Bayazid Bastami, a Persian Sufi mystic of the 9th and 10th centuries, is renowned for his profound spiritual experiences and teachings. Born in Bistam, Iran, he advocated the “sobriety” path in Sufism, emphasizing inner purification and ego annihilation for spiritual realization. Bayazid’s famous utterance, “Glory be to Me! How great is My majesty!” reflects his deep experience of divine unity. His teachings stress love, devotion, and detachment from worldly desires as central to the Sufi journey. Bayazid’s spiritual legacy continues to inspire seekers worldwide, shaping Sufi thought and practice. His tomb in Bastam remains a revered pilgrimage site, where devotees seek spiritual blessings and guidance. Through his profound insights and mystical experiences, Bayazid Bastami remains a revered figure in Sufi literature and traditions, influencing generations of seekers on the path of spiritual enlightenment.
Bayazid Bastami Quotes
01. “The gnostic flies and the ascetic travels afoot.”
— Bayazid Bastami
02. “When God loves a man, He endows him with three qualities in token thereof: a bounty like that of the sea, a sympathy like that of the sun, and a humility like that of the earth. No suffering can be too great, no devotion too high, for the piercing insight and burning faith of a true lover.”
— Bayazid Bastami
03. “When I considered the world to be my enemy and I went to God, His love possessed me to such an extent that I became the enemy of myself.”
— Bayazid Bastami
04. “The saints of God are His brides, and none looks upon brides save those of their family. They are veiled in seclusion in His presence by intimacy. No one sees them, neither in the world nor the next.”
— Bayazid Bastami
05. “Someone asked: ‘By what means did you attain this gnosis?’ He replied: ‘By a hungry stomach and a naked body.'”
— Bayazid Bastami
06. “I triply divorced the world and alone proceeded to the Alone. I stood before the Presence and cried; ‘Lord God! I desire not but Thee. If I possess Thee, I possess all.’… when God recognized my sincerity, the first grace that He accorded me was that He removed the chaff of the self before me.”
— Bayazid Bastami
07. “Someone asked: ‘When does a man know that he has attained real gnosis?’ He replied: ‘At the time when he becomes annihilated under the knowledge of God, and is made everlasting on the carpet of God, without self and without creature.'”
— Bayazid Bastami
08. “Someone asked: ‘When does a man reach submissiveness?’ He replied: ‘When he does not attribute a station or state to his self and considers none among mankind worse than himself.'”
— Bayazid Bastami
09. “The gnostic sees nothing other than God in His sleep and nothing other than God in his waking hours. He does not conform to other-than God, and he does not look to other-than God.”
— Bayazid Bastami
10. “Paradise has no value in the eyes of lovers and lovers are veiled (from God) by their love.”
— Bayazid Bastami
11. “A mystic wrote to Bastami saying: ‘I am drunk from the long draught. I drank from the cup of His Love.’ Bastami wrote back: ‘Someone else drank the seas of heavens and earth and his thirst is not quenched. His tongue is hanging out and he is pleading, is there no more?'”
— Bayazid Bastami
12. “If the eight paradises are exhibited in our cell and the dominion of both the world along with their code is given to us, we will not forgo that one sigh which bursts out from the depth of the heart at dawn in recollection (of God) in the state of longing for Him.”
— Bayazid Bastami
13. “I say that God is the mirror of myself, for with my tongue He speaks, and I have ceased to be myself.”
— Bayazid Bastami
14. “Mankind has states, but the gnostic has none. His human traits are effaced, and his essence has passed away into the essence of another. His traits are gone because the traits of another have taken their place.”
— Bayazid Bastami
