Jewels from Rumi, tr. by Kabir & and Camille Helminski
Excerpts from Jewels of Remembrance, passages from the Mathnawi of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, tr. by Kabir & Camille Helminski (Threshold Books, 1996).
Space, Cyberspace, and the Spaceless
The recognition is beginning to dawn that we are on the threshold (there's that word again) of a major change in human life. It's even being talked about on the evening news. Thirty years ago we might have thought that this change would come about through a revolution in consciousness. People would begin to wake up! To some extent we have woken up. At the beginning of this millenium we -- and I mean the population of this whole world -- are more conscious of and sensitive to issues of gender, race, human rights, and ecology. At the same time, we seem to have created a frantic pace of life for ourselves and sometimes it seems that the developed world has slipped into the trance of materialism. The purpose of life is to have fun, right?
Rumi: The World and the Body
This world is like a tree, and we are the half-ripe fruit upon it. Unripe fruit clings tight to the branch because, immature, it's not ready for the palace.
Rumi: On Vision
The one who is ruled by Mind, without sleeping, puts her senses to sleep, so that unseen things may emerge from the world of the Soul. Even in her waking state, she dreams dreams, and opens thereby the gates of Heaven.
Rumi: On Spirit
Day and night there is movement of foam on the Sea. You see the foam, but not the Sea. Amazing! We are dashing against each other like boats: our eyes are darkened though we are in clear water.
Rumi: A Prayer
May God have mercy on those who lead the way and those who come behind and those who fulfill their vows, and those who seek to fulfill them, with His Grace and bounty, His great benefits and favors!
Rumi: On Non-existence
The light of the senses and spirit of our fathers is not totally perishable like the grass, but, like the stars and moonbeams, they vanish in the radiance of the Sun.
Rumi: On Love
For lovers, the only lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved; their only book and lecture and lesson is the Face. They are silent outwardly, but their penetrating remembrance rises to the high throne of their Friend.
Rumi: On the Heart
The deliciousness of milk and honey is the reflection of the pure heart: from that heart the sweetness of every sweet thing is derived. The heart is the substance, and the world the accident: how should the heart's shadow be the object of the heart's desire?
Rumi: The Journey
Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune: every success depends upon focusing the heart. Unconcerned with the business of the world, keep saying with all your soul, "Ku, ku," like the dove.