The two parties He made

No Opposite, Without its Own Opposite
 

The Forgiving God desired and decided in
eternity to reveal and manifest Himself.

But no opposite can be displayed without its
own opposite, and that peerless King had no opposite.

So He made a vicegerent, a Possessor of the
Heart, to be the mirror of His Kingship.

Then He gave him limitless purity, and
produced his opposite from darkness.

He made two banners, white and black:

The one was Adam, the other the satan of His way.
 

Then the strife and war that came to pass
between these two great camps came to pass.

In a similar manner, Abel came in the second period: 

Opposed to his pure light was Cain. . . .

Period after period, generation after generation, 

the two parties have continued to war.

Mathnawi VI: 2151-57, 62
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

There is no room

I am filled with you.
Skin, blood, bone, brain and soul.
There's no room for lack of trust, or trust.
Nothing in this existence but that existence.

Version by Coleman Barks
Unseen Rain
Threshold Books, 1986



in my heart
inside and out
is all beloved
in my body
blood and veins
is none but beloved
how can there by any
room for religion
or Godlessness in me
since my existence
is overflowing
with beloved

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

Truth

seeker of truth

follow no path
all paths lead where

truth is here

~ e. e. cummings ~
(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

(credit)

Lies !

They say,
"The King of Love will turn from His lovers." - Lies!
They say, "The darkness will never turn to dawn." - Lies!

They say,

 "Do not sacrifice your life for love's sake. When the body dies, you will die." - Lies!

They say,

 "You can go beyond the cycle of time but your soul can travel no further." - Lies!

People who are caught in their own vanity say,
"The lives of the prophets are nothing but fairy tales." - Lies!

People who have lost their way say,
"The servant can never reach God." - Lies!

They say,
"The Knower of Secrets does not tell His servants all the mysteries of the Unseen." - Lies!

They say,
"He does not reveal the heart's innermost secrets. He does not lift His servants up to heaven." - Lies!

They say,

 "One who is born of Earth will never join the angels of heaven." - Lies!

They say,

 "The Sun of God does not fill this whole world; He misses a few atoms." - Lies!

Now go to that inner stillness.
Some say, "You will not hear the voice of God there." - Lies!
 

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

 

(No more lies by yana182 - deviantart)

They say,

 "The king of love is not faithful." Lies! 

They say,
"Your night will never have a dawn." Lies!
They say,

 "Why do you slay yourself for love's sake? There is no survival after the body's death." Lies!
They say,

 "Your tears shed in love are vain; once the eyes are closed, there will be no encounter." Lies!
They say,

 "When we have gone outside the cycle of time, beyond this soul of ours will not travel." Lies!
 

Those persons who have not escaped from fancy say, 

"The stories of the prophets were all mere fancies." Lies!
Those persons who have not gone on the right way say, 

"The servant has no way to come to God." Lies!

They say, 

"He who knows all secrets tells not the servant the secrets and mysteries of the Unseen without intermediary!" Lies!
They say,

 "They open not to the servant the heart's secret, and He does not graciously carry the servant up to heaven." Lies!
They say, 

"That one who has earth in his composition will never be familiar with the heavenly host." Lies!
They say, 

"The ' pure soul will never fly on the wings of love out of this earthly nest to the free air." Lies!
They say, 

"that sun of God will never bring retribution for the several atoms' weight of evil and good of men." Lies!
 

Keep silent from speaking; and if anyone says to you, 

"Speech has no other expression but letters and sounds" -- Lies!

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

Only you exist....

A step toward your own heart

is a step toward the Beloved.

In this house of mirrors

you see a lot of things –

Rub your eyes.

Only you exist.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva

A Garden Beyond Paradise

Bantam Books, 1992

Tired of hunting, I surrender...

i was ready to tell

the story of my life

but the ripple of tears

and the agony of my heart

wouldn't let me

i began to stutter

saying a word here and there

and all along i felt

as tender as a crystal

ready to be shattered

in this stormy sea

we call life

all the big ships

come apart

board by board

how can i survive

riding a lonely

little boat

with no oars

and no arms

my boat did finally break

by the waves

and i broke free

as i tied myself

to a single board

though the panic is gone

i am now offended

why should i be so helpless

rising with one wave

and falling with the next

i don't know

if i am

nonexistence

while i exist

but i know for sure

when i am

i am not

but

when i am not

then i am

now how can i be

a skeptic

about the

resurrection and

coming to life again

since in this world

i have many times

like my own imagination

died and

been born again

that is why

after a long agonizing life

as a hunter

i finally let go and got

hunted down and became free

Translation by Nader Khalili

"Rumi -- Fountain of Fire"

Cal-Earth Press, 1994

I was going to tell you my story

but waves of pain drowned my voice.

I tried to utter a word but my thoughts

became fragile and shattered like glass.

Even the largest ship can capsize

in the stormy sea of love,

let alone my feeble boat

which shattered to pieces leaving me nothing

but a strip of wood to hold on to.

Small and helpless, rising to heaven

on one wave of love and falling with the next

I don't even know if I am or I am not.

When I think I am, I find myself worthless,

when I think I am not, I find my value.

Like my thoughts, I die and rise again each day

so how can I doubt the resurrection?

Tired of hunting for love in this world,

at last I surrender in the valley of love

and become free.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi

"Rumi: Hidden Music"

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

The Question : A very topsy-turvy game

One dervish to another, 

"What was your vision of God's presence"?

I haven't seen anything.

But for the sake of conversation, I'll tell you a story.

God's presence is there in front of me - 

a fire on the left, a lovely stream on the right. 

One group walks toward the fire, into the fire, 

another toward the sweet flowing water. 

No one knows which are blessed and which not.

Whoever walks into the fire appears suddenly in the stream. 

And then a head goes under on the water surface, 

that head pokes out of the fire. 

Most people guard against going into the fire, 

and so end up in it. 

Those who love the water of pleasure and make it their devotion 

are cheated with this reversal.

The trickery goes further. 

The voice of the fire tells the truth saying,

 "I am not fire. I am fountainhead. Come into me and don't mind the sparks."

If you are a friend of God, fire is your water. 

You should wish to have a hundred thousand sets of mothwings, 

so you could burn them away, one set a night.

The moth sees light and goes into fire. You should see fire 

and go toward light. Fire is what of God that is world-consuming.

Water, world-protecting. 

Somehow each gives the appearance of the other.

To these eyes you have now,

what looks like water burns.

What looks like fire is a great relief to be inside.

You've seen a magician make a bowl of rice

seem a dish of tiny, live worms.

Before an assembly with one breath he made the floor swarm

with scorpions that weren't there.

How much more amazing God's tricks.

Generation after generation lies down, defeated, they think,

but they're like a woman underneath a man, circling him.

One molecule-mote-second thinking of God's reversal 

of comfort and pain is better than any attending ritual.

That splinter of intelligence is substance. 

The fire and water themselves:

accidental, done with mirrors."

Poetic version by Coleman Barks

"The Essential Rumi"

HarperSanFrancisco, 1995