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...
