“Your task is not to seek for
love, but merely to seek and
find all the barriers within
yourself that you have built
against it.”



Rumi

Feeling helpless

It is good to feel helpless every moment, seeing
yourself helpless in success, just as in failure. For
above your capacity there is a greater Capacity,
and your will is subject to that greater Will in
every case. You are not divided into two halves,
now capable, now helpless. You are always helpless,
only sometimes remembering, sometimes for-
getting. When you remember, then the heart of
that moment becomes visible, and the way opens
up before you.

Rumi
from DISCOURSES OF RUMI

Evil

An elephant was led to a well to drink. Seeing
itself in the water, it shied away. It thought it was
shying away from another elephant. It did not
realize it was shying away from its own self.

All evil qualities—oppression, hatred, envy,
greed, mercilessness, pride—when they are within
yourself, they bring no pain. When you see them
in another, then you shy away and feel the pain.
We feel no disgust at our own scab and abscess.
 But if we see a tiny abscess or half a
scratch on another’s hand, we shy away from that
person’s food and have no stomach for it whatsoever.
Evil qualities are just like scabs and abscesses;
when they are within us they cause no pain,
but when we see them even to a small degree in
another, then we feel pain and disgust.
Just as you shy away from your brother or sister,
so you should excuse them for shying away
from you. The pain you feel comes from those
faults, and they see the same faults. The seeker of
truth is a mirror for their neighbors. But those
who cannot feel the sting of truth are not mirrors
to anyone but themselves.

How to pray

Men and women run away from every goal,
whether worldly or spiritual, because they overestimate the initial task. The proper way is a bit at
a time. It is the same if someone eats too much;
they should diminish it daily by a small bit, gradually. In that way, before a year or two have
passed, they will have cut down what they eat by
half, reducing it in such a way that their body
does not notice. So it is with worship, withdrawing into solitude, attending to the service of God,
and prayer. When a person enters upon the Way
of God, for a while their prayers will be short. But
after that, if they pray with their whole heart,
their prayers will go on and on without end.

Rumi

Do not put your trust in every idea and every notion

Life can show the most
wonderful things, but behind all of them lies a
trap should we forget the source of this wonder.
God has devised this plan so that we will learn
not to claim, out of arrogance and vanity, these
ideas and plans as our own.
If everything were in truth as it appears to be,
Mohammed, endowed as he was with a vision so
penetrating, so illuminated, would never have
cried,
“Lord, show me things as they are.
You show a thing as fair, and in reality it is ugly.
You show a thing as ugly, and in truth it is beautiful.
Show us everything just as it is,
So that we will not fall into the snare.”

Now, your judgement, however good and
luminous it may be, is certainly not better than
the Prophet’s judgement.
So do not put your trust in every idea and every notion,
 but only in God and Its wisdom.

RUMI

Inner Being

The (inner) being of mankind has become (like) a jungle;
be cautious toward this (inner) existence,
if you are from that Breath 
(which God breathed into Adam). 

Within our individuality are a thousand wolves and pigs;
 pious and impious, beautiful and good, ugly and bastard. 

The judgment is about the (inner) nature [of a person]--
which one is more dominant:
if the gold is more than the copper,
it is  gold. 

Any quality which is dominant in your being 
will appear in the form of your resurrection 

Rumi

Truth and Peace

The heart is not made peaceful by lying speech, (just as) 
water and oil do not ignite (lamp) light. 

(But) there is peace for the heart in words of truth. Truths are 
the seeds of the snare for (the tranquillity of) the heart.


RUMI

The door of repentance is never closed"

By the mercy of God Paradise has eight doors—
one of those is the door of repentance, child.
All the others are sometimes open, sometimes shut,
but the door of repentance is never closed.
Come seize the opportunity: the door is open;
carry your baggage there at once.

RUMI

For the sake of the one who sees

If anyone has eloquence, a listener draws it out: the teacher's enthusiasm and energy are derived from the child he teaches. When the harpist who plays twenty-four musical modes finds no ear to listen, his harp becomes a burden: no song comes to mind, his ten fingers will not function. If there were no ears to receive the message from the Unseen, no prophet would have brought a revelation from Heaven. And if there were no eyes to see the works of God, neither would the sky have revolved, nor would the earth have smiled with fertile greenness. The declaration lawlâka* means this, that the whole business of creation is for the sake of the perceiving eye and the one who sees. RUMI

Always be present, attentive, and ready in yourself

If a blow comes to you from Heaven,
be alert to a gift of honor after it;
for He is not the King to slap you
without giving you a crown
and a throne on which to rest.
The whole world is worth only a gnat's wing,
but a single slap may bring an infinite reward.
Slip your neck nimbly out of this golden collar
that is the world, and take the slaps that come from God.
The prophets suffered those blows on the neck,
and from that affliction they lifted their heads high.
But always be present, attentive, and ready in yourself,
youthful one, in order that He may find you at home.
Otherwise He will take back His gift of honor,
saying "I found no one there."

RUMI

Protection

A sober-minded man said to Jesus,
"What in this existence is hardest to bear?"
"O dear soul," he replied, "the hardest is God's anger,from which Hell is trembling as we are."
"And what is the protection against God's anger?"
Said Jesus, "To abandon your own anger at once."

RUMI

The Sweet Spirit of Love

The advice of anyone is never useful for lovers; this (love) is not like a flood which somebody might restrain.
An intellectual can never know the savor (in) the head of the (mystic)"drunkard,"
(and) a sensible person can never know the "senseless" state
of (such a) heart.
If kings smell those wines which lovers drink during the meetings of hearts,
they would become fed-up with kingship.
For the sake of (his beloved) Sheereen,
(King) Khosraw says farewell to his kingdom,
(and) Farhâd pounds a mountain with a pick-ax* for her sake as well.
From love of (his beloved) Laylà, Majnûn flees the circle of intellectuals,
(and the lover) Wâmiq has laughed at the foolish pride of every arrogant one.
That life (is) frozen which has passed without that sweet spirit (of love).
(And) that (delicious) kernel is putrid which is unaware of this special cheese.
If the sky were not a lover and bewildered like us, it would become weary of
its whirling and say, "It's enough for me! How (much) longer?"
The world (is) like a reed-pipe, and He blows into every hole of it; every wail it has (is) certainly from those two lips like sugar.
See how He blows into every (piece of) clay (and) into every heart; He gives a need and He gives a love which raises up a lament about misfortune.
If you uproot the heart from God, tell (me) whom will you place it with?
Anyone who is able to tear (his) heart from Him for a moment is without a soul!
I'm stopping. Be nimble and go up on top of the roof at night.
Make a happy uproar in the city, O soul, with a loud voice!

RUMI

You are not that form

You stop at every form that you come to, saying, " I am this."
By God,you are not that (form).
(If) you are left alone by people for a single moment, you
remain (plunged) up to the throat in grief and anxiety.
How are you this (form)?
You are that Unique One, for
(in reality)you are fair and lovely and intoxicated with yourself.
You are your own bird, your own prey, and your own snare; you are
your own seat of honour, your own floor, and your own roof.
The substance is that which subsists in itself;
the accident is that
which has become a derivative of it (of the substance).
If you are born of Adam, sit like him and behold all his progeny
in yourself.
What is in the jar that is not (also) in the river?
What is in the house that is not (also) in the city?
This world is the jar, and the heart (spirit) is like the river;
this world is the chamber, and the heart is the
wonderful city

RUMI

Existence and Corruption

In this (realm of) existence and corruption, O master, existence
is the fraud and that corruption is the admonition.
Existence says, "Come, I am delectable," and its corruption says,"Go, I am nothing."
O thou that bitest thy lip (in admiration) at the beauty of spring,
look on the coldness and paleness of autumn.
In the daytime thou didst deem the countenance of the sun beauteous:
remember its death in the moment of setting.
Thou sawest the full-moon on this lovely firmament': observe also its
anguish (caused by the loss of visibility) during the interlunar
period.
A boy, on account of his beauty, became the lord of the people:
after the morrow he became doting and exposed to the scorn of
the people.
If the body of those in the fresh bloom of youth has made thee a prey,
after (it has come to) old age behold a body (bleached) like acotton plantation.
Many fingers that in handicraft (skill and dexterity)were the envy of master-craftsmen have at last become trembling.
The soul-like intoxicating narcissus-eye (of the beloved)-see
it dimmed at last and water trickling from it.
The lion (hero) who advances into the ranks of lions (valiant foes)-
at last he is conquered by a mouse.
The acute, far-seeing, artful genius-behold it at last imbecile as an
old ass.
The curly lock that sheds (a fragrance of) musk and takes away the
reason-at last it is like the ugly white tail of a donkey.
Observe its (the World's) existence, (how) at first (it is) pleasing
and joyous; and observe its shamefulness and corruption in the
end;
For it showed the snare plainly: it plucked out the fool's moustache in
thy presence.
Do not say, then, "The World deceived me by its imposture;
otherwise, my reason would have fled from its snare."
Come now, see (how) the golden collar and shoulder-belt have
become a shackle and gyve and chain.
Reckon every particle of the World (to be) like this: bring its
beginning and its end into consideration
The more any one regards the end (akhir) the more blessed he is;
the more any one regards the stable (akhur) the more banned he is.
Regard every one's face as the glorious moon: when the beginning has
been seen, see the end (also)
Lest thou become a man blind of one eye, like Iblis: he, like a person
docked (deprived of perfect sight), sees (the one) half and not(the other) half.

RUMI

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