Çilingir Sofrası 23 / İsmail Emre (with english subtitles)

0:00Çilingir Sofrası 23 / İsmail Emre ***Translated by Prof.Dr.Nükhet Kardam***

0:02Welcome everyone We gave a short break and now we are resuming

0:06Sinan: This is good, we changed our seating this time

0:10Sinan: Let’s continue our sohbet from where we stopped

0:14Do we know where we ended last time?

0:18We are in the same place, always the same place.

0:21You know Mevlana (Celaleddin Rumi) has said that a human being should be like a compass

0:28Once the sharp end is in the center, the other leg can travel in any direction

0:34Sinan: Hang on to the center

0:36Yes, as long as one leg is in the center, the other leg may travel

0:41Stay in the oneness of God (Hakk), and then you can travel from one state to another (telvin), in the long run or later, you may arrive at maturity (temkin)

0:51Let’s offer the appetizers at our table today

0:57And afterwards, we can share and enjoy them together, right?

1:01Dear Ismail Emre

1:04died in 1970

1:06He is one of the highly respected contemporary Sufi teachers

1:12I want to start our sohbet today with one of his inspirations (Doğuş)

1:17‘Doğuş' is not a well-known concept

1:27It is different than ‘Deyiş’ which means a recitation

1:30‘Doğuş’ signifies an inspired creative act

1:39It is not like poets who might sit down, think and write a poem

1:42and may erase a word here and there and rewrite

1:47‘Doğuş’ happens in the moment as an inspiration and is then recited by the person who experiences it

1:51The person who experiences ‘doğuş’ is not conscious.

1:55He is not asleep either. In fact, such a person is in a state of ‘Yakaza’ (spiritual awareness, awareness of the Divine)

2:01When inspiration arrives, he can’t prevent it, he just lets it flow

2:04People around him may write down what he says or perhaps record it.

2:08When such a person comes back to his normal state, he doesn’t remember what he said.

2:14This is what we call Doğuş

2:15Most Anatolian poets are in this vein,

2:20such as Yunus Emre

2:24Now, when the inspiration has been recorded

2:29it actually arrives melodically

2:36Then musicians adopt it and sing it accompanied by their saz (musical instrument)

2:39We call this ‘Deyiş’

2:41Doğuş is what is born in an instant, unheard of before.

2:48It is an improvisation

2:50But Deyiş is its composition that can be repeated by others

2:58I am going to read a ‘Deyiş’ from Ismail Emre,

3:00but we should be aware that it was originally a ‘Doğuş’, that is divinely inspired

3:03Ismail Emre was from Adana, a great gnostic, a contemporary murshid

3:14He said the following

3:20There are invitations coming from the heart

3:25Who are you going to answer?

3:28The saki (the wine pourer) has filled the eyes

3:31Those who drink it know its delicious taste

3:35For those who drink from the bottle of the mouth

3:39Fill it up, and offer it to those who request it as it is endless

3:43Its place is in the heart,

3:44its door is the ear

3:47This path is centuries old

3:50It will never be full even when all the water in the world flowed inside

3:54The divers of knowledge can never find the bottom

3:57The Word goes in through the ear And out from the mouth

4:02It is colored by divine light and never fades

4:07Outside of it looks like an open rose

4:10In love with the tongue that speaks

4:14Its middle is like an hazelnut shell

4:16No waterfall could ever fill it

4:21Inside is hidden the sea of Oneness

4:25Muhammed is present and

4:28Four hundred thousand prophets in service

4:31The one who bathes in it finds peace

4:35Billions of beings are hidden in it

4:39Some cross themselves

4:41Others prostate

4:43The brain space is so vast

4:48All of cosmos is present in it

4:52Whoever arrives comes from it

4:54And goes back to it

4:56they drink the water of death to become alive

5:00There is no such thing as death

5:03It is all about cognizance if you could just hear the news

5:08A mere acrobat plays in the village square

5:12The rest is a shadow that is attached

5:16Emre, so that He can watch Himself

5:20the face of the human being has become ‘Hicaz’

5:24Allah Eyvallah

5:26So you see Ismail Emre has answered the question: what is sohbet?

5:30This is what sohbet is

5:33Sinan: He has said it all from beginning to end

5:36The nightingale is in love with the rose but the rose is reticent

5:40We have heard this before;

5:42those who read it might think that it is about love of nature,

5:47that the rose loves nightingales etc.

5:50loving nightingales etc.

5:54But that’s not what is meant at all

5:57It is said here that the nightingale won’t sing if the rose is not open.

6:01But when you look at nature, nightingales and roses are not necessarily communicating.

6:09In fact, when Eros is awakened, the nightingale sings and sings.

6:14What is meant here is that

6:17rose is like the ear,

6:21the outer ear resembles a rose

6:24So the ear that listens becomes the rose

6:27That’s what brings forth nightingale’s songs.

6:30Why would you talk if there was no one to listen to you?

6:32You wouldn’t talk to a wall

6:34Right?

6:35Thousands of years of wisdom is just a short distance between the mouth and the ear.

6:39You must hear what comes out of your own mouth, if you could just hear what comes out of your own mouth

6:44That’s when internal travel starts.

6:48We always watch what is going on outside of us.

6:52We are bringing news from the world around us. That’s fine, but what about bringing news of yourself?

6:55As Socrates said: "Gnothi seauton" Know thyself

7:01You know nature, you know the stars You know chemistry, physics

7:05That’s all good, but how about knowing yourself?

7:07How will I know myself?

7:11Is there a ready made ‘self’?

7:13No

7:15You are have to construct your own self

7:19With a pen in your hand, you are going to write your own destiny and read it.

7:24They say: isn’t my destiny already written?

7:26It is being written in the moment Destiny (Kader) incorporates many meanings

7:32It means Kudret (Power), Ölçü (Measurement)

7:37And Parlaklik (Radiance) You might say that a star has this much ‘Kadr’

7:45All of these meanings must be considered together

7:50So when we say Destiny as decreed by Allah, it is not anything that is done and finished

7:54It is constantly happening, fresh and in the moment

8:03That’s why I wanted to begin our sohbet today with this particular ‘doğuş’

8:08There are many valuable verses here

8:13He (Ismail Emre) says that the heart (gönül) is a ‘meyhane’ (where wine is consumed)

8:17Wine is a metaphor for sohbet, it makes you drunk

8:22As you are following a sohbet, you receive the ‘yeast’ (transforming you internally) and you might feel intoxicated

8:29That’s fine but where is the glass?

8:32The ear is the glass, the tongue is the pitcher

8:40And the pitcher flows into the glass.

8:47What does it say?

8:49Sinan: It says: Let’s get drunk and exuberant inspired by those who are rose faced (Gül yüzlülerin şevkine gel, nuş edelim)

8:53Is that right? Is that what it says?

8:57Sinan: What a beautiful connection!

9:19“Gül yüzlülerin şevkine gel, nuş edelim mey” Music by: Tab’i Mustafa Efendi

11:10“Gül yüzlülerin şevkine gel, nuş edelim mey” Music by: Tab’i Mustafa Efendi

11:17So we drank the wine.

11:20So this is how we drink wine.

11:24Appetizers were also nice.

11:27All right, there is one more glass and one more pitcher

11:32The first is the following. The words uttered by the mouth, like a pitcher full of wine is poured into the glass, which is the ear

11:40Our face (Sima, comes from Sema meaning sky) is between the Arş (Brain also means the Throne of God and Arz (Body also means the earth)

11:54And then there is the star, the Necm Surah (Al-Najm, Chapter 53 in the Qur’an)

12:00The star is the eyes

12:05Ismail Emre says that the saki (wine pourer) has filled the eyes, those who taste it know its delicious taste

12:12So there is also the glass of the eyes

12:14This is called the ‘Divine Glance’

12:17So a person (nefs) who has received the ‘Word’ (kelam) becomes beautiful (nefis)

12:29That means he or she reaches a level of satisfaction and peace

12:36And relaxes and melts

12:42And is ready to receive, like the feminine energy

12:46Then he or she is ready for the Divine Glance,

12:52the face has now become rose colored

12:56Is tranquil and at peace

13:01And that beauty (Cemal) from his/her eyes attracts others

13:09That glance no longer belongs to the person

13:13It is the glance of the spirit that’s why it is said that saints glance with their spirits

13:19They teach with their glance, not with their minds

13:25They remain hidden, they don’t reveal themselves

13:29They are hidden but they watch from behind the curtain

13:36That glass is full of ‘muhabbet’ (love)

13:41”the Saki has poured it into the glass of the eyes Those who taste it know its delicious taste”

13:47Now how could you explain this to people who don’t know this taste?

14:01People know through experience, what they have experienced.

14:07Some say, isn’t this path to wisdom open to everyone? Why isn’t it open to us?

14:11No, it is not open to everyone

14:17In order to become a person of wisdom, one must first clean one’s heart,

14:23that is, go through a process of purification.

14:26Sinan: The Sultan will not enter the palace before it is cleaned.

14:28Then we can invite guests, and there will be sohbet

14:35The house will no longer be just a house but will become a ‘meyhane’ (where sohbets take place)

14:40There the hearts will become one

14:44And we will become intoxicated

14:53Then we would be graced with the Divine Glance

14:58That Divine light in the glance will write on the divine book with the divine finger

15:10So Moses wrote on two tablets in the mountain of his body with the help of the Divine pen made of Light (Nur)

15:24Are they really stone tablets as we are told?

15:29Mount Horab is our body

15:32Aren’t there two lobes, two tablets in our body?

15:36Left hemisphere, right hemisphere of our brains

15:39With the Divine glance, these tablets are the ‘Levh-i mahfuz’ (the protected tablets or the book of destiny).

15:46They are kept in the Ark of the Covenant. Ark of the Covenant is our brain.

15:50Don’t we make our promise, give our word right here?

15:53Are there two tablets inside the Ark of the Covenant?

15:57Yes.

15:59The Divine Glance is said to write in our heart

16:05In our brain, but in our heart, not in our minds but in our hearts

16:11Human beings are made of emotions

16:16Sinan: The seeds are planted into our feelings.

16:19The eyes represent the sun (fire) and the ears and mouth represent the rain (water)

16:27Inside comes from the earth

16:29Once earthly desire (Heva) is gone, our voice projecting through air (Hava) remains

16:34So you see that is the meaning of "anasır-ı erbaa" (the four elements)

16:40Otherwise, it is assumed that we are worshiping the earth or stones.

16:45Our body is made up of those four elements.

16:48Sinan: And the cosmos from whatever is left over!

16:52Right.

16:54Çilingir Sofrası 23 / İsmail Emre ***Translated by Prof.Dr.Nükhet Kardam***