Photo Essay —

THE CONFERENCE OF MOTHS

DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY PHOTOGRAPHY

Moths gathered in a fluttering throng one night

To learn the truth about the candle’s light,

And they decided one of them should go

To gather news of the elusive glow.

One flew till in the distance he discerned

A palace window where a candle burned—

And went no nearer; back again he flew

To tell the others what he thought he knew.

The mentor of the moths dismissed his claim,

Remarking: “He knows nothing of the flame.”

A moth more eager than the one before

Set out and passed beyond the palace door.

He hovered in the aura of the fire,

A trembling blur of timorous desire,

Then headed back to say how far he’d been,

And how much he had undergone and seen.

The mentor said: “You do not bear the signs

Of one who’s fathomed how the candle shines.”

Another moth flew out—his dizzy flight

Turned to an ardent wooing of the light;

He dipped and soared, and in his frenzied trance

Both Self and fire were mingled by his dance—

The flame engulfed his wing-tips, body, head;

His being glowed a fierce translucent red;

And when the mentor saw that sudden blaze,

The moth’s form lost within the glowing rays,

He said: “He knows, he knows the truth we seek,

That hidden truth of which we cannot speak.”

To go beyond all knowledge is to find

That comprehension which eludes the mind,

And you can never gain the longed-for goal

Until you first outsoar both flesh and soul;

But should one part remain, a single hair

Will drag you back and plunge you in despair—

No creature’s Self can be admitted here,

Where all identity must disappear.

—Lines 3987–4004:

The Moths and the Flame

From:

The Conference of the Birds

—By Farid Ud-Din Attar, twelfth-century Persian mystic poet.

Translated by:

Afkham Darbandi & Dick Davis (1984),

Penguin, England.

THEME—PHOTO ESSAY—THE CONFERENCE OF MOTHS.

Photomontage: October 3, 2024; pictures taken on August 29 & September 21, 2024.

Bangalore, India;

Camera—Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro.