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Rumi Jalaluddin 1207 - 1273 (66)

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.


QUOTES


A moment of

happiness

A moment of happiness, you and I sitting on the verandah, apparently two, but one in soul, you and I. We feel the flowing water of life here, you and I, with the garden's beauty and the birds singing. The stars will be watching us, and we will show them what it is to be a thin crescent moon. You and I unselfed, will be together, indifferent to idle speculation, you and I. The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar as we laugh together, you and I. In one form upon this earth, and in another form in a timeless sweet land.

Jalaluddin Rumi was a Persian poet and teacher of theology and law, with great influence in the Muslim mysticism. He was born in 30/09/1207 in Persia, near the border with today’s Afghanistan. His father who was a famous theologian became his first teacher. When Jalaluddin was 18, his family in order to escape Mongols’ invasion started to migrate from place to place. They lived in Baghdad, Damascus, Malatya, Erzincan, Sivas and they finally settled in Iconium (Konya in modern Turkey). When his father died, Rumi inherited his position and soon became a well-informed and well respected scholar. He knew Greek, Hebrew and Arabic, had studied ancient Greek philosophers and was initiated into the secret teachings of Sufi. He practiced Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. He then became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya.

It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic. Shams was a powerful spiritual figure, a homeless wanderer, Rumi took him home and they became close friends and spiritual companion. For Sham’s sake Rumi abandoned teaching, friends and family. His students were concerned as he became the shadow of Shams, living only for his sake. They were also resentful of their close relationship. On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. It was rumoured that he was murdered with the connivance of Rumi's son and students. While Rumi was waiting for any news of Shams he wrote about: 
Who says that the immortal one has died?
Who says that the "sun" of hope has died? 
Look, it is the enemy of the "sun"
 who has come to the rooftops,
Closing both eyes shut, crying out, 
"O, the 'sun' has died."
Rumi waited 40 days and after no news of Shams, he put on a black robe and wore black from then on. He expressed his love for Sham and his grief for his death, through music, dance and poetry. He used to stay all night long, singing, dancing, drinking and writing lyrics. The collection of poems he created is a colossal project consisting of thousands of verses. Rumi used all his wit to keep this powerful, wandering dervish at home, as long as possible, and in the process Rumi became a major spiritual master and a poet of truly world-class stature. He died on December 18, 1273, a cold dawn, the dawn of death, as he used to call it. His epitaph reads: When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.