Masnavi 1: 1882-1884

Yes. The printed English paraphrase on the page is very compressed. The Persian is richer and more prayer-like.

The verses read approximately:

قطره دانش که بخشیدی ز پیش

قطره علمست اندر جان من

پیش از آن کین خاکها خفشش کند

متصل گردان بدریاهای خویش

وارهانش از هوا وز خاک تن

پیش از آن کین بادها نفشش کند

A more literal translation would be:

The drop of knowledge that You bestowed long ago—

that drop of knowing is within my soul.

Before these earthly soils absorb and bury it,

Join it to Your own seas.

Free it from desire and from the dust of the body,

before the winds scatter and disperse it.

The image of the “drop”

For Rumi, the human mind does not possess knowledge independently. Whatever wisdom we have is a drop from the Divine Ocean.

The prayer is not:

“Give me more information.”

It is:

“Do not let this small drop remain isolated.”

A drop by itself can:

• evaporate,

• be absorbed into the dirt,

• be scattered by the wind.

The “dirt” (خاک) symbolizes bodily existence, material concerns, forgetfulness, mortality.

The “wind” often symbolizes:

• changing thoughts,

• passions,

• ego,

• worldly distractions.

So Rumi is saying:

The little bit of divine knowledge in me is fragile.

Before the world swallows it up,

reconnect it to its source—the infinite sea.

“Join it to Your seas”

This is the deepest line:

متصل گردان بدریاهای خویش

“Connect it to Your own oceans.”

A drop united with the ocean no longer fears loss.

The individual intellect is limited and perishable. The Divine Knowing is boundless. Rumi asks for union rather than accumulation.

Spiritual meaning

The prayer could be summarized as:

“Lord, whatever wisdom You have placed in me, do not let it be lost in ego, bodily attachment, or worldly distraction. Reunite this tiny drop of knowledge with the infinite ocean from which it came.”

This is very characteristic of Rumi’s Book 1 themes:

• the soul remembers its origin,

• separation creates suffering,

• reunion with the Source is the goal,

• human knowledge is only a fragment of divine knowledge.

The image also echoes the famous Sufi metaphor:

“You are not merely a drop in the ocean; you are a drop that longs to realize it belongs to the ocean.”

Rumi’s version is even more radical: the drop does not simply belong to the ocean—it has no lasting reality apart from it. The prayer is for the drop to return to its true condition of unity.