Spreading Rumi's Wisdom — Division of Humanities and Fine Arts

By Minyi Jiang

One might not expect a biopsychology major to be a devotee of Middle Eastern poetry, but Kiana Ranjbaran, a third-year student at UC Santa Barbara, studies the poetry and wisdom of the 13th century Persian Sufi poet Rumi, and since 2020 has worked as an intern at the Rumi Educational Center, through UCSB’s Department of Religious Studies.

Rumi Education Center intern Kiana Ranbaran’s favorite quote from Rumi, translated by Religious Studies lecturer Fariba Enteshari

Rumi Education Center (REC) is a small, non-profit organization that promotes Rumi’s wisdom of universal love. Sufism is a branch of Islam that focuses on spirituality and mysticism. The Center is founded by lecturer Fariba Enteshari, a former biochemist from Iran and Germany. Enteshari joined UCSB in 2021, and she currently teaches Persian at the Department of Religious Studies.

At the Center, Ranjbaran helps create Rumi e-courses and she writes about Rumi’s wisdom for the center’s monthly newsletter. This spring she organized a series of on-campus Tuesday meditation sessions by the lagoon where Enteshari led an in-person meditation around Rumi’s poetry. Enteshari also leads a monthly webinar on a specific theme and a meditation series called the Way to Love. Recently, the Center launched a new program – Farsi Friday – where Enteshari and Parisa Ansari, the translations intern at the Center, read a word every Friday and connect its meaning to Rumi’s poetry.

Ranjbaran recently sat down for an interview and explained why a STEM major student like her finds Rumi’s wisdom valuable and her internship meaningful.

What do you consider to be Rumi’s core wisdom?

Rumi Education Center interns Kiana Ranjbaran, far right in gray sweatshirt, and Parisa Ansari, far left, take part in a recent Tuesday meditation session.

Rumi talks a lot about universal love, self and ego, how we fit into the world, how we fit into the universe, and the relationship between humanity and the divine. Universal love is the understanding that you are interconnected to everything and knowing that the greatest sin is thinking that you're separate from other things. A short way of saying it is: when you victimize others you victimize yourself…when you act bad you bring it in.

What was your personal connection with Rumi’s poetry before you joined the Educational Center?

I remember the first time I read Rumi, it was something that I kind of ran into. There was a coffee shop where I grew up in San Diego, and they had a take a poem leave a poem [project]. The poem that I picked up was Rumi’s. I was maybe 12 years old. I don't remember what the poem was, but it made me feel like it was great.

After my first year of college, I was hanging out with my dad and my uncle, and they were talking about Persian poetry. They told me: “If you're looking for spirituality, or if you're just looking for something beautiful and something that can ground you in who you are, then read Hafez, read Rumi, read Omar.” So that sparked my interest.

Religious Studies lecturer Fariba Enteshari leading Tuesday Meditation by the UC Santa Barbara Lagoon.

How did you know about the Rumi Education Center?

In fall or winter of 2020, I found the Rumi Educational Center through the school. At that time in my life, I was looking for a way to move forward in terms of my college career, it was during COVID, so that was difficult to do. But when I found it, I felt really lucky because it was something that I cared about a lot.

Fariba Enteshari has studied Rumi for the past 20 years, and she's really well versed in his knowledge. You can bring up any topic with her, and she knows what Rumi would say about it.

She understands that this wisdom is ancient and that it's healing, and that people need to be able to be exposed to it. Rumi’s poetry is very, interfaith, meaning you can't feel that it's just talking about one God — it's really getting to the point of what God is.

What is your role at the Center? How many students from UCSB are currently on the team?

Right now, the team has four current students and one alumnus from UCSB. Interestingly enough, all four of us are all STEM majors, but have an interest in religious studies, culture, and language.

There are some people who work on marketing through social media. There's one person who's really well versed in Farsi, and she helps Fariba with translation. I have been writing for the monthly newsletter and blog for the past year or so. I've also acted as an advisor and data manager. I helped sort through materials to find what's good and what works, and I also created a database for storing the quotes that we use.

You were the first intern, what made you feel like this is what you want to be a part of? What makes this experience valuable to you?

I love science, and I get that from my courses. I love psychology, and I also get that from my courses. But I also love poetry, writing, humanities, culture, and spirituality. Just being getting the spiritual knowledge is very valuable to me in terms of the experience. Also being able to be an intern for a nonprofit that is small, local, and grassroots is really attractive to me.

Who should read Rumi?

I think everybody should read Rumi. It's like that I think everybody should go to therapy. You might not need it the most, but if you read it and look at it, I'm sure that anybody could find something that they feel valuable. I think that if you're interested in poetry, art, and things that are beautiful, stimulating, and fulfilling, then read Rumi.

Minyi Jiang is a third-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Middle East Studies. She wrote this article for her Digital Journalism course in the Writing Program.