| Rumi's Discourse on Love |
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| O friend! Sufi is cognizant of presence, he must deal (16)
He would not enter yester years, that�s not his meal Indeed a Sufi lives but by his own condition (17) Days, months and years are but no restriction Thou art not a true Sufi, perhaps! Credit gives ready money a lapse. Better to keep the secrets of �Friend�, I told (18) However, good heed moral of stories do hold. Better secrets of Lovers as story told Revealing not the mystery they behold He said, speak tightly, unfold the truth straight (19) Waste not time in frivolities, do not aggravate Reveal the guidance, hints prophets took Right Path (Deen) is obvious like Book Lift off the veil and speak out, for I may not Hide in the same coverlet my Beloved does hold (20) I said, If the Beloved was to be ever exposed Nothing would last, you, the center or shore to hold (21) Press thy suit, with due moderation Blade of grass can ever lift a mountain? If the sun that illuminates the world around Were to draw near, world would be drowned! (22) Let not world get a bleeding demise Close thy mouth and shut thy eyes (23) Do not seek peril, bloodshed not ask No longer speak on �Sun of Tabriz� task |
| Masanavi; Book 1; Lines: |
| Translation & Commentary by Seema Arif |
| (16) According to mystic tradition, �Ibn-al-waqt� is a Sufi experiencing unbounded spiritual state, which is reflective of the gifts he has been bestowed. He is more prone to be �reactive� and acquire emotional mode, and is termed as �Qalandar� and �Rind� as well. (Masnavi Maulvi Ma�navi, Urdu Translation & commentary by Qazi Sajjad Hussain, vol.1, p 45.
(17) �Ibn-al-Haal� is the Sufi fully in control of his spiritual state; he never lets the common guess his spiritual heights, that he has reached the knowledge of Essence. Click for detail on Waqt & Haal. (18) Abu Ali Juzjani would say, � The saint is annihilated in his own state and subsistent in the contemplation of The Truth.� In contemplation it is impossible to regard aught but God. He cannot be peace with anyone but with God, because a man has knowledge only of his own state, and when all his states are annihilated he cannot tell anything about himself. He cannot relate it to any other human being, because to tell of one�s hidden state to other is betrayal, revealing secrets of the Beloved, and no one can hold that but The Beloved Himself. (Kashaf-al-Mahjub, p.216). (19) Abu Hamid Al-Balkhi would exclaim, � it is wrong to seek the way, since the way to God is like the blazing sun; do thou seek thyself, for when thou hast found thyself, thou art come to thy journey�s end.� God is too manifest to admit of His being sought. He has also recommended, �Hide your poverty, do not proclaim yourself to be a Sufi (dervish); lest your secret be discovered, for it is a great grace bestowed on thee by God.� (20) It is again talking of union. One cannot be subsistent with God in essence. It is only achieved through annihilation of annihilation. Click for detail. (21) All boundaries crossed; there is nothing in-between, hither or thither, all is spread to nothingness. It is state of knowledge of Truth, complete annihilation as stated above. Click for detail. (22) It reaffirms omnipotence of Allah the Almighty; human reason and logic must humble itself before it. As established in Spiritual Reverence. Click for detail. (23) Again the preference for �sobriety� has been claimed. Disturbing Divine ordinance hails destruction. The only solution lies in surrender, i.e. understanding and following Divine Law. One of the purposes of writing Masanavi was to declare true path of the way, i.e. how to acquire spiritual purification, and relieving the way from unholy rhetoric. |
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