Talk

Rumi

Maulana Jelaluddin Rumi was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order. Sufism is a mystical movement in Islam. The Mawlawi (or Mewlawi) order of Sufi's are famous for their whirling dervishes. A combination of sound, whirling, mental focus and posturing allows the practioner to experience union with God. (editor's comments reserved). Rumi's is famous for his poetry which had a constant and strong theme of love for God. One thing that has confused me is the fact that both Omar Khayyam and Rumi wrote the Rubaiyat.

Our death is our wedding with eternity. What is the secret? "God is One." The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house. This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes; It is not in the juice made from the grapes. For he who is living in the Light of God, The death of the carnal soul is a blessing. Regarding him, say neither bad nor good, For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.

One thing to note here is that in Arabic and Islamic tradition martyr's refer to their death as a marriage or wedding. I am not sure where the concept of houris awaiting a shaheed(martyr) in heaven came from. While Sufi poems liberally use the words "wine", "drunk" etc Islam is not known to look favorably on these nouns. It is usually presumed the poets were referring to the grace of God as the intoxicant.

Some Rumi Links
khamush.com has a good collection of Rumi's works.
Iranian site

Some Quatrains:

To Love is to reach God.
Never will a Lover's chest
feel any sorrow.
Never will a Lover's robe
be touched by mortals.
Never will a Lover's body
be found buried in the earth.
To Love is to reach God.

The Lovers
will drink wine night and day.
They will drink until they can
tear away the veils of intellect and
melt away the layers of shame and modesty.
When in Love,
body, mind, heart and soul don't even exist.
Become this,
fall in Love,
and you will not be separated again.

almost a Haiku!

All day and night, music, a quiet, bright reedsong. If it fades, we fade.

"One went to the door of the Beloved and
knocked. A voice asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'It is I.'
The voice said, 'There is no room for Me and Thee.'
The door was shut.

After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked, 'Who is there?'
The man said, 'It is Thee.'
The door was opened for him."

CRADLE MY HEART

Last night,
I was lying on the rooftop,
thinking of you.
I saw a special Star,
and summoned her to take you a message.
I prostrated myself to the Star
and asked her to take my prostration
to that Sun of Tabriz.
So that with his light, he can turn
my dark stones into gold.
I opened my chest and showed her my scars,
I told her to bring me news
of my bloodthirsty Lover.
As I waited,
I paced back and forth,
until the child of my heart became quiet.
The child slept, as if I were rocking his cradle.
Oh Beloved, give milk to the infant of the heart,
and don't hold us from our turning.
You have cared for hundreds,
don't let it stop with me now.
At the end, the town of unity is the place for the heart.
Why do you keep this bewildered heart
in the town of dissolution?
I have gone speechless, but to rid myself
of this dry mood,
oh Saaqhi, pass the narcissus of the wine.