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‘Rumi advocates oneness of existence which leads to the cessation of hatred, and makes love inevitable. This message has never been as relevant as it is today. It will not only bind countries together, it will weave people into one entity, one wajud’
By Shujaat Ali Quadri
The reign of Maulana Rumi runs unabated centuries after he migrated from this world. His body lies buried in Turkey, but his soul, in his verses, continues to illuminate millions across continents. On a drizzling Friday evening in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enlivened Rumi and Sufism at an annual programme devoted to the memory of another mystic-poet, Hazrat Amir Khusro.
The Jahan-e-Khusro Festival is organised by the Rumi Foundation, established and run by sufi filmmaker-artist-fashion designer and erstwhile royal, Muzaffar Ali. Ali has made a documentary on the life of Rumi and plans to turn it into a full-scale feature film of international standard.
As the prime minister rose to the rostrum for his address, it began raining. He, however, broke into his eloquence saying it was a sign from the almighty to make the evening more soulful.
The audience, comprising the elite of Delhi and foreign dignitaries, was spellbound as he quoted Khusro, Rumi and Ghalib fluently, and emphasised that the power of their words is such that he has been quoting them in his speeches abroad.
He quoted Rumi’s practical advice to subdue conflict at its very beginning: “Raise your arguments, not your voice. A flower blossoms in rain, not in the sound of thunder.”
Is the prime minister part of a secluded lot that is besotted with sufi mystics, especially Rumi?
No, as he said, India has been a land that is naturally susceptible to embrace ideas of love and oneness that forms the bedrock of sufi doctrine.
Rumi and India
Rumi is credited to have said that he neither belonged to the West nor East. His realm was the whole universe. Modi said that this thought aligns completely with India’s vedantic covenant and his government’s signature foreign policy theme – vasudeva kutumbkum (the entire world is a home).
Like his poetry and philosophy, Jalaluddin Rumi has a mystic connection with India. Shamsuddin of Tabrez, his murshid (master), to whom he had dedicated his collection of ghazaliat as Diwan e Shams e Tabrezi, is believed to have Indian ancestry.
According to Orientalist HA Rose, he was probably of Indian origin who identified himself with Shamsuddin Tabriz of Multan, a great contemporary saint who got the sobriquet of Tab-riz or ‘heat-pouring’ because he brought the sun closer to that spot. Dr Rasih Guven too supports this view and states that his father, Khawand Alauddin, was an Indian and a new convert to Islam, and his name was Govind, a Sanskrit word, also, another name of Lord Krishna.
Although Rumi’s works are literary works of a Muslim jurist and mystic, written in the Persian language, they crossed the barriers of language, religion and culture to reach different people belonging to different civilisations and cultures.
The first printing of Masnavi (the Persian version) was in Cairo in 1835. In India, however, Rumi reached much earlier. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the great guide of the Chishti sufi order, wrote a commentary on Rumi’s Masnavi in the 14th century.
Rumi’s biggest influence on Indian culture in the modern era has been represented by poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, who considered Rumi his spiritual guide and “the prince of the caravan of love”. Iqbal, interestingly, was introduced to Rumi in England where he went for his hgher studies, and found that Rumi has been the inspiration of many European Renaissance philosophers like Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Goethe, Schopenhauer, etc.
Iqbal’s adulation of Rumi can be summed up in this rubayee of him:
Be kaam-e- khud digar aan koh’ne mi reez
Ke ba jaamash na-yarzad mulk-e-Parweez
Ze ash’aar-e-Jalaluddin-e-Rumi
Be Diwar-e-hareem-e dil be-yaweez
(Pour that old wine ( Rumi’s philosophy) in your orifice; as the goblet of him is more precious than the whole empire of King Parweez (of Iran). Embellish the inner walls of your heart through the poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi.)
The poets and saints of Bhakti tradition, like their sufi counterparts, have been always attracted to the message of Rumi and even today he continues to inspire many, including neo-religious movements like the Radhaswami. His Persian verses, when sung with Dhrupad, have manifested into a unique confluence of words and rhythm.In fact, one of the longest poems of Rumi, The Faithful Are One Soul, is believed to have been inspired by the Upanishads as it is very close to the meaning contained in the great Sanskrit texts.
Sufi-Vedantic interactions gave rise to the concept of Waḥdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being). It has since been sine qua non of sufi traditions in South Asia.
Dr Balram Shukla, a professor in Delhi University, has rendered poems of Rumi into Hindi so that his message could be grasped by a larger readership and could reach the masses. He has translated around 100 ghazals of Rumi.
Dr Shukla puts it in the introduction of Nishabd Nupur, “Rumi advocates oneness of existence which leads to the cessation of hatred, and hence makes love inevitable. This message has never been as relevant as it is today. It will not only bind countries together, it will weave people into one entity, one wajud.”
Turkey, India and Rumi
When the pandemic had wreaked havoc around the world in 2021 and India was reeling from its severe onslaught, the Turkish government had sent 50 tonnes of relief material, including five oxygen generators, to support India’s response to a devastating second wave. The material, delivered by two Turkish A400M military cargo aircraft, was packed in boxes that bore the words of Rumi – “There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness.”
The binding force of the 13th century mystic is manifested in many other soothing shades between the two countries. Rumi’s mausoleum in Konya is visited by a number of Indian tourists every year.
In fact, an Indian origin Argentine monk, Samvidananda Saraswati, has settled in the home of Maulana Rumi. Saraswati, who has devoted her life to music and spiritual teachings, claims she met Rumi in a dream and thereby chased her mystic’s calling to the abode of her spiritual beloved.
The path of heart drives its followers to mysterious expeditions.
In India, we renounce even well-to-do lives in the course of mystic pursuits. Thousands of people turn sadhus every year. The recently concluded Kumbh festival at Pryagraj revealed that even some graduates of prestigious technological institutes, like the IITs, have turned to spiritualism and are choosing to live like mendicants.
The message of mystics like Rumi, however, is different. They don’t exhort to shun the world, rather, ask you to embrace it, sans hatred, with eternal love as your guide.
“Gamble everything for love if you are a true human being.”
The prime minister was echoing this message from the ramparts of a Mughal era monument, and his words, interspersed with sufi quotes, hypnotized everyone. Such is the magic of mysticism!