Appear as you are...

Be like the sun for grace and mercy.

Be like the night to cover others' faults.

Be like running water for generosity.

Be like death for rage and anger.

Be like the Earth for modesty.

Appear as you are. Be as you appear.

Rumi

Holy Qur'an

From surah 51 Adh-Dhāriyāt (The Winnowing Winds)

[51:20] And on the earth are signs for the certain [in faith]
[51:21] And in yourselves. Then will you not see?
[51:22] And in the heaven is your provision and whatever you are promised.
[51:23] Then by the Lord of the heaven and earth, indeed, it is truth - just as [sure as] it is that you are speaking.

http://quran.com/51

Oh Beloved...

Oh Beloved,
take me.

Liberate my soul.
Fill me with your love and
release me from the two worlds.

If I set my heart on anything but you
let fire burn me from inside.

Oh Beloved,

Take away what I want.
Take away what I do.
Take away what I need.
Take away everything
that takes me from you.

                                               -Rumi

In memory of Imam Hossein

When Shams and Rumi met...

The essence of all religions is to reach God or the Truth, or the Absolute Reality. The religions are like different rivers flowing into the same Sea. They may have different ways, but the destination is the same. Mevlana Rumi's message is still relevant after seven hundred years. Rumi was a great thinker/philosopher, poet, or Sufi in present day Turkey (Persia).

Mevlana Rumi around the age of 37 came in contact with a very spiritual figure known as Shams Tabriz meaning The Sun of Tabriz ( Tabriz a city in Iran ). People say he was a wandering dervish in search of a companion who could share his gnosis and be a mirror to him, but in truth no one but Mavlana Rumi knew his secret. After meeting with Shams, Mevlana took a retreat from his daily life. He stopped teaching at the institute where he was in the modern sense the Chair of the college. He would spend days and night with Shams mediating upon the Eternal Truth not meeting his family and spiritual disciples for many days at length. After Mevlana Rumi's meeting with Shams, Mevlana said this about him "Today I have seen the God I have worshipped all my life in human form" and at another place he said that Shams was no ordinary vagabond he looked, he was an educated and well off Chemist who had left his profession in search of the divine truth.

Eventually, Shams disappeared. It is said that Mavlana Rumi's jealous disciples murdered him. No one really knows what happened to Shams but his effect on Mevlana Rumi had been that of a catalyst, Rumi was transformed. This separation appeared to be a separation of two humans but in reality it was the separation of men and God. Just like man has never been happy since he left his place of origin, he finds satisfaction only in the remembrance of God, likewise Mevlana Rumi longed for reunion with God.

Mevlana went into a state of ecstasy after this separation and would not meet anyone for many days', singing and dancing day and night, remembering the Divine Beloved. Poetry poured from his lips, which eventually was collected into collections such as the Mathnavi, Divan-e-Shams-i Tabrizi and Rubaiyaat. In Mevlana Rumi's own words "I was the country's sober ascetic, I used to teach from the pulpit - but destiny made me one of Thy hand clapping Lovers:" from the Divan

Mevlana Rumi not only transformed the history of Persian literature but also fulfilled the prophecy of the great Sufi poet Fariduddin Attar (author of Conference of the Birds) who said to Mevlana Rumi's father "soon this son of thine will set the spiritual aspirants of this world afire.

Even after his disappearance Shams remained alive in Mevlana's heart. Mevlana Rumi probably never believed in Shams death and therefore went two times to Damascus in search of him. It is said that once a person came to Mevlana and told him that he had seen Shams. Mevlana gave away his cloak to him upon which his son said that this man is lying only to make you happy. At which Mevlana said, "I have given away my robe for a lie, I would give my life for the truth."

Finally Mevlana came to the conclusion that Shams was within himself and
said," Though in body I am far from him, without body and spirit we two are one light .
Since I am he and he is I, why do I seek? We are one, now I will sing of myself"

After Shams disappearance Mevlana Rumi left teaching at the university and only taught his spiritual disciples the path of Love/ Sufism. He continued his inspired poetry till his last breath.

"When you see my funeral, don't say, "Parting and separation!"
for me, that is the time for union and meeting (God)."

Holy Qur'an

From Surah 23 (Al-Mu'minūn):

[23:1] Certainly will the believers have succeeded:
[23:2] They who are during their prayer humbly submissive
[23:3] And they who turn away from ill speech
[23:4] And they who are observant of zakah
[23:5] And they who guard their private parts
[23:6] Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they will not be blamed -
[23:7] But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors -
[23:8] And they who are to their trusts and their promises attentive
[23:9] And they who carefully maintain their prayers -
[23:10] Those are the inheritors
[23:11] Who will inherit al-Firdaus. They will abide therein eternally
[23:12] And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay
[23:13] Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging
[23:14] Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah , the best of creators
[23:15] Then indeed, after that you are to die
[23:16] Then indeed you, on the Day of Resurrection, will be resurrected
[23:17] And We have created above you seven layered heavens, and never have We been of [Our] creation unaware
[23:18] And We have sent down rain from the sky in a measured amount and settled it in the earth. And indeed, We are Able to take it away


http://quran.com/23

The only vision I have- HAFEZ

The only vision I have is your sight
The only thing I follow is your light
Everyone finds his repose in sleep
Sleep from my eyes has taken flight

جز نـقـش تو در نـظر نیامد ما را
جز کوی تو رهـگذر نیامد ما را
خواب ارچه خوش آمد همه را در عهدت
حـقا کـه بـه چشم در نیامد ما را

Pick up the joy giving wine and come hither
Temptations of mean foes decline and come hither
Don’t listen to the one who says sit down and stay;
Listen to me, pick up the line and come hither

بر گیر شراب طرب​انگیز و بیا
پنهان ز رقیب سفله بستیز و بیا
مشنو سخن خصم که بنشین و مرو
بشنو ز من این نکته که برخیز و بیا

I said, your lips said, your lips we revive
I said, your mouth said, sweetness we derive
I said your words, he said, Hafiz said
May all sweet lips be joyous and alive

گفتـم که لبت, گفت لبم آب حیات
گفتم دهنت, گفت زهی حب نبات
گفتـم سخن تو, گفت حافظ گفتا
شادی همه لطیفه گویان صـلوات

One, beautiful and full of grace
Mirror in hand, grooming her face
My handkerchief I offered, she smiled,
Is this gift also part of the chase?

ماهی که قدش به سرو می‌ماند راست
آیینه به دست و روی خود می‌آراست
دستارچه‌ای پیشکشش کردم گفت
وصلم طلبی زهی خیالی که توراست

I put my arms around your waist
A lover’s embrace to taste
From your resolve it’s obvious
All my efforts will go to waste

مـن باکـمر تو در میان کردم دسـت
پنداشتمش که در میان چیزی هست
پیداسـت از آن میان چو بربست کمر
تا من ز کمر چه طرف خواهم بربسـت

You are the moon and the sun is your slave;
As your slave, it like you must behave
It is only your luminosity and light
That light of sun and moon can save

تو بدری و خورشید تو را بنده شده‌ست
تا بنده تو شده‌ست تابنده شده‌ست
زان روی کـه از شـعاع نور رخ تو
خورشید منیر و ماه تابنده شده‌ست

A new challenge everyday
You keep away and delay;
When I act to close the gap
Fate says there is a bigger play

هر روز دلم بـه زیر باری دگر اسـت
در دیده من ز هجر خاری دگر اسـت
مـن جـهد همی‌کنم قضا می‌گوید
بیرون ز کـفایت تو کاری دگراسـت

My beloved is brighter than the sun,
Put in the heavens, my only one
Placed the hearts upon the earth
To watch the sun’s daily run

ماهم که رخش روشنی خور بگرفت
گرد خط او چشمه کوثر بگرفـت
دلها همه در چاه زنخدان انداخت
وآنگـه سر چاه را به عنبر بگرفت

My broken heart’s sorrows are deep
Painful, disturbed, broken my sleep
If you don’t believe, send me your thoughts
And you will see how in sleep I weep

امشب ز غمت میان خون خواهم خفت
وز بستر عافیت برون خواهم خفت
باور نکنی خیال خود را بفرسـت
تا در نگرد که بی‌تو چون خواهم خفت

Candle’s story how can I tell?
Of the broken heart’s living hell?
My sorrow is in how I can find
Another who knows these sorrows well

نی قصه آن شمع چگل بتوان گفـت
نی حال دل سوخته دل بتوان گفـت
غم در دل تنگ من از آن است که نیست
یک دوست که با او غم دل بتوان گفت

-From RUBAIYAT of Hafez-e Shirazi

I DIDN´T KNOW

During the day I praised you and I didn't know

At night I laid with You and I didn't know

I had thought that I was myself

but I was entirely You and I didn't know

Rumi

Come, come, whoever you are

Come, come, whoever you are
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

                                                              -Rumi

In the time of the Prophet, Tasawwuf was a reality without a name, today Tasawwuf is a name, but few know its Reality

Allah, In His Name [I begin]; The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah: before whose oneness there was no before, unless the Before was He ... & ... after whose singleness there is not an after, save the after be He. He is ... & ... there is with Him ... no after ... nor before ... nor above ... nor below ... nor far ... nor near ... nor union ... nor division ... nor how ... nor where ... nor when ... nor time ... nor moment ... nor age ... nor being ... & ... nor place.

I warmly recommend this website to all you lovers: http://www.spiritualfoundation.net/

Didn´t I tell you...

RAINDROPS

Your love lifts my soul from the body to the sky

And you lift me up out of the two worlds.

I want your sun to reach my raindrops,

So your heat can raise my soul upward like a cloud.

-Rumi

THE DREAM THAT MUST BE INTERPRETED

This place is a dream.

Only a sleeper considers it real.

Then death comes like dawn,

and you wake up laughing

at what you thought was your grief.

But there's a difference with this dream.

Everything cruel and unconscious

done in the illusion of the present world,

all that does not fade away at the death-waking.

It stays,

and it must be interpreted.

All the mean laughing,

all the quick, sexual wanting,

those torn coats of Joseph,

they change into powerful wolves

that you must face.

The retaliation that sometimes comes now,

the swift, payback hit,

is just a boy's game

to what the other will be.

You know about circumcision here.

It's full castration there!

And this groggy time we live,

this is what it's like:

                               A man goes to sleep in the town

where he has always lived, and he dreams he's living

in another town.

                            In the dream, he doesn't remember

the town he's sleeping in his bed in.  He believes

the reality of the dream town.

The world is that kind of sleep.

The dust of many crumbled cities

settles over us like a forgetful doze,

but we are older than those cities.

                                                    We began

as a mineral.  We emerged into plant life

and into the animal state, and then into being human,

and always we have forgotten our former states,

except in early spring when we slightly recall

being green again.

                             That's how a young person turns

toward a teacher.  That's how a baby leans

toward the breast, without knowing the secret

of its desire, yet turning instinctively.

Humankind is being led along an evolving course,

through this migration of intelligences,

and though we seem to be sleeping,

there is an inner wakefulness

that directs the dream,

and that will eventually startle us back

to the truth of who we are.

                                               -Rumi

I DIED AS A MINERAL

I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels bless'd; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e'er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones,
To Him we shall return.

                                                           -Rumi

ONLY BREATH

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 all.

I do not exist,

am not an entity in this
world or the next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any

origin story.

My place is
the placeless, a trace
of the traceless.

Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two
worlds as one and
that one
call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing

human being.

-Rumi

The Soul Cries- Imam Ali

Holy Qur'an

From surah 12 (Yusuf):

[12:103] And most of the people, although you strive [for it], are not believers.
[12:104] And you do not ask of them for it any payment. It is not except a reminder to the worlds.
[12:105] And how many a sign within the heavens and earth do they pass over while they, therefrom, are turning away.

http://quran.com/12

YOU ASK ME- RUMI

I WAS DEAD

I was dead
I came alive
I was tears
I became laughter

all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don't
fit this house

I went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don't
fit the group

I went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

I went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
around you

I am no more
a candle spreading light
I gather no more crowds
and like smoke
I am all scattered now

love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

I am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

love said
you already have
your own wings
I will not give you
more feathers

and then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
I have become
the giver of light

-Rumi

The present moment...

The past is an interpretation. The futue is an illusion. The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness.
If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment. The present moment is all there is and all there ever will be. When you grasp this truth, you´ll have nothing to fear anymore.
                                                                                                                                - Shams of Tabriz

Whirling Dervishes

I have been in Konya...

I have been to Konya in Turkey where the Mowlana museum is placed, which  also is the mausoleum of Rumi. Here are some pictures from the museum, Mevlâna Cultural Center and the tomb of Shams Tabrizi.

"Ya hazrate Molana"

The entrance

Masnavi in original (one of the books in the series).

Masnavi is a spiritual writing that teaches Sufis how

 to reach their goal of being in true love with God.

The Mevlâna Cultural Center, this is the world's

grandest and most modern whirling dervish hall.

"Either seem as you are or be as you seem"

in several languages.

"Mosque and tomb of Sheikh Shams Tabrizi"

The entrance

Who was Jalal al-Din Rumi?

Born in 1207 in Khurasan (formerly Persia and contemporary Afghanistan), Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was the son of an Islamic scholar. At the age of 12 he and his family made a pilgrimage to Mecca and then settled in the town of Konya in 1228. Initiated into Sufism, Rumi studied in Aleppo and Damascus, returned to Konya in 1240, and began teaching as a Sufi sheikh. Within a few years a group of disciples gathered around him, due to his eloquence, theological knowledge and engaging personality.

In 1244 a strange event occurred that was to profoundly change Rumi’s life and give rise to the extraordinary outpouring of poetry for which he is famous today. A wandering mystic known as Shams al-Din of Tabriz came to Konya and began to exert a powerful influence on Rumi. Despite his position as a teacher, Rumi became devoted to Shams al-Din, ignored his own disciples and departed from scholarly studies. Jealous of his influence on their master, a group of Rumi’s students twice drove the dervish away and finally murdered him in 1247.

Overwhelmed by the loss of Shams al-Din, Rumi withdrew from the world to mourn and meditate. During this time he began to manifest an ecstatic love of god that was expressed through beautiful poetry, listening to devotional music and trance dancing. Over the next twenty-five years, Rumi’s literary output was phenomenal. In addition to the Masnavi, consisting of nearly 25,000 rhyming couplets, he composed 2500 mystical odes and 1600 quatrains. Virtually all of the Masnavi was dictated to his disciple Husam al-Din in the fifteen years before Rumi’s death. Rumi would recite the verses whenever and wherever they came to him – meditating, dancing, singing, walking, eating, by day or night - and Husam al-Din would record them.

Rumi is also known for the Sufi brotherhood he established with its distinctive whirling and circling dance, known as Sema and practiced by the Dervishes. The Sema ceremony represents the mystical journey of an individual towards union with the divine. Dressed in long white gowns, the dervishes dance for hours at a time. With arms held high, the right hand lifted upward to receive blessings and energy from heaven, the left hand turned downward to bestow these blessing on the earth, and the body spinning from right to left, the dervishes revolve around the heart and embraces all of creation with love.

Rumi passed away on the evening of December 17, 1273, a time traditionally known as his ‘wedding night,’ for he was now completely united with God.

You ask me- Rumi

THIS MARKET

Can you find another market like this?
Where, with your one rose

you can buy hundreds of rose gardens?
Where, for one seed you get

a whole wilderness? For one weak
breath, the divine wind?

                                        -Rumi

EMPTY BOAT

Some huge work goes on growing.
How could one person´s words matter?

Where you walk heads pop from the ground.
What is one seed head compared to you?

On my death day I´ll know the answer.
I have cleared this house, so that your work
can, when it comes, fill every room.

I slide like an empty boat
pulled over the water.

In the slaughterhouse of love they kill only
the best, none of the weak or deformed.
Don´t run away from this dying.
Whoever´s not killed for love is dead meat.

                                                                    -Rumi

Every man is an open book

Every man is an open book, each and every one of us a walking Qur´an. The quest for God is ingrained in the hearts of all, be it a prostitute or a saint. Love exists within each of us from the moment we are born and waits to be discovered from then on. The whole universe is contained within a single human being- you. Everything that you see around, including the things you might not be fond of and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degrees. Therefore, do not look for Sheitan outside yourself either. The devil is not an extraordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within. If you get to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness both your dark and bright sides, you will arrive at a supreme form of consciousness. When a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.
                                                                                         -Shams of Tabriz

WHAT HURTS THE SOUL?

We tremble, thinking we´re about to dissolve

into nonexistence, but nonexistence

fears even more that it might be given human form!

Loving God is the only pleasure. Other delights

turn bitter. What hurts the soul?

To live without tasting the water of its own essence.

People focus on death and this material earth.

They have doubts about soul water.

Those doubts can be reduced! Use night

to wake your clarity. Darkness and the living water

are lovers. Let them stay up together.

When merchants eat their big meals

and sleep their dead sleep,

we night-thieves go to work.

Love is the way messengers

from the mystery tell us things.

Love is the mother. We are her children.

She shines inside us, visible-invisible,

as we lose trust or feel it start to grow again.

-Rumi

Rumi- the love of Allah

SOME KISS WE WANT

There is some kiss we want

with our whole lives, the touch

of spirit on the body. Seawater

begs the pearl to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately

it needs some wild darling!

At night, I open the window and ask

the moon to come and press its

face against mine.

Breathe into me. Close

the language-door and open the love-window.

The moon won´t use the door,

only the window.

-Rumi

CANDLE AT NOON

A man is wandering the marketplace at noon

with a candle in his hand, totally ecstatic.

"Hey", calls shopkeeper, "is this a joke"?
Who are you looking for?"

"Someone breathing Huuu, the divine breath."
"Well, there are plenty to choose from."

"But I want one who can be in anger and desire
and still be a true human being in the same moment."

                                                      -RUMI

THE OCEAN´S MOTION

Love is an ocean. This wide sky,

a bit of foam on that.

                 Restless as Zuleikha

in her desire for Joseph,

                 sky-changes move across

day and night. If there were no love,

everything would freeze and be

still. Instead

                  inorganic grains are entering

plants. Plants enter animals;

                 animals center

spirit, and spirit sacrifices itself

                 for one breath

of that which made Mary with child. Each

sapling lifts, and the universe

winds like a locust swarm its wingrush

toward perfection,

                 each particle purified

in a song of praise for motion.

   -Rumi

ONLY BREATH- RUMI

LOVE DOGS

One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!
His lips grew sweet with praising,
until a cynic said, "So!
I have heard you calling out, but have you ever
gotten any response?"

The man had no answer to that.
He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,
in a thick, green foliage.

"Why did you stop praising?" "Because
I´ve never heard anything back."

"This longing you express
is the return message."

The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.

Give your life
to be one of them.

Inside water, a waterwheel turns.
A star circulates with the moon.

We live in this night ocean wondering,
What are these lights?

No better love than love with no object,
no more satisfying work than work with no purpose.

If you could give up tricks and cleverness,

that would be the cleverest trick!

                                                       -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.

Always check your inner state

with the lord of your heart.

Copper doesn´t know it´s copper,

until it´s changing to gold.

Your loving doesn´t know majesty,

until it knows its helplessness.

-Rumi

ASCENDING TO HEAVEN

Hell is the here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy, or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.

Is there a worse hell than the torment a man suffers when he knows deep down in his conscience that he has done something wrong, awfully wrong? Ask that man. He will tell you what hell is. Is there a better paradise than the bliss that desends upon a man at those rare moments in life when the bolts of the universe fly upon and he feels in possession of all the secrets of eternity and fully united with God? Ask that man. He will tell you what heaven is.

Why worry so much about aftermath, an imaginary future, when this very moment is the only time we can truly and fully experience both the presence and the absence of God in our lives? Motivated by neither the fear of punishment in hell nor the desire to be rewarded in heaven, Sufis love God simply because the love Him, pure and easy, untainted and nonnegotiable.

Love is the reason. Love is the goal.

And when you love God so much, when you love each and every one of His creations because of Him and thanks to Him, extraneous categories melt into thin air. From that point on, there can be no "I" anymore. All you amount to is a zero so big it covers your whole being.

                       -Shams of Tabriz, from the book "The Forty Rules of Love"

THE THIRD EYE...

When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his chamber of prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his tavern. In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearances. Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who they are. When a sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed and instead opens a third eye- the eye that sees the inner realm.

                           -Shams of Tabriz, from the book "The Forty Rules of Love"

QUIETNESS

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an ax to the prison wall.
Escape. Walk out like someone
suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You´re covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side.
Die, and be quiet.
Quietness is the surest
sign that you´ve died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon comes out now.

                                                   -Rumi