THE BARRIERS WE BUILD WITHIN OURSELVES... AGAINST LOVE

 

Pic.: Fr. Reginald Pinto

Two days ago, my wife and I watched the latest movie – “Diana’. The movie deals with the last two years of Princess Diana’s life, just after her divorce with Prince Charles… ending with her death in the tragic car-crash in Paris.

As we had gone to watch the movie without any preconceived ideas or the influence of any film-reviews, and, also, as both of us had heard or read about the incidences in Princess Diana’s life, we really came out liking the movie.

The film shows that Diana longed for an ordinary life… love and affection of an ordinary soul. But, the destiny wouldn’t allow her live a quiet life… The more she avoided to be in limelight, the more she was drawn to it… the more she yearned to be anchored with the love and affection of a simple yet strong soul, the more disappointed she would become, in the end. Love eluded her, till her tragic end!

In the movie, we get to know Diana’s post-divorce romantic-relationship with the Pakistani heart surgeon, Hasnat Khan… and how, in a short time, it, too, failed and frustrated both of them… Diana is shown heart-broken after this break-up, and we see her drawn into the glamorous life of her new love, the young tycoon - Dodi Fayed. We are shown the shallowness of the relationship, as deep in her heart, she still longed to be with the simple soul – Hasnat Khan. Finally, when the Paparazzi hounded Fayed and Diana and they died in the car-crash… we are shown a despondent Khan going near the palace gate with flowers in his hands… heaps and heaps of bouquets, cards, notes and candles have been  already placed there… and, Hasnat Khan is shown making his way to the front to place his own. Then comes a moment which left both, my wife and me - and, I hope all viewers – with a lump in throat… He pulls out from his pocket a hand-written card and places over his bouquet:

“Beyond our ideas of right and wrong, there is a garden…

 I will meet you there.”

- Rumi

I had been, always, fond of Rumi’s poems… I loved their mystic touch… Yes, like millions of his fans, always, find, I, too, have found in his romantic poems the face of God… They are so soothing, so divine… just as Tagore’s poems are. … And, when the film ends with those two lines from Rumi’s poem, we couldn’t leave the theatre without  hiding our tears!

Here is the full poem:

“Out beyond our ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing,
there is a field… I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.”

I remember these, too, from Rumi:

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,

to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.

First to let go of live… Finally, to take a step without feet.”

…

“Your task is not to seek for love, 

but merely to seek and find 

all the barriers within yourself 

that you have built against it.”

…

And yes, this one… So beautiful:

“ When I am with you, we stay up all night.

When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.

Praise God for those two insomnias…

And the difference between them!”

Love, Life, God… our hearts feel their strength only when they are kept simple, uncomplicated!

GERALD D’CUNHA