“Radical love is love infinite. That’s why it’s a Divine God.”
Rumi THE general theme of Rumi’s thought is essentially the concept of Tauheed – union with God (the primal root) from which man has been cut off.The cornerstone of Rumi’s philosophy is the love of God and the purity of the soul to achieve that union. Rumi insists that there is a path to God and that path is extreme love, a passionate burning love that will burn inside you, everything other than God. He is a Universal Trans-historical Prophet of love, who writes of love, and achieves perfection only in love. Love is the basis and essence of life and the reason for the creation of Universe.
God is the owner of the attributes of will and power. The belief in divine destiny, which is one of the articles of faith, is also in this nature. God gave man, religion and knowledge, books and messengers to show him the right path. Man is therefore responsible for his actions and will be rewarded or given punishment.The materialistic bonds prevent man from seeing the reason of his creation. In order to see eternity with the help of divine love, man should free himself from materialistic things, which take his soul from the highest to the lowest level. These materialistic bonds bind you to the earth and take you away from your rightful destiny, which is in heaven.
Rumi says in ‘Journey to the Lord of Beauty, “You are the comfort of my soul in the season of sorrow. You are the wealth of my spirit in the heartbreak of the loss. The unimaginable, the unknowable, That is what you give my soul when it moves in your direction. By your grace, my eyes have looked upon eternity. Oh Beloved how could this crumbling empire ever take me from you. The voice that sings your name is sweeter than midnight sleep. If I were offered a kingdom, And the world’s riches were placed at my feet. I would bow with my face low and say, “This does not compare with His love.” Through your grace, I have found a treasure within myself. I have become one with You. Now my heart sings, “I am the soul of the world.” From my first breath I have longed for You, This longing has become my life. This longing has seen me grow old. But one mention of the beloved, And all my youth comes back to me.”
‘Maulana tells us that we are cut off, alone and separated from God, because of inherent contradictions of what we profess and what we practice in our actions. In Quran right from the beginning, the first Surah is Surah Fatah, which is our petition or a supplication to God. Then comes Surah Baqarh. Thousand people make a commitment to read Quran every year, but when they go to Surah Baqarh, they quit, because Surah Baqarh tells us, “Oh you hypocrites,oh,you people with hardened hearts, you say one thing and do another. In your heart there is a disease and may God increase you in your disease.” Once you read this, you close the book and say, “I will come back and talk to you later.” What Surah Baqarah does, it shows people the mirror of what they actually are, people with sickened hearts, the hypocrites, who refuse to see the reality in concrete terms.’
In Discourse 6 Rumi says, “All evil qualities—oppression, hatred, envy, greed, mercilessness, pride—when they are within yourself, they bring no pain. When you see them in others, you shy away and feel the pain. We feel no disgust at our own scab and abscess. We will dip our infected hand into our food and lick our fingers without turning in the least bit squeamish, but if we see a tiny abscess or half a scratch on another’s hand, we shy away from that person’s food and have no stomach for it whatsoever. Evil qualities are just like scabs and abscesses; when they are within us they cause no pain, but when we see them even to a small degree in others, then we feel pain and disgust.”
Rumi quotes the Prophet of Islam saying. “The night is long; do not shorten it with your sleep. The day is bright; do not darken it with your sins.” You are born with potential, you are born with goodness and trust, with ideals, you are born with wings, you are not meant for crawling, so do not. Learn to use your wings and fly.Be a lamp,a lifeboat or a ladder, walk out of the house like a shepherd. Do u know what you are; you are a manuscript of a divine letter.You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. Be like atree and let the dead leaves fall, be like a sun for grace and mercy, be like the night to cover others faults, be like running water for generosity, be like earth for modesty.You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” In Discourse 17 Rumi says, “Human being is a compound of spiritual conscience and sensuality. We are half angel, half beast, half snake, half fish. The fish draws us towards water, the snake towards the earth. We are forever in battle. If our spiritual conscience overcomes our sensuality, we are higher than the angels. If our sensuality overcomes our spiritual conscience, we are lower than the beasts.” “The angel is saved through knowledge, The animal—through ignorance. Between the two struggle the people of this world.”—To be continued.
—The writer is author of various books based in Rawalpindi.
