metamorphosis

Hi.. your request for Rumi.. First I'd like to say what a personal pleasure it was talking to you.. recognizing that echoing 'silence' in your voice.. that speaks of various chains unshackling inside.. as we move towards that quiet space within our hearts.. ready to hear it speak..

"Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers,

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter".

so so beautiful, isn't it.. when people touch on emotions, so simply.. say so much.. with so little.. that it remains with you forever.. and you can feel that soft beautiful center.. so long shrouded in shadows.. flower and smile.. This is my 'meeting' with Rumi.. we go to art galleries to see all those paintings.. of nature captured on canvas.. we even frame them on our walls.. eternally admiring each time we look at them.. but none inspires us enough.. to just once look up.. and outside.. each shade unique.. the changing colours of the sky.. a miracle happening.. an artist incomparable.. using different strokes each time.. belonging to 'us'.. free.. incomparable.. seeking it's frame.. in our eyes.. this is what Rumi's poetry breathes.. not mere words captured within pages.. but joy finding it's echo in so many hearts..

Sufism as I have felt through Rumi's words.. is love beyond the self.. an ecstasy.. a passion.. dancing and whirling in joyous freedom, embracing creation, uniting with one and all, recognizing the God within.. nearly impossible to communicate in words.. for as Rumi said..

"If you could get rid
of yourself just once
the secret of secrets
would be open to you"

but we go on seeking in life.. looking outside.. getting tangled in words and books.. scriptures.. preconceived notions.. truths.. until at some point.. something.. makes us turn inwards.. and we realize we all find our own truth.. for we all live in a world of our own making.. like two people looking out of the prison bars.. one could see mud.. the other stars.. for Rumi it was Shams of Tabriz who brought him back to himself.. helped him see the light inside.. and Rumi feeling that gratitude.. as if his whole life had moved towards this moment.. this person.. this truth.. deeply moved, said..

"What I had thought of before as God, I met today in a human being"

In our life we tend to focus our energies in the 'physical'.. for that is what we recognize.. and Rumi too moved in his journey from wisdom.. to soul recognition.. love.. silence.. worship.. devastation.. and ecstasy.. Rumi was a scholar and teacher himself.. until his path crossed with Shams of Tabriz.. who searched and prayed for someone who could 'endure my company'.. Rumi was so affected by this meeting.. that they became inseparable.. how difficult it is to realize who is getting more pleasure here.. even as we speak only of Rumi's ecstasy.. when Shams disappears from Rumi's life for some time.. is really the moment when Rumi first became a poet.. dancing and whirling for hours.. an involuntary transformation.. in a slow unraveling of the self.. again Shams came into his life.. and a mutual quietness settled inside.. until Shams disappeared forever, even as Rumi searched in vain this time.. and realized..

"Why should I seek? I am the same as
he. His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself!"

Such a beautiful merging of the self.. and letting go.. opening outwards.. like the outstretched hands of the dervishes.. as if embracing, celebrating life and divinity.. both within and without.. till nothing remains.. transforming into pure ecstatic light..

The seminar on Rumi's poetry was really illuminating.. though I found the lectures insipid topically.. how can poetry that speaks of abandoned love.. be covered by academics giving an account of his life and works.. (necessary, I admit).. still.. so grossly failing to capture the ‘essence’ of love beyond oneself.. within oneself.. gravitating towards another holding the mirror.. and we see the ‘hand’.. and we see the ‘image’.. till all sense of ‘separateness’ blurs.. merges into one cohesive whole.. the seminar defeated the whole 'meaning'.. sometimes conformity confounds to the point of vacuity..

none could bring out the ecstasy.. the elevation.. the surrender.. in his words.. no one would even touch the subject of his relation with shams.. the one person who could make him realize that the meaning of life and self.. wasn't in his books.. which only spoke of others truth.. how can one.. who puts you in touch with yourself.. not cause you to feel that ecstasy.. in yourself.. in him.. and in each thing around.. that eternal search for divinity just a breath away..

In our metamorphosis
let us look past the chrysalis
and greet each day
on colorful wings of joy
fragile..
beguilingly flitting over this
garden of our heart
drinking honey from all those
flowering perceptions
dancing in recognition
of our own divinity
laughing in the face
of time....