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A review by sidharthvardhan
The Masnavi: Book One by Rumi
5.0
"A man knocked on his lover's door one day,
'Who is it?' he heard his beloved say.
He said, 'Its me.'She answered, 'Leave at once
There isn't room for such raw arrogance.'
Raw meat's cooked just by separation's flame-
What can cure hypocrisy's deep shame.
He wondered off in pain as his heart burnt,
In exile from the one he yearned,
Matured before then going back once more
And walking to and fro outside her door.
He tapped the door now suffering nerves inside,
Not to let slip a wrong word how he tried!
His sweetheart now responded by asking who
Was at the door -- 'None, love, but you'
'Now you are I, please enter in this place
Because for two in here there isn't space'
Also called 'Quran in Persian', Masnavi is one of best Sufi works. It goes into six volumes and is full of Sufi lessons. What I found so beautiful in Sufism is that desire to destruct oneself into a higher conception; it is kind of romantic - a desire found elsewhere only among lovers. That is probably why Sufi poets like quoting examples from romantic stories. Rumi also took example of Laila-Majnu in this volume.
Basically, Rumi argues, it is just stupid to stay limited to loving only a part of god's creation when you could love God himself:
"An ant hurries along a threshing floor
with its wheat grain,
moving between huge sacks of wheat,
not knowing the abundance all around.
It thinks its one grain is all there is to love."
A Sufi poet is a person on mission of this self-destruction (also a guide for others to do so) - the songs he sing are in love for God, something similar to a Nightingale singing in love for roses which, by the way, a very common image with Sufi poets.
This nightingale dips its tongue in Quranic water before he sings. All poetry is to explain Quranic verses. Apart from Quranic stories, Rumi also takes examples from Indian, Greek and other folk stories and mend them to deliver his message. Often he would pause within a story to tell another one or to interpret it for you - never for once breaking the verse.
As good as this translation is, I can't help feeling too much of meaning must have been lost to keep the rhyme. The musical effect definitely lost at times and that is most important thing. The only way to enjoy them is letting yourself be drawn into this music; the way some people let themselves when listening to music on headphones and start singing and dancing madly (even with people around.) To me Sufi poets must be like that - just look at book cover.
"In your light I learn to love
In your beauty, how to make poems'
you dance inside my chest
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes the art."
'Who is it?' he heard his beloved say.
He said, 'Its me.'She answered, 'Leave at once
There isn't room for such raw arrogance.'
Raw meat's cooked just by separation's flame-
What can cure hypocrisy's deep shame.
He wondered off in pain as his heart burnt,
In exile from the one he yearned,
Matured before then going back once more
And walking to and fro outside her door.
He tapped the door now suffering nerves inside,
Not to let slip a wrong word how he tried!
His sweetheart now responded by asking who
Was at the door -- 'None, love, but you'
'Now you are I, please enter in this place
Because for two in here there isn't space'
Also called 'Quran in Persian', Masnavi is one of best Sufi works. It goes into six volumes and is full of Sufi lessons. What I found so beautiful in Sufism is that desire to destruct oneself into a higher conception; it is kind of romantic - a desire found elsewhere only among lovers. That is probably why Sufi poets like quoting examples from romantic stories. Rumi also took example of Laila-Majnu in this volume.
Basically, Rumi argues, it is just stupid to stay limited to loving only a part of god's creation when you could love God himself:
"An ant hurries along a threshing floor
with its wheat grain,
moving between huge sacks of wheat,
not knowing the abundance all around.
It thinks its one grain is all there is to love."
A Sufi poet is a person on mission of this self-destruction (also a guide for others to do so) - the songs he sing are in love for God, something similar to a Nightingale singing in love for roses which, by the way, a very common image with Sufi poets.
This nightingale dips its tongue in Quranic water before he sings. All poetry is to explain Quranic verses. Apart from Quranic stories, Rumi also takes examples from Indian, Greek and other folk stories and mend them to deliver his message. Often he would pause within a story to tell another one or to interpret it for you - never for once breaking the verse.
As good as this translation is, I can't help feeling too much of meaning must have been lost to keep the rhyme. The musical effect definitely lost at times and that is most important thing. The only way to enjoy them is letting yourself be drawn into this music; the way some people let themselves when listening to music on headphones and start singing and dancing madly (even with people around.) To me Sufi poets must be like that - just look at book cover.
"In your light I learn to love
In your beauty, how to make poems'
you dance inside my chest
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes the art."