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.