And the banner add below says, "Hunger Kills".

Yes, be annihilated in this hunger for the Beloved...die a thousand deaths...and then a thousand more...oh just die already! :)

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The "Divan" is the inspiration of Rumi's middle-aged years. It began with his meeting Shams-i Tabriz, becoming his disciple and spiritual friend, the stress of Shams' first disappearance, and the crisis of Shams' final disappearance. It is believed that he continued to compose poems for the Divan long after this final crisis-- during the composition of the Masnavi.

The Divan is filled with ecstatic verses in which Rumi expresses his mystical love for Shams as a symbol of his love for God. It is characteristic of Persian sufi poetry for it to be ambiguous as to whether the human beloved or the Divine Beloved (= God) is being addressed. It is also an essential feature of the particular kind of sufism Rumi practiced that mystical "annihilation in the spiritual master" [fanâ fi 'sh-shaykh] is considered a necessary first stage before mystical "annihilation in God" [fanâ fi 'llâh] can be attained.


The Divan is filled with poems expressing this first stage in which Rumi sees Shams everywhere and in everything. Rumi's "annihilation" of his separate self was so intense that, instead of following the tradition of including his own name in the last line of odes/ghazals, he often uses the name of his beloved spiritual master and friend instead. Or he appeals to (mystical) Silence [khâmosh] which transcends the mind and its concepts.

www.poetseers.org/the_poets...rumi/divan

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On The Day of My Death


Ghazal 9111

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9557 On the day of (my) death when my coffin is going (by), don't
imagine that I have (any) pain (about leaving) this world.

Don't weep for me, and don't say, "How terrible! What a pity!"
(For) you will fall into the error of (being deceived by) the Devil,
(and) that would (really) be a pity!

When you see my funeral, don't say, "Parting and separation!"
(Since) for me, that is the time for union and meeting (God).

9560 (And when) you entrust me to the grave, don't say,
"Good-bye! Farewell!" For the grave is (only) a curtain for
(hiding) the gathering (of souls) in Paradise.

When you see the going down, notice the coming up. Why should
there be (any) loss because of the setting of the sun and moon?

It seems like setting to you, but it is rising. The tomb seems like a
prison, (but) it is the liberation of the soul.

What seed (ever) went down into the earth which didn't grow
(back up)? (So), for you, why is there this doubt about the human
"seed"?

What bucket (ever) went down and didn't come out full? Why
should there be (any) lamenting for the Joseph of the soul because
of the well?

9565 When you have closed (your) mouth on this side, open (it) on
that side, for your shouts of joy will be in the Sky beyond place
(and time).

www.poetseers.org/the_poets...divan/9111

A couple more came today in the Sunlight group mailing...


What Hurts the Soul?


We tremble, thinking we're about to dissolve
into non-existence, but non-existence fears
even more that it might be given human form!

Loving God is the only pleasure.
Other delights turn bitter.

What hurts the soul?
To live without tasting
the water of its own essence.

People focus on death and this material earth.
They have doubts about soul-water.
Those doubts can be reduced!

Use night to wake your clarity.
Darkness and the living water are lovers.
Let them stay up together.

When merchants eat their big meals and sleep
their dead sleep, we night-thieves go to work.


-- Mathnawi I: 3684-3692
Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I Am You"


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"Make glorification of God your sustenance"


Though Light is the food of the spirit and spiritual vision,
the body also partakes of it.
If your belly is greedy, turn away from the world;
the only way is to change what you eat.
You whose heart is sick, turn to the remedy:
the entire diet is a change of attitude.
You who are kept in pawn to food,
you can be free if you suffer yourself to be weaned.
Truly in hunger there is abundant nourishment:
search after it diligently
and cherish the hope of finding it.
Feed on the Light, be like the eye,
be in harmony with the angels, O best of humankind.
Like the Angel, make glorification of God your sustenance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Garcheh ân mat`um-e jânast o nazar
jesm-râ ham ze ân nasib ast ay pesar
Yâ haris al-butun `arjun hâkadhâ
innamâ al-minhâj tabdil al-ghadhâ
Yâ marid al-qalbi `urija lil-`ilâj
jumlat al-tadbir tabdil al-mizâj
Innahâ al-mahbusu fi rahn al-ta`âm
sawfa tanju in tahammalta al-fitân
Inna fi al-ju` ta`âman wâfirâ
iftaqid'hâ wa-rtaj yâ nâfirâ
Ightadhi bi-al-nur kun mithla al-basar
wâfiq al-amlâk yâ khayr al-bashar
Chon malak tasbih-e Haqq-râ kon ghezâ
tâ rahi hamchon malâyek az azâ

-- Mathnawi V:288; 293-298
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)