Mowlana's kinship with Baha Valad, Plato, and Plonious

Man inherits the sciences and mystical intimations of his ancestors, yet rare is found a soul who could reveal the recorded knowledge in his collective unconscious and individual consciousness within tens of thousands of lyric ghazals and attract all people from different walks of life with his theosophic ideas and spiritual compositions. From what is understood by the content of Masnavi, the most important source in composing it is Koran and Islamic mystical intimations. Though Mowlana had a wealth of approaches and manuals to draw upon for his sufi practice, his theosophy and mysticism, one should look directly to his immediate formative influences his father, Baha Valad, his mentor Borhan-al Din Mohaqeq of Termez, and Shams Tabrizi to learn more about how and what he learned and taught. All that makes Masnavi a prism through which different modes of thoughts, Islamic, Persian, Greek, Indian, semitic, etc are reflected. The purpose of this article is to present points of similarity regarding various issues such as God, Salek, compatibility, love, and first abode in Plato, Baha Valad, and Mowlan’s thoughts.