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Masnavi III, 2895-99
Giving thanks for abundance
is sweeter than the abundance itself:
Should one who is absorbed with the Generous One
be distracted by the gift?
Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence;
abundance is but the husk,
for thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.
Abundance yields heedlessness;
thankfulness, alertness:
hunt for bounty with the snare of gratitude to the King.
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Thanksgiving for the bounty is sweeter than the bounty
(itself): how should he that is addicted to thanksgiving go towards (direct
his attention to) the bounty?
Thanksgiving is the soul of the bounty, and the bounty is as a husk because
thanksgiving brings you to the abode of the Beloved.
Bounty produces heedlessness, and thanksgiving alertness:
hunt after bounty with the snare of thanksgiving to the King.
The bounty of thanksgiving will make you contented and princely so that you
will bestow a hundred bounties on the poor.
You will eat your fill of the viands and dessert of God, so that
hunger and begging will depart from you.
The Mathnawi of Jalalu’ddin Rumi
Edited and Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
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