Rainn Wilson told me to watch this. I am so glad he did. The new volume of Baha'u'llah's mystical works is just fabulous. And Dr. Phelps' explanations are illuminating.
This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing these deepenings. I was shocked to learn we were getting an official translation of the Rashh-i-'Amá, and imagined it would include multiple footnotes on almost every line, resulting in many pages of supplementary notes. It was a pleasant surprise to see such a clean and elegant translation, relegating the bulky notes to study guides or videos like this one. I also appreciate the stylistic choice to keep the form of the original in ending each line with "raining down" (mírízad). This official translation does have a much smoother flow to it than the provisional translations I am familiar with, though I did really like the rhyme and rhythm captured in S. Lambden's translation of the second hemistich of the first line: "The Mystery of Fidelity poureth forth from Our Melody." And I was absolutely floored by that stunningly beautiful line you shared @49:45 from Marzieh Gail's Provisional translation! Is the rest of her translation published anywhere?
I'm sorry, I thought he did mention this. I'm studying this in a Wilmette Institute course and at this point have listened to or read so many attempted translations they're starting to run together! Most other commentators seem to say this.
@52:30 you discuss the realms of Háhút through Násút and relate three of them to the horizontal tiers of the ringstone symbol. I'd like to suggest a way of looking at the imagery of the ringstone symbol in a way where all five realms are represented. The trick here is to split the vertical line in half, recognizing that the upper half (connecting the top tier to the middle tier) is qualitatively different than the lower half (connecting the middle tier to the bottom tier). The upper half of the vertical line represents the Primal Will or the Most Great Spirit (cf. the Logos mentioned in the opening verses of the Gospel of John, or the Chokhmah mentioned in the 8th chapter of the Book of Proverbs), which is the realm of Láhút. The lower half is the Holy Spirit "generated through the agency of a single letter revealed by this Most Great Spirit," sustaining the realm of Malakút. Employing this model, the horizontal tiers in descending order would represent Háhút, Jabarút, and Násút. I think this matches nicely with the descriptions of these realms given by Adib Taherzadeh in his Rev.Vol.1 section on the Lawh-i-Kullu't-Ta'ám [ d9263461.github.io/cl/Baha%27i/Others/ROB/V1/p053-070Ch05.html#p58 ]
I had thought since I first studied the Lawh-i-Kullu't-Ta'am that this made sense, although I just inserted Lahut between the top and middle strokes and Malakut between the middle and bottom strokes and not split the connecting, vertical stroke. Glad to find two other people who made this connection!
@56:15 you bring up the "garden blooming fair" translation of H.álat-i-Bustán, and about two-and-a-half minutes into your session #2 video you mention a possible alternate reading of the text as H.álat-i-Bastán, which could perhaps be translated as "the ecstasy of the captive ones." Shahrokh Monjazeb's provisional translation is the only version I am aware of that uses Bastán instead of Bustán, but I totally agree with that choice. Not only is Bastán a better match with the rhyme scheme, but the imagery in the entire 18th verse now caries me straight to the Black Pit in 1852 where prisoners chained to Baha'u'llah were ecstatically chanting "God is sufficient unto me!"
Thank you for posting this question, and I'd like to second you on this. In my class that starts out with this poem, we were assigned Monjazed's video and I was hoping Stephen would get to that because I'd like to hear another scholar weigh in who didn't read this as "a garden blooming fair." When this video ended, I was like "Noooooooo!!!!" because that's the one other big departure Monjazed makes from this translation other than the 10 minutes he spends discussing why "cloud" was a poor choice of words for "ama" and I was really hoping Phelps would address it. In my Arabic studies are at the level of "Sam is a good doctor," although I've learned to read some Qur'anic Arabic, so thank you for writing this out so I can see the problem with the choice of vowel. I thought Monjazed was saying this word is articulated by Baha'u'llah Himself with respect to the meaning you and Monjazed (and apparently Phelps) are positing. I'm hoping Phelps might have responded or addressed this in lesson 2. Do you know whether what is at issue is a missing or misinterpreted vowel point or the inclusion of alef or vav/wow that would have given a clear reading for bustan vs. bastan? Going to lesson 2 now! Thx for bringing this up! (I think couplet 6 if you count in the couplet left out by Khavari is the other couplet where you wonder if you're reading a translation of two entirely different hemi-stitches.)
