Rumi's Little Book of Life

Do not stir the water if you want to see
the reflection of the moon and the stars.

Each time a thought enters your heart

treat it as an honored guest, your worth

is shown by the thoughts you entertain

Do not grieve over past joys, be sure

they will reappear in another form.

Why do you seek water

when you are the stream?

This body is a guesthouse
each morning someone new arrives.
Welcome them all for they may be
messengers from the invisible.
Do not feel burdened by them
or they may go back to non-existence.
Each time a thought enters your heart
treat it as an honored guest, your worth
is shown by the thoughts you entertain.
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.

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 monsters of your imagination.
Get up and seek the light, look toward the su

What sorrow takes away from the heart
it replaces with something better.

The infinite green Garden of Love
has many fruits beyond joy and sorrow.
Love is forever green without spring
without autumn.

Mowlana Jalal ad-Din Balkhi-Rumi first honed his understanding of the concept of the divine by immersing himself in the disciplines of theology, philosophy, and law. An industrious student of jurisprudence who devoted his early years to the study of the revelations and traditions of prophets, with apparently little time for poets and their wares, was transformed in his late thirties into one of the most commanding and influential practitioners of poetry, to the extent that his fame is no longer limited to his homeland

In their translations, we understand that Rumi's God is not in the mosque, the monastery, or the fire-temple, but resides in the House of Intoxication, built in a lush Garden of Illumination, where a ladder of love leads to the divine. We learn that Rumi's God is not there to punish but is there to love and to rescue the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit. The only “right commanded” by Rumi is that the mirror of the heart be polished of tarnish and the only “wrong forbidden” by him is