Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet. One of his poems is called, “The Servant Who Loved His Prayers.”

In this poem, a rich man wants to go to the steambaths at dawn and tells his servant, Sunqur, to get the supplies ready for the baths. As the two pass the mosque, the call to prayer sounds. Sunqur, who loves his five times of prayer, asks to go into the mosque, using Sura 98 (about masters treating slaves kindly) as helpful leverage. Sunqur is inside for a long time, so the master calls him many times. Each time, Sunqur responds by saying, “He won’t let me come out yet.” The poem closes with these words:

“Forget your figuring. Forget your self. Listen to your Friend [God]. When you become totally obedient to that one, you’ll be free.”

From Rumi: Selected Poems, Penguin Classics, p. 91 (1995).

Why not?
Have a great week

–

Bring the pure wine of
love and freedom.
But sir, a tornado is coming.
More wine, we’ll teach this storm
A thing or two about whirling.

–

You think you are alive
because you breathe air?
Shame on you,
that you are alive in such a limited way.
Don’t be without Love,
so you won’t feel dead.
Die in Love
and stay alive forever.

–

I am an atom;
you are like the countenance of the Sun for me.
I am a patient of Love
you are like medicine for me.
Without wings, without feathers,
I fly about looking for you.
I have become a rose petal
and you are like the wind for me.
Take me for a ride.

–

Love rests on no foundation.
It is an endless ocean,
with no beginning or end.
Imagine,
a suspended ocean,
riding on a cushion of ancient secrets.
All souls have drowned in it,
and now dwell there.
One drop of that ocean is hope,
and the rest is fear.

–

A true Lover doesn’t follow any one religion,
be sure of that.
Since in the religion of Love,
there is no irreverence or faith.
When in Love,
body, mind, heart and soul don’t even exist.
Become this,
fall in Love,
and you will not be separated again.

- Translated by Shahram Shiva

Only You

Only you
I choose among the entire world.
Is it fair of you
letting me be unhappy?

My heart is a pen in your hand.
It is all up to you
to write me happy or sad.

I see only what you reveal
and live as you say.
All my feelings have the color
you desire to paint.

From the beginning to the end,
no one but you.

Please make my future
better than the past.

When you hide I change
to a Godless person,
and when you appear,
I find my faith.

Don’t expect to find
any more in me
than what you give.

Don’t search for
hidden pockets because
I’ve shown you that
all I have is all you gave.

- Translation by Nader Khalili

translated by deepak chopra

You come to us
from another world

From beyond the stars
and void of space.
Transcendent, Pure,
Of unimaginable beauty,
Bringing with you
the essence of love

You transform all
who are touched by you.
Mundane concerns,
troubles, and sorrows
dissolve in your presence,
Bringing joy
to ruler and ruled
To peasant and king

You bewilder us
with your grace.
All evils
transform into
goodness.

You are the master alchemist.

You light the fire of love
in earth and sky
in heart and soul
of every being.

Through your love
existence and nonexistence merge.
All opposites unite.
All that is profane
becomes sacred again.

Courtesy of A.A.

[Belajar dari Sang Maulana eps.2]

Selain menemukan Ma’rifah, saya bertemu dengan versi lain teori Evolusi yang berbeda dengan teori yang selama ini saya kenal. Seperti yang kita kenal selama ini, teori evolusi selalu diidentikan dengan nama Charles Darwin, yang sangat terkenal dengan the origin of speciesnya. Teori ini mempengaruhi banyak aspek dan menimbulkan banyak pertentangan di kalangan agamawan. Namun ternyata, enam abad sebelum Darwin, Rumi telah meluncurkan teori evolusinya, teori evolusi yang amat menarik dan komprehensif.

Menurutnya, evolusi disebabkan oleh cinta. Evolusi alam dimulai dari “cinta alam” (yang pada waktu itu masih berupa potensi) kepada Tuhan, sebagai realitas sejati. “Karena pesona gelombang cinta, seperti Zulaikha kepada Yusuf, alam mabuk kepayang (kepada Tuhan), langitpun berputar”. Maka alampun berkembang secara perlahan dari tingkat yang rendah, mineral, melalui tumbuhan, hewan hingga tingkat tertinggi : manusia.

Rumi mengisahkan evolusinya di Matsnawi “ Aku mati sebagai mineral dan menjadi tumbuhan, aku mati sebagai tumbuhan dan bangkit sebagai hewan, aku mati sebagai hewan dan aku menjadi manusia”. Lebih dari teori Darwin, Rumi percaya bahwa evolusi akan terus berlangsung setelah tingkat manusia. Ini membuktikan keyakinannya pada kelangsungan jiwa setelah kematian “Mengapa aku harus takut ketika maut menjemput? Sekali lagi aku akan mati sebagai manusia agar dapat mengarungi dan berada diantara malaikat…”

Perbedaan yang paling mendasar antara Darwin dan Rumi terletak pada sumber yang memicu cinta alam. Menurut Darwin, kekuatan yang menggerakan evolusi bersifat imanen (dorongan dalam diri) yaitu seleksi alam, sehingga Darwin tidak pernah mengaitkan evolusi sebagai ciptaan agen transenden yang disebut Tuhan. Namun Rumi menyatakan sebaliknya, bahwa tidak mungkin ada evolusi  tanpa cinta sebagai penggeraknya. Lagi pula, bisakah cinta muncul sendiri tanpa obyek yang dicintai? Mustahil.

Dari teori ini, saya jadi tahu bahwa manusia adalah ‘produk’ akhir evolusi alam, sebagaimana buah sebagai ‘produk’ akhir sebuah pohon. Pertanyaannya, kalau benar manusia adalah produk akhir, kenapa manusia diciptakan belakangan? Kenapa manusia tidak diciptakan sebelum yang lain? Terhadap pertanyaan ini, menurut Rumi, kita layak memperhatikan pohon. Buah merupakan tujuan akhir dari tumbuhnya sebuah pohon,bukan? Bahkan setelah menghasilkan buah, pohon pisang akan mati. Maka manusia layak disebut “buah alam”. “Kalau bukan mengharap buah, bagaimana seorang petani akan menanam pohon?”

Wallahu’alam.

Whoever Brought Me Here
All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.
This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I’ll be completely sober.

Meanwhile,
I’m like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.

If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.

Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.

* Jalaluddin Rumi *

… a friend of mine sent this beautiful poem to me when i was starting questioning myself about life, why am I here, and what am I doing here, who am I, and where am I belong to, and so on.. and so on. Living on different places and been through several things that i never thought i would experience it in my life, pushed me to be more thoughtful.. And it’s hard after all to answer those questions if you really think about it.. anyway.. Hope you find your answer within those beautiful lines of poem

[Belajar dari Sang Maulana eps.1]

Sebelum ini saya hanya mengenal Rumi dari puisi-puisinya yang sulit dipahami, kiasan-kiasannya yang sulit dimengerti, absurd dan tasawufnya yang ‘aneh’. Namun, perjalanan hidup akhirnya mempertemukan kami secara tidak sengaja—seperti biasanya. Saya bertemu dengan sang Maulana di buku Mulyadhi Kartanegara berjudul Menembus Batas Waktu (Panorama Filsafat Islam) (Mizan 2005).

Ada sebuah cerita menarik yang dituliskan disana, cerita tentang Ma’rifah yang termaktub di Matsnawi. Ma’rifah sendiri adalah sebuah modus pengetahuan yang istimewa (sejati), yang berbeda, baik dalam isi maupun metode dengan modus pengetahuan yang selama ini kita kenal. Ma’rifah—oleh Rumi—dilukiskan sebagai “mutiara” di laut.

“Berbondong-bondong orang datang ke laut untuk mendapat mutiara itu. Orang-orang ribut bertanya dimana sang mutiara berada. Kami telah mencarinya kemana-mana, tetapi ia tidak ditemukan. Seorang bijak dan berkata pada mereka, ‘Mutiara tidak bisa ditemukan hanya dengan melihat laut karena mutiara itu ada di dasar laut yang dalam’. Lalu ada orang lain yang mempunyai ide menimba air laut supaya airnya kering dan mutiara dapat ditemukan disana. ‘Tetapi’ kata orang bijak itu lagi ‘laut tidak mungkin bisa kering dengan ditimba airnya. Akan terlalu melelahkan. Satu-satunya cara untuk mendapatkan mutiara itu adalah dengan menyelaminya. Kita membutuhkan penyelam ulung untuk bisa berenang hingga ke dasar laut. Akan tetapi mutiara berada di dalam kerang, sementara tidak semua kerang berisi mutiara, maka kita bukan hanya butuh penyelam ulung, tetapi juga keberuntungan.”

Dari sini, Rumi menyatakan bahwa ma’rifah bukan ilmu yang diperoleh melalui persepsi indrawi (mutiara tidak bisa diperoleh hanya dengan melihat laut), tidak juga melalui penalaran rasional, karena itu akan sama dengan menimba air laut. Tetapi ma’rifah adalah sejenis pengetahuan yang diperoleh melalui pengalaman batin atau spiritual yang mendalam, tidak bisa diperoleh semata-mata atas usaha manusia, tetapi tergantung pada rahmat Tuhan (kita butuh bukan hanya penyelam ulung, tetapi juga keberuntungan).

Sudahkah anda mendapatkan Ma’rifah selama hidup anda? Semoga anda beruntung.

-

Australian composer and keyboard artist Graeme Revell brings the words of the mystical Sufi Rumi to the groove, assisted by vocal artists from all over the world. As Enigma mixed Gregorian chants and sexuality in their ambient dance MCMXC A.D., so does Revell with Rumi’s esctatic poetry. Similar albums are Richard Souther’s Vision I and Illumination, both using the works of Hildegard von Bingen. Deep Forest used pygmy songs in the grooves. The familiar dance beats can be trance-inducing by themselves, and on Vision II, these are often morphed with gutsy Middle Eastern rhythms; seldom does Revell chose the more heady, yet stately, Sufi dance cadence.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the world’s prime exponent of qawwali, sings passionately on three tracks. Noa, an Israeli vocalist, sings a liquidy lullaby on “The Ocean,” which she translated into Hebrew. Lori Garson speaks the poems in the now-obligatory sexy voice and British accent (she is from the U.S.). Is the blatant orgasmic breathing necessary on “The Breath (The Color of Dying)”? On the plus side, this album offers many incredible performances and trippy tracks. Surely, it will serve to introduce a new audience to the works of Rumi and the notion of ecstatic spirituality. Great lyrics, after all.

(Review by: Carol Wright, All Music Guide)

-

Tracks:

1  Seek in Your Heart (5:11)

2  Don’t Go Back to Sleep (4:130)

3  The Ocean (3:43)

4  Eye Goes Blind (Aya) (4:20)

5  The Breath (The Color of Dying) (3:56)

6  The Center (2:03)

7  Lovers/At Night We Fall (3:26)

8  Nine Layers of Illusion (0:43)

9  Desert Dusk (3:14)

10 Don’t Go Back to Sleep (Reprise) (7:20)

11  The Great Mystery (1:35)

-

http://www.amazon.com/Vision-II-Spirit-of-Rumi/

-

-

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

-

Shad Bashay

-

Maqam-e-Hoo

-

-

Na man behooda girde kocha
Wa bazaar megardam
Mazaj-e-ashiqee daram paye
dildar megardam

Khudaya rahm kon bar man
Pareeshan waar megardam

Khata karam gonahgaram
Ba hale zaar megardam

Sharabe showq menosham
Ba girde yaar megardam

Sukhan mastana megoyam
Walay hooshyaar megardam

~ Rumi

-

Translation:

by Farah Aziz

-

No I am not roaming aimlessly
around the streets and bazaar
I am a lover searching for his beloved

God have mercy on me
I am walking around troubled

I have done wrong and sinned
and am walking around wounded

I have drunk the wine of desire
and am strolling around beloved

Though I may seem drunk
I am quite sober

___________________________________________________

-

-

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

-

Part 1

-

Part 2

-

-

Farid Ayaz Qawal

-

-

-

Mohmmed Nasir

-

Part 1

-

Part 2

-

-

Here are Ways #s 4 and 5 from the last post which promised you 5 Ways to Be More Great-full (Boost Your Gratitude Attitude)…

#4: FAMILY (or couple’s) GRATITUDE BOOK
We just spent a very pleasant hour doing this great art & writing interactive project. So simple and yet so meaningful and fun! Quality family time!

We do not watch television, nor do our children. We are dedicated to parenting consciously and strive to support a vibration of love in our household. Yet, given that my husband and I are both entrepreneurs, with seven businesses between the two of us, and given that our children are still quite young, we know how important and sometimes challenging it can be to come up ideas (not to mention time, energy and materials) for positive family experiences.

I myself am about the least craftsy person you will ever meet and can draw a stick figure on a good day! So believe me when I tell you: Yes, you CAN do this project, and probably with what’s already available in your home. It really ranks high on simple, high on fun, high on memorable, and low on expense. (I can NEVER do those Origami things, puuleeeeeazzze, can we talk?)

Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to do this Family Gratitude Book…but of course so is any day that ends in “y.” Monday, Tuesday…. Enjoy!

Materials:

All you need is:

Some blank paper (we used printer or copy paper, white)

Construction paper

Ribbon or brass brads to secure the book

Markers, pencils, hole punch and/or scissors

Optional: Stickers, stamps, other art supplies, scrapbook, photos

Definitely: A little bit of time and lots of love!

We started by making a brainstormed list of everything we are grateful for. You can do this any way you like; follow your own creative impulses & inspiration. We have four family members, so I decided to color code what we wrote on this collective page or you could just all write and draw without attributing who said/drew what, or make a chart, have sections of the page, etc. The things my 6-year-old called out first were written in yellow, my 10-year-old chose blue, I picked purple and my husband green. We made a color key on the page and wrote and drew various things we are thankful for: Our dog came first, followed by a lovely torrent such as family and friends, food, a good home, music, the Earth, music, health, God, life and so on.

Then I gave each family member a separate page on which to do whatever they like, the only requirement being that whatever is on the page relates to or represents what they are thankful for. We stuck in some more blank pages, so we can add more later as we are inspired.

The kids each got to pick a color for the front and back covers. The older did the words, the younger did the drawings. We punched holes, added brads, all signed the masterpiece and voila! A Family Gratitude Book.

Not only a wonderful way to spend part of our Thanksgiving Day, but a precious keepsake, and, I trust, a new family tradition as well. We will be sharing this book with family all weekend long and inviting them to add to it as well. And of course, it can be done any day! Every day bears its own gifts if we just open the package.

Today we focused mainly on what we are thankful for in our current lives (now), but we could also include wonderful memories (past) and gratitude for all the blessings on the way! (future)

Alternative for Couples: You can also do this as a Couple’s Gratitude Book or Journal, a beautiful way to show appreciation and deepen connection. So few marriages last or are happy, as we all know, and I am blessed to have a deliriously, deLIGHTfully ecstatic marriage, 12 years strong and better every day. One of the reasons is of course, the selection of the right mate; but in order to do so, we had to do the necessary self-healing and inner preparation to bring whole, healthy individuals to the relationship. Much of this work is presented in my book: The Radical Self-Love Workbook. But it is also essential to nurture even the best of relationships, and my husband and I do so daily in many creative ways such as this.

More tips on love and relationships are at

www.LoveandSpirit.org

and at my love blog: loveandspiritblog.wordpress.com.

Whether you do the Gratitude Book as a homemade book like we did today, like a scrapbook or journal, and whether you do it as a family activity or a couple’s relationship-enhancer, it will help you see your life through the eyes of love and gratitude, and bring you even closer with those you love. Enjoy! And I welcome you to send me a comment or email to share your experience.

#5: Honor the 4 Directions and 4 Sacred Elements:

Earth, Air, Fire, Water

You do not have to be Native American to appreciate one of their traditions, which is to honor the Medicine Wheel, facing each of the four directions, thanking each one for their gifts. This is also a tradition in all indigenous cultures including pre-Christian Europe (a.k.a. Wicca, Druidry, paganism, et al.), Africa, Australia, Hawaii and South America.

In fact, if you scratch the surface beneath contemporary religions on any part of the Earth, you will find an ancient shamanic tradition that honors all the directions and all of nature as sacred.

All things follow this cycle of birth, growth, fruition and quietude, whether we are looking at seasons, a lifespan, a day, or a garden. The beauty of Medicine Wheel ceremony and the paradigm itself is that it can be applied to our lives in so many ways.

So how do you honor the directions and elements, to give thanks for what they give to us so generously? Here are a few ideas:

* Altar: Create an altar to each direction or a Medicine Wheel altar encompassing all the directions/elements. This can be in your home or outside. My husband specializes in creating Medicine Wheels as a sacred practice on the land, and has helped others to do this as well.

* Cherokee Dance of Life – You would need to learn this in person from someone who has learned it, oral tradition. This is an incredible moving meditation to all 4 directions, peoples, and elements which also honors Mother Earth and Father Sky, balances their energies as sacred partners in our hearts, and helps us give away the gifts of Spirit that are our special medicine to share with the world through our right work and service. Occasionally my husband and I share this Dance with our community. If you live near Sacramento, and would like to experience this dance, let us know so we can invite you. Or perhaps Spirit will guide you to another teacher of this beautiful tradition.

* Drum, chant, play flute to each direction

* Give offerings such as cornmeal, tobacco or sage smoke to each direction

* Speak aloud from your heart to each direction and give thanks

* Sweat lodge

* Vision quest

If you do either sweat lodge or vision quest, please do so with the guidance of a Native elder to be sure you do it properly and safely.

* Journal or journey (shamanic meditation) to discover what power animals comprise your personal Medicine Wheel of your own energy field. I love to lead these meditations when I am called to do so. Honoring your own inner Medicine Wheel supports a strong aura and keeps you connected to your spirit guides, if this resonates for you.

Associations with Each Direction

Depending on which culture or even which tribe you consult, there are somewhat different associations with the directions, colors, elements and meanings, the medicine or power that direction helps us receive and embody. The one I am most familiar with follows but this is not dogma, merely a summary of what I have found to be the more universal associations. Follow your own heart and work with any spiritual practice in the way that resonates for your own heart and inner truth.

While I have a small amount of native blood, I was adopted and was not raised in that tradition. I discovered shamanism after my initiation and spiritual awakening 15 years ago. I do not claim to be a tribal elder or teacher of any one tradition. I am an interfaith minister, meditation teacher, hypnotherapist, energy healer and intuitive life coach. I have been on the path of Spirit, studying, practicing and sharing healing and wisdom teachings from many cultures for several decades, so I offer here a simplified summary as a starting point for your discovery journey. You would do well to study more in depth with a local teacher steeped in the particular tradition that calls to your spirit, and of course feel free to research further on the Web, in books, classes, and listen to your own inner guidance. I always say the best way to pray, do ceremony or ritual is the way that feels best to you, with harm to none, of course. But we do need to honor the specific traditions so they are not all diluted through multiculturalism.

From the East we have the yellow people (Asia) and the gift of Air, Brother Wind, clarity of vision, inspiration, the new day, new beginnings, establishment of purpose and intention, and springtime.

From South, we receive the wisdom of the black people (Africa), Fire. The tools, strength, perseverance and energy to follow through and manifest, midday/ noon, summer, also humor and passion, innocence and trust.

The West gives us the culture of the Red people (such as Native Americans), the setting sun, Water, emotions, the fall season, self-evaluation toward completion, looks-within time, peace, rest and healing.

And the North represents the White (European) people and all their cultural gift. The sacred mountain, winter, midnight, time to slow down, go within and be still to receive guidance for what comes next. Completion, what you keep from the past cycle and all that you have accomplished and learned. It is also associated with the Spirit and wisdom.

Note: You can also honor the other 3 directions: Earth (below), Sky (above) and Center (within).

I hope you enjoyed these five creative ways to give thanks and I wish you abundant blessings on your journey!

Finally, in the spirit of Sufi mystic poet Rumi, I invite you to kiss the ground. Blow kisses to the sky. Bow to everything. Everything is sacred.

With Love,

Sage

More resources for your path, including free special reports on abundance, love, transformational classes, soul and energy healing sessions, intuitive readings, matchmaking and more are at:

www.LoveandSpirit.org

Taylor@LoveandSpirit.org

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

- Rumi

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

(translation- Coleman Barks)

Today’s guest poet  –  Rumi.

The World is no Match for your Love

This world is no match for your Love.
Being away from you
is death aiming to take my soul away.
My heart, so precious,
I won’t trade for a hundred thousand souls.
Your one smile takes it for free.

Quote by Rumi

Went to LACMA last night to see the Mamak Khadem ensemble (it was in conjunction with the museum’s Islamic art/carpet collection). What a beautiful voice.

-

15 selected poems

-

1

Time bringeth swift to end
The rout men keep;
Death’s wolf is nigh to rend
These silly sheep.

See, how in pride they go
With lifted head,
Till Fate with a sudden blow
Smiteth them dead.

2

Thou who lovest, life a crow,
Winter’s chill and winter’s snow,
Ever exiled from the vale’s
Roses red, and nightingales:

Take this moment to thy heart!
When the moment shall depart,
Long thou ‘lt seek it as it flies
With a hundred lamps and eyes.

3

The heavenly rider passed;
The dust rose in the air;
He sped; but the dust he cast
Yet hangeth there.

Straight forward thy vision be,
And gaze not left or night;
His dust is here, and he
In the Infinite.

4

Who was he that said
The immortal spirit is dead,
Or how dared he say
Hope’s sun hath passed away?

An enemy of the sun,
Standing his roof upon,
Bound up both his eyes
And cried: ‘Lo, the sun dies!’

5

‘Who lifteth up the spirit,
Say, who is he?’
‘Who gave in the beginning
This life to me.

Who hoodeth, life a falcon’s,
Awhile mine eyes,
But presently shall loose me
To hunt my prize.’

6

As salt resolved in the ocean
I was swallowed in God’s sea,
Past faith, past unbelieving,
Past doubt, past certainty.

Suddenly in my bosom
A star shone clear and bright;
All the suns of heaven
Vanished in that star’s light.

7

Flowers every night
Blossom in the sky;
Peace in the Infinite;
At peace am I.

Sighs a hundredfold
From my heart arise;
My heart, dark and cold,
Flames with my sighs.

8

He that is my souls’ repose
Round my heart encircling goes,
Round my heart and soul of bliss
He encircling is.

Laughing from my earthy bed
Like a tree I lift my head,
For the Fount of Living mirth
Washes round my earth.

9

The breeze of the morn
Scatters musk in its train,
Fragrance borne
From my fair love’s lane.

Ere the world wastes,
Sleep no more: arise!
The caravan hastes,
The sweet scent dies.

10

If life be gone, fresh life to you
God offereth,
A life eternal to renew
This life of death.

The Fount of Immorality
In Love is found;
The come, and in this boundless sea
Of Love be drowned.

11

Happy was I
In the pearl’s heart to lie;
Till, lashed by life’s hurricane,
Life a tossed wave I ran.

The secret of the sea
I uttered thunderously;
Like a spent cloud on the shore
I slept, and stirred no more.

12

He set the world aflame,
And laid me on the same;
A hundred tongues of fire
Lapped round my pyre.

And when the blazing tide
Engulfed me, and I sighed,
Upon my mouth in haste
His hand He placed.

13

Though every way I try
His whim to satisfy,
His every answering word
Is a pointed sword.

See how the blood drips
From His finger-tips;
Why does He find it good
To wash in my blood?

14

Remembering Thy lip,
The ruby red I kiss;
Having not that to sip,
My lips press this.

Not to Thy far sky
Reaches my stretched hand,
Wherefore kneeling, I
Embrace the land.

15

I sought a soul in the sea
And found a coral there;
Beneath the foam for me
An ocean was all laid bare.

Into my heart’s night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.

-

_____________________________________________________

-

‘Persian Poems‘, an Anthology of verse translations edited
by A.J.Arberry, Everyman’s Library, 1972

-

-

-

A quote for the day:

Giving thanks for abundance is sweeter than the abundance itself.

- Rumi

I wish you all a Thanksgiving filled with abundant sweetness. I am grateful for your presence in my life. Thank you.

I’ve again and again grown like grass

I’ve experienced seven hundred and seventy moulds

I died from minerality and became vegetable

And from vegetative-ness I died and became animal

I died from animality and became man

Then why fear disappearance through death?

For the next time I shall die

Bring forth wings and feathers like angels

After that soaring higher than angels

What you cannot imagine I shall be that.

-MEVLANA JELALUDIN RUMI

MEVLANA JELALUDIN RUMI

.

Imagine the time the particle you are

returns where it came from!

.

The family darling comes home.   Wine

without being contained in cups,

is handed around.

.

A red glint appears in a granite outcrop,

and suddenly the whole cliff turns to ruby.

…

~ Rumi

.

.

Dissolver of sugar,dissolve me,

if this is the time.

Do it gently with a touch of a hand,  or a look.

Every morning I wait at dawn.  That’s when

it’s happened before.  Or do it suddenly

like an execution.  How else

can I get ready for death?

…

~ Rumi

.

Exalted truth imposed upon us.

Becomes evident.

Cross and Christians, end to end, i examined. He was not on the Cross. I went to the Hindu Temple, to the ancient pagoda. In none of them there was any sign. To the heights of Herat I went and to Kandhar, I looked. He was not on the elevation not on the low lands.

He was in no other place.
- Rumi

Mawlana Rumi is a name that conjures up a lot of different images in peoples’ minds. Unfortunately most of them are wrong.

Mawlana Rumi was born into a family of Hanafi jurists in modern day Afghanistan. His family fled from the Mongol invasion to Konya in modern day Turkey. Rumi followed in his father’s footsteps as an orthodox jurist and became the Imam of the people of Konya. Then one day a wandering dervish known as Shams-i-Tabriz walked into his life and Rumi was changed forever. Much like Imam al-Ghazali wandering in the desert, the numerous seclusions Rumi shared with Shams ignited a flame inside of him that showed the raw spiritual aspects of Islam. He came to realise like Imam al-Ghazali that there is more to Islam than just books and scholarship, and that as slaves of God you have to experience true emotional devotion to your divine Creator in order to worship Him fully.

What resulted in Rumi’s revelation were pages upon pages of some of the greatest poetry ever written by men.

Unfortunately since the 60s hippies era, certain modern day orientalists have hijacked traditional Sufi teachings to perpetuate ideas of ‘Divine Unity’ and ‘Universalism’. Although there were some people who attached the label of ‘Sufi’ to themself and subscribed to ideas of ‘Wahdat-ul-Wujuud’ and pantheism (All creation are manifestations of God and one with Him), they were rejected by Orthodox Sufis. On top of that, when many Sufi writers would talk about passion and love with regards to the Divine, they would use imagery of human compassion as a symbolic way of understanding how one may feel when coming close to God. As a result many westerners have taken these lines of poetry, and carefully left out talk of God and have used it dress up their own carnal desires.

Rumi’s work has been at the forefront of this barrage of misunderstanding. Although Coleman Barks’s collection does retain many Islamic subject material, a lot of the work does seem to contain many of the fabricated works that have been wrongly attributed to Rumi.

One example is the famous passage:

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at…

It makes absolutely no sense Rumi would have written this, especially when the main plethora of his works are to do with how to become a better Muslim, not an atheist! Another counter example is the fact that in the Mathnawi he has a very long tale of a Jewish king’s vizier who planned to kill the Christians of a city. The only Christians who were saved were the ones who accepted that Muhammad (SAWS) was mentioned in the Gospel!

Another case where the work does not seem to be Rumi’s is the story of a king who sends an army to steal the beautiful concubine of the king of Mosul. The imagery in that story is tantamount to pornography, I am highly doubtful a Muslim jurist in the Middle Ages would have written such a work. (Although to be fair the moral of the story is quite good!)

Saying all this, Coleman Barks’s collection isn’t all bad. I still appreciated Rumi’s poetry through Barks’s writing, albeit he didn’t translate it from the Persian but reworked AJ Arberry’s works, which to be honest I think is the wrong way to go about it. It’s a good general introduction to Rumi, but I wouldn’t recommend it to others.

If you are looking for the real Rumi (“The Muslim one”), I have started reading Volume One of the Masnavi translated by Jawid Mojaddedi. Almost half way through, it has blown me away. The Masnavi(/Mathnawi) is the REAL Rumi. Mojaddedi is a Muslim who speaks Persian and has translated the work with an understanding of Islamic culture and Persian language. What adds to it as well is that he has made most of the work into rhyming couplets in an attempt to mirror the beauty the poetry carries in its original Persian. I will write a full review insha’Allah once I have finished reading it.

Peace.

عزم آن دارم که امشب نیمه مست
پایکوبان کوزه ی دُردی به دست

سر به بازار قلندر برنهم
پس به یک ساعت ببازم هر چه هست

تا کی از تزویر باشم ره نما؟؟
تا کی از پندار باشم خودپرست؟؟

پرده ی پندار می باید درید
توبه ی تزویر می باید شکست

وقت آن آمد که دستی برزنم
چند خواهم بود آخر پای بست؟

]]> http://deerintheheadlights.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/rumi-the-rabbit/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:13:33 +0000 fearfuldeer http://deerintheheadlights.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/rumi-the-rabbit/

You were born with potential

You were born with goodness and trust

You were born with ideals and dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t

You have wings

Learn to use them and fly.

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī