God’s Attributes: Essence & Effects. {231.}

God’s Attributes: Essence & Effects. {231.}
****

“Everyone can see the effects of God’s mercy.
But who, except God himself,
understands the essence of his mercy?
Most people cannot understand
the essence of any of God’s attributes;
they only know his attributes through their effects
and also through analogy.
Only mystics have eyes to see
the essence of God’s attributes.”

---- Jalaluddin Rumi; Mathnawi.
****

First Earn & Then Spend. {224.}

First Earn & Then Spend. {224.}
****

“God has said, ‘Spend’; so earn something,
since there can be no expenditure without income.
Although He used the word, ‘Spend’ absolutely,
read it, ‘Earn, then spend’.”

---- Jalaluddin Rumi; Mathnawi {V, 579-580}.
****

Intoxicating Ecstasy of God Realization. {154.}

Intoxicating Ecstasy of God Realization. {154.}
****

“Ride one! Ride on! Do not remain behind.
Know this! Know this! Your situation is most clear.
Gallop! Gallop! You are fast riders.
Be proud! Be proud! You are among the beauties in the world.
What do you have?
What do you have that the beloved does not have?
Bring that! Bring that! Whisper it in my ears.
The night before last, the night before last, what was the tavern like?
Tell me that! Tell me that, if you are drunken wanderers of the night.
God has a wine; God has a wine hidden from all;
You and the world were created from a sip of that wine.

---- Jalaluddin Rumi; Divan 637:1-5.
****

“I’m Wind, You Are Fire.” {147.}

“I’m Wind, You Are Fire.” {147.}
****

“O you who’ve gone on pilgrimage --
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall --
You, erring in the desert --
what air of love is this?
If you’d see the Beloved’s
form without any form --
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul’s pearly essence
when you’re the Sea of God?
That’s true -- and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich --
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!”

---- Jalaluddin Rumi.
****

If God Were to Manifest. {91.}

If God Were to Manifest. {91.}
****

“If the flowers of His face, from the garden they are in, burst into laughter;
The spring of life would be renewed, the tree of body would burst into laughter.
If that essence of the essence of life appeared all by Himself;
My body would come to life with the Grace, my soul would burst into laughter.
If that speaker par excellence opened His mouth to speak;
The dead body would gain the power of speech,
the stuttering heart would burst into laughter.
If that master of all beauty revealed the beauty of His face;
All the robes of beauty would {be torn apart and } burst into laughter.”

---- “Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi.”
Translated by Fatemeh Keshavarz; Divan 2525:1-2, 4-5, 7.
****

Uncontrollable Mystical Love for God. {84.}

Uncontrollable Mystical Love for God. {84.}
****

“Again I am raging, I am in such a state, by your soul
that every bond you bind, I break, by your soul.
I am like heaven, like the moon, like a candle by your glow;
I am all reason, all love, all soul, by your soul.
My joy is of your doing, my hangover of your thorn;
whatever side you turn your face, I turn mine, by your soul.
I spoke in error; it is not surprising to speak in error in this state,
for this moment I cannot tell cup from wine, by your soul.
I am that madman in bonds who binds the “divs”;
I, the madman, am a Solomon with the “divs”, by your soul.
Whatever form other than love raises up its head from my heart,
forthwith I drive it out of the court of my heart, by your soul.
Come, you who have departed, for the thing that departs comes back;
neither you are that, by my soul, nor I am that, by your soul.
Disbeliever, do not conceal disbelief in your soul,
for I will recite the secret of your destiny, by your soul.
Out of love of Sham-e-Tabrizi, through wakefulness or nightrising,
like a spinning mote I am distraught, by your soul.

---- “Mystical Poems of {Jalaluddin} Rumi 2”; translated by A. J. Arberry.
****