Translated by E.H. Whinfield

The uncanny relevance of the Masnavi to contemporary life has produced an intense interest in Rumi. Some 43 years in the writing, his masterwork is generally regarded as one of the world's greatest books, influencing Western writers from Chaucer to Hegel to the contemporary poet Robert Bly.

Biological evolution, how basic psychological drives motivate human behavior, and the process of conditioning -- all are described some 700 years before being identified by Western science.

This one-volume abridgment is a direct translation from the original Persian.

I died as inanimate matter and arose a plant,
I died as a plant and rose again an animal.
I died as an animal and arose a man.
Why then should I fear to become less by dying?
I shall die once again as a man
To rise an angel perfect from head to foot!
Again when I suffer dissolution as an angel,
I shall become what passes the conception of man!
Let me then become non-existent, for non-existence
Sings to me in organ tones, 'To him shall we return.'
--From Teachings of Rumi: The Masnavi © 1973 by Octagon Press.