Mystical Experience in Boundary Situations and Reflections on Parrot and Bazargan Tale

Document Type : Research Article

Author

• Ghodratollah Taheri

Shahid Beheshti University

10.22067/jls.v0i0.83854

Abstract

Extended Abstract

Introduction

Parrot and Merchant Tale (طوطی و بازرگان) is the famous narratives of the eastern nations (India, Iran, Arabic). Rum has taken it from its earlier sources and re-created it. Mathnawi commentators have generally interpreted the anecdote based on the theory of "voluntary death". Among them, only Froozanfar has briefly mentioned the semantic relationship of this story with Rumi's private experiences. It seems that Rumi's private experiences, such as being in the Boundary situation and gaining mystical experience by meeting Shams Tabrizi, appears indirectly in this story. If the main theme of the story is how to go through the "fame and fame backdrop" that leads to "double birth", the narrator himself (Rumi) has followed this path with Shams Tabrizi's guidance. In this study, we want to analyze the boundary position of the merchant, the main character of the story, and his entrance into the mystical world. Moreover, we will show that Rumi is so intertwined with the merchant in parts of the story that one cannot distinguish between them.

Review of Literature

The story of the parrot and the merchant is one of the allegorical stories that has get the attention of many scholars. Jozov (1989) has described this story based on a mystical mystery. In addition to this book, Zarynkubbin (2007) has analyzed parts of its mystical hidden meanings and Purnamdaran (2001) conducted a mystical analysis. Tavakoli (2010) addressed the narrative aspects of the story and Taheri (2013) narrated the story based on Rumi's personal and private experiences. Najafi (2016) studied the textual codes of the story. Khanmohammadi et al. (2014) examined the allegorical aspects of the story and analyzed the symbolic roles of the story's characters during the discussion. Mohammadi and Baharvand (2012) also discussed how the story ends. As can be seen, the mystical experiences and character of merchant  have not been brought to the attention of scholars.

Method

Boundary situations and their importance in the fate of mankind have, more than any other philosophical view, been raised by existentialists. Man, with his freedom, will, choice, and responsible commitment to the results of his choices, is constantly forming into his being. Transcendentalism to existentialist philosophers, including its founder, Soren Kierkegaard, has another meaning as well, that is, the existence of a self-transcendent being leads to God. In this sense, the transcendent human becomes a divine human, and this is why existential philosophy bears similarities with Islamic mysticism, including the ideas of Rumi.
But does every human being follow the path of transcendence in its first sense (superior humanity) and in its second sense (divine human)? The answer of the existentialists is that not everyone follows this path. Only those who can transcend in both meanings can be placed in boundary situations. Boundary situations arise when a person on the path of life reaches a level of growth that shows signs of disengagement rather than as a result of an accident, encounter with a strange thing or situation, a severe impediment to one's existential nature. Challenges him, causing him a radical change. In boundary situations, one has to decide whether to rescue his or not that situation succumbs. Existentialists say that if the will, choice, and acceptance of the results of selective action take place, a fundamental change in one's life will take place, as if his future is unlike his past. Only then can one regain his "original existence”.

Results and Discussion

In the Rumi's parable, the merchant prepares himself for the conditions of entry into the boundary situation from the moment he accepts to deliver the parrot’s bohemian message to Indian parrot.
The messaging and death of one of the parrots is the beginning of merchant's entry into the boundary situation that will later transform his personality. Jailed Merchant’s Parrot Response to the death of an Indian parrot, brings Merchant into a new spiritual phase of life. The merchant must endure his "suffering from the despair of his beloved". A parrot for a merchant is everything. His companion is equal to his solitude; as if the merchant did not exist. Merchant has become an "insecure existence" with the parrot. It was as if he had lost his parrot. He must regain the infinite (God) through "leaving the finite", that is, the parrot. The fake death of the parrot creates an "anxiety" in the merchant, the result of which is to endure and overcome, to regain its original identity or its true existence. The merchant, while expressing anxious remarks, eventually recovers his "true self". After entering the boundary situation, the merchant enters into a mystical experience and exhibits one of the most sophisticated mystical experiences. The merchant's moods are so intertwined with narrator's moods that it becomes difficult even to identify parts of the narrator's story. The merchant has become another person when it comes to mystical experience. There are no more anxieties in him. He was at the frontier with the loss of the parrot. Anxiety brought him into a transformative experience. Merchant insists that he is no less than a parrot and must follow his path. The merchant lost the parrot, but by abandoning the finite, he gained the infinite God. The parrot had already become a veil and a distance between him and God.

Conclusion

The tale of the parrot and the merchant, unlike his simple plan, is one of the most complex allegorical stories in the East. In this story, Rumi puts one of the main characters (the merchant) in a boundary situation (the loss of a parrot) and this situation gives the merchant an important ontological possibility to go beyond his unmanageable existence. The merchant who had addicted to beautiful parrot had become an alien. Not only did he lose himself, but he had also neglected his God. In this tale, it is not just the parrot who has to die in order to escape merchant's prison, but the merchant himself must die of his own predecessor and restore his original existence by discovering his possessions. The new born merchant is aware of his own potential. The merchant of this story is Rumi himself. Rumi has strayed from his original self before meeting Shams Tabrizi, because of attention to fame. In this story, Rumi also seems to express his "life" in the language of allegory and in the labyrinth of a complex narrative.

Keywords

• Mowlana Jalaleddin
• Mathnawi Manavi
• Mystical Experience
• existentialism
• Boundary Situations
• Personal Transcendence

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