Meeting with Rumi

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 !