The first time I ever heard of Jallaledin Rumi was when I was in college and my friend was studying History of Religion at UCLA. He eventually studied with Bolla and and eventually got a Master's degree at UCLA Specializing in Sanskrit and Buddhism. With that degree he was qualified to teach college level history and any university and especially history of religion.
The first story he told me about Rumi was of him standing with a bunch of Muslims in front of a fire at night on the desert while they were traveling somewhere.
He suddenly said, "There is nothing within this cloak but God!"
However, when they tried to kill him with their scimitar swords there was no person inside his cloak in the night for he had disappeared!
This is likely my favorite story of the Sufi Mystic Rumi that I ever heard.
This Valentine's day my wife bought me a lovely book called "Little Book of Rumi's Heart"
As I as looking at it today as she is returning from southern California on business I found some parts I wanted to share with you:
Introduction to the book:
It is the thirteenth century and times are tumultuous in the East. The Persian Empire is in chaos and division and corruption are rife amongst the ruling classes. The Mogul armies of Genghis Khan are moving westward, invading and pillaging country after country. People are living in fear and disbelief, having lost faith in their political and religious leaders. The Persians will soon bear witness to one of the worst massacres in history at the hands of the Mogul invaders.
Mowlana Jallaledin Rumi is born on September 30th 1207, on the far eastern edge of the Persian Empire in Balkh in modern-day Afghanistan. His Father, Baha-e Valad, is a reknowned religious leader with a great following. A descendant of a long line of theologians, teachers, scholars and Islamic jurists, he eventually falls into disfavor with the brutal local ruler. Fearing the impending Mogul invasion, Rumi's father gathers his family and followers and leaves his homeland. After years of traveling during the mayhem of war and destruction they eventually arrive in Konya, in the province of Rum in present day Turkey. Konya, melting pot of many cultures, religions and nationalities, is also a center of science, literature and learning. Rumi, now in his teens, is nourished in an atmosphere of love, stability and intellectual richness. Meanwhile the Turkish leader of the province offers Baha-e Valad his own school and the family settles permanently in Konya. Years later after his father's death, the young erudite Rumi assumes the teaching post in the same school, not only leading his father's students but gaining thousands more on his own merit.
In 1244 Rumi, now thirty-six and an established scholar and religious leader, encounters Shams of Tabriz, a man in his sixties who is to shake the very foundations of Rumi's life. Shams' background is unclear, his appearance is shabby and his manner rough and uncompromising. A dervish, or wandering mystic, Shams is a highly advanced Sufi walking the spiritual path of love. Rumi recognizes in Shams a great master and, from their first encounter, becomes devoted to him. The meeting of these two men is like the meeting of two mighty rivers. Highly accomplished spiritual beings, each man recognizes in the other a confident he has been seeking.
Shams, searching all his life for someone who can truly understand him and receive his knowledge, finally finds this person in Rumi.
My daughter's favorite quote of Rumi: "The heart knows the way. Run in that direction"
end quote from the introduction.
Lineage is what all who have wisdom or who want wisdom seek. I found it in Christianity, I found it in Native American TEachings from medicine men and medicine women. I found it in Self Realization Fellowship. I found it in Tibetan Lamas with lineage stretching back thousands of years. We find it everywhere if we search for it.
In the old days it was about putting enlightenment or better said the seeds of enlightenment in your students auras directly just by being around them. This is how it was done in conveying the seeds of enlightenment to your students directly. It is sort of like you putting an encyclopedia of your knowledge inside their awareness and aura so that one day when they are ready and evolved enough they can research inside their own auras and minds the encyclopedia of lineage that you have installed there just by being near to them in thought word or deed or in their physical presence.
This way thousands of teachers of the past enlighten directly their new students in the present to become the masters of today and on into the future forever.
By God's Grace
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