The Flute Sings

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Masnavi - first 12 lines

Session 1: The Masnavi: The Flute wails in LongingThe Masnavi (couplets) Maanavi (spiritual, inner) was almost fully the result of a gushing forth of Divine inspiration motivated by Love; coming from deep within Rumi's (Molana Jalaedin Mohammad Molavi) consciousness....

However, the first 12 lines were actually deliberately written by himself in response to a request to write a text book about the principles of mysticism that were yet applicable to practical life.

Here are the first four couplets for our discussion today.Heed the Reed, how it tells the tale,and complains of separationsThey cut me from the reedbed. Since then,men and women have wailed from my cryI need a heart separated [from its lover]only then can I recount the pain of Love (Enthusiasm for the Lover)Whosoever is kept of their sourceseeks, to return; a way of recourseCommentaryThe reed's sound has driven men and women to experience the same longign that the flute has since it was cut from the reed bed to become a flute.

This is reminiscent of humans being distant and separated from their/our origin and Source. Both the Dao De Jing and Bhagavad Gita speak about this eloquently: returning is the motion of the Dao.

Meaning it seeks recourse; to return to the source. In the Gita, Lord Krishna says that "He curves back on Himself and creates again and again." This curving back, returning, recourse to the Source is the goal and motivation of many seekers and is fundamental to the longing in humans of becoming one with the Lover; whether worldly (initially) or Divine.Later in the Masvani, in the Tale of the King and the Handmaiden, Rumi describes Love.

This is the first occurrence of the definition and discourse on Love. And it is beautiful. And we will get to it in due course.