"In appearance I am ruining your work, but in reality, I am making a thorn into a rose garden.
A certain man was plowing the soil: a fool cried out and could not control himself,
Saying, "Why are you ruining this soil, and cleaving and scattering it?"
"O fool" said he, "begone, do not interfere with me: recognize the difference between cultivation and devastation.
How should this soil become a rose garden, or a cornfield unless the soil becomes ugly and ruined?
How should it become crops and leaves and fruits until its arrangement is turned up-side down?
When a tailor cuts the cloth for a garment, piece by piece, will anyone strike that expert tailor,
Saying, " Why have you torn this choice satin? What can I do with a torn garment?"
Until you crush wheat in the mill, how will our table be garnished with bread?"
Rumi (Vol.4, 2340- 2353)
Commentary:When it is your own heart that is getting broken open, the difference between cultivation and devastation can be hard to grasp. Maybe when the roses come up after a long, hard , snowy winter, we will know.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A Secret Place
"Behold humankind, how unenlightened they are, and how they are perishing in desire of a perishable piece of goods.
On account of pride, they are all in separation from God, dead to the Spirit, living in trickery.
It is wonderful that the spirit is in prison, and then, all that time the key of the prison is in the prisoner's hand!..
The Divine light is hidden and the search is the evidence of its existence, for the heart does not seek shelter in vain...
Separation is secretly in quest of union."
Rumi (Vol.4, 2032-2041)
Commentary: The last place you might have thought to look for God, is within your own heart.
On account of pride, they are all in separation from God, dead to the Spirit, living in trickery.
It is wonderful that the spirit is in prison, and then, all that time the key of the prison is in the prisoner's hand!..
The Divine light is hidden and the search is the evidence of its existence, for the heart does not seek shelter in vain...
Separation is secretly in quest of union."
Rumi (Vol.4, 2032-2041)
Commentary: The last place you might have thought to look for God, is within your own heart.
Friday, February 5, 2010
The Divine Physician
"The perfect divine physicians will hear your name from afar, and quickly penetrate into the deepest ground of your being and existence;
No, they will have seen you years before your birth- you, together with all the circumstances connected with you...
You are inhaling scent, and no flowers are visible: doubtless it is from the Unseen, and from the garden of the Universal...
Show kindness; O You who knows, and can tell us the mystery...
How should a Sufi be grieved on account of poverty? The very essence of poverty becomes his nurse and his food,
Because Paradise has grown from things disliked, and Mercy is the portion of one who is helpless and broken."
Rumi (Vol. 4, 1800-1856)
Commentary: The good divine Doctor, sends some surprising medicines: like poverty, and the annoying and irritating disappointments of the day. The only lasting cures will be brought about by mercy and grace.
No, they will have seen you years before your birth- you, together with all the circumstances connected with you...
You are inhaling scent, and no flowers are visible: doubtless it is from the Unseen, and from the garden of the Universal...
Show kindness; O You who knows, and can tell us the mystery...
How should a Sufi be grieved on account of poverty? The very essence of poverty becomes his nurse and his food,
Because Paradise has grown from things disliked, and Mercy is the portion of one who is helpless and broken."
Rumi (Vol. 4, 1800-1856)
Commentary: The good divine Doctor, sends some surprising medicines: like poverty, and the annoying and irritating disappointments of the day. The only lasting cures will be brought about by mercy and grace.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Exterior and Interior
"God has said, "I do not look at the exterior, I am regarding the interior."
A certain man came home from Iraq, clad in a tattered cloak: his friends inquired concerning his separation from them.
"Yes" he replied, "there was the sorrow of separation, but the journey was very blessed and fortunate for me.
For the Caliph gave me ten robes of honor, may a hundred praises and laudations ever accompany him."
He was reciting expressions of gratitude and praise till he carried gratitude beyond bound and limit.
Then they said to him, "Your wretched clothes bear witness to your mendacity.
You are naked, bare-headed, consumed with afflictions: you have either stolen these expressions of gratitude, or learned them by rote."
He replied, " I gave them away, what he bestowed..I received all the presents from the prince,and distributed them among the orphans and the poor."
Then they said to him, " Where are the signs of love and charity and being pleased with God, if what you said has passed is true?
Where are the signs of self-sacrifice, O sour one? The smell of false and empty words is coming from you: be silent!"
Charity, for God's sake, has a hundred signs within the heart: the good deed has a hundred tokens.
A sowing of pure seeds in God's earth, and then no income? That is impossible."
Rumi (Vol.4 1738-1759)
Commentary: What we do, and who we are is visible and communicated; much more than we might think, or want.
A certain man came home from Iraq, clad in a tattered cloak: his friends inquired concerning his separation from them.
"Yes" he replied, "there was the sorrow of separation, but the journey was very blessed and fortunate for me.
For the Caliph gave me ten robes of honor, may a hundred praises and laudations ever accompany him."
He was reciting expressions of gratitude and praise till he carried gratitude beyond bound and limit.
Then they said to him, "Your wretched clothes bear witness to your mendacity.
You are naked, bare-headed, consumed with afflictions: you have either stolen these expressions of gratitude, or learned them by rote."
He replied, " I gave them away, what he bestowed..I received all the presents from the prince,and distributed them among the orphans and the poor."
Then they said to him, " Where are the signs of love and charity and being pleased with God, if what you said has passed is true?
Where are the signs of self-sacrifice, O sour one? The smell of false and empty words is coming from you: be silent!"
Charity, for God's sake, has a hundred signs within the heart: the good deed has a hundred tokens.
A sowing of pure seeds in God's earth, and then no income? That is impossible."
Rumi (Vol.4 1738-1759)
Commentary: What we do, and who we are is visible and communicated; much more than we might think, or want.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
With Both Eyes
"O you, who bites your lip in admiration at the beauty of spring, look on the coldness and paleness of autumn.
In the daytime you deem the countenance of the sun to be beautiful: remember its death in the moment of setting.
If the body of those in the fresh bloom of youth has made you its prey, after it has come to old age, behold a body bleached like a cotton plantation.
O you, who have enjoyed rich and wonderful food, arise and see the residue thereof in the latrine...
The acute, far seeing, artful genius, behold it at last as an imbecile...
Observe the world's existence, how at first it is pleasing and joyous; and then observe its shamefulness and corruption in the end...
Reckon every particle of the world to be like this: bring its beginning and its end into consideration...
O you, who have put firm confidence in the vain words and flattery of a scoundrel.
You have raised up a tent of bubbles: in the end you will find that the tent has exceedingly weak ropes...
Seek the applause and the renown that does not die away, the splendor of a sun that does not sink....
Everyone pretends to excellence and elegance: the stone of death is the touchstone for these qualities...
See the beginning and the end with both eyes. "
Rumi (Vol. 4 1596- 1709)
Commentary: Mystics are frequently accused of being romantics and idealists, and otherworldly. But Rumi insists that we look at this world without illusions, without deception, without wishful thinking. It is a bracing assignment; to look at existence with both eyes open.
In the daytime you deem the countenance of the sun to be beautiful: remember its death in the moment of setting.
If the body of those in the fresh bloom of youth has made you its prey, after it has come to old age, behold a body bleached like a cotton plantation.
O you, who have enjoyed rich and wonderful food, arise and see the residue thereof in the latrine...
The acute, far seeing, artful genius, behold it at last as an imbecile...
Observe the world's existence, how at first it is pleasing and joyous; and then observe its shamefulness and corruption in the end...
Reckon every particle of the world to be like this: bring its beginning and its end into consideration...
O you, who have put firm confidence in the vain words and flattery of a scoundrel.
You have raised up a tent of bubbles: in the end you will find that the tent has exceedingly weak ropes...
Seek the applause and the renown that does not die away, the splendor of a sun that does not sink....
Everyone pretends to excellence and elegance: the stone of death is the touchstone for these qualities...
See the beginning and the end with both eyes. "
Rumi (Vol. 4 1596- 1709)
Commentary: Mystics are frequently accused of being romantics and idealists, and otherworldly. But Rumi insists that we look at this world without illusions, without deception, without wishful thinking. It is a bracing assignment; to look at existence with both eyes open.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Pharaoh and His Adviser
"How many times did Pharaoh soften and become submissive when he was hearing the Word from Moses?..From that incomparable Word, a rock would have yielded milk.
(Yet) whenever the King took counsel with Haman, who was his adviser, and whose nature was to hate,
Then Haman would say, "Until now you were a King, would you become, through deception, the slave of a wearer of rags?"
All that the Moses of sweet address built up in a hundred days, the adviser would destroy in one moment.
Your intellect is the adviser, and is overcome by sensuality; in the realm of your being is a thief who attacks you on the Way to God.
If someone holy gives you good advice, the intellect will artfully put those words aside,
Saying,"These words are not well founded: take heed, don't be carried away by them, they are not worth so much; come to yourself, be sensible; don't be crazed."
I have not seen anything but misery in the vile: if you have seen anything else, convey to them felicitations from me.
The King is as the spirit, and the adviser is as the corrupt intellect. When the angelic intellect becomes the adviser, it becomes a teacher...
The two eyes of the soul, are fixed on the end of things: it endures the pain of the thorn, for the sake of that Rose which does not fade and drop in autumn.
...flee from title and from name, and enter into reality.
If I find in the company, one who draws the discourse from me towards God, I, like the garden, will grow hundreds and thousands of roses.
And if at that time I find there the scoundrel who kills the discourse, the deep sayings will flee like a thief, from my heart."
Rumi (Vol. 4, 1240-1320)
Commentary: The mind, especially the corrupt sensual mind, is not a trustworthy adviser. Rumi, on the other hand, is almost always very good company...
(Yet) whenever the King took counsel with Haman, who was his adviser, and whose nature was to hate,
Then Haman would say, "Until now you were a King, would you become, through deception, the slave of a wearer of rags?"
All that the Moses of sweet address built up in a hundred days, the adviser would destroy in one moment.
Your intellect is the adviser, and is overcome by sensuality; in the realm of your being is a thief who attacks you on the Way to God.
If someone holy gives you good advice, the intellect will artfully put those words aside,
Saying,"These words are not well founded: take heed, don't be carried away by them, they are not worth so much; come to yourself, be sensible; don't be crazed."
I have not seen anything but misery in the vile: if you have seen anything else, convey to them felicitations from me.
The King is as the spirit, and the adviser is as the corrupt intellect. When the angelic intellect becomes the adviser, it becomes a teacher...
The two eyes of the soul, are fixed on the end of things: it endures the pain of the thorn, for the sake of that Rose which does not fade and drop in autumn.
...flee from title and from name, and enter into reality.
If I find in the company, one who draws the discourse from me towards God, I, like the garden, will grow hundreds and thousands of roses.
And if at that time I find there the scoundrel who kills the discourse, the deep sayings will flee like a thief, from my heart."
Rumi (Vol. 4, 1240-1320)
Commentary: The mind, especially the corrupt sensual mind, is not a trustworthy adviser. Rumi, on the other hand, is almost always very good company...
Monday, February 1, 2010
Asking
"Seek greed, seek to be eager in the practice of religion and in good works: they are still beautiful, even when the greed and eagerness are gone...
Unless the intelligent had experienced God's beneficence more than a thousand times, how should they have moved themselves towards God?
No, all the fish in the waves of the sea, all the birds in the lofty regions of the sky,
The elephant and the wolf, and also the hunting lion, the huge dragon, and also the ant and the snake,
No, earth and wind and water and every spark of fire gains subsistence from God, both in December and spring.
This heaven and earth is making entreaty unto the One incessantly, "Do not forsake me, O God, for a single moment!"...
Come, ask of God, not of anyone except God, seek water in the sea, do not seek it in the dry river bed.
And if you ask another, it is God that gives; it is God that lays generosity on the open hand of that other one's inclination."
Rumi (Vol.4, 1130-1183)
Commentary: We have to ask. And it is God who is always giving. But do we notice that generosity?
Unless the intelligent had experienced God's beneficence more than a thousand times, how should they have moved themselves towards God?
No, all the fish in the waves of the sea, all the birds in the lofty regions of the sky,
The elephant and the wolf, and also the hunting lion, the huge dragon, and also the ant and the snake,
No, earth and wind and water and every spark of fire gains subsistence from God, both in December and spring.
This heaven and earth is making entreaty unto the One incessantly, "Do not forsake me, O God, for a single moment!"...
Come, ask of God, not of anyone except God, seek water in the sea, do not seek it in the dry river bed.
And if you ask another, it is God that gives; it is God that lays generosity on the open hand of that other one's inclination."
Rumi (Vol.4, 1130-1183)
Commentary: We have to ask. And it is God who is always giving. But do we notice that generosity?
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