Mathnavi or Mathnavi-e Maanavi is the best known work of Rumi consisting of 24,660 couplets in seven books. Rumi himself defined his work as a work of destruction, destruction of the worldly for the sake of embracing the Divine. He warns the reader in advance to be prepared to let go of everything:

Every venture one's life may replete
Mathnavi's purpose is the Great Defeat.
Set afire, burning with cleansing heat,
On the anvil, egos ply and beat.
This book, if you open, read, entreat
Your life, a mendicant's, in the street.

Translations from Mathnavi

Please click on the various numbers below to go to different poems:

©   1998, Vancouver Canada, 1999 - 2005,  Los Angeles, CA
You may use any part presented herein for non-commercial purposes only, on the condition of giving full credit to the author and to this home page, including a hyperlink, if you wish to use these material over the Internet.