Soma
Resources => Books [Public] => Topic started by: Nick on October 18, 2007, 11:46:00 AM
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I envision this not as a "book club" in the traditional sense, but as a harmonious group effort. Us working together to come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Rumi's work, leading to the same for each of our lives. Kind of like when we all do our ceremonies at the same time with Tom. A group effort not only to study the Masnavi, but to bring us closer together.
Any suggestions to achieve this vision are greatly appreciated.
Here is the whole Masnavi online:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/masnavi/index.htm
I'll be reading it to my daughter every night till we're finished. I want to make it one of a small collection of stories both her and I know by heart ;D. I figure sharing my journey through the Masnavi with you all will help me understand it, esp. if you all join in with your experiences of the story.
No rules for this study...One recommendation, apply the wisdom to life! Then come in here and share the results of your experiential learning. Rumi says about book 4, which I'm sure applies to all of the books in the series: " Whoever reads it for entertainment is himself or herself an idle hour. Whoever hears in it a value to use now in soul-making becomes himself or herself that necessary."
That said whoever wishes to participate feel free. I'm sure there are other translations of the Masnavi online somewhere if you want a different one.
I'm going to finish book one with my daughter by the end of the week. Then I will share my initial thoughts, which will just be "what I believe" certain things mean and what I intend to do to discover the true meaning of what I read. Then I will share that when the time comes.
Remember, slow process for me, don't be surprised if I disappear for a bit after my second post. I will keep going with this till completion. Please join me folks, and don't wait for my next post to jump in, esp. if you know the poem already.
I'll only be posting the prologue of each section here.
"THE SPIRITUAL COUPLETS
OF
MAULANA JALALU-'D-DlN MUHAMMAD RUMI"
Book I.
PROLOGUE.
HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains,
Lamenting its banishment from its home:
"Ever since they tore me from my osier bed,
My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears.
I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs,
And to express the pangs of my yearning for my home.
He who abides far away from his home
Is ever longing for the day ho shall return.
My wailing is heard in every throng,
In concert with them that rejoice and them that weep.
Each interprets my notes in harmony with his own feelings,
But not one fathoms the secrets of my heart.
My secrets are not alien from my plaintive notes,
Yet they are not manifest to the sensual eye and ear.
Body is not veiled from soul, neither soul from body,
Yet no man hath ever seen a soul."
This plaint of the flute is fire, not mere air.
Let him who lacks this fire be accounted dead!
'Tis the fire of love that inspires the flute,l
'Tis the ferment of love that possesses the wine.
The flute is the confidant of all unhappy lovers;
Yea, its strains lay bare my inmost secrets.
Who hath seen a poison and an antidote like the flute?
Who hath seen a sympathetic consoler like the flute?
The flute tells the tale of love's bloodstained path,
It recounts the story of Majnun's love toils.
None is privy to these feelings save one distracted,
As ear inclines to the whispers of the tongue.
Through grief my days are as labor and sorrow,
My days move on, hand in hand with anguish.
Yet,, though my days vanish thus, 'tis no matter,
Do thou abide, O Incomparable Pure One!
But all who are not fishes are soon tired of water;
And they who lack daily bread find the day very long;
So the "Raw" comprehend not the state of the "Ripe;"
Therefore it behoves me to shorten my discourse.
Arise, O son! burst thy bonds and be free!
How long wilt thou be captive to silver and gold?
Though thou pour the ocean into thy pitcher,
It can hold no more than one day's store.
The pitcher of the desire of the covetous never fills,
The oyster-shell fills not with pearls till it is content;
Only he whose garment is rent by the violence of love
Is wholly pure from covetousness and sin.
Hail to thee, then, O LOVE, sweet madness!
Thou who healest all our infirmities!
Who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit!
Who art our Plato and our Galen!
Love exalts our earthly bodies to heaven,
And makes the very hills to dance with joy!
O Iover, 'twas love that gave life to Mount Sinai,
When "it quaked, and Moses fell down in a swoon."
Did my Beloved only touch me with his lips,
I too, like the flute, would burst out in melody.
But he who is parted from them that speak his tongue,
Though he possess a hundred voices, is perforce dumb.
When the rose has faded and the garden is withered,
The song of the nightingale is no longer to be heard.
The BELOVED is all in all, the lover only veils Him;
The BELOVED is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.
When the lover feels no longer LOVE's quickening,
He becomes like a bird who has lost its wings. Alas!
How can I retain my senses about me,
When the BELOVED shows not the light of His countenance?
LOVE desires that this secret should be revealed,
For if a mirror reflects not, of what use is it?
Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?
Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.
If it were purified from all rust and defilement,
It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.
O friends, ye have now heard this tale,
Which sets forth the very essence of my case.
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Before we get started, I just have to vent my exhilaration here! :)
I think I mentioned before, that I began in bhakti and the ecstatic, spent some time in toltec, and now find myself back in the bhakti and ecstatic poets.
Whilst I was studying strictly-toltec, I heard some very unkind things said about Rumi, that took me aback. One die-hard toltec in my forum referred to Rumi as "pap". (It was eeevil! What a meanie! ;) :D ) Another die-hard toltec "teacher" accused me of "liking all that love-love-love bullshit". What a stinker.
Yes, Rumi has a whole metaphor and set of imagery running throughout his work, of Love and Lovers and the Friend, but I submit that all throughout Rumi's work, we are not talking about some trivialized, watered-down concept of "love-love-love", but rather, something far more complex:: in so many of Rumi's references, the double exists. I've even speculated that Shams of Tabriz was that extreme rarity -- an extant double!
And if you've ever spun, or done any sort of concerted, repetitive physical or dance-movement that creates a vortex, you think twice about blowing off the whirling dervishes as something so empty as new-age-bullshit. No, no .... I beg to differ. There be power here ... and spirit!
I picked up reading Rumi in the darkest time of my life. He understands the human heart. He understands grief and sorrow and the gnashing of teeth ... he transforms that. "All grief and longing is the longing for God." This meant a great deal with me, at the time --- he who understood "stopping at mean-spirited roadhouses." So in reading him, especially in large chunks at a time, I rise ...
It's hard to read one ghazal at a time and get the effect: this will be interesting for me. I tend to read 10 or so pieces of his at a time, and get my spirit spinning.
Nick, I couldn't be happier that you want to do this, and now that I've gotten this bit out of my system, I feel I can begin! Thank-you!
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Before we get started, I just have to vent my exhilaration here! :)
I think I mentioned before, that I began in bhakti and the ecstatic, spent some time in toltec, and now find myself back in the bhakti and ecstatic poets.
Whilst I was studying strictly-toltec, I heard some very unkind things said about Rumi, that took me aback. One die-hard toltec in my forum referred to Rumi as "pap". (It was eeevil! What a meanie! ;) :D ) Another die-hard toltec "teacher" accused me of "liking all that love-love-love bullshit". What a stinker.
That makes "Toltec" sound like something something seriously eeevil. :)
So what's about that Toltec thing?
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That makes "Toltec" sound like something something seriously eeevil. :)
So what's about that Toltec thing?
Well, I was joking about the "evil meanie"!
What is it about the internet toltec-culture? I honestly don't know, e! A confusion about what it means to "stalk" and to be a "warrior"? I gave up trying to figure it out.
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Well, I was joking about the "evil meanie"!
What is it about the internet toltec-culture? I honestly don't know, e! A confusion about what it means to "stalk" and to be a "warrior"? I gave up trying to figure it out.
If it is such a mess why do you call it "Toltec" in the first place? Any denominator would do...
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If it is such a mess why do you call it "Toltec" in the first place? Any denominator would do...
Only because they call themselves toltec! To the degree that discussion is restricted to that-and-only-that which has a toltec perspective. Of course, this is only an internet, cultural phenomenon, methinks. (I hope.)
At any rate, my point was that I was grateful to Nick for beginning an unabashed study of Rumi.
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i'd be happy to do a rumi series - as long as i didn't have to read too much... which is often the case with poets.
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OK lets read and ponder the quoted text and get back with whatever thoughts pop into our mind about it or from it... over the next week, we could toss our feelings back and forth.
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HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains,
Lamenting its banishment from its home:
"Ever since they tore me from my osier bed,
My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears.
The reed flute was used for a couple things. One, music, but also in religious rituals. Its across the board, pretty much, the flute is us, hollowed out (soul free of ego or desires); However, tore from the osier bed, is 'us' being tore from our original condition. We're separated from home.
Now, why, what is the purpose then? The estatic mystic is giving this allegory to express that - its to make music by golly. Its to express love. And it can only be truly know, with first, separation, which will lead to an inevitable union.
Like that goof crowley once said we're divided for loves sake, for the chance of union. He did not invent that concept tho.
I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs,
And to express the pangs of my yearning for my home.
So its kinda sad, really, its ripped from its home (soul) but first must be hollowed out, the flute, which is painful, for even the sound to be heard. How can spirit 'hear us' unless we first hollow out our own soul?
He who abides far away from his home
Is ever longing for the day ho shall return.
My wailing is heard in every throng,
In concert with them that rejoice and them that weep.
Those also whove experienced the dark night of the soul.
Each interprets my notes in harmony with his own feelings,
But not one fathoms the secrets of my heart.
and this is a dilemma, for while some may try to empathize, unless they've been hollowed out as well, can they really understand, and even those that can empathize, cannot give this soul relief. Only one thing can.
My secrets are not alien from my plaintive notes,
Yet they are not manifest to the sensual eye and ear.
Body is not veiled from soul, neither soul from body,
Yet no man hath ever seen a soul."
Its all inner. There isnt really a veil, its all one, already. But because of duality, we still 'feel' torn, and we're still torn away from something.
This plaint of the flute is fire, not mere air.
Let him who lacks this fire be accounted dead!
'Tis the fire of love that inspires the flute,l
'Tis the ferment of love that possesses the wine.
That goes more into what crowley said. The wine represents immortality, nectar of the gods. But only love can give one immortality. Its the fuel, the method and way, to achieve union again. However, the estatic mystic, must feel the pains of that separation and loss, first. Like the flute has to be hollowed out tho, first to be able to play music, and emptied. bruce lee called it the 'silent flute,' which really, was something to represent ultimate emptiness. But there's more of a tranquility, and peace, with his own expression of the flute, than this one. It doesnt play music, his, because there is no suffering anymore - union, has already taken place. The longing has already been heard, fire reached where it needed to reach. But music continues for this one, to be heard, because is still, trying to be heard, and the more music plays, there is no peace, no union, til then. However, still, part of the purpose in coming to existence, is to make music, and that can only be done through love.
The flute is the confidant of all unhappy lovers;
Yea, its strains lay bare my inmost secrets.
The inner coming into the outer. Lovers here part cause there is no permanence.
Who hath seen a poison and an antidote like the flute?
Who hath seen a sympathetic consoler like the flute?
The same vehicle that can make one free, like music, can lift one up, or bring one down in sadness and despair when its story is told.
The flute tells the tale of love's bloodstained path,
It recounts the story of Majnun's love toils.
None is privy to these feelings save one distracted,
As ear inclines to the whispers of the tongue.
Only the lovers suffer. You dont know suffering at all, you've never known love.
Through grief my days are as labor and sorrow,
My days move on, hand in hand with anguish.
Yet,, though my days vanish thus, 'tis no matter,
Do thou abide, O Incomparable Pure One!
But all who are not fishes are soon tired of water;
And they who lack daily bread find the day very long;
One can only take being out of their element for so long.
So the "Raw" comprehend not the state of the "Ripe;"
Therefore it behoves me to shorten my discourse.
Arise, O son! burst thy bonds and be free!
The 'son' is the soul reborn.
How long wilt thou be captive to silver and gold?
Though thou pour the ocean into thy pitcher,
It can hold no more than one day's store.
Things of the world cannot every satisfy one for long, the things we can acquire, will not be able to make us happy.
The pitcher of the desire of the covetous never fills,
The oyster-shell fills not with pearls till it is content;
Only he whose garment is rent by the violence of love
Is wholly pure from covetousness and sin.
Things in the material are just that - things asquired by desire alone. We all have to have some desire, but its how we channel that desire, that desire which has to do with love. Not seeking the impermanent things, which eventually, we'll do nothing but lose anyway.
Hail to thee, then, O LOVE, sweet madness!
Thou who healest all our infirmities!
Who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit!
Who art our Plato and our Galen!
Love exalts our earthly bodies to heaven,
And makes the very hills to dance with joy!
Its about immortality, but its interesting the estatic mystic says 'earthy bodies,' not etheric, or any of that. That requires a transformation of the body, which also he has not separated from the soul, as he said the body and soul aren't veiled from each other. The soul is the inner lining of the body itself.
O Iover, 'twas love that gave life to Mount Sinai,
When "it quaked, and Moses fell down in a swoon."
Did my Beloved only touch me with his lips,
I too, like the flute, would burst out in melody.
But he who is parted from them that speak his tongue,
Though he possess a hundred voices, is perforce dumb.
When the rose has faded and the garden is withered,
The song of the nightingale is no longer to be heard.
The BELOVED is all in all, the lover only veils Him;
The BELOVED is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.
When the lover feels no longer LOVE's quickening,
He becomes like a bird who has lost its wings. Alas!
How can I retain my senses about me,
When the BELOVED shows not the light of His countenance?
LOVE desires that this secret should be revealed,
For if a mirror reflects not, of what use is it?
Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?
Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.
If it were purified from all rust and defilement,
It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.
O friends, ye have now heard this tale,
Which sets forth the very essence of my case.
We are here to be mirrors of God, to reflect that love into the world. The mirror has to be pure and void of smudges, dust, to truly reflect that perfection.
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I'm going to finish book one with my daughter by the end of the week. Then I will share my initial thoughts, which will just be "what I believe" certain things mean and what I intend to do to discover the true meaning of what I read. Then I will share that when the time comes.""""
I've not finished with my pondering and such. But, here is a bit to get things going. I'm focusing on the prologue for this post. At the end of the prologue he states that it sets forth the essence of his case. So I think we would be wise to take special care with this section.
I really need to listen to the sound of a reed flute. I don't really know what one sounds like.
At one point he says that everyone interprets his notes in harmony with their own feelings, but none fathom the secrets of his heart. Is it just his heart, or if one can not fathom the secrets of his heart can they fathom the secrets of their own?
When I listen to music I notice there are different ways I can listen. I can listen kind of superficially or I can really focus in on the music. Then I can differentiate between notes, I can listen to the sounds themselves as well as listen for the emotional context the songs is conveying. Fast music may have an exciting rhythm or slow may relax, some music is obviously angry and others happy.
But, our reed flute is telling us that everyone hears the music but none fathom some essential hidden aspect of his cries.
Notice I've been calling the reed flute a he. :P
Then he goes on to draw a line between sensing and seeing:
"My secrets are not alien from my plaintive notes,
Yet they are not manifest to the sensual eye and ear.
Body is not veiled from soul, neither soul from body,
Yet no man hath ever seen a soul."
If not manifest to sensual eye and ear, yet body is not veiled from soul...and the reed flute knows the secrets of its own heart which is how it knows others don't know. Then there is a way for these secrets to be manifest unto us, it just isn't with the senses. We have all here, most likely, had none sensory, and alter perceptual experiences. The question here is what does the reed flute experience in its heart. The reed flute is symbol for something. Eris has her view, which is cool, but I'm staying open for now. The reed flute has a heart, a core, a center in which lie secrets.
I believe it is telling us we can fathom these secrets by listening to it's cries, to it's music, to the expression of it's desire to go home, but we have to change the way in which we listen.
I know there is a way to listen that goes beyond sensing with the ears, but I don't know how to explain. I'm going to do some meditations on different sounds, see if I can push a little beyond the surface sounds to the core.
I'm going to try listening to a lot of different sounds. With each I'll try to focus in on different aspects of the sound. Then I will try to somehow merge with the sound.
I'm going to make the next week a sound week. For this week even in my recapitulations I'll seek out the memory of sounds, try to hear them anew.
With dreams and in dreaming I'll try to focus on the sounds.
It is the fire of love that inspires the flute. One question for now...a recurring question for me: What is love?
I remember Kris saying something about us being put here to create more love, something to ponder.
I like the passion in Rumi's work, there is something invigorating about reading his work. What do you all think?
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what ellen said about the flute is very good. i play the flute, and other wind instruments. the flute has a special sound - a purity of sound.
i have returned to the bamboo flute after years at the silver flute - the silver flute has a rich smooth full tone, but the bamboo flute has a special quality which in the end I prefer - an organic tone. I also have not heard a reed flute, at least not that i can recall. i suspect it has a thinner sound, with a higher pitch.
Rumi belongs to the southern sufi - almost completely Bhakti. Bhakti works on the absorption learning technique - it is slim of method, and big on absorbing knowledge directly through intense and long devotion. It raises the emotional connection we have with our source, and speaks thus directly to our soul.
yes, as said, this speaks to the inner longing of our soul for the other, the completeness. While Julie was at home on Saturday, we were in the garden, drinking our chai masala tea in the morning sun, and she was reading a book about a chef's travels in India. She became overwhelmed with emotional longing to return to India, despite all its pain and frustrations. She said it was like being in love - that something out there called her to some kind of fulfillment - that she can't bear to live without it!
Rumi is speaking his unbearable love for his Beloved, which in the end is God.
A curious point on this. There are two main paths, Bhakti and Jnana. Jnana seeks complete absorption into the infinite, but Bhakti doesn't. Bhakti seeks to remain outside absorption, as it wants to forever adore and worship it's Beloved. You can't do that if you merge with it - it is only by remaining separate that one whole being can forever have an object of worship. This is a very religious philosophical point that has been continuously referred to by thousands of years of Bhakti saints in India. It has some similarities to buddhisatva - remaining outside to serve.
However they are only curious asides - to get Rumi's knowledge, we put to one side our intellectual mind, and allow ourselves to feel as he feels - only thus can we share in his vision.
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Check this link...open the play list...track 6
Tales of the Ney...it's 12 mins long....it's a
good site to get familiar with a little history
of Rumi...
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/rumi/index.shtml#musicalscore
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Thank you Tiotit
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"The essence of Being/Truth/God is devoid of every form and quality, and hence unmanifested, yet it is inseparable from every form and phenomenon either material or spiritual. It is often understood to imply that every phenomenon is an aspect of Truth and at the same time attribution of existence to it is false. This apparent paradox of the relationship of creator and created is the basis of Sufi metaphysics. The chief aim of all Sufis then is to let go of all notions of duality, including a conception of an individual self, and to realize the Divine unity.
Sufis generally teach in personal groups, as the counsel of the master is considered necessary for the growth of the pupil. They make extensive use of parable, allegory, and metaphor, and it is held by Sufis that meaning can only be reached through a process of seeking the truth, and knowledge of oneself. Although philosophies vary among different Sufi orders, Sufism as a whole is primarily concerned with direct personal experience"
A significant part of Oriental literature comes from the Sufis, who created books of poetry containing the teachings of the Sufis. Some of the more notable examples of this poetry are the Walled Garden of Truth, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Conference of the Birds and the Masnavi.
Schools were developed, concerning themselves with topics of mystical experience, education of the heart to purify it of baser instincts, the love of God, and approaching God through progressive stages (maqaam) and states (haal).
The schools were championed by reformers who felt their core values and manners were threatened, as the material prosperity of society seemed to them to be eroding the spiritual life.Uwais al-Qarni, Harrm Bin Hian, Hasan Ul-Basri and Sayid Ibn Ul Mussib are regarded as the first mystics among the "Taabi'een" in Islam. Rabia was a female Sufi and known for her love and passion for God. Junayd was among the first theorists of Sufism; he concerned himself with ‘fanaa’ and ‘baqaa’, the state of annihilating the self in the presence of the divine, accompanied by clarity concerning worldly phenomena derived from the altitude of that perspective.
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Important Sufis of the modern era include Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Prof. Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, Muzaffer Ozak, Javad Nurbakhsh, Shaykh Al Islam Mohamed Madani Ashrafi-al-Jilani and Murshid Samuel L. Lewis. These individuals have in some measure been responsible for the continued introduction and spread of the Sufi path in the modern West.
The Six Subtleties
Realities of The Heart:[6] Drawing from Qur'anic verses, virtually all Sufis distinguish Lataif-e-Sitta (The Six Subtleties), Nafs, Qalb, Ruh, Sirr, Khafi & Akhfa. These lataif (singular : latifa) designate various psychospiritual "organs", or faculties of sensory perception.
Sufic development involves the awakening of these spiritual centers of perception that lie dormant in an individual. Each center is associated with a particular color and general area of the body, oftentimes with a particular prophet, and varies from order to order. The help of a guide is considered necessary to help activate these centers. After undergoing this process, the dervish is said to reach a certain type of "completion."
The person gets acquainted with the lataif one by one by Muraqaba (Sufi meditation), Dhikr (Remembrance of God) and purification of one's psyche of negative thoughts, emotions, and actions. Loving God and one's fellow, irrespective of his or her race, religion or nationality, and without consideration for any possible reward, is the key to ascension according to Sufis.
These six "organs" or faculties: Nafs, Qalb, Ruh, Sirr, Khafi & Akhfa, and the purificative activities applied to them, contain the basic orthodox Sufi philosophy. The purification of the elementary passionate nature (Tazkiya-I-Nafs), followed by cleansing of the spiritual heart so that it may acquire a mirror-like purity of reflection (Tazkiya-I-Qalb) and become the receptacle of God's love (Ishq) and illumination of the spirit (Tajjali-I-Ruh). This process is fortified by emptying of egoic drives (Taqliyya-I-Sirr) and remembrance of God's attributes (Dhikr), and completion of journey by purification of the last two faculties, Khafi and Akhfa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muraqaba#Stages_of_Muraqaba
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You said a lot of great stuff! No way to cover it all now but I'll contribute something.
The reed flute was used for a couple things. One, music, but also in religious rituals. Its across the board, pretty much, the flute is us, hollowed out (soul free of ego or desires); However, tore from the osier bed, is 'us' being tore from our original condition. We're separated from home.
Now, why, what is the purpose then? The estatic mystic is giving this allegory to express that - its to make music by golly. Its to express love. And it can only be truly know, with first, separation, which will lead to an inevitable union.
Like that goof crowley once said we're divided for loves sake, for the chance of union. He did not invent that concept tho.
I remember those crowlian days of study. I never went really deep into his world but he did say some interesting stuff. Most of which was taken from somewhere else. Like the statement you make above. We are divided for loves sake, for the chance of union.
I never really understood it prob because I don't know love well enough. If we are divided for love so as to become united again, then the purpose is to experience separation, love, and union. If we were just in union all the time and never knew the pain of separation would we know love? If we would would we know it as well as we do when we also know separation? Is it really necessary to know separation at all so as to be able to contrast it with union? If it is necessary then that explains why we spend so much time in forgetfulness, so we can forget union, forget our beloved, and thus more fully be able to understand what it is to be completely separate. In other words if we remembered our home, if we remembered what union was like, then we would in our minds still have some degree of connection of sorts, but if we forget almost entirely then when we do remember there is this big striking difference.
sigh, there must be so much to this that I can't begin to know at this time....thinking about it makes me want to know, really want to know.
So its kinda sad, really, its ripped from its home (soul) but first must be hollowed out, the flute, which is painful, for even the sound to be heard. How can spirit 'hear us' unless we first hollow out our own soul?
Those also whove experienced the dark night of the soul.
and this is a dilemma, for while some may try to empathize, unless they've been hollowed out as well, can they really understand, and even those that can empathize, cannot give this soul relief. Only one thing can.
Yes, there is always a divide between those who know from experience and those who only know the idea.
Another divide between those who know the world through their head and those who know it through their heart.
Its all inner. There isnt really a veil, its all one, already. But because of duality, we still 'feel' torn, and we're still torn away from something.
That goes more into what crowley said. The wine represents immortality, nectar of the gods. But only love can give one immortality. Its the fuel, the method and way, to achieve union again. However, the estatic mystic, must feel the pains of that separation and loss, first. Like the flute has to be hollowed out tho, first to be able to play music, and emptied. bruce lee called it the 'silent flute,' which really, was something to represent ultimate emptiness. But there's more of a tranquility, and peace, with his own expression of the flute, than this one. It doesnt play music, his, because there is no suffering anymore - union, has already taken place. The longing has already been heard, fire reached where it needed to reach. But music continues for this one, to be heard, because is still, trying to be heard, and the more music plays, there is no peace, no union, til then. However, still, part of the purpose in coming to existence, is to make music, and that can only be done through love.
Yes, here is where that question of the two bhakti schools comes into play. One says full union and the other says stay separate so as to continue to experience love. It is a hard question, is like; to be or not to be.
Union is like death, no longer is there a "me". A very difficult question.
I'm going to do some more research on the world of bhakti in the different traditions, love, and Sufism. I don't really feel like a bhakti man right now, but there is something in all this devotional stuff that I want for my path right now.
I'm trying to read Rumi with out my intellectual mind. More later....
Hope you guys haven't lost interest. ;)
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I thought it would be interesting to C&P this ... this is from a list to which I subscribe, called "Sunlight".
Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was born on September 30, 1207
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In memory of the birth of Maulaana Jalalludin Balkhi, known as Rumi, Sunlight offers the first verses from his Mathnawi, the story of The Song of the Reed, in an interpretive version by Jonathan Star, in translation by Dr. Franklin Lewis, and in translation by Dr. Ibrahim Gamard.....
(I added a Coleman Barks translation at the end.)
The Song of the Reed
Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:
"Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep.
I seek out those whose hearts are torn by separation
For only they understand the pain of this longing.
Whoever is taken away from his homeland
Yearns for the day he will return.
In every gathering, among those who are happy or sad,
I cry with the same lament.
Everyone hears according to his own understanding,
None has searched for the secrets within me.
My secret is found in my lament
But an eye or ear without light cannot know it . . ."
The sound of the reed comes from fire, not wind
What use is one's life without this fire?
It is the fire of love that brings music to the reed.
It is the ferment of love that gives taste to the wine.
The song of the reed soothes the pain of lost love.
Its melody sweeps the veils from the heart.
Can there be a poison so bitter or a sugar so sweet
As the song of the reed?
To hear the song of the reed
everything you have ever known must be left behind.
-- Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Listen
as this reed
pipes its plaint
unfolds its tale
of separations:
Cut from my reedy bed
my crying
ever since
makes men and women
weep
I like to keep my breast
carved with loss
to convey
the pain of longing ---
Once severed
from the root
thirst for union
with the source
endures
I raise my plaint
in any kind of crowd
in front of both
the blessed and the bad
For what they think they hear me say, they love me --
None gaze in me my secrets to discern
My secret is not separate from my cry
But ears and eyes lack light to see it.
Not soul from flesh
nor flesh from soul are veiled
yet none is granted leave to see the soul.
Fire, not breath, makes music through that pipe --
Let all who lack that fire be blown away.
It is love's fire that inspires the reed
It's love's ferment that bubbles in the wine
The reed, soother to all sundered lovers --
its piercing modes reveal our hidden pain:
(What's like the reed, both poison and physic,
Soothing as it pines and yearns away?)
The reed tells the tale of a blood-stained quest
singing legends of love's mad obsessions
Only the swooning know such awareness
only the ear can comprehend the tongue
In our sadness time slides listlessly by
the days searing inside us as they pass.
But so what if the days may slip away?
so long as you, Uniquely Pure, abide.
Within this sea drown all who drink but fish
If lived by bread alone, the day seems long
No raw soul ever kens the cooked one's state
So let talk of it be brief; go in piece.
Break off your chains
My son, be free!
How long enslaved
by silver, gold?
Pour the ocean
in a pitcher,
can it hold more
than one day's store?
The jug, like a greedy eye,
never gets its fill
only the contented oyster holds the pearl
The one run ragged by love and haggard
gets purged of all his faults and greeds
Welcome, Love!
sweet salutary suffering
and healer of our maladies!
cure of our pride
of our conceits,
our Plato,
Our Galen!
By Love
our earthly flesh
borne to heaven
our mountains
made supple
moved to dance
Love moved Mount Sinai, my love,
and it made Moses swoon. [K7:143]
Let me touch those harmonious lips
and I, reed-like, will tell what may be told
A man may know a myriad of songs
but cut from those who know his tongue, he's dumb.
Once the rose wilts and the garden fades
the nightingale will no more sing his tune.
The Beloved is everything -- the lover, a veil
The Beloved's alive -- the lover carrion.
Unsuccored by love, the poor lover is
a plucked bird
Without the Beloved's
surrounding illumination
how perceive what's ahead
and what's gone by?
Love commands these words appear
if no mirror reflects them
in whom lies the fault?
The dross obscures your face
and makes your mirror
unable to reflect
-- Mathnawi I: 1 - 34
Translation by Professor Franklin D. Lewis
"Rumi -- Past and Present, East and West"
Oneworld, Oxford, 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
The Song of the Reed
Mathnawi I: 1-18
Listen* to the reed (flute),* how it is complaining! * It is telling about separations, *
(Saying), "Ever since I was severed from the reed field,* men and women have lamented in (the presence of) my shrill cries.*
"(But) I want a heart (which is) torn, torn from separation, so that I may explain* the pain of yearning."*
"Anyone one who has remained far from his roots,* seeks a return (to the) time of his union.*
"I lamented in every gathering; I associated with those in bad or happy circumstances.
"(But) everyone became my friend from his (own) opinion; he did not seek my secrets* from within me.
"My secret is not far from my lament, but eyes and ears do not have the light* (to sense it).
"The body is not hidden from the soul, nor the soul from the body; but seeing the soul is not permitted."*
The reed's cry is fire* -- it's not wind! Whoever doesn't have this fire, may he be nothing!*
It is the fire of Love that fell into the reeds. (And) it is the ferment of Love that fell into the wine.*
The reed (is) the companion of anyone who was severed from a friend; its melodies tore our veils.*
Who has seen a poison and a remedy like the reed? Who has seen a harmonious companion and a yearning friend like the reed?
The reed is telling the story of the path full of blood;* it is telling stories of Majnoon's (crazed) love.*
There is no confidant (of) this understanding* except the senseless!
* There is no purchaser of that tongue* except the ear [of the mystic.]
In our longing,* the days became (like) evenings;* the days became fellow-travellers with burning fevers.
If the days have passed, tell (them to) go, (and) don't worry.
(But) You remain!* -- O You, whom no one resembles in Purity!
Everyone becomes satiated by water,* except the fish. (And) everyone who is without daily food [finds that] his days become long.*
None (who is) "raw" can understand the state of the "ripe."*
Therefore, (this) speech must be shortened. So farewell!*
-- From "The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî" [Rhymed
Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning] of
Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard
(with grateful acknowledgement of R.A. Nicholson's
1926 translation)
(c) Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, and
transliteration)
*Listen: states of spiritual ecstasy were induced in sufi gatherings by listening to mystical poetry and music. During such a "mystical concert" [samâ`-- literally, "audition" or "hearing" session] some dervishes would enter a spiritual state of consciousness and spontaneously begin to move. Sometimes they would stand up and dance or whirl. They would listen to the poetry or music as if they were hearing the voice of God, the Beloved. Such gatherings were controversial, were criticized by orthodox Muslim leaders, and were practiced by very few sufi orders-- usually with restrictions and high standards for participants.
*the reed [nay]: a flute made by cutting a length of a naturally hollow reed cane and adding finger holes. "The nay or reed-flute as the poet's favourite musical instrument and has always been associated with the religious services of the Mawlawí ["Whirling Dervish"] Order, in which music and dancing are prominent features." (Nicholson, Commentary). The reed flute symbolizes the soul which is emptied of ego-centered desires and preoccupations and is filled with a spiritual passion to return to its original nearness to God. Rumi said, "The world (is) like a reed pipe [sornây], and He blows into every hole of it; every wail it has (is) certainly from those two lips like sugar. See how He blows into every (piece of) clay (and) into every heart; He gives a need and He gives a love which raises up a lament about misfortune." (Ghazal 532, lines 5664-5665) Rumi
also said, "We have all been part of Adam (and ) we have heard those
melodies in Paradise. Although (bodily) water and clay have cast skepticism upon us, something of those (melodies) comes (back) to our memory.... Therefore, the mystical concert has become the food of the lovers (of God) for in it is the image of (heavenly) reunion."
(Mathnawî IV: 736-737, 742)
*separations: "The point is that while self-conscious lovers complain of separation from the beloved one, and reproach her for her cruelty, the mystic's complaint (shikáyat) is really no more than the tale (hikákat) of his infinite longing for God-- a tale which God inspires him to tell." (Nicholson, Commentary). Rumi said: "I'm complaining [shikâyat mê-kon-am] about the Soul of the soul; but I am not a complainer [shâkê] -- I'm relating words [rawâyat mê-kon-am]. (My) heart keeps saying, 'I'm afflicted by Him!' And I have been laughing at (its) feeble pretense." (Mathnawî I:1781-82). "Be empty of stomach and cry out, in neediness (neyâz), like the reed flute! Be empty of stomach and tell secrets like the reed pen!" (Divan: Ghazal 1739, line 18239). "Lovers (are) lamenting like the reed flute [nây], and Love is like the Flutist. So, what things will this Love breathe into the reed pipe [sôr-nây] of the body?! The reed pipe is visible, but the pipe-player is hidden. In short, my reed pipe became drunk from the wine of His lips. Sometimes He caresses the reed pipe, sometimes he bites it. (Such) a sigh, because of this sweet-songed reed-breaking Flutist!" (Divan: Ghazal 1936, lines 20374-20376)
Nicholson later changed his translation, based on the earliest manuscripts of the Mathnawi, to "Listen to this reed how it complains: it is telling a tale of separations" (from, "Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations. " This is what the earliest known manuscript has. (This is the "Konya Manuscript," completed five years after Rumi died, and written by Muhammad ibn Abdullâh Qûnyawî, a disciple of Rumi's son, Sultân Walad, under his supervision together with Husâmuddîn Chelabî -- who was present with Rumi during the dictation of every verse of the Mathnawi.) All manuscripts and editions after the 13th century adopted a changed (and "improved") version of this line: "Listen from the nay, how it tells a story... [be-sh'naw az nay chûn Hikâyat mê-kon-ad / az jodâ'îy-hâ shikâyat mê-kon-ad].
*the reed field [nay-estân]: lit., "place of reeds." A symbol for the original homeland of the soul, when it existed harmoniously in the presence of God. "... referring to the descent of the soul from the sphere of Pure Being and Absolute Unity, to which it belongs and would fain return." (Nicholson, Commentary)
*in (the presence of) my shrill cries: Nicholson later changed his translation, based on the earliest manuscript, to: "man and woman have moaned in (unison) with my lament" [dar nafîr-am] (from, "my lament hath caused [az nafîr-am] man and woman to moan").
*explain: a pun on the two meanings of the same word [sharH], "explanation" and "torn."
*the pain of yearning: The longing of love is painful, because of separation-- yet also sweet. This is because the longing brings remembrance of the beloved's beauty. Longing for nearness to a human beloved, such as a spiritual master, is a means for the spiritual disciple to increase his longing for nearness to God, the only Beloved. Rumi said: "If thought of (longing) sorrow is highway-robbing (your) joy, (yet) it is working out a means to provide joy.... It is scattering the yellow leaves from the branch of the heart so that continual green leaves may grow.... Whatever (longing) sorrow sheds or takes from the heart, truly it will bring
better in exchange." (Mathnawi V:3678, 3680, 3683)
*roots: also means foundation, source, origin.
*union: also means being joined.
*my secrets: "The Perfect Man (prophet or saint) is a stranger in the world, unable to communicate his sorrows or share his mystic knowledge except with one of his own kind; he converses with all sorts of people, worldly and spiritual alike, but cannot win from them the heartfelt sympathy and real understanding which he craves. This is the obvious sense of the passage, and adequate so far as it goes, but behind it lies a far-reaching doctrine concerning the spiritual "Descent of Man.' .... The whole series of planes forms the so-called 'Circle of Existence', which begins in God and ends in God and is traversed by the soul in its downward journey through the Intelligences, the Spheres, and the Elements and then upward again, stage by stage-- mineral, vegetable, animal, and man-- till as Perfect man it completes its evolution and is re-united with the Divine Soul..." (Nicholson, Commentary)
*the light: refers to the ancient Greek theory of Galen, that vision is caused by an "inner light" within the eye. Similarly, the faculty of hearing was believed to be caused by an "inner air" within the ear.
*not permitted: "As the vital spirit, though united with the body, is invisible, so the inmost ground of words issuing from an inspired saint cannot be perceived by the physical senses." (Nicholson, Commentary) The reed flute's speech ends here, and Rumi's commentary begins next.
*The reed's cry is fire: Nicholson, in his Commentary, quotes Rumi's verse (Divan, Ghazal 2994, line 31831): "The flute is all afire and the world is wrapped in smoke; / For fiery is the call of Love that issues from the flute."
*may he be nothing [nêst bâd]: a pun on another meaning of these words -- "it's not wind." It means, "May he experience absence of self so that he may burn with yearning love for the presence of the Beloved." Nicholson interpreted that this means, "The Mathnawí is not mere words; its inspiration comes from God, whose essence is Love. May those yet untouched by the Divine flame be naughted, i.e. die to self!" He said that the words here [nêst bâd] "should not be taken as an imprecation [== a cursing]; the poet, I think, prays that by Divine grace his hearers may be enraptured and lose themselves in God." (Commentary)
*into the wine: "i.e. Love kindles rapture in the heart and makes it like a cup of foaming wine." (Nicholson, Commentary)
*tore our veils [parda-hâ]: a pun on the two meanings of this word, "veils" and "melodies." The meaning of this line is that the sounds of
pure yearning from the reed flute tore through the veils covering up the inward spiritual yearning of listening mystics -- the sufis, who have had the capacity to understand the meaning of the reed flute's melodious wails. This is a reference to the "mystical concert" [samâ`] of the Mevlevi ("Whirling") dervishes in which the reed flute is prominent.
*the path full of blood: "the thorny path of Love, strewn with (Díwán, SP, XLIV, 6) 'with thousands slain of desire who manfully yielded up their lives'; for Love 'consumes everything else but the Beloved' (Math. V 588)." (Nicholson, Commentary)
*Majnoon's crazed love: "Majnún: the mad lover of Laylà: in Súfí literature, a type of mystical self-abandonment. " (Nicholson, Commentary). Majnoon (lit., "jinn-possessed" ) was a legendary Arab lover whose love for the beautiful Laylà [lit., "of the night"] made him crazy. Majnoon's love for Layla also symbolizes the perception of spiritual realities seen only by mystics, as in Rumi's lines: "The Caliph said to Layla, Are you the one by whom Majnoon became disturbed and led astray? You are not more (beautiful) than other fair ones. She said, Be silent, since you are not Majnoon!" (Mathnawi I: 407-08; see also V:1999-2019, 3286-99) This
"craziness" of being an ecstatic mystic lover of God is quite different from the craziness of being psychotic or mentally ill.
*this understanding: "the spiritual or universal reason (`aql-i ma`ád) and transcendental consciousness of those who have escaped from the bondage of the carnal or discursive reason (`aql-i ma`ásh)." (Nicholson, Commentary)
*the senseless [bê-hôsh]: a play on "understanding" (hôsh), and also means devoid of understanding lacking reason, swooned and insensible. The meaning is that no one can understand mystical understanding except one who is able to transcend the intellect.
*that tongue: an idiom for language. The meaning is that only a mystic who is capable of passing beyond the senses and ordinary mind has an "ear" which can understand the "tongue" or language of the heart. Nicholson explained: "i.e. every one desires to hear what is suitable to his understanding; hence the mysteries of Divine Love cannot be communicated to the vulgar" [== ordinary people]. (Commentary)
*longing [gham]: lit., "grief." An idiom here, meaning the suffering of longing love.
*evenings [bê-gâh]: An idiom meaning "evening." Means that the days became quickly used-up. Nicholson (1926) erred in translating this idiom too literally as "untimely."
*but You remain: 26. God is addressed directly as "Thou," or perhaps indirectly as "Love." "The meaning is: 'What matter though our lives pass away in the tribulation of love, so long as the Beloved remains?'" (Nicholson, Commentary)
*water (âbash): Nicholson later corrected his translation to, "except the fish, every one becomes sated with water" (from, "Whoever is not a fish becomes sated with His water"). As Nicholson pointed out, the word for "water" here [âbash] is a noun (as in III: 1960--Commentary). It therefore does not mean "his water" or "water for him" [âb-ash]. Nicholson also explained: "The infinite Divine grace is to the gnostic [== mystic knower] what water is to the fish, but his thirst can never be quenched." (Commentary)
*become long: Nicholson mentions this as "alluding to the proverb, harkih bí-sír-ast rúz-ash dír-ast" [The days are long for whoever is without satisfaction] (Commentary)
*the state of the ripe [pokhta]: refers to the spiritual state of the spiritually mature, experienced, refined. This contrasts to the state
of the raw [khâm]-- the unripe, immature, inexperienced, uncooked, the one who bears no fruit. Rumi has been quoted as saying, "The result of my life is no more than three words: I was raw [khâm], I became cooked [pokhta], I was burnt [sokht]." However, this is not supported by the earliest manuscripts (collected by Faruzanfar), only one of which contains the following: "The result for me is no more than these three words: I am burnt, I am burnt, I am burnt (or: I am inflamed, burned, and consumed-- Divan, Ghazal 1768, line 18521).
In Rumi's famous story of the man who knocked on the door of a friend, the visitor was asked who he was and he answered, "Me." He was told to go, for he was too "raw" [khâm]. The man was then "cooked" by the fire of separation and returned a year later. Asked who he was, he answered, "Only you are at the door, O beloved." His spiritual friend then said, "Now, since you are me, O me, come in. There isn't any room for two me's in the house!" (Mathnawi I:3056-63)
*farewell: Here, Rumi's famous first eighteen verses end. Rumi's close disciple, Husamuddin Chelebi had asked him one night: "'The collections of odes [ghazalîyât] have become plentiful... .(But) if there could be a book with the quality of (the sufi poet Sana'i's) 'Book of the Divine,' yet in the (mathnawi) meter of (the sufi poet Attar's) 'Speech of the Birds,' so that it might be memorized among the knowers and be the intimate companion of the souls of the lovers ... so that they would occupy themselves with
nothing else...' At that moment, from the top of his blessed turban, he [Rumi] put into Chelebi Husamuddin's hand a portion (of verses), which was the Explainer of the secrets of Universals and particulars. And in there were the eighteen verses of the beginning of the Mathnawi: 'Listen to this reed, how it tells a tale...." (Aflaki, pp. 739-741) After that, Husamuddin was present with Rumi for every verse he composed of the Mathnawi during the next twelve years until Rumi's death. The number eighteen has been considered sacred in the Mevlevi tradition ever since.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Song of the Reed
Listen to the story told by the reed,
of being separated:
“Since I was cut from the reedbed,
I have made this crying sound.
Anyone pulled from a source
longs to go back.
At any gathering I am there,
mingling in the laughing and grieving,
A friend to each, but few
will hear the secrets hidden
within the notes. No ear for that,
body flowing out of spirit,
Spirit from body: no concealing
that mixing. But it’s not given us
to see the soul. The reed flute is
fire, not wind. Be that empty.”
Hear the love fire tangled
in the reed notes, as bewilderment
melts into wine. The reed is a friend
to all who want the fabric torn
and drawn away. The reed is hurt
and salve combining. Intimacy
and longing for intimacy, one
song. A disastrous surrender
and a fine love, together. The one
who secretly hears this is senseless.
A tongue has one customer, the ear.
A sugarcane flute has such effect
because it was unable to make sugar
in the reedbed. The sound it makes
is for everyone. Days full of wanting,
let them go by without worrying
That they do. Stay where you are
inside such a pure, hollow note.
Every thirst gets satisfied except
that of these fish, the mystics,
who swim a vast ocean of grace
and still somehow long for it!
No one lives in that without
being nourished every day.
But if someone doesn’t want to hear
the song of the reed flute,
it’s best to cut conversation
short, say good-bye, and leave.
--Version by Coleman Barks. From "Say I Am You: Rumi"
(Athens, Georgia: Maypop Books, 1994, pp. 48-49); re-printed in
"The Essential Rumi," pp. 17-19