Post by giovanni on Mar 3, 2006 9:45:10 GMT
THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDS
Bro. René Guénon
By those ranged in ranks,
And who drive away, repulsing,
And who recite the invocation...
Koran, XXXVII, 1-3[/center]
In diverse traditions mention is often made of a mysterious language called the ‘language of the birds', obviously a symbolic name, for the very importance attributed to knowledge of this language as the prerogative of a high initiation does not allow us to take it literally. Thus we read in the Koran:
And Solomon was David’s heir. And he said, O mankind! Lo! we have been taught the language of the birds [ullimna mantiq at-tayr] and have been given abundance of all things (xxvii, 16).
Elsewhere we read of heroes, vanquishers of the dragon, like Siegfried of Nordic legend, who in an instant comprehend the language of the birds; and this easily allows us to interpret the symbolism in question. In fact, victory over the dragon has as an immediate consequence the conquest of immortality, represented by some object to which the dragon bars approach; and this conquest of immortality essentially implies reintegration into the center of the human state, that is, into the point where communication is established with the higher states of the being. It is this communication that is represented by understanding the language of the birds, and birds are in fact frequently taken as a symbol of the angels, that is, precisely, of the higher states. We have cited elsewhere[1] the Gospel parable that refers in this very sense to ‘the birds of the sky’ which come and roost in the branches of the tree, that same tree which represents the axis passing through the center of each state of the being and linking all the states with each other.[2]
In the Koranic text given above, the term as-saffat is taken to designate birds literally, but to apply symbolically to angels (al-mala’ikah); and thus the first verse signifies the constitution of the celestial or spiritual hierarchies.[3] The second verse expresses the struggle of the angels against the demons, the celestial powers against the infernal powers, that is, the opposition between higher and lower states.[4] In the Hindu tradition this is the struggle of the Devas against the Asuras, and also, according to a symbolism very similar to that under discussion here, the combat of Garuda against the Naga, in which we again encounter the serpent or dragon just mentioned; the Garuda is the eagle, and elsewhere it is replaced by other birds such as the ibis, the stork, and the heron, all enemies and destroyers of reptiles.[5] Finally, in the third verse, we see the angels reciting the dhikr, which is generally interpreted as recitation from the Koran, not the Koran that is expressed in human language, of course, but its eternal prototype inscribed on the ‘Guarded Tablet’ (al-Iawh al-mahfuz), which like Jacob’s ladder extends from the heavens to the earth, and therefore throughout all degrees of universal existence.[6] Likewise, it is said in the Hindu tradition that in their struggle against the Asuras, the Devas protected themselves (achhandayan) by the recitation of the hymns of the Veda, and that it is for this reason that the hymns received the name chhandas, a word properly denoting ‘rhythm’. Moreover, the same idea is contained in the word dhikr, which in Islamic esoterism is applied to rhythmic formulas corresponding exactly to Hindu mantras, formulas the repetition of which aims at producing a harmonization of the various elements of the being, and at determining vibrations which, by their repercussions through the series of states in their indefinite hierarchy, are capable of opening communication with the higher states; in a general way this is after all the essential and primordial purpose of all rites.
As we see, then, this brings us back directly to what was said above about the ‘language of the birds; which can also be called ‘angelic language’, and of which the image in the human world is rhythmic speech; for all possible means for entering into communication with the higher states are ultimately based on the ‘science of rhythm’, with its multiple applications. This is why an Islamic tradition says that in the Terrestrial Paradise Adam spoke in verse, that is, in rhythmic speech; here it is a question of that ‘Syrian language’ (lughah suryaniyyah) discussed in our previous study on the ‘science of letters; and which must be regarded as directly expressing the ‘solar’ and ‘angelic’ illumination as this is manifested in the center of the human state. This is also why the sacred books are written in rhythmic language, clearly making of them something altogether different from mere ‘poems’ in the purely profane sense, which the anti-traditional bias of the modern ‘critics’ would have them be; and besides, in its origins poetry was by no means the vain ‘literature’ which it has become owing to a degeneration resulting from the downward march of the human cycle, and it had a truly sacred character.[7] Traces of this can be found as late as Western classical antiquity, where poetry was still called the ‘language of the Gods', an expression equivalent to those we have indicated, since the Gods, that is, the Devas,[8] are, like the angels, representations of higher states. In Latin, verses were called carmina, a designation related to their use in the accomplishment of rites, for the word carmen is identical to the Sanskrit karma, which here is to be taken in its special sense of ‘ritual action’;[9] and the poet himself, interpreter of the ‘sacred language’ through which the Divine Word appeared, was vates, a word that marked him as endowed with a sort of prophetic inspiration. Later, by a further degeneration, vates was no longer anything more than a common ‘diviner’,[10] and carmen (whence the French word charme [and the English word charm]) no more than a ‘spell', that is, an operation of low magic. Here again is an example of the fact that magic, and even sorcery, is what remains as the last vestige of traditions that have disappeared.
These few notes should suffice to show how wrong are those who deride stories that speak of the ‘language of the birds’; it is all too easy and too simple to disdain as ‘superstitions’ everything we do not understand, for the ancients knew very well what they were saying when they used symbolic language. The true ‘superstition; in the strictly etymological sense (quod superstat), is that which outlives itself, that is, in a word, the ‘dead letter’; but even this very preservation, however lacking in interest it may seem, is nevertheless not so contemptible a thing, for the Spirit, which ‘bloweth where it listeth and when it listeth’, can return to revivify symbols and rites, and restore to them, along with their lost meaning, the full measure of their original virtue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] 'Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta', chap. 9.
[2] In the medieval symbol of the Peridexion (a corruption of Paradision), we see birds on the branches of the tree and the dragon at its foot (cf. 'The Symbolism of the Cross', chap. 9). In a study on the symbolism of the ‘Bird of Paradise’ (Le Rayonnement intellectuel, May-June 1930) Charbonneau-Lassay has reproduced a sculpture in which this bird is depicted with only a head and wings, a form often used to represent the angels [cf. Le Bestiaire du Christ, chap. 46, p. 425. This chapter was not included in the partial English translation of this hook: 'The Bestiary of Christ '(New York: Parabola Books, 1991].
[3] The word saff, or ‘rank; is one of those many words which have been suggested as the origin of the word sufi and tasavwuf, and although this derivation does not seem acceptable from a strictly linguistic point of view, it is nonetheless true, as with marry other derivations of the same type, that it represents one of the ideas really contained in those terms, for the ‘spiritual hierarchies’ are essentially identical with the degrees of initiation.
[4] This opposition appears in every bang in the form of two tendencies, ascending and descending, called respectively sattva and tamas by the Hindu doctrine. It is also that which Mazdaism symbolizes by the antagonism of light and darkness, personified respectively by Ormuzd and Ahriman.
[5] On this subject see the remarkable works of Louis Charbonneau-Lassay on the animal symbols of Christ (cf. The Bestiary of Christ). We should note that the symbolic opposition of bird and reptile only applies when the latter is envisaged under its malefic aspect, whereas under its benefic aspect it is sometimes associated with the bird, as in the figure of Quetzalcohuatl of the ancient American traditions; elsewhere, we also find in Mexico the combat of the eagle with the serpent. In the case of the association of bird and serpent, we can recall the Gospel text: ‘so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ (Matt. 10:16).
[6] On the symbolism of the book, to which this refers directly, see 'The Symbolism of the Cross', chap. 14.
[7] It can be said, moreover, in a general way, that the arts and sciences have become profane by just such a degeneration, which stripped them of their traditional character and consequently of all meaning of a higher order. We have spoken of this in 'The Esoterisrn of Dante', chap. 2, and in 'The Crisis of the Modern World', chap. 4. [See also 'The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times', chap. 8. ED.]
[8] The Sanskrit Deva and the Latin Deus are but one and the same word.
[9] The word ‘poetry’ also derives from the Greek poiein, which has the same meaning as the Sanskrit root kri, whence comes karma, found again in the Latin verb creare, understood in its primitive acceptation; originally, then, it was a question of Something altogether different from a mere artistic or literary production in the profane sense that Aristotle seems to have had solely in view when he spoke of what he called ‘poetic sciences’.
[10] The word ‘diviner’ itself is no less deviant from its meaning, for etymologically it is nothing other than divinus, meaning here ‘interpreter of the Gods’. The ‘auspices’ (from aves spicere, ‘to observe the birds’), omens drawn from the flight and song of birds, are more especially related to the ‘language of the birds', understood now in the most literal sense, but nevertheless still identified with the ‘language of the Gods; since the Gods were thought to manifest their will by means of these omens, and the birds thus played the role of ‘messengers’, analogous—but on a very low plane—to the role generally attributed to angels (whence their very name, for this is precisely the meaning of the Greek àggelos).
Bro. René Guénon
Wa-s-saffati saffan,
Faz-zajirati zajran,
Fat-talyati dhikran...
Faz-zajirati zajran,
Fat-talyati dhikran...
By those ranged in ranks,
And who drive away, repulsing,
And who recite the invocation...
Koran, XXXVII, 1-3[/center]
In diverse traditions mention is often made of a mysterious language called the ‘language of the birds', obviously a symbolic name, for the very importance attributed to knowledge of this language as the prerogative of a high initiation does not allow us to take it literally. Thus we read in the Koran:
And Solomon was David’s heir. And he said, O mankind! Lo! we have been taught the language of the birds [ullimna mantiq at-tayr] and have been given abundance of all things (xxvii, 16).
Elsewhere we read of heroes, vanquishers of the dragon, like Siegfried of Nordic legend, who in an instant comprehend the language of the birds; and this easily allows us to interpret the symbolism in question. In fact, victory over the dragon has as an immediate consequence the conquest of immortality, represented by some object to which the dragon bars approach; and this conquest of immortality essentially implies reintegration into the center of the human state, that is, into the point where communication is established with the higher states of the being. It is this communication that is represented by understanding the language of the birds, and birds are in fact frequently taken as a symbol of the angels, that is, precisely, of the higher states. We have cited elsewhere[1] the Gospel parable that refers in this very sense to ‘the birds of the sky’ which come and roost in the branches of the tree, that same tree which represents the axis passing through the center of each state of the being and linking all the states with each other.[2]
In the Koranic text given above, the term as-saffat is taken to designate birds literally, but to apply symbolically to angels (al-mala’ikah); and thus the first verse signifies the constitution of the celestial or spiritual hierarchies.[3] The second verse expresses the struggle of the angels against the demons, the celestial powers against the infernal powers, that is, the opposition between higher and lower states.[4] In the Hindu tradition this is the struggle of the Devas against the Asuras, and also, according to a symbolism very similar to that under discussion here, the combat of Garuda against the Naga, in which we again encounter the serpent or dragon just mentioned; the Garuda is the eagle, and elsewhere it is replaced by other birds such as the ibis, the stork, and the heron, all enemies and destroyers of reptiles.[5] Finally, in the third verse, we see the angels reciting the dhikr, which is generally interpreted as recitation from the Koran, not the Koran that is expressed in human language, of course, but its eternal prototype inscribed on the ‘Guarded Tablet’ (al-Iawh al-mahfuz), which like Jacob’s ladder extends from the heavens to the earth, and therefore throughout all degrees of universal existence.[6] Likewise, it is said in the Hindu tradition that in their struggle against the Asuras, the Devas protected themselves (achhandayan) by the recitation of the hymns of the Veda, and that it is for this reason that the hymns received the name chhandas, a word properly denoting ‘rhythm’. Moreover, the same idea is contained in the word dhikr, which in Islamic esoterism is applied to rhythmic formulas corresponding exactly to Hindu mantras, formulas the repetition of which aims at producing a harmonization of the various elements of the being, and at determining vibrations which, by their repercussions through the series of states in their indefinite hierarchy, are capable of opening communication with the higher states; in a general way this is after all the essential and primordial purpose of all rites.
As we see, then, this brings us back directly to what was said above about the ‘language of the birds; which can also be called ‘angelic language’, and of which the image in the human world is rhythmic speech; for all possible means for entering into communication with the higher states are ultimately based on the ‘science of rhythm’, with its multiple applications. This is why an Islamic tradition says that in the Terrestrial Paradise Adam spoke in verse, that is, in rhythmic speech; here it is a question of that ‘Syrian language’ (lughah suryaniyyah) discussed in our previous study on the ‘science of letters; and which must be regarded as directly expressing the ‘solar’ and ‘angelic’ illumination as this is manifested in the center of the human state. This is also why the sacred books are written in rhythmic language, clearly making of them something altogether different from mere ‘poems’ in the purely profane sense, which the anti-traditional bias of the modern ‘critics’ would have them be; and besides, in its origins poetry was by no means the vain ‘literature’ which it has become owing to a degeneration resulting from the downward march of the human cycle, and it had a truly sacred character.[7] Traces of this can be found as late as Western classical antiquity, where poetry was still called the ‘language of the Gods', an expression equivalent to those we have indicated, since the Gods, that is, the Devas,[8] are, like the angels, representations of higher states. In Latin, verses were called carmina, a designation related to their use in the accomplishment of rites, for the word carmen is identical to the Sanskrit karma, which here is to be taken in its special sense of ‘ritual action’;[9] and the poet himself, interpreter of the ‘sacred language’ through which the Divine Word appeared, was vates, a word that marked him as endowed with a sort of prophetic inspiration. Later, by a further degeneration, vates was no longer anything more than a common ‘diviner’,[10] and carmen (whence the French word charme [and the English word charm]) no more than a ‘spell', that is, an operation of low magic. Here again is an example of the fact that magic, and even sorcery, is what remains as the last vestige of traditions that have disappeared.
These few notes should suffice to show how wrong are those who deride stories that speak of the ‘language of the birds’; it is all too easy and too simple to disdain as ‘superstitions’ everything we do not understand, for the ancients knew very well what they were saying when they used symbolic language. The true ‘superstition; in the strictly etymological sense (quod superstat), is that which outlives itself, that is, in a word, the ‘dead letter’; but even this very preservation, however lacking in interest it may seem, is nevertheless not so contemptible a thing, for the Spirit, which ‘bloweth where it listeth and when it listeth’, can return to revivify symbols and rites, and restore to them, along with their lost meaning, the full measure of their original virtue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] 'Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta', chap. 9.
[2] In the medieval symbol of the Peridexion (a corruption of Paradision), we see birds on the branches of the tree and the dragon at its foot (cf. 'The Symbolism of the Cross', chap. 9). In a study on the symbolism of the ‘Bird of Paradise’ (Le Rayonnement intellectuel, May-June 1930) Charbonneau-Lassay has reproduced a sculpture in which this bird is depicted with only a head and wings, a form often used to represent the angels [cf. Le Bestiaire du Christ, chap. 46, p. 425. This chapter was not included in the partial English translation of this hook: 'The Bestiary of Christ '(New York: Parabola Books, 1991].
[3] The word saff, or ‘rank; is one of those many words which have been suggested as the origin of the word sufi and tasavwuf, and although this derivation does not seem acceptable from a strictly linguistic point of view, it is nonetheless true, as with marry other derivations of the same type, that it represents one of the ideas really contained in those terms, for the ‘spiritual hierarchies’ are essentially identical with the degrees of initiation.
[4] This opposition appears in every bang in the form of two tendencies, ascending and descending, called respectively sattva and tamas by the Hindu doctrine. It is also that which Mazdaism symbolizes by the antagonism of light and darkness, personified respectively by Ormuzd and Ahriman.
[5] On this subject see the remarkable works of Louis Charbonneau-Lassay on the animal symbols of Christ (cf. The Bestiary of Christ). We should note that the symbolic opposition of bird and reptile only applies when the latter is envisaged under its malefic aspect, whereas under its benefic aspect it is sometimes associated with the bird, as in the figure of Quetzalcohuatl of the ancient American traditions; elsewhere, we also find in Mexico the combat of the eagle with the serpent. In the case of the association of bird and serpent, we can recall the Gospel text: ‘so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ (Matt. 10:16).
[6] On the symbolism of the book, to which this refers directly, see 'The Symbolism of the Cross', chap. 14.
[7] It can be said, moreover, in a general way, that the arts and sciences have become profane by just such a degeneration, which stripped them of their traditional character and consequently of all meaning of a higher order. We have spoken of this in 'The Esoterisrn of Dante', chap. 2, and in 'The Crisis of the Modern World', chap. 4. [See also 'The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times', chap. 8. ED.]
[8] The Sanskrit Deva and the Latin Deus are but one and the same word.
[9] The word ‘poetry’ also derives from the Greek poiein, which has the same meaning as the Sanskrit root kri, whence comes karma, found again in the Latin verb creare, understood in its primitive acceptation; originally, then, it was a question of Something altogether different from a mere artistic or literary production in the profane sense that Aristotle seems to have had solely in view when he spoke of what he called ‘poetic sciences’.
[10] The word ‘diviner’ itself is no less deviant from its meaning, for etymologically it is nothing other than divinus, meaning here ‘interpreter of the Gods’. The ‘auspices’ (from aves spicere, ‘to observe the birds’), omens drawn from the flight and song of birds, are more especially related to the ‘language of the birds', understood now in the most literal sense, but nevertheless still identified with the ‘language of the Gods; since the Gods were thought to manifest their will by means of these omens, and the birds thus played the role of ‘messengers’, analogous—but on a very low plane—to the role generally attributed to angels (whence their very name, for this is precisely the meaning of the Greek àggelos).