Lovers, keep working hard.
When you become free from the soul and flesh,
your heart will become free from the heavy burden of your body.
It will fly to the sky. Continue reading “The Real Sky (12/17/2023)”
The Real Sky (12/17/2023)
Tag: Existence
If I Had Known (7/23/2023)
If I had known my own value,
I would not have fooled around with this dirty world.
I would have emptied myself from self and ascended quickly.
I would have raised my head above the ninth level of the sky.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 475.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1456, Volume 4.
Tell Us (7/16/2023)
O one whose heart is full of words, yet remains silent,
Read the chapter, Hel Eta, in the Quran.*
Read the epigram, La Feta.**
Put on the tent of soul at the top of the sky.
Raise the waves from the sea of the heart.
Tear the bag of existence.
Let those two or three water carriers go. Continue reading “Tell Us (7/16/2023)”
Man’s Heart is Like a Candle (6/25/2023)
Man’s heart is like a candle; It should be lit and allowed to shine.
There is a void in your soul because of the separation from the Beloved.
That void needs repair.
Know, O ignorant one
who knows none of what makes or breaks a heart, who avoids pain and burning,
Love is something to be encountered, not knowledge to be learned.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 468
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1002, Volume 3.
Stubbornly Insistent (6/18/2023)
I have this burning desire to reach You, to meet You.
That desire is making me stubbornly insistent.
In order to reach Your fervor, I offer this unfaithful soul. Continue reading “Stubbornly Insistent (6/18/2023)”
I Will Be Free (2/5/2023)
A letter came for me from the other world.
It said, “Get ready for return.
Carry all your belongings to the sky.” Continue reading “I Will Be Free (2/5/2023)”
You are Excused (1/29/2023)
O one who wants to experience the world and everything in it,
you are a day laborer.
O one who dreams of heaven, you are far from the Truth.
O one who enjoys both those worlds because of ignorance,
you haven’t tasted the pleasure of His sorrow.
You are excused, and you may leave.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 438.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), Rubai 933, volume 3.
I Will Leave You There (1/15/2023)
O one who is fond of wealth and possessions and deeds,
you get so excited by these things,
even though they come entirely from your imagination.
You become happy or sad over nothing.
I see that you are in the fire,
I will leave you there to cook and mature.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 431.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), Rubai 929, Vol. 2.
1/1/2023
In a group meeting with Hasan Shushud back in the 1970’s, Jonathan Boulting related that this was one of the bits of wisdom Shushud shared, with the caveat that his English might need some reconsideration: GRIEF: Our contract with Eternity. Mr. Shushud spoke often about our inborn nostalgia, our longing “to go home,” our separation from our Essence… the source of true grief. Nevit Ergin referred constantly in his translations of Rumi’s poetry to “His sorrow.” When some begin the practice of fasting, they are able to begin to taste that sorrow, and it is one of the greatest gifts. Our self doesn’t want to feel it, which is its impetus for surrounding itself with an infinite number of distractions. As for the contract, it might be more of a promise that we made and need to keep. As Rumi says, “The purpose of Existence is to reach Absence.”
You are the Divine Light (11/27/2022)
You are the divine light of the sky.
The place where you belong is the throne.
If you were to go faster on the way to God,
you would rise to the sky.
Aren’t you ashamed of dragging yourself
like a shadow on the ground?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 423.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), Rubai 913, volume 2.