The Scented Garden

The Impotence of Thought to perceive Reality. 51 Buddhist and by no means a Mohammedan doc- trine. I am a little uncertain of my transla- tion. Literally [Persian text]. The wheel of life stands still, the axis is rusty. (This line, pencilled faintly in Major Lutiy’s M.S. has been difficult to decipher : we doubt the accuracy of the above. It is not an M.S. reading. Ed.) 2. Cf. Verlaine — c’est à recommencer. But “ be- ginning ” is here “ maruk ” [Persian text] not “ rah- sid ” ; and Mahbub says that here is a punning ref- erence to Marut [Persian text] (any connection with the Sanskrit Maruts ?) and Harut, who are the Per- sian “ Beni Elohim ” going in to the daughters of men. To punish them, Allah hung them by their heels in a well at Babylon, where they wile away the time by giving magical instruction. The mean- ing, therefore, (argal !) of the whole passage is that unredeemed (i.e. uninitiated) man, however ordina- rily devout, is liable to become a sorcerer ! I cannot help thinking that Mahbub must have been hung up by his heels at one time ; nobody could ever think all that out right way up !