Freedom from Yourself: Selected Poems from Divan Shams Tabrizi is a guide written to help set us free from our ignorance and the prison of our minds which keeps us occupied in misery, fear, and guilt. Rumi's teaching is based on the foundations of Sufifism which is divine love, worship, simplicity and moderation, goodness, consciousness of God, humbleness, and tolerance. The most celebrated relationship in Rumi's spiritual development was with Shams Tabrizi, whom he met in Konya. Through their spiritual teamwork, they enlightened many people and also influenced all the centuries which followed. This guide was written to help people reach their ultimate goal of attaining Nirvana-a state of mind when all our desires subside and we live in total harmony, peace, serenity and total stillness of the mind. it represents the final goal of Buddhism. Freedom from Yourself enables everyone to go deeper into the meaning of Shams Tabrizi's poems and to apply them directly to the everyday problems we can encounter.
Freedom from Yourself
Rumi's Selected Poems from Divan Shams Tabrizi
By Alexander KingBalboa Press
Copyright © 2014 Alexander King
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-2427-6Contents
Preface, ix,
Introduction, xi,
1st Poem, 1,
2nd Poem, 3,
3rd Poem, 5,
4th Poem, 7,
5th Poem, 12,
6th Poem, 16,
7th Poem, 18,
8th Poem, 20,
9th Poem, 22,
10th Poem, 24,
11th Poem, 26,
12th Poem, 28,
13th Poem, 30,
14th Poem, 32,
15th Poem, 35,
16th Poem, 38,
17th Poem, 41,
18th Poem, 44,
19th Poem, 46,
20th Poem, 49,
21st Poem, 51,
22nd Poem, 53,
23rd Poem, 55,
24th Poem, 57,
CHAPTER 1
1ST POEM
I went through a journey without I
There, my heart opened up to joy without I
The Beloved who always hid His face from me
Suddenly showed His beautiful face to me without I
I died from the pain of not finding you
A new birth came and I was reborn without I
Now I am always drunk without any wine
Now I am always happy and joyful without I
Do not ever remember me for who I was
I am the remembrance of me without I
I say happy and loving words without I
It is I who is always alive without I
All the doors of fortune and joy were closed on me
Suddenly they were opened to me without I
With I, even if I am a king, I am a slave of time
Without I, there is no slavery in all my kingdom
I am drunk with the wine from Shams Tabriz
May this drunkenness of love be always without I
2ND POEM
I was in the vicinity of an old monastery
When my heart was suddenly taken over
by divine love
The Beloved saw me and pointed at me
I went along and followed Him
He suddenly hid His face from me
I became amazed by the power of the Beloved
For He, with one glimpse, made me complete
Suddenly He appeared as a beautiful deer
Who changed into two hundred amazing colours
With the brilliance of His magical colours
He went along on a journey to Tabriz
And out of His great wisdom and will
He changed the perception of the people of Tabriz
And raised their consciousness to see the Truth
Then He said to the people,
Those who sought Me through understanding and not belief
And still worshiped Me out of their humbleness
I honour them with special status, prosperity and love of the world
Those who said that we are perfect and complete
I will make them crazy, desperate and wanderers of this world
Shams of Tabriz was the confidant to all His secrets
To whom He declared the details of all the secrets of His creation
The moment Shams opened his wings of Love
Arch angel Gabriel instantly became Sham's servant
3RD POEM
My friend; is the taste of sugar sweeter or the taste of the
one who makes it
Is the beauty of a goddess greater or the beauty of the one who
makes her
Leave all the beautiful goddesses and all the sweet sugar
For He knows better and He creates accordingly
Oh mind of man; are you more knowledgeable and experienced
Or the One who creates hundreds of minds and wisdom in a
second
Through His glory, He finds bodies, minds and hearts
And from a drop of water, He makes hundreds of eyes and
wisdom
Oh love, you are the fire of ecstasy and passion
This is because He made you out of fire and sexual passion
Now I have become mad because of your love
And sometimes my feelings for You burn my heart
Out of His love, He made the ocean of love
Between Romeo and Juliet (or Khosro and Shirin in Persia)
And out of that love, hundreds of poems and art were born
Shams Tabriz shapes my heart in a hundred ways
Sometimes he makes a sword out of my heart and sometimes
a shield
4TH POEM
Every moment the Beloved is reborn
In different bodies with many faces
He brings us love to love then He goes away
Hence our pains
Every moment He wears different garments
Sometimes He becomes old and sometimes young
There is no reincarnation and in truth, the beautiful Beloved
Became the sharpest sword to destroy reincarnation
And became the killer of time
He was travelling round the earth for leisure
When He became Jesus and appeared on the horizon holding
a rosary
He became Noah and drowned the world while praying,
He went on the Ark
He became Joseph and from Egypt sent His blessings to the world
To bring the world out of darkness with His light
He emanated waves of the brightest light through Jacobs' eyes
Until Jacob recognised Him
When the mind gained perfection in wisdom in old age
He became drunk out of joy and climbed mountains
And He changed to become a young man again
He became Job and showed his patience to the world
From the pain and the wounds which were afflicted on him
While He was both the wounds and the cure
He screamed from depth of his being
And suddenly His body became all light
He became Jonah and was swallowed by a whale in the sea
To become pure
He became Moses and willed to see God himself
So He went to Mount Sinai
He became Jesus and while in his crib
Gave His revelations of the Holy Spirit
And by His miracle, He gave life to a dried up Palm tree
To bear fruit for all to eat
It was truly Him who came through many centuries
And went away
It was truly Him who said `I am God" (Anal Hagh)
By His Divine Voice
It was not Mansoor who was dismembered and hanged
He was truly mistaken for Mansoor
The moment is here, open your eyes and see
From the depth of your being, your inner eyes
It is Him who has spoken all these words here
Which can only be spoken through the eyes of wisdom
Rumi has never said and never will say blasphemy
Do not disbelieve him
The blasphemer is the one who disbelieved him
Tabriz was Shams and He was the light for all meaning
In the paradise of lights
It was the Beloved who willed the revelation of all the secrets
of life
Which is hidden in Love.
5TH POEM
Every day my thoughts and every night my words say
Why I am unaware of myself and my life
where have I come from and why have I come here ?
And where am I going, do you not wish to tell me where?
I am wondering greatly why the Divine created me
And what was His purpose to bring me to this life?
The reason I say this, is because
I speak from the world of beyond, out of the ordinary
And all I want is to get there
Please take me to the winery of the King
where my drunkenness, peace and love emanate from
Blessed is the day that I can fly to the house of the Beloved
And fly in the vicinity of His presence and love
Who is he in my ears through which I hear music
Or who is he who puts words in my mouth
Who is he in my eyes who sees through my eyes
Or who is he of which I have become a garment
Unless you show me the way home by wisdom
I will not be quiet not even for a moment until my breath stops
Pour me the wine of your love to sip
To the entrance of the prison of eternity
So that through the drunkenness of your love, I break up this
body with my rage
Neither I came to this existence out of my own will
Nor I will die out of my own desire
Who ever brought me to this life out of His will
will take me home out of His desire
Do not think that I say these words to myself
Whether I am unconscious or awake I would not whisper a word
Oh Shams of Tabriz if you don't come my way
I swear to God that I will destroy this mortal body of mine
Between me and my Beloved there remains a vale that separates us
It is time to tear asunder this vale to see my Beloved
I tear my garment every moment out of my true joy
For all my being has become Him and I am just His garment
Now what is the purpose of my mortal body anymore?
For I am no longer a crow or a sparrow but a parrot with sweet
words
I am now the bird of paradise who is not from this earth
Except that a cage has been made out of my body for a while to
keep me here
Knowing all this, I still long for my desires for they belong to
this world
But I cut out all worldly things for I am from the heavens above
Oh the beautiful breeze of dawn, bring His fragrance to me
So that out of my joy I can break out of this cage of my body
And fly home.
6TH POEM
Those people who have gone to Mecca as pilgrims
Tell them the Beloved is here
Come back, come back your Beloved is your next door neighbour
So why are you wandering in the middle of the desert
If you see the faceless face of the Beloved
You will be the pilgrim, the Kaaba and the housemate of God
You went many times from this house of your body
To that house of Kaaba
Just once rise from your body to the roof of your house
be the seat of your consciousness and see yourself from
the height of your very being
If your will is to see the house of God
Remove the dust which has gathered through the ages
on the mirror of your heart
What is the beauty of a bunch of flowers
When you see the whole Garden of Paradise
Where do you find the jewel of your life
When you have separated yourself from the ocean of life
The source
With all your suffering, you have the treasure of existence
hidden inside you
Sadly you are the veil to your treasure
You are a hidden treasure deep inside
Just like the moon coming out from behind a black cloud
Come out and see your treasure
7TH POEM
Those who are seeking God, You are God
He is not out of you, He is you, He is you
Why are you in search of someone
whom you have not lost
Why are you willing to find someone
Who is not lost
You are a name, a word, a sound and a book
You are the trusted arch angel Gabriel and all
the profits of the world
Remain at home and do not wander here or there
For you are the house and the housemate of God
You have your own morality and attributes
Sometimes you are as low as earth
And sometimes you are as high as the heavens
You are immortal and free from death
Do you wish to be face to face with the Beloved
Remove the dust of time from the mirror of your heart
Whatever secret God has intended for you in truth
Know that you deserve His secret to be right for you
Shams of Tabriz is the King of the world
Where are those people who are begging for salvation
So that the King can grant them all the jewels from
His holy heavens
Come those ignorant ones and receive His gifts
8TH POEM
When there was no matter in the universe
There was nothing but the spirit of the mighty God
How could it have been anything or anyone else in the world
For in the beginning
There was only one supreme mighty Spirit of God
You could see that very moment only if you were conscious and
aware
What is the point of even saying it here
for you were blinded to see the truth
What am I saying here, the secret is obvious
That man is made of stardust and
Through His creation and His holy name
The highest secret of the universe was revealed to all
That no one was mighty except Him
Two worlds came into existence
Out of the light of His spirit
There was nothing else in the universe
Except the will of His spirit
I went through this world to know the truth
And gain knowledge and wisdom
And what I found was, truth cannot be found any where
Except in the heart of a lover who is drunk with joy of love
I drank a cup of wine made from the secrets of the unseen
And became intoxicated for no wine in the world could compare
Be silent, be silent for if it was not because of my love
For my creation
There would not be a single strand of hair in the world.
9TH POEM
Die, die in this love, die and when you die in this love
Then you will surrender yourself to the Spirit
Die, die and do not be afraid of this death
And rise out of your body and reach the stars
Die, die to your desires, for desires are like chains
Wrapped around you to keep you in prison
And make you a slave
Pick an axe and dig deep into the floor of your
Prison cell and once you break out of your cell
You are all kings
Die, die in front of the beautiful Beloved
And when you die in front of the Beloved
You are all kings and ministers
Die, die and come out of the cloud of your mind
For when you come out of the cloud of your mind
You will shine as bright as the moon
You are all silent with the spoken words here,
Silence comes near death and the whole meaning of life
is to be alive and act upon the truth.
10TH POEM
Do not be in love with anything or anyone
Except God
And when you feel the presence of the Beloved
Do not be involved with anything except the
Light of God
Never choose another Beloved except Him
It is impossible to have another Beloved
And when you are in the congregations of the lovers
Do not deny love
Half of the world is like vultures
And the other half is like Hyenas
Do not have the eyes of a vulture
Looking at a dead body
If the world is like a beautiful woman
Showing her beauty to you and distracts
You from the Beloved
Cover her face with thorns and push her away
Do not allow every idea that comes to your mind
To become the source of your wisdom and truth
And do not allow anyone who says a word of truth
To become your master and guru
The one who has abandoned his Beloved
Cannot be faithful to love, so do not trust
And reveal your secrets to such a person
The moment you see the splendour of the brilliant light
Of Shams of Tabriz, you need not be bothered with any other beauty
Such as flowers and exquisite of garden.
11TH POEM
What wisdom have I gained to date
That I do not know my self
I am not a Christian or a Jew or an Atheist or a Moslem
I am not from the east, west, land or ocean
I am not made of the natural elements of the earth
Or from the heavens above
I am not from earth, wind, water or fire
I am not of the sky or anything below it
I am neither from this earth nor from beyond it
I am not from heaven or hell
I am not from Adam, Eve or from the garden of Eden
My being is unlimited and my recognition is beyond recognition
I am not the body nor the spirit residing in the body
For I am He, the Beloved
I removed duality from Me and I saw both worlds as one
I only see one, say one, know one and sing one
I got drunk from a cup filled with the wine of love
And I gave up both worlds, the heaven and the earth
If in my life, I spent a moment without feeling His presence
I regret that moment, I spent in ignorance
Oh Shams of Tabriz I am so drunk with love in this world
I have no other option but to be drunk with joy.
12TH POEM
I do not know the nine attributes of God
I do not know the magical painter of creation
Sometimes He grabs hold of my neck
And sometimes He makes me sad
I do not know the good tempered, the bad tempered God
I have a joyful nature and I love music
I do not know my joyful nature
I see myself as a lion and the world as a herd of deer
I do not know the lion or the deer
One of my friends tells me that others say
bad things behind me
I do not know my friends, good or bad
The earth is like a wife and the cosmos is like her husband
Who eats her children like cats
I do not know the wife or her husband
The unseen face of the Beloved, tells me words
With the movement of His eyebrow
I do not know the language of His eyes or His eyebrow
Out of the strength of my arms the actions happen
And the reactions follow
I do not know my arms and my muscles
Which can do all things
Oh Shams of Tabriz come and do not ignore me
For when I am with you, I do not know the difference
between a stone and a precious gem.
Excerpted from Freedom from Yourself by Alexander King. Copyright © 2014 Alexander King. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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