Topic: Saints and Mystics

[nichi]

I came to this birth and rebirth universe
and found the self-lighting light.

If someone dies, it's nothing to me,
and if I die, it's nothing to anyone.

It's good to die,
and good to live long.


- Lalla

[nichi]

Love is a stranger to the two worlds:
in it are seventy-two madnesses.
It is hidden; only its bewilderment is manifest:
the soul of the spiritual sultan longs for it.
Love's religion is other than the seventy-two sects:
beside it the throne of kings is just a floorboard.
In the moments of sema* Love's bard strikes up the melody:
"Servitude is bondage and power is a headache."
Then what is Love? The Sea of Not-Being:
there the foot of the intellect is shattered and can no longer swim.
Servitude and sovereignty are known:
the way of the lover is hidden by these two veils.



~Rumi~
Mathnawi III: 4719-4724
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance

*The occasion of listening to spiritual music.

[nichi]

Tiny Gods
 
Some gods say, the tiny ones
"I am not here in your vibrant, moist lips
That need to beach themselves upon
the golden shore of a
Naked body."
 
Some gods say, "I am not
the sacred yearning in the unrequited soul;
I am not the blushing cheek
Of every star and Planet--
     
I am not the applauding Chef
Of those precious sections that can distill
The whole mind into a perfect wincing jewel, if only
For a moment
Nor do I reside in every pile of sweet warm dung
Born of  earth's
Gratuity."
 
Some gods say, the ones we need to hang,
"your mouth is not designed to know His,
Love was not born to consume
the luminous
realms."
 
Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.
 
~ Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky~

[Angela]

Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.

 

[nichi]

True speech is the fruit of not speaking.
Too much talking clouds the heart.

If you want to clear the heart,
say this much, the essence of all talking:

Speak truly. God speaks through words truly spoken.
Falsity ends in pain.

Unless you witness all of creation in a single glance,
you're in sin even with all your religion.

The explanation of the Law is this:
The Law is a ship. Truth is her ocean.

No matter how strong the wood,
the sea can smash the ship.

The secret is this:
A "saint" of religion may in reality be an unbeliever.

We will master this science and read this book of love.
God instructs. Love is His school.

Since the glance of the saints fell on poor Yunus
nothing has been a misfortune.


~Yunus Emre
13th Century Anatolia

 

The Drop That Became the Sea: Lyric Poems of Yunus Emre
Translated by Kabir Helminski / Translated by Refik Algan

Poetry Chaikhana

[nichi]

Those who became complete...


Those who became complete
didn't live this life in hypocrisy,
didn't learn the meaning of things
by reading commentaries.

Reality is an ocean; the Law is a ship.
Many have never left the ship,
never jumped into the sea.

They might have come to Worship
but they stopped at rituals.
They never knew or entered the Inside.

Those who think the Four Books
were meant to be talked about,
who have only read explanations
and never entered meaning,
are really in sin.

Yunus means "true friend"
for one whose journey has begun.
Until we transform our Names,
we haven't found the Way.

~Yunus Emre

[nichi]

Dissolver of Sugar

Dissolver of sugar, dissolve me,
if this is the time.
Do it gently with a touch of a hand, or a look.
Every morning I wait at dawn. That's when
it's happened before. Or do it suddenly
like an execution. How else
can I get ready for death?

You breathe without a body like a spark.
You grieve, and I begin to feel lighter.
You keep me away with your arm,
but the keeping away is pulling me in.

Rumi
Tr Coleman Barks

[nichi]

A considerable article with excerpts of this Urdu poet of the 19th century.
It's in PDF format...

(Click the "poetry" link in the left column)

The Love Sonnets of Ghalib

The hidden heat of love burned my heart unkindly;
Like a smouldering fire, it withered away to ashes.

Neither longings for bliss of union nor the memory of my beloved remain.
A fire raged such that whatever was in this house was burnt down.

/...../
~Ghalib

[nichi]

Muse

These divine verses,
As I write
Are
The hallowed revelations
Descending
From on high
The sound of the scribe's pen
In the stillness of the night is indeed
The heavenly muse
Uttering her immortal words.

~Ghalib

[nichi]

You say,
"How can I find God?"

I say,
"The Friend is the lining in your pocket -
The curved pink wall in your belly -

Sober up,
Steady your aim,
Reach in,
Turn the Universe and
The Beautiful Rascal
Inside out."

You say,
"That sounds preposterous -
I really don't believe God is in there."

I say,
"Well then,
Why not try the Himalayas -

You could get naked
And pretend to be an exalted yogi
And eat bark and snow for forty years."

And you might think,

"Hey, Old Man,
Why don't you - go shovel
Snowflakes!"


~Hafiz

The Subject Tonight is Love
Daniel Ladinsky

[nichi]

Love for Certain Work


Traveling is as refreshing for some
as staying at home is for others.

Solitude in a mountain place
fills with companionship for this one,
and dead-weariness for that one.

This person loves being in charge
of the workings of a community.
This one loves the ways that heated iron
can be shaped with a hammer.

Each has been given a strong desire
for certain work.  A love for those motions,
and all motion is love.

The way sticks and pieces of dead grass
and leaves shift about in the wind
and with the direction of rain and
puddle-water on the ground,
those motions are all a following
of the love they've been given.


(Mathnawi III, 1616-1619)

Rumi
One-Handed Basket Weaving
Trans. Coleman Barks

[kaycee]

And some folks spend lifetimes searching for the "meaning of life"!!

That's just Marvelous, thank you!
Luv, K

[nichi]

WISE MEN KEEP TALKING ABOUT 

Time is the shop
Where everyone works hard
 
To build enough love
To break the
Shackle.
 
Wise men keep talking about
Wanting to meet Her.
 
Women sometimes pronounce the word God
A little differently:
They can use more feeling and skill
With the heart-lute.
 
All the world's movements,
Apparent chaos, and suffering I now know happen
In the Splendid Unison:
 
Our tambourines are striking
The same thigh.
 
Hafiz stands
At a juncture in this poem.
There are a thousand new wheels I could craft
On a wagon
And place you in -
Lead you to a glimpse of the culture
And seasons in another dimension.
 
Yet again God
Will have to drop you back at the shop
Where you still have work
With
 
Love.
 
~ Hafiz ~

 
The Gift
Daniel Ladinsky)

[TIOTIT]

  AHHH!!!

[nichi]

AHHH!!!