The Touch of God's Hand

"There was once a man who inherited money and estates: he squandered all and was left destitute and miserable.
Inherited wealth does not indeed remain constant to its new owner, since it was parted against its will from the deceased one.
O such-an-such, you do not know the value of your soul, because God bountifully gave it to you for nothing.
The man's ready money went, and his furniture and houses went; he was left alone like owls in the desert.
When he became empty, he began to call onto God; he started the tune of, "O Lord!" and "O Lord, protect me!"
Since the Prophet has said that the true believer is like a lute, which makes music only at the time that it is empty,
Do not become full, for sweet is the touch of God's hand.
Become empty and stay happily between God's two fingers..."

Rumi (Vol.6 4206-4215)

Commentary: Having nothing to rely on, but God and grace: an enviable, if difficult, position.

Another Place

"God puts in your heart the fear of losing a certain position, in order that no other position may be an object of hope to you.
O thou, who has fixed your hopes firmly on one quarter saying, "The fruit will come to me from that lofty tree."
Your hope will not be fulfilled from there: no, the bounty will come from another place.
Why, then, did God implant in you that hope, since God would not give you the desired thing from that quarter?
It is for a wise purpose and contrivance; and also in order that your heart may be in a state of bewilderment
It is that your heart may be bewildered, O learner, wondering from where the object of your desire will come to you.
It is that you may know your weakness and your ignorance and that consequently, your faith in the unseen may be increased."

Rumi (Vol.6, 4188-4195)

Commentary: Who, but Rumi, can reassure us that our frustration, our confusion, and our heartbreaking inability to satisfy our desires, are all a kind of grace?

Contrariwise

"Either this desire of mine will be fulfilled on this journey, or when I return from the journey.
It may be that the fulfillment of my desire depends on going abroad, and that only after I have gone to distant lands shall I attain it at home.
How should the mystery of God, being with me, enter into my spiritual ear unless I wander around the world?
God has said that "God is with us", but the Holy One sealed the heart, in order that the truth and real meaning may enter the heart's ear contrariwise, and indirectly.
When the seeker has made many journeys, and performed the duties of the Way, after that, and not before, the seal is removed from one's heart."

Rumi (Vol.6, 4175-4181)

Commentary: This is one sweet explanation for why I've spent so much of my life traveling, and wandering around lost...

Seek the Saint

"You are fleeing from a gnat to a scorpion, you are fleeing from a dewdrop into an ocean.
You are fleeing from your father's unkindness into the midst of scoundrels, and mischief and trouble.
Jesus says to him, "O blind man, cling to me with both hands.
If you are blind, you will obtain light from me."
The real fortune and highway of success lies in the business that comes after utter defeat and self abasement.
Give up the business that has no head, no foot, no permanence.
What is required is self surrender, not long toil: it is useless to rush about in error.
Henceforth I will not seek the way to the highest celestial sphere: I will seek the Saint, I will seek the Saint, the Saint, the Saint!
The Saint is the ladder to Heaven: by whom is the arrow made to fly? By the bow, and the Archer."

Rumi (Vol.6,4109-4125)

Commentary: It is not enough to be moving fast. You need to be going in the right direction. We, who are metaphorically and spiritually blind, need the grace of a Saint.

Nothing But Lightning

"All selfish pleasures are a deceit and fraud: round the lightning flash is a wall of darkness.
The lightning is but a brief gleam, false and fleeting, surrounded by darkness, and your way is long.
By its light you can neither read a letter, nor ride to your destination.
But, as a penalty for being enthralled by the lightening, the beams of the sunrise withdraw themselves from you.
Mile after mile, through the night, the lightning's deception leads you on, without a guide in a dark wilderness.
Now, you fall off a mountain, now, into a river; now you wander in this direction, now in that.
O seeker of worldly estate, you will never find the guide, and if you do find him, you will avert your face from him.
Yes, you have journeyed far, but only in opinion, as unsubstantial as lightning:
come, make a tenth part of that journey for the sake of Divine inspiration, as glorious as the sunrise.
By a lightning flash, you have been blind to a rising sun."

Rumi (Vol.6, 4094-4105)

Commentary: What if, even just for today, we gave a tithe (one tenth of our attention) to God? Turning away from the bright flashes of lightning, that leave us in the dark, and turning our faces toward the sun, towards God's love?

A Warning...

My plight is a warning to all lovers...
My religion is to be kept alive by Love.
The sword of Love sweeps away the dust from the lover's soul...
For ages, O Adored One, I have been beating my drum of love for You, to the tune of "Lo, my life depends on my dying to my selfishness."
One must rely on the intelligence of the guide.
Either be victorious, or be in search of a victor: either have insight, or be seeking one who has insight.
Without the possession of the key, namely intelligence, this knocking at the door is prompted by self-will and selfishness, not by right motives.
See a whole world ensnared by self-will and by wounds and harmful things, that look like remedies."

Rumi (Vol.6, 4056-4078)

Commentary: To win at this Love, it all comes down to the grace of the guide...otherwise we spend all our time pursuing remedies that aren't remedies.

A Love Story: Zalikha and Joseph

"Zalikha had applied to Joseph the name of everything...
If she praised, it was Joseph's caresses that she meant, and if she blamed, it was separation from him that she was referring to.
If she piled up a hundred names, her meaning and her intention was always Joseph.
Were she hungry, as soon as she spoke his name, she would be filled with spiritual food, and intoxicated by his cup.
Her thirst would be satisfied by his name: the name of Joseph was a sherbet to her soul.
And if she was in pain, her pain would immediately be turned into profit by that exalted name.
In cold weather it was a fur to her. This, this is what the Beloved's name can do, when one is in love."

Rumi (Vol.6, 4021-4037)

Commentary: One day, God will be our comfort, our sherbet, our food and our drink.

A Mutual Embrace

"This is the practice of everything that is loved and loves,
A mutual embracing...is Divinely ordained between eternal and non-eternal and between substance and accident.
Love banished them from the throne and made them footless and headless and destitute.
Love is honey for the grown up, and milk for children: for every boat it is like the last freight loaded, which causes the boat to founder.
Many kings, beyond number, has Love torn from their kingdoms and families.
A hundred thousand heads go for a farthing at the moment when Love strings his bow...
But may the soul's pasture be the ransom for Love's lion, who is killed by this Love and his scimitar.
It is a killing better than a thousand lives: all sovereignties are mortally enamored of this servitude."

Rumi (Vol. 6, 3951-4006)

Commentary: Do not assume that Love's embrace will always feel sweet and easy...

The Master Player

"If a fire should dart its flames at the kernel, know that it is in order to cook it, not to burn it.
So long as God is Wise, know that this law is perpetual, both in the past and in the time to come.
The pure kernels and even the husks are pardoned by God; then how should God burn the kernel? Far be it from Him!
If, in God's grace , he beats the head of one who resembles the husk, such a one will feel an eager desire for the red wine of grace.
Over every mind there is a hidden Ruler, who cunningly diverts (from his or her purpose) whomsoever God wills.
The sun in the East, and the sun's radiance, are bound like captives in God's chain.
God is the Master-player."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3929-3938)

Commentary: Even the way we think! It is all God's play...

Hardships

"We used to say, " Do not bewail your hardships: be patient for patience is the key to the relief of pain."
What has now become of this key? Wonderful! This rule, which we laid down for others, is null and void for us: what has become of it?
Didn't we always say, " In the hour of struggle, laugh happily, like gold in the fire?"
We said... " Do not lose courage."
We preached fortitude to all the world, because such strength is a lamp and a light in the breast.
Now it is our turn. Now we have become distracted...
O heart that did inspire others with passion, inspire yourself with ardor, and be ashamed of yourself.
O reason, where is your eloquent and persuasive counsel? Now, that it is your turn: what has become of your former admonitions?
Since you were once a cure for the pain of others, how is that you are now silent, when pain has become your guest?"

Rumi (Vol.6, 3894-3909)

Commentary: It is oh, so much easier, to offer consoling words, than it is to walk through the valley yourself...

The Expert Swimmer

"Real intelligence is in being safe, and in the desire to act justly towards every woman, and every man; but where is such intelligence to be found?
One atom of the protection of Divine favor, is better than a thousand efforts by the devout pietist.
The quiet of the expert swimmer, is better than the violent exertions, the wild movements of hands and feet of one who is unable to swim.
The one that cannot swim, desperately flails with his hands and feet and drowns; while the practiced swimmer moves quietly and smoothly, with a steadfastness like that of pillars.
Knowledge is an ocean without bound or shore: the seeker of knowledge is like a diver in those seas.
Though his life be a thousand years long, never will that one become tired of seeking."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3861-3882)

Commentary; As another poet wrote "Lie back daughter, and let the sea hold you..."

Not So Smart

"We are all fallen into the moat, killed and wounded by an affliction without combat.
We relied on our own intelligence and wisdom, so that this tribulation has come to pass.
A single feeling of contentment is better than a hundred feasts and trays of food.
Half a mite of God's favor is better than three hundred expedients devised by the intellect.
Abandon your own cunning...nothing avails until you die to all your contrivances.
Except dying to your ego, no other skill avails with God, O artful schemer.
One Divine favor is better than a hundred kinds of personal effort."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3780-3839)

Commentary: According to Rumi's mathematics, everything our minds come up with has little or no value. What counts is grace and God's mercy.

Behind the Form...

"Know that the form of the roof and the walls of every dwelling is a reflection of the thought of the architect.
Assuredly, the Absolute Agent is formless: form is a tool in God's hand.
Sometimes the Formless One graciously shows His face, from the concealment beyond existence,
In order that every form may thereby be replenished with some perfection, and beauty and power.
Why then , O confused one, are you submitting your need to another needy creature?
Seek God in humility and in selflessness, for nothing but forms is produced by thinking.
Suppose it is the form of the city to which you are going: you are drawn there by a formless feeling of pleasure, O dependent one;
Therefore you are really going to that which has no locality, for pleasure is different from place and time.
Suppose it is to the form of a friend to whom you would go: you are going for the sake of enjoying her society:
Therefore, in reality you go to the formless world, though you are unaware of that being the object of your journey.
In truth, then, God is worshiped by all, since all wayfaring is for the sake of joy, of which God is the source,"

Rumi (Vol.6, 3740-3755)

Commentary: God is defined by Rumi as the source of perfection, and beauty and power and joy. We see evidence of the Formless One more than we think.

Who Else?

"You have shot an arrow to the right, and have seen your arrow go to the left.
You have rode in chase of a deer, and have made yourself the prey of a wild hog.
You have run after some gain for the purpose of filling yourself: the gain has not reached you and you have been cast into prison.
You have dug pits for others, and you have seen yourself fall into them.
Since the Lord has disappointed you in regard to the means of obtaining your desire, then why do you not become suspicious of the means?
Many a one has become an emperor, by dint of toil, while many another has been made destitute by that very same toil.
Since God is the one who turns our eyes, who else should be turning the heart and the thoughts?
This is not skepticism, It is God's turning: it shows where the realities are."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3683-3696)

Commentary: Who did you think was in charge here? Why am I always surprised that reality has the upper hand?

The Abode of Delusion

"How good is the Conduit which is the source of all things!
There is no nourishment for them in the world from seasons, except perhaps the Spring of the Beloved's face in the soul.
The earth is entitled "the Abode of delusion" because she draws back her foot and deserts you on the day of passage.
Before that time she was running right and left, saying, "I will take away your sorrow"; but she never took anything away.
In the hour of anxieties she would say to you, "May pain be far from you, and may ten thousand mountains stand between suffering and you!"
Then, when the army of pain arrives, she holds her breath and remains silent. She will not even say," I have seen and been acquainted with you."
All will be far from God, except those who turn back from that deception, come forth from the autumn, and enter into the springtime of Divine grace."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3596-3623)

Commentary: Which invitation do we answer? Happiness and sorrow are woven together tightly in this world. But Rumi promises that there is a realm within every child of God, where it is always spring, and where there is nothing but grace.

Concealment

"You have concealed richness in the lowliness of poverty.
Contrary is secretly concealed in contrary: fire is concealed in boiling water.
A delightful garden is concealed in Nimrod's fire: revenues grow from giving and spending.
Riches were never diminished by alms giving...
The poor tax is the keeper of your purse, the ritual prayer is the shepherd that saves you from the wolves.
The sweet fruit is hidden in boughs and leaves, the everlasting life is hidden in death.
Manure, by way of assimilation, becomes nutriment for the earth, and by means of that a fruit is born of the earth.
An existence is concealed in non-existence, being adorable is hidden in the nature of adoration.
The steel and flint are externally dark, but inwardly resplendent with light and a world illumining candle.
In a single fear are enclosed a thousand securities; in the black pupil of the eye are ever so many brilliant stars.
A treasure has been deposited in a ruin"

Rumi (Vol.6, 3569-3581)

Commentary: No wonder we are confused...

Discernment

"The work and business of the prophets and Divine Messengers is beyond the skies and the stars.
Whatsoever the sun of God's grace shines upon, whether it be a dog or a horse, that being is endowed with the glory of Divine protection.
Yet deem not the radiance of God's grace to be uniform: it has given a distinctive character to the pebble and the ruby.
From that radiance the ruby has a borrowed treasure, while the pebble has only heat and brightness.
The radiance of the sun falling on a wall is not the same as when the sun is reflected upon the water in shimmering movement...
At this time, when you are healthy and well fed, you are giving up the Truth for a phantom.
You are constantly selling the pearls from the spiritual mine, and taking walnuts in exchange, like a child."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3447-3466)

Commentary: Walnuts and pearls have a different value. Walnuts are tasty and provide immediate satisfaction. Nevertheless, Rumi urges us to collect pearls and rubies.

Hidden

"If anything other than God appears to you, it is the effect of God's illusion: and if all other than than God vanishes from your sight, it is the effect of God awakening you to the reality.
What is the attracting power, hidden in what is most hidden? What is it that shines forth in this world from its source in the other world?
The intellect is barred, and the spirit is also barred from access to this ambush; I cannot see it: see it if you can!"

Rumi (Vol.6, 3356-3361)

Commentary: I'm with Rumi on this one... we see miracles, all the time. But who understands where they originate?

Being Worked On

"God is the assembly place where all the generations of humanity are gathered under the Divine banner.
Moment by moment, that traceless One is setting down what God wills on the page of their thought, and then obliterating it.
God is putting anger there, and taking acceptance away: God is putting stinginess there, and taking generosity away.
Never for even half a wink of an eye, at evening or morning, are my ideas exempt from this process of imprinting on the mind, and obliterating.
The potter works at the pot to fashion it: how should the pot become broad and long of itself?
The wood is kept constantly in the carpenter's hand: else how should it be hewn and put into the right shape?
The garment, while being cut, is in the hands of a tailor: else how should it sew and cut itself?
You are being filled and emptied at every moment: know then that you are in the hand of God's working...
If you have an ear, listen with your own ear: why be dependent on the ears of blockheads?
Make a practice of seeing for yourself, without blindly following any authority: think in accordance with the view of your own reason."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3331-3344)

Commentary: This explains a lot...We need to think for ourselves, and then realize that our thinking will keep changing in ways we cannot begin to fathom.

Acceptance

"Your grace is the loving shepherd of all who have been created, You guard them from the wolf of pain...
I live in hope of your open hand, as bountiful as the ocean, and relying on Your giving me a stipend, and discharging my obligations in full.
I recklessly incurred debts, amounting to nine thousand pieces of gold: where are You, that these dregs may become clear?
Where are You, that laughing like the verdant garden You would say, " Receive that sum, and ten times as much from me"?
Where are You, that You may take me into Your treasury and make me secure from debt and poverty?
While I am continually saying, "Enough!" and You, my bountiful Friend, are replying, "Accept this too, for my heart's sake."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3280-3303)

Commentary: No matter what it is we ask from God, it is not nearly as much as what God wants to give to us.

In Mourning

O Thou, who were the support and refuge of the righteous, and the hope and helper of every wayfarer,
O You, on whose heart the care and means of our livelihood lay constantly,
O You, whose beneficence and charity were like a universal provision of sustenance,
O You, who were as kinsfolk and parents to the poor; paying their taxes and expenses and discharging all debts,
O You, who like the sea, gave pearls to those near to you, and who sent rain as a gift to those who were far away,
Our backs were warmed by You, O Sun, who was the splendor in every palace, and the treasure in every ruin.
O You, in whom in every month and year, I, and a hundred like me, had become a family, tenderly cared for like your own children.
You were our ready money, and our moveables, and our furniture, our fame and glory and our fortune.
You are not dead, but our luxury and good fortune are dead, our happy life is dead, and the sustenance that was provided in full measure."

Rumi (Vol. 6, 3264-3274)

Commentary: Rumi is telling a story of a man who has just learned that his Master and benefactor has died. I think he is also describing the universal loss of those who have blessed us. Their love lives on in us, but our lives are changed forever.

Thank You Notes

"At the resurrection God will say to his servant," Tell me, what have you done with that which I bestowed on you?"
The servant will reply," O Lord, I gave thanks to You with all my soul, since the source of my daily bread and provision was in You."
Then God will say to him, " No, you did not give thanks to Me, inasmuch as you did not give thanks to the ones who made a practice of generosity.
You have done wrong and displayed injustice to those who were generous with you: did not my bounty come to you through their hands?"

Rumi (Vol.6 3259-3263)

Commentary; I need to be writing more thank you notes; especially as I learn who is behind all this giving and generosity...

Seeing Double

"Since the squinter who sees two, instead of one, is deprived of the enjoyment of delicious food, your case is worse, for you are seeing ten, O you, who would sell your mother!
Because of seeing double, you wander to and fro...
In this ruined monastery the man who sees double is continually removing himself from one nook to another: O you, who say to yourself, "The good which I seek is to be found there."
But if you get two eyes that can recognize God, you will see that the entire expanse of both worlds is full of the Beloved."

Rumi (Vol.6 3231- 3234)

Commentary: Especially on Mother's Day, Rumi urges us not to sell ourselves short, not to sell our Mothers, not to wander looking for something that is far away. We are instructed to develop the capacity to focus, so that we might see our Beloved.

Benevolent Creatures and the Generosity of the Creator

"O Maker, I am confused: I was setting my hopes on Your creatures.
Though my benefactor and friend had shown great generosity, yet that was never a match for Your bounty.
He gave the cap, but You the head filled with intelligence.
He gave me gold, but You the hand that counts the gold; he gave me a horse for riding, but You the mind that rides it.
The friendly benefactor gave me a candle, but You gave me a bright and cheerful eye that sees; My benefactor gave me dessert, but You gave me the stomach that receives the food.
He gave me the stipend, but You gave life and animate existence; his promise was gold, but Your promise is for the pure things of the spirit.
He gave me a house, but You the sky and earth: in Your house he, and a hundred like him, grow fat.
You also gave my friend and benefactor generosity and pity, and his joy was increased by showing that generosity."

Rumi (Vol.6. 3124-3132)

Commentary: The generosity of God and the generosity of our friends flow from the same Love. We need to give some credit at the source.

The Generous One

"The spiritual warrior first gives away his bread; but when the light of devotion strikes on him, he gives away his life.
Open a window towards God, and begin to delight yourself by looking at him through the aperture.
The business of Love is to to make that window in the heart, for the breast is illumined by the beauty of the Beloved.
Therefore, gaze incessantly on the face of the Beloved! This is in your power.
Make a way for yourself in the innermost parts: banish the perception that is concerned with anything other than God.
The Beautiful One will deliver the spirit from unfriendliness.
God's grace is moisture and nourishment for the garden of the spirit; God's breath revives the one who has died of anguish.
God does not only bestow onto you the entire kingdom of the base world; God bestows a hundred thousand kingdoms of diverse kinds."

Rumi (Vol. 6, 3086-3102)

Commentary: What God has to give us is beyond our imagining. Our work, it seems to me, is to develop the capacity to receive.

The Sweetheart

"Say, "First the neighbor, then the house." If you have a heart, go seek the sweetheart.
When my eye beheld the face of that spiritual emperor, all plurality vanished from my sight.
Know that the Saint's bodies are the lamp niche, and their hearts the glass; this lamp illumines the empyrean and the heavens.
Heaven's light is dazzled by this Light, and vanishes like the stars in this radiance of morning.
"I am not contained in the heavens or in the void or in the exalted intelligence...
But I am contained, as a guest, in the true believer's heart, without qualification, or definition or description.
To the end that by the meditation of that heart all, above and below, may win from Me sovereignty and fortune.
Without such a mirror neither earth nor time could bear the vision of My beauty.
I caused the steed of my mercy to gallop over the two worlds: I fashioned a very spacious mirror,
From this mirror appear at every moment fifty spiritual wedding feasts: hearken to the mirror, but do not ask Me to describe it."

Rumi (Vol.6, 3010-3077)

Commentary: The love Rumi points to, cannot be described. But you can see it in the eyes and in the smile of Saints.

Redeeming the Helpless

"O Thou who watches over us in heat and cold.
O Thou who gives us intimations in gladness and woe, even though our hearts are unaware of Your intimations,
O Lord, who daily and nightly sees us, but whom we do not see.
O Lord, make our light complete in the plain of resurrection, and deliver us from shameful and overwhelming indignities!
Do not let your night companion be banished from Your presence in the daytime, do not inflict separation in the soul that has experienced nearness.
Absence from You is a grievous and tormenting death, especially the absence that comes after the enjoyment of Your favor.
Do not drive from Your face the one who once beheld Your face!
O Lord who knows the secret, preserve us from these distractions and attractions, by the attraction of Your grace.
Thou, O Purchaser, are dominant over all attractors: it would be fitting if You would redeem the helpless."

Rumi (Vol.6 2887-2905)

Commentary: All we can do is ask...

Truly Holy

"Self-interest is a veil upon the eye of the heart.
The self-interested man does not see the whole of the creation, in all its various aspects: your love of created things makes you blind and deaf.
God has not created anything, in the earth, or in the lofty heaven, that is more holy than the spirit of a human being.
The object of God's regard, in both worlds, is a pure heart."

Rumi (Vol. 6, 2871-2883)

Commenatary: For better vision, remove the veils of ego.

Towards the Future

"What devise can our mental perceptions employ, I wonder, against the ebb and flow of the trackless sea?
It is like the King's highway--travelers departing and arriving, one going in this direction, another in that direction.
Consider well! We, though apparently standing still, are really marching: don't you see we are bound for a new place?
You do not earn and spend your capital for any present need; No, you keep it for your ultimate purposes.
The traveler then, O devotee of the Way, is the one whose march and face are turned toward the future."

Rumi (Vol.6, 2770-2779)

Commentary: Our spiritual work has all been put in a high-yield savings account. We are poor now, but someday we may have resources beyond our imagining.

Hidden Rain

"O soul of my soul, O You who are the soul of a hundred worlds, gladly take the opportunity of seizing the cash of the present moment.
Do not withdraw your self from this river-bed, O flowing water.
But flow in order that the river-bank may laugh, and may be made to blossom by the running water, and that jasmines may rear their heads on each brim of the river.
The verdant orchard tells a tale of rain.
If it rains during the night, no one sees the rain, for then every soul and breath is asleep;
But the freshness of every beautiful rose garden is clear evidence of the rain that was hidden from view."

Rumi (Vol.6, 2719-2725)

Commentary: You can't see a lot of grace? And yet you are here, and still turning towards Love. What nourishes and sustains us remains hidden from view , as long as we are asleep. Rumi urges us to "wake up" and grab the cash that is being freely distributed by God.

Oneness

"Visit the water once a week" is not the ration for fish, since they feel no spiritual joy without the Sea.
To the lover, one moment of separation is as a year; to that one a whole year's uninterrupted union is as a fleeting fancy.
Never for one instant do lovers cease from seeking; never for one moment do they cease from pursuing each other.
In the heart of the Beloved, the lover is all.
That of which I speak is not the sort of oneness that reason apprehends: the apprehension of this oneness depends on a person dying to oneself.
God gives us that which no eye has beheld, that which is not comprehensible to any tongue or language.
Who are we to aspire to this?"

Rumi (Vol.6 2672-2703)

Commentary: Love can not be explained, described, or understood. What we need to do is to want it, and then, we are told, we will someday know.

Commentary: