How can you know the design of the Designer,
the paint of the Painter?
You are mere form and flesh.
How could you possibly know Soul? Continue reading “Mere Form and Flesh (10/10/2021)”
Mere Form and Flesh (10/10/2021)
Tag: Suffering
Not Like Your Halfway Happiness (10/3/2021)
We have neither silk garments nor silver, but we are happy.
In trouble and fear, we are content.
We are drunk on the wine of eternal submission.
This is not like your halfway happiness.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 343
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (approx. pub. 5/2022), Rubai 732, Volume 2
This is Expected of You (9/12/2021)
The mind is a roadblock on the journey, O son.
The road is wide open.
Untie this bond. Tear it, O son. Continue reading “This is Expected of You (9/12/2021)”
See My Generosity? (8/15/2021)
Why are you sorry if you lose your profit, your capital?
Here I am. See My generosity?
Don’t fall into despair.
If the world disappears
and the sea becomes a drop of dew, who cares?
If it passes out and drops to the ground,
that doesn’t mean it has left My hand.
The world is a fish. Absence is an ocean.
There are so many fights in the heart of the fish.
But, I fish without a line.
Even if a fish disappears, I will still catch it.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal 98, verses 1116-1118, page 221.
Secrets Shaken Out with Thunder (7/25/2021)
I became exuberant when that pearl emerged in me.
I was turned into a rough sea by that storm.
I revealed the secrets of the ocean,
secrets shaken out with thunder.
Then, I slept on the shore like an empty cloud.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 329.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (tent. pub. 12/1/2021), Volume 2, Rubai 696.
Trying to Find Me (7/11/2021)
I stopped over at a tavern one day.
There, I started to tear my patched-up body-cloak into pieces.
While everyone else was busy with their own affairs,
I was busy destroying my self, trying to find Me.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 326.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (tentative pub. date 12/1/21), Vol. 2 of 4, Rubai 691.
Focus Your Eyes on Absence (7/4/2021)
You cut me off like an umbilical cord in the name of drunkenness.
Even then, O Cupbearer, why did You leave me?
You create such Love with every breath.
O One who makes everything appear,
why are You not apparent? Continue reading “Focus Your Eyes on Absence (7/4/2021)”
From Existence to Nothingness (5/30/2021)
I have twisted and wriggled like a snake
because of someone’s charms.
I have been curled up like the hair of the Beloved.
By God, I don’t know what kind of twist that is.
All I know is that suffering annihilates me,
carrying me from existence to Nothingness.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 318.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translation (pub. 11/2021), Rubai 673, vol. 2.
I Am Your Remedy (5/2/2021)
Endure your pain quietly. I am your remedy.
Don’t look at anyone except Me,
because I am your true friend.
Even if I kill you, don’t say, “I have been killed.”
Instead, be grateful,
because I am the compensation for your life.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 307
A Rubaiyat of Rumi/The Ergin Translation (Nov. 2021), Rubai 654
Walk Nicely Now (3/28/2021)
Ascend to the sky from this banal world.
Your soul will be blessed if you do.
Walk nicely now.
Yes, you have jumped out from this town which is so full of sickness and shivering.
Now, make your home the land of happiness and joy.
If the painting of your body is destroyed, return to the Painter.
If your flesh is decayed, be content with being pure soul.
If your face is withered because of death,
settle down in the purple-colored tulip garden.
If they close the door of the house on you,
come up from the roof. Become your own ladder.
If you are separated from friends and relatives,
if you find yourself all alone,
become the King of the Auspicious Conjunction,*
acquainted with God’s friendship.
If you are separated from bread and water,
turn into the kind of bread
which gives power directly to hearts and souls.
*Refers to at least one Mughal king who claimed he was born under the auspicious conjunction of Jupiter and Venus.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 18, Ghazal 189, verses 18821-1887, page 148.