The Conference of the Birds is a 12th century epic poem written by the Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar. It tells the story of a group of birds, led by the hoopoe, who decide to journey to find the mythical Simurgh – a gigantic, mystical bird who is said to be the wisest of all creatures. Along the way, the birds must overcome many challenges and be tested in order to reach enlightenment. The overall message and themes of The Conference of the Birds have fascinated readers for centuries.
What is the story of The Conference of the Birds?
The poem begins with the birds of the world gathering together to decide who is to be their king. The hoopoe suggests that they should find the Simurgh, the wisest and most magnificent of birds, and make him their leader. The hoopoe leads the birds on a long and difficult quest to find the Simurgh. Each of the birds represents a different human fault which prevents humans from attaining enlightenment.
As the journey begins, many of the birds prove too weak or unable to withstand the arduous journey. As they travel through seven valleys which represent the stages of the soul’s purification, some birds die while others leave and give up. At the end of the journey, only 30 birds remain to reach the dwelling place of the Simurgh. Finally, the 30 remaining birds look into the waters of the seven valleys and see not the Simurgh but their own reflections. They realize that they themselves are the Simurgh and that the journey to the Simurgh was a journey to their inner selves. The 30 birds become Si (“thirty”) Murgh (“birds”), or Sîmurgh.
The ultimate message is that the birds (and thus humans) already possess what they seek – inner divinity and completion. Once the birds realize the Simurgh dwells inside themselves, they become Simurgh and reach enlightenment. The unity they find completes them as living souls.
What are the major themes in The Conference of the Birds?
The search for spiritual truth and meaning
A core theme of the poem is the quest to find spiritual meaning and truth. The birds embark on a pilgrimage to find the ideal wise ruler, the Simurgh, which also represents their desire to transcend the material world. Their journey reflects every person’s search for spiritual enlightenment.
Overcoming the Self
Each bird’s weaknesses symbolize the faults and failings of human nature that prevent enlightenment. To reach the Simurgh, the birds must overcome their own shortcomings, fears, and earthly desires – they must transcend their selves. The journey requires great sacrifice, determination and spiritual reflection.
Unity of existence
The realization that the birds themselves are the Simurgh conveys the poem’s message that divinity dwells in all beings. Though they begin as separate individuals, the 30 birds come to see that they are all reflections of the same Divine reality. This emphasizes the unity and interconnection between all living creatures.
Sufi mysticism
The poem explores Sufi Islamic themes about the path to union with the Divine. In Sufi tradition, birds symbolize human souls striving towards enlightenment and unity with God. Thus the epic draws heavily on Sufi mystical teachings about the soul’s stages of growth and overcoming the ego.
What is the significance of the birds’ journey?
The difficult journey of the birds represents the challenging path of spiritual seekers. Each of the seven valleys they cross symbolizes an essential stage of the mystic’s progress towards enlightenment. The valleys test the birds’ commitment, will, and ability to sacrifice their needs, wants and egos.
The journey begins at the Valley of the Quest, full of longing and desire. Only after crossing the treacherous Valley of Love, with its agonizing trials of commitment, and the Valley of Understanding, do the birds reach the Valley of Detachment, where worldly ties are severed. Finally, in the Valley of Death, some birds annihilate themselves completely before joining as one in the Valley of Poverty and Nothingness. There, the final veil is lifted to reveal the truth of the Simurgh.
The arduous journey signifies that attaining higher spiritual truth requires difficulty, sacrifice, and surrender of the Self. Only the most dedicated birds can overcome their imperfections and limitations to perceive the Divine. The journey transforms the birds and prepares them to dissolve their individual egos and unite as one with the Simurgh.
What is the significance of the Simurgh?
The Simurgh represents absolute perfection, omniscience, unity, and enlightenment. The birds’ desire to find the Simurgh reflects humanity’s yearning to connect with an ideal divine state, source of knowledge, and inner completeness.
The Simurgh embodies divine majesty and mystery. His name means “thirty birds” in Persian, foreshadowing the unity of the thirty birds who complete the quest. Yet the Simurgh remains unseen for much of the journey, concealed in the invisible realm of spiritual truth.
When the birds finally reach the dwelling place of Simurgh and perceive him, they see their own images reflected back. This conveys that the Simurgh already existed within themselves. Their real destination was not the external Simurgh, but the spark of the divine within their own hearts. The Simurgh thus represents humanity’s inherent inner divinity and completion.
Attaining unity with Simurgh signals the birds’ awakening to their true nature and their inner connection to the Divine. They transcend their individual egos to merge with the Totality of Being reflected in the Simurgh. The Simurgh symbolizes the Sufi belief that within each person rests the potential to realize one’s essence as part of the Absolute, and achieve wholeness with all creation.
What do the different birds represent?
Each of the many bird species in the poem symbolizes a human archetype or some aspect of the human experience on the spiritual journey:
Hoopoe | The hoopoe bird guides the birds and represents the Sufi master who leads aspirants on the mystical path. |
Nightingale | Known for its melodious song, the nightingale represents the lover experiencing the agony of mystical longing. |
Parrot | The eloquent parrot symbolizes the seeker seeking meaning through words, discourse, and theology. |
Hawk | The predatory hawk symbolizes an individual dominated by pride, ambition, and desires. |
Falcon | The falcon signifies rational thought, doctrine, and philosophy. |
Peacock | The vain, beauteous peacock represents the soul tempted by worldly ambition and vanity. |
Each bird has a unique weakness – such as greed, vanity, doubt – that it must conquer in order to proceed on the journey. The birds thus exemplify the struggle with the flawed self on the Sufi path to enlightenment. The ones who reach the end have succeeded in purifying themselves of their shortcomings.
What is the significance of the number thirty birds?
Out of thousands of birds that begin the journey, only thirty make it to the end to attain unity with the Simurgh.
The number thirty has symbolic significance in Sufi philosophy. It represents completion, infinity, and the beginning of spiritual awakening. In The Conference of Birds, the thirty birds have succeeded in overcoming their weaknesses and dissolving their individual egos.
When the thirty birds first look upon the Simurgh, they see thirty birds – their own reflections. This number conveys that the birds have discovered their wholeness and inner perfection, which was the Simurgh dwelling within themselves all along.
In Sufi numerology, thirty is the numerical representation of the Arabic letter lām, which stands for enlightenment. For the thirty birds to become one with the Simurgh signals that they have spiritually awakened and reflect the attributes of perfection, omniscience, unity and divinity represented by the Simurgh.
Conclusion
The epic poem uses the metaphor of a perilous spiritual quest to explore the eternal search for meaning, self-knowledge, and enlightenment. Through the birds’ journey to the Simurgh, the poet depicts the joys and hurdles along the mystic’s path to realize the Divine. Each overcoming of flaws and sacrifice brings the birds closer to transcendence of their selves and ultimate reunion with the source of all existence.
The Conference of the Birds has endured as a masterpiece of Sufi writing and provided inspiration to generations of seekers on the universal journey of the soul. Its message conveys that within human imperfection rests the potential for enlightenment, completion and unification with the Divine. The Simurgh’s dwelling place turns out to be the homeland of one’s own heart.