Great Regulars: 'Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness is Paradise enow!'

Many young people mistake the above quatrain for Omar Khayyam's passion for sexual love. According to Paramahamsa Yogananda (1893-1952), Omar Khayyam is communicating for all time a spiritual and mystical message. Withdraw your life-force into the centre of the tree of life, the spine, and bask there in the cool shade of inner peace.

from V Sundaram: News Today: Baritone: Edward FitzGerald, a poetic genius

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Why has Gene Gordon hailed Omar Khayyam as the Shakespeare of Iran? Khayyam and Shakespeare were alike in a number of ways. First, they both came from a humble background. Shakespeare's father was a glove maker; Khayyam's father a tent maker. The word 'khayya' means a maker of tents. Both valued love and placed it in the heart of their writing. Both emerged from the people with their feet planted firmly on the ground-- not with noses in the air. And not with heads in the clouds either, for both were concerned with the here and now, not the hereafter. Both were sceptical, in fact, about a life after death and the existence of gods. In short both were totally free from cosmic pretentions with their feet solidly grounded in terrestrial reality. But in one vital respect they were alike--both Shakespeare and Omar Khayyam were completely familiar with the writings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341 BC-270 BC).

from V Sundaram: News Today: Baritone: The Shakespeare of Iran--I

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The most important message of Omar Khayyam relates to the fleeting nature of transitory human existence. The insignificance of man in the general scheme of creation is brought out by Omar in the following quatrains:

It is but a Tent where takes his one day's rest
A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest;
The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash
Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest.

When a Sultan dies the servants lower the flag, and prepare the throne for another Sultan. Another probable interpretation is that the tent is the human body and soul is the Sultan, and Ferrash is Death.

from V Sundaram: News Today: Baritone: The Shakespeare of Iran--II

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