wayward wrote:
Perhaps this subject has been discussed before, but if so I could not find the thread while looking through the archives. I am wondering what the forum members believe the "Holy Grail" to represent or maybe even to actually be, "a pregant woman", "a child", "a cup" or even choice d, "does not exist". If it has been brought up before (I mean fully discussed)someone please direct me to the thread.---Bill
I have written about this before. Sufic material contains numerous references and salutations to a cupbearer. The Grail, as we popularly know it, has references to being a 'cup' of some kind.
Jalaluddin Rumi's full name and title was Sayid Khidr Rumi Khapradari. Khapradari means cupbearer. The young Rumi visited the Sufi Fariduddin Attar, aka The Chemist, in his old age. Attar presented Rumi with one of his books. (Attar had written no less than 114 books for use by sufis. Attar's books had widespread influence throughout Europe, for instance his Parliament of the Birds inspired Chaucer's Parlement of Fowles and much later Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress)
Attar's romantic quest writings were shown by Garcin de Tassy (January 25, 1794, Marseille - September 2, 1878) to resemble the 'Roman de la Rose'. They are part of a tradition predating any appearance in Europe, originating in Syria but probably entering southern France by way of Spain through the Arabs, specifically sufi Arabs. Attar's romance in turn inspired a similar book by Majriti the Cordoban. These are the origins of the grail story.
The Sufic phrase is 'Qarael Muqaddas' and means Holy Recital. In Moorish Spain it was pronounced Garael (grail) Mugaddas.
De Tassy noted that the 'Roman de la Rose' has analogies with two Sufic streams of literature: Al-Muqaddasi's Birds and the Flowers and Attar's Parliament of the Birds.
The 'Sang Real' idea may not necessarily be ruled out because of the 'Garael' approach. It may not be a case of either/or but a case of both and more. Never underestimate the depth of meaning in Sufic literature, all words are chosen extremely carefully.
What a 'cup', a container of some sort, what capacity it might have in order to hold something and the quality of what such a cup might contain is best studied within the confines of a Sufi group which is able to give the understanding and insight into the symbolic framework and the historical context of the imagery.
The sufis do, and always have done, work within the framework of the culture in which they find themselves. So if they find poetic truth in a popular cultural story then they will graft and embellish their wisdom upon it and build upon the symbolism it contains, in order to convey a meaningful message.
When the age of that message's meaning has passed and that teacher has passed, then there is little benefit to mankind in pursuing a fossilised tradition. That was then and now is now.
Happily there is an immense corpus of people today who are self-realised, initiated, at one with the cosmos, who have transcended their own egos, whatever, you may call it. They are working very much within the world but not of it. For the good of mankind. It was always so and happily always shall be. Sadly there will also be greed, envy, pride and all kinds of other issues which keep people apart from what they really are.
It's simple. Whatever you do in life starts with a thought. So what are your thoughts and what are you going to do? Do you want to step into the light?