Jalal al-Din Rumi (also known as Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi) was a poet of the mystical strain of Islam known as Sufism. His spiritual sayings are becoming ever more and more known and loved in the West, particularly in the US, because they transcend cultural and religious divisions.
Rumi was born in 1207 in what is now Afghanistan but was then part of Persia. He was forced to flee his homeland with his father, Baha’Walad, during a Mongol invasion in 1219. During his travels he is said to have met the Sufi poet, Attar ,who made a great impression on the boy. Attar immediately recognized Rumi’s spiritual depth. Seeing the father walking ahead of the son, he said, “Here comes a sea followed by an ocean.” He gave the boy a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world.
The family settled in Rum (now Turkey) from which the saint derives his name. Baha’Walad took up an important position as a religious teacher, and his son succeeded him in that role. Rumi married and had a son, who later wrote Rumi’s biography.
Rumi studied the Sufi way from his father’s friend, Burhan al-Din, and probably met the great Islamic philosopher, ibn al-Arabi at Damascus, but his greatest influence was the dervish, Shams al-Din of Tabriz, to whom he became a devoted friend.
After the death of the dervish, Rumi started the mystical practice of the sema, an act of worship that takes the form of an ecstatic, whirling dance accompanied by music. The sema is performed to this day in Konya, Turkey, by the Mevlevi order created by Rumi’s disciples.
Encouraged by Husam, one of his disciples, Rumi dictated mystical poetry and tales, and many of his utterances were recorded and collected in what is known as the Discourses. The major work is the Masnavi (Spiritual Couplets), a six-volume poem regarded by many Sufis as second in importance only to the Koran. Rumi fell ill and died in 1273 after predicting his own death.
In common with other Sufi masters, the essence of Rumi’s teaching is the primacy of Divine Love and the idea of Tawheed (unity). Rumi believed that all religions are basically one. The seeker longs to be reunited with the Beloved (the primal root) from which he has been cut off. The Sufi concept of spontaneous union with God is similar to the yoga tradition of India, and Christian mysticism.
Here is a taste of some Rumi’s sayings:
“The Eternal looked upon me for a moment with His eye of power, and annihilated me in His being, and became manifest to me in His essence. I saw I existed through Him. ”
“You are the deep innerness of all things, the last word that can be spoken. To each of us you reveal yourselves differently: to the ship as coastline, to the shore as ship.”
“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.”
Graham Brown
Goddess of Peace, Goddess of Forgiveness, Goddess of Unconditional Love, Kwan Yin is a bodhisattva of compassion, refusing to enter Nirvana until all sentient beings reach enlightenment.
Her name means “She Who Hears the Cries of the World,” and she is depicted in over a hundred poses. Sometimes she is shown pouring a vase of healing love upon the earth, or bestowing the Pearl of Wisdom. Other times, she carries a book, the Lotus Sutra, or displays a hundred helping arms.
Known variously as Kuan Yin, Quan Yin, Kwan Yin, Kwonnen, Guanyin and other variations, She is worshipped in China, Tibet and other Buddhist countries. She has been worshipped and beloved by more devotees than any other goddess in history.
There is a very interesting phenomenon related to the notion of left-sidedness, right-sidedness and being in the centre. In many ways progress – natural growth – develops from left to right, and from right to centre. A new-born baby is a left-sided creature in that he or she is dependent for survival on others. Later, the young child is concerned entirely with himself or herself. There is no other viewpoint; everything is seen, needed, felt, explored, as an individual. Nothing else matters. Later again, the child starts to become conscious of other people’s needs, begins to see alternative points of view, starts making plans, starts moving into the right. Some adolescents don’t fully make this transition. They stay withdrawn, secretive, uncommunicative.
The same progress is typical of the seekers of truth. We tend to begin in the left, withdrawing from the rat-race to feel things through, longing for patterns, answers. Exploration, study and experiment will take us into the right. And, if we are lucky and make the right discoveries – such as, in our day and age, the grace of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – we arrive in the centre with the possibility of attaining Divine knowledge, perception and joy.
The painter, Picasso, is an interesting example. After his apprentice years spent copying great artists, he became famous for sad, left-sided, blue and rose paintings. Then he moved into the right, exploring cubism and collage and painting harshly-coloured abstracts, before settling, through an interest in neoclassicism, into a balance where he gained his self-realisation.
Brian Bell
I happened to see a documentary on Martin Luther King. It showed the last speech he gave before he was assassinated. That speech was said to be the most powerful speech he ever gave. The last paragraph interested me the most. During the last paragraph, as he was giving his speech, Martin Luther’s voice was very strong and shaky. And at the end of the speech he lost his balance and had to be held by his supporters. Martin Luther knew that he was going to be killed the next day. It seems the Divine had revealed the plans to him. But he was also shown the Kingdom of God. This is the last paragraph of his speech:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Meghraj, Canada