Omar Khayyam's khosh bāsh

Lesson 76

Hello and welcome to Lesson 76 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation- this is the last discussion of the poem we are calling ‘khosh bash’ by Omar Khayyam. So first, let’s listen to my father reciting the full poem:

 Khayyam, agar ze bade mastee, khosh bash

Ba mah rokhee agar neshastee, khosh bash

Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

Engar keh neestee, cho hastee, khosh bash

Let’s begin today’s discussion with the word rubaiyat- the book of poetry of Khayyam is referred to as rubaiyateh Khayyam- so this word, rubaiyat refers to the type of poetry Khayyam says, and that is the quatrain. So rubaiyat refers to a 4 line Persian quatrain, and it has either the rhyme scheme AABA or AAAA. A lot of Persian poetry is written in this form, including a lot of Rumi’s poetry. So let’s repeat this together, Rubaiyat

rubaiyat

And you can see, this poem has an AABA form. So the first, second and fourth lines end with the mantra ‘khosh bash’, and only the third line is different from that. So, since this poem is simple enough, let’s just continue learning the vocabulary and phrases in order- so let’s learn the third line. First let’s listen to my father reading the third line of the poem:

Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

I want to start this discussion with talking about the concept of neestee. Neestee is the opposite of hastee, And let’s begin with that one. This is a very important topic in Sufism, that of hastee and neestee. Hastee simply means being. Hastee

hastee

and neestee, the opposite, means not being. neestee

neestee

So Sufis use this concept a lot in a spiritual sense. Hastee is the state of presence, of truly being in the world, rather than simply existing. And it’s very much aligned with the concept of breath. If you’re familiar with yoga or Buddhism or any of these practices, this will be familiar to you as well. Or even the famous Shakespeare quote, to be or not to be, that is the question. In Sufism, and by extension in Persian poetry, that is the central question. To be or not to be, hastee or neestee. It’s a choice, it’s a practice, it’s a state of living. So again, to be, hastee or not to be, neestee. So again, hastee

hastee

and neestee

neestee

And both of these words come up in the second part of this poem. So let’s listen to that third line again

Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

So this is fairly modern language, so all these words would be useful in contemporary conversation. Aghebat is the word for ending, or more accurately, for conclusion. Aghebat

aghebat

And jahan is the word for world. Jahan

jahan

Kar is the word for work kar

kar

So put these three together, aghebateh kareh jahan

aghebateh kareh jahan

And here we have the ezafe linking these words together- ezafe is the ‘e’ sound you hear at the end of the words. Aghebateh kareh jahan

aghebateh kareh jahan

So the noun is jahan

jahan

And the ezafe shows that the other two words are linked to the noun jahan. So aghebateh kareh jahan means the conclusion of the work of the world. Aghebateh kareh jahan

aghebateh kareh jahan

So in other words, the obvious conclusion that the world is working toward. The sentence begins with the word ‘chon’ which means because. Chon

chon

chon aghebateh kareh jahan

chon aghebateh kareh jahan

neestee hast. Hast is simply ‘is’, so neestee hast means ‘is to not be’. Neestee hast

neestee hast

So the full sentence is chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast. All together this means because the conclusion of the work of the word is not being. Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

So it’s saying, this world inevitably leads to not being, or in other words, to death. So because eventually you will die and cease to be. Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

All right next sentence:

Engar keh neestee, cho hastee, khosh bash

And there’s those two words again, neestee and hastee, to not be and to be. Engar is simply translated as ‘as if.’ Engar

engar

and keh means that. Very useful word in conversation. Keh

keh

Engar keh neestee

engar keh neestee

and here, neestee is a little different- it’s the second person conjugation of to not be. so neestee means you are not. Neestee

neestee

So engar keh neestee, it’s as if you are not. engar keh neestee

engar keh neestee

So he’s saying life is short, it’s inevitable that you’ll die, so it’s as if you’re already dead. Engar keh neestee

engar keh neestee

It’s as if you’re already not. Engar keh neestee

engar keh neestee

Next he says, cho hastee, khosh bash. Cho is a poetic way of saying chon, which we heard before in chon aghebateh kareh jahan. Again, here it means because. Chon

chon

And here, he drops the n because again, the Persian language is very flexible, and you can play with words like that. Cho hastee, because you are, cho hastee

cho hastee

So here again, hastee is the second person conjugation for to be. You are, hastee. hastee

hastee

and cho hastee, khosh bash, means because you are, be content. cho hastee, khosh bash

cho hastee, khosh bash

So the full sentence all together says ‘engar keh neestee, cho hastee, khosh bash’. This means, it’s as if you aren’t, because you are, be content.’ So in other words, it’s as if you’re already dead, but because you’re not dead, be content! So the sheer fact that you are alive and breathing, just that fact alone should give you joy, should give you contentment. Let’s repeat this last line together, engar keh neestee, cho hastee khosh bash.

engar keh neestee, cho hastee khosh bash.

So we mentioned in the last lesson with Fared, there is the concept of near death experiences, where people are so close to dying and it gives them a whole new perspective on life. That’s exactly what Khayyam is saying in these last two lines, he’s saying, eventually you will die, so take for granted that you’re already dead- realize that you are living and breathing, and this alone should make you happy. Again, I think of no simpler and no more beautiful of a message for us all to remember!

We’re going to hear my father recite the full poem one more time- and this time you’ll be able to understand every word of the poem. All of the poems we’ve been learning so far have been extremely special to us, and we’d love for you to learn them all. However, if you’re going to focus on only one, I hope that this one is it, because again, it’s simple, and it’s so applicable to everyone. And it’s a perfect one to memorize- short and sweet. So once you do, please film yourself reciting it in a beautiful location, and send it to leyla@chaiandconversation.com . We’ll also link to that email address on the show notes for the lesson. Also, if you’re not already a member of Chai and Conversation, you can sign up for a 30 day free trial on our website- that way you can listen to this poem line by line as you’re memorizing it, and see the words written out phonetically in English, which is also super helpful in truly learning it.  We have only one concluding lesson left in Unit 7, our poetry unit. We’ll come back to poetry soon, but we have a few other projects up our sleeves which we’ll be announcing soon!

So without further ado, let’s listen to my father recite the whole poem:

 Khayyam, agar ze bade mastee, khosh bash

Ba mah rokhee agar neshastee, khosh bash

Chon aghebateh kareh jahan neestee hast

Engar keh neestee, cho hastee, khosh bash