Dr Javad Nurbakhsh - Sama

 

It’s the time of sama!
Clap your hands happily!
All who have escaped from self
will get drunk tonight!
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

How long will you sit
and suffer in seclusion?
Rise on the feet of aspiration
and turn towards service instead.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

Rise and beat the frame drum!
Come, join the ranks!
Clap your hands drunkenly!
Now make a target of your self.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

Humbly and with love
you may escape
from the bonds of existence
and self-worship!
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

Spend this moment in pure joy,
observe love and good faith.
Pledge your very existence,
annihilate your self in God!
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

The lover is silent,
with no intellect or consciousness.
He has been bubbling within like a vat of wine.
It is time now to roar!
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

If you are discerning,
then seize upon this moment,
for this transitory life
lasts only a short while.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

In the proximity of the Beloved,
do not bother with cures;
freely offer upyour distracted soul!
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

We worship wine.
As long as we exist,
we are drunk and delivered
from our selves.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

We are light-headed,
drinkers of the dregs.
We have no distinct features;
we behave as Sufis.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

Where are You, O Beloved?
Have You no concern for us?
We are just beggars
looking for provisions.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

You are the soul’s nourishment;
You are the heart’s serenity.
You are both pain and cure;
You are both grace and what is given.
It is God’s decree! Allah! Allah!

 http://www.nimatullahi.org/our-order/history/dr-javad-nurbakhsh.php

 

Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh - One breath

From pre-eternity to post-eternity
is but a single breath,
A breath free of all these melodies
high and low.

Treasure this breath,
this moment you now enjoy,
Spending it in happiness: there is
no time for sorrow.

Once this moment has passed,
it is gone forever.
Your time is less
than the very least you can imagine.

If you spend this moment laughing,
the world will be all laughter.
But if you fall into depression,
the world will be all sorrow.

Don’t give your heart to this unstable,
transitory world
With all its ups and downs,
its twists and turns.

Lighten another’s heart;
be light of heart yourself,
For the highest gain in the world
is this.

Take care, Nurbakhsh,
not to hurt any heart,
For this is more valuable
than any crown or throne.

 http://www.nimatullahi.org/our-order/

 

Hakim Sanai - There is no place for place!

There is no place for place!
How can a place
house the maker of all space,
or the vast sky enclose
the maker of heaven?

He told me:
“I am a homeless treasure.
The world was made
to give you a place to stand
and see me.”

Tell me, if the one you seek
is placeless,
why put your shoes on?
The real road
is found by polishing, polishing
the mirror of your heart.

 

Eckhart Tolle - No mind

As you go more deeply into this realm of no-mind, 

as it is sometimes called in the East, 

you realize the state of pure consciousness. 

In that state, you feel your own presence with such intensity and such joy 

that all thinking, all emotions, your physical body, 

as well as the whole external world become relatively insignificant 

in comparison to it. 

And yet this is not a selfish but a selfless state. 

It takes you beyond what you previously thought of as “your self.” 

That presence is essentially you and 

at the same time inconceivably greater than you.

— Eckhart Tolle, from The Power of Now