A Sohbet with Mevlana Rumi and Hazrat Inayat Khan

Mevlana Rumi sits in his usual niche at the Khanqah in Konya, tired after a full day with the visitors and the disciples. The soul-elevating sound of the sama streams in through the open doors and windows. The semazens and the dervishes are lost in the ecstasy of Divine communion. A Turkish oil lamp burns in the centre of the room, lending its soft radiance to the darkening of the sundown hours. Mevlana leans back against the cushion behind him. With eyes shut but the heart vision acutely aware, he draws within and surfaces on the shore of the city of Hurkalya. Around the same time, from another world, a world scented by the mysticism of the orient, laden with the smell of burning incense, with kingly gait, and presence of a holy sage, sails in Hazrat Inayat Khan. Before him is the spectacle of Mevlana lost in the ecstasy of whirling. But there is a sudden halt in this divine dance, and Mevlana is pulled into the external awareness of the new arrival via his recognition of an altered musical note amidst the familiar ney playing of the sama. This note is the melody of the vina that harmonises with the ney to produce another symphony. The musical notes are the herald of the approaching presence. Mevlana lifts his head and rests his gaze on the new arrival. A figure stands in solemn reverence. As the glance of the two meets, the souls drift away on the current of the spiritual stream, and the sohbet begins.

Mevlana: What brings you here, the mystical prince of the east?

H.I.K: O' Mevlana, the light of Shams-e-Tabrizi, it is the thirst for the incorruptible water!

Mevlana: Ah, Yes! That is very necessary. Infact that is the thing desired. Marvellous indeed is this water , which cleans all the impurities of the world, but which is not infected thereby but remains as pure and clear as it was. This is the water of life.

H.I.K: And so that which washes the heart is the constant running of the love-stream! The love-stream of the incorruptible water, the water of life.

Mevlana: And do you know where it comes from? The water of life is in the land of darkness. The darkness is the body of the saints, where the water of life is. The water of life can only be found in the darkness. If you hate the darkness and find it distasteful, how will you find the water of life? In order to succeed in learning what you want, wouldn't you have to endure beatings and act contrary to your will? How then would it be if you were to want to acquire eternal, everlasting life, which is the station of the saints?

H.I.K: Yes, there is no gain without sacrifice; if there be any, sacrifice must follow!

Mevlana: Know that love is severed only by another love. The highest love is the Love of God, and ultimately all other love or attachment must be surrendered at the Divine altar.

H.I.K: Love that is free from attachment is the love of sages. Love that is progressive is like the sweet water of the running river, but love that does not progress is like the salt water of the sea.

Mevlana: And one must strive mightily, and dig many wells to reach the pool of the heart.

H.I.K: Is not the channelising of the love-stream, that incorruptible water, into the heart, through the tributaries of interest and indifference?

Mevlana: Two contradictory forces, yet contingent like the two sides of a coin. One without the other is invalid. Before attaining fame, the Prophet saw the eloquence of the Arabs and desired to be as eloquent and elegant of speech as they were. When the world of the unseen was revealed to him, he became intoxicated in God and lost all interest in that desire. God said to him, "I give to you that very eloquence and elegance of speech you desired. "O Lord," he replied, "of what use is it to me? I am free of the desire for it. I don't want it." "Grieve not," said God, "for both the eloquence and your indifference to it shall stand, and you shall suffer no loss thereby."

H.I.K: Surely, he who arrives at the state of indifference without experiencing interest in life is incomplete, and apt to be tempted by interest at any moment; but he who arrives at the state of indifference by going through interest, really attains the blessed state.

Mevlana: This way of poverty, is a way for you to attain all your hopes. The way is long, full of affliction and obstacles thrown up by the detours against final attainment. But when you enter the world of poverty and practice it, God bestows kingdoms and worlds upon you that you never imagined.

H.I.K: I draw all my strength from my humility.

Mevlana: Intellectual knowledge, idle talk, and worldly whims are all wind, while man is dust. When wind and dust are mixed, they hurt the eyes wherever they go. Nothing comes of them but confusion and complaint. Now, although man is only dust, he weeps at every word he hears, and his tears are like flowing water. When water, instead of wind flows over the dust, the opposite will occur, for doubtless when dust is watered, fruits, greenery, herbs and flowers grow. But we must realize that true faith is discernment. The water that flows from the spring of Turut into the city here, see how clear and pure it is. As it enters the city and passes through the houses of the citizenry, so many people bathe their hands and feet and faces and limbs, and clothes and carpets in it. See what it is like when it comes out on the other side of town. Even though it is the same water, it will turn dirt into mud; it will slake the thirst of the thirsty, and it will turn the desert green. Still it takes a discerning person to comprehend that the purity the water once had has gone and that unpleasant things have been mixed in with it.

H.I.K: Faith reaches what reason fails to touch.

Mevlana: Discernment is faith and lack thereof is infidelity.

H.I.K: Wisdom is the cream of intelligence! To acquire intellect one must delve into studies, but to obtain wisdom, nothing but the flow of divine mercy is needed. Reason is learned from the everchanging world; but wisdom comes from the essence of life!

Mevlana: Yes, the Water of Life! What a marvellous thing it be!

The sohbet comes to an end. Mevlana awakens to the sound of the muezzin's call. It is time for the maghrib prayer in Konya. Hazrat Inayat Khan sits near the Ganges, watching the water flow and repeats in secret rapture, "The water that washes the heart is the continual running of the love-stream."

[Mevlana's quotes taken from Fihi MA Fihi. Hazrat Inayat Khan's quotes taken from Gayan, Vadan, Nirtan and Vol. 5.]





By Naila Amat-un-Nur

September 2007