Wednesday, March 07, 2012

[Sunlight] Hunger, not sweetmeats, gives pleasure

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Hunger gives pleasure, not fresh sweetmeats--
Hunger makes barley bread better than sugar. . . .
Pain renews old medicines and
lops off the branch of every indifference.
Pain is an alchemy that renovates--
where is indifference when pain intervenes?
Beware, do not sigh coldly in your indifference!
Seek pain! Seek pain, pain, pain!

-- Mathnawi VI: 4296, 4302-04
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

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Tuesday, March 06, 2012

[Sunlight] Travel with a guide

~

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

If anybody goes traveling without a guide,
every two day's journey
becomes a journey of a hundred years.
The one who takes up a profession
without having had a teacher
becomes a laughing-stock,
no matter where he lives.
Except perhaps for a single occurrence,
in all the world, is a descendant of Adam
ever born without parents?
The one who earns gains wealth;
it's a rare event
to find a buried treasure.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Har keh dar râh bi qelâvozi ravad
har do ruzi râh-e sad sâleh shavad
Har keh girad pisheh-ye bi ustâ
rish-khandi shod be-shahr o rustâ
Joz keh nâder bâshad andar khâfeqayn
âdami sar bar zanad bi vâledayn?
Mâl u yâbad keh kasi mi konad
nâderi bâshad keh ganji bar zanad

-- Mathnawi III: 588; 590-592
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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~

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Monday, March 05, 2012

[Sunlight] Be a connoisseur, and taste with caution

~

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

God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.

God has put into the form of hashish a power
to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.

God has made sleep so
that it erases every thought.

God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.

There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.

Don't think all ecstasies
are the same!

Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jars.

Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.

Be a connoisseur,
and taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about "what's needed."

Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it's been untied,
and is just ambling about.

-- Mathnawi IV, 2683-96
Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
Castle Books, 1997

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`

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Friday, March 02, 2012

[Sunlight] A moth to the fire of love

~

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

If you are wise like the Friend of God,
the fire is water to you, especially this fire of Love,
which is the soul of all waters . . . and you are a moth.
But the ignorant moth behaves differently than we do:
it sees the light and ends up in the fire.
The heart of the mystic sees fire and goes into the Light.
A fire has been made to look like water,
while within the apparent fire is a real fountain.

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

Chon Khalil-e Haqq agar farzâneh-'i
âtesh âb-e tost va to parvâneh-'i
Khâsseh in âtesh keh jân-e âb-hâst
kâr-e parvâneh beh `aks-e kâr-e mâst
U be-binad nur va dar nâri ravad
del be-binad nâr va dar nuri shavad
teshi-râ shakl-e âbi dâdeh-'and
va andar âtesh cheshmeh-'i bo-g'shâdeh-'and

-- Mathnawi V:438; 442-443; 445
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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~

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Thursday, March 01, 2012

[Sunlight] One live flame -- Ghazal 1197

~

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

if your beloved
has the life of a fire
step in now and burn along

in a night full of
suffering and darkness
be a candle spreading light till dawn

stop this useless
argument and disharmony
show your sweetness and accord

even if you feel
torn to pieces
sew yourself new clothes

your body and soul
will surely feel the joy
when you simply go along

learn this lesson from
lute tambourine and trumpet
learn the harmony of the musicians

if one is playing a wrong note
even among twenty
others will stray out of tune

don't say what is the use
of me alone being peaceful
when everyone is fighting

you're not one
you're a thousand
just light your lantern

since one live flame
is better than
a thousand dead souls

-- Ghazal 1197
Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Cal-Earth Press, 1994

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~

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