Mystical Poems of Rumi

[Zack]

Go forward, knowing the Path will vanish under you.
Open your arms, knowing they will burn away.
Give everything you are, knowing it is nothing
Bathe always in His river, even when it's blood.

[Zack]

Misery and joy
have the same
shape in this world:
You may call the
rose an open
heart or a
broken heart.

______________________________________

From your beauty ablaze like the sun, from the curls of your hair,
My heart has become ecstatic; O my soul, hand me this brimming cup,
Do not weigh pain and misery, contemplate love, contemplate friendship;
Do not mull over tyranny and neglect; think of all those who have their eyes fixed on you.
Surname all grief "grace"; transmute pain and anguish into joy,
And ask from joy all happiness, all security, all peace.
Demand that security, that peace, demand them,
Choose the company of those withdrawn in love.
Listen to those who open a path to you: listen, and don't say a word.

______________________________________

Your light burned away my last illusion
The world and I died together
I woke a ghost smiling among ghosts
Unreal and gentle in a world of You.

______________________________________

All tracks vanished; you said 'Travel on'
I turned to beg you stay; you had gone.
Winds pressed round me, that smelled of you
Small flowers blossomed, words from your mouth.

[Jhanananda]

I always enjoy reading Rumi's poetry.  Thanks, Zack, for posting it.

[Alexander]

Great poems!

Go forward, knowing the Path will vanish under you.
Open your arms, knowing they will burn away.
Give everything you are, knowing it is nothing
Bathe always in His river, even when it's blood.

I love this poem, and the juxtaposing of openness and annihilation.

[Zack]

I love it too. Rumi has quite a dark streak sometimes, which appeals to my own.


Seize the diamond knife of purified fury
Slash your way out of the circus-cage of Reason
Murder the liar in you and drag his corpse
Where the other rational corpses can smell their stink.

[Jhanananda]

Yes, I like this one, because the rational thinking of the philosopher and scientist is just another trap that keeps them from the bliss, joy and ecstasy of complete submission (islam) to the sacred in annihilation (fanna) of the ego.  It is interesting that the "diamond knife" happens to be also a Tibetan Buddhist reference as well.

[Cal]

Great poems!

Go forward, knowing the Path will vanish under you.
Open your arms, knowing they will burn away.
Give everything you are, knowing it is nothing
Bathe always in His river, even when it's blood.

I love this poem, and the juxtaposing of openness and annihilation.

Thank you for sharing this Zack. I had never read this before but I am quite moved by it.

[Jhanananda]

has anyone noticed, on a related note, that as a mystic you understand the different poets (like Dante) better than any academic who studies them? it's hard to explain, even, but you "get it" and they don't.

I completely agree with you, and I have noticed this over and over again for decades.  While some mystics might be scholars, Rumi comes to mind; nonetheless, it is the exception, not the rule.

[Alexander]

I completely agree with you, and I have noticed this over and over again for decades.  While some mystics might be scholars, Rumi comes to mind; nonetheless, it is the exception, not the rule.

The mystic life is a bit like the 'parable of the mustard seed'.... it starts as a small kernel, a seed, or a tiny spark... but over time it accretes and grows, becomes larger and larger... germinates... blooms... and turns into a tree, or conflagrates into a divine fire... It is elusive what this inner richness consists of, but it is a knowledge and an excellence that surpasses anything available to material man. It is a higher kind of wisdom. There is so much the layman misses... the appreciation of Dante is only one example.

I remember sharing a sublime piece of mystic writing with a young lady last week... it turned her off, it was dead to her, she could not appreciate it at all. There is something when the spiritual potential of people prevents them from understanding.

I do not know how the others I meet live in such inner poverty... I do not know how it is possible for them to go forward like this. And, do they not feel a hunger, a longing, a desire to have knowledge? Is there no wish to understand the human condition, divinity, man's place in the cosmos? Is there no desire to transcend the physical monster-body, to become something more than material man, to lose all and gain all?

Truly, the path of the mystic is that of the heroic temperament.

[Jhanananda]

You make good points, Alexander, and I agree with much of what you say; however, I think the real issue is one of intelligence. It is no coincidence that many of the mystics resorted to logic and critical thinking, as represented so excellently in the Pali Canon, but few can understand logic, and only want to dumb down religion to blind faith in an overly simplified belief system that is too often deeply delusional.

[Rodan]

I completely agree with you, and I have noticed this over and over again for decades.  While some mystics might be scholars, Rumi comes to mind; nonetheless, it is the exception, not the rule.

The mystic life is a bit like the 'parable of the mustard seed'.... it starts as a small kernel, a seed, or a tiny spark... but over time it accretes and grows, becomes larger and larger... germinates... blooms... and turns into a tree, or conflagrates into a divine fire... It is elusive what this inner richness consists of, but it is a knowledge and an excellence that surpasses anything available to material man. It is a higher kind of wisdom. There is so much the layman misses... the appreciation of Dante is only one example.

I remember sharing a sublime piece of mystic writing with a young lady last week... it turned her off, it was dead to her, she could not appreciate it at all. There is something when the spiritual potential of people prevents them from understanding.

I do not know how the others I meet live in such inner poverty... I do not know how it is possible for them to go forward like this. And, do they not feel a hunger, a longing, a desire to have knowledge? Is there no wish to understand the human condition, divinity, man's place in the cosmos? Is there no desire to transcend the physical monster-body, to become something more than material man, to lose all and gain all?

Truly, the path of the mystic is that of the heroic temperament.

Yes, I have felt the same even before I began the life of a contemplative. Even regular religious people seem so dead to mysticism. Even those who quote rumi and supposedly love him, live lives of bereft of any kindness or spiritual love. It is no wonder that most people are depicted or live as zombies in the astral.

You make good points, Alexander, and I agree with much of what you say; however, I think the real issue is one of intelligence. It is no coincidence that many of the mystics resorted to logic and critical thinking, as represented so excellently in the Pali Canon, but few can understand logic, and only want to dumb down religion to blind faith in an overly simplified belief system that is too often deeply delusional.

I agree with this to some extent. Though I will say. I think most people don't truly believe in their faiths in so much as it's a cultural status signifier or social meeting club. If people truly believed in what they say they did, their lives would be organized much more differently. Knowing what I've seen now there's no way I could have lived the way I once did.

[Jhanananda]

I agree with you Rodan, religion and society would be radically different if people both understood and valued what the major mystics had to say.