Wednesday, September 30, 2009

rumi

today marks eight hundred and one years since the birth of the great sufi poet and mystic jalalu'ddin rumi, also known as mevlana. he lived in thirteenth century konya in central turkey, where the mevlevi order of dervishes (commonly known as whirling dervishes) have their origin.




his work was to share a message:

why should i seek?
i am the same as he.
his essence speaks through me.
i have been looking for myself!

much of rumi's writing uses the metaphor of the passion of lovers to describe the relationship between man and God.


the inner pilgrim wraps himself in the light of the holy spirit, transforming his material shape into the inner essence, and circumambulating the shrine of the heart, inwardly reciting the name of God. he moves in circles because the path of the essence is not straight but circular. its end is its beginning. abdul qadir jelani (about ad 1077)






rumi saw inside the metaphor of love and passion and in that seeing he sank deep into the connection between all things in all ways.

it is entirely about love. it is entirely about passion. the terms of those two states become richer and more beautiful as the knowing of them becomes less connected to this earthly existence (needs and wants and expectations) and more about becoming aware of and connected to the wholeness of everything.



if you could get rid of yourself just once, the secret of secrets would open to you. the face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your perception.

search, no matter what situation you are in. o thirsty one, search for water constantly. finally, the time will come when you will reach the spring.

the minute i heard my first love story i started looking for you not knowing how blind i was. lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. they’re in each other all along.

and if he closes before you all the ways and passes, he will show you a hidden way which nobody knows.

keep strenuously toiling along this path, do not rest until the last breath; for that last breath may yet bring the blessings from the knower of all things.

like the hunter, the sufi chases game; he sees the tracks left by the musk deer and follows them. for a while it is the tracks which are his clues, but later it is the musk itself which guides him.

choose a master, for without him this journey is full of tribulations, fears, and dangers. with no escort, you would be lost on a road you would have already taken. do not travel alone on the path.

whoever travels without a guide needs two hundred years for a two-days’ journey.

last night my teacher taught me the lesson of poverty: having nothing and wanting nothing.




and a poem



not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.
the garden of
love
is green without
limit
and yields many
fruits
other than sorrow
and joy.
love is beyond either
condition:
without spring,
without autumn,
it is always fresh.


-- jelaluddin rumi

10 comments:

  1. Anyone behaving with irreverence in the path of the Friend is a brigand who robs men; he is no man. Rumi
    Are you a fellow lover of mystic poetry?

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  2. hello friko - anything that offers me a view into the riches of the world i live in and that i love. person, art, poetry, music, vision, dream. steven

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  3. Hi Steven~ How transcendent love is! It must be a universal truth. The Christian Bible says, "Now abide, faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love." "Love is patient, love is kind, Love does not insist on its own way, Love bears all things, believes all things, Hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." "There is no fear in love; for perfect love casteth out fear." And a lovely line from Rumi: "I will rise like a flame out of love's fire and become infinite like love." from Someone Is Hidden Inside.

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  4. hello margaret, i think that love is the essence that binds together all that is. the creation emerges from a state of pure love. the simplest understanding we have of that love is through the metaphor of romantic love. then through the rare but freely available experiencing of unconditional love. have a lovely day. steven

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  5. The poem really went home. I found it very moving.

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  6. Hi Steven,beautiful choice of a poem and the photograph ( one of my favourites,it is hanging now on the wall of my tiny room at the place which I call retreat,I went there to come in peace with my self and in real life it is a place for woman at the end of her strength and health to pick up the pieces and come to her best again)! This is one more juwel you are presenting us here,thank you.Lovely day to you and your love ones, Aleksandra :O)

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  7. hello leks - i have a corner of one room which is where i retreat. gather my self and my energy. remember.
    thanks for visiting and for your kind comment. steven

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  8. Rumi:"I have been looking for myself." Is much like...
    Siddhartha: "O, trickster; phantom of my own ego, you are pure illusion. You, self, do not exist. The earth is my witness."
    But Rumi is so much more clear. Thank you for this post.

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  9. Rumi -- my hero. One of them anyway. I am amazed how relevant and real his words are to life TODAY. Amazing considering how long ago and far away he lived. It's a hard concept to turly wrap my head around actually.

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  10. Ahhhh. A drunken Sufi. You never know what world he brings with her. Thanks.

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