And Love Was Our Mother

Peace, one and all…

Love is the path and road of our Prophet.
We were born from love and love was our mother.
O you who are our mother, you are hidden within veils,
Concealed from our disbelieving natures.

Mevlana, Quatrain no. 1470

For Making A Profit Is Not The Point

Peace, one and all…

With what work at you occupied,
and for what purpose are you purchased?
What sort of bird are you,
and with what digestive are you eaten?
Pass up this shop of hagglers
and seek the shop of Abundance where God is the purchaser [Quran 9:111].
There Compassion has bought
the shabby goods no one else would look at.
With that Purchaser no base coin is rejected,
for making a profit is not the point.

Masnavi 6.1264 – 1267

Tu Kareemi Man Kamina: A Poem of Mevlana Sung By Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Peace, one and all…

As regular visitors might know, I’ve posted this beautiful qawwal by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan here a number of times.  Sadiq, of the ever-beautiful Technology of the Heart, has posted a translation of the words, by Hz. Mevlana.

Enjoy and may all you do this day be blessed…

Tu Kareemi Man Kamina Barda Um
Laikin Az Lutf E Shuma Parwarda Um

Zindagi Aamad Bara’ay Bandagi
Zindagi Be Bandagi Sharmindagi

Yaad E Oo Sarmaya E Eeman Bo’ad
Har Gada Az Yaad E Oo Sultan Bo’ad

Sayyad O Sarwar Mohammad Noor E Jaan
Mehtar O Behtar Shafi E Mujrimaan

Choon Muhammad Pak E Shud Az Nar O Dood
Her Kaja Roo Karad Wajhullah Bood

Shahbaaz Lamakani Jaan E Oo
Rehmatal Lil Aalameen Dar Shaan E Oo

Mehtareen O Behtareen E Ambiyaah
Juz Muhammad Naist Dar Arz O Samaa

Aan Mohammad Hamid O Mahmoud Shud
Shakal E Abid, Sorat E Ma’bood Shud

Auliyah Allah O Allah Auliyah
Yani Deed E Peer Deed E Kibriyah

Her Ka Peer O Zaat Haqra Aik Na Deed
Nai Mureed O Nai Mureed O Nai Mureed

Maulvi Hargiz Na Shud Maula E Rum
Ta Ghulaam E Shams Tabraizi Na Shud

Translation

You are the Gracious One and I am the ignoble,
Now waiting at Your door Oh my Cherisher

With devotion life becomes beauteous,
And without, what is life but disgrace

Remembrance of Him is the foundation of faith,
Beggars transform into kings due to His Remembrance.

Liege lord, Oh Muhammad you are the light of our lives,
The mighty and the best intercessor of the wrong-doers

Since Muhammad was purified of worldly things,
Whatever direction He turned is found the Face of Allah

The noble soul of his is like a falcon of the highest heavens
Being ‘the mercy of the worlds’ is his eminence

The mightiest and the best of all Prophets is he,
Except Muhammad in land or sky there is none worthy

He is the praise of God, divinely praised in abundant
He is the reflection of God in the shape of a worshiping servant

The friends of God are like God because God is their friend
And in this way he who has seen his Master, has seen God’s Glory

If one doesn’t see his spiritual Master as reflection of God
He is not a disciple, not a disciple, not a disciple!

Mevlana could never be Mevlana Rumi
If he had not devoted himself to Shams e Tabrizi.

Source: One; Two

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Shaykh Kabir Helminski: Movement as Worship of the One

Peace, one and all…

A beautiful exploration of movement and worship, as transmitted through sacred Mevlevi tradition.  This wonderful talk also explores some of the symbolism of the whirling ceremony (sema).  May it be of benefit.

Source: SFH Mureed

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Sheikh Kabir Helminski: Collectedness and the Mantle of Ecstasy

Peace, one and all…

A beautiful reflection on some important verses from the Masnavi serif, by Kabir Dede.

When Jafar advanced against a certain fortress,
to his thirsty throat the fortress became a single gulp.
Riding alone, he charged up to the fortress,
so that they locked the fortress-gate in dread.
No one dared to meet him in battle:
Any more than a sailboat’s crew would attack a leviathan.

The king turned to his vizier, saying,
“What is to be done in this crisis, Counselor?”
He replied, “You should say goodbye to your pride and cunning,
and present to him your sword and shroud.”
“Why,” said the king, “isn’t he just a single man alone?”
He replied, “Don’t underestimate this man’s singleness.
Open your eye: look well at the fortress:
it is already trembling before him like quicksilver.
He sits in the saddle, his nerve unshaken,
as if all the East and West were at his side.

Several men rushed forward, like Fida’is,
and flung themselves into combat with him.
He struck each of them with just a blow of his mace
and they fell headlong at the feet of his steed.
God’s action had bestowed on him such collectedness
that he was confronting a whole people single-handedly.
When my eye beheld the face of that emperor,
quantity became nothing in my sight.”

The stars are many; though the sun is one,
When it appears, their foundation is demolished.
If a thousand mice put forth their heads,
the cat feels no fear or apprehension of danger.
How should a throng of mice advance
if they have no collectedness in their souls?
The collectedness in outward forms is a vain thing:
listen, beg from the Creator collectedness of spirit.

Collectedness is not the result of material quantity:
know that body, like reputation, is built on air.
If there were any collectedness in the heart of the mouse,
a number of mice would arise in indignation,
And, rushing up like assassins,
would without hesitation throw themselves upon the cat!
One would tear out her eyes,
while another would rip her ears with its teeth,
And another tear at her side:
there would be no escape from their unified alliance.

But the soul of the mouse has no collectedness:
at the cry of a cat its wits fly out of its soul.
The mice are paralyzed by the wily cat,
even if the mice are a hundred thousand.
Does the butcher care how big the flock is?
Can your daytime thoughts hold off slumber forever?

He is the Lord of the kingdom: He gives collectedness to the lion,
so that he springs on the herd of wild asses.
A hundred thousand savage and courageous wild asses
are as naught before the onset of the lion.
He is the Lord of the kingdom:
He gives to a Joseph the kingdom of Beauty,
so that he is like rainfall from white cumulus clouds.

He bestows upon one face the radiance of a star,
so that a king becomes the slave of a girl.
He bestows upon another face His own Light,
so that even in the darkest night
it can discern the good from the bad in everything.
Joseph and Moses brought the light of God
into their cheeks and countenances, and into their inmost centers.
A flashing beam shot forth from the face of Moses:
and he wore a veil to cover his face.

The radiance of his face would have overwhelmed all eyes
just as the emerald dazzles the eyes of the deaf python.
He asked God to make that veil
a covering for that powerful Light.
And God said, “Listen, make a veil of your felt cloak,
for the garment of gnosis can be trusted,
because that cloak has absorbed the Light:
the Light of the Spirit shines through its warp and woof.

Nothing will be a repository except a mantle like this:
nothing else can endure Our Light.
If Mt Qáf should arise as a barrier,
the Light would shatter it like Mt Sinai.”
Divine omnipotence has given the bodies of men
the ability to support the unconditioned Light.
His power makes a glass vessel the dwelling-place of that Light
of which Sinai cannot bear in the least.
A lamp-niche and a lamp-glass have become
the dwelling-place of the Light
by which Mt Qáf and Mt Sinai are blown to pieces.
Know that their bodies are the lamp-niche and their hearts the glass:
this lamp illumines the empyrean and the heavens.
Their light is dazzled by this Light
and vanishes like the stars in this radiance of morning.

Hence the Seal of the Prophets has related
the saying of the everlasting and eternal Lord—
“I am not contained in the heavens or in the void
or in the exalted intelligences and souls;
I am contained, as a guest, in a faithful heart,
without qualification or definition or description,
so that through the medium of that heart everything,
above and below, may win from Me sovereignties and fortune.
Without such a mirror neither Earth nor Time
could bear the vision of My beauty.

I caused the steed of mercy
to gallop over the two worlds:
I fashioned an expansive mirror.
In which fifty wedding-feasts appear in a flash:
face the mirror; don’t ask me to describe it.”

The gist is this: Moses made a veil of his cloak,
he knew the penetrating nature of that Moon.
Had the veil been of anything except his raiment,
it would have been torn to shreds,
even if it had been a solid mountain.
That Moon would penetrate iron:
how could the veil withstand the Light of God?
That veil was, itself, aglow:
it had covered a mystic in moments of bliss.
The fire is latent in the fuel
because the fuel was meant to burn.
Masnavi 6.3029-3082

I am Not

Peace, one and all…

What shall I do, O Muslims?
I do not recognise myself….
I am neither Christian nor Jew,
nor Magian, nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor the West,
not of the land, nor the sea.
I am not from nature’s mine,
nor from the circling stars.
I am neither of earth nor water,
neither of wind nor fire.
I am not of the empyrean,
nor of the dust on this carpet.
I am not of the deep, nor from behind.
I am not of India or China,
not of Bulgaria, nor Saqsin;
I am not of the kingdom of Iraqain,
nor of the land of Khorasan.
I am not of this world nor the next,
not of heaven, nor of purgatory.
My place is the placeless,
my trace is the traceless.
It is not the body nor is it the soul,
for I belong to the soul of my love.
I have put duality away
and seen the two worlds as one.
One I seek, One I know.
One I see, One I call.
He is the First, He is the Last.
He is the Outward. He is the Inward.
I know of nothing but Hu, none but Him.
Intoxicated with the cup of Love,
two worlds slip from my hands.
I am occupied with nothing
but fun and carousing.
If once in my life I pass a moment without You,
I repent my life from that moment on.
If once in this world
I should win a moment with You,
I will put both worlds under my feet
and dance forever in joy.
O Shams of Tabriz, I am so drunk in the world
that except for revelry and intoxication
I have no tale to tell.

Mevlana, Ghazal

A Belated Seb-i Arus Offering

Peace, one and all…

A small, and belated, Seb-i Arus offering.  Ya Hazret-i Mevlana Hakk Dost!

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

The Jesus of Your Spirit

Peace, one and all…

‘It is pain that guides a man in every enterprise. Until there is an ache within him, a passion and a yearning for that thing arising within him, he will never strive to attain it. Without pain that thing remains for him unprocurable, whether it be success in this world or salvation in the next, whether he aims at being a merchant or a king, a scientist or an astronomer. it was not until the pains of parturition manifested in her that Mary made for the tree:

‘And the birthpangs surprised her by the trunk of the palm-tree’ (Quran 19:23)

Those pangs brought her to the tree, and the tree which was withered became fruitful.

The body is like Mary. Every one of us has a Jesus within him, but until the pangs manifest in us our Jesus is not born. If the pangs never come, then Jesus rejoins his origin by the same secret path by which he came, leaving us bereft and without portion of him.

‘The soul within you is needy, the flesh without is well fed:
The devil gorges to spewing, Jamshid lacks even for bread.
See now to the cure of your soul while Jesus is yet on earth;
When Jesus returns to heaven all hope of your cure will have fled’
(A Quatrain by Rumi himself)

Taken from Fihi Ma Fihi, translated as Discourses by A J Arberry

And Every Day Of It Has Value

Peace, one and all…

‘God gave a life, and every day of it
has value no one knows except for Him’
Masnavi 1.2201

Readings from the Evrad-i Serif 2

Peace, one and all…

In recent posts, our readings have begun to focus on the question of will (Kabir Dede on the Will; Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 3).  This question is also brought to the fore in our current portion of the Evrad-i Serif.

Our readings are all drawn from the Quran, and although these verses explore the question of will in interesting and forceful ways, it is their particular arrangement that is especially noteworthy.

Our present portion opens thus:

‘Had We sent down this Quran on a mountain, truly, you would have seen it humble itself and break apart out of awe of God.  Such are the parables We offer to human beings, so that they might reflect.

God is He other than whom there is no god; the One who knows what is hidden and what is manifest, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature’s senses or mind: Hu, the Infinitely Compassionate, the Infinitely Merciful.

God is He other than whom there is no deity: the Supreme Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace, the Inspirer of Faith, the Preserver of Security, the Exalted in Might, the One who subdues wrong and restores right, the One to whom all greatness belongs!  Utterly remote is God, in limitless glory, from anything to which people may ascribe a share in His divinity!

Hu is God, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of form!  To Hu belong the Most Beautiful Names.  All that is in the heavens and on earth declares His praises and glory: for He is the Exalted in Might, the All-Wise!
(Surah al-Hashr 59:21-24.  You can listen to a beautiful recitation of these verses below)

These verses declare the infinite and incomparable majesty of God, in forceful and evocative terms.  All power, authority, knowledge and beauty belong solely to Him: anything we possess is given to us by Him, and is effectively on loan to us.  Even though we may possess beauty or knowledge or power, it is always and in each instance His.  Thus, our will to power, to learn and to perceive beauty are really His.   In a strange, paradoxical way the more we understand our abilities as belonging to Him, the more fully ‘ours’ they become.  Or, perhaps, the more clearly we understand His absolute ownership, the more authentically we can enter into our own partial occupancy, our own derivative ownership.  The more we fully we realise  our own weakness, the more fully we can enter into His strength.  The more we are able to take back our own projections, and the more fully we are able to let Him be God, the more human we are able to be.

Ibn Arabi makes this clear throughout his writings.  This example is particularly instructive:

‘Your attributes are His.  Without doubt, your appearance is His appearance.  What is in you is in Him.  Your before is His Before; your after is His After; your essence is His essence – without Him entering into you or you entering in Him, for ’Everything is perishing but His Face’ (Surah al-Qasas 28:88)’ (Ibn Arabi, Kitab al-Ahadiyyah)

The Evrad then explores this strange paradox by offering these subsequent verses:

‘And to everyone who is conscious of God, God always prepares a way of emergence,

and provides for him/her in ways he/she could never imagine; and for everyone who places trust in God, God is sufficient.  For God will surely accomplish His purpose: truly, for all things God has appointed an appropriate measure’
(Surah al-Talaq 65:2-3)

‘And so, be patient, even though they who are bent on denying the Truth would all but kill you with their eyes whenever they hear this reminder, and though they say, ‘See, most surely he is a madman!’

For this is nothing less than a reminder to all the worlds.’
(Surah al-Qalam 68:51-52)

‘…to everyone who will to walk a straight way.

But you cannot will it unless God, the Sustainer of all the Worlds, wills it’
(Surah al-Takwir 81:28-29)

To be truly conscious of God is to realise that all things are His; at best, we are merely guests, even in the depths of ‘our’ own being.  Understanding that our will is already encompassed in His will is both deeply humbling and deeply liberating, freeing us from the urge to control life.  This awareness is a deeper ‘way of emergence’, a deeper liberation from the limitations of our workaday egos.

Striving to live this way is also important because it demonstrates that we live in a magical universe, in a realm of unlimited possibilities and of infinite potentiality.  We are provided for in ways we could never imagine, both within and beyond ourselves.  Living in a world of infinite potentiality requires that we strive to trust in God, and realise that the Divine is absolute beneficence, and absolute sufficiency.

‘…for all things has God appointed an appropriate measure’ is an interesting phrase.  It reminds me that that ‘my’ will has a limit, beyond which lies His will.  It also reminds me that the trials and tribulations of my own life are measured out for me: I am challenged, but never overwhelmed, stretched but never obliterated.  Moreover, this ‘I’ within me that demands and urges is itself limited.  There are deeper levels of being within me, beyond this passing ego; there are hidden depths below the shallow waters of conventional reality.

‘And so, be patient…’.  Wait in patient readiness for all that Hu might work within and beyond us.  Wait in calm alertness for His unfolding will.  ’For this is nothing less than a reminder to all the worlds’.  It is a reminder to the universe around me.  It is a reminder to the universe within.

‘And to everyone one of you who wills to walk a straight way.  But you cannot will it unless God, the Sustainer of all the worlds, wills it’.  It is His will that is primary.  Our will only becomes a reality when it harmonises with His.  This underlines the need for harmonisation, with God, with myself and everything around me.  And, as Meister Eckhart makes clear in his counsels, this involves an inner emptying, a giving-over of ourselves to Him, in Him.  In Counsel 20, Meister Eckhart says this:

‘And therefore, if you wish to receive your God worthily, be sure that your superior powers are directed toward your God and that your will is seeking His will, that you are intending Him, and that your trust is based on Him’ (Counsels on Discernment, 20)

Merciful One!  Join our wills to Yours.  Help us to will for ourselves what You will for us.  Help us to accept life in all its diversity.  Help us to see that all things come from You, for our betterment.

Related Posts

• Spiritual Dialogue 1
• Readings from the Evrad-i Serif 1

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Kabir Dede on the Will

Peace, one and all…

In a recent post, we saw Meister Eckhart speak forcefully of the will.  Mevlevi tradition has a similar focus on the will (irada).  As a starting point for further discussion, let’s explore Kabir Dede’s definition:

‘The ability to act consciously; the faculty of conscious choice; a power of the soul by which we can direct our thoughts, actions, and, eventually, even our feelings.  Will is directly connected with Spirit.  It is a unique attribute of the human being, because no other creature, as far as we know, has this degree of conscious choice.  Will enables us to rise above personal desire and egoistic satisfactions.

Human will is derived from the divine will as the image in a mirror is a reflection of the source of that image.  Human will is a dim reflection of the divine will.  The human being, then, is the mirror of God’s will.  As we develop spiritually we begin to see how our own will is related to the Will of the Divine …

Will develops as we make conscious choices and bring those conscious choices and decisions to completion.  In other words, our fulfilling of our responsibilities develops our will; whereas every uncompleted decision drains us of will.  Will is a capacity that we must continually preserve and maintain, if we are to be fully human’.  The Book of Language, pp. 145-146

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Whose Gaze Answers Every Question

Peace, one and all…

O You, whose gaze will answer every question,
O You who solve our problems peacefully!
Masnavi 1.97

The Ladder of Egotism

Peace, one and all…

Human beings climb the ladder of egotism, but in the
end everyone must fall from this ladder.
The higher you climb, the more foolish you are, for
your bones will be more badly broken.
When you die to yourself and come alive through God,
in truth you have become one with God, in absolute unity
Masnavi 4.2763-2767

Readings from the Evrad-i Serif 1

Peace, one and all…

Our first Ramadan post starts with the opening of the Mevlevi wird (litany), known as the Evrad-i Serif.  It contains a number of beautiful prayers and affirmations and is an appropriate place to begin, with its focus on the peace and love of God.

In the Name of God, the Infinitely Compassionate, the Most Merciful…

1. Our Sustainer, You are Peace and from You comes all Peace and our ultimate return is to You, to Peace.
2. O our Sustainer, continually, You enliven us with Peace.
3. Allow us to enter Your Garden, the Abode of Peace.
4. O our Sustainer, bless us with Peace.
5. With Your Peace You have exalted everything, O Lord of Majesty and Infinite Generosity.  All praise and glory belongs to You.
6. Limitless are You in Your glory.  We could not worship You as You truly ought to be worshipped, O You who are worshipped.
7. Subtle are You beyond all knowing.  We could not know You as You truly ought to be known, O You who are the object of knowledge.
8. All praise is due to God who guides one to well-being.
9. I ask God’s forgiveness for my mistakes.
10. I bear witness that there is no god but God and that He is One and has no partner.
11. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.
12. There is no god but God.  The dominion belongs to Him.  All praise is His.  He gives life.  He takes life.  He is Ever-living and never dies.  All goodness is in His hand.  He has power over all things.
13. There is no god but God.  All benefits are His.  All blessings are His.  To Him belongs the most exceptional beauty.
14. There is no god but God, the Possessor of the Most Ancient Oneness, that has no beginning and no end.
15. There is no god but God.  We worship none but God with sincere devotion to Him alone despite those who deny the Truth.
16. O my Allah!  No one can keep me from receiving what You bestow.  No one can bestow that which You do not wish someone to receive.  No one can act contrary to Your will.  No one can guide to the true Way the one whom You cause to stray.  No one can lead astray the one whom You have guided to the true Way.  No one can change anything about which You have made Your will clear.  Wealth cannot help the wealthy if Your help is not with them.
17. In the Name of God: when with whose Name one begins anything then nothing on earth or in the heavens may harm it.  And He is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.
18. (I begin) in the Name of God with my self and my Way.
19. (I begin) in the Name of God with my family and all that I own.
20. (I begin) in the Name of God with whatever my Sustainer has granted to me.  God is my Sustainer and never do I attribute any partner to Him.
21. God is dearer and greater than the things that I fear and are of concern to me.
22. How precious is Your protection and how great is Your uniqueness.  Exalted is Your praise.  How holy are Your Names.  And there is no god but You.
23. O God!  Surely, I seek refuge with You from the evil within myself, from the evil within others, from all tyrants, and from all obstinate oppressors,
24. and from the evil of every recalcitrant satan.
25.  ’Truly, my protector is God, who sent down the Book: for it is He who takes into His protection the righteous ones’ (Quran 7:196)
26. ‘But if they turn away, say: ‘God is sufficient for me!  There is no deity except Him.  In Him have I placed my trust, for He is the Sustainer, in awe inspiring majesty enthroned’ (Quran 9:129)

I won’t be posting the entire Evrad-i Serif, but I will be posting passages that seem relevant, and that speak to our unfolding spiritual dialogue with Meister Eckhart.

Related Posts:

• Mevlana and Me: Poetry, the Moment and Suhbah
• ‘And Spread the Greeting Among Yourselves’: Exploring the Salam

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Love Whispers in My Ear

Peace, one and all…

Love whispers in my ear,
‘Better to be a prey than a hunter.
Make yourself My fool.
Stop trying to be the sun and become a speck!
Dwell at My door and be homeless.
Don’t pretend to be a candle, be a moth;
so you may taste the savour of life
and know the power hidden in serving’
Masnavi 5.411-414

Like Beloveds Will…

Peace, one and all…

 

‘I am the lover of Love, and Love is my lover as well.
The body has become the lover of the soul, and the soul
the lover of the body.
Sometimes I embrace its neck with my two arms,
and sometimes it pulls me by the hem of my robe, like beloveds will’
Mevlana, Quatrain 934

The Condition of the World

Peace, one and all…

‎

‘Anyone who ties something untied into a knot
Laughs at his own condition and the condition of the world.
They speak words about union and separation, yet
How can something that was never separated be joined?’
Mevlana, Quatrain 905

What Indeed Is More Precious?

Peace, one and all…

‘There is no gain surpassing trust in God.
What indeed is more precious than surrender?’
Masnavi 1.920