“Only You” poem by Rumi, translated by Nader Khalili

Read poem here >>

Watch this video by a Pakistani folk artist!

Poem by Rumi click here >>

Version by Coleman Barks
“Say I am You”
Maypop, 1994

Kashful Mahjub is one of the early treatises on Sufism and has shown light to many Sufis world-wide. Full entry here >>

The more awake one is to the material world,
the more one is asleep to spirit.
When our soul is asleep to God,
other wakefulness closes the door of Divine grace.

Rumi

Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

Amardeep has posted the following Sufi parable related by Idries Shah with a request to respond to his humorous interpretation. Full entry here >>

The Buddhist art of Gandhara influenced Indian art and sensibilities and also that of the entire Buddhist world. Full entry here >>

From Rumi: Hidden Music, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

Translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi

Mahboob Ali, the only woodcut artist of Pakistan has sent me more images of his works.

Full entry here >>

Translation by Nader Khalili
“Rumi, Fountain of Fire”
Cal-Earth Press, 1994

Taking a cue from the recent events in Pakistan, Ammar Qureshi has contributed a beautiful poem by Auden in a newspaper. I love the last lines:

Law, say the gardeners, is the sun,
Law is the one
All gardeners obey
To-morrow, yesterday, to-day.

Law is the wisdom of the old,
The impotent grandfathers feebly scold;
The grandchildren put out a treble tongue,
Law is the senses of the young. (more…)

Came across this beautiful translation of Faiz’s touching verse by Vikram Seth.

It is a great translation as it ventures to capture the melody and the mood of the original.

Last night your faded memory came to me
As in the wilderness spring comes quietly,
As, slowly, in the desert, moves the breeze,
As, to a sick man, without cause, comes peace.

image credit

Full story >>

Saw this newsitem today – “Data Sahib’s 963rd urs concludes: Around 500,000 attend final prayers”.The news item reported that around 0.9 million visited the shrine on Saturday. The saint left this world nine centuries ago.

During my recent visit the Urs preparations were underway. I captured a few images. First the shrine at the night-

Full story here >>

The Intellectual

The intellectual is always showing off;
the lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away, afraid of drowning;
the whole business of love is to drown in the sea.
Intellectuals plan their repose;
lovers are ashamed to rest.
The lover is always alone, even surrounded with people;
like water and oil, he remains apart.
The man who goes to the trouble
of giving advice to a lover
gets nothing. He’s mocked by passion.
Love is like musk. It attracts attention.
Love is a tree, and lovers are its shade.

Rumi

– Version by Kabir Helminski

Silence is the sea, and speech is like the river.
The sea is seeking you: don’t seek the river.
Don’t turn your head away from the signs offered by the sea.

Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski