Posts
Here, Sunlight offers a set of Mathnawi verses
in two presentations -- one in a version by Kabir Helminski,
developed from the translation by Nicholson (accompanied by a transcription of the original Persian), and one a translation
by William Chittick:
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The Prophet said, "I am like a Ship in the Flood of Time.
I and my companions are like the Ark of Noah:
whoever clings to us will gain spiritual graces."
When you are with the Shaykh you are far removed from evil:
day and night you are a traveler in a ship.
You are under the protection of a life-giving spirit:
you are asleep in the ship and proceeding on the way.
Don't break with the prophet of your day;
don't rely on your own skill and footsteps.
Lion though you are, to go on the way without a guide
is arrogant, foolish, and contemptible.
Step aboard the ship and set sail,
like the soul going toward the soul's Beloved.
Without hands or feet, travel toward Timelessness
just as spirits flee from nonexistence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bahr-e in farmud Payghambar keh "Man
hamcho kashti'am beh tufân-e zaman
Mâ o as'hâbim cho ân kashti-ye Nuh
har keh dast andar zanad yâbad fotuh"
Chonkeh bâ shaykhi to dur az zeshtiyi
ruz o shab sayyâri va dar kashtiyi
Dar panâh-e jân-e jân-bakhshi tuyi
kashti andar khofteh-ye rah mi ravi
Ma-shekan az payghambar-e ayyâm-e khvish
takyeh kam kon bar fann o bar kâm-e khvish
Garcheh shiri chon ravi rah bi dalil
khvish-bin va dar zalâli o zalil
Pâ be-kash dar kashti va mi raw tâ ravân
chon su-ye Ma`shuq-e jân jân ravân
Dast nah va pây nah raw tâ Qedam
ânchonânkeh tâkht jân-hâ az `adam
-- Mathnawi IV, 538-543; 557-558
version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Prophet said, "I am like a ship in the storm
of Time.
I and my Companions are like the ark of Noah:
Whoever seizes hold will find illumination."
When you are with a shaykh, you are far from
ugliness, traveling night and day in a ship.
Protected by the spirit of a spirit-bestower, you
sleep in the ship and travel forward.
Do not break with the prophet of your time! Do
not rely on your own skills and footsteps!
Though you be a lion, if you travel the Path
without a guide, you will be a self-seer, astray and
contemptible.
Beware! Fly only with the shaykh's wings so
that you may behold the aid of his armies!
At one moment the wave of his gentleness
becomes your wing; at the next, his severity's fire carries you
forward.
Do not imagine that his severity is the opposite
of his gentleness – behold the unity of these two in their
effects!
-- Mathnavi IV, 538-546
Translation by William C. Chittick
The Sufi Path of Love
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983
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