Burning with God : The Fire of Rumi

"I am *burning*: does anyone want tinder?
Let him set his rubbish ablaze with fire from me!"

*Note: burning (with love of God)

(Mathnawi I 1721)

Drunken Sufis and Wine Worship -- Spiritual Intoxication

Saqi

Serve the wine, Saqi, that burns my soul.
That burns away all regret
for this and that.

Give me a fire that melts me down,
Then carries away the water and annihilates my existence.

Give me a wine that makes me lost to self
That i might break the jug and return to the vat

Give me a wine that sets my
soul aflame,
That burns
away my heart and soul and takes away all thought.

Give me a wine that makes me so
drunk
That i am set free from the darkness of my existence

Give me a wine that drives me
mad,
That turns me into a stranger to all creation.

Give me a wine that relieves me of self
That i might reside securely at the corner of the tavern.

Let the Tavern of Unity become my abode,
So that my heart desires and beholds
nothing but God.

"Saqi" -- Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh (Sufi Journal no. 41)

Voices of Abrahamic Witness : Boston Interfaith Event

Voices of Abrahamic Witness

"Jews, Muslims, Christians, and anyone called
to raise prayerful voices for peace and remembrance
of God
are invited to an afternoon of interfaith worship held
at Harvard Divinity School."

SATURDAY OCT 21, 2006
2:00 - 5:00 PM
@ Andover Chapel
45 Francis Ave
Cambridge, MA

Contact Sohrob: snabatian@hds.harvard.edu
or call: 857-544-3136

Spiritual Practice: Sufi Music

The minstrels play music from within;
whole oceans of passion foam
on the crest of their waves.
- Rumi

Essential to the Sufi Path is the Sufi spiritual concert, sama, which literally means "hearing". In the terminogy of Sufism, it is listening with the ear of the heart to music in the most profound sense--poetry melodies, tunes and rhythimic harmonies--while being in a special state so deeply plunged in love that there is no taint of self left with in awareness.

For Sufism in Boston, the Nimatullahi Sufis practice sama on Thursday and Sunday evenings.



--See Boston Sufi website for full schedule--

Hujwiri on Knowledge

"You must know enough to know that you do not know." -Al Hujwiri

qtd from Kashf Al-Mahjub - The Oldest Persian Treatise on Sufism.

Random Acts of Kindness

Check out the random acts of kindness website, especially their newsletter. Heart-warming stories and inspiration for all.

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

Heroes

You need good habits to become a hero.

In my holocaust class last semester we examined the profiles of people who rescued victims (Jews, Christians, anti-fascists, gypsies, etc.) during WWII. We found that not a single religion, political group or nationality holds claim to having more heroes or being more or less moral than another. In every community there was both the good and the bad.

So what characteristics did these heroes have?
1. “The power to care” – individuals were brought up to believe in helping other people. They saw victims simply as human beings.
2. “Habit of righteousness” – individuals were educated with moral sensibilities and brought up with the habit of giving.
3. No egotism– individuals would think of others before themselves.

The heroes of the day often were people who had good thoughts and habits concerning morality. They practiced their goodness on a daily basis and considered the needs of others.

This evidence shows that we should practice giving at every moment and every opportunity. Every act of Love counts, such as holding a door, giving to charity, offering a smile or a helping hand, listening. So when the time comes that we find someone truly in need, we can be heroes. We can be saints.

-kevin

Rumi on falling in Love

The Lovers
will drink wine night and day.
They will drink until they can
tear away the veils of intellect and
melt away the layers of shame and modesty.
When in Love,
body, mind, heart and soul don't even exist.
Become this,
fall in Love,
and you will not be separated again.

-Selection from Hush: Don't say anything about God by Shahram Shiva