SOME SAYINGS OF RUMI

 

                   SOME SAYINGS OF RUMI

Rumi’s full name was Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Rumi. He was born on 30th September 1207 in Balkh, Afghanistan, and passed away on 17th December 1273 in Konya,Turkiye.

He  was a Persian poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic. His spiritual instructor was the Persian poet and mystic  Shams al-Din Muhammad, popularly known as Shams Tabrizi.

Rumi’s most famous book is known as The Masvani, a poetic collection of anecdotes and stories which incorporate a variety of Islamic wisdom and  Sufi interpretations.        

          Given below are a few sayings of Rumi. They reflect the essence his mystical l thoughts and spiritual experiences.   

1.The  heart acts as a translator between mystical experience and intelligence.

2. There is nothing worse than to walk out along the street without you. I don’t know where I’m going. You are the road and the knower of the roads, more than maps, more than love.

3. Love is the reality, and poetry is the drum that calls us to that.

4. First you are mineral,  then plant, then animal. This much is obvious, surely. You go on to be a human developing reason and subtle intuitions.

5. Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, fire worshipper, lover of leaving. This is not a caravan of despair. It does not matter that you have broken your vow a thousand times, still come, and yet again come.

6. When the friend opens the door and says, you are here, please come in. It is such a pleasure to give up talking and listen to his long story about Khidr, the guide of souls.

7. Drink enough wine so that you stop talking. You are a lover, and love is a tavern where no one makes much sense.

 8. Waves from that stirring keep coming in. The soul has been given its own ears to hear things that the mind does not understand.

9. Each candle- moment there is a new moth. Some people, when they hear how the mind goes crazy in love, close down.

10. We are all far from home. Language is our caravan bell.

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Acknowledgement: For the sayings given above I have depended upon The Big Red Book, published by Harper Collins , 2011 edition,  New York.   

G.R.Kanwal

11 March 2025