FEVRIER 1961
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M E V L A N A
The Various Symbols of The Sun and Rumi
-H e sa w r eflec tio n s o f th e su n and its rays — th e fa c e o f th e B e lo v e d — everyw h ere. In th e ab se n c e of th is sun, no roses could blossom . B u t no one could e n te r th is sun. F or, its gloriou s m a g n i fice n c e bu rn s all. T h e m y stic lover, a fte r ecstasy, m u st lapse in to silen ce. F or, e v en p oetry reach es th e sta te o f fu tility . T hen, th e r e is no rem em brance o f God, no speaker, an d no hearer. A nd th e m y stic lo v er d isso lv es in to sym b ols o f v ariou s sh a d es and colours, into th e d ark n ess of l i g h t . . .
K o n y a ’d a M evlân a T ürbesin in içi
In fe rie u r du M ausolée de M evlâna à K onya
Rudolph Otto draw s an allusion betw een G o d and a mighty mountain the summit of which is invisible in eternal darkness. According to this g reat Germ an theologist a v e ry sm all part of this mountain is visible, and this ap p ea rs as a prom ontory o f good hope. W e
The Nature of The Symbols used by Rumi
see this minute prom ontory through the h aze and the smoke o f this w orld and consider it as the fin a l truth. W h enever w e observe a Providential m anifestation we endeavo r to commit it to memory by w ords or a lle gories. H ow ever, every w ord w e find or every symbol we use to commit the m anifestation is in one sense untrue. Therefo re, and in acco rdan ce with a ll religions, the proper description o f the Divine Secret is silence. It is not possible to describe the secret o f Divine Being, which is entirely different from a ll creation . The hu man being who discovers this secret and the fin a l truth must not reveal it. As Rumi asserted and re a s serted, it is im possible to get near the sun. The light and fire of the sun w ill destroy instantly an yo n e w ho attempts to observe it w ithout the ve il. For these two reasons, the mystics who exp erience this observation in ecstasy use symbols for its description. They do this either to show an im age o f the fin a l truth or to veil the merciless truth with a coloured curtain. The works o f Rumi a re , therefo re, saturated with such sym bols.
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There is no other mystic poet either in the East or in the W est to equal Rumi in the usage of such rich and resplendent sym bols.
The various symbols of the sun and Rumi
The most im portant symbol Rumi used w as the sun. This is not e xtra o rd in a ry because his first and o rigin al beloved w as Shams a l-D . n. He sa w the re flections and the rays of the eternal sun, i.e ., the face o f the B eloved, eve ryw h e re. In the absence o f this sun no roses w ill grow and no fruits ripen. The sun crow ns the thorns o f the bush with roses and turns the rough stones into red through a process w hich lasts centuries. In sim ilar m anner the Divine Beloved gives new life and eternal beauty to a ll lovers who love, suffer and w a it lo ng in g ly. But no one can enter this sun because his glorious m agnificence burns a ll. The sun is a very nice and ap p ro p riate symbol to a llu d e to the beauty and the m ajesty o f G o d . H ow ever, one single sym bol, no matter how deep and m eaningful it may be, cannot be sufficient for the comprehension o f the diverse aspects of the Divine R e a lity. Rumi a l w ays searched and found his sym bols in n ature. O r chards and garden s, birds and flo w e rs, told the story of the lover and the beloved. The spirit w as sym boliz ed by a bird, which symbols w as used from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the present d a y. The a lle gory of the rose and the nig htin g ale, the duck which escapes into the sea, a ll allu d e to the central fact that
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TOURING ET AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE TURQUIE
the spirit desires to return to its o rig in al dom ain. The sm allest thing, w a te r, in the hands o f Rumi gains tran sparen ce and reveals the light o f the Divine Secret. Man must become lost w ithin the immense ocean of G o d like a drop o f w a te r, because man is like a sm all w a v e or fle ck o f foam created on the o cean . The fortunes a ffo rd e d by G o d ebb and flo w on that ocean and meet the shores o f human life . But a c cording to the w ise, the occurences w hich take place in our time and space a re nothing but the reflections o f the tides o f fortune and m isfortune w hich occur on that ocean which exists outside the realm s o f time and space. W h o eve r meets dissolution on that ocean im m ediately turns into the mother o f peari-creating o cean . An absolute abandonm ent must create an a b solute g a in .
The nature of the symbols used by Rumi
O n e of the characteristics o f Rumi is that the sym bols he used had not o n ly one m eaning but w ere full o f d ifferen t m eanings. These sym bols can be taken as having a positive or a negative m eaning. The fire , for instance, could be taken to mean the fire o f h ell, w hich can be extinguished either by the w a te r of mercy or by the light o f m agnanim ity; or it could be taken to mean the fire o f misfortunes w hich are made to pu rify the hearts. W h e re m isfortune is used as a symbol o f Divine love, it must mean the Fire o f Love. In a ll religio ns, there are certain sym bols to allu d e to the religious facts and to the relatio n ship o f G o d and His creatures. Most o f these sym bols a llu d e to the an cien t rites and prim itive customs. O ne o f the most celebrated exam ples o f these sym bols is w in e . Rumi draw s a com parison betw een the ind escrib ab le in to xicatio n caused by w in e . In etern ity, Rumi believes G o d , in the shape o f a cup -bearer, w ill hand the w ine o f love to the crying man a w a y from home lo ng ing for the scent o f this cup, thereby indicating to His creature his o rigin al domain or the w a y to his Beloved. This w orld is like an em pty cup — w hen the lover sees the cup he becomes in to xica te d . Because if the beauty o f the cup-bearer becomes m anifest and if there is a chance for the lover to drink the love from the lips of the b elo ved, the lover w ill perish by the m ajesty of the b elo ved. The cup-bearer is also a m usic-m aker. He p lays the flu te, the lute and the lyre. The melodies produced on these instruments are a lw a y s nostalgic. Man is like a lyre in the hands o f his beloved, p layin g the tunes o f torment; or man is like a lute in the lips of his beloved, inquiring the everlasting longing. The flu te, used as a symbol in m any religions since ancient B a b y lo n ia , w as a most favo urite symbol with Rumi. According to him the roof and the doors o f the house
of love w ere m ade en tirely o f songs and po etry. The lover w ho can understand the voice o f the flute res ponds to its tune and joins in the S am m a’ (L ite ra lly , to h ea r. By tran sitio n , to attend a m usical co n ve rsa z io n e .) and flies resplendent around the perpetual light of the Divine b elo ved, like a p lan et or a star around the sun. In the S am m a’ o f Rumi and in a ll symbols relatin g to the Sam m a’ there is the deepest m eaning. Because the mystic lover e te rn a lly fille s resplendent around one centre o n ly, he w ants to get near to one go al o nly and attempts to introduce his secret by using new sym bols. The mystic lo ver fin a lly understands the fu tility o f his poetic endeavours and resumes it also and in silent gratitude flies resplendent around the beauty and m ajesty o f G o d like an atom around the sun. He listens to His com m unication, and he gets com pletely dissolved into a state w h e re there is no Z ik r, (Rem em brance o f G o d ) , no sp eaker and no h earer. And the mystic lover flo w s into dissolution in the midst o f a ll the sym bols o f d ifferen t shades and colours and in the darkness o f light.
Prof. Annemarie SCHIMMEL
La Vignette-Auto rapporte près de 400 millions
de NF au Trésor français
Répondant à une question écrite de M. Michel Crucis, le ministre des finances indique que le produit de la vignette fiscale sur les véhicules à moteur s’est élevé à 3 6 0 .8 m illions de nouveaux fran cs en 1958 et à 391.1 m illions de nouveaux fran cs en 1 9 5 9 .
M. Baum gartner ajoute que le dispo sitif financier mis en p lace p ar la loi du 20 juin 1 9 5 6 , instituant le Fonds n atio nal de so lid a rité , n 'im pliq uait pas d 'a ffe c tations des recettes créées p ar cette loi à la couverture des dépenses occasionnées p ar le versem ent des a llo cations a u x personnes âg ée s.
Les crédits ouverts au titre du Fonds n atio nal de so lid arité se sont élevés à 1 .4 0 0 m illions de NF en 1958 et à 88 4 m illions de NF en 1 9 59. Leur dim inu tion, d'une an n ée sur l'au tre , résulte de la décision, prise dans le cadre du plan de redressem ent écono mique et fin a n cie r de décem bre 1 9 58, de fa ire sup porter p ar le régime général de Sécurité so ciale la charg e des prestations servies à ses ressortissants.
— Le conseil g énéral des Basses-Pyrénées, dé partem ent qui comprend des Basques, des B éarn ais et des G asco n s, a voté une motion dem andant que «soit donné à l ’enseignem ent, des langues rég ionales un statut sco laire avec droits équivalents à ceux reco n nus au m algache et à d ’autres langues de la Com m unauté».
İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi Ta h a To ros Arşivi
