Origins of "The Bowl of Saki" and the Daily Commentary

Background:

The title The Bowl of Saki was chosen around 1921 by students of Hazrat Inayat Khan who published a book containing some of the inspiring phrases that they had been given by their teacher. The first edition of The Bowl of Saki was published in England in late 1921 or early 1922.

The Bowl of Saki is a compendium of 366 brief quotations, one for each day of the year, selected from the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Many of the quotes came directly from his lectures, while others came from his personal notebooks. In the December 1921 edition of the quarterly publication "Sufism", the new book was announced as:

"a collection of some of the most striking and arresting sayings of Pir-o-Murshid, arranged in the form of a daily textbook"

        from Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, Original Texts: Sayings, Part II
 

The Daily Commentary (as included with the daily Bowl of Saki email from wahiduddin.net):

For Inayat's students in the 1920's, the simple one-line Bowl of Saki quotes were probably powerful reminders of the lectures and topics that they had so greatly enjoyed hearing directly from Inayat. However, now, some 85 years later, the modern reader of the daily Bowl of Saki quote may not have the benefit of recalling the original context or enjoying the potpourri of thoughts and memories that the recollection of the quotes may have stirred in those original students. Therefore, the goal of the daily Bowl of Saki commentaries (as included with the daily Bowl of Saki email from wahiduddin.net) is to present a few paragraphs of the actual words from Inayat's lectures that will (hopefully) provide a greater, richer context in which to appreciate, enjoy and (most importantly) embody the Bowl of Saki messages.

Many of the Bowl of Saki quotes were phrases taken directly from specific lectures. If that specific lecture has been published, the daily commentary will include a paragraph or two of  that original context, plus other additional passages from other lectures which may be helpful to clarify or further expand the meaning.

There are, however, a significant number of the Bowl of Saki quotes which were derived from the personal notebooks that Inayat often used to record spur of the moment insights as they came to him. Such quotes are often somewhat more difficult to put into context, since the context of those quotes was Inayat's life itself, and the short little phrase in his personal notebook is all that was ever written. Fortunately however, it seems that those ideas, as recorded in his personal notebooks, often had an effect on Inayat's thoughts and were the inspiration for specific comments that appear in his subsequent lectures. So, for the quotes that came from Inayat's notebooks, the goal of the commentaries is to present any related comments which appear in his lectures, even though the wording may be somewhat different from the original impetus that was recorded in his personal notebook.

The Word Saki:

The Persian word sāqī  (also written as saqi or saki) literally means wine-server or wine-pourer and is frequently used in Persian poetry to describe the glorious Server who continually pours out the wine everlasting to all of mankind, while implying that only a completely empty bowl is truly ready to be filled with such a fine wine. For the Sufi, the greatest task of life is to become empty enough, selfless enough, to be a suitable receptacle for the wine which the Sāqī  pours.

In some cases, the word sāqī   may be used as a reference to a specific spiritual teacher, but in the grand scheme of things, a spiritual teacher is merely a worldly symbol for the presence of the Beloved, the One and Only One.

Some say that in order to be grammatically correct, the title should have been written as "The Bowl of the Sāqī," but frankly that title is rather clumsy and lacks poetry... so, perhaps the present title The Bowl of Saki was never intended to be grammatically correct, but may instead be a playful bit of British humor that intertwines the mystical Persian imagery with the thought of the oriental rice wine that has a similar sounding name. It is doubtful that we will ever know exactly how the book title The Bowl of Saki was created, but really the more important matter is to understand the deep significance of the word sāqī and of the bowl, which might also be called a cup, or chalice.

Usage of the Word Saki:

Here are some examples of how Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan used the word sāqī  in his teaching:

(note: the spelling saki has been changed to sāqī, except for references specifically to The Bowl of Saki, which have been left with that archaic spelling for historical reasons.)

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.

              from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume II, Music
 

In the imagery of the Sufi poets, this tavern is the world, and the sāqī  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.

       from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume X, Sufi Mysticism, Sufi Poetry

Thy smile has brought my dead heart to life again; my life and death depend upon the closing and disclosing of Thy magic glance.

O give me one more cup, O  Sāqī, which I will value more than the whole life I have lived.

            from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sayings, Gayan, Ragas

The the term "The Bowl of Saki" is explained in a slightly different context in the following words of Hazrat Inayat Khan discussing the power of the mystical glance:

Besides its precious work, which makes the eye superior to every other organ of the body, it is the expression of the beauty of body, mind and soul. Sufis, therefore, symbolize the eye by a cup of wine. Through the eyes, the secret hidden in man's heart is reflected into the heart of another. However much a person may try to conceal his secret, yet the reader can read it in his eyes, and can read there his pleasure, his displeasure, his joy, and his sorrow. A seer can see still farther. The seer can see the actual condition of man's soul through his eyes, his grade of evolution, his attitude in life, his outlook on life, and his condition, both hidden and manifest. Besides, to the passive soul of a disciple, knowledge, ecstasy, spiritual joy, and divine peace, all are given through the glance. One sees in everyday life that a person who is laughing in his mind with his lips closed can express his laughter through his glance, and the one who receives the glance at once catches the infectious mirth. Often the same happens through looking in the eyes of the sorrowful, in a moment one becomes filled with depression. And those whose secret is God, whose contemplation is the perfection of beauty, whose joy is endless in the realization of everlasting life, and from whose heart the spring of love is ever flowing, it is most appropriate that their glance should be called, symbolically, the Bowl of Saki, the Bowl of the Wine-Giver.

             from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume XIII, Naqshi Bandi, The Glance

The following prayerful poem, which be may the original idea followed by a subtle revision, was found in Hazrat Inayat Khan's personal notebook from 1922:

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.

          from Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, Original Texts: Sayings, Part II
 

updated 19-Feb-2006