If It Is Not Too Dark

If It Is Not Too Dark

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.

Get some fresh air, try to smile.

Say something kind

To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.

Always exercise your heart's knowing.

You might as well attempt something real

Along this path:

Take your spouse or lover into your arms

The way you did when you first met.

Let tenderness pour from your eyes

The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.

Play a game with some children.

Extend yourself to a friend.

Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants -

Why not let them get drunk and wild!

Let's toast

Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.

Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"

To the whole mad world.

Let's stop reading about God -

We will never understand Him.

Jump to your feet, wave your fists,

Threaten and warn the whole Universe

That your heart can no longer live

Without real love!

~ Hafiz ~

(I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

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http://www.panhala.net/Archive/If_It_Is_Not_Too_Dark.html

"In truth, everyone is a shadow of the Beloved"

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ONE WHISPER OF THE BELOVED

Lovers share a sacred decree -
to seek the Beloved.
They roll head over heels,
rushing toward the Beautiful One
like a torrent of water.

In truth, everyone is a shadow of the Beloved -
Our seeking is His seeking,
Our words are His words.

At times we flow toward the Beloved
like a dancing stream.
At times we are still water
held in His pitcher.
At times we boil in a pot
turning to vapor -
that is the job of the Beloved.

He breathes into my ear
until my soul
takes on His fragrance.
He is the soul of my soul -
How can I escape?
But why would any soul in this world
want to escape from the Beloved?

He will melt your pride
making you thin as a strand of hair,
Yet do not trade, even for both worlds,
One strand of His hair.

We search for Him here and there
while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side we ask,
"O Beloved, where is the Beloved?"

Enough with such questions! -
Let silence take you to the core of life.

All your talk is worthless
When compared to one whisper
of the Beloved.

Mevlana Rumi
http://www.allspirit.co.uk/rumi5.html
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Index of Rumi Poems
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Sema: Human Being in the Universal Movement

Text by Dr. Celaleddin Celebi, illustrations by Ingrid Schaar «Dr. Celebi's other writings»

Sema is part of the inspiration of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi (1207- 1273) as well as of Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture.

From a scientific viewpoint we witness that contemporary science definitely confirms that the fundamental condition of our existence is to revolve. There is no object, no being which does not revolve and the shared similarity among beings is the revolution of the electrons, protons and neutrons in the atoms, which constitute the structure of each of them. As a consequence of this similarity, everything revolves and man carries on his live, his very existence by means of the revolution in the atoms, structural stones of his body, by the revolution of his blood, by his coming from the earth and return to it, by his revolving with earth itself.

However, all of these are natural, unconscious revolutions. But man is the possessor of a mind and intelligence which distinguishes him from and makes him superior to other beings. Thus the "whirling dervish" or Semazen causes the mind to participate in the shared similarity and revolution of all other beings… Otherwise, the Sema ceremony represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, his growth through love, desert his ego, find the truth and arrive to the "Perfect," then he return from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of believes, races, classes and nations.

Sema consists of seven parts. The first part The dervish with his headdress (his ego's tombstone), his white skirt (his ego's shroud) is by removing his black cloak spiritually born to the truth, he journeys and advances there. At the onset and each stop of the Sema, holding his arms crosswise he represent the number one, and testifies to God's unity. While whirling his arms are open, his right hand directed to the skies ready to receive God's beneficence, looking to his left hand turned toward the earth, he turn from right to left around the heart. This is his way of conveying God's spiritual gift to the people upon whom he looks with the eyes of God. Revolving around the heart, from right to left, he embraces all the mankind, all the creation with affection and love… It starts with an eulogy "Nat-I Serif" to the Prophet, who represents love, and all Prophets before him. To praise them is praising God, who created all of them. The second part is a drum voice, symbolizing God order to the Creation: "Be." The third part is an instrumental improvisation "taksim" with a reed "ney." It represents the first breath which gives life to everything. The Divine Breath. The fourth part is the "dervishes" greetings to each other and their thrice repeated circular walk "Devr-i Veled," with the accompaniment of a music called "peshrev." It symbolize the salutation of soul to soul concealed by shapes and bodies. The fifth part is the Sema (whirling). It consists of four salutes or "Selam"s. At the end of each as in the onset, the dervish testifies by his appearance to God's unity.
The first salute is man's birth to truth by feeling and mind. His complete conception of the existence of God as Creator and his state of creature. The second salute expresses the rapture of man witnessing the splendor of creation, in front of God's greatness and omnipotence. The third salute is the transformation of rapture into love and thereby the sacrifice of mind to love. It is a complete submission, it is annihilation of self with in the loved one, it is unity. This state of ecstasy is the highest grade in Buddhism, defined as "Nirvana" and in Islam "Fenafillah." However, the highest rank in Islam is the rank of the Prophet, he is called God's servant first and his messenger afterwards. The aim of Sema is not unbroken ecstasy and loss of conscious thought. At the termination of this salute, he approves again by his appearance, arms crosswise the Unity of God, consciously and feelingly. The forth salute Just as the Prophet ascends till the "Throne" and then returns to his task on earth, the whirling dervish reaching the state of "Fenafillah," return to his task in creation, to his state of subservience following the termination of his spiritual journey and his ascent. He is a servant of God, of his Books, of his Prophets and all his creation.	First Salute	Kiss of hand Permission to whirl (dance)
	Second Salute	Third Salute - Whirling
At the sixth part Sema ends with a reading of the Quran and specially of the verse from sura Bakara 2, verse 115, "Unto God belong the East and the West, and whither over ye turn, you are faced with Him. He is All-Embracing, All-Knowing." The seventh part is a prayer for the repose of the souls of all Prophets and all believers.

"The New Rule"

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It's the old rule that drunks have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad. he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining,
worth more than any amount of money or power.

Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.

Here's the new rule: break the wineglass,
and fall toward the glassblower's breath.



Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
Your covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now.

"I used to want buyers for my words.
Now I wish someone would buy me away from words.

I've made a lot of charmingly profound images,
scenes with Abraham, and Abraham's father, Azar,
who was also famous for icons.

I'm so tired of what I've been doing.

Then one image without form came,
and I quit.

Look for someone else to tend the shop.
I'm out of the image-making business.

Finally I know the freedom
of madness.

A random image arrives. I scream,
"Get out!" It disintegrates.

Only love.
Only the holder the flag fits into,
and wind. No flag. "

From Rumi – Selected Poems

Translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne

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The Meaning of Love

The Meaning of Love

Both light and shadow
are the dance of Love.

Love has no cause;
it is the astrolabe of God's secrets.

Lover and Loving are inseparable
and timeless.

Although I may try to describe Love
when I experience it I am speechless.

Although I may try to write about Love
I am rendered helpless;
my pen breaks and the paper slips away
at the ineffable place
where Lover, Loving and Loved are one.

Every moment is made glorious
by the light of Love.

Rumi
http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/love/17/



When the Rose is gone

When the rose is gone and the garden faded
you will no longer hear the nightingale's song.
The Beloved is all; the lover just a veil.
The Beloved is living; the lover a dead thing.
If love withholds its strengthening care,
the lover is left like a bird without care,
the lover is left like a bird without wings.
How will I be awake and aware
if the light of the Beloved is absent?
Love wills that this Word be brought forth

Rumi
http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/love/5



Love

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name?
Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.
Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal:
it has no interest in a disloyal companion.
The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God:
that root must be cherished with all one's might.
A weak covenant is a rotten root, without grace or fruit.
Though the boughs and leaves of the date palm are green,
greenness brings no benefit if the root is corrupt.
If a branch is without green leaves, yet has a good root,
a hundred leaves will put forth their hands in the end.

Rumi
http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/love/10
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Famous Quotes about Love (600 Quotations)

	It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Lord Alfred Tennyson
	It is said of love that it sometimes goes, sometimes flies; runs with one, walks gravely with another; turns a third into ice, and sets a fourth in a flame: it wounds one, another it kills: like lightning it begins and ends in the same moment: it makes that fort yield at night which it besieged but in the morning; for there is no force able to resist it. Miguel De Cervantes
	A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved, by others. Anonymous
	A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. Mahatma Gandhi
	A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime. W. H. Auden
	A good marriage winds up as a meeting of minds, which had better be pretty good to start with. Anonymous
	A heart that loves is always young. Greek Proverb
	A life without love in it is like a heap of ashes upon a deserted hearth, with the fire dead, the laughter stilled and the light extinguished. Frank Tebbets
	A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak. Michael Garrett Marino
	A loving heart is the truest wisdom. Charles Dickens
	A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears. Woodrow Wyatt
	A man has only one escape from his old self: to see a different self in the mirror of some woman's eyes. Clare Boothe Luce
	A man in love is like a clipped coupon -- it's time to cash in. Mae West
	A man in love mistakes a pimple for a dimple. Japanese Proverb
	A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. George Moore
	A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love. William Butler Yeats
	A proof that experience is of no use, is that the end of one love does not prevent us from beginning another. Paul Bourget
	A supreme love, a motive that gives a sublime rhythm to a woman's life, and exalts habit into partnership with the soul's highest needs, is not to be had where and how she wills. George Eliot
	A temporary insanity curable by marriage. Ambrose Bierce
	A woman who could always love would never grow old; and the love of mother and wife would often give or preserve many charms if it were not too often combined with parental and conjugal anger. There remains in the face of women who are naturally serene and peaceful, and of those rendered so by religion, an after-spring, and later an after-summer, the reflex of their most beautiful bloom. Jean Paul Richter

Quotations 1 to 20 of 600

Next Last

Source: http://www.famous-quotes.com
Picture: flickr.com
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Pearls of Wisdom (VII) / Mevlana Rumi

The Rumi: The Card and Book Pack by Eryk Hanut, Michele Wetherbee, Michele Wetherbee, Michele Wetherbee (Tuttle Publishing, 2006).

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Synopsis (Barnes & Noble)
Thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi remains one of the world's most popular mystics and poets; his fans include PBS' Bill Moyers, among others. Tuttle is proud to offer a beautifully produced package of Rumi's peerless wisdom, in a new translation text and 54 interactive cards. The book explores the history of Rumi and his career as a spiritual instructor and sage. The colorful cards are divided into six families-birth, love, ordeal, transformation, warnings, and rewards-and come with interpretations and instructions for using them for meditation, inspiration, and to answer life's questions. Attractive, handy, and easy-to-use, Rumi: The Card and Book Pack is a fun, enlightening way to arrive at greater self-knowledge through the insightful words of one of the greatest sages of all time. Eryk Hanut is the author of Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom, and co-author of Mary's Vineyard: Daily Meditations, Readings and Revelations. His articles have appeared in many national publications, including Yoga Journal, Body, Mind, & Spirit, and the Los Angeles Times. Michele Wetherbee, a resident of Petaluma, California was formerly Creative Director at HarperCollins San Francisco and art director for Giftworks, a division of Chronicle Books.

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Open your heart, and you will hear the lutes of the Angels.
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The mirror of the heart must be polished constantly Before you can see clearly in it Good and Evil.
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It is certain that an atom of goodness on the path of faith is never lost.
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Happiness is more precious than wealth; May millions of mercies rain on your dancing!

Look for the soul, you become soul; Hunt for the bread, you become bread. Whatever you look for, you are.

You want everything to be yours? Become nothing to yourself and all things.
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Whoever doesn’t show himself humble today Will tomorrow be humiliated like Pharaoh.
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The more you strive to reach the place of Splendor, The more the invisible Angels will help you.
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After despair, many hopes flourish Just as after darkness, Thousands of Suns open and Start to shine.
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Before death takes what has been given to you, you must give away everything you can give.
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Put your trust in him who gives Life and Ecstasy. Don’t mourn what doesn’t exist; Cling to what does.
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How can victory be won without spiritual war and patience? Give proof of patience; Faith is the key to joy.
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If you know how to be patient, He’ll offer you the seat of honor; He’ll show you a hidden way that no one will know.

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If it is love you are looking for, Take a knife and cut off the head of fear.
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Through Love, disaster becomes good fortune. Through love, a prison becomes a garden.
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Love has come to rule and transform; Stay awake, my heart, stay awake.
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Do not call a cup Sea; Do not call mad the sage of Love.
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Eat on and on, you lovers, at Eternity’s table; Its feast is forever; And spread out for you.
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Picture: flickr.com

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Sufism: The Formative Period

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Ahmet Karamustafa
Washington University - St. Louis

University of California Press, 2007
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"Karamustafa's new work is easily the best book I've read on the subject of early Sufism. The author does a fine job of combining analysis with synthesis, and he incorporates into his historical overview a generous sampling of the stories of a significant number of major characters. Perhaps the greatest achievement is Karamustafa's skill in making an immensely complex and potentially amorphous topic understandable. He manages to weave together very accessibly strands of history from diverse cultural and historical contexts across the central middle east, but the narrative remains concrete and avoids indulging more than necessary in discussing 'theoretical' issues. This is a very thoughtful treatment and I believe it will make a wonderful contribution toward a more integrated, comprehensive understanding of one of the most interesting subjects in late antique/early medieval Islamic religious history."--John Renard, St. Louis University

"Ahmet Karamustafa's Sufism: The Formative Period is an absorbing and persuasive presentation of the development of Sufism, based on a thorough mastery of the original sources and epitomizing the discoveries of modern scholarship. Students of Sufism and religious studies will welcome this important contribution to Islamic studies."--Carl W. Ernst, William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Concisely and efficiently, Ahmet Karamustafa presents us with a survey of the early development of Sufism that is at once analytic and informative, and fully attentive to social and intellectual as well as purely religious concerns. It supersedes all previous overviews of the formative period of Sufi thought and institutions."--Hamid Algar, University of California, Berkeley

"Leaving behind the more speculative approaches to Sufism and Islam of an earlier generation, and based on a comprehensive review of the most recent results of international scholarship in the field, including the author's own original research work, this book provides a highly informative and objective historical overview of the main mystical movements that contributed significantly to the shaping of medieval Muslim society. Elegantly written, it is a must for all those concerned."--Dr. Hermann Landolt, McGill University, Montreal and Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

DESCRIPTION

Ahmet T. Karamustafa bases this study on a fresh reading of the primary sources and, by integrating the findings of recent scholarship on the subject, presents a unified narrative of Sufism's historical development. His innovative analytical framework reveals the emergence of mystical currents in Islam during the ninth century and traces the rapid spread of Iraq-based Sufism to other regions of the Islamic world, providing an integrated, comprehensive understanding of one of the most compelling aspects of late antique, early medieval Islamic religious history.
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Copub: Edinburgh University Press

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ahmet T. Karamustafa is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of God's Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Later Middle Period, 1200-1550 (1994) and Vahidi's Menakib-i Hvoca-i Cihan ve Netice-i Can: Critical Edition and Historical Analysis (1993), and co-editor of Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies (1992).

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10957.html

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The Great Journey of Love

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WHAT HAPPENS?

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.

Hafiz
allspirit.co.uk/hafizhappens.html




IF IT IS NOT TOO DARK

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.

Always exercise your heart's knowing.

You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:

Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your eyes
The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.

Play a game with some children.
Extend yourself to a friend.
Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants -
Why not let them get drunk and wild!

Let's toast
Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.
Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"
To the whole mad world.

Let's stop reading about God -
We will never understand Him.

Jump to your feet, wave your fists,
Threaten and warn the whole Universe

That your heart can no longer live
Without real love!

Hafiz
(I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
http://www.panhala.net/Archive/If_It_Is_Not_Too_Dark.html

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There is a candle in your heart...

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There is a candle in your heart,

ready to be kindled.

There is a void in your soul,

ready to be filled.

You feel it, don't you?

You feel the separation

from the Beloved.

Invite Him to fill you up,

embrace the fire.

Remind those who tell you otherwise that

Love

comes to you of its own accord,

and the yearning for it

cannot be learned in any school.

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MEVLANA RUMI

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http://allspirit.co.uk/rumicandle.html

Picture: Flickr.com

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'O heart, what a wonderful bird you are'

Gone to the Unseen

At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen.

What marvelous route did you take from this world?

Beating your wings and feathers,

you broke free from this cage.

Rising up to the sky

you attained the world of the soul.

You were a prized falcon trapped by an Old Woman.

Then you heard the drummer's call

and flew beyond space and time.

As a lovesick nightingale, you flew among the owls.

Then came the scent of the rosegarden

and you flew off to meet the Rose.

The wine of this fleeting world

caused your head to ache.

Finally you joined the tavern of Eternity.

Like an arrow, you sped from the bow

and went straight for the bull's eye of bliss.

This phantom world gave you false signs

But you turned from the illusion

and journeyed to the land of truth.

You are now the Sun -

what need have you for a crown?

You have vanished from this world -

what need have you to tie your robe?

I've heard that you can barely see your soul.

But why look at all? -

yours is now the Soul of Souls!

O heart, what a wonderful bird you are.

Seeking divine heights,

Flapping your wings,

you smashed the pointed spears of your enemy.

The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you -

You are the fearless rose

that grows amidst the freezing wind.

Pouring down like the rain of heaven

you fell upon the rooftop of this world.

Then you ran in every direction

and escaped through the drain spout . . .

Now the words are over

and the pain they bring is gone.

Now you have gone to rest

in the arms of the Beloved.

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Mevlana Rumi

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"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved",

Jonathan Star, New York 1997

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Picture: dpchallenge.com

Poem: armory.com

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To be in Love with Love...

© dpchallenge.com

To Be In Love...

To be in love with love is to gain a soul,
to sit on the throne of hearts.
To love the world is to be afflicted.
Later the secrets start to make sense.
Don't be a bramble,
become the rose. Let your maturity unfold.
The brambles will only burn.
Prayer was created by God so man could ask for help.
It's too bad if you haven't learned to ask.
Accept the breath of those who are mature-
let it become your divining rod.
If you obey your self, things turn out wrong.
Renouncing the world is the beginning of worship.
If you are a believer, believe this.
Respect your parents and ancestry,
and you will have fine green clothes of your own.
If you earn the complaints of neighbors,
You'll stay in Hell forever.
Yunus heard these words from the masters.
If you need this advice, take it.
They say one who is received by a heart
becomes more beautiful.

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Yunus Emre, Muslim Sufi-Poet, 13th Century Anatolia...
http://www.allspirit.co.uk/emre.html#inlove

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The lover is outcast and idle

My soul,
the way of the masters

is thinner than the thinnest.
What blocked Solomon's way was an ant.

Night and day
the lover's tears never end,
tears of blood,
remembering the Beloved.

"The lover is outcast and idle,"
they used to tell me.
It's true.
It happened to me.

I tried to make sense of the Four Books,
until love arrived,
and it all became a single syllable.

You who claim to be dervishes
and to never do what God forbids --
the only time you're free of sin
is when you're in His hands.

Two people were talking.
One said, "I wish I could see this Yunus."
"I've seen him," the other says,
"He's just another old lover."

YUNUS EMRE

Muslim Sufi-Poet, 13th century Anatolia/Turkey

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http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/E/EmreYunus/loverisoutca.htm

(picture: © dpchallenge.com)
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The Rose Garden of Love

Even if the two worlds were prison cells
They would be orchard gardens for me,
When the Friend bestows His favor
On me, I am not sad, I do not grieve.

If I were the slave of the Friend
I would flower like an opening rose,
I would be the nightingale singing of love,
I would live in the rose garden of love.

My eyes have seen the Beloved's face,
And my face is dust to the friends of God,
But for those who understand
My words, they are sweet sugar cane.

If you give up the claims of the world
And fly up all the way to the Beloved,
If you drink the wine of love,
You will certainly be drunk with enchantment.

If I cannot see You, both this world
And the hereafter are prison cells
For my eyes. Whoever knows Your love
Must surely be the purest and the best.

My inner self has never tired of Your love,
My tongue speaks of You in spite of myself,
Yunus, may these words of yours
Be an epic tale for all the worlds

YUNUS EMRE
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Click here for his life and selected poems.
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All Through Eternity

Beauty unveils His exquisite form
in the solitude of nothingness;
He holds a mirror to His Face
and beholds His own beauty.
he is the knower and the known,
the seer and the seen;
No eye but His own
has ever looked upon this Universe.
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His every quality finds an expression:
Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;
Love, the life-giving garden of this world.
Every branch and leaf and fruit
Reveals an aspect of His perfection-
They cypress give hint of His majesty,
The rose gives tidings of His beauty.
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Whenever Beauty looks,
Love is also there;
Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek
Love lights Her fire from that flame.
When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night
Love comes and finds a heart
entangled in tresses.
Beauty and Love are as body and soul.
Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.
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They have together
since the beginning of time-
Side by side, step by step.
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Mevlana Rumi

The Alchemy of Love

You come to us
from another world

From beyond the stars
and void of space.
Transcendent, Pure,
Of unimaginable beauty,
Bringing with you
the essence of love.

You transform all
who are touched by you.
Mundane concerns,
troubles, and sorrows
dissolve in your presence,
Bringing joy
to ruler and ruled
To peasant and King.

You bewilder us
with your grace.
All evils
transform into
goodness.

You are the master alchemist.

You light the fire of love
in earth and sky
in heart and soul
of every being.

Through your loving
existence and nonexistence erge.
All opposites unite.
All that is profane
becomes sacred again.

Mevlana Rumi


Short biography of Rumi
The name Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi stands for Love and ecstatic flight into the infinite. Rumi is one of the great spiritual masters and poetical geniuses of mankind and was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order, a leading mystical brotherhood of Islam.

Rumi was born in Wakhsh (Tajikistan) under the administration of Balkh in 30 September 1207 to a family of learned theologians. Escaping the Mongol invasion and destruction, Rumi and his family traveled extensively in the Muslim lands, performed pilgrimage to Mecca and finally settled in Konya, Anatolia, then part of Seljuk Empire. When his father Bahaduddin Valad passed away, Rumi succeeded his father in 1231 as professor in religious sciences. Rumi 24 years old, was an already accomplished scholar in religious and positive sciences.

He was introduced into the mystical path by a wandering dervish, Shamsuddin of Tabriz. His love and his bereavement for the death of Shams found their expression in a surge of music, dance and lyric poems, `Divani Shamsi Tabrizi'. Rumi is the author of six volume didactic epic work, the `Mathnawi', called as the 'Koran in Persian' by Jami, and discourses, `Fihi ma Fihi', written to introduce his disciples into metaphysics.

If there is any general idea underlying Rumi's poetry, it is the absolute love of God. His influence on thought, literature and all forms of aesthetic expression in the world of Islam cannot be overrated.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi died on December 17, 1273. Men of five faiths followed his bier. That night was named Sebul Arus (Night of Union). Ever since, the Mawlawi dervishes have kept that date as a festival.

COLLECTION of Love Poems by Rumi

http://www.mikeshane.org/rumi/rumi_poem_poetry.htm

http://www.mikeshane.org/rumi/rumi_lovepoems.htm

Moment of Happiness
All Through Eternity
Because I Cannot Sleep
I am Only the House of Your Beloved
I am a Sculptor a Molder of Form
I Have Been Tricked by Flying Too Close
I Swear
In The Arc Of Your Mallet
Last Night You Left Me And Slept
Let Go of Your Worries
Like This
Love Has Nothing to Do With Five Senses
Love is Reckless
Love is the Water of Life
Lovers
Ode 314
Passion Makes Old Medicine New
The Beauty of The Heart
The Intellectual is Always Showing Off
The Springtime of Lovers Has Come
This is Love
Those Who Don't Feel This Love
When the Rose is Gone and the Garden Faded
Who Is At My Door?

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http://www.mikeshane.org/rumi/index.htm

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