Alina Beatrice Chesca - "Outside the Borders, Inside the Human Soul"

8/19/2019 Alina Beatrice Chesca - "Outside the Borders, Inside the Human Soul"

1/6


2/6

the complexity of his work and to his enormous talent, he was awarded the Nobel Prize

for literature in 1913, for Gitanjali (Song Offerings) - a collection of wonderful poems. Itis said that what dominated the thinking of the Nobel committee of 1913 was Gitanjalisidealism, as Alfred Nobels will stipulated that the winners needed to have an “idealistic

tendency”. At the beginning of the 20th

century, William Butler Yeats wrote about

Tagore: “Other Indians came to see me and their reverence for this man sounded strangein our world, where we hide great and little things under the same veil of obvious comedy

and half-serious depreciation. ‘Every morning at three – I know for I have seen it – one

said to me, ‘he sits immovable in contemplation and for God. His father, the Maha Rishi,would sometimes sit there all through the next day; once, upon a river, he fell into

contemplation because of the beauty of the landscape and the rowers waited for eight

hours before they could continue their journey. He told me of Mr. Tagores family andhow for generations great men have come out of its cradles. ‘When Rabindranath was aboy, he had all around him in his home literature and music. ” (Tagore, Gitanjali.

Introduction, 2008: 262)Rumi Mawlana was born in Balkh (which lies in todays Afghanistan), in 1207 and

died in Konya, in 1273; Tagore was born in 1861 and died in 1941, in India; therefore,they are separated by more than half a millennium (actually, almost 700 years). Despitethis, their poems describe a world belonging to a special spirituality, full of love,

sensitiveness, God, wisdom, harmony, passion, music and beauty. As Mawlana said, “the

search is done in many ways, but the object of the search is always the same. Dont yousee that the ways leading to Mecca are numerous (…)? The ways are different, the goal is

unique.” (Rumi, 1976:23) Or: “Come, come, no matter who you are, still come./ Whether

atheist, fire worshipper or worshipper of many gods, still come./ Our house is not the

house of hopelessness/ Even if you broke your atonement one hundred times, still come.”(Vitray-Meyerovitch, 2003: 108). This quatrain constitutes one of the best expositions of

the Sufi paths boundless acceptance. Certainly, it is well-known that love, wisdom and

tolerance lie at the foundation of Sufi practice before anything else. One of the world'sgreat spiritual teachers - Muhyi 'D-din Ibn 'Arabi - mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, born

in Murcia, Al-Andalus, in 1165, also expresses the essence of the Sufi philosophy: ”My

heart has opened unto every form: it is a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for Christianmonks, a temple for idols, the Ka'ba of the pilgrim, the tables of the Torah and the book

of Qur'an. I practice the religion of Love; in whatsoever directions its caravans advance,

the religion of Love shall be my religion and my faith.”

Returning to Tagore, W. B. Yeats was right when he saw a prevailing religiouselement in his work. The relation with God is a direct, peaceful and free one and can be

found in many of Tagores writings (including the poems of Gitanjali). From Indias

numerous and various traditions he borrowed many ideas, both from old texts and fromtraditional poetry; the profound humanity is revealed more clearly than any complex and

deep spirituality or religion: “Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a

temple with doors all shut?/ Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!/ He isthere where the tiller is tilling the hard ground/ and where the path-maker is breaking

stones. He is with them /in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust./Our

master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds /of creation; he is bound with usfor ever./ / Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!/ Meet

him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.” (R.Tagore, 2008:23)


3/6

Rumi Mawlana expresses the same feelings; God represents the almighty force, the

supreme Love, always close to His children and perfect creation, from the smallestcreatures up to human beings. In a charming poem, Love Is the Master , Rumi says: “Loveis the One who masters all things;/ I am mastered totally by Love./God is working

everywhere his massive Resurrection;/ How can we pretend to act on our own?” (Rumi,

1973:25). And, in another poem: “You are the master alchemist./ You light the fire of love/ in earth and sky/ in heart and soul/of every being/ Through your love/ existence and

nonexistence merge./ All opposites unite./ All that is profane/ becomes sacred again”(Rumi, 1973:25). As it can be noticed, beauty and love are godly and sacred and by

contemplating beauty and experiencing love, life becomes wonderful, just like its

Creator. And a special metaphor, hinting at the real purpose of life, that is acquiringwisdom, profoundness, generosity and divine perfection: “This being human is a guesthouse. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary

awareness comes as an unexpected visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each

guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the doorlaughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.” (Rumi, 1973:37). Mawlana himself said: “The human beingcame into this world to fulfill a mission; this is ones true goal; if it is not fulfilled, one

did not even really live.” And, “the all-mighty God said: I have bought you, your souls,

goods and time. If you dedicate and give them to me, their price is the eternal Paradise.

This is the price you have in my eyes” (Rumi, 1976:40).

Tagore has always been “the great master” and “the sun” not only for the Indians, but

for the whole world engaged in an ardent search for liberation, i.e. the liberation from

death, slavery, in order to find eternal life: “The same stream of life that runs through myveins/ night and day runs through the world/ and dances in rhythmic measures./ It is the

same life that is rocked/ in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death,/ in ebb and in flow./ I

feel my limbs are made glorious/ by the touch of this world of life./ And my pride is from

the life-throb of ages/ dancing in my blood this moment.” (Tagore, 2008: 181) Some of Tagores poems combine images and symbols of human love with images of celestial

devotion, just like this one: “I have had my invitation to this worlds festival, / And thus

my life has been blessed. My eyes have seen /And my ears have heard./ It was my part atthis feast to play upon/ My instrument, and I have done all I could./ Now, I ask, has the

time come at last/ When I may go in and see thy face and offer thee/ My silent

salutation?” (R.Tagore, 2008: 33)In several splendid verses, Mawlana addresses God using an intense prayer in which

the adoration for Him does not make room for earthly pleasures: “Oh, Beloved, / Take

me./ Liberate my soul./ Fill me with your love and/ release me from the two worlds./ Oh,Beloved,/ take away what I want./take away what I do./ take away what I need./ take

away everything/ that takes away from you” (Rumi, 1973: 91). Mawlana reflected divinelove in accordance with the peculiarities of that age and expressed it by symbols such as:lover-beloved, sea-drop, vineyard-beloved, wine-cupbearer.

Rabindranath Tagore offered his life to God, in spite of some doubts that haunted

him; thus, his work may be considered a song dedicated to the supreme Father, but also to

human beings, to His entire creation and to the principles of the good. That is why, someof his poems represent a promise made in front of the divinity: “Life of my life, I shallever try/ to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch/ is upon all my limbs/ I


4/6

shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart/ and keep my love in flower, knowing

that thou hast thy seat/ in the inmost shrine of my heart.” (R.Tagore, 2008: 9)In the Quran it is said that everything is futile except the Face of God: “This Face isalways present, endless and everlasting.” R eturning to the centre, the soul finds again the

sky which is inside it. The place where God works is the heart of the human being: “The

heart is nothing else but the Sea of light…/the place of Gods vision” (Rumi,1925:82 ).But this is valid only for the human heart that reached its true dimension.

In the following poem by Tagore, we find the same idea of Gods supreme power andof renouncing the vain pleasures: “I know thee as my God and stand apart/ I do not know

thee as my own and come closer./ I know thee as my father and bow before thy feet./ In

pleasure and in vain I stand not/ By the side of men and thus stand by thee./ I shrink togive up my life and/ Thus do not plunge into the great waters of life” (R.Tagore, 2008:

199). Later, he compares the hands of God to the flute of the reed and the poet, plays with

his breath. Through His creation, through His creatures, God becomes aware of Himself;

the poet must be the conscience of God, this is the thought which gives life to awonderful poetry: “I have come to the brink of eternity/ from which nothing can vanish/

no hope, no happiness, no vision/ of a face seen through tears./ Oh, dip my emptied lifeinto that ocean,/ plunge it into the deepest fullness. / Let me for once feel that lost sweettouch/ in the allness of the universe” (R.Tagore, 2008: 223).

For Mawlana, too, God is the core of human existence; He is the ultimate hope and

expectation, the perfect seed of our spirit and mind, the mirror of our own selves: “AndHe is with you/in your search/ when you seek Him/ look for Him/in your looking/ closer

to you/ than yourself/ to yourself ” (Rumi, 1973:57). In Mawlanas opinion, in order to

directly contemplate God, the man must firstly become an ascetic (zahid) (Rumi,

1925:78). He is known to have been loved and respected by the disciples of otherreligions as well; he would say: “Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shaman, Zoroastrian, stone,

ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not

to be judged”.Rabindranath Tagore had strong religious beliefs, but he was also interested in many

other topics and fields. He clearly expressed opinions on peace, war, education,

nationalism, the need for cultural openness and others. However, Amartya Sen states that:

“His admirers in the West were tuned to the more other-worldly themes which had been

emphasized by the first Western patrons. People came to his public lectures in Europe

and America expecting ruminations on grand, transcendental themes; when they heard

instead his views on the way public leaders should behave, there was some resentment.”(Amartya Sen, 2005:98) It must be mentioned that, for Tagore, the most imperative

aspect was peoples freedom, both physical and spiritual. All his views regarding culture,

politics, nationalism, philosophy, tradition and modernity can be interpreted from thisperspective. He supported the nationalistic movements and was against the foreign rules.

Tagores love for freedom explains his opposition to traditionalism that makes people

prisoners of the past; he dreams of a free world: “Where the mind is without fear and thehead is held high;/ Where knowledge is free;/ Where the world has not been broken up

into fragments/ by narrow domestic walls;/ Where words come out from the depth of

truth;/ Where tireless striving stretches its arms/towards perfection;/ Where the clearstream of reason has not lost its way/into the dreary desert sand of dead habit/ Where the

mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening/thought and action -/ Into that heaven of


5/6

freedom, my Father,/ let my country awake” (R.Tagore, 2008: 75). This is a beautiful and

creative metaphor of what freedom should represent.This is how the Sufi poet chooses to celebrate life and love: “The ways to God are

numerous, I have chosen the way of dance and music” (Rumi, 1973:44). Or: “When you

feel a peaceful joy, that’s when you are near truth.”

In a captivating poem, Rumi confesses: “I desire loud music/drunken parties and/wilddance/one hand holding/a cup of wine/one hand caressing your hair/then dancing in

orbital circle/that is what I yearn for/I can sing better than any nightingale” (Rumi,1973:44). This can be regarded as a unique, intense and lovely perspective on faith and

happiness – both mystical and earthly - and celebration of the gifts offered by God.

Mawlana also writes: “Love is that flame which, when it rises, devours everyth ing; it isonly God who remains” (Rumi, 1973:27). And also: “Love is the whole thing.We are only pieces.”Another Sufi, Mir Sayyid Dharif, considers that the first creation is love and the origin of

creation is the expression of the divine beauty. For Sufis, love is the soul of the universe;through love, the human being tends to return to ones origins. Music and dance, the

rotation of the stars, the evolution of life from stone to plant, from animal to human, up tothe angels and beyond, everything is determined by love: “As soon as you have won theLove, you will always be in love: in the tomb, in the moment of the Resurrection, in

Paradise, always. If you sow the seed, it will grow, it will be like bread in the oven”

((Rumi, 1976: Chapter 44).Mawlana spent the latter part of his life in Turkey, Konya, where he created an

important movement and offered spiritual guidance to many people. They gathered

within the fraternity (tariqa) founded by him, which had the mark of his personal

features: brotherhood, humanity, harmony, simplicity, acceptance. The Sema, or whirlingdervish ceremony, is one of the basic rites of the Mevlevi order and one not found in

other Sufi orders. The main thing that any dervish had to learn was the struggle with the

ego (Rumi: “The Ego is a veil between humans and God”)Returning to Tagore, it is important to say that this poem from the book entitled The

Gardener speaks about a human and passionate love, rather than a mystical one: “I hold

her hands and press her to my breast./ I try to fill my arms with her loveliness, /to plunderher sweet smile with kisses, /to drink her dark glances with my eyes” (The Gardener,

Poem 49).

Rumi also wrote wonderful love poems as, in his view, human love could be an

expression of divine love, a supreme gift that God gave His children to experience andunderstand happiness: “We love, thats why life is full of so many wonderful gifts.” In

other words, happiness can make human beings reach the sky and even have mystical

experiences. Earthly love may be considered the first level of mystical love: “This is howI would die/ into the love I have for you:/ As pieces of cloud/ dissolve in sunlight.” Or,

in another poem: “Once a beloved asked her lover: Friend,/ You have seen many places

in the world!/ Now-which of all these cities was the best?/ He said: The city where mysweetheart lives!” (Rumi, 1973:35)

Beyond temporal and space borders, Rumi Mawlana and Rabindranath Tagore are

definitely eternal symbols of the human soul, irrespective of culture, religion ornationality. By travelling outside any self-imposed borders, we will always find ourselves


6/6

inside a fascinating and eternal realm of love, spirituality and freedom, a land where all

human beings are Gods perfect creation.

REFERENCES

Aflaki, Shams-ol-Din Ahmad (1918). Manaqib ul-‘arifin (Saints of the Whirling Dervishes). translated by C.Huart, ParisAnghelescu, Nadia (2009). Identitatea arabă / The Arab Identity. Polirom: Bucuresti

Bakirci, Naci (2010). Konya. Mawlana. Servet Offset Co: Konya

Ibram, Nuredin (2007) , Islamul pur şi simplu/ Simply, the Islam. Golden: Constanţa

Rumi, Djalal-od-Din (1973), Divan-e Shams-e Tabriz (Mystical Odes). Sindbad: ParisRumi, Djalal-od-Din (1976), Fihi-ma-fihi (The Book of the Inside). Sindbad: Paris

Rumi, Jalaluddin (2002), Meditatii şi parabole (Masnavi – e Manavi)/ Meditations and Parables. Kriterion: BucurestiRumi, Jalaluddin (1925). Mathnawi. Leyde (translation into English by E.A. Nicholson)

Rumi, Jalaluddin (1912). Rumi’s Little Book of Life, Hampton Roads: USA

Sahin, Bekir (2007). Selections from Diwan-I Kabir of Rumi. Rumi Publishing House:Konya

Sen, Amartya (2005). The Argumentative Indian. Penguin Books: London

Tagore, Rabindranath (2008). Gitanjali, International Print: New Delhi

Vitray-Meyerovitch, Eva (2003). Rumi şi sufismul/ Rumi and Sufism. Humanitas:Bucuresti

Alina Beatrice Chesca - "Outside the Borders, Inside the Human Soul"

Documents

Transcript of Alina Beatrice Chesca - "Outside the Borders, Inside the Human Soul"