Daily Rumi

dailyrumi @ 2008-07-17T16:03:00

2008-07-17T23:05:10Z

If the house of the head is completely filled with crazy passion,
anxiety will fill the heart.
The rest of the bodily members aren't disturbed by thinking,
but hearts are consumed by persistent thoughts.
Take refuge in the autumn gale of fear of God:
let last year's peonies be shed;
for these flowers keep new buds from blossoming,
and it's only for the sake of their growth
that the tree of the heart exists.
Put yourself to sleep and escape from this vain thinking:
then lift up your head into spiritual wakefulness.
Like the Seven Sleepers of the Cave,* pass quickly, O mistress,
into the state of those who are awake
though you would say they are asleep.**

*A reference to the story of the Seven Companions of the Cave
and their miraculous sleep of several centuries. Qur'ân: Sûrat
al-Kahf (The Cave).
**al-Kahf, 18:18

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi VI:4459-4464
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

dailyrumi @ 2008-07-15T16:09:00

2008-07-15T23:10:47Z

Just as staying at home is easy for some,
traveling comes easy to others.
Each of us was made for some particular work,
and the desire for that work has been placed in our hearts.
How should hand and foot be set in motion without desire?
If you see your desire leading toward Heaven,
unfold your wings to claim it;
but if you see your desire bends to the earth,
keep lamenting.
The wise weep in the beginning;
the foolish beat their heads at the end.
Discern the end from the beginning
so that you may not be repenting
when the Day of Reckoning arrives.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi, III:1616-1623
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

When a man is busy in earnest...

2008-07-14T05:46:03Z

When a man is busy in earnest,
he is unconscious of his pain.
I mention this insensibility to pain
so you may know how much the body resembles a garment.
Go, seek the one who wears it;
don't kiss a piece of cloth.

version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

This Market

2008-07-13T23:43:34Z

Can you find another market like this?
Where, with your one rose

you can buy hundreds of rose gardens?
Where, for one seed you get

a whole wilderness? For one weak
breath, the divine wind?

- translated by Coleman Barks

dailyrumi @ 2008-07-10T12:02:00

2008-07-10T19:03:22Z

Let us fall in love again
and scatter gold dust all over the world.
Let us become a new spring
and feel the breeze drift in the heavens' scent.
Let us dress the earth in green,
and like the sap of a young tree
let the grace from within sustain us.
Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts
and let them light our path to Love.
The glance of Love is crystal clear
and we are blessed by its light.

-- Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi

Word Fog

2008-07-07T07:38:48Z

Words, even if they come from
the soul, hide the soul, as fog

rising off the sea covers the sea,
the coast, the fish, the pearls.

It's noble work to build coherent
philosophical discourses, but

they block out the sun of truth.
See God's qualities as an ocean,

this world as foam on the purity
of that. Brush away and look

through the alphabet to essence,
as you do the hair covering your

beloved's eyes. Here's the mystery:
this intricate, astonishing world

is proof of God's presence even as
it covers the beauty. One flake

from the wall of a gold mine does
not give much idea what it's like

when the sun shines in and turns
the air and the workers golden.

version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin

Mathnawi VI: 255-260

2008-07-06T23:41:02Z

Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance,
for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
Noble birth also is of small account,
for many become fools of money and horses.
Many a nobleman's son has disgraced his father by his wicked deeds.
Don't court a person full of talent either,
even if he seems exquisite in that respect:
take warning from the example of Iblis.
Iblis had knowledge, but since his love was not pure,
he saw in Adam nothing but a figure of clay.

- translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski

dailyrumi @ 2008-07-03T15:50:00

2008-07-03T22:51:23Z

Thou and I

2008-07-03T02:54:42Z

Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I;
In two forms and with two faces - with one soul, Thou and I.

The colour of the garden and the song of the birds give the elixir of immortality
The instant we come into the orchard, Thou and I.

The stars of Heaven come out to look upon us -
We shall show the moon herself to them, Thou and I.

Thou and I, with no 'Thou' or 'I', shall become one through our tasting;
Happy, safe from idle talking, Thou and I.

The spirited parrots of heaven will envy us -
Wen we shall laugh in such a way, Thou and I.

This is stranger, that Thou and I, in this corner here...
Are both in one breath here and there - Thou and I.

dailyrumi @ 2008-07-01T18:15:00

2008-07-02T01:16:37Z

I will never leave this house of light,
I will never leave this blessed town
for here I have found my love
and here I will stay for the rest of my life.
If this world turns into a sea of trouble
I will brave the waves and steer my mind's ship
to the safe shore of love.

If you are a seeker looking for profit go on
and may God be with you,
but I am not willing to exchange my truth,
I have found the heart and will never leave
this house of light.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1653
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi

This world and that world are forever giving birth...

2008-06-30T20:00:01Z

This world and that world are forever giving birth:
every cause is a mother; the effect is born as a child.
When the effect was born, it too became a cause,
so that it might give birth to wondrous effects.
These causes follow generation upon generation,
but it takes a very well-illuminated eye
to see all the links in the chain.

version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

What was said to the rose

2008-06-29T14:03:05Z

What was said to the rose that made it open
was said to me here in my chest.

What was told the cypress that made it strong
and straight, what was whispered the jasmine

so it is what it is, whatever made sugarcane
sweet; whatever was said to the inhabitants

of the town of Chigil in Turkestan that makes
them so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate

flower blush like a human face, that is being
said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence

in language, that's happening here. The great
warehouse doors open. I fill with gratitude,

chewing a piece of sugarcane, in love with
the one to whom every that belongs!

- translated by Coleman Barks

(Sorry for missing the past couple of Sundays!)

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-26T18:24:00

2008-06-27T01:25:07Z

What do you really possess,
and what have you gained?
What pearls have you brought up
from the depth of the sea?
On the day of death,
bodily senses will vanish:
do you have the spiritual light
to accompany your heart?
When dust fills these eyes in the grave,
will your grave shine bright?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Mathnawi II:939-941
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-24T16:16:00

2008-06-24T23:26:15Z

God is forever making hidden things manifest:
since they grow up, don't sow bad seed.
Rain and clouds and fire and this sun are forever
bringing up hidden things from within the earth.

-- Mathnawi, V:3969-3970
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

Friends who guide you

2008-06-23T05:44:11Z

The reflection cast from good friends is needed
until you become, without the aid of any reflector,
a drawer of water from the Sea.
Know that the reflection is at first just imitation,
but when it continues to recur,
it turns into direct realization of truth.
Until it has become direct realization,
don't part from the friends who guide you—
don't break away from the shell
if the raindrop hasn't yet become a pearl.

version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-19T20:05:00

2008-06-20T03:12:15Z

People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterwards repent of the lust they've indulged,
because they have indulged with a phantom
and are left even farther from Reality than before.
Your desire for the illusory is a wing,
by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.
When you have indulged a lust, your wing drops off;
you become lame and that fantasy flees.
Preserve the wing and don't indulge such lust,
so that the wing of desire may bear you to Paradise.
People fancy they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings
for the sake of an illusion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi III: 2133-2138
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

The Force of Friendship

2008-06-18T20:25:17Z

A sea-cow, a dugong, finds a special pearl
and brings it up on land at night. By the light it gives off
the dugong can graze on hyacinths and lilies.

The excrement of the dugong is precious ambergris
because it eats such beauty. Anyone who feeds on Majesty
becomes eloquent. The bee, from mystic inspiration,
fills its rooms with honey.

So the dugong grazes at night in the pearl-glow.
Presently, a merchant comes and drops black loam
over the pearl, then hides behind a tree to watch.

The dugong surges about the meadow like a blind bull.
Twenty times it rushes at nothing, passing the mound
where the pearl is.

So Satan couldn't see
the spirit-center inside Adam.

God says, *Descend*,
and a huge pearl from Aden gets buried under dirt.
The merchant knows,
but the dugong doesn't.

Every clay-pile with a pearl inside
loves to be near any other clay-pile with a pearl,
but those without pearls cannot stand to be near
the hidden companionship.

Remember the mouse on the riverbank?
There's a love-string stretching into the water
hoping for the frog.

Suddenly a raven grips the mouse
and flies off. The frog too, from the riverbottom,
with one foot entangled in the invisible string,
follows, suspended in the air.
Amazed faces ask,
"*When did a raven ever go underwater
and catch a frog?*"
The frog answers,
"This is the force of Friendship."
What draws friends together
does not conform to Laws of Nature.
Form doesn't know about spiritual closeness.
If a grain of barley approaches a grain of wheat,
an ant must be carrying it. A black ant on black felt.
You can't see it, but if grains go toward each other,
it's there.

A hand shifts our birdcages around.
Some are brought closer. Some move apart.
Do not try to reason it out. Be conscious
of who draws you and who not.

Gabriel was always there with Jesus, lifting him
above the dark-blue vault, the night-fortress world,
just as the raven of longing carries the flying frog.

~Rumi Mathnawi, VI, 2922-2973
From 'This Longing' by Coleman Barks and John Moyne

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-17T10:04:00

2008-06-17T17:04:53Z

I can be without anyone
but not without you.
You twist my heart, dwell in my mind
and fill my eyes, you are my joy
I can't be without you.
You are my sleep, my rest, the water I drink.
You are my clarity, my dignity, my world
I can't be without you.
Sometimes you are kind, sometimes unfaithful,
you break my heart but
my love, my essence, do not go away
I can't be without you.
You are the head I am the feet
you are the hand, I am your banner
if you leave, I will perish
I can't be without you.
You have erased my image, taken my sleep
you've torn me away from everybody but
I can't be without you.
I find no joy in life or relief in death.
Why don't you say it too
I can't be without you.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 553
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi

Any Chance Meeting

2008-06-16T05:33:39Z

In every gathering, in any chance meeting
on the street, there is a shine,
an elegance rising up.

Today, I recognized that that jewel-like beauty
is the presence, our loving confusion,
the glow in which watery clay
gets brighter than fire,

the one we call the Friend.
I begged, "Is there a way into you,
a ladder?"
"Your head is the ladder.
Bring it down under your feet."
The mind, this globe
of awareness, is a starry universe that when
you push off from it with your foot,

a thousand new roads come clear, as you yourself
do at dawn, sailing through the light.

version by Coleman Barks

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-12T09:57:00

2008-06-12T16:58:03Z

If you wish your misery to end,
seek also to lose your wisdom-
the wisdom born of human illusion,
that which lacks the light
of God's overflowing grace.
The wisdom of this world increases doubt;
the wisdom of Faith releases you into the sky.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi, II: 3200-3203
Rumi: Daylight

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-10T12:43:00

2008-06-10T19:46:27Z

Kill the snake of desire in the beginning;
or watch out: your snake will become a dragon.
But everyone considers his own snake to be just an ant:
if you do, seek knowledge of your real state
from one who is a lord of the heart.
Until copper becomes gold,
it doesn't know that it's copper:
until the heart becomes a king,
it doesn't recognize its poverty.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi II: 3472-3474
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

Since you saw this spring...

2008-06-09T05:57:08Z

Since you saw this spring, why didn't
you become water?
Since you saw the Friend near, why do
you still have love for yourself?
Since you are in the shop of the sweet-seller,
why this bitter look?
Since you are swimming in the river of life,
why are you dry and miserable?
Don't be stubborn, do not flee from happiness.

You are imprisoned in a net from which
you can't escape,
Stop struggling! Stop struggling!

translation by Muriel Maufroy

Ode 314

2008-06-08T20:00:47Z

Those who don't feel this Love
pulling them like a river,
those who don't drink dawn
like a cup of spring water
or take in sunset like supper,
those who don't want to change,

let them sleep.

This Love is beyond the study of theology,
that old trickery and hypocrisy.
I want you to improve your mind that way,

sleep on.

I've given up on my brain.
I've torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away.

If you're not completely naked,
wrap your beautiful robe of words
around you,

and sleep.

- translated by Coleman Barks

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-05T10:29:00

2008-06-05T17:30:26Z

When the kernel swells the walnut shell,
or the pistachio, or the almond, the husk diminishes.
As the kernel of knowledge grows,
the husk thins and disappears,
because the lover is consumed by the beloved.
Since the quality of being sought is the opposite of seeking,
revelation and divine lightning
consume the prophet with fire.
When the attributes of the Eternal shine forth,
the cloak of temporality is burned away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi III: 1388-1391
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

dailyrumi @ 2008-06-03T00:53:00

2008-06-03T07:54:02Z

Friendship is as precious as gold.
Why entrust it to one who will betray it?
Spend time near the One with whom your trusts
are safe from loss or violation.
Be close with the One who created human nature,
the One who nurtured the character of the prophets--
who if given a lamb, will give you back a whole flock of sheep.
Truly, the Sustainer cares for and increases every good quality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi VI:1418-1421
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski