The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) · 21 of 37 · tr. E.H. Whinfield

STORY VIIIb

O thou who seekest to be contrite for the past, How wilt thou be contrite for this contrition?

At one time thou adorest the music of the lute, At another embracest wailing and weeping." While the "Discerner" reflected these mysteries, The heart of the harper was emancipated.

Like a soul he was freed from weeping and rejoicing, His old life died, and he was regenerated.

Amazement fell upon him at that moment, For he was exalted above earth and heaven, An uplifting of the heart surpassing all uplifting; I cannot describe it ; if you can, say on!

Ecstasy and words beyond all ecstatic words; Immersion in the glory of the Lord of glory!

Immersion wherefrom was no extrication, As it were identification with the Very Ocean!

Partial Reason is as naught to Universal Reason, If one impulse dependent on another impulse be naught; But when that impulse moves this impulse, The waves of that sea rise to this point; 2 *NOTES: 1.

The night of his marriage with Safiyya.

2.

i.e., he is possessed by the Deity as an "Energumen," and the Deity works these ecstatic states in him.

Themes

◇Fana Annihilationsoteriology

Sufi self-effacement in God — the via by which the lover is unmade as a separate ego and recovered as God's act; specifies the practice/event rather than mystical_union's resulting state.

[auto] The text states 'His old life died, and he was regenerated,' reflecting the Sufi concept of self-effacement (Fana) to be recovered in God.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The passage describes 'Identification with the Very Ocean' and 'Immersion in the glory of the Lord,' centralizing the merging of the self with the divine.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The harper is described as 'freed from weeping and rejoicing,' indicating the dissolution of binary emotional oppositions.

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◇Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The identification with the 'Very Ocean' and the subsumption of Partial Reason into Universal Reason reflect the doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud.

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