Paimona Bideh | Bring me the Chalice

Paimona bideh key khumar astam

Man ashiq e chasm e mast e yaar astam

Bring me the chalice, so I may lose my self,
for, I'm in love with my Beloved’s intoxicating Gaze.

Chashmat key bagh e khutan memanaat
Royat ba gulab haye chaman memanaat

Your Eyes light up my secret garden
Your Face makes luminous every rose therein.

Gul roo ba kuneed waraq waraq boyee kaanee
Ba lalazar e be watan me yaraat

Face like a flower, it give petals their sweet fragrance
The mystic land of my Beloved is placeless.

Man ashiq e chasm e mast e yaar astam
Bedeh bedeh kay khumar astam
Paimona bedah key khumar astam

I'm in love with my Beloved’s intoxicating Gaze,
Bring! bring! so I may annihilate my self.
Bring me the chalice, so I may lose my self.

Az O madanet ager khaber me dashtaam
Pesh e qadamat kocha ragul me kashtaam

If I hear the message of Your sacred arrival,
Under Your feet, I will spread a carpet of flowers.

Gul me kashtam gul e gulab me kashtam
Khak e qadamt padi dam e war dashtaam

Spread flowers, Spread rose flowers,
I will sacrifice myself at the dust of Your feet.

Paimona bideh key khumar astam
Man ashiq e chasm e mast e yaar astam

Bring me the chalice, so I may lose my self,
I'm in love with my Beloved’s intoxicating Gaze.

- Original poetry (in Pashto/Dari language) by Persian polymath, astronomer, poet and mystic Omar Khayyam (1048-1123) | The new translation is based on earlier translation

[>] Click here to watch Zeb and Haniya performing “Paimona Bideh” in Coke Studio Session | [>] download the video | audio


. Symbology of Wine
and Beloved's Intoxicated Gaze

In Sufi poetry and music a much used symbol is Wine and Beloved's Gaze.

The Sufis define their relationship with God through Love and thus their favorite name for God is Beloved (no wonder some medieval european writers thought of Sufis as the lost and hidden Esoteric Christians in disguise since Christ's teaching and that of Sufi doctine of love are so strinkingly similar). Noteworthy of Christ's saying, "Although you may love me with all the love which men have, if you do not love God and do not love all your fellow men equally, you shall be numbered among the idolators."

Beloved's Intoxicating Gaze is an imagery used to mean the special grace that falls upon the heart of the devotee that give rise to God realization or recognition of God and brings bliss of the soul's loving self-surrender.

For some its a surprise that despite intoxication or strong drink is prohibited in the Scripture, yet the imagery of wine is found in the works of many sufis even though they themselves never touched wine as intoxicating drink. This puzzle can be solved through the Scripture, that is the Holy Quran itself.

In certain places the Quran speaks of strong drink to be prohibited because of its role in mindless violence, action of abomination and senseless action issuing from drunkenness. But then again in the description of the paradise special type of Wine, special kind of drink is mentioned. This is the kind of Wine which inspired many sufis to take up the symbology.

About this second type of drink worth mentioning few verses from the Quran:

You will recognize in their faces the beaming brightness of Bliss.
Their thirst will be quenched with Pure Wine sealed: they are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed, whose seal is musk - for this let (all) those strive who strive for bliss. With it will be a mixture of Tasnim: a holy fountain from which drink the Nearmost ones to God.
- The Quran 83:24-28

.. and their Lord will give to them to drink of a Wine Pure and Holy.
It shall be announced, "Verily this is a reward for you, and your endeavour is accepted and recognised." - The Quran, 76:21-22

Thus the very Quran that prohibit strong drinks of intoxication speaks of Pure Wine in the Kingdom. For this inspiration the mystic poets has found imagery such as:
. Tavern - Earth,
. Wine Giver (Saqi) - God. In some cases also points to God's Messenger, Muhammad, upon him be peace who is the bringer of grace
. Wine - Bliss of God Realization, Self Realization, Recognition of God, Holy Grace

Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Khan writes: "What makes the soul of the poet dance? Music. What makes the painter paint beautiful pictures, the musician sing beautiful songs? It is the inspiration that beauty gives. Therefore the Sufi has called this beauty sāqī , the divine Giver who gives the wine of life to all.

In the imagery of the Sufi poets, this tavern is the world, and the sāqī (wine giver) is God. In whatever form the wine-giver comes and gives a wine, it is God who comes. In this way, by recognizing the sāqī , the wine-giver, in all forms, the Sufi worships God. He recognizes God in friend and foe as the wine-giver."

About losing oneself, about becoming annihilated by the intoxicating divine wine, Rumi said it beautifully, "Dissolve like sugar in water before the Beloved."

Thy light which riseth in my heart,
in the hearts of my mureeds may shine.
The juice that hath made me so drunken,
O Sāqī, give my mureeds that wine.
Surround my mureeds with Thy beauty,
Create in their lives harmony divine.
Give them sympathy for one another
Raise them above life's mine and thine.

Thy light which rieseth in my heart,
may in the hearts of my mureeds shine.
The juice that intoxicated me so,
O Sāqī, give my mureeds that wine.
Surround my mureeds with Thy beauty,
Create in them Thy harmony divine,
Give them sympathy for one another
May they forget world's mine and thine.

- A prayerful poem
from Hazrat Inayat Khan's personal notebook (1922)

. Drink Further:
. Love (Mahab-bat) via Untired with Loving
. Who do you really love?
. Traveling the Path of Love
. Stages of Love

. Connecting:
. Zeb and Haniya on Facebook
. Coke Studio. Episode 1
. Paimona of Coke Studio via YouTube
. Behind the Scene | Paimona
. A slower version of Paimona Bideh with translation
. Girl band from Pakistan