He was truly free and sought no stores except those of holy freedom.
He abandoned his body to corporeal matter, and his spirit joined the spiritual region.
His soul was united to the sublime being, the creator of souls,
Soaring beyond the limits of heaven, earth, and time.”
If the author attempted to describe the learned and pious Abádíyán who were seen in the Dadistan Aursah,[339] this treatise would never be brought to a conclusion; he now therefore proceeds to mention some others, who though professing a faith different from the Yezdánián or Abadíyán, yet walked according to the institutes of Kaiván’s disciples, and attained their great object, the knowledge of God: and although this class is too numerous to be fully described, a few of the eminent personages are now about to be mentioned.
Mahummed Alí, of Shiraz was the fellow-student of Shah Futtah Allah, and he traced his family to Azar Kaiván: he however attained perfection through the society of Farzanah Bahram, the son of Farhád, and had also traversed the seven climes. A thief came to his house one night, on perceiving whom Muhammed Alí pretended to fall asleep on his carpet, so that the robber might not suppose him to be awake, and continue his pursuits without apprehension. The robber searched the house carefully, but as all the effects were concealed in a secure place, he was unable to get at them. On this Muhammed raising his head, said to him: “I laid myself down to sleep, that thou mightst accomplish thy desires, whereas thou art in despair: be no longer uneasy.” He then arose and pointed out the place where all the things were stored away: in consequence of this generous proceeding, the robber abandoned his infamous profession, and became a virtuous character.
Muhammed Said of Isfahan was a Saiyid descended from Husain, who attained his great object through Farzanah Bahram, the son of Farhad. He once said to the author: “The first time I obtained the honor of admittance to the audience of the distinguished Farzanah, he rose up on seeing me, and showed the proper respect due to an honorable person, directing me to be seated on the most distinguished couch. Some time after, entered a naked Fakir, but Farzanah Bahram moved not from his place, but pointed him to a seat in the slipper-repository. I felt this scruple; surely the highest distinction is due to the Durvish. Farzanah then turning his face to the wall, which was ornamented with paintings, said: ‘O, lifeless figure, thou art seated on high; but external form confers not distinction; but Durvishes enjoy a rank, when their bodies are under the control of their souls,[340] and their souls united with the supreme object of love; even in this assembly they are seated with me in my heart.’ On hearing this, I turned into the right road.” In the year of the Hejirah 1045 (A. D. 1634), he abandoned this elemental frame in Lahore.
Ashur Beg Karamanlu is also one of those who obtained the gift of spiritual intelligence through Farzanah Bahram, the son of Farhad, notwithstanding the total absence of regular studies: by the exertion of his innate powers, he, like the other Yekanah Bin “seers of one God,” attained communion with God. In the year of the Hejirah 1048 (A. D. 1636) the author conversed with him in Kashmir, and inquired into the nature of his intercourse with Bahram. He answered: “I went by way of experiment to Farzanah, and he thus directed me: ‘Whether alone or in a crowd, in retirement or in public, every breathing which issues forth must proceed from the head; and on this point there must be no inattention.’ He also said: ‘Guard the internal breath as long as thou canst, directing thy face to the pine-formed heart, until the invocation be performed by the heart in the stomach; also thy invocation should be thus: ‘God! God!’ Meditate also on this sentiment: ‘O Lord! none but thou forms the object of my desire!’ When I had duly practised this, and found its impressive influence, then from the bottom of my heart I sincerely sought God. After some time he enjoined me to practise the Tawajjah-i-Talkín, ‘turning to instruction:’ that is: ‘keep thy soul in the presence of God, divested of letters and sounds, whether Arabic or Persian, never removing thy mind from the ‘pine-formed heart.’ By conforming to these instructions, I have come at last to such a state, that the world and its inhabitants are but as a shadow before me; and their very existence as the appearance of the vapor of the desert.’”
He was truly a man who had entirely withdrawn from all external employments and concerns; never mixing with the people of the world. If a person deposited food before him, he took only the quantity he thought proper, and gave away the remainder; he never polluted his hand with money in gold, silver, or copper; and he frequently passed two or three days altogether without food and never requested any thing.
Mahmud Beg Timan, so called from the Timan tribe of Arang in Lahore, joined himself also to Farzanah Bahram, the son of Farhad, and as the precepts of that sage were entirely congenial to his mind, he commenced his religious profession under him, and became one of the Yekanah Bin, “seer of one God,” and “knowing God:” thus without the aid of books he attained to the knowledge of the Lord, and notwithstanding the absence of written volumes, discovered the actual road. In the year of the Hejirah 1048 (A. D. 1637), whilst in Kashmir, coming out of his cell one day, he saw before him a wounded dog, moaning piteously; as the animal was unable to move, he therefore sold the only two objects he possessed, his carpet for prayer and his rosary, with the proceeds of which he purchased remedies for the dog. That same year, he said to the author: “On the first day of turning my heart to the mental invocation of God, I had scarcely performed it ten times, when an evident influence was manifested: at the moment of the first part, called nafi, of the sentence, my human existence disappeared; at the time of the second, called asbat, a determined sign of divine grace became visible: my sentence was this: ‘There is no God, but God.’”[341] After this manner, several of this sect, by the diligent practice of faith, attained to the knowledge of God.