A portrait of Rumi
24 October 2011
Thanks to Taimur on Twitter, I found this portrait of Mevlana Rumi:
Rumi
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Soul of all souls
26 June 2010
Soul of all souls, life of all life
you are That.
Seen and unseen, moving and unmoving
you are That.
The road that leads to the City is endless;
Go without head or feet
and you’ll already be there.
What else could you be? –
you are that. (more…)
You have fallen in love my dear heart
20 June 2010
You have fallen in love my dear heart
Congratulations!
You have freed yourself from all attachments
Congratulations!
You have given up both worlds to be on your own
the whole creation praises your solitude
Congratulations! (more…)
Without Love…
16 April 2010
What a moving quatrain by Rumi
Without love,
all worship is a burden,
all dancing is a chore,
all music is mere noise.
All the rain of heaven may fall into the sea.
Without love,
not one drop could become a pearl.
– Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva (more…)
I am a child of love
15 March 2010
I profess the religion of love,
Love is my religion and my faith.
My mother is love
My father is love
My prophet is love
My God is love
I am a child of love
I have come only to speak of love
- Jalaluddin Rumi
the two insomnias
11 March 2010
“When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.”
* Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Rumi – Guest House
9 March 2010
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 are 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.
Lovers have nothing to do with existence
3 March 2010
The lover’s food is the love of the bread;
no bread need be at hand:
no one who is sincere in his love is a slave to existence.
Lovers have nothing to do with existence;
lovers have the interest without the capital.
Without wings they fly around the world;
without hands they carry the polo ball from the field.
That dervish who caught the scent of Reality
used to weave baskets even though his hands had been cut off.
Lovers have pitched their tents in nonexistence;
they are of one quality and one essence, as nonexistence is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (more…)
I become like a pen
27 February 2010
Ghazal 2530 from the Diwan-e Shams, in a version by Coleman Barks, in translation by Annemarie Schimmel, and in translation by A.J. Arberry:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I become a pen in the Friend’s hand,
tonight writing “say,” tomorrow “ray.”
He trims the pen for fine calligraphy.
The pen says, “I am here, but who am I?”
He blackens the pen’s face.
He wipes it in his hair. He holds it upside down.
Now he begins to use it.
On one sheet he cancels everything.
On another he adds a dangerous conjunction.
The writing depends entirely on the scribe,
who knows how to split the head of the pen.
Galen knows what a patient needs.
The pen cannot speak for itself, or know what
to disapprove of in its own nature.
Whether I say “pen” or “flag”, it is with this wonderful
conscious unconsciousness: the mind unable to include
its own description, composing blindly.
Held in a hand, yet free.
– Version by Coleman Barks
(Based on the translation by A.J. Arberry)
“These Branching Moments”
Copper Beech Press, 1988 (more…)
This thirst in our souls
26 February 2010
No sound of clapping comes from only one hand.
The thirsty man is moaning, “O delicious water!”
The water is calling, “Where is the one who will drink me?”
This thirst in our souls is the magnetism of the Water:
We are Its, and It is ours.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hich bâng-e kaff zadan na-âyad beh dar
az yeki dast to bi dasti degar
Teshneh mi nâlad keh “Ay âb-e govâr”
âb ham nâlad keh “Ku ân âb khvâr”
Jazb-e âbast in `atash dar jân-e mâ
mâ az ân-e U va U ham ân-e mâ
– Mathnawi III: 4397-4399
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
His form has passed away and he has become a mirror (Rumi)
25 February 2010
Sunlight has recently offered two versions/translations of Rumi’s Mathnawi story of the dervish Bayazid Bestami
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BESTAMI
That magnificent dervish, Bayazid Bestami,
came to his disciples and said,
“I am God.”
It was night, and he was drunk with his ecstasy. (more…)
Sources of nourishment
21 February 2010
The heart eats a particular food from every companion;
the heart receives a particular nourishment
from every single piece of knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Del ze har yâri ghezâyi mi khvord
del ze har `elmi safâyi mi khvord
– Mathnawi II: 1089
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Daylight”
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
Ask us about the lion of God
20 February 2010
This caravan is not bringing our baggage — it has
none of the fire of our Friend.
Though the trees have all turned green, they
have caught no scent of our spring.
Your spirit may be a rosegarden, but its heart
has not been wounded by our thorn.
Your heart may be an ocean of realities, but its
boiling does not compare with that of our shore.
Although the mountains are very steady — by
God, they do not have our steadiness.
The spirit drunk with the morning wine has not
even caught a scent of our winesickness.
Venus herself, the minstrel of heaven, has not
the capacity for our work.
Ask us about the lion of God — every lion has
not our backbone.
Show not Shams-I Tabrizi’s coin to him who
has not our fineness!
– Ghazal (Ode) 695
Translation by William C. Chittick
“The Sufi Path of Love”
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983
I am enslaved to fate, of all else say no more – Rumi
19 February 2010
” I am enslaved to fate, of all else say no more
With a sweet tongue speak, else I plea say no more
Speak not of troubles, of treasures, tell me more
And if of this you know not, be not troubled, say no more
I have gone insane, Love found me, then whispered in my ear
‘I am here, cry not aloud, curse yourself not, say no more’
I said ‘ O Love it is other than Thee that I fear’
Said ‘ it may thus appear, yet it is not so, say no more
I speak in you ear, to you bring secrets near
Speak with your head, confirm a nod, say no more’
I asked, ‘ What do I see? Is it an angel or a man? ‘
Said ‘ no more an angel than a man, is another, say no more’
‘Tell me what it is, why withhold, why the flames of my torment fan’
Said ‘ just be tormented, confused, say no more
For leaving this colorful and false abode, you have made no plan
Rise up and just depart, leave this home, say no more’
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi
When you dance
17 February 2010
Sunlight’s interpretation of Rumi’s Quatrain 784:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you dance
the whole universe dances.
What a wonder,
I’ve looked
and now I cannot look away!
Take me or do not take me,
both are the same –
As long as there is life in this body,
I am your servant.
***
– Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992
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