A dear friend said: “They’ve formed a gathering somewhere—reciting Rumi, clapping, playing Daff (A traditional instrument), and getting all spirited.”
I asked, “What else?”
He said, “That’s it. Why do you ask?”
I replied, “I don’t have a very high regard for this kind of Rumi reading—or readings of this sort in general.”
He asked, “Why? If it brings them joy, what’s the harm?”
I said, “Nothing at all. You are free to dance, clap, and find joy through Rumi’s poetry—or any other poet’s for that matter—so long as you’re aware that what you’re celebrating and reciting is not truly Rumi. If not, you’ll miss the real gem and remain pleased with a shiny trinket.”
Rumi himself warns us that it is the illusion of treasure that deprives us of the real treasure:
That which you mistake as treasure
Through that illusion, you lose the true treasure.
When you cling to your mental image of Rumi and grow fond of it, you are deprived of the true Rumi. He says that what veils pure gold is counterfeit gold—for no one mistakes tin for gold.
It is clinging to the fake coin that robs you of abundant wealth.
All the world seeks happiness and delight,
Yet burned by false joy, they live in suffering.
They all seek gold, both young and old,
But the common eye cannot tell real from fake.
He says: Everyone in this world is in search of joy and happiness.
But it is false happiness—the kind wrapped in illusion and self-deception—that leaves them caught in misery and deprivation.
What it means it is this imitation joy that you waste your inner treasures on in vain. If you seek a true gold coin, beware of being deceived by the counterfeit coin.
