as inferior.

15:36We don’t have any knowledge of this

15:40City of Enlightenment - why the change? Before it was called Yesrib (Oasis)

15:45Everybody had their own perception that was different

15:50But we are living together so which one are we going to adopt?

15:52Sooner or later, one group says you are not like us

15:54and tries to make the other group adapt to their ways Then what? They start fighting

15:57There is no way out except war

16:01So Medina Charter is considered the first constitution

16:03Yes, there is the Peace of Westphalia

16:06and it is valuable too

16:08but the Medina Charter came way before Westphalia

16:10Without compulsion I am not going pray to your idols

16:14Neither will you pray to mine

16:19There is no compulsion

16:25But how are we going to do it?

16:27With the Medina Charter.

16:30It is the first Charter of Citizenship

16:37This is about protecting each of the belief systems from each other

16:41In modern language, this is what we mean by laicism

16:43Secularism. What secularism means is to establish justice

16:48so that no one religion may be imposed on another

16:52So that we may live together,

16:54agree on common values

16:57based on a legal document

17:02These are your roots Why not research this further,

17:05write doctoral theses, expand on this I am not saying this in order to applaud ourselves

17:10The Medina Charter is a Charter for humanity Because it hasn’t been incorporated into Western culture

17:14and literature, why do we assume it doesn’t have value?

17:19When its value is understood

17:21it would be incorporated in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

17:24Çilingir Sofrası 39 / Medine-i Münevvere / City of Enlightenment ***Translated by Prof.Dr.Nükhet Kardam***