During a phone call with his family after the sentencing, Ruben Vardanyan thanked everyone who supported him and his family. He also read philosophical lines from Imad ad-Din Nasimi, along with his commentary, and shared his formula for living, which helps him maintain inner freedom after more than 21,000 hours of imprisonment. Below is the Armenian translation of Ruben Vardanyan’s audio message.
“I want to thank everyone who is worried about me. I know many of you have called and spoken with Veronica, my family, and loved ones. I want to express my deep gratitude for your support, kindness, thoughts, emotions, and feelings. I feel everything and am very grateful for your support for me and my family.
I want to read for you… This isn’t even a poem, it’s the philosophy of the brilliant philosopher-poet of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Imad ad-Din Nasimi. I’ll now read an excerpt from his poem, translated by Konstantin Simonov. I’ve made a small correction at the end, because this philosophy had a strong influence on me.
And I hope all lovers of Nasimi’s poetry will forgive me, because this isn’t poetry, but philosophy.
I want to say that it’s truly amazing: all these thoughts you read in different, completely different sources, their source is the same—wisdom—but the form is different.
I also want to share with you (dedicated to my beloved wife, whose birthday it was recently) a short and long formula for life. Some will like the short version, others the long one.
Live simply, love generously, guard your heart, speak from the heart, learn constantly, know yourself, believe without doubt, don’t fear death, forgive and don’t judge, walk your path fearlessly.
That’s the short version.
And the long version:
Live simply, joyfully, and 100% in the present moment.
Love generously, give everything without asking for anything in return.
Guard your heart, but be careful not to harm, because kindness through violence is no longer kindness.
Speak from the heart, sincerely, and briefly.
Believe without doubt or hesitation, without fanaticism.
Learn by knowing yourself and the world, constantly, diligently, and with love.
Forgive, don’t judge.
Don’t fear death, be prepared for it, and never hasten it.
And go your own way fearlessly, leaving everything else to God. Leaving everything else to God.
So, in both cases, if we act this way, if we take these simple steps, leaving everything else to God, everything will be fine.
I want to thank you. Sorry for the digression. It’s not easy.
I’ve celebrated an interesting anniversary here. I’ve been here for 21,000 hours now, and… It’s an interesting feeling. 75 million moments. And when you live on such a scale, you suddenly realize how different everything feels, every moment. I want to say that I love you all, I’m grateful, I’m very happy to have such a family, such relatives.
Thank you to everyone, including strangers, who writes to me. I get so many letters from strangers…
I’m so grateful for your kindness, your words, your energy. Especially when it’s written by hand, you can feel the thoughts. Write by hand more often. Write letters to each other. Write to your loved ones, your family.
That’s all, I hug you all, I love you very much, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings with you.