[Sunlight] "Make peace with this Father"

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Here, Sunlight offers Mathnawi IV, verses 3259-3270, in a
version by Coleman Barks, a version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
and a translation by Reynold A. Nicholson:

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The Reasonable Father

The universe is a form of divine law,
your reasonable father.

When you feel ungrateful to him,
the shapes of the world seem mean and ugly.

Make peace with that father,
the elegant patterning,
and every experience will fill with immediacy.

Because I love this, I am never bored.
Beauty constantly wells up,
a noise of spring water
in my ear and in my inner being.

Tree limbs rise and fall like the
ecstatic arms of those
who have submitted to the mystical life.

Leaf-sounds talk together like poets
making fresh metaphors.
The green felt cover slips,
and we get a flash of the mirror underneath.

Think how it will be when
the whole thing is pulled away!
I tell only one one-thousandth
of what I see, because there is
so much doubt everywhere.

The conventional opinion of this poetry is,
it shows great optimism for the future.

But Father Reason says,
No need to announce the future!
This is it. This. Your deepest need
and desire is satisfied by the
moment's energy here in your hand.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I Am You"
Maypop, 1994

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The whole world is the unfolding of Universal Reason
which is the father of whoever takes the Divine Word as a guide.
When anyone shows extreme ingratitude to Universal Reason,
the whole form of the universe appears to him to snarl.
Make peace with this father, stop rebelling,
that the water and clay of this world
might appear to you as a carpet of gold.
Then you will live in the Resurrection:
heaven and earth will be transfigured before you.
Since I am always at peace with this father,
this world looks to me like Paradise.
At every moment a new form appears and a new beauty,
so that from seeing new visions, boredom dies.
I see the world as full of bounty—
the waters constantly gushing from the springs.
The voice of their water comes to my ear,
and my inner consciousness is drunk with the sound.

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Koll-e `âlam surat-e `Aql-e Koll ast
kust bâbâ-ye har ânkeh ahl-e Qol ast
Chon kasi bâ `Aql-e Koll kofrân fazud
surat-e koll pish-e u ham sag namud
Solh kon bâ in pedar `âqi be-hel
tâ keh farsh-e zar namâyad âb o gel
Pas Qiyâmat naqd-e hâl-e to bovad
pish-e to charkh o zamin mobdal shavad
Man keh solham dâyeman bâ in pedar
in jahân chon Jannatastam dar nazar
Har zamân naw surati o naw jamâl
tâ ze naw didan foru mirad malâl
Man hami binam jahân-râ por-e na`im
âb-hâ az cheshmeh-hâ jushân moqim
Bâng-e âbesh mi resad dar gush-e man
mast mi gardad zamir o hush-e man

-- Mathnawi IV: 3259-2366
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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The whole world is the form of Universal Reason, which is
the father of whosoever is a follower of the (Divine) Word.
When any one shows excessive ingratitude to Universal Reason,
the form of the universe appears to him (as) a cur accordingly.
Make peace with this Father, abandon disobedience, that the
water and clay (the world) may appear (to thee as) a carpet of gold.
Then the Resurrection will become thy present state
(immediate experience): heaven and earth will be transfigured before
thee.
Since I am ever at peace with this Father, this world is like
Paradise in my sight.
At every moment (appears) a new form and a new beauty, so
that from seeing the new (visions) ennui dies away.
I see the world to be full of bounty ˆ the waters constantly
gushing from the springs.
The noise of their water is coming into mine ear: my inner
consciousness and intelligence are being intoxicated.
(I see) the boughs dancing like penitents (i.e., those who
have been newly converted to the mystical life), the leaves clapping
their hands like minstrels.
The gleam of the mirror is flashing through the (cover of)
felt cloth: think how it will be if the mirror (itself) be displayed!
I am not telling one (mystery) out of thousands, because every
ear is filled with a doubt.
To Opinion this saying (of mine) is (only) a joyful
announcement (concerning the future), (but) Reason says, "What
(occasion for) announcement? It is my cash in hand (actual and
present experience)."

-- Translation and Commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson
"The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi"
Published and Distributed by
The Trustees of The "E.J.W. Gibb Memorial"

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[Sunlight] "Make peace with this Father"