The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained [Hardcover]

Paramahansa Yogananda (Author), Yogananda (Author), J. Donald Walters (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994

Omar Khayyam's famous poem, The Rubaiyat, is loved by Westerners as a hymn of praise to sensual delights. In the East it is known as a deep allegory of the soul's romance with God. As for what his quatrains actually mean, most of them have remained a mystery in the East as much as in the West. Now after eight centuries, Paramhansa Yogananda, one of the great mystics of our times, a master of yoga and the author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi, explains the mystery behind Omar's famous poem. This book contains the essence of great revelation.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

As "Swami Kriyananda," Walters has authored numerous works, including his autobiography, The Path (1977). Formerly a member of Paramhansa Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), Walters has eloquently rendered a Rubaiyat commentary expanding his guru's metaphysical approach. This is a complete rewriting and restructuring of Yogananda's much briefer serialized version that originally appeared in the 1937-44 issues of Inner Culture magazine. Due to Walters's constant paraphrasing, even in the glossaries, the reader may prefer Yogananda's final edition, Wine of the Mystic (LJ 7/94), published by Self-Realization Fellowship. The latter's historical notes upon Rubaiyat translations are superior. Walters's edition has fewer Sanskrit terms, more emphasis on risky yoga practices, and no color illustrations, and it lacks SRF's lovely ornamentation. As a meditational guide, Walters's rendition may be acceptable to those not familiar with Yogananda's own edition.
Dara Eklund, Los Angeles P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Reading this volume is to re-learn our capacity to interpret language across cultures and different spiritual beliefs, and experience a holistic understanding of faith, whether the authors are Iranian Sufis, Indian swamis, or Western disciples of these traditions" -- India Currents Magazine Oct. 1994

"Those of a devotional nature will especially appreciate The Rubaiyat, for it sweeps the soul upward into the realms of divine intoxication wherein the lover unites with the Beloved. And all seekers will appreciate Yogananda's clear discussion on such topics as karma, reincarnation, destiny and free will, maya, meditation, perfecting love, life's problems, true security, the cosmic drama, and more" -- Yoga International Jan-Feb. 1995

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 354 pages
• Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565896750
• ISBN-13: 978-1565896758
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Story Behind the Scenes, July 8, 2002

By 

James M. Sheffield (Sedona, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained: Guided Visualizations Based On The Poetry Of Paramhansa Yogananda (Audio Cassette)

Who has not heard or read these lines of beauty?

"Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse -- and Thou," or "The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on."?

These lines are from the first translation of The Rubaiyat by the English translator and man of letters, Edward FitzGerald (1809 - 1883). While it retains the spirit and philosophy expressed in the original quatrains, FitzGerald's translation was so free in its rendition as to be virtually an original work.
Omar Khayyam, poet, astronomer and mathematician was born in Persia in the latter part of the 11th century. His surname, Khayyam, means "tent-maker" although that undoubtedly referred to his father's trade more than to his own because actually, he was independently wealthy. He was a friend of Nizami, the Vizier of Baghdad who founded the great college of Baghdad, where Omar Khayyam was taught. Omar Khayyam lived in seclusion until Malik Shah appointed him Astronomer Royal, who, along with eight other scholars, revised the Muslim calendar. It seems certain that Khayyam was a Sufi mystic and kept his spiritual life hidden from superficial worldly minds.

"Omar," Paramhansa Yogananda has said, "by a very large number of Western readers, has come to be regarded as a rather erotic pagan poet, a drunkard interested only in wine and earthly pleasure. This is typical of the confusion that exists on the entire subject of Sufism. The wine is the joy of the spirit, and the love is the rapturous devotion to God?"

The Rubaiyat as well as the Tales of the Arabian Nights are not love stories about drunkards, genies, and magic caves filled with treasures, but mystical stories based on the religion of Sufism. Their encoded symbolism, when revealed, is deeply mystical and meaningful.

One example is the magic lamp of Aladdin. First, the meaning of the name: AL is Arabic for God, "ALLAH." DDIN is a transcription of the word DJINN (or we would say in the West, "Genie.") But in Arabic it means SPIRIT. Thus, ALADDIN means "The Spirit of God." Well, what is the magic lamp, then? The magic lamp is something we all possess in the depths (cave) of the subconscious, the MIND. What would it mean then that the "Spirit of God" rubs the "Mind"? This refers to the practice of meditation. By focussing on an idea, a single thought, our minds are capable of bringing about any reality we dream of. We are the co-creators of our own universe, our own lives. As Pogo, the comic strip character, said: "We have met the enemy, and it is we-uns." We are responsible for our own self-undoing, just as we are responsible for creating our own lives.

Secrecy and the practice of hiding deep truths behind a veil of exotic symbolism was the way the Sufis protected themselves against persecution for their unorthodox views. It is similar to the deep mysticism of the Jewish Kabala. The Sufis called their secret language QBL. The alchemists of the West used another example of hidden mysticism. Do you think they were really trying to transmute lead into gold, or were they trying to transmute the gross material of our bodies and souls into the golden glory of the spirit? If you think so, read John Randolph Price?s book published by Hay House, The Alchemist?s Handbook. Nostradamus and Leonardo daVinci also hid their writings in obscure diaries and secret codes.

Paramhansa Yogananda accomplished much of the mystic discovery about Omar Khayyam in his book, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained. Paramhansa Yogananda was one of the great spiritual beacons of the 20th century. His Autobiography of a Yogi, first published in 1946, has been a best-selling autobiography for the past fifty years. Yogananda was born in India in 1893 and sent to this country in 1920 where he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, California, a non-sectarian and universal organization. His close friend and editor of the book on the Rubaiyat, J. Donald Walters, also known as Kriyananda, wrote: "Yogananda's charity, compassion, unshakable calmness, loving friendship to all, delightful sense of humor and deep insight into human nature were such as to leave me constantly amazed."

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly examination of the work from some of the best minds of Yoga walking the earth today, October 7, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Paperback)

Poetry can mean many things, but occasionally, the intention is missed. "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained" is a scholarly examination of the work from some of the best minds of Yoga walking the earth today. In the west, it's a poem of sensual delight, in the east it's a poem of a relationship with God - who has it right, if any of them? A deeply philosophical set of writing that will surely please a great many readers, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained" will enlighten and educate.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you love poetry like I do, you will love this one too!!, May 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Paperback)

The first time I encountered this book was in the 10th Grade and I have been mesmerized by it ever since. The author gives extraordinary metphors and allows the reader to interpret the poetry how it best fits them. He speaks of most of the joys there is on this wonderful world and takes you to places you have never been before. I would recommend this wonderful book to anyone who loves poetry.