A sojourn from one mystic poet to another

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.

I'll meet you there. 

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is too full to talk about".

With the right hand raised towards the sky, in complete surrender to The Cosmic Ego. Left hand, in prostration towards the ground, the Earth of The Cosmic Ego. Revolving from left to right, around their hearts to enfold all of humanity with love.

" Some call you love,

I call you the King of Love,

You are beyond imaginings,

taking me places 

I can't even dream of.

O ruler of my heart,

wherever you go...

don't go without me."

Rumi

The art of the whirling dervish dates back to decades ago, to what is today's modern day Turkey. This art was developed by a man loved and admired by all those who encountered him. A man who, initially found the answers to the Earth's complex mysteries in books. Life for him was dotted with success, he was the most praised and respected man in his society. Yet, everyday as the shades of the sky would alter from hues of azure and bright blue, to orange with a mix of slightly tinted pink, to finally, eternal black there would be a growing void in his heart. Something from deep within was gnawing at his inner-self perhaps it was the ego yearning to be united with its Creator. Perhaps, it was the desire to meet a person he was destined to meet. It was destiny; moira. Perspective of this man was changed by a solivagant dervish. Sun, the dervish was the sun for the scholar. The Sun who filled up the void in his inner-self with its radiant, blinding light and made a scholarly man the most renown Mystic Poet in History. Made the man able, capable to unveil mysteries that were by nature orphic.

Acatelpsy, is the belief that the human nature can never comprehend the Universe, that human knowledge can never have that certainty. However, there have been many instances in History which have proved this belief invalid. Perhaps the most valid example is the Last Messenger of Mankind. After him many were able to follow in his footsteps of understanding the Universe of The Cosmic Ego. 

Quite a few centuries after the arrival of the Mystic-Sufi poet, almost 3,467 kms away from the his resting place there was born another ego. This ego had the same inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge. At a time when the religion of both these egos was at its degeneracy the new ego served to motivate the downtrodden souls of the Muslim community, through the unique concept of "Ones Self" or "Khudi". The ego regarded the sufi poet as his guide and the two egos shared a mystical relationship beyond time and space. The relationship between the two is often described as "Peer O Murshid", "The Mentor and the Protege" . Perhaps, the most common aspect between the Teacher and his student's poetry was that both loved. They loved with such vigor and passion in the things they believed in that their verses make the marmoris: the shining surface of the ocean, seems to glisten even more brightly.

The new ego, Iqbal was driven by the pathetic condition of his kindred to write, write for them to wake from their slumber in the darkness and rise to the status they were destined to attain. Iqbal's verses deal with the concept of self realization and discovering ones self in order to attain the higher spiritual level.

He repeatedly stresses upon the Muslims of the subcontinent to understand the purpose of their creation first in order to understand God, The Monad Ego. He reminds man that he is above all of creations of God, ergo if man is held in such high esteem such that God ordered his pure angels to bow down to Adam then why must man be the one who himself lowers his self esteem by bowing down in front of the other creations of the Cosmic Ego? The meaning of idol is misinterpreted here, Muslims may commit the worst sins to ever exist but they think that they will never or have never committed Shirk. Alas, this is all sweet blasphemy because the word "Idol" is not limited only to statues of clay but it covers all the vast categories of things or people that we perceive can decide our fate. The concept of khudi is misinterpreted into man being arrogant. This is not the case, the concept of khudi is no where near connected to arrogance. Crux of the concept of khudi in the poetry of Iqbal is for man to carve his own destiny, elevate himself to such a rank that he is able to tell the Ego that created him what he desires for himself:

"Everything in the universe is from within you. Ask all from yourself."

Both the Mystics were trekking on the same road towards the same destination. Both were dervishes, swirling to the same music around the same center.

Both had the souls which were driven by the urge of love for their Creator to escape the prison of their bodies and unir( to unite in French ) with The Aeonian, The Eternal. Hence, according to the mystics you are meant to fly not crawl, your soul was made to fly, freedom has been waiting for you all along. The only thing you need to do is take the first leap to fly, abandon your fear of flying and the fear of what may happen when you do fly. Just spread your wings open in the aurora and "fly", because that's what God wanted you to do all along. JUST FLY IN TO THE HORIZON.

Ayesha Abdullah

Class: 11-T

The City School, E-11 Campus