"Your task is not to seek for love"

[Ibrahim]

On December 2, 2015, Arshad wrote:

Dear sir/mam AoA,

I urgently require Persian text (preferably a calligraphic image or font) of the following two different couplets from Maulana Rumi.

I hope you may guide me in this.

Your task is not to seek for love 

but merely to Seek and find 

all the barriers within yourself,

that you have built against it. 

 (Rumi)

Love rests on no foundation

It is an endless ocean,

With no beginning or end. 

Imagine a suspended ocean

Riding on a cushion of ancient secrets.

All souls have drowned in it,

And now dwell there.

One drop of that ocean is hope,

And the rest is fear.

(Rumi)

---------------------------------- 

Dear Arshad,

Wa `alaykuma 's-salâm,

The first quote you sent is a fake Rumi quote that has spread widely on the Internet (about 70,000 instances, via a search including the name "Rumi"). It is from an American book called "A Course In Miracles," which consists of New Age pseudo-Christian messages "channeled" from the spirit world. See superscript no. 6 below:

https://www.miraclecenter.org/a-course-in-miracles/T-16.IV.php

The second quote is from an authentic Rumi poem, Quatrain 1334. It was translated from Persian by Shahram Shiva in his book, "Hush, Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi," p. 14. 2000. Here is a more accurate translation:

عشْق از بُنه بیْ بُنست و بحْریست عظیم           دریایِ مُعَلّق است و اسْرارِ قدیم

جانها همه غرْقه اند در بحْر ، مُقیم                  یك قطْره ازو اُمید و باقی همه بیم

 

Love is basically without a bottom;¹ it is a great ocean.

It is an ocean that is suspended, one among the ancient secrets.

All souls are drowned in that ocean, continuously;

A drop of it² is hope, and all the rest of it is fear.*³

No. 1481: F-1334.

1. is basically without a bottom [az bona bē-bon]: lit., ‘at base, without base’. A word-play.

2. a drop of it: This is a word play, since the ocean of Love is itself likened to a suspended drop.

*3. line four: In this quatrain, Love is likened to a drop that is vast and ‘bottomless’, but that is suspended 

delicately, like a drop of water that might drip and be shattered. The meanings of hope and fear constitute a major topic in Islamic theology. The concept that the ocean of Love is almost entirely fear relates to the teaching that those who love God the most fear Him the most. ‘God is the Protecting Friend [walīy] of those who are God-fearing’ (Qur’ān 45:19—see also Qur’ān 13:21; 21:498; 23:60; 24:37). This does not mean ‘fear’ in the usual sense, but a kind of fear that is intimately related to love. The Muslim believer and mystic fears to offend God in any way out of a devout reverence and loving devotion. Fear of God is stressed again and again in the Qur’ān as a great virtue that leads the believer to act in such a way that is pleasing to God. In Mawlānā’s sufi mysticism of love, God is often referred to as a loving, but stern, beloved whom the lover seeks to please. The Muslim mystic, in this respect, does not fear Hell, but fears separation from God the Beloved. Fear of displeasing the Beloved, in this sense, leads to a profound serenity and security (see also Qur’ān 48:3-4, 18; 89:27-30).

--TRANSLATED FROM PERSIAN BY IBRAHIM GAMARD AND RAVAN FARHADI, "THE QUATRAINS OF RUMI, 2008, P. 459

[Kathryn Santana]

EID MUBARAK

from umm bilal, qahira

may I ask if this is a good translation? is it really a rumi poem?

much gratitude for all your work, qahira

Bismillah – Rumi’s Poem for Eid Al-Adha

BISMILLAH!

It’s a habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold a grudge for years.

With such heaviness, how can you be modest?

With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now you’re equal portions clay
and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set.

He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.

You need more help than you know.
You’re trying to live your life in open scaffolding.

Say Bismillah, In the name God,
As the priest does with knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self
to find your real name.

– Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dar-al-Masnavi" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dar-al-masnavi+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to dar-al-masnavi@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dar-al-masnavi.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Ibrahim Gamard]

Dear Qahira,

As-salâmu `alaykum,

What you have asked about is not a translation but a version created by Barks, who does not know Persian ("The Essential Rumi," p. 70). The translation he reinterpreted was made from Persian by the British scholar, Arberry ("Mystical Poems of Rumi") from Rumi's authentic ghazal no. 2894 (see below). As you can see, Barks' recreation of the poem takes many liberties.

Ibrahim

-----------------------------

With such a gait, when will you reach the station? With such a habit, how will you gain the goal?

You are very heavy of soul and camel-hearted; how will you arrive among the nimble-spirited?

With such grossness how will you be modest? With such a joining [attachment for the world], how will you reach the joiner?

Since there is no opening (readiness) in your head, how will you achieve the solving of the difficult secret?

You are like water left in this clay; so how will you attain the pure from water and clay?

Disregard the sun and moon like Abraham, else how will you attain the perfect sun?

Since you are weak, go, flee to the grace of God, for without the Gracious how will you attain the excellence?

Without the tender care of that sea of loving kindness, how will you reach the shore of such a wave?

Without the Burâq of love and the labor of Gabriel how will you like Muhammad attain all the stages?

You take shelter in those who are without shelter; how will you attain the shelter of the welcoming king?

Before bismillâh sacrifice yourself utterly; else, when you lie dead, how will you attain the Name of God?

To post to this group, send email to dar-al-...@googlegroups.com.

Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dar-al-masnavi.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dar-al-Masnavi" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dar-al-masnavi+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to dar-al-masnavi@googlegroups.com.

Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/dar-al-masnavi.

[Kathryn Santana]

praying for peace

dear ibrahim, thank you so much for your answer. I really appreciate your time.

I am a member of 3 interfaith groups & rumi is often mentioned, so I like having some good information.

I attended a day of rumi by feridoon mojadedi  at san domino retreat last month. I heard him there last year. he is a very pleasant man & his recitation sounds good to me! I always wonder about the translation as rumi is so often quoted these days.

with gratitude, qahira

Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/dar-al-masnavi.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.