The following are just a few stories, poems and teachings gathered from the
Mathnawi (Mesnevi, Turkish) of Jalaluddin Rumi,The Divani Shamsi Tabriz, Fihi
Ma Fihi, The Divani Kabir, and other works.
One morning a servant of Solomon came running to him in a state of panic.
His lips were blue from fright and his face pallid.The king asked him what
was troubling him. The servant told him that he saw Death in the marketplace
and that he was jostled by him. Please begged the servant, lend me your swiftest
horse,the one that even leaves the wind behind, so that I may race to Hindustan
and be saved from the jaws of Death. Solomon gave the servant the fastest
Arabian horse in his stable and the man fled without delay. The king began
to think about the story and went to the marketplace to seek an explanation.
It was crowded and at first he saw nothing unusual, but presently spotted
a cowled figure. He approached and saw that indeed it was Death. He asked
Death why he jostled and frightened his servant. It was I who was taken aback,
said Death, for God instructed me to take his soul in Hindustan tonight and
I thought that even if he had a hundred wings he could never reach Hindustan
in time for me to claim him. (Mathnawi)
If you are mindful of God, little by little your interior will be illuminated
and you will attain release from the world. If you have musk in a container
with a narrow neck, you put your finger into it. You canŐt get the musk out,
but your finger is perfumed nevertheless and your sense of smell is gratified.
Being mindful of God is like this. Although you cannot reach His essence,
remembrance of Him has many effects, and many great benefits accrue.
(Fihi Ma Fihi)
The real teacher is not always easy to find.
“Every walnut is round,” said Rumi,“ but every round thing
is not a walnut.”
(Fihi Ma Fihi)
You have only been here a few days and you’ve become so friendly with
life.
I can’t talk about death anymore.
You’re on the journey home
And your donkey has fallen asleep in the middle of the road.
You should try to hear the name He has for things.
There is something in the phrase: “He taught him names.”
We name everything according to its outward form;
He names it according to the batin, to what is inside.
Moses waved his stick; he thought it was a staff,
Inside its name was “serpent.”
We thought the name of Umar was “idolater,” but in eternity his
name is “the true believer.” No one knows our hidden name until
our last breath goes out.
Don’t turn from the delight that is so close at hand!
Don’t find some lame excuse to leave our gathering.
You were a lonely grape and now you are sweet wine.
There is no use in trying to become a grape again.
Listen to the reed how it tells a tale,
Complaining of separation
Saying: “ever since I was parted from the reedbed,
My lament has caused man and woman to moan.
For none can see or hear
My impassioned love and pain...”
The man of God is drunken without wine,
The man of God is full without roast meat,
The man of God is confused, distraught,
The man of God needs neither food nor sleep.
The man of God: a king in dervish's frock,
The man of God: a treasure in the dust.
The man of God is not of air nor earth,
The man of God: of water not, nor fire.
The man of God, he is a boundless sea,
The man of God rains pearls without a cloud.
The man of God has a hundred moons and skies,
The man of God has a hundred radiant suns.
The man of God knows through the Truth Divine,
The man of God is learned without books.
The man of God: no heresy, nor faith,
The man of God knows not of wrong or right.
The man of God rode from Not-Being, look!
The man of God comes here in glorious state.
The man of God is hidden, Shamsuddin!
The man of God: You seek and find him!
