Çilingir Sofrası 5 / Hz.Yusuf’un Rüyası ve Bilimsel Yöntem (with english subtitles)

0:00There is always a remedy to our pain. We need to have the pain because

0:04nobody searches for a remedy unless they experience the pain

0:07Therefore, the person we call ‘Mürşid-i Kamil’ (a completed human being who is capable of educating others)

0:10is not an authority, is not a teacher or a shaikh.

0:16What a murshid does is to help us recognize that pain, that yearning. A murshid provokes a person

0:21That provocation causes him/her To look inside, to look for his/her essence

0:28Aren’t people in pain really searching for their essence? So a murshid says, you are in pain, you are yearning,

0:33don’t waste time, pay attention, look for your essence with Love.

0:42My murshid used to say,

0:46Of course his words were directly inspired by God, so it doesn’t matter which murshid really

0:52because all murshids speak of the Divine Word, He used to say - remember they used to call the body, a sheath or a cover

0:58They might have said, rest your ‘sheath’ or ‘Cover’ instead of your body

1:02“I grew up, my body ‘sheath’ evolved and

1:07I searched for a partner.

1:11My spirit grew, and I began searching for "my essence”

1:17Growing in spirit is the Satisfied Self (Mutmain Nafs) That’s when yearning begins. He or she is in love, and burns.

1:27This is unstoppable, we only watch the smoke.

1:32We listen to beautiful ilahis (those songs inspired by the Divine)

1:37But that’s only the smoke, not the fire itself. What does Yunus Emre say?

1:43You can put a (goose) on the stove for forty years, but it won’t cook,

1:50when there is no fire around it.

2:00I have a thought, I was wondering what your response would be to this thought

2:06In reality

2:09Any person who grows up looks for his essence

2:15Perhaps when we are born, we already have this yearning, for our essence.

2:21But the problem is that we are not aware of it Because there is a veil over it.

2:26But a time comes when the veil is no longer enough to cover this yearning.

2:33In fact, we are talking about a psychological process. So a person is no longer able to cover it up.

2:41Exactly, but we can’t interpret the dream that we see, our own dream. This is very important.

2:47So?

2:50In the Torah, also in the Qur’an, there is a story about the Prophet Joseph about jealousy.

2:59Joseph is one of the 12 children of Jacob.

3:07His 11 siblings were jealous of Joseph because they thought their dad, Jacob, liked him best.

3:14Therefore, they threw Joseph in a well.

3:17And left him there to die. Later a caravan passed by and they lowered a bucket.

3:24to get water from the well. And what did they see? A boy hanging on to the bucket!

3:28It is Joseph. He is a well-built, handsome boy.

3:35So they say that they can sell him at the slave market. They arrive in Egypt. At the slave market

3:41because he is so good looking and well built,

3:50therefore not everyone can buy him.

3:55So a lady (Zuleyha) came by from the palace

4:00And likes him and says good, I am buying him and taking him home.

4:04Later she falls in love with Joseph.

4:08But she is married, she is the wife of the Vezir (Vizier) The wife of Pharaoh's treasurer

4:15And as you know, she offers herself to him let’s be together.

4:20But Joseph says No. Even though Moses has not arrived yet and there is no Shariat.

4:24They say that Joseph already had the Shariat (rules of ethics) written in his heart.

4:28He says no, I can’t do it. I can’t be with my owner’s wife.

4:33But she says, I love you, and I want you!

4:36Then she is so upset about being rejected,

4:40that she claims that Joseph attacked her and tried to rape her.

4:47As a result Joseph is thrown in jail. So now he is jail, look at this adventure.

4:54How is he going to get out? The Pharaoh has thrown him in jail. It was next to impossible to get out.

4:59The well was probably better! Maybe even being a slave was okay.

5:04But now he is in jail.

5:07And if the pharaoh has thrown you in jail, he is the only one who can allow you to be released

5:15So now he is sitting in jail, accepting his fate.

5:25There in the jail are two men who were also put in jail by the Pharaoh’s orders.

5:30One of them is the head of bakers, and the other one is the wine server, responsible for the Pharaoh’s wine cellar.

5:36Two men from the palace were thrown in jail by the Pharaoh, they are telling Joseph their stories.

5:41Why did you end up here? They say this happened and that happened, we ended up here.

5:46One says I was the wine server, and I guess,

5:51I made a mistake and angered the Pharaoh as I offered him wine

5:56So he ordered his men to throw me here.

5:59What did you do?

6:01The other guy says I was the head of bakers and I guess my bread was not suitable for the Pharaoh’s palate.

6:08How are we going to get out?

6:10We don’t know.

6:12Since he ordered us to be thrown to jail only he can order our release. We are destroyed!

6:26A few days later, the wine server says: friends, I had a dream

6:36In my dream there were three branches, I can’t remember the exact way

6:43The dream goes, we have to read the book about it.

6:47But he says he saw grapes on the branches since he is the wine server, it makes sense that he saw grapes.

6:53Let’s say that he saw one branch and three bunches of grapes on that branch.

7:01So he recounts his dream He says more things

7:04but we need to read the story, I don’t remember the exact words.

7:09Joseph listens and says

7:13Good news!

7:16In three days The Pharaoh will call you and will forgive you

7:19and give you back your old position.

7:25The man laughs and says: how can that be? Is this possible?

7:30He thinks it is totally impossible.

7:36Next day they come and tell him that the Pharaoh is calling him to his presence.

7:42And the Pharaoh says, you are forgiven, you may start your job again.

7:46The Pharaoh probably realized that this man does his job better than anyone else.

7:51And the man restarts his job happily.

7:54The head baker, who witnesses this situation goes to Joseph and informs him that

7:58he too had a dream in which

8:02He was carrying a basket and in the basket were three loaves of bread. He recounts, this happened,

8:08that happened.

8:11Joseph tells him

8:15These three loaves mean that the Pharaoh will call you in three days.

8:20And he probably said more things about the dream. We need to read the whole story.

8:25But what he concludes is: I received a sign from your dream that the Pharaoh is going to hang you.

8:31You are going to be called in three days and you will be hanged.

8:36The baker says: the other one is being forgiven But you are interpreting my dream this way?

8:44So with a sarcastic smile, he says: Actually, I lied to you.

8:50I did not have such a dream. That means your interpretation

8:55Is also null and void, such a thing cannot happen.

8:59If I had seen this dream, yes perhaps your interpretation would have been right.

9:04But I didn’t.

9:07Joseph says:

9:10While you were recounting your dream, in my imagination I saw that dream.

9:15And saw that you will get this verdict.

9:18And the baker indeed received this verdict and was hanged.

9:24Now

9:26People heard about Joseph’s dream interpretations, and told the Pharaoh about it and said

9:30there is a person in jail who knew what would happen to two people

9:34by interpreting their dreams.

9:37There is such a person in your jail.

9:40One man was led to his hanging because he lied about having a dream,

9:44whereas, the other man was saved because he was truthful about his dream.

9:50The Pharaoh says: bring this man to me, he is obviously a man of truth.

9:53At that time there was drought in Egypt - perhaps the Pharaoh thought that Joseph could help him

9:56As you know, from that day on Joseph is saved

9:59and this time he interprets the Pharaoh’s dreams. He makes prophecies about seven years of drought and seven years of plenty in Egypt

10:07etcetera First years of plenty then years of drought so there was an opportunity to prepare for the draught

10:12In short, Joseph is saved and becomes a ‘vezir’ (vizier) And about the two men in jail

10:18the liar is led to his demise, whereas the other’s honesty saves him.

10:26Now here Joseph says:

10:29I am not the one who interpreted these dreams

10:33This is where the secret is. What does this mean?

10:36This means that if God is interpreting the dreams, then they are true.

10:40If we interpret them, they are just our assumptions or opinions.

10:46What is the relevance of all this in our modern world?

10:50So in the professional world, we talk about the consultant and the person who consults.

10:55We don’t call them patient and doctor in psychology. A person goes to a psychologist or psychiatrist to consult.

11:03And he or she says, let’s say Freud says: Tell me what is going on. Lie down and tell me

11:09Perhaps in a stream of consciousness mode freely

11:15As you know psychologists nowadays also pay attention to dreams, analyzing dreams

11:21in order to understand traumas or they use the stream of consciousness mode,

11:25Going back in time to understand the signs in the past.

11:32That’s another kind of interpretation.

11:35So the psychologist uses these scientific methods to make decisions Not his/her own assumptions or opinions.

11:42The manifestations of God are, in fact, precisely these scientific methods.

11:48Good, so Sinan, you are the son of Şemsi Efendi, and Serhan is your son. Let’s talk about the three of you and please tell us about your father.

12:05Great, my father really had a very interesting personality.

12:08We are talking about Şemsi Yastıman, the famous musician, right?

12:12Right, first of all he really cared about people

12:14For instance, when he was walking on the road, he might spot a piece of metal on the ground (that someone might trip on)

12:18And would say to the workers: Remove this immediately! I will come back to check in an hour.

12:21This must be gone, as if he is their supervisor

12:26And he would go back to check on them and if it is done right He would thank the workers.

12:33Then he would bring out a poem, read a poem to them and tell them they should read poetry

12:37I looked at his archives

12:41I saw unbelievable things, he hasn’t published them

12:48He picked up a match box, found out the matches weren’t placed properly.

12:54So he wrote to the factory chief. He then received in return a big box of matches (put together properly)

12:58This time he wrote a thank you note to the factory chief.

13:03Artists are critical, that’s their job. They are always in opposition. He (Şemsi Yastiman) criticized others but he also criticized himself.

13:17That’s exactly what Irfan is.

13:20Its two major aspects are Tevhid (Unity) and self-accountability or opposing one’s nafs. He criticized others but he also criticized himself

13:25If one is not accountable to oneself, critical of himself He cannot be ‘Arif’

13:29You must oppose your own nafs This is the main point

13:35Everyone wants to learn doctrines They want to acquire knowledge but they don’t want to touch their ego.

13:42Şemsi baba said: I want to hit my head from stone to stone (meaning, I must be aware of my own faults) This is the way of the people of Marifet.

13:49When you hear this kind of exclamation You may wonder: What on earth is this person saying?

13:53But this is key, that person is trying to transform him/herself You may be interested in getting fat, asking for more and more knowledge

13:59Give me this, give me that. But what we are focusing on is transforming our nafs. Let’s keep going

14:06Yes, so my father wrote these letters in 1946 and then in 1951 he met my mother. So when we look at the chronology of his life,

14:11we see that he met my mother in Izmir.

14:13While he was playing at the Izmir fair, his saz is broken They tell him: There is someone called "Kalın Mustafa" who can repair your saz

14:18Kalın Mustafa is my mother’s father.

14:20He is the kind of person who knows about budgeting and spends his money carefully

14:27So his lunches are brought from home He also loves good food

14:31And my grandmother cooks well and my mother brings The food to my dad every day.

14:35When my father sees my mother for the first time, he is entranced

14:38He immediately invites her and her father Kalin Mustafa to his concert that night at the fair.

14:43He is smart, he orders a taxi to pick them up Kalın Mustafa is pleased. My father is as famous as

14:47Ibrahim Tatlises was later on. He would just wave his saz

14:51from behind the curtain of the stage, and people would rise to their feet clapping in expectation.

14:56It is 1951, there is no television then

14:58there is no radio. When Semsi Yastiman appeared on stage thousands of people went wild.

15:02My dad used to say, they performed on seven stages in one day starting at 11 am in Beykoz (one end of Istanbul)

15:06And ended up in Silivri at the other end. They finished at daybreak in Silivri.

15:10My mother used to say he came home with his pockets empty.

15:13He had seven performances in one day,

15:18Beykoz, Beşiktaş, Taksim, Aksaray, Silivri and more

15:43There is photograph of him with Müzeyyen hanim (Müzeyyen Senar) At the backstage, they are sitting on a bench

15:47eating watermelon with feta cheese. He was so handsome

15:54He never drove a car, he didn’t have a license

15:57He used taxis, behind his taxi were other taxis carrying his fans.

16:01He said to them, you come along too! He was generous

16:05He grew up in Kırşehir in a well-to-do household

16:07My grandfather had stores selling sweets. He was called "Şekerci Ahmet Aga"

16:12That region’s biggest businessman in his field and he wanted to leave his business to his son

16:16My great uncle became an electrician and opened a store

16:18But my father was only interested in music. He goes to middle school He would sit under a window where there was sohbet and music and listen

16:24He was told to go away but he would Still sit and listen

16:26Under the window.

16:29His friend’s father was a carpenter And had a saz. He gave the saz to my father and my father started to keep the saz with him day and night

16:33But his dad apparently broke it.(as he didn’t want his son to become a musician)

16:36This is called ‘Love’

16:38He continued in spite of all impediments.

16:41My grandfather even found a job for my dad at a government office.

16:44They lived in an upscale neighborhood Right across from the governor’s mansion

16:49In short, my grandfather was a well respected, well to do man and he was shocked that his son wanted to be a musician. That was anathema to him.

16:59Could we hear something from Şemsi Efendi, perhaps one of his compositions? Is there anything we could listen?

17:06I am not sure what is suitable for your guitar, but I just was inspired to ask

17:10I don’t know, I would love to hear something.

17:17Let’s do it next time.

17:23All right, let’s send Semsi baba our selams.

17:28to be continued

17:30*translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam*