Konya and the Mevlana Museum

     We travelled through the city of Konya a few days back en route to Cappadocia.  It is in Konya where the great Sufi teacher, poet and spiritual seeker Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (best known as "Rumi") lived  much of his life.  The Mevlana Museum includes Rumi's Tomb, the tombs of other Sufi masters, early copies of some of Rumi's works as well as many other historic relics.  The museum is a beautiful architectural structure.  Its most iconic feature is the turquoise tiled spire that towers over the sarcophagus in which Rumi's remains are entombed. 

     As is the case with millions of people around the globe for centuries, the poetry of Rumi resonates deeply with Johanna and I.  Thus, the opportunity to visit this sacred place had aspects of pilgrimage.  As I stood, surrounded by many others gazing at Rumi's tomb, I was filled with a sense of connection, both to the man that created these amazing works, as well as with the other beings around us whose hearts have also been inspired by Rumi.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

 ~ Rumi ~

 

 

The Beauty of the Heart

 

The beauty of the heart

is the lasting beauty:

its lips give to drink

of the water of life.
Truly it is the water,

that which pours,

and the one who drinks.

All three become one when 

your talisman is shattered.

That oneness you can't know

by reasoning.

From: Mathnawi II, 716-718

- Rumi

One Swaying Being

Love is not condescension, never
that, nor books, nor any marking

on paper, nor what people say of
each other. Love is a tree with

branches reaching into eternity
and roots set deep in eternity,

and no trunk! Have you seen it?

The mind cannot. Your desiring

cannot. The longing you feel for
this loves comes from inside you.

When you become the Friend, your
longing will be as the man in

the ocean who holds to a piece of
wood. Eventually, wood, man, and

oceans become one swaying being,

shams Tabriz, the secret of God.

-Rumi