One night, closer to the dawn, the following prayer came to a dervish:
O Allah, please make me less of me,And more of You.There is nothing more real than You.
There is none who is real other than You.
And the imagery that came to his heart is the imagery of the moon waxing and waning, so he further prayed,
By the moon and its journeying,O Allah, please make me less of me,and more of You.There is nothing more real than You.
There is none who is real other than You.
And the imagery that came to his heart is the imagery of the blazing sun, which by it's every single ray, becomes less and less for the sake of nourishing all; so he further prayed,
By the glowing sun and its rays,
O Allah, please make me less of me,
and more of You.
There is nothing more real than You.
There is none who is real other than You.
And the imagery that came to his heart is the imagery of a lover becoming less and less for the sake of his beloved, so he further prayed,
By every true lover whom You elevate to his, her rank of love,
O Allah, please make me less of me,
And more of You.
There is nothing more real than You.
There is none who is real other than You.
Then a long silence came and entered into the heart of the poor dervish.
And finally, the final imagery that came to his heart is the Way of the Infinitely Merciful, the Ever Merciful Who Has decreed Infinite Grace upon Himself, for His Glorious Self (kataba ‘ala nafsihi l-rahmata, Quran 6:12) - out of that Infinite Mercy God Himself hide Himself in the mystery of His Being, being Manifest (Zahir) He at same occasion becomes Hidden (Batin) as said Rabindranath Tagore, "tomar shesh nahi tai shunno sheje, shesh kore dao apnakeje" (O God You have no end and yet You hide Yourself to make Yourself not); so he prayed,
By the Way of ar-Rahman ar-Rahim,
O Allah, please make me less of me,
And more of You.
THERE IS NOTHING MORE REAL THAN YOU.
THERE IS NONE WHO IS REAL OTHER THAN YOU.
Ameen. By God's permission, so be it. (end of prayer)
And here is an elegant secret: God, Allah, Ishwar wants to be less and less of Himself so that you may be yourself; so that we all may be our different unique selves. That is the most prominent and certain quality of love that it makes one less and less for the sake of the beloved. And human beings are most honored that they are the beloveds of God (Walaqad karramna banee adama, And We have certainly honored humanity ~ Quran 17:70).
God's apparently being less and less does not diminishes anything from His Kingdom or His Essential Self.
Just as He is Unique, he has allowed each self to be unique, no two sentient beings are same, they all are unique sharing the divine attribute of uniqueness, unique oneness.
But at the end when all play of duality comes to an end, at the end of history, all must return to Him.
wa-ilayhi yur'jaʿūn ~ The Quran 3:83
and towards the Divine Self they will be returned.
# Related:
* Tomae Notun Korey Pabo Boley - A Sufic / Spiritual interpretation of Tagore's Song
* Other Songs of Tagore translated at Technology of the Heart
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