Rumi: Quotes about the world

“Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well.”

Rumi

Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 204
Context: Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well. There is no room
for hypocrisy. Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?

World , Christ

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the World. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

Rumi

https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21

World , Change

“Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?”

Rumi

Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Context: Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?
I am the master illusionist,
it is me, who is the welcoming banner at the gate of your contentment.

World

“Our caravan leader is the pride of the world, Mustafa [Muhammad]”

Rumi

As quoted in And Muhammad is his Messenger : The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety (1985) by Annemarie Schimmel, p. 215

World

“Every cell,
taking wings,
flies about the world.
All seek separately
the many faces of my Beloved.”

Rumi

Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Context: My head is bursting
with the joy of the unknown.
My heart is expanding a thousand fold.
Every cell,
taking wings,
flies about the world.
All seek separately
the many faces of my Beloved.

World

“Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating.”

Rumi

As quoted in The Enlightened Mind (1991), edited by Stephen Mitchell
Context: Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating.

World

“Whoever enters the Way without a guide
will take a hundred years to travel a two-day journey.
The Prophet said "In this way you have no more
faithful companion than your works."
How can these works and this earning in the way of righteousness
be accomplished without a master, O father? Can you practice the meanest profession in the world
without a master's guidance?
Whoever undertakes a profession without a master
becomes the laughingstock of city and town.”

Rumi

Mathnavi translated by William Chittick pp. 122-123 as quoted in Classical Islam and Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition by Muhammad Hisham Kabbani p. 153

World , Faith , Way , Travel

“We have a way from this visible world to the Unseen,
For we are the companions of Religions Messenger.
We have a way from the house to the garden,
we are the neighbor of the cypress and jasmine.
Every day we come to the garden
and see a hundred blossoms.
In order to scatter them among the lovers,
we will our robes to overflowing. Behold our words!
They are the fragrance of those roses -
we are the rosebush of certainty's rose garden.”

Rumi

Divan as quoted in Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition By Muhammad Hisham Kabbani p.195

World , Religion , Way , Lovers

“I am so happy, I cannot be contained in the world;
But like a spirit, I am hidden from the eyes of the world.
If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me;
For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens.”

Rumi

Divan 1740:1-3, as translated by Fatemeh Keshavarz in Reading Mystical Lyric : The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (1998)

World , Tree , Envy , Happiness