Jalaluddin Rumi
Some Introductory Notes

It is a burning of the heart that I want; it is this burning that is everything, more precious than the empire of the world, because it calls God secretly in the night. — Rumi

Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Afghanistan in 1207 and died in Konya Turkey on December 17, 1273. He was the founder of the Mevlevi Order of the Whirling Dervishes and is regarded as one of the greatest spiritual teachers of all time — one of the True Human Beings... "a brilliant intelligence, an ecstatic, a careful worker in the world, a teacher, a magnificent poet, and a constant Friend of the soul's evolving."

He lived and taught in Konya, Turkey for more than 50 years. Konya stood on an ancient silk route, being a crossroads where Buddhist, Christians and Hindus as well as Moslems met and exchanged beliefs freely.

His books have been used in Sufi schools for more than 700 years as teaching instruments to help develop insights beyond ordinary perceptions.

Rumi's Mathnawi (a 6 volume work of 43 years in the writing), a massive spiritual epic, is regarded as one of the world's greatest books. Easterners worship his work as second in grandeur, depth, mystery and holiness only to the Koran. Its influence on Western literature extends from Chaucer, Goethe, Emerson and to the recent works of poet Robert Bly.

The Mathnawi was spoken aloud and written down by Rumi's beloved scribe, Husam Chelebi. As Husam describes his task: "Rumi never took a pen in his hand while composing the Mathnawi. He would recite wherever he was, in the medrese (the dervish college), at the Ilgin hot springs, in the Konya baths, in the vineyards..."

The Mathnawi describes biological evolution, how basic psychological drives motivate human behavior and the process of conditioning — all some 700 years before these phenomena were identified by Western science. The Mathnawi moves from narrative to a lyric style, from melting ecstasies to stern, practical advice. They are weavings of a collaboration between a teacher and a community of students. Its 22,000 verses is a vast tapestry into which has been woven Aesopian fables, scenes from every day life of his times, Neoplatonic metaphysics and Koranic revelations... To use Rumi's own metaphor, the Mathnawi is an ocean which includes folklore, the Koran, stories of saints and teachers, myth, the sayings of Muhammed, jokes from the street, actual interruptions, and whispered asides to Husam...

Jalaluddin Rumi has been considered an example of the perfected or completed man, a "human being in whom the divine attributes are embodied." Rumi's work expounded a religion of Love, with complete respect for the shared traditions of his time.

Rumi writes from somewhere beyond thoughts and feelings as we know them: "Your thoughts are the bar behind the door. Set the wood on fire. Silence, heart!" His poetry is an elaboration of hereness, the immediate song of experience that floods this world but is not of it. It is an ecstasy of knowledge. Some have said that he was often times in ecstasy while reciting stories or spontaneously creating poems and was often found "turning" during these recitations. The turning, or the "turn" as it is called, is a form of whirling which has been used since Rumi's time as a vital ritual (called the "sema") for the purpose of "remembrance" and an alignment with one's heart's desire for the Beloved.

So, why Rumi? Why listen to Rumi, a mere mortal who was born almost 800 years ago? Andrew Harvey has a very relevant and passionate answer to this question that I'd like to conclude with: "I suggest that it is to hear news about your real Self. I suggest that your heart is hungry to hear news about your true identity, about your Divine origin, about the splendor and glory of the world as revealed in the eye of the heart, in the sight of the true and awakened heart. And I suggest that behind that hunger is a desperate need to be filled with a food that our culture has been denying us and to come to spiritual recognition and understanding, at a moment where that recognition and that understanding are crucial for the survival of the world... If we don't open to this testimony of our Divine origin... and of our secret interconnectedness with all things now, if we don't go on a journey to transform ourselves in the light of that knowledge... there will be no human race, no habitable world. So on listening to Rumi and witnesses like him depends the future."

The following list is a short bibliography of source material for books about Rumi, about Sufism and books containing translations (from the original Persian) of Rumi's work. [In fact, all the material for this brief introduction comes from many of these sources.]

SOURCE MATERIAL
ABOUT RUMI:
The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi by Andrew Harvey
I Am Wind, You Are Fire — a scholarly study on the life and work of Rumi by Annemarie Schimmel
The Spiritual Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi by William Chittick
The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaluddin Rumi by Annemarie Schimmel
The Hundred Tales of Wisdom by Idries Shah

BY RUMI:
Teachings of Rumi: The Masnavi (an abridged version) translated by E.H. Whinfield
Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi — Translated by W.M. Thackston, Jr.
This Longing: Poetry, Teaching Stories and Letters of Rumi translated by Coleman Barks and John Moyne
Rumi: Daylight — translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Unseen Rain: Quatrains of Rumi (more from Coleman Barks)
Open Secret: Versions of Rumi (more from Coleman Barks)
Delicious Laughter: Rambunctious Teaching Stories from the Mathnawi (more from Coleman Barks)
Rumi: We Are Three (more from Coleman Barks)
Like This: Rumi (more from Mr. Barks)
Love's Fire — translated by Andrew Harvey
Speaking Flame — translated by Andrew Harvey
Ruins of the Heart — translated by Edmund Helminski

ABOUT SUFISM:
Books by Idries Shah, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Dr. Nurbakhsh, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Al-Ghazzali, ibn Arabi, Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak, Reshad Feild, Lex Hixon, Annemarie Schimmel,William Chittick, Kabir Helminski...

SOURCES:
Threshold Books (publishes books on Sufism and is the publishing company of the current Mevlevi Order of North America)... 139 Main St., Brattleboro, VT 05301 • 802-254-8300.
Sufi Books (catalog) 227 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013 • 212-334-5212
Octagon Press / ISHK Book Service: PO Box 176, Los Altos, CA 94023 • 800-222-4745

Intro and Source material compiled by Bob Banner