When the soul begins to sing

“O chevalier, wine is that wine, poured by the hand of the Unseen into the cup of the heart and drunk by the eye of the spirit. The people became drunk with the passing of the cup, but I became drunk with the one who passed it,” said the prominent 12th-century Persian scholar and Sufi master Hazrat Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī in his celebrated work, Kashf al-Asrār wa ‘Uddat al-Abrār (The Unveiling of the Mysteries and the Provision of the Pious).

Total, immersive love of the Almighty is the bridge that connects the human heart to the Infinite. Complete and loving surrender to the Almighty makes the seeker a vessel to receive divine grace. When the vessel is ready, the Divine Beloved may pour the wine of His love into the cup of the heart.

Hazrat Maybudi famously observed that the intellect can take a person to the door of the divine, but only love can allow them to step through it.

Such is the power of love – it becomes our bridge to the Almighty. Then the heart overfloweth.

The divine joy that flows within the seeker is so overwhelming that the vessel can no longer contain the sheer volume of what is held within.

The seeker finds himself intoxicated with the heady flow of gratitude and divine love in his heart. God’s love in his heart and prayer on his lips is his only anchor.

He is so submerged in the divine deluge that his emotions reach a tipping point and must spill over into words, actions, or silence.

Sheikh Sharafuddin Yahya Maneri, one of the most influential Sufi saints of the Indian subcontinent, used the allegory of wine and intoxication to speak of a seeker’s search for the Divine Beloved.

He said, “An imbiber of wine came to the door of the tavern and asked for a little wine. He was told that the tavern was out of wine. “Take my hand and place it upon the mouth of the vessel,” the seeker replied, “so that I might smell its aroma. This will make me as intoxicated as others become after drinking a hundred glasses of wine!”

One can find the Divine Beloved when one is consumed by the search for Him. Sufis often tell the story of the drop that was petrified, that it would be consumed by the ocean.

Then the drop allowed itself to meet the rising wave, and lo and behold! The drop found that it was no longer a mere speck of water. It had become the mighty, magnificent ocean.

The search must be so powerful that the heart overflows with love for the Divine Beloved.

The Sufis regard the joyous, rapturous overflow of the heart is not a loss of control. It is a sign of reaching one’s natural capacity for wonder.

Then the seeker rejoices in the abundance of God’s love that he experiences. “When the heart is full, the tongue is silent. When the heart overflows, the soul begins to sing.”

In many Sufi stories, the relationship between the Saqi (the Cupbearer, representing the Spiritual Guide or the Divine itself) and the seeker is the central message.

It is said that a seeker once complained to his master, “I have drunk the wine of devotion for years, yet I am still thirsty.” The master replied, “The miracle is not that the wine quenches the thirst. The miracle is that the more you drink, the thirstier you become.”

This “thirsty drunkenness” explains the boundless joy of a seeker’s heart. He knows the joy of finding the Divine Beloved, and he also knows the joy of the heart that overflows on witnessing the beauty of the Divine Beloved. God’s love is so vast, so infinite and fulfilling that the soul’s capacity to receive it must constantly expand. When the Sufi masters speak of “intoxication”, they are not referring to any loss of the senses.

Instead, they urge the seeker to disassociate himself from the self. They urge the seeker to witness the loss of the limited self to make room for the Infinite Beloved.

The story of Layla and Majnu is one of the most profound allegories of Divine Love in the Indian sub-continent. Sufi masters have transformed the story of Layla and Majnu into a map of the soul’s journey toward the Almighty.

The word Majnu means possessed or ‘mad’. In the Sufi context, his madness is divine intoxication.

There is a beautiful story associated with Layla and Majnu. People told Majnu he was crazy for loving Layla since he could never have her. Majnu replied that he no longer saw Layla with his eyes but lived as Layla.

This mirrors the intimate closeness between the seeker and the Divine Beloved, where the seeker no longer sees the world. He finds only the “Face of God” in everything.

Just as the night hides the world but reveals the stars, Layla represents the hidden beauty of the Almighty. She is beautiful yet elusive, and only a purified heart immersed in love can truly see her.

People used to tell Majnu that Layla was a mere woman. But for Majnu, she was the source of all light.

In the same way, Divine Beauty is often hidden in plain sight. Its magnificence can be grasped only by those whose hearts overflow with longing.

The desert in the Layla-Majnu stories is used as the symbol of the spiritual path. It is the vast wilderness where Majnu dwells. It is his ‘desert of quest’.

A king once summoned Majnu and told him, “This Layla you rave about is not even that beautiful. I have many women in my harem who are far more stunning. Why have you lost your mind for her?”

Majnu smiled and replied, “To see the beauty of Layla, you must borrow the eyes of Majnu.” The message herein is that one cannot understand the “Wine of Divine Love” through the cold logic of the intellect (represented by the king).

One can only understand it through the direct experience (dhawq) of the heart. Majnu represents the seeker who transitions from formal knowledge to spiritual ecstasy.

Majnu’s absolute, self-sacrificing love is the seeker’s constant yearning for the Almighty. His heart shall be at peace only after he finds his Divine Beloved.

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