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AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2012
PRABUDHHA JIVAN: AAGAM PARICHAY SPECIAL
153
Thus HE Was, Thus HE Spoke :
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RUMI When Dhanvant Bhai asked me to start a column in Maybe two, maybe three,maybe four, all at once. & English on 'Thus Spake', I went into a tizzy as there Maybe a relationship with God? are so many whose timely words have touched me at
I know there is a gold mine in you, & different phases of my life and different states of mind. Poets, philosophers. spiritual masters, visionaries all When you find it, the wonderment of the earth's flashed in my mind's eye. But since we had to stick to e one and this is just the beginning what better way to you will lay aside as naturally as does a child a 2 2 start than with friendship. Friendship be it of Krishna
doll. & Sudama or Rumi and Shams, there is something very But dear, how sweet you look to me kissing the
untouched about it. So let us begin and celebrate Rumi- unreal; 2 and things that he said and felt after his deep friend- Comfort, fulfill yourself in any way possible- do 2 2 ship with Shams of Tabriz.
that until you ache, until you ache, 2 Jelaluddin Rumi was born in 1207 AD in Balkh (for- then come to me again. merly Persia but now Afghanistan). However, as Balkh Ah Rumi- How beautifully he describes our journey 2 was soon over run by Mongol armies, the family fled back to ourselves! Love, fame, popularity, power, even to Konya (present day Turkey) which then became spirituality all ultimately to be cast off once we find this 2 Rumi's 'home'. His father was a learned scholar and way back to ourselves. headmaster of the Islamic school and this legacy Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly let it 2 passed onto Rumi, who was first an excellent student, cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you as a a scholar indeed and then became head of the school. few human or even divine ingredients can. SomeHe was a popular teacher and revered as a learned thing missing in my heart tonight has made my 2 man living an exemplary life of service to the commu- eves so soft, my voice so tender ,my need of god a nity.
absolutely clear. And then, Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish
As all our texts have shown us constantly about the came into Konya. Their meeting sparked off a profound
momentariness of all life's pleasures or pain and Rumia Grelationship which defied all description and has indeed
tells us here to not get distracted away from pain but been described by a gamut of terms- sacred friend
let it in welcome it, embrace it and it will help in making ship, a rare connection; student and teacher; devotee
you ready for a satguru. Cand guru; Lovers... as only Man and God... as only
I like when the music happens like this: Man and Self... can be.
Something in His eyes grabs hold of a tambourine & Rumi changed... of course not so much in a planned
in me, & manner ...but as... something that just happened!
Then I turn and lift violin in someone else, The conventional all-knowing teacher became a god intoxicated seeker. The path of books, knowledge, fell And they turn, and this turning continues, away ... into the deep deep pool of Bhakti.
It has reached you now. Isn't that something... ? Let us take a deep dip into not Rumi's mind, and his Rumi 2 heart full of love, the only way love can be. We will go in this, Rumi describes the interconnectedness of 2 through some of his poems all translated into english all human beings-like people are 'nimits' to us and we 2 by differant scholars studying Rumi.
become Nimit for someone else. It's rigged- everything, in your favor.
Come come whoever you are... Come, and come So there is nothing to worry about.
again.... Come even if you have broken your vows ? Is there some position you want,
a thousand times...wanderer,idolator, worshipper some office, some acclaim, some award, some con, of fire....ours is not a caravan of despair... Rumi & some lover
Yes Rumi can be seen as an 'ashavaadi' but wouldnt
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