[Sunlight] Ramadan came to the heart's temple -- Ghazal 370

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Ramadan came, but Bairam is with us.
The lock came, but the key is with us.

Mouth is closed. Eyes are opened.
That brilliance that the eyes see is with us.

We have cleaned soul and heart with fasting.
The dirt which has been with us is cleansed now.

Some stress comes from fasting,
But the invisible treasure of heart is with us.

Ramadan came to the heart's temple;
The one who created heart is with us.

Since Salahuddin* is among this crowd,
Mansur and Beyazid* are with us.

*Salahuddin: Rumi's closest spiritual companion and disciple following
the final disappearance of Shams-e Tabriz, whom he put in charge of
the spiritual training of his disciples.

*Mansur and Beyazid: two famous Sufis of the past, Mansur al-Hallaj
and Beyazid Bestami.

-- Ghazal No. 370 from the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Translated by Nevit Ergin
(from the Turkish translation of the original
Persian by Golpinarli)
"Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi: Divan-i Kebir,"
Volume 18, 2002.

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[Sunlight] Ramadan came to the heart's temple -- Ghazal 370

[Sunlight] "The qualities of expansion and contraction"

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Today, Sunlight offers Mathnawi verses, in a version by
Camille and Kabir Helminski, which is accompanied by a Persian
transliteration, and in a version by Professor Coleman Barks.

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Observe the qualities of expansion and contraction
in the fingers of your hand:
surely after the closing of the fist comes the opening.
If the fingers were always closed or always open,
the owner would be crippled.
Your movement is governed by these two qualities:
they are as necessary to you
as two wings are to a bird.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In do vasf az panjeh-ye dast be-bin
ba`d qabz mosht bast âyad yaqin
Panjeh-râ gar qabz bâshad dâyemâ
yâ hameh bast u bovad chon mobtelâ
Zin do vasfesh kâr o maksab montazem
chon par-e morgh in do hâl u-râ mohemm

-- Mathnawi III:3762-3766
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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

Birdwings

Your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror
up to where you're bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you've been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small
contracting and expanding,
the two as beautifully balances and coordinated
as birdwings.

-- Mathnawi III: 3769-3766
Coleman Barks
The Essential Rumi
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

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[Sunlight] "The qualities of expansion and contraction"

[Sunlight] "Don't plant anything but love" -- Ghazal 916

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Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 916, from Rumi's "Diwan-e
Shams", in a recent translation by Kolin and Mafi, and in a version
by Arberry:

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

When you plant a tree
every leaf that grows will tell you,
what you sow will bear fruit.
So if you have any sense, my friend
don't plant anything but love,
you show your worth by what you seek.
Water flows to those who want purity
wash you hands of all desires and
come to the table of Love.

Do you want me to tell you a secret?
The flowers attract the most beautiful lover
with their sweet smile and scent.
If you let God weave the verse in your poem
people will read it forever.

-- Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
"Rumi: Hidden Music"
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

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

Every Tree

Every tree, every growing thing as it
grows, says this truth: You harvest

what you sow. With life a short as a half-
taken breath, don't plant anything but

love. The value of a human being can
be measured by what he or she most deeply

wants. Be free of possessing things.
Sit at an empty table. Be pleased with

water, the taste of being home. People
travel the world looking for the Friend,

but that one is always at home! Jesus
moves quickly to Mary. A donkey stops

to smell the urine of another donkey.
There are simple reasons for what happens:

you won't stay clear for long if you sit
with the one who pours wine. Someone

with a cup of honey in hand rarely has
a sour face. If someone says a eulogy,

there must be a funeral nearby. A rose
opens because she is the fragrance she

loves. We speak poems, and lovers down
the centuries will keep saying them.

The cloth God weaves doesn't wear out.

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

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~

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[Sunlight] "Don't plant anything but love" -- Ghazal 916

[Sunlight] The body resembles a garment

~

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

When a man is busy in earnest,
he is unconscious of his pain.
I mention this insensibility to pain
so you may know how much the body resembles a garment.
Go, seek the one who wears it;
don't kiss a piece of cloth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Khvod be-binad dast rafteh dar zarar
khvod azu besyâr rafteh bi khabar
Tâ be-dâni keh tan âmad chon lebâs
raw be-ju lâbes lebâsi ma-lis

-- Mathnawi III: 1610
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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

~

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[Sunlight] The body resembles a garment

[Sunlight] Greed and Generosity -- Ghazal 1101

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Look at her face.
Open your eyes into her eyes.
When she laughs, everyone falls in love.
Life your head up off the table. See,
there are no edges to this garden.
Sweet fruits, every kind you can think of,
branches green and always
slightly moving.

How long should you look at earth's face?
Come back and look again.
Now you see the nervous greed
deep inside plants and animals. Now you see them
constantly giving themselves away.

Greed and generosity are evidence of love.
If you can't see love itself,
see the results.
If you can't find love-colors in anything,
look for the pale, tired face of a lover.

Take this town with its stores and everyone
rushing around, some with a lot of money,
some without any.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1101
Version by Coleman Barks
Open Secret
Threshold Books, 1984

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~

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[Sunlight] Greed and Generosity -- Ghazal 1101