Interpreting the teacher's couplet...



In the land of the Soul, endless skies
Lord of the earth and skies, kind and wise
Ups and downs of the path, pain and ease
Climbing mountains high, sailing wide seas.

In the unseen, rain and cloud of different kind
Different sun and sky confound the mind
None is seen, save by the chosen few
Others in awe of the Creator’s view.
Rain’s purpose is to help plants to grow
Rain’s purpose is to help decay’s flow.
Growth and life spring from the spring rain
Autumn rain will only bring decay and pain;
The spring nurture the seed, water and feed
In the fall, feverish, yellow, tree and weed.
And so is cold and the wind, even the sun
Though different, from one source are all spun;
So it is, different, varied, in the unseen
Profit, loss, gainful, baneful, wise and green.
This is the eternal breath of the spring
In the heart and soul, green fields will bring;
What the spring shower does for the tree
Breath of life brings to the soul, fortunate, free.
If in place you find a tree of dry fame
Know that life-giving wind is not to blame
Wind fulfilled its purpose and blew
He who had soul, his own soul slew.

Happy the moment when we are seated in the palace,
thou and I,
With two forms and with two figures but with one soul,
thou and I.
The colors of the grove and the voice of the birds
will bestow immortality
At the time when we come into the garden, thou and I.
The stars of the heaven will come to gaze upon us;
We shall show them the moon itself, thou and I.
Thou and I, individuals no more, shall be mingled in ecstasy,
Joyful and secure from foolish babble, thou and I.
All the bright-plumed birds of heaven will devour their
hearts with envy,
In the place where we shall laugh in such a fashion,
thou and I.
This is the greatest wonder, that thou and I, sitting
here in the same nook,
Are at this moment both in Iraq and Khorasan, thou and I.

First
He
pampered me
with
a hundred favors.

Then
He
melted me
with
the fires of sorrows.

After
He
sealed me
with
the Seal of Love,

I became Him.

Then
He
threw my self
out of me.

- Rumi

Omar And The Harper

There was once a harper who was far-famed for his melodious voice and together with his harp, could produce mellifluous notes. The harper's music was a part of every feast that took place. As time passed with old age embracing him, the harper's voice took to trembling and could no more charm the crowd.

One day the old musician took his harp and retired that night to the burial ground of Yathrub, to make music for God. He looked forward for some recompense from the almighty in the graveyard. Having made melody, he fell asleep and dreamt that he was in heaven. That same night God instructed Omar, the caliph to relieve the old harper in the burial ground.

Omar on reaching the burial ground, found the harper and handed him some money and said that he could always look up to him if he needed more. The old harper put aside his harp saying that it had in fact kept him away from God. He started lamenting in contrition of his past sins. Omar then instructed the harper that he was about to complete the long arduous worldly journey of life. His contrition could do more harm than his very sins He awoke his awareness to the fact that he at one time adored the music of his harp and at other times embraced wailing and weeping. After having attained the ecstasy of union with God, he is not to yield to contrition, as past and the future are to be disregarded.
Omar's words made its mark and the heart of the harper saw emancipation to the fullest

Omar's words made its mark and the heart of the harper saw emancipation to the fullest with an ecstasy whose essence escapes the mere frame of words. From then on the harper harped no more .

“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”


Jalal ad-Din Rumi quotes

The Three Fish
Spiritual Story by Jalal al-Din Rumi


This is a story of the lake and the three big fish that were in it, one of them intelligent, another half-intelligent, and the third, stupid.

Some fisherman came to the edge of the lake with their nets. The three fish saw them.

The intelligent fish decided at once to leave, to make the long, difficult trip to the ocean. He thought, "I won't consult with these two on this. They will only weaken my resolve, because they love this place so. They call it home. Their ignorance will keep them here."

The wise fish saw the men and their nets and said, "I"m leaving." The half-intelligent fish thought, "My guide has gone. I ought to have gone with him, but I didn't, and now I've lost my chance to escape. I wish I'd gone with him.

He mourns the absence of his guide for a while, and then thinks, "What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets? Perhaps if I pretend to be already dead! I'll belly up on the surface and float like weeds float, just giving myself totally to the water. To die before I die."

So he did that. He bobbed up and down, helpless, within arm's reach of the fishermen.

"Look at this! The best and biggest fish is dead." One of the men lifted him by the tail, spat on him, and threw him up on the ground. He rolled over and over and slid secretly near the water, and then, back in.

Meanwhile, the third fish, the dumb one, was agitatedly jumping about, trying to escape with his agility and cleverness.

The net, of course, finally closed around him, and as he lay in the terrible frying-pan bed, he thought, "If I get out of this, I'll never live again in the limits of the lake. Next time, the ocean! I'll make the infinite my home."

A Misfit
Spiritual Story by Shams-e Tabrizi


I have been a misfit since childhood. I knew that no one understood me, not even my father. He once said, "You are not a madman, fit to be put in a madhouse, nor are you monk to be put in a monastery. I just don't know what you are!"

I replied: "You know, father, I can tell you what it is like. Once a duck egg was put under a hen to be hatched. When the egg hatched, the duckling walked along with the mother hen until they came to a pond. The duckling took a nice dip in the water. But the hen stayed on the bank and clucked."

"Now, my dear father, after having tried the sea I find it my home. If you choose to stay on the shore, is it my fault? I am not to be blamed."