Fakir 372451 225445270 2008-07-13T18:59:37Z 76.117.5.88 {{otheruses}} {{redirect|Faqir|the given name|Faqir (given name)}} [[Image:RGS 13.jpg|thumb|[[Herbert Ponting]]'s 1907 photograph of "a fakir in Benares" ([[Varanasi]]), [[India]]]] A '''fakir''' or '''faqir''' is a [[Sufi]], especially one who [[perform]]s feats of [[endurance]] or apparent [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]]. Derived from ''faqr'' (فقر [[Arabic language|Arabic]]), Lit: poverty.<ref>''God Speaks'', Meher Baba, Dodd Meade, 1955, 2nd Ed. p. 305</ref> The word is usually used to refer to either the spiritual recluse or [[eremite]] or the common street [[beggar]] who chants [[holy]] names, [[scripture]]s or verses. Its current [[idiom]]atic usage developed primarily in [[Mughal]]-era [[India]], where the term was injected into local idiom through the [[Persian language|Persian]]-speaking courts of [[Islam|Muslim]] rulers. When used referring to somber spiritual miracle-makers, ''fakir'' is applied primarily to [[Sufi]], but also [[Hindu]] [[asceticism|ascetics]]. Many [[stereotype]]s of the great fakir exist, among the more extreme being the picture of a near-naked man effortlessly [[fire-walking|walking barefoot on burning coals]], [[sitting]] or [[sleeping]] on a [[bed of nails]], [[metaphysical levitation|levitating]] during bouts of [[meditation]], or "[[inedia|living on air]]" (refusing all food). It is also used, usually sarcastically, for a common street beggar who chants holy names, scriptures or verses without ostensibly having any spiritual advancement. It has become a common [[Urdu language|Urdu]] and [[Hindi language|Hindi]] word for a beggar. When applied to Hindu mystics, the term is essentially a non-Indian word for [[Sadhu]]s, [[Guru]]s, [[Swami]]s, or [[Yogi]]s. [[Winston Churchill|Sir. Winston Churchill]] once slandered [[Mahatma Gandhi]], accusing him of posing as a half naked fakir: "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle-temple lawyer now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representatives of the king-emperor." == Gurdjieff == In the [[Fourth Way]] teaching of [[G. I. Gurdjieff]] the word ''fakir'' is used to denote the specifically [[body|physical]] path of development, compared with the word ''[[yogi]]'' (which Gurdjieff used for a path of [[mind|mental]] development) and ''[[monk]]'' (which he used for the path of [[emotion]]al development).<ref>''The Fourth Way: Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff,'' P.D. Ouspensky, Random House USA, 2000</ref> ==See also== *[[Dervish]] *[[Mirin Dajo]] *[[Shramana]] *[[Yogi]] == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Arabic words and phrases]] [[Category:Asceticism]] [[Category:Sufism stubs]] [[Category:Sufi philosophy]] [[ar:فقير]] [[de:Fakir]] [[el:Φακίρης]] [[es:Fakir]] [[eo:Fakiro]] [[fr:Fakir]] [[it:Fachiro]] [[he:פקיר]] [[lb:Fakir]] [[ms:Fakir]] [[nl:Fakir]] [[no:Fakir]] [[pl:Fakir]] [[pt:Faquir]] [[ru:Факир]] [[fi:Fakiiri]] [[sv:Fakir]]