Rumi On The Nafs ... Beeeeautiful :)

Let's ask God to help us to self-control 
For one who lacks it 
Lacks His Grace

The undisciplined person doesn't wrong himself alone 
But sets fire to the whole world

Discipline enabled Heaven to be filled with light 
Discipline enabled the angels to be immaculate and holy 

The peacock's plumage is his enemy 


The world is the mountain


And each action 
The shout that echoes back 

This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace
To extract the silver from the dross

The spiritual path wrecks the body
And afterwards restores it to health

Anger and lust make a man squint
When self-interest appears
Virtue hides

Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion

If ten lamps are present in one place 
Each differs in form from another
Yet you can't distinguish whose radiance is whose
When you focus on the light

In the field of spirit there is no division 
No individuals exist

The idol of your self is the mother of all idols 
To regard the self as easy to subdue is a mistake 

If you wish mercy 
Show mercy to the weak 

The stoppered jar 
Though in rough water 
Floated because of its empty heart

When the wind of poverty is in anyone 
She floats in peace on the waters of this world
 
As long as desires are fresh 
Faith is not
For it is these desires that lock that gate

The tongue of mutual understanding is quite special 
To be one of heart is better than to have a common tongue 

If you dig a pit for others to fall into
You will fall into it yourself 

Many of the faults you see in others 
Dear reader
Are your own nature reflected in them

With will 
Fire becomes sweet water 

The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero
Compared to the lion who overcomes himself 

O son, only those whose spiritual eye has been opened
Know how compulsive we are 

Whoever gives reverence receives reverence 


The intellectual quest 
Though fine as pearl or coral 
Is not the spiritual search 

The intelligent desire self-control 
Children want candy

Since in order to speak, one must first listen 
Learn to speak by listening

When, with just a taste, envy and deceit arise 
And ignorance and forgetfulness are born
Know you have tasted the unlawful

Know that a word suddenly shot from the tongue
Is like an arrow shot from the bow
 
O tongue, you are an endless treasure 
O tongue, you are also an endless disease 

I am burning

If any one lacks tinder 
Let him set his rubbish ablaze with my fire

Although your desire tastes sweet
Doesn't the Beloved desire you
To be desireless ???

The world's flattery and hypocrisy is a sweet morsel
Eat less of it 
For it is full of fire 

Forgetfulness of God, beloved 
Is the support of this world 
Spiritual intelligence its ruin 


For Intelligence belongs to that other world 
And when it prevails, this material world is overthrown

Were there no men of vision 
All who are blind would be dead

All these griefs within our hearts
Arise from the smoke and dust of our existence 
And vain desires

Whoever lives sweetly dies painfully


Whoever serves his body doesn't nourish his soul 

Your thinking is like a camel driver 
And you are the camel 
It drives you in every direction under its bitter control

If you are wholly perplexed and in straits 
Have patience 
For patience is the key to joy

Fast from thoughts, fast 


Thoughts are like the lion and the wild ass
Men's hearts are the thickets they haunt

If you are irritated by every rub 
How will your mirror be polished ???

Anyone in whom the troublemaking self has died 
Sun and cloud obey

If you wish to shine like day
Burn up the night of self-existence

Dissolve in the Being who is everything 

There is no worse sickness for the soul 
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection
 
The heart and eyes must bleed a lot
Before self-complacency falls away
 
Can the water of a polluted stream
Clear out the dung ???

Can human knowledge sweep away
The ignorance of the sensual self ???

How does a sword fashion its own hilt ???
Go, entrust the cure of this wound to a surgeon

Many are the unbelievers who long for submission 
But their stumbling block
Is reputation and pride 
And continual desires
 
I'm the devoted slave
Of anyone who doesn't claim
To have attained dining with God
At every way station 

Everyone is a child
Except the one who's intoxicated with God
 
God has said 
Knowledge that isn't from Him is a burden
 
Like a woman's makeup 
It doesn't last 

Be cleansed of the (false) self's features 
And see your pure Self

Know the mirror of the heart is infinite 
Either the understanding falls silent 
Or it leads you astray
 
Because the heart is God 
Or indeed the heart is He

Everything, except love of the Most Beautiful 
Is really agony 
It's agony to move towards death 
And not drink the water of life

Fiery lust is not diminished by indulging it 
But inevitably by leaving it ungratified

Anger is a king over kings
But anger once bridled may serve