Da'ud ibn Tamam ibn Ibrahim al-Shawni's Blog, page 2

The Ghost of John Donne

Have you heard,
How I fell in love once,With a girl in my ancient youth?
But is she true to our memory,In heaven's embrace?
Does she speak fondly of us,Now in angelic repose,While I roam in our lodging place,Where she never goes?
I will write a hundred versesTo remember you,In dust upon this wooden floor,In grain and paint that peels around me.
I will scratch a thousand sonnetsTo honor love,And wait behind this broken door,And wait for you,Where you burned your life away,Five hundred years before....

Requited

Krishna said, "Vishvamitra, you weren’t born to punish the wicked, though the wicked have been punished by your hand. Nor were you born to reward the righteous, though you’ve bestowed treasures upon the righteous. Yet if you refrained from punishment and reward, still the wicked and the righteous are fully requited. Holding to this truth with unflinching certainty, you may rise above all bonds of action and desire, and you may yet be detached from the world and the things of this world. Harme...

Admitted to His Court

The one who accuses God accuses only himself. Blame men for the evils of the world; do not blame the Lord Who fashioned you to know the difference between good and evil. Are you not likewise the touchstone of good and evil? 
Do not honor the eyes for seeing, nor the ears for hearing, nor the mouth for tasting, nor the heart for dilating. Honor God who gave you perception, and know that none of these attributes are admitted to His court.

Attar's Pen

To credit myself in attainment and success,
And to fault another for failure and dishonor,
This is not the Way.

To credit others for attainment and success,
And to fault myself for failure and dishonor,
Is a single step along the Way.

To be unmoved by attainment and success,
And untroubled by failure and dishonor,
Is the second step along the Way.

Who can speak of that third self-annihilating step?
If you possess the lion's courage, you are still a coward on this road.

I slept in a palace and...

A Lost Scrap from The Trial of Paris

Al-Doushu said, "Through the lens of science, there are some things you cannot see, except that you choose the proper instrument. You cannot scan the heavens with the microscope, nor view the atom with the telescope. With a scalpel you presume to dissect the Infinite Absolute. These are the limits of science. On this point, you cannot disagree."
Ibn Ganas said, "I agree that with every study, I must carefully choose the tools of study; that the instrument used to seek should be most appropriat...

The Rasa Lila - Chapbook

These tales of Krishna, found by clicking here  , are drawn from or inspired by the Bhagavata Purana, the Gita Govinda, and the Bhagavad Gita. My versions are sketches and renderings, elaborating some elements, minimizing others. “The Gopis’ Vow” appears as an episode of my book The Temple of Hanuman.

The Rasa Lila represents a synthesis of similar and related stories of Krishna’s relationship with the gopis, who are the daughters of Vraj, and with Radha, his consort. As in my other w...

The Bhagavad Gita Interpreted - Part 18

Arjuna said: 
—Tell me, Krishna, the nature of abjuring action and renunciation, and the difference between them. 
Krishna said: 
—To abandon action that is driven by desire, this is abjuring action. To abandon the fruit of every act, this is renunciation. 
—Because all action is driven by desire, the one who relinquishes action abandons all action. This is relinquishment. Yet sacrifice, offering, and self-discipline must not be abandoned. The one who renounces the fruit of al...

Govardhan

In Vraj, while Krishna was still young, each year the people sacrificed to Indra, the king of gods. For the festival, the gopis set aside their household duties to decorate their homes in bright colors, to place garlands on friends, husbands, sons, and brothers. The men likewise put aside their work except to prepare sacrifices to Indra, to vow to Indra, to recite his praises and stories, calling upon his favor, propitiating him for his blessings, for they considered him the best of the gods. ...

The Prince of the Yadavas

After the defeat of the Kauravas in eighteen days of warfare on the field of Kurukshetra, the ancient kingdom of the Yadavas destroyed itself in civil war. The princes, descended from Yadu, turned each against the other and neither Krishna nor Balarama intervened. Sorrowfully, Balarama yielded up his spirit and Krishna went into forest exile, leaving his kingdom utterly ruined.
One day, while sleeping in the forest, a hunter mistook him for a deer and struck Krishna with an arrow. When realiz...

Draupadi's Honor

King Duryodhana, owing to his greed and unquenchable envy, despised his cousins, the Pandavas, and wished to deprive them of that half of the kingdom which was their right. Because he feared open conflict with the Pandavas, he devised a strategy to take from Yudishtira, the eldest of the Pandavas, and his four brothers Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, all that they possessed. Duryodhana invited the Pandavas to his palace, to play at dice, and to stake such valuables as they wished.
The Pa...