T 日 E R U M ー C 0 L L E C T ー 0 N The highest place it can soar to is still 0 司 y air, itS origin remains sensuality and desire. Stay, then, astounded and bewildered; don't say yes or no. Then Mercy can stretch out lts hands to help YOLI ・ How could you begin to understand His miracles? If you said yes" glibly you would belying. And if you say no," that"no" will behead you And force severity tO slam shut your soul's 、 vindow. SO stay in bewilderment, in wonder, SO GOd's SLICCOI& can run tO you from every side and direction. When you are really bewildered, maddened, and annihilated, Then your whole being prays, without words, 'Guide me! The wrath of God is terrible, more terrible than anything, But once you have begun tO tremble, it starts tO soften. Anger is aimed at the denier; when you have become humble YOLI will come tO know it as gentleness, as mercy. は ra / い Andrew 日田 1 , )

200 T 日 E R U M ー C ( ) L L E C T IO N rid himself of his base characteristics by means of his own action and endeavor. he strives and ex- pends much energy only to be disappointed, God says to him, "You thought it would come about through your own energy and action and deeds. That is indeed a custom I have established, that is, that what you have you should expend on Our behalf. Only then does Our mercy come. We say to you, 'Travel this endless road on your own weak legs. We know that with your weak legs you will never be able to finish the way—in a hundred thousand years you would not finish even one stage of the way. Only when you make the effort and come onto the road to fall down atlast, unable to go another step, 0 司 y then will you be uplifted by God's favor. A child is picked up and carried while it is nursing, but when it grows older it is left to go on its own; so now when you have no strength left you are carried by God's favor. When you had the strength and could expend your energy, from time tO time in a state between sleep and wake- fulness,We bestowed upon you grace for you to gain strength in your quest and to encourage you. Now that you no longer have the means to continue, look upon Our grace and favor and see how they swarm down upon you. For a hundred thousand endeavors you WOLIld not have seen SO much as an iOta Of this. No ル celebrate the ⅲ記可 e S れⅲ肥らⅢた四た 日 0 れ可 Him [1 に : 3 ]. Seek forgiveness for your

わ社 r 仇 7 れ c 行 0 〃 XIII He who is the companion and healer of all beings, He who is the soul and the universe that births SOLIIS. Shams of Tabr レ , a strange wild man, a hermit and a wanderer, was in hiS sixties When he and Rumi met. His ferocious, often scornful temperament had made him many enemies. Legend has it that Shams had prayed for years t0 meet someone who could stand the grandeur and uncompromising intensity Of hiS presence and receive the fLlll transmission 0 「 everything Divine Love had taught him. One day, it is said, God spoke to him and asked him what he would give in exchange. Shams offered Him his life. Then God to 旧 him to go to Konya, where he would meet the mystic beloved destined for him, Jalaluddin, the son of Bahaduddin of Balkh. As to how Rumi and Shams actually encountered each Other, no one is really sure. ln my opinion, the loveliest of all the many versions is that Shams ac- costed Rumi as he was riding a donkey through the streets of Konya, followed by a horde of disciples. Shams challenged Rumi: "Who was the greatest of all mystics, Bayazid [a Sufi prophet] or Muhammad?" 'That is a bizarre question, considering that Muhammad was beyond all prophets," Rumi replied. Shams then said, "So what then did Muhammad mean when he told God, 'I didn't know you as I

T 日 E R U M ー C O L L E C T ー O N T H E T H R E E S TAT E S Human beings have three spiritual states. ln the first, a person pays no attention whatsoever tO God and worships anything—sex, money, rank—but God. When he starts to learn something deeper, then he will serve no one and nothing but God. And when he progresses in this state he grows silent; he doesn t claim: ー don't serve God," nor does he boast: 当 do serve G0d" ・ he has gone beyond these two positions. From such beings, no sound comes intO the world. は ra 〃 s い , A 尾ル H Ⅲュ毋 )

174 T 日 E R U M ー C ( ) L L E C T IO N When you forget your own scheming, happiness will come t0 you from your spiritual guide. When you forget your self, you are remembered by G0d. When you have become His slave, only then are you set free. MATHNAWI 111, 3071 ー 3076 (tra い K 訪汁 H 川ⅲ s ) T H E O N E ー WAY P U L L O my Sustainer. deliver me from this imprisonment Of free will. The one-way pull on the ⅲ g P / 广 is better than the two-way pull 0f perplexity. Though You are the only goal of these two ways, still this duality is agonizing to the spirit. Though the destination of these two ways is You alone, still the battle is never like the banquet. Listen tO the explanation GOd gave in the り訪 ra 〃た 0 襯 bearing ルす Qur'an, 1:6: Surah Al-Fatihah (The Opening). す Qur'an, 33 ・ 72 : surah Al-Azhab (The Confederates).

1 2 The 0 〃い 0 れ e L L D E S ー R E S , P R E F E R E N C E S , A F F E C T IO 、 S , and loves people have for all sorts of thinos, such as fathers, mothers, friends, the heavens and earth, gardens, pavilions, works, knowledge, food, and drink—one should realize that every desire is a desire for food, and such things are all "veils." When one passes beyond this world and sees that Sover- eign without these 、、 veils," then one will realize that all those things were ・ 'veils" and 。 coverings" and that what they were seeking was in reality that One. AII problems will then be solved. AII the heart's ques- tions and difficulties will be answered, and every- thing will become clear. GOd's response is not such that He must answer each and every problem indi- vidually. 从気 h one answer, all problems are solved. ln winter everyone bundles himself up and huddles in a warm place to escape the cold. AII plants and trees drop their leaves and fruit because Of the bit- ing cold, and they conceal their raiment within themselves lest they suffer from the chill. When spring answers" them by manifesting itself, all their

The Gift Ⅲ the Giver is the Light of the Sun reflected ⅲ the three- colored glass. The glasses of diverse hue cause the Light to assume COlor for LIS. When the many-colored glasses are no longer, then the colorless Light amazes you. Make it your habit to behold the Light without the glass, SO that when the glass is shattered you may not be left blind. MATHNAWI v, 9 新一 9 屮 は ra 燃 / 翻い K 訪汁 H 襯ⅲ s んⅢ C 田ⅲ H ⅲ朝 ) T H E O W N E R O F A L L S TAT E S 、 I am only the house of your Beloved, not the Beloved herself: true love is for the hidden treasure, not for the chest that contains it. The real BeIoved is that One who is unique, wh0 is your beginning and your end. When you find that One, you'll no longer want anything else: that One is both the manifest and the mystery. That One is the Owner of all states of feeling, and depends on none:

Lo 怩ム the Cause N THIS WORLD EVERYONE iS preoccupied with something. some are preoccupied with love for women, some With possessions, some With money, some With learning—and that his well-being and happiness depend on that. And that also is God's mercy. When a man goes after it in search and does not find it, he turns his back on it. After pausing a while he says: 、 'That joy and mercy must be sought. Maybe ー did not look enough. Let me search again. ' When he seeks again he still does not find it, but he continues until the mercy mani- fests itself unveiled. Only then does he realize that he was on the wrong track before. G0d, however, has some se ハ WhO see clearly even Res- urrection. Ali said, コ「 the veil were lifted I would not be more certain. ' By this he meant that if the shell were taken away and the Apocalypse were tO appear, hiS certitude W()Llld not increase. HiS perception like a group of people who go into a dark room at night and pray, each facing a different direction. When day breaks they all turn themselves around, all

Praise, G あリ N THE PRESENCE OF SHAMSI TABRIZI someone said, ー have proven the existence of God, indis- putably. " The next morning MevIåna Shamsuddin said, "Last night the angels came down and blessed that man, saying: Praise tO GOd, he has proven our God. May God grant him long life. He has done no injury tO mortals. () little man, God is a given fact. His existence needs no logical proof. げ you must do something, then prove that you yourself have some dignity and rank in His presence. Otherwise He exists without proof. Nor パ市 e 尾田り 'tl ⅲ qg ル帰 c 0 〃研 c ra His 卩 rai 記い 7 : 44 ]. Of this there is no doubt. F Ⅱ・料 MA は料〃 2 ー T() PRAISE G()D ISTO BE puRIFIED:whenpurityar- rives, corruption quickly leaves. Opposites flee from each other: night flees when the light dawns. When the pure Name enters the mouth, neither impurity

60 T 日 E R U M I C O L L E C T ー O 、 は ra 〃諸 d い Peter た日川わ or 〃Ⅵ / ホ ) . like this!" & say, 、、 s come, lift up your eyes & gaze on heaven my breast an expanse ()f azure•, I am a Court of angels, and said, "Like this!" The breeze touched my face with light open my eyes?" How can the scent ofaYusuf Essences & Sh()\A ℃ d me. Then God blew a perfume from the 、 Vor 旧 of be wafted from city to city?" I asked, 。旧 ow can the fragrance ofaYusuf . like this! ” it tOO whispered, till at last in its mysterious purity tO no one but the East Wind I told the secret of my union with the friend & show them. Come, kiss me on the lips brought life to the dead?" they ask; HOW was it that the Messiah undO your robe. "Like this," tell them, & button by button open up before the moon?" ・ 'What is it like when the clouds scatter your tresses. when they wonder about musk,