Mevlana Muses On The Story Of 'Umar And The Minstrel

Mevlana picks up the tale of 'Umar and the minstrel in the graveyard at Masnavi Bk. I: 2161-2198.

Here,'Umar is startled by the minstrel's strange reaction to the good news of God's favor and bids him to stop weeping. "Your regrets about the past," he tells him, "are not healthy. You seek to repent for the years in which you were preoccupied with yourself; but when will you repent from your repentance? First it was the harp that beguiled you, now you are beguiled by regret for your past beguilement."

At that moment,'Umar became for the minstrel a mirror into which he could look and see himself embedded in mystery. He stopped weeping over his past and fell into bewilderment.

In Nicholson's translation, Mevlana muses:

A seeking and searching beyond (all) seeking and search: I know not (how to describe it); (if) you know, tell!
Words and feelings beyond (all) feelings and words--he had become drowned in the beauty of the Lord of majesty...
Now that the story of the old man's (spiritual) experiences has come to this point, the old man and his experiences have withdrawn behind the veil.
The old man has shaken his skirt free from talk and speech: half of the tale has remained in our mouth (has not been told)...
In chase of the spiritual forest be (as) a falcon, be one who gambles his soul (life) away, like the sun [Shams] of this world...