Who is Ru mi?
When he could barely talk Nima asked "Who is Ru mi?". I showed the cover of divan Kabir "Mathnavi" مثنوی معنوی مولانا جلال الدن مولوی بلخی
He stared a while and said that
آقاهس؟
ّis this the master?..(.meaning a molla (ملا)) or may be even ayatollah (امام) as we called the man then. AND yes he is a master, a dead one.? He died . He is not this one. He died a long time ago. Death?. Is Rumi dead?.
Since then somewhere in early 80's I have gradually realized that مولانا "moulana" (as he is known to his dervishes and to the rest of us who are in love to be in love with him) is a kind of entity as a Sufi master of 10the Century Persia; that remains an object of more curiosity than understanding and analyzes, as a mythical charecter we could quote him and identify with what we are told about what he says and who he is. I have attempted to read Rumi in English both in transliteration whatever that means and or translation and rendering with a sense of frustration.Madana and Dr. Chapara and the other Hollywood gal put Rumi on the Map for the hip crowd. I see it this way: lets jump in to find out who Rumi is (was) and what he says (said) that is relevant to anything at all in this day and age or where we are. We maight drawn or just get wet or come up empty handed from this dive....
شعر من نان مصر را ماند....شب بر او بگذرد نتانی خورد
آن زمانش بخور که تازه بود...پیش از آنکه برو نشیند گرد
گر مسیر ضمیر جای وی است...می بمیرد در این جهان از برد
همچو ماهی دمی به خشگ تپید...ساعتی دیگرش ببینی سرد
ور خوری بر خیال تازگی اش.....بر خیالات نقش باید کرد
آنچ نوشی خیال تو باشد ...نبود گفتن کهن ای مرد
از شمس تبریزی غزل ۹۸۵
انتشارات جاویدان علمی چاپ دوم ۱۳۴۸
My poem is like Egyptian bread....you wont be able to eat it as a night passes over
If its’ place is the path of your conscious….It will die in this world from cold.
Like a fish it will struggle in dry…within the hour, you will see it cold
If eaten fantasizing freshness…paint it as creation of your own imagination
What you drinking is your fantasy…It is not the old saying (poem),O, Man!!
This is a first draft of a literal translation from Rumis Shamas Tabrize collection. . Is he saying that his poems have expired and it is our own fantasy and not the essence of his message? Or again……………
هرکسی در ظُن خود شد یار من...وز درون من نجست اسرار من
Every one, became my friend, in their own reckoning …not seeking the mysteries with in me (Who I am). Who is Rumi? Within or without?. Who is any one else for that matter?. Who is asking? Who is the seeker of what is sought? Is the answer not in the question? Is there an answer.//? Later. Ya Who.
