Hi All
I am translating the lesson 360 in French. I am not certain to understand clearly what Rumi means by these two lines of the poem quoted by Yogani:
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Can any of you explain how he understands this statement?
Didier
Hi maybe this is a simple instruction on not to approach God by analysis but in simple inspirational way .when you have knowledge of the divine looking in books may help affirm what you already know but it’s the experience of living in love that counts .i adore the writings of rumi each may have their own interpretations of every word phrase ect .peace and love to you
Dear Buffle,
I think Kumar is right, and can add that (maybe) Rumi is showing us how to loosen our bonds of fear and intellect. What good is reading in a room if we are not willing to share God’s music with the world? Will we let His music play in us, or lock it away in our inner study?
Hi, I think he meant don’t overanalyze, but practise
opening the door to the study and reading is a function of intellect – it gets you nowhere
taking down a musical instrument opens the heart – this was rumi’s muse
Thanks you all for your insights. You comfort my understanding.
The poem quoted by Yogani is (lesson 360):
“Keep walking, though there is no place to get to.
Don’t try to see through the distances.
That’s not for human beings.
Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
My translation in French:
« Continue à marcher, même s’il n’y a nulle part où aller.
Ne cherche pas à voir à travers la distance.
Cela n’est pas pour les êtres humains.
Va à l’intérieur, mais n’y va pas guidé par la peur.
Aujourd’hui, comme tous les autres jours, nous nous réveillons vides et effrayés.
N’ouvre pas la porte pour étudier et commencer à lire.
Repose l’instrument de musique.
Que la beauté que nous aimons soit dans ce que nous faisons.
Il y a des centaines de façons de s’agenouiller et d’embrasser le sol »
Sounds lovely in French.
One comment about this verse: “N’ouvre pas la porte pour étudier et commencer à lire.”
In English “the study” is a room in one’s home where people do the sort of work you do sitting at a desk; you keep your papers there, your computer etc. Do the French not have that concept? Something like a “bureau” in your home?
Otherwise it’s a completely fateful translation to the English version.
You are doing a wonderful thing translating the AYP lessons into French
Hi BlueRaincoat,
Your comment is completely right and gives perfect sense to the sentence.
What do you think best?
N’ouvre pas la porte de ta bibliothèque pour commencer à lire
N’ouvre pas la porte de ton cabinet de travail pour commencer à lire
Hi Didier
I’d say “cabinet de travail” is closest to the English noun “study”.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Reading leads to analysis and ruminating also. maybe ruminate is somehow related to Rumi?
Take down a musical instrument.
Music has always been associated with praise and to a certain extent worship or spreading the joy. Rumi tells us to go outward rather than inward in quest of the path.
That’s good point - if reading is the activity Rumi meant, then “bibliothèque” might be the more suitable word. It is possible ‘study’ was preferred to ‘library’ in the English version for the sake of the metre.
We’ll never know unless we read the original. Which I suppose is in Persian or Arabic?
How about:
N’ouvre pas la porte a l’etude et commence a lire (sorry I can’t add accents as necessary)
with the implication ‘do not open the door to knowledge and start reading.’
I would also go for
Laisse la beauté que nous aimons être ce que nous faisons
Fun exercise 
Sey 
Hi Sey,
It is exactly the reason I ask the question on forum. I hesitated between:
N’ouvre pas la porte à l’étude et commence à lire (as you suggest)
And
N’ouvre pas la porte à l’étude pour commencer à lire
I think I will choose as proposed by BlueRaincoat:
N’ouvre pas la porte de ta bibliothèque pour commencer à lire
I understand Rumi means it is useless to read or to play music as it is an escape of the now and it is much better to follow his heart and act in the real life.
Laisse la beauté que nous aimons être ce que nous faisons instead of Laisse la beauté que nous aimons être dans ce que nous faisons
In my opinion that you propose is not specific enough as Rumi explain that the beauty we seek is not to be found in the books or in the music but in what we do.
Didier
Hello everyone
Rumi wrote originally in persian which i dont know
but i have found the poem in arabic
It says take any music instrument
not drop the music instrument
take any music instrument and let be beauty be in what you do
so the correct french translation would be :
N’ouvre pas la porte de ta bibliothèque pour commencer à lire
prends n’importe quel instrument de musique
Laisse la beauté que nous aimons être ce que nous faisons
…
@maheswari / Didier - Yes, he is saying take down (pick up) a music instrument and start playing…not drop it. So he values playing music - in which we can express our creativity and beauty - to reading.
Sey
exactly Sey
Yes, that comes across in the English version to.
Nice translation maheswari
I don’t see any difference between reading and music. The two can be an escape from the “now” or a vehicle to the “now” depending on how you use them.
But, it is a matter of another discussion; the point is to translate Rumi accurately, so I will go with Maheswari’s translation which achieves unanimity.
Thanks you all for helping me to avoid any misunderstanding!
Didier
music is beauty
reading and study can be spiritual ego…dry knowledge
anyway our task is to stick to what Rumi wrote
Hi Didier, I am impressed by the huge transaltion work you are doing!!