Monday, December 31, 2012

The Day Is ... Today !!! - The Time Is ... Now !!!


Gratitude HD - Moving Art™

  

Then it will really be.......
A good day...


welcoming the NEW YEAR..

Friday, December 21, 2012

The story of Bayazid Bestami


That magnificent dervish, Bayazid Bestami, came to his disciples and said, "I am God." It was night, and he was drunk with his ecstasy. "There is no God but me. You should worship me."

At dawn, when he had returned to normal, they came and told him what he'd said. "If I say that again, bring your knives and plunge them into me. God is beyond the body, and I am in this body. Kill me when I say that."

Each student then sharpened his knife, and again Bayazid drank the God-Wine. The sweet dessert-knowing came. The Inner Dawn snuffed his candle. Reason, like a timid advisor, faded to a far corner as the Sun-Sultan entered Bayazid. Pure spirit spoke through him.

Bayazid was not there. The "he" of his personality dissolved. Like the Turk who spoke fluent Arabic, then came to, and didn't know a word. The Light of God poured into the empty Bayazid and became words.

Muhammed did not dictate the Qur'an. God did. The mystic osprey opened its wings in Bayazid and soared.

"Inside my robe there is nothing but God. How long will you keep looking elsewhere!"

The disciples drew their knifes and slashed out like assassins, but as they stabbed at their Sheikh, they did not cut Bayazid. They cut themselves.

There was no mark on that Adept, but the students were bleeding and dying.

Those who somewhat held back, respecting their Teacher, had only lightly wounded themselves.

A selfless One disappears into Existence and is safe there. He becomes a mirror. If you spit at it, you spit at your own face.

If you see an ugly face there, it's yours. If you see Jesus and Mary, they're you.

Bayazid became nothing, that clear and that empty.

A saint puts your image before you. When I reach this point, I have to close my lips.

Those of you who are love-drunk on the edge of the roof, sit down, or climb down. Every moment spent in Union with the Beloved is a dangerous delight, like standing on a roof-edge.

Be afraid up there, of losing that connection, and don't tell anybody about it. Keep your secret.


Mathnawi IV: 2102-2148
Version by Coleman Barks
"Delicious Laughter"
Maypop, 1990
 
(credit : earthrites.org)
 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Heaven's secrets



never say
no one knows the way
never say
profound humans
can't be found
just because
you're kept out of
heaven's secrets
you think everyone
is like you

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001





You claim skill in every art
and knowledge of every science,
Yet you cannot even hear
what your own heart is telling you.

Until you can hear that simple voice
How can you be a keeper of secrets?
How can you be a traveller on this path?

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

Saturday, December 01, 2012

Everything will perish except His own Face


28. Al-Qasas Verse 88

وَلَا تَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا آخَرَ ۘ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ ۚ لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ 
تُرْجَعُونَ

And call not, besides Allah, on another god. There is no god but He. Everything (that exists) will perish except His own Face. To Him belongs the Command, and to Him will ye (all) be brought back.

(Credit : DREAMSTIME)

Such is the seeker of the court of God:
when God comes, the seeker is no more.
Although union with God is immortality upon immortality,
yet at first that immortality consists in dying to self.
The reflections that are seeking the Light
disappear when His Light appears.
How should reason remain when He bids it go?
Everything is perishing except His Face.*
Before His Face the existent and the nonexistent perish:
existence in nonexistence is truly a marvelous thing!
In this place of presence all minds are lost beyond control;
when the pen reaches this point, it breaks.

Mathnawi III:4658-4663
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

When That Happens....


Out in Empty Sky

 
If you catch a fragrance of the unseen,

like that, you won't be able to be

contained. You'll be out in empty sky.

Any beauty the world has, any desire,

will easily be yours. As you live

deeper in the heart, the mirror gets
clearer and cleaner. Shams of Tabriz
realized God in himself. When that

happens, you have no anxieties about

losing anyone or anything. You break

the spells that human difficulties cause.

Interpretations come, hundreds, from

all the religious symbols and parables

and prayers. You know what they mean,

when God lives through you like Shams.


  Ghazal (Ode) 2931

Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Each Sleepless Night

 

I cannot sleep in your presence.

In your absence, tears prevent me.

You watch me My Beloved

on each sleepless night and

only You can see the difference.


Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001


 

When I am with you, we stay up all night.

When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.

Praise God for these two insomnias!

And the difference between them.


  Version by Coleman Barks
Open Secret
Threshold Books, 1984
 
 
 

as long as I'm with you

I can't sleep

having you

as long as you are away

I can't sleep

crying for you

dear God

I'm sleepless

both nights

but look at the

difference in the

two insomnias

 
Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

Thursday, November 01, 2012

To put my finger on it, I cannot....


Kiss me on the lips..
LIKE THIS !!!... LIKE THIS !!!



Secrets bursting inside me

I can't let you know
all the secrets
I can't open to you
all the doors
there is something inside
that makes me happy
but I can't put my finger
on its source

Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Dancing the Flame"
Cal-Earth Press, 2001 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The secrets are bursting inside me
but to give them away and
expose them to mockery, I cannot.
Something inside me is bursting with joy
but to put my finger on it, I cannot.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
"Rumi: Hidden Music"
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001



 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Pada Mu jua...



The most powerful of attractors

The belly attracts bread to its resting-place;
the heat of the liver attracts water.
The eye is an attractor of beautiful persons
from these different quarters of town;
the nose is attracting scents from the garden,
while the sense of sight is an attractor of color,
and the brain and nose attract sweet perfumes.


You, Owner of everything, are the most powerful of attractors:
it would be fitting if You would redeem the helpless.

Mathnawi VI: 2901-2905
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

Thursday, October 11, 2012

If you want to find yourself...


Leave the stream and join the river


If you want to live, leave your banks,
as a small stream enters the Oxus, miles wide,
or as cattle moving around a millstone
suddenly circle to the top of the sphere.

Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"
Threshold Books, 1986


(CREDITS - robertfeateckbert)

Are you searching for your soul?
Then come out of your prison.
Leave the stream and join the river
that flows into the ocean.
Absorbed in this world
you’ve made it your burden.
Rise above this world.
There is another vision…

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999



if you want to find yourself
leave yourself alone
wade in no little creek
swim in the big flow
you are that bull
who carries the world
revolt for once
and topple the globe.

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

Monday, October 01, 2012

Sahabat Gua



Sahabat Gua
M NASIR 

Berapa banyak bintang di langit
Engkau hafali ya Sahibul Kahfi
Tak akan sama bintang yang satu ini
Yang kau kenali di dalam hati

Terang walaupun dia tersembunyi
Cemburukan matahari
Cahaya berseri-seri
Jika engkau kenali

Kita ditakdirkan lari
Jauh dari kezaliman
Terperangkap dalam gua ini
Hingga masa Tuhan tunjuk kebenaran

Mari ikut rentak ku
Rentak tari dulu-dulu
Lagu marhaen sederhana
Disini tiada duka
Terima saja dengan redha
Perananmu dalam dunia

Kerana pegangan
Engkau hadapi
Dugaan ini ya Sahibul Kahfi

Kamil !
Kalimah kebenaran telah zahir
Tak usah engkau ragukan
Kita datang dari dia
Kita pulang padaNya

Banyak ayat mujarobat
Bisa menawarkan luka
Namun penyakit jiwa ini
Tak bisa ditawan tanpa penyerahan...


Friday, September 21, 2012

When you have come to live through God


To exalt oneself is to claim partnership with God.
Unless you have died and become living through Him,
you are an enemy seeking to hold the power.
But when you have come to live through God,
that which you have become is in truth He:
it is no longer copartnership, but absolute Unity.
 
Mathnawi IV: 2765-2767
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Not A Courtroom...


The world is not a courtroom,
there is no judge, no jury, no plaintiff.

This is a carvan,
filled with eccentric beings
telling wondrous stories about God.
~ Saadi ~

Friday, August 31, 2012

What Is There Beyond Knowing?


What Is There Beyond Knowing?

What is there beyond knowing that keeps
calling to me?  I can't

turn in any direction
but it's there.  I don't mean

the leaves' grip and shine or even the thrush's
silk song, but the far-off

fires, for example,
of the stars, heaven's slowly turning

theater of light, or the wind
playful with its breath;

or time that's always rushing forward,
or standing still

in the same -- what shall I say --
moment.

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!
While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable.  How wonderful it is
to follow a thought quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,
in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out.  Life so far doesn't have any other name
but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.
I simply go on drifting, in the heaven of the grass
and the weeds.


~ Mary Oliver ~
(New and Selected Poems Volume Two)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Fountain of fire





 Ready to drink every flame

rocking and rolling
what have you been drinking
please let me know

you must be drunk
going house to house
wandering from street to street

who have you been with
who have you kissed
who's face have you been fondling

you are my soul
you are my life
i swear my life and love is yours


so tell me the truth
where is that fountainhead
the one you've been drinking from

don't hide this secret
lead me to the source
fill my jug over and over again

last night i finally caught
your attention in the crowd
it was your image filling my dream

telling me to stop this wandering
stop this search for
good and evil

i said my dear prophet
give me some of
that you've drunk for ecstasy of life

if i let you drink you said
any of this burning flame
it will scorch your mouth and throat

your portion has been
given already by heaven
ask for more at your peril

i lamented and begged
i desire much more
please show me the source


i have no fear
to burn my mouth and throat
i'm ready to drink every flame and more


Ghazal (0de) 2154
Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi - Fountain of Fire"
Cal-Earth Press, 1995

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Don't Go Back To Sleep



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.
If you want 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.

  Version by Coleman Barks
"Like This"
Maypop, 1990



You who possess not Love, it is lawful to you – sleep on;
be gone,
 for Love and Love's sorrow is our portion – sleep on.
We have become motes of the sun of sorrow for the Beloved;
you in whose heart this passion has never arisen, sleep on.

In endless quest of union with Him we hurry like a river, you
who are not anguished by the question "Where is He?" – sleep on.

Love's path is outside the two and seventy sects;
since your love and way is mere trickery and hypocrisy, sleep on.

His dawn-cup is our sunrise, his crepuscule our supper, you
whose yearning is for viands and whose passion is for supper,
sleep on.

In quest of the philosopher's stone we are melting like copper,
you whose philosopher's stone is the bolster and bedfellow,
sleep on.

Like a drunkard you are falling and rising on every side, for
night is past and now is the time for prayer; sleep on.

Since fate has barred slumber to me, young man, be gone; 
for sleep has passed you by and you can now fulfil slumber; sleep on.

We have fallen into Love's hand – what will Love do? 
Since you are in your own hand, depart to the right hand – sleep on.
I am the one who drinks blood; my soul, 
you are the one who eats viands; 
since viands for certainty demand slumber, 
sleep on.

I have abandoned hope for my brain and my head too; 
you aspire to a fresh and juicy brain – sleep on.
I have rent the garment of speech and let words go; 
you who are not naked, possess a robe – sleep on.

  Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
The University of Chicago Press, 1968





 "Sleep On"

Those of you who feel no love
sleep on.

Those of you who do not feel the sorrow of love
in whose heart has never risen
sleep on.

Those who do not long for union
who are not constantly asking, 'Where is He?'
sleep on.

Love's path is outside of all religious sects
if trickery and hypocrisy is your way
sleep on.

If you don't melt like copper in your quest
for the alchemical gold
sleep on.

If like a drunkard you fall left and right
unaware the night has passed and it's time for prayer
sleep on.

Fate has taken my sleep but since
it has not taken yours, young man
sleep on.

We have fallen into love's hands
since you are in your own
sleep on.

I am the one who is drunk on Love
since you are drunk on food
sleep on.

I have given up my head and have nothing more to say
but you can wrap yourself in the robe of words and
sleep on.

  Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001 




WAKE UP!

wake up, wake up
this night is gone
wake up

abandon abandon
even your dear self
abandon

there is an idiot
in our market place
selling a precious soul

if you doubt my word
get up this moment
and head for the market now

don't listen to trickery
don't listen to the witches
don't wash blood with blood

first turn yourself upside down
empty yourself like a cup of wine
then fill to the brim with the essence

a voice is descending
from the heavens
a healer is coming

if you desire healing
let yourself fall ill
let yourself fall ill

Ghazal (Ode) 2133
Translated by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994 

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Right From Within


ONE DAWN

unknown existence
undiscovered beauty
that's how you are
so far


but
one dawn
just like a sun
right from within
you will arise

From Ghazal 2840
Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Too marvelous to be understood




Mysteries, Yes
 
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
 
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
 
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
 
Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
 
~ Mary Oliver ~
 
(Evidence)
 

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Be Empty

SALAM RAMADHAN\


"Fasting"

There is an unseen sweetness
in the stomach's emptiness.

We are lutes.
When the soundbox is filled,
no music can come forth.

When the brain and the belly
are burning from fasting,
every moment a new song rises
out of the fire.

The mists clear,
and a new vitality makes you
spring up the steps before you.

Be empty and cry as a reed instrument.
Be empty and write secrets with a reed pen.

When satiated by food and drink,
an unsightly metal statue
is seated where your spirit should be.

When fasting, good habits gather like
helpful friends.

Fasting is Solomon's ring.
Don't give in to illusion
and lose your power.

But even when all will and control
have been lost,
they will return when you fast,
like soldiers appearing out of the ground,
or pennants flying in the breeze.

A table descends to your tents,
the Lord's table.
Anticipate seeing it when fasting,
this table spread with a different food,
far better than the broth of cabbages.

Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
Castle Books, 1997

"Better than Cabbage Soup"

What sweetness lies in an empty stomach!
Man is like a lute: no more, no less.
If the lute is full
it cannot sing a high or low note.

If your mind and stomach
burn with the fire of hunger
it will be like a heavenly song for your heart.
In each moment that fire rages
It will burn away a hundred veils
And carry you a thousand steps
toward your goal.

Be empty
and weep with the fullness of the reed flute.
Be empty
and discover the mysteries of the reed pen.

If your belly is full on the day you are called
pain will come instead of freedom,
worldly cares will come instead of paradise.
When you fast, good qualities will gather round you
like faithful friends and servants.

Don't break the fast
for it is Solomon's Seal.
Don't give the Seal to harmful spirits.
Don't destroy your kingdom with a full belly.

Even in your kingdom falls
and your armies abandon you,
keep the fast.

Soon they will return
with their banners high in the air.
I say, by the prayer of Jesus,
Heaven's Table will come to your fasting tent.

Fast and remember that the abundance
of Heaven's Table will soon be yours -
And I assure you,
the food on that Table
is better than cabbage soup!

Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

(credit - Khaleelullah Chemnad)

What hidden sweetness is found in this empty stomach!
 Man is like a lute, neither more nor less:
When the lute's stomach is full, it cannot
lament, whether high or low.
If your brain and stomach burn from fasting,
their fire will draw constant lamentation from your breast.
Through that fire you will burn a thousand
veils at every instant--you will ascend a thousand degrees on
the Way and in your aspiration.
Keep your stomach empty! Lament like a flute
and tell your need to God! Keep your stomach empty and
speak of the mysteries like a reed!
If you keep your stomach full, it will bring
Satan to you at the Resurrection instead of your intellect, an
idol instead of the Kaaba.
When you fast, good character traits gather
round you like servants, slaves, and retinue.
Continue your fasting, for it is Solomon's seal:
Give not the seal to the devil, disrupt not your kingdom.
And if your kingdom and army should flee from
you, your army will return, so raise the banner!
The Spread Table has come from heaven to
those who fast, for Jesus son of Mary has called it down with
his prayers*.
Await the Table of Generosity in your fast--the
Table of Generosity is better than cabbage stew!

Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

* Chapter V of the Koran is named after the "spread table"referred to in these verses: "And when the Apostles said, 'OhJesus, son of Mary, is thy Lord able to send down on us a Spread Table out of heaven? ... Said Jesus son of Mary, 'OhGod, our Lord, send down upon us a Spread Table out of heaven, that shall be for us a festival ... And provide for us;Thou art the best of providers."' (V 112, 114)

(credit - Khaleelullah Chemnad)


What hidden sweetness there is in this emptiness of the belly!
Man is surely like a lute, no more and no less;
For if, for instance, the belly of the lute becomes full, no
lament high or low will arise from that full lute.
If your brain and belly are on fire through fasting, because
of the fire every moment a lament will arise from your breast.
Every moment you will burn a thousand veils by that fire; you
will mount a hundred steps with zeal and endeavor.
Become empty of belly, and weep entreatingly like the reed
pipe; become empty of belly, and tell secrets with the reed pen.
If your belly is full at the time of concourse, it will bring Satan
in place of your reason, an idol in place of the Kaaba.
When you keep the fast, good habits gather together before
you like slaves and servants and retinue.
Keep the fast, for that is Solomon's ring; give not the ring to
the div, destroy not your kingdom.
Even if your kingdom has gone from your head and your army
has fled, your army will rise up, pennants flying above them.
The table arrived from heaven to the tents of the fast, by the
intervention of the prayers of Jesus, son of Mary.
In the fast, be expectant of the table of bounty, for the table
of bounty is better than the broth of cabbages.

Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991


Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Mustika




The seeker said to himself,
"If I'd known the real meaning of this being with God,
how should I have gone searching for Him?"
But that knowledge depended on this journeying:
that knowing can't be gained by thinking,
no matter how precise."


Mathnawi VI:4183-4184

Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996









Sunday, July 01, 2012

I see your world but not you?










sweetheart i see myself
very close to you
like earth
i welcome your every step
is it fair to call you
my entire world
and yet not
find you around

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001 


We are bound together.
I am the ground
You are the step.
How unfair is this Love!
I can see Your world
but You, I cannot.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999


Friend, our closeness is this:
Anywhere you put your foot, feel me
in the firmness under you.

How is it with this love,
I see your world and not you?

Version by Coleman Barks
Open Secret
Threshold Books, 1984






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