RUMI and THE ROAD TO UNION!

Happy Tuesday to You!

Well, I’m slowly getting my feet back on the ground post-conference.

I had a fantastic day working with my client “Jason” yesterday who’s here visiting from New York. We’ve been working together by SKYPE for several months with his most excellent trainer, Csaba Lucas who referred Jason to me.

Often times, other student’s of mine refer their clients to me and I allow them to sit in on sessions to help them gain a better understanding of how to work with those client’s challenges.  So far this has been quite advantageous for the client and the coach as they both benefit.

Jason is one of those rare clients/students that authentically applies my teachings. With Csaba, he made the journey from over 300 pounds to a very fit 165. Like most of us, Jason is learning how to understand the many life challenges, manage his creative powers and create his dreams effectively.

Yesterday, we worked on infant development exercises to balance his body-mind. We also spent time mastering the deadlift and basic exercise programming methodology. We also spent time discussing how to best share his new found healthy lifestyle and life skills with family and friends.

Today, we will work on his tai-chi, Qi-gong and I will introduce him to rock stacking and how to connect more deeply with his own soul.

It’s such a joy to work with someone that authentically desires to learn, grow and who actually trust the teacher enough to practice what he’s been taught.

As I suspect most of you that coach others are aware, many clients are addicted to putting their own spin on what they are taught and when they don’t get what they said they wanted, they like to blame it on the teachings! Oh, the story of an ego that wants to be taught but resists learning and practicing for fear of actually being free!

On that note of being free, let’s see what Master Rumi wants to share with you all today:

RUMI and THE ROAD TO UNION!

I want my beloved to be the cupbearer;
To offer me wine from his lips.
I want his narcissus-eyes to become languid, drunk.

The curly hair on his forehead is like
A fearless charmer who plays with a rope.
My heart wants the playfulness of the
Hair that catches the heart and steals mind!

There are troubles from your sneaky eyes in my heart.
I want that trouble maker’s old magician eyes.
I long for them.

His treacheries, his badness are very pleasant.
His cruelties are beautiful.
His meanness keeps burning me.
For those reasons I am looking for that ungrateful one;
Searching for that cruel one.

I want to burn like a moth around that peerless
Candle that shines in the land of Absence.

O rose garden of the beauty, open your face.
Even the moon became ashamed after seeing your face.
I want that rose garden.

Four years later, we will stay together.
I am begging for your union on one road.
That’s all I desire.

Your mind did that thing. Love has succeeded this.
There is no use for that thing. That is why I want this.

We throw the pillow of the sultan,
Open the snake’s wound. I want to stay
With the Mustafa of beauty in the cave.

The Tartar of separation scattered musk and ambergris.
I want the musk of the Tartar’s gazelle.

I have such a heavy load on my heart.
I have been squeezed. I have lost patience
And decision. My Sultan, allow me.
Give your permission once. That’s what I want.

O bat, what do you care for the coyness of the sun?
It is shame for you. Yet, I prostrate hundreds of times.
I want the thing which is shame for you.

You have been putting me off with
The promise of union. I have lost my patience.
Separation has blindfolded my eyes,
Pulling me to the gallows.

The army of your love burns the soul;
Brightens the heart at the same time.
I want the commandment of love’s army.

The anti-Christ of grief is raising hell
With separation in my head.
I should ask for the breath of Jesus to get well.

I had a trick. Union had another,
But I repent now with the deceits and tricks.
I want that deceitful impostor.

Ref: Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, Divan-I Kebir, Meter 4. 31. Verse 2669, p. 60.
Translated by Nevit O. Ergin
ISBN 1-887991-02-6

For those of you that would enjoy hearing my translation of what Rumi is saying, I’ll share that with you below:

RUMI and THE ROAD TO UNION!
I want my beloved to be the cupbearer;
To offer me wine from his lips.
I want his narcissus-eyes to become languid, drunk.

PC: The beloved cupbearer is GOD. When Rumi refers to “!his narcissus-eyes” he means the source of the human ego. He means that he wants the ego aspect of God within him (and God) to become drunk so there is no memory or thought of separation from God (or GOD).

The curly hair on his forehead is like
A fearless charmer who plays with a rope.
My heart wants the playfulness of the
Hair that catches the heart and steals mind!

PC: Rumi is referring to God’s hair as a metaphor for Nature or creation at large. The fearless charmer is God, who knows no fear. This is an analogy often used in metaphysical writings to imply that we are afraid of snakes in the dark that are our own projections. When the light of enlightenment comes, we realize that all that time we’ve been afraid, the snake was but a rope! Rumi wants to enjoy the playfulness which is behind the appearances of creation, for he knows all that seems fearful is but a rope.

There are troubles from your sneaky eyes in my heart.
I want that trouble maker’s old magician eyes.
I long for them.

PC: Rumi wants to know God, not God’s tricks! The sneaky eyes are God’s projection of the ego, but the Magician’s eyes are steadfast and give no indication whatsoever of the trick’s secrets. He wants to look directly into THE MAGICIAN’S eyes, not into more sneaky eyes.

His treacheries, his badness are very pleasant.
His cruelties are beautiful.
His meanness keeps burning me.
For those reasons I am looking for that ungrateful one;
Searching for that cruel one.

PC: Rumi is simply saying that he’s open to all the meanness because he knows that behind it all is God’s Love. Once he gets past the show, he knows he’s home. In an indirect way, he’s suggesting that God is behind all the follies of the human ego and that he see’s the tricks. He’s sort of suggesting that by studying God’s tricks, he’ll eventually catch the Magician’s slight of hand and learn the trick, at which time, he’ll be able to know the Truth.

I want to burn like a moth around that peerless
Candle that shines in the land of Absence.

PC: Rumi is saying he’s so ready for GOD (Absence) that he’s ready to burn like a moth that wants to be in the light so badly that it gets it’s wings burned off trying!

O rose garden of the beauty, open your face.
Even the moon became ashamed after seeing your face.
I want that rose garden.

PC: The rose garden is another way of saying “God”. We know he’s referring to “God” here because a rose garden is something you can see and appreciate, yet “GOD” is the “Absence” behind even the appearances of “God”.

Four years later, we will stay together.
I am begging for your union on one road.
That’s all I desire.

PC: I suspect Rumi is prophesizing his own death and begging to be one with GOD again.

Your mind did that thing. Love has succeeded this.
There is no use for that thing. That is why I want this.

PC: Rumi is saying that “God’s Mind” did that thing (created existence and the illusions of the ego). His love has succeeded “that thing” and that’s why he wants Union with Source. He’s done with the sneaky tricks God loves to play on God!none of which lead one to GOD, where there is neither existence, nor tricks, nor ego. Just pure Abiding.

We throw the pillow of the sultan,
Open the snake’s wound. I want to stay
With the Mustafa of beauty in the cave.

PC: Rumi’s being rebellious. The Sultan is a great ruler and throwing his pillow is a metaphor for getting in trouble by going against conventional religious beliefs of the day. Mustafa is a person in the Koran.

The Tartar of separation scattered musk and ambergris.
I want the musk of the Tartar’s gazelle.

PC: The Tartar is a tribe. The scattering of musk and ambergris is probably a trick of deception used for hunting. Rumi wants the real thing. No tricks.

I have such a heavy load on my heart.
I have been squeezed. I have lost patience
And decision. My Sultan, allow me.
Give your permission once. That’s what I want.

PC: Rumi is simply asking God to give him permission just once to be with GOD.

O bat, what do you care for the coyness of the sun?
It is shame for you. Yet, I prostrate hundreds of times.
I want the thing which is shame for you.

PC: Bats are nocturnal creatures that don’t like the light of the sun; the sun is a metaphor for God. Unlike the bat, Rumi wants to enter the Divine Light.

You have been putting me off with
The promise of union. I have lost my patience.
Separation has blindfolded my eyes,
Pulling me to the gallows.

PC: Rumi’s saying that he’s had enough of the human, earthly, ego-games. He’s saying that he’s not satisfied with the promises of union offered in Holy books; that never seems to come! Look at all the lost people following rules, praying ceaselessly, yet, show no evidence of enlightenment! He’s so done in fact, that he’d rather die that continue playing such silly “religious” games.

The army of your love burns the soul;
Brightens the heart at the same time.
I want the commandment of love’s army.

PC: Rumi is using pure metaphor here. He knows full well the soul can’t be burned, only the body-mind can be. He’s saying that the pains and fillies of the ego eventually burn all but the soul away. He says, “I want the commandment of love’s army.” – which means that he wants to know the One Truth behind all the appearances of light and shadow, of ego.

The anti-Christ of grief is raising hell
With separation in my head.
I should ask for the breath of Jesus to get well.

PC: The ego is the anti-Christ of grief that is raising hell. The ego is the source of both separation, and the head, home of the individual ego. Asking for the breath of Jesus is simply asking for “Christ”, which means Union.

I had a trick. Union had another,
But I repent now with the deceits and tricks.
I want that deceitful imposter.

PC: Rumi is saying that he’s done participating in God’s tricks and playing his own tricks. Now he wants to be one with THE TRICKSTER, The One who created the ego as a means of creating time, something to do, to be, to see. He’s done looking at the show of illusion and wants to be with God, THE MAGICIAN.

Love and chi,

Paul Chek