Four years I
have lived in Istanbul-
I have seen
the magnificent Sultan’s Palaces;
I have seen
the impressive remains from the great Byzantine and Ottoman empires;
I have seen
the forever bustling Grand Bazaar traced from the ancient Silk Road;
I have dined
by the Bosphorus sipping wine hypnotized by the alluring belly dancers;
and I have
ridden through this amazing ancient Anatolian land many times
……
But I have
missed Rumi- Jala-AL-Din Rumi !
Rumi was a
mystery-
He lived his
life beyond any man’s definition;
He lived his
life like a song, like a dance…
When the
great empires fell in its ruins;
When the
Sultan’s harem was fading away;
When
Alexander the Great is forgotten…
Rumi is
still alive!
He lives in
the mystical Sufi music;
He lives in
the whirling devish dance;
He lives in
the hearts and spirits of his people…
He speaks to
me- ‘What you seek is seeking you’
Then I
understood that I was destined to miss Rumi -
because at
the time I was seeking outside NOT inside!
Human’s life
can be lived in such different depths and layers.
Lovers are
lying together fresh against fresh,
but what is
the deepest longing in their hearts,
eventually
will set their minds thousand miles apart!
Are you
secretly seeking Sultan’s harem in your mind?
Or is your
heart secretly drawn towards the mystery of life itself?
In the mist
of all the craziness and happenings of this world;
In the mist
of all the temptations and desires of the human mind;
It is not
easy to keep a pure heart;
It is not
easy to keep one’s mind uncontaminated;
It is not
easy to hold one’s spirit high...
But at least
we can follow the footsteps of the Wise,
because they
had been where we are-
‘ ‘Yesterday I was clever,
So I wanted to changed the world;
Today I am wise,
So I am changing myself.’’
So please stop
pointing your finger at others;
When you
start changing yourself,
the world
around you will be changed…
Here I am
back to Istanbul!
Sitting
again by the bank of the Bosphorus;
Gazing the
blue water glittering like thousands pieces of mirrors
dancing with
the sunlight…
Everything
seems so familiar and unchanged,
but I know
deep inside that nothing is unchanged-
I am no
longer the same…
Once I had
seeked and gained my beautiful identity-
the world
applauded for me
while I
felt drifting away from myself;
Now I am
undoing my identity façade -
the world
seems drifting away from me this time
while I have
myself found!!!
As Rumi says:
‘‘Go find yourself first,
then you can also find me
..there is a field beyond the doings of right or wrong..
I shall meet you there...’’
Maybe that
is why I keep returning ,
because there I have a date with Rumi !
