I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as an animal, and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar with angels blest; but even from angelhood, I must pass on. All except God, death perish. When I shall have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind has ever conceived. Oh, let me not exist! For non-existence proclaims in organ tones, ‘To Him we shall return’
~ Rumi.
Questioner: Acharya Ji, can you please help me understand more deeply what Rumi is saying in this beautiful poem? What does it mean when Rumi says, “When I have sacrificed my angel-soul”?
Acharya Prashant: It is the journey of consciousness that Rumi is talking of. There is the mineral, the soil with no consciousness of its own, at least no consciousness as the soil appears in our consciousness. The soil that we are talking of as per our consciousness, that soil has no consciousness. But from that soil grows a plant and the plant is conscious. The plant responds to touch, the plant has fear, plants have been shown to respond even to music. It has been demonstrated that plants grow faster and fruit better when they are with loving caretakers. So the plant has a certain consciousness, but the plant has no intention of Liberation.
The plant’s consciousness is very very rudimentary, extremely primitive. The plant is almost like a foetus – A foetus in the first week, next to nothing. And then the plant is eaten by the animal. And we know that the animal has a higher level of consciousness. Animals emote, animals go through a whole spectrum of feelings. Animals experience happiness and animals also suffer from depression and animals do not like being chained. Animals have a certain desire for freedom. Animals even have a certain basic concept of Dharma.
You go to a tree, and beneath the tree you can keep slaughtering human beings or animals, it makes no difference to the tree or very little difference. In fact, using the bones, the blood, the carcass of the slaughtered animals, the tree’s roots will get even more nourishment. So, if you slaughter animals under a tree, it is possible that the tree may grow even bigger and healthier. But animals have a certain sense of justice.
You may sit on a chair with a plate in your hand and the plate has sandwiches, conduct this experiment; A dog comes near to you and the dog will hungrily sniff at your plate and he knows that the sandwiches are lying on the plate and the plate is on your lap. The plate is exactly at the same vertical level as the dog’s snout, as the dog’s mouth, the dog can reach out and grab a sandwich from your plate, but the dog would just wait by your side. Well, exceptions might be there, but this is what the experiment would most likely reveal to you, the dog would wait by your side.
The moment you drop a piece of the sandwich the dog would leap at it. The dog may even grab that piece mid-air as you drop it. So, the dog is so very eager to have the sandwich, but the dog would not pick the sandwich from your plate. Because the dog knows it is not orderly, it is not just, this is the beginning of the realization of Dharma. The dog knows that it is not Dharmic in some sense, not religious to take stuff from somebody’s plate but the moment that stuff falls down on the ground, the dog grabs it, because now it does not belong to you, now that piece of bread belongs to existence and whatsoever is there in the existence is available to all.
Now, what is there in your hand that must not be snatched away, that much the dog realizes, that much order the dog has respect for. Well, there are certain other animals that do not respect this order, for example monkeys, if you are carrying edibles in your hand, you may find some mischievous monkeys trying to take the stuff away even from your hand. But even if you have a few exceptions to totally self-centric behavior, those few exceptions are proof that animals show some regard for Dharma and that means their consciousness is developing.
Then comes man, man is at a junction — a bi junction, two possibilities are always there. There is a possibility that he may totally follow Dharma. The dog, even if he tries to, cannot be totally Dharmic because he doesn’t understand Dharma. Man has the option, to be totally Dharmic, that choice is available. But it is not necessary that man makes the right choice. Man also has a choice to give more importance to his body or to his desires than to Truth. Dharma is to give prime importance to Truth. So, man on one hand has the potential to be totally Dharmic; on the other hand, has the choice to not do the right thing.
The ones who act rightly are rewarded rightly — that is the law of karma. Joy is the deepest pleasure possible, deepest and continuous. Man may choose religion. And when man is religious then he acts as per the sanctified codes of religion. He does the right things and therefore he reaps the rewards. The reward is a certain bliss, the reward is a certain freedom.
The one who is continuously experiencing this reward, this bliss is the angel-soul. What Rumi calls as the angel-soul here is what we call as a Devata . Man lives on earth and on earth there is both pleasure and pain. The Devata lives in Swarg or heaven and in heaven there is a continuous pleasure. Death doesn’t come there; sickness doesn’t come there. One is just enjoying the rewards of abiding by the Truth — that is heaven. But remember that the angel-soul or the Devata is not yet fully liberated. He has become attached to bliss. And that is why in the Indian myth, Devatas had to frequently rush to Shiva because their bliss would be threatened. They haven’t yet fully arrived. Devata was the one who could have been fully liberated but he got entangled in heaven. Heaven stopped the Devata from gaining full Liberation. Heaven is a very tempting place you see.
If you live rightly then you will be rewarded. Do not accept that reward, that reward will be your prison. Live rightly and when the reward of right living comes to you, discard that reward, that is Liberation. Who is an angel-soul? Who lives rightly and when the reward of right living comes to it, the angel accepts it. The angel accepts the reward of right living and therefore remains confined to the reward. Oh, it’s a very pleasant reward. But nevertheless, it still is a confinement.
The Devata is not fully liberated. Indra is not Shiva, or is he? So many times, you have seen Indra running helter-skelter to save his skin. Both, his kin and his skin. But Shiva is never found running anywhere. He is already everywhere. Indra, Marut, Agni, Varun; they all get beaten up, sometimes at least, but Shiva is invincible. So, Man is the one who can make a right choice and a wrong choice. Man can either follow Dharma or reject Dharma.
If a man follows Dharma, then he is rewarded; if man accepts the reward of following Dharma, then he is an angel; but if man follows Dharma and discards the rewards of following Dharma then he is liberated, then he is totally liberated. Because now he is following Dharma totally motivelessly, totally without greed. He is not accepting rewards; he says, "I am just doing what I must. And, if praise comes to me for doing what I must then I am not the one who would accept that praise. Doing what I must is in itself a full reward, if I accept any additional reward then I am creating trouble for myself. I have done the right thing and that’s all." This is also called as motiveless action, selfless action, or Nishkam Karma.
Not only must you do the right thing, but you must also do the right thing without the expectation of a reward. If you do the right thing in expectation of a reward and also accept the reward, then your reward is not yet full. Then you are not being fully rewarded. The best reward is when you are so fully rewarded that you don’t want any rewards. The angel is a consumer of bliss and therefore the angel is just an angel. Therefore, the angel has still not met God. Therefore, the angel is still a step away.
See what Rumi is saying, his closing lines, “All except God death perish”, remember Kabir singing, “ paintis koti devta marein hai (35 crore angels have died)”, Kabir is saying, your innumerable Gods are all going to perish because they are still not fully liberated, that which is not liberated is going to meet an end definitely. “When I have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind ever conceived”, sacrificing your angel-soul means sacrificing the rewards that come with being an angel, be an angel but don’t accept gratification. The angel must be transcended.
"Oh! let me not exist", even being an angel is a kind of existence and all existence is ephemeral. That’s what Kabir says in the verse that I just quoted, he says, “This will die, that will die, the suns and the moons will die, obviously, all humans will die, even the gods will die” because they all exist, they all exist in a dualistic way and whatsoever exists in a dualistic way, whatsoever is perceived by man to exist is prone to disappearance. When you say something exists it is always dualistic because it is you who is certifying the existence of that thing, two are there — the thing and the perceiver of that thing. Such existence is never quite believable. Such existence has no authenticity.
Non-existence proclaims in organ tones, “To Him we shall return”. The angel will be compelled to return to God, because the angel soon discovers that the things that troubled and beset man are troubling the angel as well. What troubled the man? Death, captivity, loss, longing, and these are things that trouble the angel as well because the angel too has an existence. Wherever there is existence there is the looming threat of non-existence.
We have seen that right? How the Asuras and Danavas trouble the Devatas. So, there is no option but to return to Truth, return to God. As Rumi says in the end, “To Him, we shall return”. No kind of existence will save you. Only non-existence is the solution. Flipping from existence to existence is just like turning coats, don’t be a turncoat. Don’t keep hopping from personality to personality. Ask yourself, do you really require the person? Is the person really so important? When you start seeing the person as a casual joke then it’s okay, then you can keep being with the person. Because now you don’t need the person, now the person is just a thing by your side; an ordinary handkerchief, even if you lose it, you haven’t lost much.
Don’t try to improve yourself, don’t try to exist better. Any kind of existence that you prefer, profess, or wear will be a potential source of trouble, a present source of trouble, a definite source of trouble. In the realm of existence there is only suffering, you will not find any place to hide. You will have to go to your home realm, you will have to go to your pet domain. The domain of existence is not your pet domain, it is not your home ground. “To Him we shall return”.
