As the Lotus Whirls:
Rumi’s Search for the Meaning of Life
By Zaman Stanizai, Ph.D.
In the name of the Para-Cosmic Consciousness, Whose Oneness of Being pens the verses of perpetually unfolding multiplicities.
From Balkhi to Rumi
Mawlānā Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi Rumi is recognized by all these names. Jalaluddin Muhammad is his given name. He is referred to as Balkhi due to his connection with his birthplace, near Balkh, Afghanistan. The name Rumi denotes his residence in the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia (Eastern Roman Empire) in Iconium, now known as Konya, Türkiye. Mawlānā, meaning “Our Master,” is an honorific title bestowed upon him by his disciples, and most people commonly address him this way.
In any of his names or titles, his entity is synonymous with poetry, but poetry can signify a thousand different things to a thousand minds. Poets bend and break syntactical and semantic rules in their quest for meaning within the strands of thought expressed as verse. Some converse without versifying on a journey from nowhere to know where. Others rely on the reader to grasp the meaning, gasp, and marvel at the revelation unfurling before them. They hope that an unrestrained expression of thought may blossom into a vibrant display somewhere on the still surface of a pond. (Read the whole essay)