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Issue 29 SUFI Spring 1996

DISCOURSE STORIES
Spiritual Combat 28 Home 20
by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh by Llewellyn Smith
Old Wine in New Bottles: 43
ARTICLES Tales from the Mathnawi
Service is Perfect Freedom 5
by Alan Dupre POETRY
The Need to Transform 7 Black Light 8
by Mark Nepo by Herbert Mason
Sufism and Yoga According to Nearness 15
Muhammad Ghawth 9 by Alex Cowie
by Carl W Ernst The Dark Night 17
Eros-Heavenly and not so Heavenly- by St. John of the Cross
in Sufi Literature and Life 30 Translated by Robert Ely
by Annemarie Schimmel The Way She Looked 19
by Dorothy Judd Hall
BOOK REVIEWS 44
Allah's Essence 22
About the Authors 49 by Salimah Ribeiro
The Venture of Loving 25
Notes for Contributors 51 by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh

COVER: "EARTH" COMPILED FROM IMAGES BY STUART TYSON AND NASA


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EDITOR: Alireza Nurbakhsh ASSISTANT EDITORS: Janet Jones, Terry Graham, Jeffrey Rothschild, Philip N.
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Carl W. Ernst SUFI

SUFISM AND YOGA ACCORDING


TO MUHAMMAD GHAWTH
BY CARL W. ERNST ~

hat has been the relation-

W
example of Muslim interest in yogic originally written by the Illuminationist
ship between Sufism and practice, however, it seems clear that philosopher Shihab aI-DIn al-
2
yoga? The question of yoga was integrated into the spectrum SuhrawardI al-Maqtiil. From the dis-
yogic 'influence' on Sufism has been of existing Sufi practice, rather than semination of the manuscript copies of
raised from the first Orientalist studies somehow acting as a 'source' for the the Arabic text, it is clear that .fiawc;! al-
of Islamic mysticism, because of the entire Sufi tradition. J:zayiit was fairly well known in the Is-
well-known millennial presence of The text in question is one of the lamic world; at least forty-five copies are
Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. most unusual examples of cross-cultural found in libraries in European and Arab
Partly because of ingrained Orientalist encounter in the annals of the study of countries, the majority being in Istanbul.
assumptions that Islam was legalistic religion. The Amrtakunc;!a or "Pool of The content of the text was so unusual
and intolerant, it was assumed that the Nectar" was the name of a Sanskrit or that, perhaps by default, it has been fre-
mystical tendencies in the Islamic tra- . Hindi text, the original text of which is quently assigned to the authorship of the
dition must have come from else- now lost. It was ostensibly translated into Andalusian Sufi master MuQ.yI aI-DIn
where. Thus began the quest for the Arabic, according to the introduction, in Ibn al- 'ArabI; this attribution is clearly
'origins' of Sufism, which were vari- 1210in Bengal, under the title.fiawc;! mii' erroneous (Yahia 1964, I, 287-288, no.
ously-and fruitlessly-sought in the al-J:zayiit: "The Pool of the Water of 230). The vocabulary of the text is
doctrines of Christian monasticism, Life"; I have prepared a critical edition mostly formed on the Arabic technical
Buddhism, shamanism, or yoga. The and English translation of the Arabic text terminology of Hellenistic philosophy,
consensus of scholarship no~, I think, which will be published with an exten- with some Islamic overtones derived
accepts Sufism as a religious phenom- sive introduction dealing with the cross- from the Koran and Sufism. The trans-
enon oriented by the Koran and the cultural religious issues raised by the lator worked strenuously to render the
Prophet MuQ.ammad. Yet one com- Amrtakunc;!a. 1 For reasons too complex yogic practices in a way that was under-
monly finds the assertion that Sufi to discuss here, I would like to suggest standable to a philosophically oriented
practices of breathing control and medi- that this account is fictitious, and that reader of Arabic. Yet the lJawc;! al-J:zayiit
tation somehow derive from Hindu or the actual translator was a Persian was only the beginning of the trajectory
Buddhist yogic exercises; little proof scholar trained in the Illuminationist of the Amrtakunc;!a in the Islamic world.
is ever offered for this thesis. I have school of philosophy, probably in the The Pool of the Water of Life stands
spent a considerable amount of time fifteenth century; this unknown philoso- out from other Arabic and Persian trans-
researching the Sufi texts that make pher then went to India and encountered lations from the Sanskrit, in that it em-
passing reference to yoga, and it is the teachings of ha~ha yoga according phasized Indian spiritual practices rather
undeniable that certain Sufis in India to the tradition of the Nath yogis (popu- than doctrines. Although al-BlriinI (d.
were aware of yogic practices. On a larly calledjogis). The anonymous trans- 1010) had translated Patanjali's
textual level, however, extended dis- lator incorporated into the introduction Yogasutra into Arabic, he had focused
cussions of yoga are rare. Only one two symbolic narratives, one deriving ul- on philosophical questions and omitted
work on yoga, described below, had timately from the 'Hymn of the Pearl' the topic of mantra altogether (Ritter
a wide circulation in the Muslim world, from the gnostic Acts of Thomas, the 1956; Lawrence 1975, pp. 29-48, esp.
in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu other being a partial translation from a p. 33). Most of the Sanskrit texts trans-
translation. Even in this most obvious Persian treatise, On the Reality of Love, lated into Persian during the Moghul

Spring 1996 9
-
SUFI Sufism and Yoga according to Muhammad Ghawth

period were likewise chosen for their to the Sanskrit text of the Alnrtakum;la, corporated into his treatise on medita-
philosophical interest and had little rel- he had consulted extensively with con- tion, the Jawiihir-i khamsa, or The Five
evance to religious practice. The Pool temporary yogic teachers, and his ver- Jewels, have superficial resemblances to
of the Water of Life was known to vari- sion is greatly expanded from the Ara- yogic exercises. The Mecca-based
ous Muslim mystics of India, some of bic text. The Persian text is appropriately ShattarI teacher $ibghat Allah (d. 1606)
whom had watched with interest the entitled The Ocean of Life, and the translated the latter text into Arabic as
breathing exercises and chants of the growth in size from a pool to an ocean al-Jawiihir al-khams, and taught these
yogis, and noticed similarities with their parallels the expansion of the text by the practices to disCiples from as far away
own meditative practices (e.g., Na~Ir al- addition of many new materials (e.g., the as North Africa and Indonesia (See
Din 1956, p. 60). Shaykh 'Abd al- list of yogic postures in chapter IV is Gawth 1973, pp. 3-9). In other words, if
Quddus Ganguhi (d. one wished to make a
1537), who was familiar case for yogic 'influ-
with the yoga of the ence' on Sufi practice,
Naths and wrote Hindi this would seem to be the
verses on the subject, strongest possible ex-
taught The Pool to a dis- ample to make that case.
3
ciple. In the sixteenth There is no other known
century, Mu~ammad literary source on yoga
Ghawth GwaliyarI (d. so widely disseminated
1563), an Indian Sufi among Sufis.
master of the ShattarI or- Yet later authors in
der, translated The Pool the ShattarI tradition ex-
from Arabic into Persian hibited ambivalence to-
under the title Ba?u- al- ward the explicit de-
bayii (The Ocean of scription of yogic teach-
Life). There are at least ings in the Ba?u al-
c,j two other less commonly bayiit. This ambivalence
.Q known Persian transla- towards yoga is manifest
tQJ tions of the Arabic text; in the lengthy character-
:::::::
c3 one of these was circu- ization of the Babr al-
~ lated among Persian ?wyiit given by one of
f.l:1 scholars of Pars in the Mu~ammad Ghawth's
C early seventeenth cen- biographers, his near-
~ tury, where the Italian namesake Mu~ammad
~ traveler Pietro della Valle GhawthI:
~
acquired a copy in 1622.
~ Sufis in Sind and Turkey The Babr al-bayat is
~ continued to refer to The the translation of the
:-S
~ Pool well into the nine- ascetical work and
~ teenth century. The Ara- manual of the society
~ bic text was twice trans- of J6g1S [yogis] and
~ lated into Ottoman Turk- Sannyasis, in which
o occur interior prac-
ish, and Mu~ammad
.Q <I) Ghawth's Persian transla- tices, visualization
.~ exercises, descriptions
tion was itself rendered
S
QJ
into Dakhani Urdu.
5 of holding the breath,

..sa.. Here I would like to concentrate on expanded from five to twenty-one posi-
and other types of
meditation ... These two groups are
<I)" the Persian translation by Mu~ammad tions). It seems likely that he had been the chief ascetics, recluses, and
2 Ghawth, which is ~f considerable impor- using the fIawr;l al-bayiit as a teaching gUides of the people of idolatry and
~ tance for Sufism. This Persian transla- text with his disciples in the ShattarI Sufi infidelity. By the blessings of these
~ tion and expansion (in some copies writ- order, and that his Persian translation very practices and repetitions of
~
q"' ten by I:Iusayn GwaliyarI from the dic- emerged as an oral commentary on the names (adhkiir), [they have] arrived
to the ladder of false spirituality
~ tation ofMu~ammad Ghawth) was com- Arabic. The teachings of the Babr al-
(istidraj) and the excellent rank of
E! posed in the city of Broach in Gujarat, bayiit, as adapted in other writings by
visions ... He [MulJammad Ghawth]
~ probably around 1550, in order to clarify Mu~ammad Ghawth, apparently occu-
separated all these subjects from the
~ the obscurities of the Arabic version pied a significant position in the litera- Sanskrit language that is the tongue
s
~ (Gawth 1550, 10, pp. 2,4). Although ture of the ShattarI order. Some of the of the infidels' flimsy books, dressed
Q Mu~ammad Ghawth did not have access practices that Mu~ammad Ghawth in- them in Persian, loosed the belt of

10 Issue 29
Carl W, Ernst SUFI

infidelity from the shoulder of those "they are like the greatest name [of God] role in Sufism. There are two further
concepts, and adorned them with ... among us" (Husain 1928, p. 330). identifications of this type: "That reli-
unity and islam, thus freeing them Mul;1ammad Ghawth goes one better, gious leader (ilnam) ChaurangI, that is,
from the dominance of blind ad-
however, providing two Arabic phrases Elijah [Ilyas] (peace be upon him), and
herence with the overwhelming
for each Sanskrit term; he translates hClln the third, 'the breath of the fish,' who is
strength of true faith. The master of
realization bestowed aid and as- as ya rabb ya (ulfi:r" "0 Lord, 0 Protec- the religious leader Machindirnath
sistance with Sufi repetitions of tor," and aum as ya qahir ya qadlr, "0 [Matsyendranath, cf. Skt. l1wtsya, fish],
names (adhkar) and practices. He Wrathful, 0 All-powerful" (Ghawth or Mlna Nath, that is, Jonah [Yiinus]
fashioned the Truth (al-baqq), which 1550,10, pp. 91, 94; GB, pp. 82,84), In (peace be upon him)-each one of them
11
is a single casket (b,uqqa) of precious a discussion of breathing techniques that has attained the water of life."
jewels, and a case for kingly rubies, does not appear in the Arabic version, Mul;1ammad Ghawth has assimilated el-
from the spoils of "they are like Mul;1ammad Ghawth also finds equiva- ements of the yogic tradition to familiar
cattle, nay, more erring" (Koran 7:
lents for the yogic terms hans and so Islamic categories and persons, much as
171) ... into an ennobling crown for
ham, which are pronounced during the Islamic philosophers assimilated the
the Lord of "religion, for God, is
islam." (Koran 3: 19)1 two phases of exhalation and inhalation; wisdom of the Greeks and other pre-Is-
the first is "an expression for the spiri- lamic peoples to their own prophetic dis-
This biographer was at pains to separate tual lord (rabb-i nthl)," while the sec- pensation.
the yogic practices as far as possible ond stands for "the lord of lords (rabb In his comparison of yogic and Is-
from their Indian origin, and he there- al-arbab)" (Gawth 1550, ch. 4, 10, pp. lamic categories, Mul;1ammad Ghawth
fore argued that they had been entirely 45-46; GB, p. 55; ch. 7, GB, p. 93). There not only identifies great yogis with the
Islarn.icized. A similar sentiment appears are many other examples of this kind. prophets, but also implicitly puts his ac-
in a modern Urdu biography of Mu- Semantically, such 'translations' make counts of yogic practice on a parallel
l;1ammad Ghawth, based on the work of no sense whatever; they are, rather, func- with normative religious practice in Is-
a disciple ofMul;1ammad Ghawth named tional equivalents between the yogic lam. He regards the yogis' oral traditions
Fac,ll Allah Sharrar!. There the text is words of power and the names of God as a parallel phenomenon to the ~adcth
briefly described as follows: "[On] the as used by the Sufis; this is especially reports of the prophet Mul;1ammad, de-
method of the modes and practices of evident in the case of the seven great scribing them by the same Arabic term,
the Jogi [yogi] and Sannyasl folk, in the mantras, for which the Arabic equiva- riwayat, that is used for (wdlth transmis-
Sanskrit language. He has translated it lents are presented in a vocative form sions. The main differences between
into the Persian language in the style of used in the Sufi dhikr repetitions of the these yogic traditions and Islarn.ic ~adcth
Islamic Sufism, and arranged it in the names of God. Other equivalences, on lie in their sources (Hindu deities such
fashion of the Sufi master. This is a good the other hand, sometimes are so far- as Siva instead of Mul;1ammad) and their
book for esotericists" 8
(Fadl
.
Allah fetched as to strain credulity. For in- transmitters. In the account of the
ShattarIl933, p. 75). Here too, the com- stance, the Samk'hya triad of cosmic 'ilnams' of the yogis just mentioned,
mentator feels the need to describe the qualities, rajas ('passion'), tamas ('dark- which is devoted to a discussion of
contents of the book as having been ness'), and sattva ('goodness'), which breath control, Matsyendranath and
Islamicized. are here correlated with the three deities Chaurangi are both described as present-
Mul;1ammad Ghawth himself saw no Brahma, Visnu, and Mahesh, are bi- ing transmissions (riwayat) , generally
such ambiguity in his reworking of the zarrely translated as "all the commands going back to Siva as an ultimate source.
yogic material. In general, he felt free to of religious law," "the blow of exist- Mul;1ammad Ghawth even invokes the
9
make the most remarkable equivalences ence," and "equality" (Ghawth 1550, authority of the Tantric goddess
between yogic terms and practices on the ch. 4, 10; GB, p. 25). In such a case it Kamak'hya DevI, who is well known in
one hand and Sufi concepts on the other. appears that the translator was mainly Assam and Bengal, for a technical clari-
In making these creative translations, he concerned to provide some kind of arbi- fication of yogic practice: "The trans-
was following the lead of the anonymous trary equivalent from an Islamic vocabu- mitter (rawl) is a woman, the wife of
translator of the original Arabic version. lary rather than any precise linguistic Mahadeva [Siva], who is called
In the seventh chapter of the Arabic text, rendering. Perhaps the most remarkable Kamak'hya Devi-she says that [in the
which treats the magical imagination equivalences made by Mul;1ammad k' hecarc mudra position] there is no need
(wa/un), the seven Sanskrit mantras or Ghawth involve persons, identifying pri- to hold the breath ... She is a reporter
12
chants associated with the seven cala'as mordial yogis with the prophets recog- (naqil) from Brahma and Visnu." By
or spinal nerve centers are all boldly nized in Islam. At one point he writes, using terms from the normative dis-
declared to be translations of the Arabic "Their religiOUS leader (imam,) is course of Islamic (wdlth methodology,
invocations of the names of God. Thus Gorakh, and some say that Gorakh is an Mul;1ammad Ghawth aims to draw the
the Sanskrit syllable hUln is translated expression for Khizr (peace on our Muslim reader into the heart of the dis-
10
as "0 Lord" (ya rabb), and awn is trans- Prophet and on him)." Here the arche- cussion of yoga by means of a format
lated as "0 Ancient One" (ya qadcm). typal yogi has been assimilated to the that is both familiar and authoritative.
In introducing these seven great man- immortal Prophet Khizr (Arabic Mul;1ammad Ghawth frequently
tras, the Arabic translator remarks that Khac,lir), who plays an importantinitiatic comments that on the practical level, the

Spring 1996 11
SUFI Sufism and Yoga according to Muhammad Ghawth

experiences of yogis and sufis are very except for the different method ing. Just as Ibn Rushd argued that the
similar. He states this emphatically with (tarab), no doubt should attach to study of philosophy is a religious duty
respect to the characteristic Sufi term for their words. In the end, the theory for those who are qualified intellectu-
mystical experience, 'unveiling' (kash/): becomes a single connection als, so MUQammad Ghawth uses a term
(paywand) , and each of them
"Most of the 'friends of God' (awliya'- from Islamic law, farr;l, to describe the
becomes open to advice (pand-
i khuda, Sufi saints) have comprehended pazfr). With a delicate understanding obligatory character of the study of yoga
and explained these influences from un- one engages with the subtlety of for those who are seeking gnosis. Doc-
veiling (kashj), and the monks (rahiban) meaning and investigates until one trinal differences exist, but are relatively
of India, who are the yogis, have unveil- becomes an experiencer of truth. unimportant when compared with the
ing that is in agreement with the mysti- Then the theory (kalam) on both effective realization of spiritual states for
cal state of those who have realized the sides becomes firmly rooted in the which yoga can be an effective means.
truth. Although the language differs, the heart and has a single substance. What are the practical results of
explanation is the same" (Ghawth 1550, (Ghawth 1550, ch. 6,10, p. 72; GB, MuQ.ammad Ghawth' s adoption of yo-
pp. 71-72)
ch. 7, 10, p. 90). In a discussion of a gic practices into Sufi discipline? As we
particular repetition of a passage from have seen, the equivalences that he
The case resembles that of the early Is-
the Koran, he states further that "Most makes between yogic and Islamic ter-
lamic philosophers, who also had to deal
of the sages (/:tukama') of India have minology, religious leaders, and spiri-
with a discrepancy between the Platonic
followed this practice, and have attained tual experiences are functional. He ac-
notion of the pre-existence of the soul
to their own quiddity; some Muslims knowledges doctrinal differences, but
and the prophetic emphasis on the cre-
have taken the same practice to comple- does not linger on them. As far as the
ation of the soul by an omnipotent God.
tion and have reached the benefit of direct impact on the practices of the
13 After a complicated excursus on the cos-
gnosis as is appropriate." Despite the ShaHari order is concerned, the most
mic deployment of the spirit,
improbability of yogis devoting them- obvious innovation is the use of chants
MuQ.ammad Ghawth returns to the prob-
selves to repeating Surat al-Ikhla~ from in Hindi or Sanskrit. In speaking of the
lem of reconciling yogic and Islamic
the Koran, MuQ.ammad Ghawth finds occult science called slmlya,
views. He concludes that while the yo-
that the practical results of repeated MUQammad Ghawth remarks that one of
gic doctrine has shortcomings, their
chanting are very similar in both tradi- its bases is "the talisman [made] from
practical knowledge of the body is
tions, regardless of differences in seman- the names of the most high creator;
highly advanced and valuable for the
tic or religious content. whether they are in Arabic or Hindi, the
pursuit of mystical knowledge.
Occasionally, the ShaHari master result is attained" (Ghawth 1550, ch. 2,
finds discrepancies between yogic teach- 10, p. 38; GB, p. 46). This is true whether
Now in the discussion of wisdom
ings and standard Islamic doctrines, and and power, plenty of difficulties have we are concerned with the seven princi-
these lead him to seek an explanation appeared. Fundamentally the words pal Sanskrit mantras or the Koranic in-
that will reconcile the two. In the begin- of the yogis are not correct. It is vocations of God. Thus he further notes
ning of the sixth chapter, which concerns necessary to harmonize (tatbfq that "the perfect monks and Siddha yo-
the nature of the body, he recognizes the dashtan) this so that the actual gis have grasped these names of God
difference that separates the yogic and condition becomes apparent, and so most high in the Indian language, and
Islamic concepts of spirit and body. In that their unveiling is corrected and have been occupied in reciting them.
an extended and revealing passage, made right. Its practice rests upon They have seen the internal result with
the real; its practice leads to the result
Mul:lammad Ghawth sets forth the ap- the eye of manifestation. Having found
of a spiritual state. The Siddha yogis
proach that he follows, of seeking a kind say, "We are in agreement with the the names in the heart, they have dived
of accord between the two positions. dervishes who realize the truth in into it, and like pearl divers they have
the qUiddity of spirit." Inasmuch as brought up the quiddity of the Essence
The master of the religious law they speak of descent, appearance, and Attributes with praise" (Ghawth
(shar') [Le., the Prophet MUQam-
and ascent (tanazzul, tala 'at, 1550, ch. 7; GB, p. 87; 10, p. 100). Thus
mad] states that after a specific time, taraqqf) , which rest upon the real,
the entry of the spirit into the body it will not be surprising to find that
yet they have gone beyond the reality MuQ.ammad Ghawth presents, in the
takes place. The perfect and of recognizing the means. The yogic
practiced yogis say that, without ninth chapter, the "great prayer (du 'a-i
group has grasped the means, and
spirit, nothing abides, rather, it kab"ir)," which begins with Koranic in-
they have observed and investigated
undergoes corruption. Especially, the it, because by the means of the body vocations but shifts abruptly into a dozen
point of flesh and skin does not lines of Sanskrit mantras (Ghawth 1550,
the real gnosis is discovered ...
endure a single day [without spirit]. Therefore the protection of the body ch. 9,10, pp. 151-152; GB, p. 131).1 4 In
Here lies a contradiction between his principal work on Sufi practice, The
is a duty (jar(/), because it is the
the theory (kalam) of the yogis and
means of gnosis. (Ghawth 1550, ch. Five Jewels, MuQ.ammad Ghawth also
the command of the religious law. A
6,10, pp. 76-77; GB, pp. 74-75) cites a dhikr in Hindi, which he attributes
categorical reply is required, so that
the decree of the religious law may to the early Chishti Sufi master Farid al-
accord with (rast ayad ba) the Again the similarity with the Islamic Din Ganj-i Shakar (d. 1265) (Ghawth
findings of the yogis, and so that, adaptation of Greek philosophy is strik- 1973, II, 70).

12 Issue 29
Carl W. Ernst SUFI

Beyond the introduction of sacred 3. For bibliographic references see Rizvi been supported by a Translation Grant from
syllables from Indian languages, which (1978), p. 335. Ganguhi' s knowledge of yoga the National Endowment for the Humanities.
is fully discussed by Digby (1975). An earlier version was presented atthe Amer-
is fairly obvious, it is difficult to state
ican Academy of Religion Conference in
precisely what has been the effect of the 4. See below. Anaheim, California, in November 1989.
study of yogic practices on Sufism. In a
general sense, such practices as visual- 5. A complete description of these transla- References
ization, localizing syllables in parts of tions and known manuscripts is given in The
Pool of Nectar. al-Biriini. 1964. Alberuni's India. Translated by
the body, and repeating chants that pro- Edward C. Sachau. New Delhi: S. Chand & Co.
duce occult powers, all may be consid- 6. Here I refer to two MSS: MUQammad Corbin, H. 1961. 'Pour une morphologie de la
ered typical of hatha yoga. Yet these Ghawth GwaliyarI, Ba/:lr al-/:laydt, MS 2002 spiritualite shi'ite.' Eranos-Jahrbuch 1960, vol.
practices can also be found in many Persian (Eth6), India Office Library (hereaf- 29. Zurich: Rhein-Verlag.
branches of Sufism unrelated to India, ter cited as 10); and MS 6298 PerSian, Ganj
Bakhsh Library, Islamabad (cited as GB). _ _.1971. En Islam iranien, Aspects spirituels
and in the gnostic meditations of pre- More than twenty MSS of this text exist, et philosophiques, vol. 2, Sohrawardi et les Pla-
Islamic traditions such as Neoplatonism. along with two lithograph editions. toniciens de Perse. Paris: Gallimard.
So to speak of 'influences' from one
Digby,S. 1975. "Abd AI-Quddiis Gangohi(1456-
separate vessel into another, or even to 7. Ghawthi: (1613), fols. 327b-328a. 1537 A.D.): The Personality and Attitudes of a
raise the question in this fonn, is a kind Ghawthi's book is a biographical dictionary Medieval Indian Sufi,' Medieval India. A Miscel-
of prejudgment that does not necessar- oflndianSufis. The modern Urdu translation lany III, pp. 1-66.
of this work considerably mutes the language
ily aid in the understanding of this reli- Fagl AllahShaHari.1933. Maniiqib-i Glzawthiyya.
of this passage, simply referring to 'Hindus'
gious phenomenon. Mul).ammad instead of infidels, and omitting several dis- Urdu translation by Mul).ammad ~ahjr al-l).aqq.
Ghawth did not study yogic teachings paraging adjectives; cf. Ghawthi: (1975), p. Agra: Abu al-Ma'ali Steam Press.
from an academic point of view as an 300.
Ghawth GwaliyarI, Mul).ammad. ca. 1550. Ba(lr
outside observer. His 'translation' of the al-(zayii, MS 2002 Persian (Ethe). India Office
Amrtakun~a text is a work framed in 8. This rare Urdu lithograph has been trans- Library (cited as 10), and MS 6298 Persian. Ganj
lated from a Persian MS in the khdnaqdh of Bakhsh Library, Islamabad (cited as GB).
terms of the Islamic traditions, studded
with quotations from the Koran and Shaykh Wajih ai-DIn' Alawi in Ahmedabad,
_ _ . 1973. al-Jawiihir al-khams. Edited by
which apparently covered the life of
badfth. The language of 'influence' does Al).mad ibn al- 'Abbas. 2nd ed., Egypt: Mul).ammad
MUQammad Ghawth up to 94111534-35, the Rif'at 'Amir.
not begin to do justice to the subtlety remainder being added by the translator on
with which he finds points of contact the basis of "well-known books" (p. 80). Ghawthi, Mul).ammad. 1613. Gulza-i Abriir. MS
between the tenninologies of Yoga and 259 Persian. Asiatic Society, Calcutta.
Sufism, or to the ways in which he uses ~ 9. AI-BIriini more accurately understood ra-
jas as 'exertion and fatigue,' tamas as 'lan- _ _ . 1975. Adhkiir-i Abriir, Urdu Tarjuma-i
the approaches ofIslamic legal discourse Gulziir-iAbriir. Translated by Fa~l Al).mad Jewari.
guor and irresolution,' and sattva as 'rest and
to categorize the study of yoga. A fuller goodness'; cf al-BIrOni (1964), I, 40- 41. Lahore: Islamic Book Foundation.
argument regarding the wider role of Further on these three qualities see, e.g.,
Husain, Y. 1928. 'f/aw;l al-(zaydt, la version arabe
yogic practice in Sufism will have to be Zaehner (1969), index, s.vv. de l' Amratkund.' Journal Asiatique 213, pp. 291-
deferred, but in the most notable case of 344.
10. Ghawth (1550),ch. 5,IO,p. 66; GB,p. 68
a yogic text used by Sufis, Mul).ammad (omits reference to "our Prophet"). Lawrence, B. 1975. 'The Use of Hindu Religious
Gha wth' s Persian translation of the Texts in al-Biriini 's India with Special Reference
Amrtakun~a, yoga is simply a body of 1]. Ghawth (1550), ch. 5, GB, p. 68, in a to Patanjali' s Yoga-Sutras,' in The Scholar and the
practices that can be successfully inte- marginal note marked "from another MS." Saint: Studies in Commemoration ofAbu' I Raylzan
al-Birani and Jalal ai-Din ai-Rami. Edited by
grated into the overall worldview of Peter J. Chelkowski. New York: New York Uni-
15 12. Ghawth (1550), ch. 5, GB, p. 69 (follow-
Sufism. ing marginal corrections); 10, p. 67. versity Press.

Na~ir aI-Din Mal).miid 'Chiragh-i Dihli'. 1956.


13. Ghawth (1550), ch. 3,10, p. 31 (omitting Khayr ai-Majiilis. Compiled by Hamid Qalandar.
the word 'some' before 'Muslims'); GB, p. Edited by. K. A. Nizami. Aligarh: Department of
42. History.
Notes
1. See The Pool of Nectar: Islamic Interpre- 14. The ninth chapter, on the subjugation of Ritter, H., ed. 1956. 'Al-Biriini 's Ubersetzung des
Yoga-sutra des Patanjali.' Oriens 9, pp. 165-200.
tations of Yoga. The Arabic text was first spirits, bears little resemblance to the Arabic
edited from 5 MSS by Husain (1928), but version, which describes seven mantras for
Rizvi, S. A. A. 1978. A History of Sufism in India.
unfortunately this edition contains numerous control of the planetary guardians; the Per-
Vol. I, Early Sufism and its History in India to 1600
errors and omissions. My forthcoming trans- sian text has an entirely different set of prac- A.D. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers
lation is based on a superior text established tices. Pvt. Ltd.
by comparison of 25 of 45 extant MSS.
15. This article has been developed as part of Yahia, O. 1964. Histoire et classification de
2. Typically, the only scholar to notice these translation and study, entitled The Pool of I' oeuvre d' Ibn 'Arabi, Etude critique. 2 vols. Dam-
Gnostic and Illuminationist elements in the Nectar: Islamic Interpretations. of Yoga ascus: Institut Francais de Damas.
Amrtakun(la translation was Corbin (1961), (forthcoming from the State University of
repeated with some variations in Corbin New York Press), where the subject is dis- Zaehner, R. c., trans. 1969. The Bhagavad Gita.
(1971), II, 328-334. cussed in much more detail; the research has London: Oxford University Press.

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