77 尾 Co 川卩日Ⅲ 1 れ襯 149 we lengthen it, and sometimes we shorten it. Al- though we were at first of the very earth and the same nature as it, GOd elevated us through that power. Now, why should it be strange if God elevates one Of our species, in t() Whom are like inanimate objects? He has control and is aware of us while we are unaware ()f him. The sheikh is the root of spiritual joy. The oceans of joy are with him. How could he harbor hatred or selfish interests with regard to anvone? God forbid! He speaks out of compassion and empathy about all GOd's servants. What other interest could he possi- bly have in these "locusts" and 、 frogs"? What are these beggars in relation to one whO possesses such magnanimity? ls it not said that the Water of Life is in dark earth? The darkness is the body of the saints, where the Water of Life is. The Water of Life can be found only in the darkness. If you hate the darkness and find it distasteful, how will you find the Water of Life? . ln order to succeed in learning anything worthwhile, wouldn't you have tO endure sufferings and acts con- trary t0 your will? How then would it be if you were tO want tO acquire eternal, everlasting life, which is the station 0 「 the saints? Do you think that in that case you would not suffer anything you dislike, or have tO abandon anything you possess? . But you won't tolerate the simplest thing you are advised to do. You may hate something even if it is good for you.

Surrender lt suits the generous man to give money, but truly the generosity of the lover iS tO surrender hiS SOLII. If you give bread for God's sake, you will be given bread in return; if you give your life for God's sake, you will be given Life in return. 173 MAT 日 NAWI 1, 2235-2236 は ra 扉い K 訪汁 H 襯ⅲ s んⅢ Camille H 襯ⅲ s ) G O D S S L AVE I S F R E E The sea doesn't let the fish escape, nor does it let in the creatures of the land. The fish swims in its watery home; the weighty animal plods upon the earth. Nothing we do can change this. The lock of Divine destiny is strong, and the only opener is God. Cling tO surrender and contentment with God's Though the atoms, one by one, should become keys, nothing is opened except by divine Majesty.

S れ冂で 7 れ ler W HY C L ー N G Why cling to one life till it is soiled and ragged? The sun dies and dies squandering a hundred lives every instant God has decreed life for you and He will give another and another and another. は ra 扉翻い Da ⅲ L 池厖の L O V E I S T H E M A S T E R Love is the One who masters all things; I am mastered totally by Love. By my passion oflove for Love I have ground sweet as sugar ・ O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you; How could I know where I will be blown next? Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny Reveals himself a liar and a fool• What is any ofus but a straw in a storm. HOW could anyone make a pact with a hurricane?

Boiling the C c た伀 T H E S H O P 147 Lightning falling on the helpless, a surge of pearl out of the rock covering the rock, this life torn intO a hundred pleces, and one Of those pieces a ticket to let me back into my life. A spirit world divided intO eight sections, one a scroll. Eight scrolls in the parchment of your face. What kind of bird am I becoming, kneeling like a camel pecking at the fire like an ostrich? You and I have worked in the same shop for years. Our loves are great にⅡ ow workers. Friends cluster there and every moment we notice a new light coming out in the sky,. lnvisible, yet taking form, like Christ coming through Mary. ln the cradle, God. Shams, why this inconsistency? That we live within love and yet we run away? FURUZANFAR 〃 2788 は ra い C 。い襯Ⅲ Barks)

34 T Ⅱ E R U M ー C ( ) L L E C T ー O 、 I()SS drowse ⅲ a prison & your waking will be but FaII asleep ⅲ a garden & you gain by waking— only tO those whO know life's spirit s spirit Music: the tranquility of life's spirit: but known T H E S P I R I T U A L C O N C E RT A. G 仇〃伀 , 田 L. S 配市Ⅲ 7 ) は ra / 襯い K. 日浦〃ⅲ s , after all the mischief you've stirred in our hearts? Shams al-Haqq of Tabr レ , where are you now, arising from the pillar ( ) 「 grief? LiSten, can YOLI hear a 、 vail a drunkenness like this. And yet no slap of pain could disturb that l've begun to limp myselP Have llived among the lame for so long ShaII ltry to explain or not? my breast is filled with unspoken words. and here in this house Of hangovers l've neither a heart nor a turban, siders. I know the difference between family and out- family. 、 Be my friend,"l pleaded. "l'm one of your

206 T H E R U M ー C ( ) L L E C T IO N My sickness has been a blessing, because it brought you here this morning. ー am happy with my fever, with lying awake at night, rather than sleeping all night like a buffalo, and for the pain ⅲ my back that woke me at midnight. Pain iS a treasure ()f mercy. Behind its thick rind is a delicious fruit. Be a fellow traveler with grief, a companion Of desolation, find a long life ⅲ the dying of your self. Don't listen to what your body craves. Take your counsel elsewhere, if you don't wish to end in regret. Know that your 翫の , your lower self, has womanly wiles, and while a woman's wiles may be incomplete, your 小 is totally beguiling. げ you ask your 襯小 what to do, do the opposite what she says. For she can cause you t() lose all discernment. She will offer you the same promise she has broken a thousand times. げ your life were lengthened a hundred years, your 〃ト would Offer new pretexts daily. She utters cold and vain promises

I N T R O D U C T I O N A 〃市 e ル H Ⅲュ勺 , UMI, THE GREATEST mystic poet Of lslam and perhaps of the world, was born in Balkh in what was then known as the province Of Khorassan (now Afghanistan), on September 30 , に 07. He died in Konya, in southern Turkey, in his sixty-seventh year, on December 17, に 73 , leaving behind him, as a testimony tO a life lived on the wildest and greatest heights of the spirit, the M ん 7 は u 広 a mystical epic in six volumes; the D れ観れ一ト Ka わ汁 , a collection Of thirty-five hundred odes and two thousand quatrains; a book Of discourses; and several volumes Of letters. After his death, his son, SuItan VaIad, crystall レ ed his vision and spiritual practices intO the structures Of the Mevlevi order, which endured persecution and oppression in many eras, tO spread Rumi'S ViSion all over the lslamic world. Now, through the work and pioneering efforts of European and American translators, Rumi'S work iS as famous in the West as it has been in the East, cherished by seekers on all paths. What Rumi in his life and work combined at the highest level was the

Awe, Na たⅥ , わ〃 r YO U R S O U L I S S O C L O S E T O M I N E Y()LII& S()LII iS S() t() ー know what you dream. Friends scan each other's depths; Would I be a Friend, ifl didn't? /\ Friend iS a mirror ()f clear water•, I see my gains in you, and my losses. Turn away from for moment My mouth fills and chokes with gall. Like a dream that flows from heart to heart, I, too, flow continually through all hearts. Everything you think, I know; YOLIIA heart iS S() tO mine. I have other symbols, even more intimate, Come closer still, dare to invoke them. Come, like a real dervish, and dance among us, Don't joke, don't boast I am all ℃ ady present. ln the center of your house I am like a pillar, On your rooftop I bow my head like a gutter. I turn like a cup ⅲ the heart of your assembly; ln the thick of your battles, I strike like an arrow. When I give my life for yours, what Grace descends! Each life ー give gives you a thousand new worlds! ln this house, there are thousands of corpses. You sit and say: Here is my kingdom. A handfulofdust moans: 。 I was hair.

XVI わ 7 な 0 リ c ⅱ 0 〃 was during Rumi S second ViSit tO Damascus that the ultimate mystery of Shams's and Rumi's mysticallove affair started t0 unfold ⅲ him. This is how Sultan Valad, ⅲ Secret Ⅵ / わ , describes what happened to his father in those days: He didn't see Shams ofTabr レ in Syria. He saw him in himself, clear as the moon. He said 、 Although I am far from you physically, without b0dy or soul, we are one sin- I am him, he is me, O seeker. gle light. Through loving the eternal beloved ⅲ Shams, Rumi had been transformed into love itself: Shams now lived within him. This astounding and healing revelation steadied Rumi. His life grew calmer and he was able tO make the very difficult inner transition from being an agon レ ed and impassioned mystic tO becoming one Of those rare beings like Jesus or the Buddha whose integral realization continues tO haunt and instruct all seekers. During the next twenty years, Rumi was alSO tO meet tWO Other "heart-friends," in Zarkubi and Husamuddin Chelebi, who would help him deepen his knowledge of divine human love and accompany him ()IÄ hiS journey int() universal sagedom, WhiCh unfolded until and beyond his death. N()W achieved spiritual master, Rumi went on living in Konya, collecting around him disciples 0f all kind and classes, writing his mystical masterpiece, the M 襯ん ta ルれ and living a life of awe-inspiring beauty truth, and humility, which led him to win the

P Ⅲラり , Stay in the company oflovers. Those other kinds of people, they each want tO shOW you something. A crow will lead you to an empty barn, A parrot tO sugar. FURUZANFAR 〃 1082 as water hides in metal, as fire hides in a rock. lt's better to hide completely within we wanted. but we saw no sign in them of the faithfulness For a while we lived with people, FURUZANFAR # 686 a dervish begs to give you his life. money tO SLlrVlVe, Unlike someone who begs on the street for and gives away each instant, free. The sufi opens his hands to the universe FURUZANFAR 〃 630 22 ー