# Renunciation explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ameen Rihani.

## What happens

A pilgrim seeks entry to the Beloved's dwelling, first claiming his own identity and being rejected, then returning after dwelling in self-oblivion and claiming to be the Beloved himself, at which the door opens.

## Themes in this chapter

### Spiritual Quest

The pilgrim's journey from self-assertion to self-oblivion and union with the Beloved.

### Desire and Restraint

The initial rejection of the pilgrim's desire for entry, resolved through renunciation of self.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The pilgrim who knocks at the Beloved's door, first as 'I' then as 'thyself'.

### Allah

The Beloved, whose voice questions the pilgrim from within.

## Key lines

> At eventide the Pilgrim came And knocked at the Belovéd’s door. “Whose there!” a voice within, “Thy name?” “ ’T is I,” he said.⁠—“Then knock no more. As well ask thou a lodging of the sea⁠— There is no room herein for thee and me.”

At dusk, a seeker arrives and knocks at the door of the Divine. A voice asks who he is; he answers with his own identity. The voice replies that there is no space for both the self and the Divine, like asking the sea for shelter.

_The initial rejection emphasizes the incompatibility of ego and divine presence._

> The Pilgrim went again his way And dwelt with Love upon the shore Of self-oblivion; and one day He knocked again at the Belovéd’s door. “Whose there?”⁠—“It is thyself,” he now replied, And suddenly the door was opened wide.

The seeker leaves and lives in a state of self-forgetfulness with Love. Returning to knock again, he answers that he is the Beloved himself, and the door immediately opens.

_Union is achieved through the dissolution of the separate self, recognizing one's identity with the Divine._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_2_se/chapters/renunciation
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_2_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_2_se/chapters