Çilingir Sofrası 8 / Cebrail ve Refref (with English subtitles)

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

0:02What is meant by Shariat is that the shariat rules are supposed to prevent people from attacking each other.

0:06They are divine rules that aim to prevent conflict.

0:10People are at all different levels. Everyone should know their limits.

0:17We have a word in Turkish: "Haddizatinda" That means limits define a person.

0:23Most of the time people don’t understand this They might say: What do you mean? Why would rights incorporate limits?

0:29But, in fact, rights can only be exercised when freedoms are circumscribed.

0:35Rights cannot be limitless. Most people think limits have to do with material limits.

0:42As in nature, let’s say for example

0:46That this mug has a certain shape. That shape is its limit.

0:53We think that what differentiates this mug from anything else is its shape.

0:57But it is not like that. It is attributes (or adjectives) that both show and

1:05Conceal its ‘zhat’ (self) Attributes are symbols that show

1:12the limits of the ‘zhat’(self), as well as its reality. So what does this mean?

1:17Look, a while ago, Serhan and I were having a conversation about this.

1:21Serhan, it will be a repetition for you, but right now

1:26let us share it with everyone here.

1:31For example, I have a teacher from whom I am learning how to make bread.

1:38I tell him, Ozan, you make such good sourdough bread. Could you please teach me how?

1:45He says, of course, I will be happy to. So before starting this process,

1:50Who am I in relation to making bread?

1:56I am someone external to the process, right? I am a beginner.

2:04When Ozan accepted to teach me, I have now become an apprentice, so my ‘attribute’ or adjective has changed. I am no longer a beginner.

2:11Now Metin is an apprentice who has an ‘usta’ (expert). The ‘usta’ said to me: Bring this, take that,

2:16put them over there and then. We are going to bake together, I will tell you how.

2:19You first gather the ingredients. So apprentices gather ingredients and learn the rules.

2:24Then he says: mix this ingredient with that one.

2:28So now, I have advanced to ‘Kalfa’ (Assistant)

2:37After a while, Usta sees that I have incorporated the spirit of an ‘usta’.

2:45What does that mean?

2:48That I know the rules but besides that I have acquired a special touch

2:52so that the bread I make is unique to me.

3:16At that time my usta says: There can’t be two lions in one dergah (dervish lodge) You are now free to go.

3:22Go set up your own place and make your own bread.

3:27At that time, I would no longer be an assistant but an ‘Usta’ (expert) myself. My ‘attributes’ have changed.

3:31Now I am baking bread myself, suppose someone comes and says

3:36Hi Usta to me. Actually how would he know that I am an ‘usta’?

3:40So he can’t really say ‘usta’. So he comes to the bakery and says, Metin bey,

3:46Or dear Metin, your bread is so good, You do such a good job!

3:51Now if Metin was baking the bread, he would have been baking the bread right from the beginning of the process.

3:56So Metin is not baking the bread.

3:59If I said, I didn’t bake the bread, he wouldn’t believe me. He would say I saw you preparing it

4:04and putting it in the oven, I saw it with my own eyes.

4:09Well, it is a bit different. I would explain that I learned how to bake bread from another person.

4:16So okay, that means you didn’t make the bread. If you didn’t make the bread, the one who taught you made it.

4:20Well, it is not actually like this either, there is no duality.

4:25If you didn’t make the bread Neither did your teacher, who did then?

4:31Did some anonymous person do it? No It is the ‘Ustalik’ (expertise) itself that does it,

4:37And that belongs only to God and no one else . No one can own it.

4:44There it is.

4:50Servanthood leads us towards gaining expertise. But servanthood is the key.

4:55People who enter the path of spirituality assume that they will acquire a title, rise to a high place

5:02Or that they will go to heaven when they die.

5:12Yes, maybe those things will be offered to them. So what?

5:18The human being is in search of him/herself.

5:22Regardless of what a person thinks he or she is looking for,

5:26ultimately what people will find are themselves.

5:30This spiritual journey (seyr-i suluk) takes you from yourself to yourself.

5:34If you don’t enjoy this journey, it will not work.

5:41That means we need to go to the ‘meyhane’ and drink the ‘wine’ from the person who offers it.

5:46In other words, we will learn from those who already ‘enjoy’ this journey.

5:52Now, you are both involved in music, in creative arts. You might learn a musical piece and

6:00its technical details very well and play it for others.

6:07Your audience might appreciate it but they won’t get excited.

6:13But if you put your spirit into the piece you are playing,

6:18and pour your energy into it, this energy will pass on to your audience.

6:24They will be overwhelmed; they might start screaming, rising to their feet, clapping etc.

6:29Right, transference of energy. This will, however, never happen if you play a piece technically perfect,

6:35It is the last touch that matters which is different from person to person,

6:38Serhan’s touch will be different from Sinan’s.

6:43- Of course, this can only happen After we bring a piece to a perfection in terms of technique

6:49As a musician, I have to be able to say first that

6:54the piece is technically perfect.

7:00Then and only then,

7:05I can add my own Spirit, my own energy.

7:12I cannot add my own spirit without first bringing a piece to technical perfection.

7:16Right, this is true not just in music but in all arts and crafts such as cooking.

7:24Same is true in a spiritual journey

7:32It has been described this way: Prophet Muhammed said:

7:36I went on the night journey (Isra).

7:41During Isra I went from Mecca to Jerusalem.

7:48I reached Mescid-i Aqsa on a Buraq

7:57There I met other prophets and was an imam for them.

8:07Then Archangel Gabriel came

8:10and with Gabriel, I rose to the heavens.

8:13In the first heaven, I visited this prophet

8:20Then I arrived at the seventh heaven and Gabriel said:

8:26This is the sidrat-al-muntaha Sidr means both veil and tree,

8:34the last veil or last tree. “You are the last of the line, aren’t you?” Gabriel asked Prophet Muhammad.

8:41You are the last prophet. If I go any further, I would burn.

8:50So Prophet Muhammad wonders how he will be able to continue further.

8:55So Gabriel says: You must ask for help from God.

9:05And in this story

9:08As it is traditionally told, we know that Gabriel stays behind and

9:16God sends the angel Refref, and the Prophet Muhammed enters

9:24the presence of God with Refref.

9:27Now.

9:28The people of Marifet (gnostics) know that

9:33Gabriel represents universal intelligence or cosmic intelligence.

9:43Therefore, this also means that

9:46the limit of Cosmos is Cosmic intelligence which says: stop here.

9:54You can’t go any further. There is another angel who can go further.

9:59What is the name of this angel or force? Angel means force.

10:02So what is this angel?

10:04A new angel or force arrives called Refref.

10:08What is ‘Refref’? A name. What does Ref mean in Arabic?

10:14In arabic ‘refetmek’ (or raf) means to lift, for example to put something on a higher shelf, it means to raise.

10:24For example we might say lift this glass from this table.

10:29But we are not talking about refetmek (lifting) in a literal sense but in a metaphorical sense.

10:34What happens when you lift someone’s visible being?

10:36What remains? What remains is their ‘meaning’

10:40So that means it is not ‘Refref’ but instead It is really Ref-ü-Ref (lift and lift)

10:52In other words, we are lifting the material ‘you’ and ‘me’ to get rid of duality so that our spirits can meet.

10:57That is called Aşk (Love) as Ismail Emre says.

10:59In the same way, when a murshid and murid shed their material being

11:04and meet in the world of spirits,

11:07that is called Refüref, that is, Aşk (Love).

11:12The secret here is this:

11:13Remember that Gabriel said he would burn if he goes any further,

11:16that is really about burning with love.

11:21He did go further and burned.

11:25Once he burned, duality was over.

11:31And he entered the world of Love, he can now drink the wine of love.

11:39That wine of love is only offered to those who burn.

11:44If you think of the person in front of you as a person with a body and with particular titles,

11:47and you think you are someone, with this or that identity,

11:51If you sit across from each other as two different people, that means there is no love there.

11:57That wine is no good (haram - not permitted) As it is not the 'Aşk Şarabı' (Wine of love)

12:04when there is no RefRef.

12:07It is not permissible to drink the wine.

12:11What can we say?

12:14Allah Allah

12:24Serhan&Sinan Yasdıman are performing "Ey Zahit Şaraba Eyle İhtiram"

12:34"Ey Zahit Şaraba Eyle İhtiram" Lyrics: Harabi

14:34Serhan&Sinan Yasdıman are performing "Ey Zahit Şaraba Eyle İhtiram"

16:54***translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam***