Shopkeeper and a Parrot!
A shopkeeper had a smart-talking parrot who would look after the shop in its owner’s absence and prattle with the customers. It was amusing for all. One day, when the parrot was usually busy taking care of the shop, a cat jumped after a mouse in the shop. Fearful of a cat, the parrot jumped in the middle, and many bottles were deranged. The expensive oils and extracts were wasted, and the shop was chaotic. The shopkeeper was returning from happily; he was bewildered to see his shop in a mess. He was so angry that he caused a heavy blow to the parrot’s head that it lost all its feathers and became bald. The parrot was dumbfounded, taking to heart the shopkeeper’s blow, and stopped chatting merrily. The shopkeeper felt sorry and repented; why did he ever hit that bird? He did his best to get the parrot’s merry mood back. He gave charity to the poor and showed wonderful and amazing things to please the parrot, but the parrot was completely muted and turned his eyes away from all the favors showered on him. One day, the parrot saw a bald dervish passing by. Parrot at once exclaimed! “O bald one! What happened to your hair? You, too, had spilled oil from jars?” The passers-by smiled at the parrot’s keen assumption: It took Dervish to its likeness. Can a parrot and a dervish share the same disposition?
Parrot is just an imitator; it is not a scholar. The imitators can mimic and entertain only. Similarly, ordinary people may indulge in discursive knowledge but cannot construct knowledge. Rumi here explains the difference between discursive logic and spiritual enlightening. Not all knowledge is pure and constructive; not all scholars can guide people to the right path. Knowledge is Power, but it is mastered by genuine and brave persons like Moses while it prisons fake and guile sorcerers. True knowledge is liberating; it is acquired by heart and not through sense perception. All senses mislead men, making them biased and prejudiced. We see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear.
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Never assume the skills of pure thou can ever own
Though (sheer) milk and (sher) lion are written in the same tone.
Milk one drinks and nourishes on
Lion but kills the men fully grown.
A little mistake may lead the world astray.
Few familiarize with ‘Abdal’ – masters of the way;(1)
Unfortunate souls had been lacking in vision,
They “see” the “good” and the “evil” as one.
Equality with Prophets they had profaned!
Awliyas are not distinguished, they exclaimed! (2)
They are human beings, and we are, too,
Sleep, wake up, and eat food, we all do!
Blind cannot see; never did they behold
A million stations in between they did hold.
Both insects their food from the same source bring (3)
One has produced sweet honey, the other hard sting.
Both the stags had grazed, drank on the same shore,
One hath produced dung, the other musk pure.
Both stalks have been drinking at the same canal.
One is hollow inside, the other full of sweet sugar.
Hundreds of examples here I can simply quote:
After seventy years of parting ways, they note
He eats, chews, swallows, but excretes the waste.
Here all eaten hath been with Allah’s Nur graced (4)
He eats, all turned to deceit, misery, and jealousy,
Everything eaten hath grown with Allah’s bounty.
It is the land pure, that is corrupted and saline.
An innocent angel it is; he the beast to demon’s resign.
Though both doth bear a similar disposition
The sweet and saline carry purity within
None may deem but only the men of taste,
Curd doth clearly sweet and sour separate.
The men of knowledge are an authority on taste.
Telling the difference between honey and wax, the candle paste.
NOTES
(1) Abdal is a rank. They are chosen by the Supreme Council to serve at this rank. Click for detail
(2) Awliyas are saints or “friends of Allah” whom Allah The Almighty had graced with knowledge. (see Sainthood and Wilayat) Click for detail
(3) the quality of the essence makes a difference.
(4) Nur is Divine Light. A fake person intakes pure knowledge but utters waste because it is full of doubt and skepticism and does not lead to the contentment of the soul. The righteous assimilates knowledge and becomes part and parcel of the Divine Scheme. He is the guiding light – the torchbearer for his followers like Prophets.
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