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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)

 

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

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

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

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

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

• The Secret

• In Silence The Secrets Speak... 

• Hush! Say No More! 

 

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee

Aidil Adha

PLEASE CLICK HERE

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.

O Lord who knows the secret, preserve us

from these attractions by the attraction of Your grace!

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

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

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...

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

 

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 ~

We are all connected

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)

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

Salam Aidil Fitri

PLEASE CLICK HERE

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 

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

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)

 

Be Empty

SALAM RAMADHAN\

(click here)

"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

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

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