"We Have Everything" - Do We?

What is the Rubaiyyat about?

"If you tell me to do so, I will walk out of the organization [he had founded, SRF]," prayed Yogananda to God Mom in Phoenix.

She replied, "What more do you want?" [Abr. Jse 71]

At that point he could have wanted peace on earth and a better approach to Rubaiyat [Jse 71]. That is my opinion.

Some say the verses of FitzGerald "reveal a man of deep thought, troubled by the questions of the nature of reality and the eternal, the impermanence and uncertainty of life, and man's relationship to God." [Ebu, s.v. "Omar Khayyam"]. Further:

The writer doubts the existence of divine providence and the afterlife, derides religious certainty, and feels keenly man's frailty and ignorance. Finding no acceptable answers to his perplexities, he chooses to put his faith instead in a joyful appreciation of the fleeting and sensuous beauties of the material world. The idyllic nature of the modest pleasures he celebrates, however, cannot dispel his honest and straightforward brooding over fundamental metaphysical questions [Ibid].

This Rubaiyyat understanding is very far from the interpretations by Paramahansa Yogananda in his The Wine of the Mystic. Here is an ambiguous claim:

"Poetry can be misread to mean the exact opposite of the poet's intentions ... This is what Paramahansa Yogananda ... proves". [Life Positive, July 1998.
[www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/masters/paramahansa-yogananda/rubaiyat.asp]

I do not think Yogananda proves that in the way the Life Positive thinks he does, however.

Some of the Rubaiyat Verses are Traced Back to Omar

Not all verses in a purported translation of the Persian matematician Omar Khayyam (1048-1122) are original verses by Omar. Omar Khayyam's personal beliefs are not known with certainty. But it is clear that Omar was undevout and had no sympathy with popular religion. Further, the idea that the intoxication he writes of in his poetry is a Sufi metaphor for the Divine Beloved, is reportedly a minority opinion dismissed as wishful pious thinking by most Iranians. And he supported the view that laws of nature explained all phenomena of observed life. He also had disdain for divine revelation and denied the idea of resurrection and eternal life. [Wikipedia, s.v. "Omar Khayyam"]

Against this information, Yogananda is one of those who claim the Rubaiyat is Sufi poetry. Sufis are mystics of Islam. One should ask for the evidence from those who claim he was, and evaluate that evidence with fairness in view.

The verse form used by Omar, was popular as a means of expressing mystical concepts. The latest research has established that some of the verses can be traced back to the scientist Omar, who condensed in them his feelings and his scepticism and parading love in such a way that they appeal to many still. "The imagery he uses, however, is entirely inherited; none of it is original" [Ebu, s.v. "Roba'iyat: Omar Khayyam"].

More on Paramahansa Yogananda's Commentary

Today, Yogananda's commentary is published by two separate American publishers, and the Yogananda text of the versions differs considerably among them. The editor of one of the two versions - James Donald Walters, aka Kriyananda - has this to say about him in a foreword to the book (1994):

His preferred way of expressing himself was to touch lightly on a point ... [Further,] he left the task of expanding on, or explaining, the truths he presented in condensed form in his writings [In my opinion] he left the process of refining his words to his disciples. [Words in square brackets are added by me.]

The other editor of Yogananda's commentary is Self-Realization Fellowship's editor, Mrinalini Mata)

There are alarming errors in the methodological approach of Yogananda: He did not know Persian himself to our knowledge; he asserts this and that without good evidence (documentation); and also uses many clichés, that is, repeated stock phrases of his and many "key words and phrases" that are absent in the Whinfield translation and other works.

Kriyananda also admits that "almost every sentence presents some problem". Sources as we try to "see for ourselves":

• ◦Hinduism Today "SRF Uncorks a Winner". (October 1994, 10th issue)
• ◦Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, edited by James Donald Walters

Ascertaining what Omar wrote and what he meant is different from juggling with the adaptation of Fitzgerald. Admittedly, much of Yogananda's purport and effort looks foolish in the light of the better translations.