Çilingir Sofrası 7 / Şemsi Yasdıman, Aynalı Baba, Şemsettin Yeşil ve Musiki (with english subtitles)

0:00*****translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam******

0:01*****translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam******. We have established a general program here.

0:05Of course, we have some standards. It is important to use literal knowledge properly.

0:10And on top of it, we use hermeneutics

0:15which deals with interpretation and has it own rules. So we are not interested in an Arbitrary process.

0:18We are at a ‘table’ where there is accountability.

0:22Everybody is invited to this table. You don’t have to be here in person.

0:28Because our sohbet is not about the body.

0:32It is about ‘muhabbet’, a conversation imbued with love. Yes, at our last meeting

0:40or at our last ‘table’, We didn’t quite bring things to an end, we are gourmand, as you know,

0:46And somehow, we weren’t finished. What was left?

0:55Yes, we wanted to listen to a song by Şemsi Yastıman and

1:00to remember him in spirit with his son and grandson here.

1:07So let us enjoy this song together now. In fact this is the song that made him famous

1:13Right, it made him famous

1:46"Şeytan Bunun Neresinde"

1:51"Şeytan Bunun Neresinde" composed by Şemsi Yastıman,

1:56"Şeytan Bunun Neresinde" composed by Şemsi Yastıman, performed by Sinan&Serhan Yastıman.

4:05"Şeytan Bunun Neresinde" composed by Şemsi Yastıman, performed by Sinan&Serhan Yastıman.

4:23- Eyvallah, thank you. - Let there be love. - Let there be love eternally.

4:29Now there is a book called "Åmak-i Hayal" (Awakened Dreams)

4:32By Şehbenderzade Filibeli Ahmet Hilmi Efendi.

4:36As you know, Sufis love this book. There is a character in this book, Aynali Baba, who blows the ney (Reed flute) one day,

4:43And on a different day, he plays the saz. As you may remember, Raci (another character in the book) says to him: So today you are playing the saz.

4:50He responds: We play every instrument. Of course he does not say ‘enstruman’ (instrument) That’s a western term.

4:56He says we play every "Çalgı" (instrument).

4:59So today, we are inspired to play the saz.

5:04This is the language of the people of Marifet (gnostics).

5:07It really means that they can express themselves with any instrument.

5:12This is the essence of art. Art is not limited to a particular instrument.

5:19In the past people thought especially in the West, because they normally think categorically,

5:24That arts are segregated. There are sculptors, painters, actors etc.

5:29But today in modern art, it is the artist who is key, and it has become accepted

5:34that an artist can express him/herself in any medium.

5:39This has been the case in our tradition.

5:43In other words, noone has to be only guitarist, only a pianist, only this or that.

5:48It is possible to express oneself, for instance, with whistling.

5:53To say that one has to be this or that, a guitarist, an artist, etc. are veils.

5:58People of Marifet may be recognized as experts in particular forms of art,

6:02But in reality, those are not their identities, it is just their veils.

6:06Now that we talked about whistling, it came to my mind that you ‘blew the ney’ by whistling.

6:15How amazing!

6:21So we talked about saz.

6:25Why don’t we hear the ‘ney’ by your ‘whistling’?

6:45Improvised ney performance by Sinan Yasdıman, by whistling.

7:37Improvised ney performance by Sinan Yasdıman, by whistling.

8:05There are some words used in music That I wouldn’t call hidden

8:11They are, in fact, obvious. For example, there is the word ‘perde’ (veil)

8:17that is used in music or there is the word ‘makam’ (station) in music.

8:25These words are the same ones employed in Anatolian Sufi traditions.

8:31For example in music, we can call each note

8:39Perde (veil). In other words, we can call each note

8:46a veil.

8:52And there are seven (7) main notes

8:57and when you add 5 notes, we have 12 notes that make up an Octave.

9:04So to go from one La (B), to the next La, there are 11 notes.

9:09And the next La (B) is the 12th note. So this is very interesting.

9:13That the language of music corresponds to the language of Sufism.

9:19I am wondering what you think about this, I am curious.

9:24Yes, Serhan, this is very interesting.

9:28We can’t, of course, think that Sufism is based on the language of music.

9:35This is not possible. But we can say that

9:39Sufis have constructed their musical instruments according to their own understanding.

9:45So that they could express themselves appropriately. Now that we have remembered Şemsi Yastiman

9:51We can also remember his namesake Şemsettin Yeşil Efendi,

9:58Another Şemsi. "Şems" means sun.

10:00As you know, Shams-i Tebrizi was Rumi’s sun.

10:04Of course symbolically what we mean by sun is God.

10:10All names of God are like musical notes.

10:14When all names come together, we call that Allah.

10:21Now, I had taken some notes regarding Şemsettin Yeşil Efendi’s understanding of music.

10:27He says the following: Music is an endless field of knowledge. First you have to learn its language.

10:34Then you have to know its literature, then you have to 'taste' its spirituality.

10:42Then you need to know its philosophy, after that will come music.

10:49You don’t ‘make’ music, music will come.

10:55But if all these steps are not completed, music will not come,

10:59you will just make music.

11:04In other words, there has to be a substructure.

11:10Its completion leads to the emergence of a superstructure.

11:15So here is your answer to the question on the nature of music.

11:19Going from ‘La’ to ‘La’ (negation to negation)

11:24Or from naught to naught. This is an interesting correspondence.

11:36Now there is another expression (of the meaning of music) that I would like to share if I can find it.

11:44This is really serendipitous that I brought these notes here today.

11:50Here it is: Music translates space and matter Into time and design,

11:56turning reality into a dreamworld. Music is such a multifaceted art.

12:02- One more time please.

12:04Music takes space and matter and turns them into time and design.

12:10It turns reality into a dream world. Music is a multifaceted art form

12:15It freezes sound and turns it into a sculpture. The echoes of musical sounds become materialized

12:21like an architectural monument. Music allows us confess all our desires

12:26that are hidden in the subconscious, all our passions in multiple colors and with elegance.

12:33And connects our hearts with the people of the past and future.

12:42It is such a miracle.

12:45It is a miraculous Art Form.

12:49-This is a wonderful, comprehensive definition of music.

12:56Now we know. Eyvallah!

13:06We are ‘drunk’,

13:09with the music, with sohbet with our memories.

13:14That means we found our ‘meyhane’. We talk about ‘demlenme’ at a meyhane.

13:21So here is a story: One day, a man had left the ‘meyhane’, walking along the street,

13:26staggering and singing ilahis, hugging posts.

13:32A man runs into him on the street and says to himself: I know this friend from the marketplace.

13:38He is normally a serious person but now he is almost flying like a butterfly! I wonder what happened to him.

13:44He greets his friend and the friend greets him back with a big smile.

13:49So he asks: what happened to you?

13:51Normally you are such an introvert, now you have become a butterfly!

13:57The friend responds: Oh let me tell you, I drank some wine at the ‘meyhane’.

14:01So he asks: Please give me some of that wine too!

14:05I want to drink it and become like you!

14:07I can’t, says the friend, if I give you my wine,

14:11it would be like puke, it would be undrinkable.

14:16You need to go ask for the wine from the person who knows about it.

14:20-Where? -At the meyhane

14:22Don’t ask for the wine from the drunk Go, go to the one who offered the wine,

14:31From the pir-i mugan (murshid or the teacher)

14:35He will give you the wine that’s just appropriate for you.

14:38In other words, he will give you the wine (wine means sohbet)

14:42meyhane means the place where people connected through their hearts come together (‘demlenme’ means this process)

14:47And here we are at the ‘Çilingir Sofrası'

14:49-And we are in heaven.

14:52This is the heaven of people of Marifet (gnostics) and I don’t mean just the Sufis here.

14:56Let’s not forget we are not talking just about Sufis

15:00When we say ‘we’, we include the entire world.

15:04In all cultures, there are spiritual paths hidden behind symbols.

15:07There are principles of what is acceptable and what is not.

15:12There are ways of initiation and there are different spiritual paths.

15:17And teachings, ways of internalizing spirituality called spiritual journeying (seyr-i suluk)

15:29So now we are talking about all of this publicly

15:32It is said that all secrets have now been disclosed in our modern world.

15:38Does that mean they are really obvious? No.

15:42What is obvious in this period, is closed to the people in the future.

15:47Did people who lived in the past already say it all? It is sometimes assumed that Rumi has said everything that can be said,

15:51or Yunus Emre has already said everything.

15:54No, teachings are provided according to the time period they are offered.

15:57There is always something to discover, something to disclose. Sohbet is for the purpose of heartful conversation (muhabbet).

16:03Muhabbet allows us to receive the maya (yeast).

16:06Once the yeast is added to the milk, it becomes yogurt,

16:10and it is put into the churn and shaken with zikr. Then the butter (its essence) separates,

16:19The butter is the symbol for Hakikat (Reality) Now we know what to cook with the butter.

16:24What we cook will show our ‘marifet’.

16:28- There is a special ‘butter’ that lasts for Five years. It is called Urfa butter.

16:40Of course, we are not concerned with the butter per se.

16:44So we are just explaining this process of making butter as a symbol or as a metaphor.

16:49But the point is we are going beyond the body, where spirits meet each other

16:56in a location that is no location, in a time that is no time,

17:01where there is one ‘Gönül’ (Gönül is a term which goes beyond ‘heart’ to incorporate notions of coming together with utmost sincerity, abdication of self-interest, as well as love and compassion)

17:09One enters ‘gönül’. This is not just unique to our own traditions and culture.

17:15It is not something to brag about.

17:19This is like artesian wells. Water under the ground

17:23that has been offered to the entire world.

17:29The water comes up in different locations. And it is not visible like the rivers above ground

17:35The water that erupts from artesian wells emerge from the invisible.

17:40We can also think of it as volcanoes that erupt.

17:44We assume that an artesian well here has nothing to do with an artesian well somewhere else

17:48because there is distance between them. But in fact, they are the same water because they are

17:53connected underground (in the invisible) and they taste the same when they manifest.

18:00In the same way, the Divine Word manifests everywhere.

18:05Allah is everyone’s and every thing’s Allah.

18:10Allah is not a particular group’s, particular religion’s or sect’s Allah.

18:14That’s why we can call the people who reach this place ‘Arif’ or gnostics.

18:17*****translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam******