\nWanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter.
\nOurs is not a caravan of despair.
\nCome, even if you have broken your vow
\na hundred times.
\nCome, yet again, come, come.<\/i>
\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/images\/rumi.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWould you believe that the 13th century Sufi mystic Jalal-ud-din Rumi<\/b> is the best-selling poet in the U.S.A today? <\/p>\n
Come, come, whoever you are.
\nWanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter.
\nOurs is not a caravan of despair.
\nCome, even if you have broken your vow
\na hundred times.
\nCome, yet again, come, come.<\/i>
\n<\/p>\n
These days a video<\/a> featuring Rumi's poems translated and recited by Coleman Barks<\/b> is trending on Facebook. Coleman Barks does not speak Persian, yet manages to translate Rumi's quatrains into free verse based entirely on English translations by John Moyne, A. J. Arberry, and Reynold Nicholson. Barks' translations are like modern day remixes of Rumi's poems, rather than translations. <\/p>\n I believe that one should enjoy these “creative versions” of Rumi’s verses with an open mind. I am sure the Great Master himself would surely frown upon any narrow-mindedness on part of the reader. While Rumi purists rather compellingly maintain that it is impossible to “translate” spiritual poetry<\/a> into English without knowing the original language, I feel that this way his message of love reaches millions of souls who would otherwise be ignorant of Rumi. <\/p>\n It is famed about the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan<\/b> that he would happily sing for any one who approached him with the justification<\/a> that any recording, even if pirated, would help spread the Sufi message of universal peace and love.<\/p>\n I am still concerned, however, about attempts to separate Sufism from Islam<\/a>. As happens with me all too often, a real scholar expresses the message – one I have to strain<\/a> to get across – with breathtaking simplicity: <\/p>\n 'We cannot steal the fire. We must enter it.'<\/b><\/i> Kabir was commenting to Time Magazine<\/a> on attempts to 'siphon off the insights of Rumi and other Sufi sages without addressing their Islamic context<\/i>'.<\/p>\n Now for a little taste of the Rumi-Barks method:<\/p>\n Who Says Words With My Mouth?<\/b><\/p>\n All day I think about it, Guest House<\/b> <\/p>\n Being human is like Click these links for free downloads of Rumi's Masnawi<\/a> and Fihi-ma-Fihi<\/a>.<\/p>\n Happy Soul Searching !<\/p>\n Would you believe that the 13th century Sufi mystic Jalal-ud-din Rumi is the best-selling poet in the U.S.A today? Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn\u2019t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times. Come, yet again, come, come. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":782,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– Kabir Helminski<\/b>, Sufi and Rumi translator.<\/p>\n
\nthen at night I say it.
\nWhere did I come from,
\nand what am I supposed to be doing?
\nI have no idea.
\nMy soul is from elsewhere,
\nI'm sure of that,
\nand I intend to end up there.
\nThis drunkenness
\nbegan in some other tavern.
\nWhen I get back around
\nto that place,
\nI'll be completely sober.
\nMeanwhile, I'm like a bird
\nfrom another continent,
\nsitting in this aviary.
\nThe day is coming when I fly off,
\nbut who is it now in my ear
\nwho hears my voice?
\nWho says words with my mouth?
\nWho looks out with my eyes?
\nWhat is the soul?
\nI cannot stop asking.
\nIf I could taste
\none sip of an answer,
\nI could break out
\nof this prison for drunks.
\nI didn't come here of my own accord,
\nand I can't leave that way.
\nWhoever brought me here
\nwill have to take me home.
\nThis poetry,
\nI never know
\nwhat I'm going to say.
\nI don't plan it.
\nWhen I'm outside the saying of it,
\nI get very quiet
\nand rarely speak at all.<\/p>\n
\na guest house.
\nEach morning a new arrival.
\nA joy,
\na depression,
\na meanness,
\nsome momentary awareness
\ncomes as an unexpected visitor.
\nWelcome and entertain them all!
\nEven if they're a crowd of sorrows,
\nwho violently sweep your house
\nempty of its furniture,
\nstill treat each guest honorably.
\nHe may be clearing you out
\nfor some new delight.
\nThe dark thought,
\nthe shame,
\nthe malice,
\nmeet them at the door
\nlaughing,
\nand invite them in.
\nBe grateful for whoever comes,
\nbecause each has been sent
\nas a guide from beyond.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/images\/sign.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"