Jahane Rumi In search of the unsearchable: O, my soul! where would you find your house?

3Mar/101

Lovers have nothing to do with existence

The lover's food is the love of the bread;
no bread need be at hand:
no one who is sincere in his love is a slave to existence.
Lovers have nothing to do with existence;
lovers have the interest without the capital.
Without wings they fly around the world;
without hands they carry the polo ball from the field.
That dervish who caught the scent of Reality
used to weave baskets even though his hands had been cut off.
Lovers have pitched their tents in nonexistence;
they are of one quality and one essence, as nonexistence is.
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15Sep/091

What a fine, broad kingdom

Another fine poem by Rumi - translation followed by the original

In the world there are invisible ladders,

leading step by step to the summit of heaven.

There is a different ladder for every group,

a different heaven for every path.

Each one is ignorant of the other's condition in this wide kingdom which

has no end or beginning.

24Mar/090

A sufi in Budapest

Cross-posted from here

Legend has it that a Bektashi dervish who was also a companion of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent introduced roses to the city of Budapest. This man was thus named Gul Baba - Gul meaning ‘flower’ in Persian and Urdu. I am not sure if the legend is true but I was surely surprised to find the tomb of a 16th century sufi saint in Budapest. Of all places in the world, I didn’t expect to come across a sufi shrine there. But perhaps it’s not that unusual since the Ottomans ruled Hungary for 150 years and some traces of their occupation still linger in the form of architecture. Budapest still has a couple of original Turkish baths that are still open and functioning.

25Jun/089

A modern Ottoman – the Turk Gulen wins the intellectuals’ poll

The Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, winner of the intellectuals poll undertaken by Prospect, has been hailed as "the modern face of the Sufi Ottoman tradition." The magazine further states that he is "at home with globalisation and PR, and fascinated by science", Gulen also influences Turkish politics through his association with the ruling AK party in Turkey.

The results of the Prospect/FP 2008 global intellectuals poll can be found here

Read this article by Ehsan Masood on Gulen, his worldview and contributions:

Is it possible to be a true religious believer and at the same time enjoy good relations with people of other faiths or none? Moreover, can you remain open to new ideas and new ways of thinking?
15Dec/074

Prince Charles on “East and West: Parables of the Soul”

Prince Charles was recently in Konya, Turkey on a state visit that coincides with Rumi's 800th birth anniversary. Commenting on the appeal of Rumi globally, he said: "Is it perhaps the depth of yearning of the heart which we all feel and which he [Rumi]understands and describes so well."

When asked what he thought of the shrine he added: "Fascinating, fascinating, there's never enough time."

He also made a speech there which is an amazing read. I am posting a few excepts here.

God's purpose for man is to acquire a seeing eye and an understanding heart.

In an age of increasing ignorance, intolerance and mis-understanding it is perhaps worth reflecting on the one element that has the potential to unite us all beyond the World-Wide Web or globalization. That element lies in the mystery of the heart. Is it not strange that at a time in history when every taboo has seemingly been broken; every sacred cow slaughtered, that the very idea of mysticism itself the practice of the mystery of the heart seems to have become of far less significance?

And yet have not the founders of the World's greatest religions all spoken in one way or another of the need to enter the temple of the heart? Why? Because, surely, is it not the mystery within, when once unlocked, that is able to inspire the kind of inner understanding which can break asunder the law of cause and effect that so undermines our attempts at reconciliation?

Therefore, what better occasion and what better place than here, near the resting place of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, to re-dedicate ourselves to the purpose of re-acquiring and understanding heart

Full text here

29Sep/071

The Song of the Reed – on Rumi’s birth anniversary

Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:

"Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep.
I seek out those whose hearts are torn by separation
For only they understand the pain of this longing.
Whoever is taken away from his homeland
Yearns for the day he will return.
In every gathering, among those who are happy or sad,
I cry with the same lament.
Everyone hears according to his own understanding,
None has searched for the secrets within me.
My secret is found in my lament
But an eye or ear without light cannot know it.."

The sound of the reed comes from fire, not wind
What use is one's life without this fire?
It is the fire of love that brings music to the reed.
It is the ferment of love that gives taste to the wine.
The song of the reed soothes the pain of lost love.
Its melody sweeps the veils from the heart.
Can there be a poison so bitter or a sugar so sweet
As the song of the reed?
To hear the song of the reed
everything you have ever known must be left behind.

-- Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

Courtesy Sunlight where more versions can be found.