On December 17th we commemorate Mevlana’s Reunion with the Beloved. One reason we have Mevlana Rumi as our Pir is that the Pir carries the vibration of Haqq (the Highest Truth). Our practice is to attune ourselves to that vibration.
On one level, we have the beauty of his words. These images, metaphors, and analogies grow into a hidden garden, a garden within the soul. There is no greater work on this earth than the formation of a soul.
But beyond the words are the actions of those who walk the Path. To have the qualities and adab of a dervish, to die to the false self and become living through Him (Hu). We present to you a newly translated ghazal that captures the beauty of communion with the Divine, the overpowering transformation of the soul.
A State beyond States
O sorrow, you must leave, the Beloved is coming.
And you, O heart, get lost, since the Owner of the Heart is coming.
I wouldn’t say the beloved has brought me happiness, it’s beyond that.
I feel so much love that I’m ashamed of happiness.
O Muslims, Muslims, renew your surrender;
For even Kufr feels ashamed, and prostrates Muslim-like before the Beloved.
O Gratitude be gone, this is a gift beyond thanksgiving.
I don’t ask for patience either, though patience helped before.
Our old faces fall away, our new faces are coming.
Lay the flags on the ground, there’s something amazing now.
The walls and door of this chest are bursting with it,
and since it can’t fit through the door, it’s taking all the walls down.
[برون شو ای غم از سینه، که لطف یار میآید Ghazal 593, translated by Helminski and Bahreinian]
The process of transformation can be described as three stages: The Sacred Law (Shariah), the Path (Tariqah), and Realization of Truth (Haqqiqah).
The sacred law is like a candle showing the way.
Unless you gain possession of the candle,
there is no wayfaring;
and when you have come on to the way,
your wayfaring is the Path;
and when you have reached the journey’s end,
that is the Truth. So it has been said,
“If realities were manifest, religious laws would not exist.”
[Mathnawi V, Prologue]
The Sacred Law is a code of living that takes the ego from its throne; it challenges the primacy of the nafs. Its purpose is not to teach you the rules of a game of reward and punishment but rather to help us to know that we are not merely material beings, but, in substance, spiritual beings.
Your true substance is concealed in falsehood,
like the taste of butter in whole milk.
Your falsehood is this perishable body;
your truth is that exalted spirit.
For many years, this whole milk of the body,
is visible and manifest, while the butter, which is the spirit,
is perishable and forgotten within it—
until God sends a prophet, a chosen servant,
a shaker of the milk in the churn,
who skillfully shakes it, so that you might know
your true self which was hidden.
[Mathnawi IV, 3030-34]
The tariqah is a network of relationships, a brotherhood/sisterhood committed to the search for Truth and nearness to God.
The reflection cast from good friends is needed
until you become, without the aid of any reflector,
a drawer of water from the Sea.
Know that the reflection is at first just imitation,
but when it continues to recur,
it turns into direct realization of truth.
Until it has become realization,
don’t part from the friends who guide you—
don’t break away from the shell
if the raindrop hasn’t yet become a pearl.
[Mathnawi II, 566-68]
And who is the judge in the court of truth, if not the Heart?
Since the shining truth is a cause of tranquillity,
the heart will not be calmed by lying words.
Falsehood is like a piece of straw, and the heart like a mouth:
a straw never remains quietly hidden in the mouth.
As long as it’s there, the one annoyed by it keeps moving his tongue,
so that he may rid his mouth of it.
[Mathnawi VI, 2576-78]
Iblis asked, “Can you tell a lie from the truth,
you who are filled with illusion?”
Muawiya answered, “The Prophet has given a clue,
a touchstone to know
the base coin from the true.
He has said. That which is false troubles the heart,
but Truth brings joyous tranquility.'”
[Mathnawi II, 2732-34]
When the heart becomes whole,
it will know the flavors of falsehood and truth.
When Adam’s greed for the forbidden fruit increased,
it robbed his heart of health.
Discernment flies
from one who is drunken with desire.
He who puts down that cup
lightens the inner eye,
and the secret is revealed.
[Mathnawi II, 2738-43]
To live at the level of Haqqiqah is to transcend formulations, not be confined by belief systems. At the level of Haqqiqah one sees the Divine Truth, not only of our own Path but in other religions, and indeed in all things.
When I want to find knowledge and guidance that leads to truth and reveals the false as false, I go to the Qur’an and the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him. I go to these sources because they have become an expression of the highest reality for me. In other words, I have verified the Qur’an in my own experience, and the Qur’an has pointed directly to the Truth:
All this because God alone is the Ultimate Truth, and because He alone brings the dead to life, and because He has the power to will anything.
[Qur’an 22:6]
Say: “The truth has now come to light, and falsehood is bound to wither away.” [Qur’an 17:81] . . . for falsehood cannot bring forth anything new, nor can it bring back what has passed away. [Qur’an 24:49] . . . whereas by His words God makes the truth apparent, however hateful this may be to those who are (corrupt, criminal) lost in sin!” [Qur’an 10:82]
Haqqiqah
Another way to speak about this is just to say that we are on an ontological quest, a transformation of being, to die to the mischief-making self, and become living through the Divine Friend.
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 co-partnership but absolute Unity.
[Mathnawi IV, 2765-67]
Watch the Urs celebration here: