Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi

Do not grieve over past joys, be sure they will reappear in another form. A child’s joy is in milk and nursing but once weaned, it finds new joy in bread and honey. Joy appears in many different forms it moves from place to place. It may suddenly show in the falling rain or in the rose bed; it comes now as water, now as beauty, or as nourishing bread. But suddenly it may show its face from behind the veil and destroy all idols that prevent you from seeking the divine. In sleep when the soul leaves the body you may dream of yourself as a tall cypress or as a beautiful rose, but be warned, my friend, all these phantoms dissolve into thin air once the soul returns to the body. Do not rely on anything but your heart.

Man may tolerate the rain for awhile but soon he looks for shelter while ducks quack happily for rainwater is their sustenance.

If one were to tell an unborn child that outside the womb there is a glorious world with green fields and lush gardens high mountains and vast seas, with a sky lit by the sun and the moon, the unborn would not believe such absurdity. Still in the dark womb how could he imagine the indescribable majesty of this world? In the same way, when the mystics speak of worlds beyond scent and color, the common man deafened by greed and blinded by self-interest cannot grasp their reality.

The five senses are linked together for all five have grown from the same root, when one is strengthened, the rest are enhanced. Seeing enhances speech, communication increases vision, and sight stimulates and awakens every sense to spiritual perception. If one sense breaks free from its bonds having a glimpse of the invisible it makes it apparent to all the others. You have seen how when one sheep jumps over the creek the whole flock follows. So drive the flock of your senses to pasture and let them graze on the heavenly flowers in the Garden of Truth.

“Tell me,” my lover asked me tenderly, “how could you live without me?” I said, “without you I am lost like a fish out of water.” He smiled, “This is only your own fault.”

Suddenly my Guest appeared. Startled, my heart asked, “Who is there?” “The glorious moon,” answered my soul. The Guest was in the house but we, like lunatics, were running in the streets searching for him. “I am here!” he kept calling from inside while we like doves kept cooing, “Where, where are you?” As when a crowd gathers in the night shouting “Help, help there is a thief!” ...

The saying, “He is with you,” means in your search for Him, He is with you, closer to you than yourself, why seek outside? Melt like snow, wash yourself from yourself, an...

Only ignorance keeps a bird encaged. The Masters have fled from their cage and have become guides, showing that the o...

You have the habit of walking slowly holding grudges and resentments. Ill-tempered and greedy, small-minded, and with so many attachments how do you expect to attain union? Leave this muddy water and seek clarity. Being so weak, you need all the help and the grace of God to overcome the waves and reach the shore to safety. Take shelter with those who need no s...

Questioning cannot unravel the secret of truth nor giving away your wealth and position. Mere words do not exalt the heart pain is...

You may be proud and conceited but you cannot impress the sun by flirting. Stop walking in your own shadow wallowing in your foolish thoughts. Raise your head, look at the sun, walk among the flowers, become a human being. Do not dwell in darkness like a night bird prey for the mo...

Embrace sorrowful thoughts for they sweep the house of your heart clean, scatter the withered leaves, and pull out the twisted roots, preparing the ground for the new shoots of joy. What sorrow takes away from the heart it replaces with something better. Without the fury of thunder and lightning the plants will be scorched by the sun. Be grateful for all you receive, good and bad alike, for it may be a gift from the treasury of Spirit that will bring the fulfillment of your most secret desire.

The mouse-soul is a nibbler and has been given a mind proportionate to its needs. The Almighty gives nothing without need. God would not have created the earth if the world did not need it. If the earth did not need mountains, He would not have made them so majestic. If there was no need for the sun, the moon, and the stars, He would not have created them. He has given man tools according to his needs. Need, then, is the cause of all things in existence, so increase your need quickly so the sea of His benevolence may surge in generosity.

What is this hurricane blowing from heaven making thousands of ships stagger and sway like drunks? It is by wind that ships sail and by wind that they sink. God commands the winds as we command our breath when we blame or praise. Different winds blow from the invisible some bring blessings, others devastation. The wind is apparent but the source is hidden. The pure of heart perceive the source and are guided by its light. Their faith unshakable they keep silent, their eyes firm on the path collecting wisdom. Those blind to the source become form-worshipers, gambling their life. They sit at the feet of great masters repeating their words, fussing over faith, looking for smoke as proof of fire. Be like the Sun, King without courtiers, silent and still as a fulcrum.

Do not be fooled, my friend, this world is not to be trusted. It will intoxicate you with its sweet drink and suddenly desert you an...

Once you express your sorrow from the bottom of your heart it will be washed away. Look at a flower it can never hide its scent nor its color.

The Light that is life to the wise the eyes of the weak cannot endure. The fire for melting iron is not suitable for cooking apples, they need a gentle heat. But these flames are too gentle for a dervish, who, like the iron, draws willingly that fiery heat onto himself. Bearing hardship, happy and red, he goes straight into the heart of the flames setting his whole being ablaze. He is the heart of the world, for the theater of God’s action is not the body but the heart.

To dance is not to jump to your feet and rise painlessly in the air like dust. To rise above both worlds is to dance in the blood of your pain and give up your life.

“Give up the known, give up your life for the mystery of Love’s eternal wine.” “But before I die,” I said, “I would like to know you.” “Once you know me there will be no more dying.”

Oh gardener, gardener autumn has come how desolate is every branch and leaf. Oh gardener can you hear the trees’ lament standing leafless in rows mourners dressed in black, weeping? No tears come without reason no face is pale without an aching heart. The black raven of sorrow has entered the garden stamping his feet upon the withered green, “Where is the rose bed now, where are the lilies, the sweet jasmine and cypress? Where are the fruit trees, the green grasses, the nightingale, and the glorious peacock?” Like Adam, expelled from paradise all trees are stripped of their robes and crowns and the garden, frozen in lament, lies waiting

for the Lord’s promise of hope. But you, blasphemous raven, wait! To your envy the ice will melt, the water will flow again in the streams, and colors and scent will return. The trumpet of resurrection will restore life to the world filling the rose garden with laughter and the nightingale’s song. Autumn will di...

I have died a hundred times, Beloved, yet Your fragrance brought me back. I have lost my soul a hundred times yet Your voice brings it back. The vow we made in that glorious hour You kept; I broke it a hundred times tricked by my desire to reach You. How I long to set my eyes on You again and offer my heart as bait for Your love. You are the f...

Precious soul, do not delay embark on the wondrous journey to the sea of meaning! Remember, you have passed through many stages do not resist, surrender to the journey. Wash your wings from the earth’s clay and follow the trail of those before you. Do not linger in the potter’s shop break the jug and flow with the stream of life. Rush down from the mountain to the sea for the mountain offers no refuge. Do not wander east or west aim straight at the sun! From its light, like the moon, you will sometimes be a crescent and sometimes full.

In the first stage man is only a form then Spirit brings the beauty of disposition. In the first stage fruit is only a form then comes its delicious taste, which is its purpose. First beautify yourself, then invite the Beloved as a guest.

The signs of drying up resemble a branch that cannot bend or sway. The limbs of those detached from the world are supple like a fresh branch that bends easily in the weaving of a basket. Many are those whose concepts and fantasies have drained them of the sap of life unable to bend or sway in any direction. My words may be symbolic but they are like fire. Have you seen how quickly dry branches burn? There is no protection from the fire of Spirit. Everything perishes except His Face. Empty yourself of yourself and contemplate the words that spring from the silence of God.

Taste the joy of true faith and the temptations of the world will fade. But from a brain so easily tippled expect little. Sell your brain and buy bewilderment! Such an exchange will bring you a great profit.

Your mind can fly to great heights but your parrot-nature keeps pecking on the ground collecting knowledge that burdens the soul. Unlearn everything and embrace madness! Give your profit to the poor, forsake security, live dangerously, insult those who praise you, drink poison, and spill the water of life. Forget reputation, become a disgrace. I was prudent all my life from now on, I embrace madness.

Risking the charming and protective encapsulation of boxed protection confronting the chaotic and boisterous uncertainty of harsh world we'll be able to surmount the fragilities and our deepest apprehensions for forthcoming future. Comfort is eroding but voluntary encounter of madness is auspicious and vigourous.

Proud scholar step down from your summit fall in love and become a fool! Become humble like dust walk with everyone good and bad, young and old so one day you may become a king.

Pride and arrogance upon own knowledge is equivalent to Luciferian insolence and repugnance. Pride is like the luminous blinding light which transfixes us in shackles eventually we become its obsequious slave not acknowledging that there are great many things we need to know.

You carry a basket full of bread, yet you beg for crumbs from door to door. You are up to your knees in water, yet you beg for a drink from everyone you see. Why are you so blind and stubborn? Beg at the door of your heart instead.

Love is my religion! Living only in the mind and body is a disgrace for me. Love has swept the dust from my soul and now in the clear sky my spirit moon is shinning. For ages I have been beating the drum of love for you to the tune of, My life depends on my dying.

We are riddled and exhorted by hate. Ordained by despise shunning the individuals whom we denounce we are alienating ourselves from the natural flow of life. Love is the exact counterforce by which we can fight the insidious effect of detest. Loving individuals despite their flaws and their goodness is the best way to vanquish over utter bitterness. Because when we die people will love and cherish those individuals who loved others not despised.

Threaten not the selfless with the sword of anger you will only harm yourself. They have found safety in selflessness mirroring all that is around them. Spit at that mirror, you will be spitting at yourself. What you see, ugliness or beauty, is your own reflection. Simple and pure the selfless act as a mirror for the world.

Heart, be considerate soul, be tolerant patience, run if you cannot bear grief reason, go and play your childish games.

All selfish pleasures are fleeting and deceitful as a flash of lightening followed by darkness. By that light you can neither read nor reach your destination. Your road will be long and without a guide, deception will drag you mile after mile at night into the wilderness. One moment you stumble against a mountain the next you fall into a river. Because of your fascination with lightening the beams of sunrise have withdrawn from you. You may journey far led only by opinion as insubstantial as lightening. But opinion cannot replace the truth the lightening flash has blinded you to the rising sun. Come and climb to our boat or at least tie your boat to ours.

If we are mesmerized by ephemeral sensual gratification then well be lost and dissipated by drowning into deceit and spiteful behavior. As there is no apparently firm and noble reason to strive we'll be smitten by impulsive pleasure rather than following the transcendent ever luminous pristine Light of hope and righteousness.

In the Garden of Love you cannot relax even for a moment or you will lose your place in the lovers’ queue. Be sharp as a thorn if you want the Beloved to sit beside you.

Do you know where you come from? You come from the divine sanctuary. Do you not remember passing through those ecstatic spiritual stages? Since you have forgotten them now you feel bewildered and lost. You have sold your soul for a handful of dust. What a cheap bargain you have struck! Give back the dust and recognize your worth you are not a slave, you are a king. It is for your sake that the beautiful hidden ones have descended from heaven.

When we take birth we are somekind of a pristine and authentic beings. But due to the encounter with the charming enticing materialistic side of world we forgot our authenticity and idiosyncratic predispositions. We end up bargaining stingy materialistic sensual pleasure for the divine nobility and suffer in an agonizing way. To meet the divine source we must sacrifice what we posses for the thing which will help us blossoming properly.

If you have no lover, look for one if you have, why aren’t you rejoicing? If your lover is not compliant, mirror him if he is not polite, teach him manners if he is standing in your way, fight him! But instead, you sit here idly pondering over the strangeness of life. What is strange, my friend, is you not seeking the beyond. You are a being of light yet your heart is shrouded in darkness. You are gold melting in the furnace yet you still search for gold. Have you forgotten you are an old drunkard familiar with Love’s wine? Make your spirit blind to all but God beg at night so the radiant moon hidden in the shadow of your being may rise. I drink the wine that is the fire of love from the hand of my Beloved.

Become the wood for the Beloved’s fire your life will not be wasted.

The night is blind to the glory of dawn man is blind to the glory of the lover. He who complains of burning is not a lover for the lover’s heart is constantly on fire.

Love is a twofold emotion. It burns us sometimes and heals our soul some other times. But always it keeps it feat upon authenticity and righteousness. What's deserved to be loved love always advents to the person. The greatest love is indelible love for the divine creator who actually keep on teaching us how to love anyone.

The night is blind to the glory of dawn man is blind to the glory of the lover. He who complains of burning is not a lover for the lover’s heart is constantly on fire.

Love is a twofold emotion. It burns us sometimes and heals our soul some other times. But always it keeps it feat upon authenticity and righteousness. What's deserved to be loved love always advents to the person. The greatest love is indelible love for the divine creator who actually keep on teaching us how to love anyone.

The Friend is your eye, keep it pure do not stir the dust with the broom of your tongue. Withdraw from strangers not from friends a fur coat is for winter not for summer. When the ego joins with another ego darkness increases and the path is lost. When intelligence joins with another the light increases and the path becomes clear.