| Divine Face of Jalal ud Din Rumi |
| The Shopkeeper and The Parrot |
| Book 1; Story no.2 |
| Translation & Commentary by Seema Arif |
| A shopkeeper had a smart talking parrot. It would take care of the shop in its owner�s absence and would prattle with the customers. It was amusing for all. One day, when the parrot was usually busy taking care of the shop, a cat jumped after a mouse in the shop. The parrot afraid of cat jumped in the middle and many bottles were deranged. The expensive oils and extracts were wasted and the shop was a mess. The shopkeeper was returning from happily; he was bewildered to see the mess. He was so much angered that he caused a heavy blow at parrot�s head that it lost all its feathers and became bald. The parrot was dumbfounded. It took to heart the shopkeeper�s blow and stopped to talk. The shopkeeper felt sorry, he repented that why he had ever hit that bird? He did his best to regain parrot�s speech: gave charity to poor showed him wonderful and amazing things, but parrot did not utter a word. One day the parrot saw a bald dervish passing by. Parrot at once exclaimed! �O bald One! What happened to your hair? You too had spilt oil from jars?� The passers-by smiled at the parrot's keen assumption: It took Dervish to its own likeness. Can a parrot and a dervish share the same disposition? Parrot is just an imitator; it is not a scholar. The imitators can entertain or indulge in discursive knowledge but they cannot construct knowledge. Rumi here explains the difference between discursive logic and spiritual enlightening. All knowledge is not pure and constructive; all scholars cannot guide people to the right path. Knowledge is Power but it is mastered by genuine and brave persons like Moses while it prisons fake and guile sorcerers. True knowledge is liberating; it is acquired by heart and not through sense perception. All senses but mislead men. We see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear. |
| This Website has been created & maintained by Seema Arif |
 |
| Don�t assume that skill of pure thou can ever own
Though (sheer) milk and (sher) lion are written in the same tone. Milk one drinks and nourishes on Lion but kills the men fully grown. A little mistake may lead the world astray Few acquaint with �Abdal� - masters of the way. (1) Unfortunate souls had been lacking in vision They �see� the �good� and the �evil� as one. Equality with Prophets they had profaned! Awliyas are not distinguished, they exclaimed! (2) They are human beings, and we are too, Sleep, wake up, and eat food, we all do! Blind cannot see; never did they behold A million stations in between they did hold. Both of insects their food from same source bring (3) One has produced sweet honey, the other hard sting. Both the stags had grazed, drank on the same shore, One hath produced dung, the other musk pure. Both stalks have been drinking at the same canal One is hollow inside, the other full of sweet sugar Hundred of examples here I can simply quote For seventy years� parting of ways they note He eats, chews, swallows but excretes the waste Here all eaten hath been with Allah�s Nur graced (4) He eats, all turned to deceit, misery and jealousy Here all eaten hath grown with Allah�s bounty It is the land pure, that is corrupted and saline This is innocent angel; he the beast to demons resign Though both doth bear a similar disposition The sweet and saline carry purity within No one can deem but only the men of taste Curd doth clearly sweet and sour separate The men of knowledge are an authority on taste Telling the difference between honey and wax, the candle paste. |
| (1) Abdal are specially appointed people by Holy Enclave or Supreme Council...Click for detail
(2) Awliyas are saints or �friends of Allah� whom Allah The Almighty had graced with knowledge. See Walayat and Sainthood. Click for Detail.... (3) It is the quality of the essence, which makes difference. (4) Nur is Divine Light. A fake person intakes pure knowledge but utters waste, because it is full of doubt, skepticism, and it does not lead to contentment of soul. The righteous assimilates knowledge and becomes part and parcel of the Divine Scheme. He is the guiding light � the torchbearer for his followers like Prophets. |
| NOTES |
| Go To Page |
| Back To Rumi Index |
 |
| 1 |
| The Difference Between A Master and a Hypocrite |