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Footnotes:
1Umar:
A famous companion of the Prophet Muhammad, and his second successor,
or Caliph.
In Rumi's story, a gifted harper became so elderly
that his voice became worthless. He became impoverished and even
unable to buy bread. He went to the graveyard in Medina and played
his harp, singing out his grief to God and praying for money to
buy new strings for his harp. The Caliph Umar heard a heavenly voice
instructing him to bring some gold from the public treasury to the
man who was sleeping in the graveyard. Umar brought the money to
the man, who smashed his harp, repented of his attachment to music,
and began praying and weeping loudly.
2
Being
“existent,” to the station of being “drowned”:
means being aware of one's separate self, in contrast to being “non-existent”
of self-- which is a state of mystical consciousness beyond the
mind, called “passing away” or “non-existence” [fanâ] by the sufis.
Nicholson later changed his translation, on the
basis of the earliest manuscript of the Mathnawi, to “...weeping,
which is (self-) existence, to the stage of absorption (in God)”
(from, “... to the state of absorption (in God), which is non-existence
(of self)”).
3Sobriety:
“Hushyárí [= sobriety, being sensible] is
here opposed to mastí, ‘mystical intoxication and self-abandonment’.”
(Nicholson, Commentary) “It means, ‘This weeping and lamenting which
you are making is in some way a cause of (self-) existence and sobriety.’”
(Anqaravi, Commentary-- translated here from a Persian translation
of the famous 17th century Turkish commentary)
4Annihilated
[fânî]: the mystical experience of being ecstatically free from
the bonds of material existence and bodily and egoic identity. “The
one whose path is becoming annihilated with love of God, it is another
path.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
5Because
sobriety is another error [for the mystic]:
Nicholson translated, because sobriety is another sin. Nicholson
refers to I:517, which he translated, This uttering of praise (to
Him) is (really) theomission of praise on my part, for this (praise)
is a proof of (my) being, and being is a sin. And he explained the
latter as related to a verse quoted by the famous sufi Junayd (d.910),
which he translated: When I say, "What sin have I committed"?
she says in reply, "This uttering of praise ... no sin can
be compared". (Nicholson, Commentary)
6Past
and future are a veil (covering awareness) of God: Nicholson
translated, “past and future are to thee a curtain (separating thee)
from God.” And he explained: “In the higher planes of mystical experience
all relations, including those of time and space, are found to be
unreal.” (Commentary) “It means that bringing to mind the events
of the past is an indication of sobriety and the action of the intellect.”
(Anqaravi, Commentary)
7Full
of knots like the reed: Nicholson translated,
“full of knots (joints) like a reed.” Refers to the reed cane which
is not hollow (meaning here, “selfless”) until the joints are removed
from the inside. “I.e. ‘so long as you remain in the bonds of illusion,
you are cut off from Divine inspiration, just as a knotty unperforated
reed is incapable of receiving the breath of the flute-player and
making music.’” (Commentary)
8
Because of these two: “It
means, ‘Ignite the fire of unity and the flame of negation of annihilation
[lâ-yé fanâ] to the past and future so that they become erased.’”
(Anqaravi, Commentary)
9The
lips and outcry (of the flute player): refers to the shrill
and yearning tones produced by the reed-flute player's breath. Nicholson
translated, “the (flute-player's) lip and voice.” “It means, ‘Human
existence is like the reed. And the bonds of past and future and
the appearance of time and place in human existence are like knots
and veils.... he is with God in such a way that the breath of the
Spirit doesn't become his companion...” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
10You
are also with yourself: This line presents some difficulties.
While “you are being wrapped up [murtad-î] could also mean, “you
are rejected,” the commentators interpret it as meaning “wrapped
in (an ordinary garment called) a ridâ.”
The sufi master Junayd (d. 610) asked a man who had
returned from the Pilgrimage to Mecca, “When you put on the pilgrim's
garb at the proper place did you discard the attributes of humanity
as you cast off your ordinary clothes?” The man said, “No.” Junayd
replied, ‘Then you have not put on the pilgrim's garb. When you
stood on ‘Arafát [= the large plain outside Mecca where pilgrims
gather and stand for one day in prayer] did you stand one instant
in contemplation of God?” The man answered no to every question,
and Junayd told him that he had not yet performed the Pilgrimage
and he should return to Mecca with the right spiritual attitude.
(Hujwiri's “Kashf Al-Mahjub,” translated by Nicholson, p. 328)
Nicholson had a different interpretation, since he
did not think the passage related to the Pilgrimage to Mecca and
the Ka'ba, or Temple, therein. He later changed his translation
to, “When thou art touring (round thyself), thou art wrapped (absorbed)
in the tour: when thou hast come home, thou art still with thyself
(self-conscious)” (from, “When thou art (engaged) in going about:*
when thou hast come home, thou art still with thyself (self-conscious)”;
and he added in a footnote: *“I.e. ‘thou art absorbed in thy search,
not in God’”). “Most commentators explain tawf [=circling] as referring
to the circumambulation of the Ka'bah, i.e. ‘when you circumambulate
the Ka'bah of Unity, wearing the ridá [= ordinary garment] of egoism
(instead of the ihrám [= ritual garment worn during the rituals
performed at Mecca] of self-abandonment), you cannot attain to the
realisation of Unity’. In my opinion, however,
tawf here describes the self-centered attitude of the penitent whose
thoughts, instead of being fixed on God, are ever circling round
his own past sins...” (Nicholson, Commentary).
“When will you find the way to the Ka'ba of Unity
and how will you circumambulate the place of circling (Divine) Reality
if you are circling around yourself and you are wearing the (ordinary)
garments of existence?” (Anqaravi, Commentary).
11Your
repentance is worse than your sin: “because
self-consciousness is the greatest of all sins. Hence the elect
do not repent of sinful acts as such, but only of ghaflat, i.e.
forgetting God even for a moment. The true penitent is he who has
been made immaculate by Divine grace, so that to him the very thought
of sin is impossible; he is the lover in whom every attribute of
self has been purged away.” (Nicholson, Commentary) “Then,
with (your) making repentance [= asserting your own self-conscious
will], you are establishing yourself in partnership [sharîk]
with God.... And by this very cause, your repentance is worse than
your sin.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
12When
will you repent from this repentance: “i.e. ‘when wilt thou
turn entirely to God?’” (Nicholson, Commentary) “Because this kind
of repentance is a kind of sin to the verifiers of truth and those
closest (to God), since (involvement with) that which has passed
away is for them being in bondage.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
13A
low tone: means groaning and moaning.
14You
are kissing (shrill) cries: Nicholson translated,
“thou dost kiss (art in love with) weeping and wailing.” In this
verse there are word plays between “low tone” [zêr] and “shrill
cries” [zâr]; and between “direction (of focus)” [qiblah] and “kissing”
[qublah]. “These two states [= moaning and shrieking] are a barrier
to the contemplation of God. So pass beyond this place.” (Anqaravi,
Commentary)
15Umar:
literally, “Fârûq”-- a title given to Umar, which means “discriminating"between
truth and falsehood.
16A
mirror (revealing) secrets: “For his sake,
(Umar) revealed divine secrets. He revealed plainly the (various)
aspects of (Divine) mysteries for that old man.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
17Became
awake within: “The spirit of the old harpist
became awake within his interior and he obtained a (higher) spiritual
rank.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
18His
soul: “i.e. his animal soul.” (Nicholson,
Commentary)
19Another
soul: “i.e. the ‘human’ spirit (ján-i insaní) which God breathed
into Adam.” (Nicholson, Commentary) “It means, his animal spirit
departed and his godly spirit [rûH-é ilahî] became alive. With the
godly spirit he found eternal life.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
20He
went beyond the earth and the sky:“It means,
he forgot whatever is besides [mâ-siwâ] (God).” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
21Beyond
seeking and searching: “i.e. inapprehensible by the intellect.
This verse depicts the end of the mystic's quest, viz. faná [= annihilation
of self], as God's drawing him (jadhbah) to Himself, so that he
becomes majdhúb-i mutlaq” [= absolutely attracted (to God from all
else]. (Nicholson, Commentary)
22A
state and an expression beyond states and expressions:
Nicholson later changed his translation, based on the earliest manuscript
of the Mathnawi, to “Feelings and words beyond (all) feelings and
words” (from, “Words and feelings beyond...”). “It means, beyond
these commonly known states and words.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
23The
Lord of Majesty: “And the Face of thy Sustaining
Lord will abide (for ever): the Lord of Majesty and Honor” (Qur'an
55:27, 78)
24The
Universal (Intellect): a term borrowed
by Muslim philosophers from ancient Greek philosophy. It refers
to the first “specification” willed by the Creator, from which the
spirits of the prophets, saints, angels, and all of creation proceeded.
A person's “partial” intellect is a particularization of the Universal
Intellect, or Universal Reason. “I.e. Divine Wisdom requires that
the nature of Reality should be made known through Man, whose spirit
is an emanation of Universal Reason and perpetually receives from
that source the grace and knowledge whereby it ascends to union
with God.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
25In
(behind) the curtain: means, “he reached
the state of (mystical) drowning and absorption.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
26Like
flowing water: “It means, soul and spirit are going into the
human body like flowing water, moment by moment. If you offer your
entire soul in the way of God, that repeated newness-- and much
newer than what you have offered-- will reach you from the Invisible
World.” (Anqaravi, Commentary)
From “The Mathnawî-yé
Ma`nawî” (Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning)
of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for
R .A. Nicholson's British translation, 1926-1934) ©Ibrahim
Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration) (e-mail
address: igmrd@yahoo.com)
This selection first published 9/28/00 on "Sunlight"(groups.yahoo.com)
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