Sufi mysticism

Book Review by Prema Nandakumar - The Hindu - Chennai,India
Monday, November 27, 2006

THE LEGEND OF RUMI — The Great Mystic and the Religion of Love: K. Hussain; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati Munshi Marg, Mumbai-400007. Rs. 150.

The actual text of the subject covers only a hundred pages in this well-produced book. But they are enough to give a complete picture of Jalaluddin Rumi, a 13th century Sufi saint. Born in Iran, Rumi migrated to Turkey and spent all his life in the city of Qunia. His spiritual mentor was the hermit, Shams Tabrizi of Azerbaijan. They lived together in Qunia and travelled to Damascus.

For Rumi his teacher was the very incarnation of universal love. Love of mankind is the warp and woof of Rumi's poetry. Hussain draws our attention to a saying of Rumi, which evokes the law of universal gravitation: "All the constituents of the world are interconnected with one another; every constituent is an ardent lover of every other constituent."

India has always welcomed with joy the various paths to God structured abroad and the Sufi path has been a favourite. And among the Sufis, Rumi has been much-loved, and his Masnavi accepted as a testament of spirituality where all differences fall away and only love remains — love of man, nature and god.

The author has performed a commendable job in bringing Rumi closer to us by underlining the similarities between this great mystic and Indian culture. "It is very significant indeed that Rumi had selected the flute, which was also incidentally the favourite divine musical instrument of Krishna, the hero of the Indian epic Mahabharata, for conveying some of his deep mystic thoughts about spiritual secrets of life." The flute in Masnavi becomes the symbol of the soul that hankers for reunion with God.

The Sufi path

Not surprising, for there is much in the Sufi path that has attracted the Indian who has made it into an inalienable component of its culture. From 13th century onwards when the Delhi Sultanate got firmly established, there was a tremendous lot of destruction of Hindu temples. But there was also creative interaction (for the common man wanted peace) that helped Sufism rivet its roots in India. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti whose makbara is in Ajmer was among the very first. There are several Sufi paramparas and a rich harvest awaits the researcher who wishes to relate them to Jalaluddin Rumi. Unlike the severe asceticism of early Sufis among Arabs, the Sufis of Iran and India have received inspirations from Greek philosophy, Vedantic thinking and Buddhism.

Apart from the mystic poems in Rumi's work, we also have stories that teach us the need to cultivate common sense, detachment and universal love. Hussain has recounted a few of these fictional snippets that reveal the keen eye of Rumi for significant details in everyday life. We can grow wiser by reading them but also gain plentiful amusement from the parrot that had become bald, the wolf that fell into a pot of paint, the bridegroom who wanted to indulge in hair-splitting luxuries and of course, men in power who cannot distinguish between men and donkeys. As the Panchatantra-Hitopadesa world is not far away from Masnavi, this book is surely a welcome gift for the season.