The Character of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi - Book Report/Review Example

This research will begin with the statement that Jalal Uddin Rumi was born near the city of Balkh in what is now Afghanistan, then on the eastern edge of the Persian Empire, on September 30, 1207”.The first and the foremost point to be remembered while analyzing the character of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, is that his teachings (revelations) cannot be perfectly understood from the level of mind (reasoning). Such revelations by the Perfect Masters are for direct experiencing through the inner world.

Much difference exists between the secular world full of agitations and the blissful illumined world. The real essence of Rumi’s teachings is love and only love. It is like the bird with colorful wings that ever remains in the heart of the one who has discovered true love and it moves in the inner world with tantalizing speed and turns the individual into a bard. Such a bard of devotion does not know any other language other than love and he is not interested in knowing it either, for it is the ultimate desire and destination of his existence.

With such an individual everything originates from the heart and soul and language is of least importance in that area. The function of the head is just to nod in wonderment ruminating about the profundity of the divine, soul-stirring revelations. The issue is not about the level of the poetry, but the level of the spiritual progression of the one who is set to read and understand the substance of the revelations of Rumi. Each, syllable, each word, and each sentence of the revelations is perfect and one should not worry about the grammar rule.

It is like an orchestra, wherein one enjoys the musical splendor as a whole, that unique symphony of the conglomeration of multitudes of instruments, aiming for one unique goal. This is the essence of Rumi! He provides the seed of love and the tender sapling of love grows in the heart of the devotee of Rumi’s revelations. Barks writes “For the last twelve years of his life Rumi wrote, or dictated, one long luminous poem, the Masnavi, sixty-four thousand lines of poetry divided into six books”.

Sufism is not a technique. Coleman Barks writes, “Some call them Sufis. I like to say they were living the way of the heart”. The emphasis is on love as said in the revelation “Rub your eyes, and look again at love, with love.” Compulsive literal translation of Rumi’s revelation is impossibility and all that Rumi would have never insisted on strict adherence to technique and any compulsive impositions on the translator, should flow with love.