A Comparative Study of Divine Love: Jelāluddin Rūmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī
Mystical Poetry, Divine Longing, and the Reciprocity of Love in Sufi and Bhakti Traditions
Keywords:
Divine Love, Sufism, Bhakti, Jelāluddin Rūmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Mystical Poetry, Mathnawi, Uddhava Sandeśa, Reciprocity, Union and Separation, Islamic Mysticism, Gauḍīya VaiṣṇavismAbstract
This paper explores the nature of divine love as articulated by two prominent mystical poets—Jelāluddin Rūmī, a 13th-century Sufi from the Islamic tradition, and Rūpa Gosvāmī, a 16th-century Bhakti theologian from the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition. Through a comparative analysis of Rūmī’s Mathnawi (specifically "The Vakil of Bokhara") and Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Uddhava Sandeśa, the study examines how both traditions conceptualize God’s love for His devotees, emphasizing themes of surrender, divine reciprocity, and mystical union. While Rūmī’s Sufi perspective highlights the annihilation of the self in the Beloved, Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Bhakti theology underscores the eternal individuality of the soul in loving service to Kṛṣṇa. Despite differences in theological emphasis—such as the Sufi focus on transcendent unity (tanzīh) and the Bhakti celebration of divine intimacy (mādhurya)—both traditions affirm that divine love is the highest spiritual path, capable of binding even God to His devotees.
