Soul Poems by Rumi

TWO POEMS BY RUMI




One Song


What is praised is one, so the praise is one too,
many jugs being poured 
into a huge basin. 
All religions, all this singing, one song.


The differences are just illusion and vanity. Sunlight looks slightly different on this wall
than it does on that wall and a lot different on this other one, but
it is still one light. We have borrowed these clothes, these time-and-space personalities,
from a light, and when we praise, we pour them back in.


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Four Interrupted Prayers




Four Indians enter a mosque and begin the prostrations.
Deep, sincere praying.


But a priest walks by, and one of the Indians, without thinking says, "Oh, are you going to give the call to prayer now? Is it time?"


The second Indian, under his breath, "You spoke. Now your prayers are invalid."


The third, "Uncle, don't scold him! You did the same thing. Correct yourself." 


The fourth, "Praise to God, I have not made the mistake of these three." 


So all four prayers are interrupted, with the three faultfinders being more at fault than the original speaker. 
Blessed is one who his weakness, and blessed is one who, when he sees a flaw in someone else , takes responsibility for it.
Because, half of any person is wrong and weak and off the path.
Half!
The other half is dancing and swimming and flying in the invisible joy. 
You have ten open sores on your head. Put what salve you have on yourself. And point out to everyone the disease you are.


That's part of getting well! When you lance yourself that way, you become more merciful and wiser. Even if you don't have a particular fault at the moment, you may soon be the one who makes some act notorious. 


Don't feel self-satisfied. Lucifer lived eons as a noble angel. Think what his name means now.
Don't try to be famous until your face is completely washed of any fear. If your beard hasn't grown out, don't joke about someone's smooth chin.


Consider how Satan swallowed soul poison, and be grateful that you taste only the sweetness of being warned.

Matisyahu With Trevor Hall, "My Beating Heart"

Matisyahu with Trevor Hall - - - - - - - - - - My Beating Heart>Rastaman Chant from Coloartist on Vimeo.

The Hero's Journey

I've been watching Joseph Campbell videos lately and learning about the Hero's Journey. We are all heroes treading on this path. So I found this video that describes the Hero's Journey step by step using The Matrix. Hope you enjoy and strive to live the hero life.

Poems of Love

"Do you know, my friends, where the real saints are?
Wherever I look, wherever I want them, they're there.

My words bounce off the loveless like an echo from stone.
Do you know, whoever hasn't got at least an atom of love,
lives in a wilderness?

Don't be a liar, don't lie to love.
Whoever lies here, earns a sentence in the other world.

Oh, you unaware of Yourself,
you don't understand the meaning of words,
if you desire the realness of Truth,
here it is in knowledge and in the Quran:

If Allah says, "He is Mine,"
Allah keeps giving the realness of Love,
has the realness of God within.

Many people tell Yunus,
"You're too old to be a lover,"
but this love is so new and fresh."
-Yunus Emre



"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind;love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
-1 Corinthians Chapter 13


I write of love, I speak of love,
yet I am entangled in the web of lust...
Struggling on the path
I slip and barely keep from falling

Here I stand with the sun caressing my face
The room appears clearer
I chant Your holy names as my hand counts the beads
My voice drifts into the background
Illusion overcomes me once again

I force my eyes close
I want to taste love.... To do that I must beg for love
Prayer is love.... The Names are the essence of love
Failing to practice this throughout the day
I feel shame as my hypocrisy is revealed
-Bal Gopal das

Pow Wow

Bhakta Dave has asked that I speak about Native American spirituality. He himself has stated that the culture and rituals were passed down from generation to generation. There was nothing like a Bible, a Koran or any other manual to experience that which is beyond.
I feel the first thing we must understand about these peoples is that they had a very deep connection to Mother Earth. Such a connection actually brought about their culture. Some were nomads and others were pueblo builders. Definitely, their way of life was much simpler and more respectful.
In many aboriginal tribes, there is the shaman or medicine men. These people are gatekeepers to the unknown. They usually have visions and intense dreams that lead them on a spiritual path. They then take shelter of another shaman who then initiates them into the practices. Fasting, dancing, rituals and herbs are used as tools. Shamans and medicine men can be compared to the guru in India. These spiritual leaders were sought for guidance and cures. They would go on vision quests that would guide their people.
The spirituality of Native Americans and other tribal groups centers around the Great Spirit or Great Mystery. they believe in animism, or seeing that each animal is the representative of a spirit. For instance a beaver would be called Brother Beaver and would represent the entire beaver kingdom. And each animal represents a certain trait such as power, knowledge and so on. Shamans often take shelter of a Power Animal which they receive their gifts from.
We can see that they tried to explain the world around them in spiritual terms.
The formula is the same: there's a creator or Godhead, the material world is not our home, and there is the Happy Hunting Grounds or Heaven. Some might say they are demigod worshipers, others would simply call them heathens or pagans, but one who has knowledge can see that they had a deep connection with God in many ways that people today cannot understand due to our dependence on machines, televisions and so many other comfortable gadgets that we take for granted.

Black Elk On the Center of the Heart

"I am blind and do not see things of this world, but when the Light comes from Above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees everything. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things and through which we can see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen, and if you should die in this ignorance, your soul cannot return immediately to the Great Spirit, but it must be purified by wandering about in the world. In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us. The man who is thus pure contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart."
-Black Elk

Prayers To Be Absorbed In Spiritual Love

"Oh Allah!
I am Your servant,
son of Your male servant,
and son of Your female servant;
my forehead is in Your Hand;
Your judgement is exact;
Your decision about me is just;
I ask You by every name of Yours which You have called Yourself,
or revealed in a book of Yours,
or taught to any of Your servants,
or reserved within Your unrevealed knowledge,
to make the Qu'ran a spring to my heart,
a light in my chest,
that it removes my sadness,
and erase my anguish."
-Prophet Muhammad

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that i may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life."
-Saint Francis


"Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this one-pointed mind,
Your life will bring heaven to earth."
-The Buddha


"I will make a bed of the reddish lotus flower petals and request the young Divine Couple to come and sit. The enchanting lotus faces of Shyama, who resembles a blue sapphire, and Radha, who resembles gold, are decorated with sandalwood paste.

"O Queen of my life, Shri Radha, when will You show compassion on me so that Your on order I will bring varieties of flowers and hear Your sweet conversations.

"I will make vermillion with musk and decorate Your foreheads, and smear sandalwood on Your bodies. I will make garlands of malati flowers and adorn them on Your necks, and then I will drive away the bees.

"When will Lalita give me a camara to gently fan away the perspiration from Their bodies and watch Them with jubilation?

"Narottama das desires to drink the sweet nectar of service to Their lotus feet. When will that day come that I will only see Their Lordships and nothing else?" -Narottama das Thakur, Prarthana 50

Gradual Realization of Higher Truths

"Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!
You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant."
-Psalm 135



"The holy name of Krishna is the sweetest of the sweet and the most auspicious of all auspicious things. It is the self-effulgent and beautiful fruit of the Vedic desire tree. O best of the Bhrgus, when the holy name is uttered once without offense, either attentively or inattentively, it immediately ensures the deliverance of all human beings from the bondage of illusion."
-Hari-bhakti-vilas 11.234



"Muhammad gave this indication of how to know what's
real. When you feel

a peaceful joy, you're near the truth. Unquiet and
off center, jealous or

greedy, what you do seems pretentious and those around
you insincere. Speak

the clearest truth you know, and let the disease heal.
If words are tinged with

lying, they're like water dripping into an oil lamp. The
wick won't light, and
the pleasure and rest of your love room will diminish."
-Rumi


"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts. The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me. To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance."
Shri Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.8-12


"I worship that youthful cowherd boy whose complexion resembles the hue of fresh monsoon rain clouds, whose ears are decorated with fragrant campaka blossoms, whose gently smiling face defies the beauty of a lotus in full bloom, who wears dhoti the color of molten gold, whose crown is decorated by a peacock feather, and who is the mainstay of all the three worlds. May that son of Maharaj Nanda, Krishna, always protect me. His face is more charmingly iridescent than the full moon in autumn. He is the ecstatic ocean of divine pastimes. His exquisite hand holds a ball for playing boyish games, and He is the very life and soul of the damsels of Vraja. His entire body is covered with the fine dust raised by the hooves of calves, and He carries a flute tucked into the dhoti tied around His waist. His mellifluous voice captivates all the cows."
-Shrila Rupa Goswami, Stava-mala