An anecdote from the writings of Rumi

 Hello, dear readers! Today I want to share with you an anecdote from the writings of Rumi, one of the most beloved and influential poets of all time. 

Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, mystic and scholar who wrote in various languages, but mostly in Persian. His poetry is full of wisdom, beauty and spiritual insights that can inspire us to live more fully and joyfully.

One of his most famous works is the Masnavi, a six-volume epic poem that covers various topics such as love, faith, ethics, mysticism and stories from various traditions. The Masnavi is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In this blog post, I want to share with you one of the stories from the Masnavi that has a profound lesson for us.

The story is about a man who was walking in the desert and saw a snake that was about to bite him. He ran away from the snake, but it followed him. He came across a well and decided to jump into it to escape from the snake. As he was falling into the well, he saw a dragon at the bottom of the well that was waiting to devour him. He was terrified and grabbed a branch that was hanging over the well. He thought he was safe for a moment, but then he noticed two mice, one black and one white, that were gnawing at the branch. He realized that the branch would soon break and he would fall into the mouth of the dragon.

He looked around and saw a honeycomb on the branch. He reached out and tasted some honey. It was so sweet and delicious that he forgot about the snake, the dragon and the mice. He became absorbed in the pleasure of the honey and ignored his perilous situation.

The story ends here, but Rumi explains its meaning in his own words. He says that the snake represents death, which is always chasing us and can strike at any moment. The well represents this world, which is full of dangers and troubles. The dragon represents hell, which is the ultimate destination of those who are heedless and sinful. The branch represents our life span, which is constantly being shortened by time. The two mice represent the night and the day, which are eating away at our life span. The honey represents the pleasures and distractions of this world, which make us forget about our reality and our purpose.

Rumi says that we are like that man who is hanging on a branch between death and hell, but we are so engrossed in the honey of this world that we are oblivious to our fate. He warns us not to be deceived by the sweetness of this world and to remember our true goal, which is to seek God's love and mercy. He says that we should use our time wisely and prepare for our eternal journey.

This story is a powerful reminder for us to be aware of our mortality and our accountability before God. It teaches us not to be attached to this world and its fleeting pleasures, but to focus on what really matters: our relationship with God and our spiritual growth. It also shows us how Rumi used stories from different sources and cultures to convey his universal message of love, wisdom and faith.

I hope you enjoyed this anecdote from Rumi's writings and learned something valuable from it. If you want to read more stories from Rumi's Masnavi, you can find many translations online or in bookstores. You can also check out some of his other poems, such as his quatrains (rubaiyat) or his odes (ghazals), which are full of beautiful imagery and metaphors.

Thank you for reading this blog post and stay tuned for more!