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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

LET ME FEEL THE WIND

It is the second century BCE, in Israel. The disciples approach their master
and say, "There is a man blowing the ram's horn in Galilee claiming to be
Messiah. Master, is it true?"
      The teacher opens the window and reaches out his hand to feel the wind.
After a moment's concentration, he says, "No, it is not true."
      Most of the students are appropriately impressed at their master's ability
to sense the spiritual reality by the wind. However, one novice, a slightly impudent
disciple, is troubled. "If you are so spiritually intuitive," he asks
the master, "then why did you need to put your hand out the window? why couldn't
you sense the air in the room to see if Redemption had arrived?"
       The master responded ever so softly, "Because in my room, the Messiah has
already come."

REF: SOUL PRINT BY MARC GAFNI

Saturday, January 28, 2012

A KING AND HIS GREYHOUND

A royal hunt swept out across the plain.
The monarch called for someone in his train
To bring a greyhound, and the handler brought
A dark, sleek dog, intelligent, well-taught;
A jewelled gold collar sparkled at its throat,
Its back was covered by a satin coat-
Gold anklets clasped its paws; its leash was made
Of silk threads twisted in a glistening braid.
The king thought him a dog who'd understand,
And look the silk leash in his royal hand;
The dog ran just behind his lord, then found
A piece of bone abandoned on the ground-
He stopped to sniff, and when the king saw why,
A glance of fury flashed out from his eye.
"When you're with me," he said, "Your sovereign king,
How dare you look at any other thing?"
He snapped the leash and to his handler cried:
"Let this ill-mannered brute roam far and wide.
He's mine no more-better for him if he
Had swallowed pins than found such liberty!"
The handler stared and tried to remonstrate:
"The dog, my lord, deserves an outcast's fate;
But we should keep the satin and gold."
The king said: "No, do just as you are told;
Drive him, exactly as he is, away-
And when he comes back to himself some day,
He'll see the riches that he bear and know
That he was mine, a king's, but long ago.".....

                                                               ATTAR

Friday, January 27, 2012

MULLAH NASRUDDIN AND THE FAMOUS DONKEY STORY

Kan ya ma kan: there was and there was not a time when Joha (mullah) and his son
set out for the market with their donkey walking along behind them. They passed
several men sitting outside a shop drinking tea and heard some of their remarks.
              "Look at that man! How can he be so mean as to make his child walk all
the way to the market when he has a donkey the child could easily ride?"
Joha immediately picked up his son and put him on the donkey's back. They continued
this way for a while, until they passed several women who were also on their way to the
 market. "For shame." said one woman to another. "Look at that child, riding the donkey
while he makes his father walk. Doesn't he have any respect for his elders?"
             Right away, Joha took his son off the donkey, and got on himself. They had traveled
only slightly farther, when someone else criticized the father for being so selfish-riding on the
donkey while making his son walk. In response to this criticism, Joha picked up the child
and placed him on the saddle directly in front of him.
             Alas this maneuver also brought forth criticism. "How mean they are to overload the
donkey like that!" cried an old man to his friend.
              There is only one thing to do, thought Joha in despair. He and his son dismounted.
After great deal of effort, Joha managed to heave the donkey upon his own back. Only a
little way down the road, everyone was laughing at the stupid man carrying his donkey instead
of riding it.
     Shamefaced, Joha put down the donkey, and they continued to the market exactly as they
had started- with all three walking. Some minutes later, Joha looked at his son: "So you see,"
he said with a wise nod, "it is clearly not possible to please all people. It is better to do what
you know is right and please God."

A SINNER ENTERS HEAVEN

A sinner died, and, as his coffin passed,
A man who practised every prater and fast
Turned ostentatiously aside-how could
He pray for one of whom he knew no good?
He saw the sinner in his dreams that night,
His face transfigured with celestial light.
"How did you enter heaven's gates," he said,
"A sinner stained with filth from foot to head?"
"God saw your merciless, disdainful pride,
And pitied my poor soul," the man replied......

                                                              ATTAR

                   

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A MURDERER WHO WENT TO HEAVEN

A murderer, according to the law,
was killed. That night the king who'd killed him saw
The same man in a dream; to his surprise
The villain lorded it in paradise-
The king cried: "You! In this celestial place!
Your life's work was an absolute disgrace;
How did you reach this state?" The man replied:
"A friend to God passed by me as I died;
The earth drank up my blood, but stealthily
That pilgrim on Truth's journey glanced at me,
And all the glorious extravagance
That laps me now came from his searing glance."

The man on whom that quickening glance alights
Is raised to heaven's unsuspected heights;
Indeed, until this glance discovers you
Your life's a mystery without a clue;
You cannot carve your way to heaven's throne
You need a skillful guide; you cannot start
This ocean-voyage with blindness in your heart.
It may be you will meet the very guide
Who glanced at me; be sure he will provide-
Whatever troubles come- a place to hide.
You cannot guess what dangers you will find,
You need a staff to guide you, like the blind.
Your sight is failing and the road is long;
Trust one who knows the journey and is strong.
Whoever travels in the great lord's shade
Need never hesitate or be afraid;
Whoever undertakes this lord's commands
Find thorns will change to roses in his hands.

                                                          ATTAR

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

THE STORY OF A DERVISH AND A PRINCES

There was a king whose comely daughter's grace
Was such that any man who glimpsed her face
Declared himself in love. Like starless dusk
Her dark hair hung, soft-scented like fine musk;
The charm of her slow, humid eyes awoke
The depth of sleeping love, and when she spoke,
No sugar was as sweet as her lip's sweet;
No rubies with their colour could compete.
A dervish saw her, by the will of Fate.
From his arrested hand the crust he ate
Dropped unregarded, and the princess smiled.
This glance lived in his heart-the man grew wild
With ardent love, with restless misery;
For seven years he wept continually
And was content to live alone and wait,
Abject, among stray dogs, outside her gate.
At last, affronted by this fool and tired
Of his despair, her serving-men conspired
To murder him. The princes heard their plan,
Which she divulged to him. "O wretched man,"
She said, "how could you hope for love between
A dervish and the daughter of a queen?
You cannot live outside my palace door;
Be off with you and haunt these streets no more.
If you are here tomorrow you will die!"
The dervish answered her: "That day when I
First saw your beauty I despaired of life;
Why should I fear the hired assassin's knife?
A hundred thousand men adore your face;
No power on the earth could make me leave this place.
But since your servants want to murder me,
Explain the meaning of this mystery:
Why did you smile at me that day?" "Poor fool,
I smiled from pity, almost ridicule-
Your ignorance provoked that smile." She spoke,
And vanished like a wisp of strength less smoke.'

                                                                  ATTAR

A KING AND HIS SLAVE

There was a monarch once who loved a slave.
The youth's pale beauty haunted him; he gave
This favourite the rarest ornaments,
Watched over him with jealous reverence-
But when the king expressed a wish to shoot,
His loved one shook with fear from head to foot.
An apple balanced on his head would be
The target for the royal archery,
And as the mark was split he blenched with fear.
One day a foolish courtier standing near
Asked why his lovely face was drained and wan,
For was he not their monarch's chosen one?
The slave replied: "If I were hit instead
Of that round apple balanced on my head,
I would be then quite worthless to the king-
Injured or dead, lower than anything
The court can show; but when the arrow hits
The trembling target and the apple splits,
That is his skill.The king is highly skilled
If he succeed-if not, the slave is killed!"

                                                    ATTAR

Saturday, January 21, 2012

THE REAL STEP

The rumor of a great lion spread throughout the world.
 A man wanted to see the lion and for a year endured
all the hardships of the journey and traveled from place
to place. When he arrived at the forest and saw the lion
 from a distance, he came to a sudden halt. He couldn't
move and couldn't go any further.
    Someone who knew the lion said to the man gently,
"You've come such a long way out of love for the lion.
Know this about him: if you go toward him bravely and
tenderly stroke him, he will not harm you in any way; if
you are afraid, he will be furious. Sometimes he even
attacks people who are scared of him, howling, 'How
dare you have such a black opinion of me!' You've
endured a year of bitter difficulty to get here to see him.
Why are you standing still now that you are so close?
Take one more step toward him!"
     No one could find in themselves the courage to
advanced even one step.Everyone said, "Every step we
 took before this was easy. Here, we cannot move."
      It takes immense faith to take one step toward the
Lion in the presence of the Lion. That step is the majestic
and noble act, one that only the Elect and Friends of God
are capable of. This is the real step on the Path; all the other
 steps are just vanishing footprints. And the faith require to take
it comes only to saints and prophets, to those who have washed
 their hands of their own life.

                                           RUMI

Friday, January 20, 2012

WORK FOR IT BY YOURSELF

A man came to Rumi and said, "Please God that I could go
to the other world; there at least I could be at peace because
the Creator is there." "What do you know about where He is?"
answered Rumi. "Everything in all the worlds is in you; whatever
you are hungering for, work for it there by yourself, for you are the
microcosm.

                                                       RUMI

Thursday, January 19, 2012

GOD DOES IT

An emperor ordered each of his slaves to pick up a golden cup;
he was about to receive someone he loved and wanted to do him
 honor. He ordered his favorite slave also to pick up a cup.However,
when the emperor appeared, his favorite, on seeing him, lost all control
of his senses and become crazed by his beauty, and the golden cup tumbled
from his hand and was broken into a thousand pieces.
    The other slaves saw this, and imitative in everything, thought to themselves,
"Because he did it, we should do the same." so they threw down their cups and
smashed them.
     The emperor was furious. "Why did you do that?!" he thundered.
   "Because your favorite did."
   "You fools," cried the emperor, "he didn't do it. I did."

                                                                               RUMI

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

You may have heard, it's the custom for kings
to let warriors stands on the left, the side of the heart,
and courage. On the right they put the chancellor,
and various secretaries, because the practice
of bookkeeping and writing usually belongs
to the right hand. in the center,
                                            the sufis,
because in meditation they become mirrors.
The king can look at their faces
and see his original state.
Give the beautiful ones mirrors
and let them fall in love with themselves.

That way they polish their souls
and kindle remembering in others.

A close childhood friend once came to visit Joseph.
They had shared the secrets that children tell each other
when they're lying on their pillow at night
before they go to sleep.These two
were completely truthful
with each other.

The friend asked,"What was it like when you realized
your brothers were jealous and what they planned to do?"

"I felt like a lion with a chain around its neck.
Not degraded by the chain, and not complaining,
but just waiting for my power to be recognized."

"How about down in the well, and in prison?
How was it then?"
                           "Like the moon when it's getting
smaller, yet knowing the fullness to come.
Like  a seed pearl ground in the mortar for medicine,
that knows it will now be the light in a human eye.

Like a wheat grain that breaks open in the ground,
then grows, then gets harvested, then crushed in the mill
for flour, then baked, then crushed again between teeth
to become a person's deepest understanding.
Lost in love, like the songs the planters sings
the night after they sow the seed."
                                                  There is no end
to any of this.
                    Back to something else the good man
and Joseph talked about.
                                      "Ah my friend, what have you
brought me? You know a traveler should not arrive
empty-handed at the door of a friend like me.
That's going to the grinding stone without your wheat.
God will ask at the resurrection,'Did you bring Me
a present? Did you forget? Did you think
you wouldn't see me?"
                                       Joseph kept teasing,
"Let's have it. I want my gift!"

The guest began, "You can't imagine how I've looked
for something for you. Nothing seemed appropriate.
You don't take gold down into a goldmine,
or a drop of water to the Sea of Oman!
Everything I thought of was like bringing cumin seed
to Kirmanshah where cumin comes from.

You have all seeds in your barn. You even have my love
and my soul, so I can't even bring those.

I've brought you a mirror. Look at yourself,
and remember me."
                               He look the mirror out from his robe
where he was hiding it.
                                  What is the mirror of being?
Non-being. Always bring a mirror of non-existence
as a gift. Any other present is foolish.

Let the poor man look deep into generosity.
Let bread see a hungry man.
Let kindling behold a spark from the flint.

An empty mirror and your worst destructive habits,
when they are held up to each other,
that's when the real making begins.
That's what art and crafting are.

A tailor needs a torn garment to practice the expertise.
The trunks of trees must be cut and cut again
so they can be used for fine carpentry.

Your doctor must have a broken leg to doctor.
Your defects are the ways that glory gets manifested.
Whoever sees clearly what's diseased in himself
begins to gallop on the way.
There is nothing worse
than thinking you are well enough.
More than anything, self-complacency
blocks the workmanship.

Put your vileness up to a mirror and weep.
Get that self-satisfaction flowing out of you!
Satan thought, "I am better than Adam,"
and that 'better than' is still strongly in us.

Your stream water may look clean,
but there's unstirred matter on the bottom.
Your Sheikh can dig a side channel
that will drain that waste off.

Trust your wound to a teacher's surgery.
Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,
those flies of your self-protecting feelings,
your love for what you think is yours.

Let a teacher wave away the flies
and put a plaster on the wound.

Don't turn your head. Keep looking
at the bandaged place. That's where
the light enters you.
                             And don't believe for a moment
that you're healing yourself.

                                                RUMI

Friday, January 13, 2012

THE MOUSE AND THE CAMEL

A mouse caught hold of a camel's lead rope
in his two forelegs and walked off with it,
imitating the camel drivers.
                                    The camel went along,
letting the mouse feel heroic.
                                          "Enjoy yourself,"
he thought. "I have something to teach you, presently."

They came to the edge of a great river.
The mouse was dumbfounded.
                                            "What are you waiting for?"
Step forward into the river. You are my leader.
Don't stop here."
                          "I'm afraid of being drowned."

The camel walked into the water. "It's only
just above the knee."
                                  "Your knee! your knee
is a hundred times over my head!"
                                                    "Well, maybe you shouldn't
be leading a camel. Stay with those like yourself.
A mouse has nothing really to say to a camel."

"Would you help me get across?"

"Get on my hump. I am made to take hundred like you
across."

You are not a prophet, but go humble on the way of the prophets,

and you can arrive where they are. Don't try to steer the boat.
Don't open a shop by yourself. Listen. Keep silent.
You are not God's mouthpiece. Try to be an ear,
and if you do speak, ask for explanations.

The source of your arrogance and anger is your lust
and the rootedness of that is in your habits.

Someone who makes a habit of eating clay
gets mad when you try to keep him from it.
Being a leader can also be a poisonous habit,
so that when someone questions your authority,
you think, "He's trying to take over."
You may respond courteously, but inside you rage.

Always check your inner state
with the lord of your heart.
Copper doesn't know it's copper,
until it's changes to gold.

Your loving doesn't know its majesty,
until it knows its helplessness.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

GUIDE AND THE FOLLOWER

Without an escort you're bewildered on a familiar road,
    don't travel alone on a way you haven't seen at all;
      don't turn your head away from the Guide

                                                                   RUMI

Your sight is failing and the road is long;
Trust one who knows the journey and is strong.
Whoever travels in a great lord's shade
Need never hesitate or be afraid;
Whoever under takes this lord's commands
Find thorns will change to roses in his hands.

                                                                     ATTAR

Since you're not spiritually perfect,
don't open a shop of your own.
     Be plain to the hand,
so you can become leavened and kneaded like dough.
      |Listen to the Divine Command, "keep silence."
                  Be mute
since you haven't become the tongue of God,
                be an ear.
           If you do speak,
  let it be to ask for explanations:
      Speak as a humble beggar
at the hand of spiritually great.

                                                RUMI


SOMETHING INVISIBLE

Once I asked my Master'
"What is the difference
  Between you and me?"

       And He replied,
       "Hafiz, only this:

If a herd of wild buffalo
 Broke into our house
 And knocked over
Our empty begging bowls,
Not a drop will spill from yours.

 But there is something Invisible
That God has placed in mine.

If that spill from my bowl,
It could drown this whole world."

                                                HAFIZ

Monday, January 9, 2012

COME ON COME IN

Serving girl:
               "It's spring, Rabia-
                why not come outside,
                and look at the beauty God has made!"

Rabia:
           "why not come inside instead,
            serving-girl, and see the One
            who made it all- Naked, without veil."

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

THE SMOOTH TALKER

A smooth-talking rascal stopped a good-hearted man one day
and poured out his problem.

'I'm so deeply stuck in the mire,' he said, 'that I'll never get out.
I owe ten dirams to a man so mean and troublesome that even the
smallest coin in that sum is a heavy burden on my heart. I can't get
to sleep at night for worrying about it. Every morning without fail ,
he knocks at my door, and for the rest of the day he follow me about
like a shadow, wounding with the most distressing insults. It's as if
he had no other money in the world.I'm sure that the only chapter in
the Book of Religion that he's read in the one that says: Don't spend.
I'm at my wit's end. If only some kind people would help me out with
a coin or two.'

The kind man listened to this tale with obvious sympathy and gave him two
gold coins. The fellow went on his way with a face shining like the sun.

An astonished friend said to the kind-hearted man. 'Surely you have come
across this character before? He's well known in these parts. If he died
tomorrow not a soul would mourn him. He's such a crafty and deceitful
beggar that he could saddle a tiger!'

'Enough!' the generous ma replied. 'The way I look at it is this:Either he was
telling the truth, in which case I saved his honour or he was lying, in which case
I was protected mine. Even a blameless man's honour needs protecting from
a man as devious and talkative as that.'

                                                               SA'ADI

Monday, January 2, 2012

THE DERVISH AND THE FOX

'What an astonishing sight!' cried a dervish. In a desert place he had
come across a fox that had no feet or legs.

'How can it possibly live?' he wondered, 'for it looks healthy enough.'

Then he jumped behind a rock in terror. A lion had come upon the scene.

The lion had killed a jackal. It dropped the carcase near the fox, ate its fill,
and then went off, leaving bits of the meat behind. Quickly the fox ate the lot.

'Even more astonishing!' gasped the dervish. He couldn't believe what he had seen
so next day he came out into the desert and again hid behind the rock. The same thing
happened. The lion appeared with a freshly killed jackal, ate what it wanted, leaving
portions of the meat for the fox to finish.

'It's a sign from God!' the dervish said. 'From now on I, too, will rely, like the fox,
upon the generosity of the Creator. He found himself a dark corner against a wall
and settled to wait.

'God will provide,' he said to himself.

He sat there for several days and neither friend nor stranger went near him. More days
passed. He grew thinner and thinner until his veins and skin were stretched like harp strings
on his bony frame.

At length, when he was almost too weak to move, a holy man stood before him and
enquired what was the matter.

The dervish poured out his story. 'Now tell me,' he said when he had finished, 'surely that
was a sin from God?'

'Of course it was,' replied the holy man, 'but how could you be such an idiot?
Why didn't you see that you were supposed to imitate not the fox but the lion?'

                                                            SA'ADI  

I ONCE COMPLAINED

Only once did I ever grumble at how fortune treated me.
I was so poor that I could not even afford shoes, and went
into the mosque at Kufah with a sore and complaining heart.
There I saw a man with no feet.
                                                SADI

THE SECRET

King Tashak of Persia revealed a secret to his slaves, adding: 'Don't  tell this to anyone.'

They kept the secret for a whole year. And then it slipped out,. Like a flood it spread
throughout the kingdom and everybody knew about it.

Furious, the king had the slaves bound, and sent for the executioner.

'Behead them' he ordered.

'Mercy!' cried one of the slaves. 'Don't slay us for your own crime.'

'How so?' demanded the King.

'This torrent that you are trying to stop now,'
answered the slave,'was it not once a mere trickle contained in your heart alone?'

                                                                SA'ADI