| Rumi's Discourse on Love |
 |
|
| Love is reflected in ache of heart
No malaise is but like bait of heart The lover's ailment has different history Love is the astrolabe of God's mystery. (1) A lover may stroll yearning about All ways but lead to ME, no doubt (2) Much as I describe and in words explain Feel love, words are shamed to my disdain Tongue gives verdict reflecting light Lighter is the Love with unexplained might.(3) Pen had been busy writing, when Reaching love was split in twain Hath it explained a lover�s plight, Pen was broken and paper trite. Reason had stuck like ass in mire;(4) Naught but Love can explain lover�s tire None but the sun can present the sun, (5) Witness it clear, do not haste to turn. Shadows, reflect that He is there But the Sun lives the spirit near (6) Shadows tempt sleep like fairy tales told "Moon is split asunder." when Sun takes hold (7) Sun travels and wonders no doubt In soul never sets to come about Sun is single and exclusive of its own, We can conceive of similar to this lone. Sun that keeps heaven soaring high Ever seen like it absent or living by? |
| Masanavi; Book 1; Lines: |
| Translation & Commentary by Seema Arif |
| (1) Love is the astrolabe: means that only love can "measure" and understand the depths of Divine mysteries-- not the intellectual reason. The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical device, "an instrument for measuring the altitude of the stars and solving the problems of spherical astronomy." (Nicholson, Commentary)
(2) Being a lover eventually guides us to the Source of Love, which is God, the Only Beloved. Love, whether its immediate object be Divine or human, real or phenomenal, leads ultimately to knowledge of God and union with Him. All earthly beauty is but the reflection of Heavenly Beauty, and as the reflection fades away we turn our eyes towards the Light whence it came." (Nicholson, Commentary) (3) The meaning of "Love (expressed) without the tongue is (much) clearer": "i.e. the signs of love, such as agitation, pallor, and tears, speak for themselves. Cf. the saying, (lis�nu 'l-h�l antaqu min lis�ni 'l-maq�l), 'the tongue of inward feeling is more eloquent than the tongue of discourse'." Illumination is a state, in which everything is self-obvious, because it has sufficient light reflecting from it. More than physical symptoms of love, Rumi says that love is more obvious from the attention and care one bestows and sacrifices one makes for one�s beloved. Actions speak louder than tongue. (4) Reason has much to do with material obvious things, which it can explain well. It has no reach to spiritual realm and principles governing it. So it is powerless and helpless in such matters. This is a mystery that Love reveals to the lover by immediate experienced (man lam yadhuq lam yadri), i.e. He who doesn't taste doesn't know. (Nicholson, Commentary) (5) Imam Abu Hanifa hath said, �Practice what you have learned, for theory without practice is like a body without a spirit.� He who is contented with learning alone is not learned, and the truly learned man is not content with learning alone. Similarly, Divine guidance (hidayyat) involves self-mortification (mujahadat), without which contemplation (mushahadat) is unattainable. There is no knowledge without action, since knowledge is the product of action, and is brought forth and developed and made profitable by the blessings of action. The two things cannot be divorced in any way, just as the light of the sun cannot be separated from the sun itself. (Kashaf-al-Mahjub p. 95) (6) God is �near the jugular vein� as told in Qur'an (50:16); everything nearby or far in universe is just reflective of His presence. (7) Splitting of moon is a miracle ascribed to Hazrat Muhammad (SAW). (Qur'an, 54:1). It reflects dawn of truth, because moon�s light is borrowed from sun, whereas Sun is the genuine leader of the stars in heaven. Therefore when a true leader takes hold, the leaders of time give by. |
| NOTES |
 |
| Go To Next Page |
 |
| HOME |
| RUMI INDEX |
 |
| Whole world wants to be in Paradise. Not a single person seeks LOVE |