He Is Abiding Peacefully
Mathnawi I: 988-989
988 When the breeze of (spiritual) poverty1 is (blowing) within
(someone), he is abiding peacefully upon the surface of the world.
989 Even though this entire world is his kingdom,2 (such a)
kingdom is (as) nothing in the eye of his heart.
--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 1926 British translation) © Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration) First published on "Sunlight" (yahoogroups.com), 6/27/02
Notes on the text, with line number:
1(988) (spiritual) poverty [darwêshî]: may also be translated as "the
quality of being a (true) dervish. "It means, 'He is not absorbed in
love of (the attractions of) the world and travels in the world of the
spirit.'"
(Anqaravi, the 17th century Turkish commentator,
translated here into English from a Persian translation)
2(989) Even though this entire world is his kingdom: "The dervish
whose heart is closed against worldly desires can never sink and
perish; his spiritual poverty enables him to surmount every
temptation and live in perfect peace with God, scorning the
kingdom of this world which belongs to him as God's viceregent."
(Nicholson, Commentary)
988 bâd-é darwêshî chô dar bâTin bow-ad
bar sar-é âb-é jahân sâkin bow-ad
989 gar che jumla-yé în jahân mulk-é way-ast
mulk dar chashm-é del-é ô lâ-shay-ast
(mathnawi meter: XoXX XoXX XoX)
