"You Are As You Are"

~

Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2946, in a version by Coleman Barks,
and in translation by A.J. Arberry:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"You Are As You Are"

Yesterday, you made a promise.
Today, you broke it. Yesterday,

Bistami's dance. Today, dregs
thrown out. In pieces, and at

the same time, a perfect glass
filled with sunlight. Give up

on figuring the appearances, the
dressing in green like a Sufi.

You don't resemble anyone. You're
not the bride or the groom. You

don't fit in a house with a family.
You've left the closed-in corner

where you lived. Domestic animals
get ridden to work. Not you. You

are as you are, an indescribable
message coming on the air. Every

word you say, medicine. But
not yet: stay quiet and still.

-- Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday you made compact and repentance, today you have
broken them; yesterday you were a bitter sea, today you are a
pearl.
Yesterday you were Bayazid and were augmenting; today
you are in ruins, a dregs-seller and drunk.*
Drink the dregs, O soul! Break from reason, O soul! Do not
wear blue, O soul, until you worship idols.*
Today you are very dissolute, you share the cup with the sun;
You are not the master of the moon, nor the husband of the
lady.*
You are greater than dwellings, you are outside mines; you
are not that, but you are just as you are.
One corner you were bound up, of that corner you were sick;
you opened that which was bound and escaped wholly, escaped.
A beast is not a rider, it is only for the sake of labor; you are
no beast, you are a living man and you have leaped from labor,
leaped.
You are a heavenly messenger; how can you be like the moon
until you ride aloft and are in the hand of the thumbstall?
Silence, give no sign, though you have expressed everything; every
wounded one you have wounded has become the salve of a world.

-- Translation by A.J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
University of Chicago Press, 1979

Arberry's notes:
* "Bayazid" -- (Ba Yazid; Abu Yazid-i Bistami), the famous mystic
of Khorasan (died 261/874 or 264/877, hero of many spirtual anecdotes.
The point of this anecdote is the pun between "kharbanda" ("ass driver")
and "banda-yi Khuda" ("slave of God").
* "do not wear blue" -- the robe of the Sufis usually was blue.
* "master of the moon, etc." -- "Mahasti" means "you are a moon",
or, "the lady of the moon", or simply, a lady.

Sunlight note:
* "Thumbstall" -- protective covering for the thumb; a device which
covers the thumb for a specific purpose, such as a rubber cover which
aids in sorting mail.

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/23ok4n

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

"You Are As You Are"

Choosing sweetness or vinegar

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

i don't need
a companion who is
nasty sad and sour

the one who is
like a grave
dark depressing and bitter

a sweetheart is a mirror
a friend a delicious cake
it isn't worth spending
an hour with anyone else

a companion who is
in love only with the self
has five distinct characters

stone hearted
unsure of every step
lazy and disinterested
keeping a poisonous face

the more this companion waits around
the more bitter everything will get
just like a vinegar
getting more sour with time

enough is said about
sour and bitter faces
a heart filled with desire for
sweetness and tender souls
must not waste itself with unsavory matters

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1219
Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2rmt4w

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

Choosing sweetness or vinegar

"A form corresponding to its nature"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When you have eaten too much honey,
it causes you a fever, not someone else;
your day's wages aren't given to someone else at day's end.
What work have you done
without its returning to you in some form?
What seed have you sown
without the produce coming back to you?
Your own action born of your soul and body
clings to your skirt, like your own child.
In the unseen world that action
takes a form corresponding to its nature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chon `asal khvordi niyâmad tab be-ghayr
mozd-e ruz-e to niyâmad shab be-ghayr
Dar cheh kardi jahd k-ân vâ to na-gasht
to cheh kâridi keh na-âmad ray`-e kasht
Fe`l-e to keh zâyad az jân o tanet
hamcho farzandet be-girad dâmanet
Fe`l-râ dar ghayb surat mi konand
fe`l-e dozdi-râ nah dâri mi-zanand

-- Mathnawi VI: 417-420
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/2w3pz4

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

"A form corresponding to its nature"

"Stir up the dust from the sea!"

~

Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 1095, from Rumi's Diwan-e
Shams, in a version by Kabir Helminski, and in translation by A.J.
Arberry:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"Sweep the Dust off the Sea"

The Beautiful One handed me a broom and said,
"Sweep the dust from the sea!",

then burned the broom in the fireplace and said,
"Give me back my broom."

Bewildered, I put my head to the ground.
"In real submission there's no longer
even someone to bow."

"But how?"
"Without hesitation or anything of yourself."

I bared my neck and said,
"Sever me from myself with Ali's sword."

But as I was struck, and struck again,
countless heads appeared.

As if I were a lamp, and each head a wick,
flames rose on every side,

countless candle-eyed heads,
a procession spanning East and West.
But what is East or West within placelessness?

It's all a furnace and a bath house.
Your heart is cool; how long will you lie in this
warm bath house?

Leave the bath house and its stove.
Undress yourself in the inner world
and appreciate the frescoes, the beautiful figures,
colored with the hues of the tulip bed;
look towards the window that lets in the light.

The six directions are the bath house,
and a window opens toward the placeless.
Above it is the beauty of a Sovereign

from whose reflection the earth and the sky
received their color, from Whom soulfulness
has rained down upon the Turk and Zanzibari.

The day is gone, and my story ends.
Night and day are shamed by my beauty's story.

The sun of Tabriz keeps me
drunk and languishing in this state.

-- Version by Kabir Edmund Helminski
"Love is a Stranger"
Threshold Books, 1993

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That beauty handed me a broom saying, "Stir up the dust from
the sea!"
He then burned the broom in the fire saying, "Bring up the
broom out of the fire!"
In bewilderment I made prostration before him; he said,
"Without a prostrator, offer a graceful prostration!"
"Ah, how prostrate with out a prostrator?" He said, "Uncondi-
tionally, without personal impulse."
I lowered my neck and said, "Cut off the head of a prostrator
with Dhu 'l-Faqar."*
The more he struck with the sword, the more my head grew,
till heads a myriad sprouted from my neck.
I was a lamp, and every head of mine was a wick; sparks
flew on every side.
Candles sprang out of my heads, east to west was filled
with the train.
What are east and west in the placeless? A dark bath-stove,
and a bath at work.*
You whose temperament is cold, where is the anxiety of your
heart? How long is this dwelling at rest in these baths?
Go forth from the baths and enter not the stove*; strip yourself,
and look upon those paintings and figures.*
Until you behold the ravishing figures, until you behold the
hues of the tulip-bed.
When you have beheld, look toward the window, for that
beauty became a beauty through the reflection of the window.
The six directions are the bath, and the window is the place-
less; above the window is the beauty of the Prince.
Earth and water acquired colour from his reflection, soul
rained on Turk and Zanzibari.
The day is gone, and my story has not grown short -- O night
and day put to shame by this tale!
King Shams al-Din-i Tabrizi keeps me intoxicated, crop-sick-
ness upon crop sickness.

-- Translation by A.J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
University of Chicago Press, 1979

* Dhu 'l-Faqar -- Ali's sword, symbolizing death.
* "enter not the stove" -- for the comparson of the world with a bath-
stove, see Mathnawi IV: 238-56.
* "Paintings and figures" - Persian baths were decorated with
frescoes; the symbol is of material forms of spiritual beauty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/2hhby4

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

"Stir up the dust from the sea!"

Inward secrets

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When your heart becomes the grave of your secret,
that desire of yours will be gained more quickly.
The Prophet said that anyone
who keeps secret his inmost thought
will soon attain the object of his desire.
When seeds are buried in the earth,
their inward secrets become the flourishing garden.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gurkhâneh-ye râz-e to chon del shavad
ân morâdet zudtar hâsel shavad
Goft Payghambar keh harkeh serr nehoft
zud gardad bâ morâd-e khvish joft
Dâneh-hâ chon dar zamin panhân shavad
serr-e ân sarsabzi bostân shavad

-- Mathnawi I: 175-177
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/yppbd9

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

Inward secrets

"Be with those who help your being"

~

Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2865, from the Diwan-e Shams,
in a version by Coleman Barks, an interpretive translation by Raficq
Abdulla, and in translation by A.J. Arberry:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Be with those who help your being.
Don't sit with indifferent people, whose breath
comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.

A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.
If you don't try to fly,
and so break yourself apart,
you will be broken open by death,
when it's too late for all you could become.

Leaves get yellow. The tree puts out fresh roots
and makes them green.
Why are you so content with a love that turns you yellow?

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"These Branching Moments"
Copper Beech Press, 1988

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your eyes must complete their course of Love
For you to beat a path to courteous truth;
Spend not your time with cold faces in dead places
Or else your breath will freeze your breast and heart.
From the pulp of yearning go beyond its form to seek
More than solace in the natural suffering called Love.
If you're obtuse and heavy as burdened clay enclosed
By gravity, you'll never lift off and circle the sky;
Come as fine as a thousand dancing particles of dust,
So float and find your feet in the silken path of light.
Choose to break or else be broken by the epic
Of your maker; for death will break your fleeting self
Like an empty shell without a pearl. When a leaf
Withers, in season new roots duly restore it green;
Why then flirt with rootless loves
That steal your eyes from the Unseen?

-- Interpretive translation by Raficq Abdulla
"Words of Paradise"
Viking Studio, 2000

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaze on the cheeks of love that you may gain the
attributes of true men; sit not with the cold ones so you
will not be chilled by their breath.
From the cheeks of love seek something other than
the form; your business is to be a fellow sufferer with love.
If you have the attributes of a clod, you will never fly
in the air; you will fly in the air if you break to pieces and
become dust.
If you do not break to pieces, he who composed you
will break you; when death breaks you, how will you become
a unique pearl?
When a leaf becomes yellow, the fresh root makes it
green; why are you content with a love from which you turn
yellow?

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2c78ov

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~

"Be with those who help your being"

"Ever drunk with love"

~

Today, Sunlight offers two presentations of Quatrain 55 – a
version by Barks, derived from a translation by Moyne, and a
version by Star, derived from a translation by Shiva:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Let the Lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will worry about events going badly.
Let the Lover be.

- Poetic version by Coleman Barks and John Moyne
"Unseen Rain - Quatrains of Rumi"
Threshold Books, 1986

~~~~~

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

- Poetic version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
"A Garden Beyond Paradise - The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/ysf7o9

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~

"Ever drunk with love"

"Become like the sky"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Whatever is steeped in grape juice will acquire the flavor
of the grape.
Whether it be carrots or apples or quinces and walnuts,
you will taste in them the delicious flavor of the grape.
When your knowledge is steeped in the light of faith,
then wayward people will receive light from it.
Whatever you say will be luminous,
for the sky never rains anything but pure water.
Become like the sky. Become like the cloud and shed rain:
the spout rains, too, but it can't produce the rain.
The water in the spout is borrowed;
the water in the cloud and sea is original.
Your thought and reasoning resemble the spout;
inspiration and revelation are like the cloud and the sky.
The rain water engenders all the colors of the garden,
while the spout causes quarrels with your neighbors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Har cheh dar dushâb jushideh shavad
dar `aqideh ta`m-e dushâbesh bovad
Az gazar o ze sib o beh o ze gerdgân
lazzat-e dushâb yâbi to az ân
`Elm andar nur chon farghardeh shod
pas ze `elmet nur yâbad qawm-e ladd
Har cheh guyi bâshad ân ham nur-nâk
k-âsmân hargez na-bârad ghayr-e pâk
Âsmân shaw abr shaw bârân be-bâr
nâvdân bâresh konad na-bud be-kâr
Âb andar nâvdân `âriyatist
âb andar abr o daryâ fetratist
Fekr o andisheh-st masal-e nâvdân
vahy o makshufast abr o âsmân
Âb-e bârân bâgh-e sad rang âvord
nâvdân hamsâyeh dar jang âvord

-- Mathnawi V:2486-2493
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/2c8kes

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~

"Become like the sky"

"Open the door"

~

Open the door

Open the door, a novice has arrived!
Offer me a cup of wine and walk with me
for a while.
You don't mind long distances because
on the way you lay your traps,
and plan how to break my heart.
You fulfilled hundreds of my wishes, yet my heart
still hungers for more.
Your kindness warms and blesses everyone
even the sun bows before you.
Please, let me be your slave and silently walk
by your side.
I will find new meaning in every joy and sorrow.
In that silence
I will hear the voice of spirit, and freed
from this world
I will see another order where the end is
another beginning.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1171
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2bryxb

~

"Open the door"

"As soon as you see the dawn, put out the candle"

~

Think neither of being accepted nor of being turned away,
but always consider the Divine command and prohibition.
Then suddenly the bird of Divine attraction
will fly toward you from its nest:
as soon as you see the dawn, put out the candle.
When the eyes have become piercing,
it's the dawn's light that illuminates them:
in the shell the illumined eye beholds the kernel.
In each speck it beholds the everlasting Sun;
in the drop it beholds the entire Sea.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nah qabul andish nah radd ay gholâm
amr-râ o nahy-râ mi bin modâm
Morgh-e jazbeh nâ-gahân parrad ze `oshsh
chon be-didi sobh shama` ânkeh be-kosh
Cheshm-hâ chon shod gozâreh nur-e ust
maghz-hâ mi binad u dar `ayn-e pust
Binad andar zarreh Khvorshid-e baqâ
binad andar qatreh koll-e bahr-râ

-- Mathnawi VI:1479-1482
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/ypbe2v

~

"As soon as you see the dawn, put out the candle"

Birdsong From Inside The Egg

~

Birdsong From Inside The Egg

Sometimes a lover of God may faint
in the presence. Then the beloved bends
and whispers in his ear, "Beggar, spread out
your robe. I'll fill it with gold.

I've come to protect your consciousness.
Where has it gone? Come back into awareness!"

This fainting is because
lovers want so much.

A chicken invites a camel into her henhouse,
and the whole structure is demolished.

A rabbit nestles down
with its eyes closed
in the arms of a lion.

There is an excess
in spiritual searching
that is profound ignorance.

Let the ignorance be our teacher!
The Friend breathes into one
who has no breath.

A deep silence revives the listening
and the speaking of those two
who meet on the riverbank.

Like the ground turning green in a spring wind,
like birdsong beginning inside the egg.

Like this universe coming into existence,
the lover wakes, and whirls
in a dancing joy,

then kneels down
in praise.

-- Mathnawi III, 4664-93
Version by Coleman Barks
The Essential Rumi
Castle Books, 1997

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/294qqh

~

Birdsong From Inside The Egg

"Once you conquer your selfish self"

~

don't be bitter my friend
you'll regret it soon
hold to your togetherness
or surely you'll scatter

don't walk away gloomy
from this garden
you'll end up like an owl
dwelling in old ruins

face the war and
be a warrior like a lion
or you'll end up like a pet
tucked away in a barn

once you conquer
your selfish self
all your darkness
will change to light

-- Ghazal (Ode) 3299
Translated by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/229qzb

~

"Once you conquer your selfish self"

"In union with God, of what value are signs?"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

In union with God, of what value are signs?
The one who is blind to Essence
sees Divine action through the attributes:
having lost the Essence he is limited to evidences.
Those who are united with God
are absorbed in the Essence.
How should they focus on His qualities?
When your head is submerged in the sea,
how will your eye fall on the color of the water?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To jehat gu man berunam az jehât
dar vesâl âyât ku yâ bayyenât
Son` binad mard-e mahjub az sefât
dar sefât ânast ku gom kard Zât
Vâselân chon gharq-e Zâtand ay pesar
kay konand andar sefât-e U nazar
Chonke andar qa`r ju bâshad saret
kay be-rang-e âb oftad manzaret

-- Mathnawi II:2811-2814
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2fzfoq

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

"In union with God, of what value are signs?"

"All are He"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Consider the creatures as pure and limpid
water, within which shine the Attributes of the Almighty.
Their knowledge, their justice, their kindness –
all are stars of heaven reflected in flowing water.
Kings are a locus of manifestation of God's
Kingliness, the learned a locus for His Knowledge.
Generations have passed, and this is a new
generation. The moon is the same, the water different.
Justice is the same justice, learning the same
learning, but peoples and nations have changed.
Generation upon generation has passed, oh
friend, but these Meanings are constant and everlasting.
The water in the stream has changed many
times, but the reflection of the moon and the stars remains the
same . . .
All pictured forms are reflections in the water
of the stream; when you rub your eyes, indeed, all are He.

-- Mathnawi VI: 3172-78, 83
William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love -
The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi"
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2f7hm5

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

~

"All are He"

"God's creative energy is our parent"

~

What is the real meaning of "the inner nature of his parent"*?
God's creative energy is our parent:
the divine impulse is the kernel; the physical parenting is just the
shell.
O nut-like body, know that Love is your friend:
inspired by Love the soul will break away the shell
in search of the kernel.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Serr-e ab"* cheh bud ab-e mâ son`-e Ust
son` maghzast va ab surat cho pust
`Eshq dân ay fondoq-e tan dustet
jânet juyad maghz o kubad pustet

*Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad.

-- Mathnawi V:1931-1932
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra)

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/ywaark

~

"God's creative energy is our parent"

"The source of joy"

~

Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 423, from Molana Rumi's
Diwan-e Shams, in an interpretive version by Coleman Barks; and
in the translation by A.J. Arberry, upon which Barks based his version:

The Source of Joy

No one knows what makes the soul
wake up so happy!

Maybe a dawn breeze has blown the veil
from the face of God.

A thousand new moons appear.
Roses open laughing.

Hearts become perfect rubies
like those from Badakshan.

The body turns entirely spirit.
Leaves become branches in the wind!

Why is it now so easy to surrender,
even for those already surrendered?

There's no answer to any of this.
No one knows the source of joy.

A poet breathes into a reed flute,
and the tip of every hair makes music.

Shams sails down clods of dirt from the roof,
and we take jobs as doorkeepers for him.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I am You"
Maypop, 1994

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

Has perchance this instant the tip of that tress become
scattered? For such a Tartar musk has become amber-diffusing.
Has perchance the dawn breeze lifted the veil from His
face? For thousands of unseen moons have begun to shine.
Is there any soul which is not happy through His sweet
perfume? Though the soul has no clue as to the source of its
happiness.
Many a happy rose is laughing through the breath of God,
yet every soul does not know whence it has become laughing.
How fairly the sun of His cheek has shone today, through
which thousands of hearts have become rubies of Badakhshan.*
Yet why should not the lover set his heart upon Him
through whose grace the body has become wholly soul?
Did the heart perchance one morning behold Him as He
is, so that from that vision of Him it has today become after
this wise?
Ever since the heart beheld that peri-born beauty of
mine, it has taken the glass into its hand and become an
exorcist.
If His sweet breeze blows upon the tree of the body, how
a-tremble two hundred leaves and two hundred branches have
become!
If there is not an immortal soul for every one slain by
Him, why has it become so easy for the lover to yield up his
soul?
Even the aware ones are unaware of His life and activities,
for His life and activities have become their veil.
If the minstrel of Love has not breathed upon the reed of
a heart, why has every tip of the hair become lamenting like
the reed pipe?
If Shams-I Tabriz does not fling clods from the roof
against the heart, then why have the souls become as it were
his doorkeepers? *

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
The University of Chicago Press, 1968

*Badakhshan in Central Asia was famous for its rubies.
*Cf. the story of Dhul-Nun in Math. II:1386-1460.

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2yvsfn

~

"The source of joy"

"Whoever enters this house"

~

Today, Sunlight offers Rumi's Ghazal (Ode) 332, from the Diwan-e
Shams (the Book of Shams), in a poetic version by Kabir Helminski, and
in translation by A.J. Arberry:

"The House of Love"

Why is there always music in this house?
Ask the owner.

Idols inside the Kaaba?
God's light in a pagan temple?

Here is a treasure this world could not contain.
The house and its landlord
are all pretext and play.

Hands off this house, this talisman.
Don't argue with the landlord;
he's drunk every night.

The dirt and garbage are musk and rose.
The roof and door are music and verse.
In short, whoever finds this house,
is ruler of the world, Solomon of his time.

Look down, Lord, from the roof;
bless us with your glance.

I swear, since seeing Your face,
the whole world is a fraud and fantasy.
The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf
or blossom. The distracted birds
can't distinguish the birdseed from the snare.

A house of love with no limits,
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.

Zulaikha's female friends,
beside themselves in Joseph's presence, sliced their wrists.
Maybe a curl of his hair brushed their hearts.

Come in. The Beloved is here. We are all drunk.
No one notices who enters or leaves.
Don't sit outside the door in the dark, wondering.

Those drunk with God,
even if they are a thousand, live as One.
But drunk with lust, even one is double.

Enter the thicket of lions unafraid of any wounds.
The shadows you fear are just a child's fantasy.

There is no wound and nothing to be wounded;
all is mercy and love.

But you build up thought
like a massive wooden door.
Set fire to the wood.
Silence the noise of the heart.
Hold your harmful tongue.

-- Version by Kabir Helminski
"Love is a Stranger"
Threshold Books, 1993

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This house wherein continually rings the sound of the bell--
staff --- ask of the master what house this house is.
What is this idol-form, if it is the house of the Kaaba? And
what is this light of God, if it is the Magian temple?
In this house is a treasure which the whole of being cannot
contain; this house and this master are all a fiction and a pre-
tence.
Lay not hand upon this house, for this house is a talisman;
speak not to the master, for he is drunk since last night.
The dust and rubbish of this house is all ambergris and musk;
the noise of the door of this house is all verse and melody.
In short, whoever enters this house has found a way to the
King of the world, the Solomon of the time.
Master, bend down your head once from this roof,
for in your fair face is the token of fortune.
I swear by your life that, but for beholding your countenance,
though it be the kingdom of the earth, all is mere fantasy and
fable.
The garden is baffled as to which is the leaf, which the
blossom; the birds are distraught as to which is the snare, which
the bait.
This is the Master of heaven, who is like unto Venus and the
moon, and this is the house of Love, which is without bound and
end.
The soul, like a mirror, has received your image in its heart;
the heart has sunk like a comb into the tip of your tress.
Since in Joseph's presence the women cut their hands*, come to
me, my soul, for the Soul is there in the midst.
The whole household is drunk, and nobody is aware who
enters the threshold, whether it be X or Y.
It is inauspicious* ; do not sit on the threshold, enter the house
at once; he whose place is the threshold keeps all in darkness.
Though God's drunkards are thousands, yet they are one; the
drunkards of lust are all double and treble.
Enter the lions' thicket and do not be anxious for the wound-
ing, for the anxiety of fear is the figments of women;
For there no wounding is, there all is mercy and love, but your
imagination is like a bolt behind the door.
Set not fire to the thicket, and keep silence, my heart; draw in
your tongue, for your tongue is a flame.*

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
The University of Chicago Press, 1968

* Joseph, the "fair one of Canaan," often a symbol of divine beauty;
see Qur'an 12:31
* "It is inauspicious" : perhaps rather, "Become intoxicated. "
* A play on "zaban" (tongue), and "zabana" (flame).

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2fmjll

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"Whoever enters this house"

"Paradise is encompassed with pain"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Your resolutions and purposes now and then are fulfilled
so that through hope your heart might form another intention which He
might once again destroy.
For if He were to keep you completely from success,
you would despair: how would the seed of expectation be sown?
If your heart did not sow that seed,
and then encounter barrenness,
how would it recognize its submission to the Divine will?
By their failures lovers are made aware of their Lord.
Lack of success is the guide to Paradise:
Pay attention to the tradition,
"Paradise is encompassed with pain."*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

`Azm-hâ o qasd-hâ dar mâ-jarâ
gâh gâhi râst mi âyad torâ
Tâ be-tab`-e ân delet niyat konad
bâr-e digar niyatet-râ be-shekand
Var be-kolli bi morâdet dâshti
del shodi nawmid amal kay kâshti
Var ne-kâridi amal az `urish
kay shodi paydâ baru maqhurish
`آsheqân az bi morâdihâ-ye khvish
bâ khabar gashtand az Mawlâ-ye khvish
Bi morâdi shod qelâvoz-e Behesht
"Huffat al-Jannat" shenaw ay khvosh-seresht

*Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad.

-- Mathnawi III: 4462-4467
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra)

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/252f39

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"Paradise is encompassed with pain"

"He who is drunk with God"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Oh minstrel, play this tune: "Our Friend has
come drunk, pure and faithful Life has come drunk!"
If, like sparks, He should put on the robe of
Severity, I will know Him, for He has come drunk to us in
that guise many times!
If, He should pour out my water and break my
jug -- say nothing, oh brother, for this Water-carrier has come
drunk!
I try to deceive my Drunkard, and He smiles:
"Look at this simple man, from whence has he come drunk?
Are you trying to deceive that Person the least
of whose words makes water and fire selfless, earth and air
drunk?"
I said to Him, "If I die and Thou comest to my
grave, I will jump up shouting, 'That sweet-faced Beloved has
come drunk!'"
He said, "How should the spirit of him who
receives this breath die? He who is drunk with God subsists
with Him forever."
Behold ineffable Love, filling the cuplike spirit!
Behold the Face of the Saki, who has come from the realm of
Subsistence, laughing and drunk.
Everyone in the world has chosen a friend, and
ours is Love -- from the time of Alast It has been drunk
without you and me.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 391
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/23hdyw

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"He who is drunk with God"

“Contentment with God's will”

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The sea doesn't let the fish out,
nor does it let the creatures of the earth in.
Water is the original home of the fish;
the weighty animal is of the earth.
Nothing we do can change this.
The lock of Divine destiny is strong,
and the only opener is God:
cling to surrender and contentment with God's will.
Though the atoms, one by one, should become keys,
yet this opening is not effected except by divine Majesty.
When you forget your own scheming,
happiness will come to you from your spiritual guide.
When you are forgetful of self,
you are remembered by God;
when you have become God's slave,
then you are set free.

~ ~ ~ ~

Mâhiyân-râ bahr na-gozârad berun
khâkiyân-râ bahr na-gozârad darun
Asl-e mâhi âb va hayavân az gelast
hileh o tadbir injâ bâtelast
Qofl zaftast va goshâyandeh Khodâ
dast dar taslim zan va andar rezâ
Zarreh zarreh gar shavad meftâh-hâ
in goshâyesh nist joz az Kebriyâ
Chon farâmushet shavad tadbir-e khvish
yâbi ân bakht-javân az pir-e khvish
Chon farâmush khvodi yâdet konand
bandeh gashti ânkeh âzâdet konand

-- Mathnawi III: 3071-3076
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra)

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2cc5s9

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“Contentment with God's will”

"Give yourself a kiss"

~

Sunlight presents Ghazal 2061, in poetic version by Coleman Barks and
in translation by A.J. Arberry:



Give yourself a kiss.
If you live in China, don't look
somewhere else, in Tibet, or Mongolia.

If you want to hold the beautiful one,
hold yourself to yourself.

When you kiss the Beloved,
touch your own lips with your own fingers.

The beauty of every woman and every man
is your own beauty.

The confusion of your hair
obscures that sometimes.

An artist comes to paint you
and stands with his mouth open.

Your love reveals your beauty,
but all covering would disappear
if only for a moment your holding-back
would sit before your generosity
and ask,
"Sir, who are you?"
At that,
Shams' life-changing face
gives you a wink.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Like This"
Maypop, 1990

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

Give yourself a kiss, silvery-bodied idol; you who are in
Cathay, do not search for yourself in Kotan.
If you would draw a silvery-bodied one into your bosom,
where is the like of you? You must kiss the Beloved, then caress
your own mouth.
For the sake of your beauty are the robes of the houris; the
beauty of every man or woman is the reflection of your lovely face.
The veil over your beauty is the tresses of your hair, else the light
of you would have shone out, O sweet of chin.
The painter of the body came towards the idols of the thoughts;his
hand and heart were broken, his mouth stood open.
This painted cage is the veil of the bird on the heart; you have not
recognized the heart because….. of the heart-breaking case.
The heart flung off the veil from the clay of Adam, and all of
the angels prostrated themselves.
The intermediary would vanish if only for a moment love's
Turk sat down before his grace, saying "O Chelebi, who are
you?"*
The eye would be endowed with sight of the unseen, if the
glance of Shams-e Din, Pride of all of Tabriz, stole a wink
at you.

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

* The Turks were well known for their beauty and cruelty.
Chelebi in Turkish means "sir."

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/ysf4pr

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"Give yourself a kiss"

"The Sweetest of All Things"

~

Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2037, from Rumi's "Diwan-e
Shams", in versions by Jonathan Star and Coleman Barks:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"The Sweetest of All Things"

Since you are the one who takes life
It is the sweetest of all things to die.
Life is sweet
But merging with you is far sweeter.

Come into the garden!
Join the Friend of the Truth!
In his garden you'll drink the Water of Life,
though it seems like fire to die.

In one moment someone dies,
In the next moment someone is born.
There is a lot of coming and going
no one really dies
nor will I ever die.

Forget the body, become pure spirit.
Dance from here to the other world.
Don't stop Don't try to escape,
even if you are afraid to die.

I swear were it not for His pure nature
The wheel of heaven would turn to dust.
Merge with Him now,
And you'll be sweeter than halva
when it comes time to die.

Why hold on to this life? –
True living comes by giving up this life.
Why cling to one piece of gold? –
it is a mine of gold to die.

Escape from this cage
and breathe the scented air of His garden.
Break this hard shell –
It's like a shining pearl to die.

When God calls and pulls you close,
Going is like paradise –
It's like a heavenly river to die.

Death is only a mirror
And your true nature is reflected there.
See what the mirror is saying –
it's quite a sight to die!

If you are kind and faithful
Your death will also be that way.
If you are cruel and faithless,
that is the way you will die.

If you are like Joseph,
full of goodness,
That's how your mirror will be.
If not, you will see
only fear and torment
when it comes time to die.

These words are sweet,
but they always fade.
Sh . . . The eternal Khezr
and the Water of Life
have no idea what it means to die.

-- Version by Jonathan Star
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

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Underwater in the Fountain

When you die into the soul, you lift
the lid on the cooking pot. You see

the truth of what you've been doing.
It looks sad and terrible before the

crossover move that lets nine levels
of ascension turn into ordinary ground:

silence, conversation with Khidr, blind
and deaf, underwater in the fountain.

-- Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/ywgexp

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"The Sweetest of All Things"

"How can you remain blind to His command?"

~

You make a hundred resolutions to journey somewhere:
He draws you somewhere else.
He turns the horse's bridle in every direction
that the untrained horse may gain knowledge of the rider.
The clever horse is well-paced
because it knows a rider is mounted upon it.
He fixed your heart on a hundred passionate desires,
disappointed you, and then broke your heart.
Since He broke the wings of your first intention,
how do you doubt the existence of the Wing-breaker?
Since His ordainment snapped the cord of contrivance,
how can you remain blind to His Command?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sad `azimat mi koni bahr-e safar
mi keshânad mar torâ jâ-ye degar
Zân be-gardânad bahr-e su ân legâm
tâ khabar yâbad ze fâres asb-e khâm
Asb-e zirak sâr zân nikupay ast
ku hami dânad keh fâres bar vay ast
U delet-râ bar dosad sawdâ be-bast
bi morâdet kard pas del-râ shekast
Chon shekast U bâl-e ân rây-e nokhost
chon na-shod hasti-ye Bâl-eshkan dorost
Chon qazâyesh habl-e tadbiret sokost
chon na-shod bar to qazâ-ye ân dorost

-- Mathnawi III: 4456-4461
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra)

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2y8ppr

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"How can you remain blind to His command?"