Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

Really liked the verse of the Persian philosopher, theologian, poet, teacher, and founder of Mawlawi order of Sufism; Jalaluddin Rumi, or simply known as Rumi.

o Some Hindoos were exhibiting an elephant in a dark room, and many people collected to see it.

o But as the place was too dark to permit them to see the elephant, they all felt it with their hands, to gain an idea of what it was like.

o One felt its trunk, and declared that the beast resembled a water-pipe;

o another felt its ear, and said it must be a large fan;

o another its leg, and thought it must be a pillar;

o another felt its back, and declared the beast must be like a great throne.


o According to the part which each felt, he gave a different description of the animal.

o One, as it were, called it "Dal" and another "Alif."

o Compare the sensual eye to the hand of one that felt the elephant.

o The eye of outward sense is as the palm of a hand,

o The whole of the object is not grasped in the palm.

o The sea itself is one thing, the foam another;

o Neglect the foam, and regard the sea with your eyes.


o From:- The Masnavi, Book III, Story V, as translated in Masnavi I Ma'navi : The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad Rúmí (1898) by Edward Henry Whinfield