Recently I finished The Forty Rules of Love. I read this book when I had my technical interview lined up the next day, but the interview gave me so much stress that it was easier to read the book and settle down the stress. The interview did happen, but I didn’t pass it. Anyway, I think I haven’t done justice to the book by reading it only once, because it has 40 quotes which let you float in the cloud of Sufism. If you all know about Sufism, it’s core idea is there is no set procedure to meet God or feel the presence — it does not constrain human beings in restricted customs or ways of remembering God or connecting with God. So how i interpreted forty rule of love that ,how one can surrender to the present completely and do justice to the moment, how can one not let the past guide the present or the anticipation of the future make you forget the present. For me, surrendering to God means in this modern era where you can surrender to your work, your communication, your relationship, your creation, your pleasure… this is when you create something not ordinary, this thing you have created defines you, it makes you unique. So this tells us how Rumi became the mystical poet, became the Rumi what we know today. Shams of Tabriz is the dervish and main character, who wanders the world and when he thought it was a good time to pass the knowledge he went and searched for his companion, therefore he met Rumi. Rumi also devoted himself completely to Shams, and realized how much he was away from the actual suffering, pain of the common people. He learned to accept the world from their place rather than changing it — for example, he went to a wine shop being a Muslim, gave shelter to a prostitute, danced in trance that he didn’t bother that people were looking at him and judging him or that it would tamper with his reputation. He was a very well-known religious guru, but despite all the enlightenment and learning, at the end of the book it showed how much humans are weak in attachment and strong at the same time, how much we want not to be forgotten and to be found by someone, how much it makes us weak and strong in having a human attachment due to which Shams of Tabriz lost his life because he had a lot of people cursing him to change Rumi, and making him do things which he would have never done, but Shams had to come back for Rumi and he died at Rumi’s town… so I think this is what being human is: we try very hard to show attachment doesn’t make us weak, all the songs , all insta reel suggest being solo makes you more productive and superhuman but deep down we crave for attachment, which makes us vulnerable and one cannot escape from it, being a human is tussle between head and heart, it is like constant fight between which one should be chosen, in lot of places following your heart is appreciated but in practical world we not appreciated much if we follow out heart, for example corporate, your manager will think you are weak if you are too emotional and cannot take decision with strategy…but then at the same time it ask you stay unique, think out of the box.. that’s why I say it is constant tussle.
