When the heart is hard and parched up,

When the heart is hard and parched up,
come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life,
come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din
on all sides shutting me out from beyond,
come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.
When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner,
break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.
When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust,
O thou holy one, thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder


TAGORE

UNITE WITH LOVE

Your intelligence is split into a hundred busy tasks,
in thousands of desires, in large and small things.
You must unite these scattered parts with love and
become as sweet as Samarkand and Damascus.
Once you are unified, grain by grain, then you can be
stamped with the royal seal.

RUMI

YOU NEED PARABLE

The parable is like an intermediary in the discourse: an
intermediary is required for the apprehension of the vulgar.

Without an intermediary, how should any one go into the fire,
except (one like) the salamander? – for he is independent of the
connecting link.

You need the hot bath as an intermediary, so that you may refresh your constitution by (the heat of) the fire.

Since you cannot go into the fire, like Khalil (Abraham), the
hot bath has become your Apostle, and the water your guide.

Satiety is from God, but how should the unclean attain unto
satiety without the mediation of bread?

Beauty is from God, but the corporealist does not feel (the
charm of ) beauty without the veil (medium) of the garden.

When the bodily medium is removed, (then)
he (who is dis-embodied) perceives without (any) screen, like Moses, the light
of the Moon (shining) from (his own) bosom.


RUMI

POLISHER OF PURE REASON

"God gave you the polisher of (Pure) Reason, so that the pages of
the heart may become luminous by means of it.
O prayerless one, you have
bound up the polisher and have released the two hands of craving. If bonds are placed on craving (instead),
the hands of the polisher will be released. 
If a piece of iron was the mirror for the Invisible, all forms
would be sent into it.
(But) you made (the mirror of your heart) dark
and you gave rust to (your) nature:
this is the meaning of (the verse)
"they strive to spread corruption on earth" [Qur'ân, 5:36].
Until now,you have done it like this; now, don't do it .
You have made the water muddy;
don't make it more so.
Don't mix it up, so that this water may
become clear, and (so that)
you may see the moon and stars circling in it!"


RUMI

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving for the bounty is sweeter than the bounty (itself): how should he that is addicted to thanksgiving go towards

(direct his attention to) the bounty?
Thanksgiving is the soul of the bounty, and the bounty is as a
husk because thanksgiving brings you to the abode of the Beloved.
Bounty produces heedlessness, and thanksgiving alertness:
hunt after bounty with the snare of thanksgiving to the King.
The bounty of thanksgiving will make you contented and princely so
that you will bestow a hundred bounties on the poor.
You will eat your fill of the viands and dessert of God, so that
hunger and begging will depart from you.

RUMI

SEEING WITH PURE HEART

The man who lives in a city (many) years, as soon as his eye goes asleep,
Beholds another city full of good and evil, and his own city
comes not into this memory at all.
So that (he should say), "I have lived there (so many years);this new city is not mine: here I am (only) in pawn*."
Nay, he thinks that in sooth he has always lived in this very
city and has been born and bred in it*.
What wonder (then) if the spirit does not remember its
(ancient) abodes, which have been its dwelling-place and birth-place aforetime,
this world, like sleep, is covering it over as clouds cover the stars? -
Especially as it has trodden so many cities, and the dust has
not (yet) been swept from it perceptive faculty,
Nor has it made ardent efforts that its heart should become
pure and behold the past;
That its heart should put forth its head (peep forth) from the
aperture of the mystery and should see the beginning and the
end with open eye.


RUMI

GRIEF and PAIN and SORROWS

One night a certain man was crying "Allah!" till his lips
were growing sweet with the praise of Him.The Devil said,
"Prithee, O garrulous one, where is the (response)
`Here am I' to all this `Allah'?
Not a single response is coming from the Throne:
how long will you cry `Allah' with grim face?"
He became broken-hearted and laid down his head (to sleep):
in a dream he saw Khadir amidst the verdure.
He (Khadir) said, "Hark, you have held back from praising
God: how is it that you repent of having called unto Him?"
He said, "No `Here am I' is coming to me in response, hence
I fear that I may be (a reprobate who is) driven away from the Door."
He (Khadir) said, "(God saith), that `Allah' of thine is My`Here am I,'
and that supplication and grief and ardour of thine
is My messenger (to thee).
Thy shifts and attempts to find a means (of gaining access to Me) were (in reality)
My drawing (thee towards Me), and re-leased thy feet (from the bonds of worldliness).
Thy fear and love are the noose to catch My favour; beneath
every `O Lord' (of thine) is many a `Here am I' (from Me)."
Far from this prayer is the soul of the fool, because to him it
is not permitted to cry "O Lord."
On his mouth and heart are lock and bolt, to the end that he
may not moan unto God in the hour of bale.
He (God) gave to Pharaoh hundredfold possessions and riches,so that he claimed (Divine) might and majesty.
In his whole life that man of evil nature felt no (spiritual) headache, lest he should moan unto God.
God gave him all the empire of this world, (but) He did not
give him grief and pain and sorrows.
Grief is better than the empire of the world, so that you may
call unto God in secret.The call of the griefless is from frozen heart*, the call
of the grieving one is from rapture:
(`Tis) to withdraw the voice under the lips, to bear in mind
(one's) origin and beginning;
(`Tis) the voice become pure and sad, (crying)
"O God!"and "O Thou whose help is besought!" and "O Helper!"
(Even) the moan of a dog for His sake is not void of (Divine) attraction,
because every one who desires (Him) is a brigand'scaptive* –
As (for example) the dog of the Cave*,
which was freed from (eating) carrion and sat at the table of the (spiritual) emperors:
Until the Resurrection, before the Cave it is drinking in
gnostic wise without (any) pot the water of (Divine) mercy.
Oh, there is many a one in a dog's skin, who hath no name
(and fame), yet is not without that cup (of Divine knowledge) in secret.
Give thy life for this cup, O son:
how may victory be (won) without (spiritual) warfare and patience.?


RUMI

WORM

O thou who because of (addiction to) a single leaf has been
left without (enjoyment of) a (whole) orchard,
thou art like the worm which (desire for) a leaf has driven away from (deprived of) the vineyard.
When Grace awakened this worm,
this worm devoured the dragon of ignorance.
The worm became a vineyard full of fruit trees:
even so is the blessed man transformed."


RUMI

RUBY

At the hour of the morning-drink a beloved said to her lover
by way of trial, "O such-and-such son of such-and-such,
I wonder, do you love me or yourself more?
Tell the truth,O man of sorrows."

He replied, "I have become so naughted in thee that I am
full of thee from head to foot.
Of my existence there is nothing (left) in me but the name:
in my being there is naught but thee, O thou whose wishes are
gratified.
By that means I have become thus naughted, like vinegar, in
thee (who are) an ocean of honey."

As the stone that is entirely turned into pure ruby: it is filled
with the qualities of the sun.
That stony nature does not remain in it: back and front, it is
filled with sunniness.
Afterwards, if it loves  itself, that (self-love) is love of the sun,O youth;
And if it loves the sun with (all) its soul, `tis undoubtedly love
of itself.
Whether the pure ruby loves itself or whether it loves the sun,
There is really no difference in these two loves:
both sides(aspects) are naught but the radiance of the sunrise.
Until it (the stone) has become a ruby, it is an enemy to itself,
because it is not a single "I": two "I's" are there;
For the stone is dark and blind to the day (-light):
the dark is essentially opposed to light.
(If) it loves itself, it is an infidel, because it offers intense
resistance to the supreme Sun.
Therefore `tis not fitting that the stone should say "I," (for)
it is wholly darkness and in (the state of) death.

A Pharaoh said, "I am God" and was laid low;
a Mansur(Hallaj) said, "I am God" and was saved.
The former "I" is followed by God's curse and the latter"I" by God's mercy, O loving man;
For that one (Pharaoh) was a black stone, this one (Hallaj) a
cornelian; that one was an enemy to the Light, and this one
passionately enamoured (of it).

This "I," O presumptuous meddler, was "He" (God) in the inmost
consciousness, through oneness with the Light, not
through (belief in) the doctrine of incarnation.

Strive that thy stony nature may be diminished, so that thy
stone may become resplendent with the qualities of the ruby.

Show fortitude in (enduring) self-mortification and affliction;
continually behold everlasting life in dying to self.
(Then) thy stoniness will become less at every moment, the
nature of the ruby will be strengthened in thee.
The qualities of (self-) existence will depart from thy body,
the qualities of intoxication (ecstasy) will increase in thy head
(thy spiritual centre).
Become entirely hearing, like an ear, in order that thou mayst
gain an ear-ring of ruby.*

RUMI

LOVE

Love hath naught to do with the five (senses) and the six(directions): its goal is only (to experience) the attraction
exerted by the Beloved.
Afterwards, maybe, permission will come (from God): the secrets
that ought to be told will be told,
With an eloquence that is nearer (to the understanding).
The secret is partner with none but the knower of the secret;
in the sceptic's ear the secret is no secret (at all).
But (the command) to call (the people to God) comes down from the Maker:
what has he (the prophet or saint) to do with (their) acceptance or non-acceptance?
Noah continued to call (the people to God) for nine hundred years:
the unbelief of his folk was increasing from moment to moment.
Did he ever pull back the rein of speech? Did he ever creep into
the cave of silence?
He said (to himself), "Does a caravan ever turn back from a journey on account of the noise and clamour of dogs?
Or on a night of moonlight is the running of the full-moon in its course retarded by the dog's outcry?
The moon sheds light and the dog barks: every one proceeds according to his nature.
(The Divine) Destiny hath allotted to every one a certain service,suitable to his essential nature, (to be performed) in (the way of)probation.
Since the dog will not leave off his pestilent howling, I (who)am the moon, how should I abandon my course?"
Inasmuch as the vinegar increases acidity, therefore it is
necessary to increase the sugar.
Wrath is (like) vinegar, mercy like honey; and these twain are
the basis of every oxymel.
If the honey fail to withstand (be overpowered by) the vinegar,
the oxymel will be spoilt.
The people were pouring vinegar on him (Noah), and the Ocean(of Divine Bounty) was pouring more sugar for Noah.
His sugar was replenished from the Sea of Bounty, therefore
it was exceeding the vinegar of (all) the inhabitants of the world.


RUMI

Seeking

Whether one moves slowly or with speed,
the one who is a seeker will be a finder.
Always seek with your whole self,
the search is an excellent guide on the way.
Though you are lame and limping,
though your figure is bent and clumsy,
always creep towards the One.
Make the One your quest.
By speech and by silence and by fragrance,
catch the scent of the King everywhere.


Rumi

LOVE

The love of God is everywhere in nature; yet we see destruction and misery and inequalities all around us. It is a difference of focus. If we focus our mind upon all that is good and beautiful we shall see God's love in spite of all the ugliness that exists in nature and especially in human nature. In doing so we will spread a cover over it; and by collecting everything beautiful in us we will be able to give to whatever lacks beauty from the supply in our own heart. But if we focus our attention upon ugliness it will grow in us, and there will come a time when we shall not be able to see any good anywhere; everywhere we look we will only see cruelty, unkindness, wickedness, and ugliness.

One may ask if in focusing one's mind on beauty alone, one is not in danger of shutting one's eyes to the ugliness and suffering one might otherwise alleviate. The answer is that in order to help the poor one needs to be rich, and in order to take away evil from a person one needs to have so much more good. That goodness has to be earned as money is earned; and that earning means collecting goodness wherever we find it. What happens is that man becomes agitated by the abundance of goodness that he sees; being himself poor he cannot add to it, and then he is drawn towards evil. Although he may unconsciously develop in his own nature a craving for the goodness he sees, that does not help him in his agitation; his looking at evil only adds another wicked person to the whole.

The one whose eyes are focused on beauty in time will join the good; he is getting the same impressions but the result is different. Besides, by criticizing, by judging, by looking at wickedness with contempt, one does not help the one who needs it. The person who is ready to overlook, forgive, and patiently tolerate all those disadvantages that he may have to meet with, is the one who can help.

One should love for the sake of love, not for a return. When one serves, one should serve for the sake of serving, not for acknowledgment or appreciation in any shape or form. In the beginning such a person may perhaps seem a loser, but in the end he will be the gainer, for he has lived in the world while yet holding himself above the world; the world cannot touch him.

Inayat Khan

Problem of good and evil

When a pregnant woman is nearing her time, she is often taught how to relax into the pain of contractions. There is, in this process, an important and valuable lesson for all of us in dealing with painful situations in life. The lesson is simple in principle, but hard in practice. It is that relaxing into pain is far more effective than resisting pain.
Childbirth is a peculiarly appropriate situation for describing the benefits of living life by 'going with the flow', for it can be considered both literally and as a metaphor. A woman who is actually in labour and cannot but tense up at the pain of the contractions causes herself more pain over a longer period, for she retards the birth of her baby. Given this, one cannot help but wonder if it is not true quite generally that tensing against pain causes the pain itself to be worse. Certainly, many people have found that physical pain is worse if they are tense, and lessens if they can relax.
But the idea of childbirth can also form the basis of a metaphor for thinking about the 'pain' of tribulations in life. For tribulation always attends the coming-into-being of anything new, and it seems quite probable - does it not? - that 'tensing up' against the pains of tribulations is likely to 'delay the birth'. But what does 'tensing up against the pains of tribulations' mean?
It can mean both resisting change and electing to fight one's way through obstacles. In Taoism,  water is very frequently used as a metaphor. A river does not try to move the rocks out of its path, but flows round them in order to achieve its objective - the sea. But notice something: although initially the rock is not removed, over the course of time, it is worn away by the flow of water around it. The gentle action of water - the Taoist would say - eventually has the power to wear away even the hardest of rocks.
In this we see how it is that patience is a virtue. For gentle action patiently and continuously applied by the river leads eventually to the complete erosion of the rock. Patience, then, is a virtue not because of some moral nicety that says it is good to be patient, but because it is a quality which assists the attainment of objectives.
In Taoism, this thought is extended over all qualities, and, as a result, a whole worldview results. The Taoist worldview is one which accepts that progress along any way - whether that way be physical or spiritual - is bound to be met by obstacles. But, in Taoism, obstacles are accepted and the essence of its philosophy is that one should treat them as does the river its rocks - by flowing round them.
Here we have, then, a very powerful and subtle way through which we can approach the business of living.

Ray Walder