The Mystic Poet Rumi

Jalāl ad-Dīn Mu ḥ ammad Rūmī was a Persian poet and Sufi Mystic.

He shared many gifts through the vehicle of his poetry, including passionate love of the Divine, a deep empathy for the human condition, and a profound ability to use external imagery from the ordinary world to open the heart and elevate consciousness to a sublime inner awareness.

Rumi lived in the 13^th century in an Anatolian city, Konya, now present-day Turkey. He endured an insecure childhood as his family was forced to roam between countries during the Mongol invasion.

Some of his strongest influences were his closeness to his father, the mystic Baha al-Din, his popularity as an Islamic professor, and an intense spiritual affinity and deep love for the dervish Shams al-Din of Tabriz.

When Rumi met Shams, he commented, ” “What I had thought of before as God, I met today in a person.”

He wrote numerous love poems to God or to “the friend”, referring to Shams. He often wrote of the difference between a lover and an intellectual. Before meeting Shams, Rumi had been a lawyer and professor, thus primarily an intellectual. His meeting with Shams opened up his mystic heart. In one of my favorite poems, he describes love:

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.”

This opening line is a poem in itself! He proceeds to elaborate on how supreme love transcends life itself:

“In the end, to take a step without feet;
to regard this world as invisible,
and to disregard what appears to be the self.”

Rumi’s concept of love is universal, just as it is transcendent of any personal boundaries. Unconditional, spiritual love includes all beings. He ends the poem by calling the ‘circle of lovers’ a gift-

“Heart, I said, what a gift it has been
to enter this circle of lovers,
to see beyond seeing itself,
to reach and feel within the breast.”

Rumi often wrote on themes of death as a part of spiritual awakening. Mystics of all religions refer to death in this exalted way, and it does not only mean death of the body, but death of our attachment to ego.

For example, the famous Christian prayer of Saint Francis, ends with this line-

“…it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life”

One my favorite of Rumi’s poems following this theme thread begins thus:

“A candle is made to become entirely flame.
In that annihilating moment
it has no shadow.

It is nothing but a tongue of light
describing a refuge.”

Rumi died in 1273 AD. His burial shrine is a place of pilgrimage frequented by people of all countries. His writing transcends religious boundaries and has always won universal appeal. He’s considered to be one of literature’s most exalted mystic poets and has composed over 70,000 verses, translated into numerous languages.

That Rumi’s popularity spans many centuries and crosses all national boundaries comes as no surprise, since he often wrote of the universal themes. He wrote of the “Religion of Love”:

“A true Lover doesn’t follow any one religion,
be sure of that.
Since in the religion of Love,
there is no irreverence or faith.
When in Love,
body, mind, heart and soul don’t even exist.
Become this,
fall in Love,
and you will not be separated again.”

SOURCES:
Main poem: ‘This is to Love’

Love poems of Rumi
http://www.rumi.org.uk/love_poems.html#This%20is%20love
(taken from)
Rumi’s Divan of Shems of Tabriz: A New Interpretation by James Cowan
http://www.rumi.org.uk/love_poems.html#This%20is%20love

Additional sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi
http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/rumi/bio/
www.khamush.com
Rumi, A Spiritual Biography (Lives & Legacies) by Leslie Wines
http://www.rumi.org.uk/bio.htm
http://www.indranet.com/potpourri/poetry/rumi/rumi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis
From-http://www.rumi.net/