Paradise is Here - Desire Hides it | Mathnawi of Rumi, Book 3 Part 1

This is Part 1 of a new series where I’ll be reading through Book 3 of Rumi’s Mathnawi in order, taking the teachings as they come and trying to understand what Rumi is actually pointing toward. Book 3 begins with Rumi speaking to Husam, his disciple and close companion. But the way he speaks to Husam feels almost like he is speaking directly to anyone who is willing to listen. One of the first ideas Rumi introduces is that the power of Gabriel, and ultimately the power of God, does not come from food or anything physical. There is another kind of nourishment available to us, but we have to become capable of receiving it. Rumi says that in order to experience that light, we have to pass beyond the maladies of the sensual self. Our fears. Our vanity. Our attachments. Our need for approval. Our constant desires. Our tendency to chase one thing after another believing that the next experience, possession, relationship, achievement, or pleasure will finally make us complete. The problem is that while we are completely absorbed in those things, we may not even realize what they are preventing us from experiencing. Rumi compares spiritual development to the way a child is gradually weaned. Before birth, a child receives nourishment in the womb. After birth, it drinks milk. Eventually it is weaned from milk and begins eating ordinary food. At every stage, the form of nourishment we know feels essential. Until we discover something beyond it. Rumi suggests that the same process happens spiritually. We become accustomed to being nourished by the world — pleasure, attention, possessions, comfort, excitement, identity, status, desire. And because this is the only kind of nourishment we know, the idea of letting go of some of it can sound like deprivation. But Rumi is saying almost the opposite. You are not being asked to give something up because life is supposed to become smaller. You are being asked to loosen your dependence on one kind of experience so that you can discover another. He gives the image of a child still inside the womb. Imagine trying to explain the outside world to that child. You could tell it about sunlight, mountains, trees, the sky, other people, music, or the feeling of open space. But none of it would really make sense. The womb is the only world the child has ever known. Rumi is asking us to consider whether we might be in the same situation. Maybe there are states of peace, awareness, love, freedom, and closeness to God that we cannot fully imagine while we are still completely identified with our ordinary desires. We often want proof before we take the step. We want to know exactly what we will gain before we let go of what we already have. But some things cannot be understood from the outside. The child cannot understand the world beyond the womb until it is born. In the same way, we may not understand what exists beyond attachment until we actually begin loosening our attachment. That is why the idea behind this episode is: Paradise is here — desire hides it. Not necessarily paradise as some distant place we have to reach, but the possibility that there are deeper states of experience available right now that we overlook because our attention is constantly being pulled toward what we want, what we fear, what we lack, and what we think we need. Rumi’s teaching here is not about hating the world. It is about becoming less enslaved by it. And he does not present this as something that happens overnight. Weaning is gradual. Little by little, we stop depending on the things that once seemed absolutely necessary. And as that dependence weakens, something else may begin to appear. A different kind of peace. A different kind of nourishment. A different way of experiencing life. In this series, I’ll continue moving through Rumi’s Mathnawi, Book 3, in order, exploring the stories, metaphors, and spiritual teachings as they unfold. Peace and Blessings be with you. #Rumi #Mathnawi #Masnavi #Sufism #SpiritualAwakening #Mysticism #Spirituality #HigherConsciousness #InnerPeace #EchoesOfWisdom