Sunday, January 31, 2010

Outward and Inward

"The One that hears the voice of the ants, will also hear the cry from the innermost soul of them that are afar.
The earth's outward form says, "We are this, and no more"; from within it says,"Look well, before you and behind."
Its outward is denying, and says that the inward is nothing: its inward says, "We will show you the truth: wait and see."
The outward, and the inward are in strife...
We make the forms of existence from this sad-faced earth: We make manifest its hidden laughter.
For though outwardly the earth is full of sorrow and tears, within it there are hundreds and thousands of laughters.
We are the revealer of the mystery, and Our work is just this, that we bring forth these hidden things from concealment...
Many is the wondrous child that this earth has had...
Earth and heaven rejoice, saying, "From us two, who are joined in wedlock, such a king is born!"
Heaven is bursting for joy of that One, earth is become like a lily, on account of this purity....
Whosoever shall strive in tribulation for God's sake, Heaven will put its back under your feet for support.
Your outward form is wailing because of the darkness; your inward spirit is like roses within roses."

Rumi (Vol.4, 871-1024)

Commentary: Someday we will know the inward truth, and that truth shall set us free. Here's hoping...

Saturday, January 30, 2010

God's Army

"The whole Mathnawi in its branches and roots is Yours, You have accepted it.
Kings accept both what is good and bad...
Since You have planted a sapling, give it water. Since You have given it freedom to grow, untie the knots.
In all its expressions, my object is to reveal Your mystery; in composing it my object is to hear Your voice.
To me Your voice is the voice of God...
All the atoms of earth and heaven are God's army, as you will find out by putting it to the test.
Since God is the Soul of the soul, how is it a light matter to be hostile to the Soul of the soul?...
O you, who have devoted yourself to contending with others in strife, you have not known how to discriminate others from yourself.
You stop at every form that you come to saying, "I am this." By God, you are not that form.
If you are left alone by people for a single moment, you remain plunged up to the throat in grief and anxiety.
How are you this form? You are that Unique One, for in reality you are fair and lovely, and intoxicated with God.
You are your own bird, your own prey, your own snare; your own seat of honor, your own floor and your own roof...
What is in the jar that is not also in the river? What is in the house that is not also in the city?
This world is the jar, and the spirit is like the river. This world is the room, and the heart is the wonderful city."

Rumi (Vol.4 755-811)

Commentary: Apparently, even the atoms and the molecules are sent to us as guides. Rumi uses military imagery, as well as describing the world as a fragrant garden. He depicts the best of human attributes, and the worst. To the poet, the forms are not what is ultimately real.

Friday, January 29, 2010

The Gift We Bring To God

"The gift of Bilqis was forty mules: their whole load consisted of bricks of gold.
When he reached the open plain belonging to Solomon, he saw that its carpet was made entirely of solid gold.
He rode on gold for the distance of forty miles, until gold had no more esteem in his sight.
A spacious land of which the soil is pure gold--to bring gold there as a gift is pure folly.
O you, who have brought intelligence to God as a gift, there intelligence has less value then the dust on the road...
When Solomon beheld that gift of gold, he laughed, saying, "When dd I seek riches from you?
I did not bid you to bestow gifts on me; no, I asked you to be worthy of the gifts which I bestow;
For I have rare gifts, coming from the Unseen, which human beings dare not even ask for.
You worship the (lucky) star that makes gold: turn you face towards the One who makes the star."

Rumi (Vol.4, 563-576)

Commentary: We can not hear this story often enough; those of us who believe that the way to God is through theology, insight, understanding, intelligence, and the brilliant work of the mind. My suspicion is that what we'll eventually bring to God, is our need, our contrite and broken hearts, our gratitude and our willingness to keep looking in the direction of the One who made the stars.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Paradise

"Paradise is fashioned out of good deeds and intentions.
Its foundation is knowledge and action.
Behold the house of the heart: it was disordered by worldly cares: it was swept clean by a vow of repentance.
The life of the everlasting Abode of paradise exists in the heart...
Now come, do not despair! When God wills, light arrives from God in a single moment.
At every instance, His power causes a hundred influences from the stars to reach the subterranean mines.
O you, who seeks help, the celestial sphere, at a distance of five hundred years' journey, is in effect close to the earth...
It is a journey of three thousand five hundred years to Saturn, yet this planet's special property acts incessantly upon the earth.
God rolls Saturn up like a shadow, at the return of the sun: in the sun's presence what does the length of the shadow matter?
And from the pure star-like souls replenishment is ever coming to the stars of heaven.'

Rumi (Vol. 4 475-519)

Commentary: Not knowing very much about the influence of the stars, it is comforting to imagine that there is a light that reaches the darkest corners of our hearts and minds.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Judging God

"Though the pearls be broken into small fragments, they become collyrium for the eye of the spirit.
O pearl, do not beat your head in grief at your being broken,
for through being broken you will become radiant light.
If wheat is broken and turned over in the mill, it appears in the baker's shop saying, "Look! A perfect loaf!"
Verily, this face speaks nothing but truth.
How should it be that someone like you, from egoism, should make a trial of a Beloved like this One?
How can you make a trial of the One who raised aloft the vaults of heaven?
God will not send you to the wrong place...
If the mote comes and weighs the mountain, its scales will be shattered by the mountain, O youth;
For the novice applies the scales of his own judgment and puts the Saints of God on the scales.
But since the Saints are not contained by the scales of the intellect, consequently, they shatter the scales of the intellect.

Rumi (Vol. 4, 343-379)

Commentary: Judging is youthful, and naive; the practice of novices. Someday we will grow up (spiritually).

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Hardest To Bear

"A sober-minded person asked Jesus. " What is the hardest to bear of all things in existence?"
He replied, "O my dear soul, the hardest is God's anger, on account of which hell is trembling, as we are."
The questioner asked, "What is the security against this anger of God?"
Jesus answered, "To abandon your own anger at once."

Rumi (Vol 4, 113-115)

Commentary: Today's assignment.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Getting Your Attention

"In the case of the lover of any craft, or object of pursuit, God has touched their lips with honey at the beginning of the affair.
But when at that contact they have entered upon the quest, God lays a snare before their feet every day.
When God has plunged the lover into the search for that which is at the very heart, after that the Divine One shuts the door, saying, "Bring the dowry."
Still, they cling to that sweet scent of hope, and go on their quest: at every moment they become hopeful and despairing.
That seeker moves restlessly and swiftly like fire."

Rumi (Vol. 4, 46-51)

Commentary: Did we think this would be easy and straightforward?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Hope after Contraction

"The fourth journey is to the best of abodes, and to the greatest of advantages...
Herein is cheer for spirits and healing for bodies;
And it is like what the sincere in devotion to God crave and love,
And like what the travelers on the way to God seek and wish for-
A refreshment to eyes, and a joy to souls.
The sweetest of fruits for them that harvest.
And the most sublime of things desired and coveted;
Bringing the sick man to his physician, and guiding the lover to his beloved.
It is the grandest of gifts, and the most precious of prizes;
the renewing of the Covenant of the friendship with God,
and the easing of the difficulty of those in trouble...
It is like a full moon that has risen, and a fortune that has returned.,
exceeding the hope of the hopeful,
and providing forage for the doers of good works.
It raises expectation after depression, and expands hope after contraction.
On your account, the Mathnawi had thousands of thanksgivings to offer;
it lifted up its hands in prayer and thanksgiving...
If increase is accruing to this book, it is for this reason;
It is not for the sake of vainglory and empty noise."

Rumi (from the preface of Vol. 4, and lines 8-12)

Commentary: Welcome to Book Four. Rumi is determined to increase our hope.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Half Way

"Hundreds of thousands of times. O unique Prince, did my wits fly away in longing for your ear-
That hearing of yours, and that listening of yours, and those life quickening smiles of yours;
Then my false coins. which are well known to You, You accepted, as though they were genuine money.
You did this for the sake of the boldness of one who was impudent and deluded...
The ill-fated man has forsaken this world full of sunshine and moonlight and has plunged his head into a pit,
Saying, " If it is true, then where is the radiance?!" Lift up your head from the pit and look, O miserable wretch!
The whole world, east and west, obtained that light, but while your head is in the pit, it will not shine on you.
Leave the pit, go to the palace and the vineyards; do not wrangle here, know that quarreling is unlucky...
In consequence of a fracture of a leg, God bestows a wing: likewise from the depth of the pit He opens a door of escape.
God says, "Do not consider whether you are on a tree, or in a pit: consider Me, for I am the Key of the Way.
If you wish to read the rest of this tale, seek it , O my brother and sister, in the Fourth Book."

Rumi, (Vol. 3, 4698-4810)

Commentary: There are six books in the Mathnawi. We have just passed the half way mark. Rumi hasn't wavered yet in his insistence that we don't see the help we are receiving, and we don't realize that ultimately, the spiritual journey is not about our delusions and flaws: instead the subject is God's mercy and love.

Friday, January 22, 2010

One Way or Another

"I laugh because I am dragging you in chains and shackles to the cypress-garden, and to the roses of Paradise.
With heavy chains I am dragging you away from the direction of Hell, to an everlasting Paradise.
Every blind follower of this Way, be he good or evil, God is dragging him, bound like that, into His Presence.
All go along this Way in the chains of fear and tribulation, except the Saints.
All are dragged along this Way reluctantly, except those persons who are acquainted with the mysteries of the Divine action.
Endeavor that your inward light becomes radiant, so that traveling on the path of Devotion and service to God may be made easy.
You take children to school by force, because they are still blind to the benefits of knowledge.
But when a child becomes aware of the benefits, she runs to school; her soul expands with joy at going."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 4578-4586)

Commentary: So, we are not the only reluctant, stubborn, bad-tempered and distrustful disciples...

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Why We Fail

"The desire of the soul is for Life and for the Living One, because its origin is the Infinite Soul.
You make a hundred resolutions to journey to a certain place.
God turns the horse's bridle in every direction in order that the untrained horse may gain knowledge of the rider.
God fixed your heart on a hundred passionate desires, disappointed you, and then broke your heart.
Inasmuch as God broke the wings of that first intention of yours, how was not the existence of the Wing-breaker perfectly established in your mind?
In the course of events your resolutions and purposes now and then come right and are fulfilled.
In order that, through hope of that fulfillment your heart may form an intention, and that God may once more destroy your intention.
For if God were to keep you wholly unsuccessful, your heart would despair: how would it sow the seed of expectation?
And unless it sowed the seed of expectation, how from its barrenness would its subjection to the Divine will become apparent to it?
By their failure the lovers are made aware of their Lord. Unsuccess is the guide to Paradise."

Rumi (Vol.3 4437-4467)

Commentary: The system is counter-intuitive. And I would much prefer to learn about my powerlessness through strength, and success and accomplishment. But apparently, failure and unsuccess are greater blessings. We have been richly blessed.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Two Hands Clapping

"God said, communing with himself at dawn, "O Thou who are One, how fares that distraught wanderer of Ours?
He committed a sin, and We saw it, but he was not well acquainted with Our mercy.
The sinner's heart becomes afraid of Us, but in his fears there are a hundred hopes.
I am a patcher. I put the patch in its proper place; I give drink to everyone in due measure.
No lover is in truth seeking union without his loved one seeking him.
When the lightening of love for the Beloved has shot into this heart, know that there is love in that heart.
When love for God has been doubled in your heart, without any doubt, God has love for you.
No sound of love comes forth from one hand of yours without the other hand.
The thirsty man is crying, "I want delicious water!" The water cries too, saying, "Where is the water-drinker?"
The thirst in our souls is the attraction exerted by the water: we are Its, and It is ours."

Rumi (Vol. 3 4379-4499)

Commentary: "without any doubt, God has love for each of us" Now all we, who are distraught wanderers, have to do is to believe it!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

When the Mountains Sing

"God said, 'You have suffered separation. For My sake, you parted from your intimates.'
O lonely stranger, who has become friendless, from whose heart the fire of longing has flamed up,
You desire minstrels and singers and boon-companions: the Eternal One brings the mountains to you.
He makes the mountains minstrels and singers and pipers; He makes the mountain blow in measure before you,
To the end that you may know that, since the mountains are permitted to sing, the Saint, likewise, has plaintive songs..
The melody of that pure One is reaching your ear every moment...
Within your heart a hundred questions and a hundred answers are coming from the realm of non-spatiality, to your dwelling place."

Rumi (Vol.3 4271-4279)

Commentary: "A hundred questions and a hundred answers..." They are all gifts from God..Who knew?

Monday, January 18, 2010

Having to Wait

"My Beloved whispers into my ear every moment, 'I will make you sorrowful, but do not be sorrowful on that account.
I will make you sorrowful and weeping, to the end that I may hide you from the eyes of those who seek to harm you.
You are not really a hunter and seeker after Me, no, you are my servant and helpless before my providence.
You are thinking of devices whereby you may attain Me: both in quitting and in seeking Me, you are helpless.
Your anguish is searching for a means for attaining Me; Yet I was hearkening yesterday evening to your heavy sighs of today.
I am even able, without this waiting, to give you access, and to show you the way of passage,
That you might be delivered from this whirlpool of time, and may set your foot upon the treasure of union with Me;
But the sweetness and the delight of the resting place are in proportion to the pain of the journey.
Only then, will you enjoy your native town and your kinfolk, when you have suffered the pains and tribulations from exile."

Rumi (Vol. 3, 4149-4158)

Commentary: Sometimes, those of us in exile, feel that the separation will last forever. Rumi wants us to listen to the whispers that claim that our banishment is only temporary.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

That

"That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh into full blown beauty, God said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.
God bestowed on my heart that which touched the cypress tree and made its stature straight, and that of which the narcissus and the wild rose partook.
That which made sweet the heart and soul of the sugar-cane...
That which gave a hundred enchantments to the tongue, and that which gave pure gold to the mine.
I am the lover of that One to whom every 'that' belongs...
How should I steal when God is the keeper of the treasury? How should I not be bold and resolute? God is my support.
Everyone whose back is warmed by the sun, will be resolute: they will have neither dread nor shame.
Every prophet was bold and determined in this world, and fought single-handed against the armies of the kings.
And did not avert his face from any fear or pain, but single and alone, dashed against a whole world.'

Rumi (Vol. 3, 4129-4142)

Commentary: It is quite a promise; someday we will have no fear or hesitancy..we will know that we are protected, supported and loved.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Stepping Up to the Plate

" At the time before meditation, his heart is eager for wounds; then in action his bag is emptied of air by a single needle.
I marvel at the seeker of purity who at the time of polishing shrinks from being handled roughly.
Love is like a lawsuit; to suffer harsh treatment is like the evidence: when you have no evidence, the lawsuit is lost...
The blows of the stick with which a man beats a rug, are inflicted not on the rug, but on the dust in the rug.
You imprison grapes in the vat, in order that it may become wine...."

Rumi (Vol. 3 4007-4014)

Commentary: Rumi appears to trust every aspect of divine love and reality, even what appears to us to be harsh treatment. Some day , when we turn into fine wine, may we raise a toast to the narrow imprisonment in the vat. (but not now...)

Friday, January 15, 2010

With the Beloved

"You are with your Friend, and you do not know how to make love.
You are deeming your Friend to be a stranger: upon a joy, you have bestowed a grief.
Such a divine grace is flowing like the Nile--since we are Pharaohs, it seems to us to be like blood...
I have put it to the test more than a thousand times: I do not deem my life to be sweet without You.
Sing to me, O object of my desire, the melody of resurrection!
Farewell, my friends: I have set towards the Saint who commands and is obeyed.
Moment by moment I am being roasted in the flames of separation from Him: I will go there, come what may!
Although He is making His heart like a hard rock against me, my soul is bound for the source of all knowledge.
It is the abode of my Friend, and the city of my King: in a lover's eyes this is the meaning of "love of one's native land.'
O You, who make the cheek radiant, O Spirit of everlastingness, draw my heart to Yourself, and generously bestow on me a meeting with You...
For lovers, the only lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved, their only book and lecture and lesson is His face.
They are silently outwardly, but the strong sound of their repetition is going up to the high throne of their Friend.
Their only lesson is enthusiasm. "

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 3781-3848)

Commentary: That is our work.. to go enthusiastically toward the One we love.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Contraction and Expansion

"When a feeling of spiritual contraction comes over you, O traveler, it is for your own good; do not become on fire with grief in your heart.
For in that contrary state of expansion and delight you are spending: the expenditure of enthusiasm requires an income of painful preparation to balance it.
If it were always the season of summer, the blazing heat of the sun would penetrate the garden,
And burn up from the roots the soil where plants grow, so that the old withered ones would never again become fresh.
If December is sour-faced, yet it is kind; summer is laughing, but, none the less, it burns and destroys.
When spiritual contraction comes, behold expansion there: be fresh and cheerful and do not let your brow be wrinkled....
Observe these two qualities, contraction and expansion in the fingers of your hand: assuredly after the closing of the fist, comes the opening.
God's work and action is regulated by these two qualities: these two conditions are as important to God as both wings of the bird are to the bird."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 3734-3766)

Commentary: In all the changing and mysterious forces at play, outside in the world, and inside our own hearts, how do we know where to turn? Rumi wrote, " She saw no better fortress than the protection of God: she chose her abiding-place near to that castle."(3:3711)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hungrier, and Thirstier

"Whatsoever grew, has grown for the sake of the needy, in order that the seeker may find the thing he sought.
If God on high has created the heavens, God has created them for the purpose of answering our needs.
Wherever a pain is,the cure goes there; wherever a poverty is, the provision goes there.
Wherever a difficult question is, the answer goes there; wherever a ship is, the water is nearby.
Do not seek the water; seek thirst, so that the water may gush forth from above and below.
Until the tender throated baby is born,, how should the milk for the babe begin to flow from the mother's breast?
Go, run in these hills and dales, to the end that you may become thirsty and hot...
Someone asked, "What is Sufism?" The saint answered, "To feel joy in the heart at the coming of sorrow."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 3208-3261)

Commentary: Rumi offers a most expansive world view, where our questions, and thirst and hunger are all signs of blessing. Not even the coming of sorrow, can disturb this joy.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Wise Investment of (Spiritual) Work

"When you put cargo on board a ship, you are making that venture in trust.
For you do not know whether you are destined to be drowned on that voyage, or spared.
If you say, 'Until I know which I am, I will not embark on the ship and the ocean;
I will not start upon this voyage with doubt and in idle hope, like the others.'
Then no traffic will be done by you..
The merchant of timid disposition and frail spirit neither gains nor loses in his quest.
No, he suffers loss, for he is deprived of fortune....only the one that is an eater of flames, is ardent in searching, will find the light.
Inasmuch as all affairs turn on hope, the affair of religion is most worthy to inspire hope, for by this means you may win salvation.
The motive in every trade is hope and chance, even though our necks are worn thin like a spindle, from toil.
When I am at work, my hope is greater; when I am in idleness I have more risk.
Or, are you ignorant of the bounties of God, who is calling you home?
The whole world is filled with His bounty, wherever you look, reality is making His bounty known.
When a generous person bids you to come into the fire, come in quickly, and do not say, 'It will burn me.'
I have confidence in the generous; I do not despair of their bounty."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 3083-3109)

Commentary: Rumi claims that God-realization is a wise investment, a risk worth taking, and more likely to happen if we put in our best efforts. More than that, he has enormous confidence in the generosity and the grace that is coming to us.

Monday, January 11, 2010

The Destiny of Distraction, and the Remedy of Grace

(said the distracted ones)" God has set a lock on our hearts... this will not be altered by talking.
A hundred years you may tell the pebble to become a ruby: A hundred years you can tell the old to become new...to everyone God has allotted a certain course.'
The prophets responded, 'Yes, God has created some qualities from which it is impossible to withdraw one's self.
And, he has also created qualities which are only accidental...
If you bid sand to become clay, it is incapable of doing so; but if you bid earth to become clay, that is possible.
God has given maladies for which there is a remedy...such as a headache.
These medicines God has made for the sake of restoring harmony..
Most maladies have a cure: when you seek in earnest, it will come to hand.
Despair is wicked: the grace and the mercies of the Creator are infinite.
It is not proper to despair of such a Benefactor: cling to the saddle-strap of His mercy.
O many a plight became hard at the beginning, but afterwards it was relieved, and the hardship passed away.
After despair there are many hopes. After darkness there are many suns.
I grant indeed that you have become stony and have put locks upon your ears and hearts; But we have nothing to do with any acceptance."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 2901-2929)

Commentary: You and I are not unchangeable. For our sicknesses, there is a cure. For our distraction, confusion, and stony hearts, there is a Benefactor.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Dreamers

"Anyone who has dreamed of the Day of Covenant, is drunken on the path of devotion, drunken;
Like a drunk, frenzied camel, he is bearing this heavy sack without flagging, and without questioning, and without fatigue;
Through the strength bestowed on him, the camel becomes like a fierce lion...
In his longing, a hundred starvations lie lightly on him; the mountain seems to him to be a strand of hair.
But the one who has not dreamed such a dream of the Covenant, does not become a servant and a seeker of God in this world.
Or, if he does become such, he is always changing and shifting in vacillation; He gives thanks to God for one moment, and utters complaints for a year.
He steps forward and backwards on the Way of Religion, with a hundred vacillations and without any certainty...
I have hope in You alone, by whom every difficult thing is made easy.
This blindness of mine is the blindness of love.
I am revolving around Your grace, O axis of all."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 2348-2364)

Commentary: It depends on the day. Sometimes we remember the "Covenant", the promises we have received from God. Other times, we vacillate. We step forward and backwards. For every word of gratitude, we "utter a year (!) of complaints". What a moment it will be, when we only revolve around God's grace.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Forest and the Trees

"On account of the denseness of the leaves, no boughs were visible on the trees; the leaves too, had become scant, and had almost vanished on account of the plenteous fruit.
More wondrous than all else was that hundreds and thousands of people were passing through the desert and the plain beside the trees.
Hazarding their lives and ready to sacrifice everything in their desire for shade.... and yet not seeing those trees at all.
They saw a mote, but not the sun. The caravans are without food, and yet these fruits are dropping right besides them....
If anyone had said to them, ' Go in this direction, that you may seek happiness from these trees."
They all would have said, 'this poor intoxicated wretch has gone mad.'
Have I become mad and crazy? At every moment I rub my eyes, wondering whether I am dreaming, and beholding a phantom in the world of time.
How can it be a dream? I go up to the trees, I eat their fruit: how should I not believe?
But again, when I look at the incredulous ones who turn aside from this orchard,
Devoting their lives with the utmost indigence, and destitution because of their desire for half an unripe grape,
I see these hundred thousands on thousands of people fleeing from these trees and their fruit,
Once more I say, 'Marvelous! Am I beside myself? Have I laid hold of a bough of fantasy?"

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 2004-2032)

Commentary: Do you see grace and generosity, and forgiveness and blessing? Do others see it? Does it matter? Even after our lives have been saved by such ripe and wonderful fruit, sometimes we doubt that we have been given such abundance.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Compensation

"Whatsoever God takes away, He sends compensation.
If He burns your vineyard, he will give you grapes; in the midst of mourning, He will give you festivity.
To the handless paralytic, He gives a hand; to the person who is a mine of grief He gives the joyous heart of an intoxicated one.
There is coming a great compensation for what has been lost.
Inasmuch as heat comes to me without fire, I am content if He extinguishes my fire.
Inasmuch as He gives light without any lamp, if your lamp is gone, why are you lamenting?"

Rumi (Vol. 3, 1872-1877)

Commentary: Rumi believes that God and life and reality are trustworthy. Amazing! (and inspiring..)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Knowing

Knowledge has two wings, Opinion, one wing. Opinion is defective and curtailed in flight.
But when the bird has been delivered from Opinion, Knowledge shows its face to him: that one winged bird becomes two winged and spreads his wings.
If all the world should say to him "You are on the way to God and following the right religion."
He will not be made more fervent by their words: his lonely soul will not mate with them;
And if they shall all say to him," You are astray: you think you are a mountain and in reality you are a blade of straw,"
He will not fall into doubt because of their taunts, he will not be grieved by their departure and estrangement from him.
No, if the seas and mountains should say to him, "You are wedded to perdition,"
Not the least jot will he fall into fantasy or sickness on account of the taunts of the scoffers."

Rumi (Vol. 3, 1513-1521)

Commentary: The self-differentiated person pays little attention to praise or criticism. All that is required to accomplish this miracle, according to Rumi, is to replace belief with experience,and to replace opinion, with knowledge.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The One You Are Searching For

"You are in love with your "state of feeling" ; you are not in love with God; you are attached to Me in the hope of experiencing the "feeling".
Go seek a love like this, if you are spiritually alive; otherwise you are slave to the changing time, and form, and feeling.
Do not regard your ugly or beautiful form; regard Love, and the object of your search.
Do not regard the fact that you are despicable or infirm; look upon your aspiration, O noble one.
In whatsoever state you are in, keep searching; O you with dry lip, always be seeking the water.
For that dry lip of yours gives evidence that it will reach the source of the spring.
Dryness of lip is a message from the water to say that this agitation, and anxious search will bring you to the water.
For this seeking is a blessed motion; this search is a killer of all the obstacles on the way to God.
This search is the key to the things sought by you, this search is your army and the victory of your banners.
This search is like the rooster crowing and proclaiming that dawn is at hand."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 1423-1444)

Commentary: The feelings of spirituality, (those temporary states of devotion, or compassion, or blessing) are intoxicating, and we want to feel them again. Rumi says that no matter how sweet those emotions may be, they are not really the point. What is essential is the seeking; our moving towards God.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

In What Direction?

"O You, with whom God is pleased, seek the answer from the same quarter, from which your questions come to you.
The cornerless corner of the heart is a King's highway.
Why on this side and that, like a beggar, O mountain of Reality, are you seeking the echo?
Seek the answer from the same quarter to which, in the hour of pain, you bend low, crying repeatedly, "O my Lord!"
In the hour of pain and death you turn in that direction. How is it that when the tribulation is gone, you are ignorant?
At the time of tribulation you call on God, but when the tribulation is gone, you ask, "Where is the way?"
This is because you do not know God: everyone that knows God is constantly engaged in the remembrance of Him.
Sell intellect and talent, and buy bewilderment in God."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 1137-1146)

Commentary: Rumi insists on calling us a "mountain of Reality."He is quite convinced that the answers we seek, are a sign of grace, and that we know the way home (when we are in pain), but keep turning outward to the pleasures of the world, when the tribulations are over. The whole of the spiritual journey is quite bewildering...

Monday, January 4, 2010

What Moses Said to the Pharaoh

"There is no fear on my part.
I am content, I am thankful, O adversary: here I am disgraced, but with God I am honored.
In the sight of the people I am contemptible and wretched and a laughingstock: in God's sight I am loved and sought and approved.
If you are powerful, and I in truth have no ally, yet I am subject to God's command: I have nothing to do with that.
I will combat you with all my strength as long as I live.
O wonder! To me, it is as clear as the sun: to my enemy it is as dark as night.
O wonder! How does this host not see a whole world filled with the sun at morningtide?
Eyes open, and ears open, and this sun! I am amazed at God's eye bandaging.
I am amazed at them, and they are too at me.
God knows best, concerning his servants.
A treasure of gold is hidden, for safety's sake, in a desolate spot that is not well known.
On this account it is said, "Joy is hidden beneath sorrow."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 1076-1134)

Commentary: Moses knew what most of us do not. He knew who he wanted to please, and it wasn't Pharaoh, or the crowd. He knew he didn't need to be afraid, no matter how powerful his enemies were. And he knew that sorrow was not the last word. This story keeps going...

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A Deep Sea

"Whether one be slow or speedy in movement, the one that is a seeker will be a finder.
Always apply yourself with all your might to seeking, for search is an excellent guide on the way.
Though you be lame and limping and bent in figure, and unmannerly, ever creep towards Him, and be in quest of Him.
Now by speech, and now by silence and now by smelling, catch in every quarter the scent of the King...
Whenever a sweet scent comes, smell in that direction, for you are acquainted with that direction.
Whenever you are aware of a kindness from anyone, it is possible that you may find the way to the source of that kindness.
All these lovely things are from a deep sea: leave the part and keep your eye fixed upon the whole.
Smell all the way from the part to the whole,"

Rumi (Vol.3, from 978-992)

Commentary: We want that ocean of mercy. Even when the road is long, and the cold winds are howling, Rumi encourages us to keep looking for the source of all joy.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Preoccupations

"Everything that comes and is a source of preoccupation diverts you from God,
Rejoice in Him, do not rejoice in anything but Him: God is as the spring, and all other things are as the month of December.
Everything other than God is the means of leading you gradually to perdition, even though it is your throne, your kingdom and your crown.
Rejoice in sorrow, for sorrow is the means of attaining union with God: in this Way the ascent is downwards....
You must set foot in the plain of the heart and spirit.
The heart is the abode of security, O friends, it has fountains and rose gardens within rose gardens.
Turn towards the heart and journey on, O night-travelers : therein are trees and many a flowing spring.
On whatsoever thing that God's radiance may fall on, you become in love with that thing, O brave one.
On whatsoever existence thing your love is bestowed, that thing is gilded with Divine qualities."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 506-553)

Commentary: Rumi calls us "night-travelers", usually lost, and unable to get our bearings; easily preoccupied, and always neglecting to see the source of beauty within the people and the things we love. On this spiritual journey, we are encouraged to see past the forms, and to draw closer to the Giver.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Filling Heaven with an Uproar

"The earth has become resigned to Heaven, like Job, saying, " I am captive: bring onto me, whatever You will."
God has required of you to be as humble and as submissive as dust: do not avert your face from Him...
The seed of corn  went beneath the earth from above; afterwards it became ears of corn, and sprang up quickly.
The seed of every fruit entered into the earth; it raised up shoots from the buried root.
The source of all blessing descended from Heaven to the earth, and became the nutriment of the vital spirit.
Forasmuch as it came down from Heaven on account of humility, it became part of the living and valiant person...
All particles of phenomenal being, whether in movement or at rest, are speakers and declare, " Truly,  to God we are returning."
The praises and glorifications of the hidden particles  have filled heaven with an uproar."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 452-465)

Commentary: A New Year is upon us promising highs and lows;  moments of delight and moments of great suffering. Rumi seems to believe that going down is not a problem; but instead is the way to new  and more abundant life. It is nice to hear that the part of us that is "moving", is making a loud noise in Heaven.