[Sunlight] Blessed Laughter

~

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When you go to buy a pomegranate,
pick the one that's laughing,
that has its rind cleft,
so that through its broken-open-ness
you get some information
about the seeds.
Listen for the laughter
that shows the inside,
that cracks the casket-shell
and lets you see the pearl.
There's another kind, an unhappy laughing
like the red anemone's that shows
its inner blackness.
But pomegranate-laughter is blessed,
like the companionship of good people.
Even if you're a common rock,
when you join them,
you'll become a precious stone.
Keep the love of holy laughing in you.
Don't visit sad neighborhoods. Let
laughter lead you to the right people.
Your body-wantings will take you out of the sunlight
into dark and dank places. Feed on the conversation
of a lover. Look for spiritual growth from one
who is farther along than you.

There was once a Christian gospel
that had in it some mention of Muhammed,
his courage and his fasting.
Whenever a group of Christians studied
this gospel, they bowed and kissed the words
of that passage. Without knowing it,
they were looking for refuge
inside that light, and with its power
it befriended and helped them.

-- Mathnawi, I, 718-733
Version by Coleman Barks
"Feeling the Shoulder of the Lion"
Threshold Books, 1991

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~



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[Sunlight] Blessed Laughter

[Sunlight] “Every effort finer than the one before”

~

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

If you scrutinize the labor of those who follow falsehood,
you'll see that it stinks—
layer upon layer, like an onion—
every effort more pithless than the next.
While with the sincere,
every effort is finer than the one before.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gar be-kâvi kushesh-e ahl-e majâz
tu be-tu gandeh bud hamchon piyâz
Har yeki az yekdigar bi maghz-tar
sâdeqân-râ yek ze digar naghz-tar

-- Mathnawi II: 2900-2901
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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~


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[Sunlight] “Every effort finer than the one before”

[Sunlight] Where is the knowing, nimble Minstrel of Love – Ghazal 127

~

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Where is the knowing, nimble Minstrel of Love -
He who plays only for Love, accepting no one's request?

I have died hoping for Him but have not seen Him;
I have entered the grave in my desire.

Oh dear friend, if you have seen Him, how
good for you! Oh friend, indeed, how good for you!

But if He is hidden like Khidr*,
alone upon the shores of the sea,

Then oh wind, take our salaam to Him! For my
heart is in tumult over Him.

I know that burning salaams take lovers to their
Beloved.

Love makes the millwheel of the heavens spin, not water;
Love makes the moon go forward, not feet.

In remembrance, the millwheel of spirits begins
to turn through the water of the eyes.

Remembrance is the noose of union with the Beloved -
be silent, for madness has begun to boil.

-- Ghazal 127
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

*"Hidden like Khidr" -- Khidr is one of the four prophets whom the
Islamic tradition recognizes as being `alive' or`immortal', the other
three being Idris (Enoch), Ilyas (Elias), and `Isa (Jesus). Khidr
is immortal because he drank from the water of life. In Sufi
tradition, Khidr has come to be known as one of the afrâd, those
"who receive illumination direct from God without human mediation."
He is the hidden initiator of those who walk the mystical path like
some of those from the Uwaisi tariqa.

-- Derived by Sunlight from http://www.khidr.org

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~



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[Sunlight] Where is the knowing, nimble Minstrel of Love – Ghazal 127

[Sunlight] “The Beloved has entered to tend me”

~

Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2110, from Rumi's "Diwan-e
Shams" ("The Collection of Shams"), in a version by Coleman Barks,
and in translation by A.J. Arberry:

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

Bonfire at Midnight

A shout comes out of my room
where I've been cooped up.
After all my lust and dead living
I can still live with you.
You want me to.
You fix and bring me food.
You forget the way I've been.

The ocean moves and surges in the heat
of the middle of the day, in the heat
of this thought I'm having.
Why aren't all human resistances burning up
with this thought?

It's a drum and arms waving.
It's a bonfire at midnight
on the top edge of a hill,
this meeting again with you.

-- Version by Colemna Barks
"Open Secret"
Threshold Books, 1984

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

A cry went up from my tavern,
the heavens were split by my litany:
Finally victory has arrived,
the Beloved has entered to tend me.
Lord, lord, how He is aching, my
unequaled Beloved, to recompense me!
That philosophers' stone makes obedience
and faith from my neglect and unbelief and sins.
After my shortcomings He bestows a palace,
after my slips He bestows victuals.
He causes the heart of sea and mountain to
surge from the heat of the day of my encounter.
If the thoughts of man were not a veil,
they would be burnt to ashes by my thoughts.
My drum and flag, my cry and shouting
would strike agitation in the army of the spirit.
The fire of my tryst at midnight would strike
flames into the horizon of the sky.

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

~


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[Sunlight] “The Beloved has entered to tend me”

[Sunlight] “Each creature glorifies You in a different way”

~

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

Each creature glorifies You in a different way,
and each is unaware of the states of the other.
The human being doesn't believe that stones utter praise,
but inanimate things are masters of worship.
The seventy-two sects are dubious about each other's state.
Since I pay no attention to the glorification of one who speaks,
how should my heart recognize
the worship offered by the mute?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Har yeki tasbih bar naw`i degar
guyad va az hâl-e ân in bi khabar
dami monker ze tasbih-e jamâd
va ân jamâd andar `ebâdat ostâd
Balke haftâd o do mellat har yeki
bi khabar az yekdegar va andar shakki
Chon man az tasbih-e nâteq ghâfelam
chon be-dânad sobheh-ye sâmet delam

-- Mathnawi III: 1496-1498; 1500
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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

~



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[Sunlight] “Each creature glorifies You in a different way”