Customer Reviews

The Love Poems of Rumi

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Rumi can not be described as "touchy feeley love poetry", that would be offensive! Rumi speaks truths through his mind and soul in the simplest terms, uncomplicated, tangible and, above all, humanly attainable. This can not be read quickly, it must be digested slowly, carefully, gracefully and with an open soul. Anything else and the reader would be cheating themselves out of something beautiful.

Rumi's sense of divine Love as the essence of one's own being, shines resplendently through almost every poem in this collection. He seems to say that looking for life outside this sense is somewhat like to trying follow footsteps through the sand as they dissolve in the waves in front of you.

This "lover" must be seen within spiritual consciousness; must be felt in the warmth and security of the perfection of the Divine. Rumi must be interpreted metaphysically, yet speaks to the everyday experience. Drink in the spiritual wine!

When you read this book seperately from Rumi's life and thought you can think that he talks about love between men and women. But he is not talking about humanly love, he is talking about spiritual love; love to God and to things created by God. So, one must read these poems by keeping this in mind. Then s/he will begin to look at world with a different eye.

Chopra's selections, of some of Rumi's most passionate poems, are a delight for the heart and soul! The new translations by Farsi scholar Fereydoun Kia are very deep and moving. There is NO OTHER poet with as much passion for the heart, mind and soul as Rumi. His longings for love are our longings and desires yet his expressions will carry you away and fill you up. These favorite selections of Chopra's will seep into your heart and soul.

Share these poems with your lover, by the fire, in each other's arms, and feel the magic of Rumi weaving his spell!

This book is definitely the worst attempt at translating Rumi's work which I have ever come across. It is so bad, it is almost unbelievable. The original Persian poems are edited and twisted to the point of being unrecognisable. Whole lines and segments are left out and only the most obvious (and far too often sugary) choice of words is used for the translation, completely ignoring and/or avoiding the multiple meanings implied in Rumi's original texts. The only good thing that can be said about this book is that it might introduce Rumi to new readers. Best avoid this straight away (try Coleman Barks). Oh yes, and the book has a nice cover!!

Wow. I sat reading this elegantly slim volume in my local Barnes and Noble and I am surprised I didn't float away in ecstacy. I felt completely engulfed in spiritual inspiration, I felt transfixed by a sacred sensuality - and all this while sitting in the children's section no less.

Rumi, as those of us who adore his work know, is a one-of-a-kind.

Deepak Chopra is another one-of-a-kind.

Bring the energy of these two beings, separated by centuries, and you have a winner on so many planes. I plan on giving many copies of this book as gifts - possibly to introduce people to Rumi... or perhaps, to woo a certain someone.

Ahhhh, yes. This is GOOD stuff...........

Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi (more popularly known as `Rumi') is a well known 13th century Sufi poet and theologian. I have come across his work several times in that past, but I never read more than a few passages. This is the first time I have sat down and read a collection of his work `cover to cover,' and I deeply enjoyed it. Rumi's poems are deeply spiritual and penetrate perfectly into the human condition of love and the tides of overwhelming emotions that run with it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I would especially recommended it to men. There are some really romantic and spiritual poems in here that I think would make a nice impression on a `special' woman in your life.

Fereydoun Kia's translation of these beautiful poems elicits the very essence of the divinity of love. The intimacy and passion displayed should kindle the warmth of a knowing blush from lover and beloved alike. Enlightened, inspired, Divine!

However, this book was not nearly long enough, and the feel of the book was far too "abridged" for my taste. I gave this as a gift, which it was perfect for, but if I were buying it for myself, I would have wanted more of a complete works.

Anyone familiar with Rumi's Persian originals will find these translations deeply disappoinitng. Communicates only a fraction of Rumi's burningly intense and often complex pictorial language. Highly edited, lightweight and unnecessary.