You Are the Only Student You Have
You are the only faithful student you have.
All the others leave eventually.
Have you been making yourself shallow
with making others eminent?
Just remember, when you're in union,
you don't have to fear
that you'll be drained.
The command comes to speak,
and you feel the ocean
moving through you.
Then comes, Be silent,
as when the rain stops,
and the trees in the orchard
begin to draw moisture
up into themselves.
-- Mathnawi, V, 3195-3219)
Version by Coleman Barks
"Feeling the Shoulder of the Lion,"
Threshold Books, 1991
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abandon being loved by people and practice loving God, you who have
such a high opinion of yourself.
You are really more silent than the night; how long will you seek a
buyer for your words?
Your hearers nod their heads in your presence, but you waste your time
in your passion to draw them near.
You say to me, "Don't be so envious,"
but how should I envy one who possesses nothing?
Instruction given to the worthless is like sketching in dust.
Instruct yourself in love of God and spiritual insight-- that endures
like a pattern carved on solid stone.
Your own self is the only pupil ever really faithful to you.
All the others perish: where will you seek them, where?
While trying to make others erudite and eminent, you are ruining
yourself and draining what knowledge you have.
But when your heart is one with Reality, you may speak, and not be
afraid of becoming empty.
And so the Divine command, "Recite!" came to the Prophet, saying, "O
righteous one, this will not fail: it is an infinite ocean."
-- Masnavi, V:3189-3198
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
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