Its method is two-fold. First it presents five important lectures on Persian poetry given by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, who brought Sufis to the West. Then it offers fresh translations by the poet Coleman Barks of some of the poetry Inayat Khan discusses, designed to provide readers with ready access to at least a sample of this wondrous literature, still not easy to find in English. Thus the book presents a brief, but reasonably comprehensive, introduction to one of the great literatures of the world, until recently ignored in the West.

    Rumi lived the quiet life of a religious teacher in Anatolia until the age of thirty-seven, when he came under the influence of a whirling dervish, Shams Tabriz, and was moved to a state of mystical ecstasy. One of the results of this ecstasy was a prodigious output of poems about the search for the lost Divine Beloved, whom Rumi identified with Shams. To symbolize this search, Rumi also invented the famous whirling dance of the Melevi dervishes, which are performed accompanied by the chanting of Rumi's poems. Professor Schimmel illuminates the symbolism and significance of Rumi's vast output and offers her own translations of some of his most famous poems.

    Pithy quatrains, ecstatic odes, and long rambles through the Mathnawi (including animal fables, jokes, and stories of human orneriness and innocence), all saturated with Rumi's deep teachings and images of his spiritual surrender.

    His teachings and insights inspired much of Rumi’s poetry and are still celebrated today by all Sufi. Translated by two noted students of Sufi, Shams’ timeless teachings are presented here in their traditional order. Through the book, readers discover the teachings that made Rumi dance and gain access into Sufi traditions and the power of mystical love.

    He recounts the perilous journey of the world’s birds to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf in search of the mysterious Simorgh, their king. Attar’s beguiling anecdotes and humor intermingle the sublime with the mundane, the spiritual with the worldly, while his poem models the soul’s escape from the mind’s rational embrace.Sholeh Wolpé re-creates for modern readers the beauty and timeless wisdom of the original Persian, in contemporary English verse and poetic prose.

    Reflecting both private devotional love and the attempt to attain union with God and become absorbed into the Divine, many poems in this edition are imbued with the symbols and metaphors that develop many of the central ideas of Sufism: the Lover, the Beloved, the Wine, and the Tavern; while others are more personal and echo the poet's battle to leave earthly love behind.These translations capture the passion of the original poetry and are accompanied by an introduction on Sufism and the common themes apparent in the works. This edition also includes suggested further reading.

    There is no poet in our tradition who carries the amount of admiration and devotion that the Persians have for Hafez. Children learn to sing Hafez poems in the third grade, and almost every family has a copy of the collected Hafez on the dining room table. Robert Bly and the great Islamic scholar Leonard Lewisohn have worked for 15 years on this book of Hafez, the first that carries into English his nimbleness, his outrageous humor, his defenses of the private life in the face of the fundamentalists, and the joy of his love poems. He writes in the ghazal form, one of the greatest inventions in the history of poetry.This is Rumi’s wild younger brother, now brought into an English that makes his genius visible.

    . . . Bly's versions . . . have exactly the luminous depth that permits and invites many rereadings, many studyings-even then they remain as fresh as ever."-The New York Times Book Review

    Once again Ladinsky reveals his talent for creating profound and playful renditions of classic poems for a modern audience. Rumi's joyous, ecstatic love poems; St. Francis's loving observations of nature through the eyes of Catholicism; Kabir's wild, freeing humor that synthesizes Hindu, Muslim, and Christian beliefs; St. Teresa's sensual verse; and the mystical, healing words of Sufi poet Hafiz—these along with inspiring works by Rabia, Meister Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Mira, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and Tukaram are all “love poems by God,” from writers considered to be "conduits of the divine." A spiritual treasure to cherish always.

    Western psychotherapy aims largely to help us eliminate neurotic traits formed in childhood and adapt to society. In contrast, the Sufi goal is ultimately spiritual: Yes, we need to transform our negativity and be effective in the world; but beyond that, we need to reach a state of harmony with the Divine. Full of stories, poetry, meditations, journaling exercises, and colorful everyday examples, this book will open the heart, nourish the self, and quicken the soul.

    At the same time they are intended to reach other levels.

    The "knowing heart" is the sacred place where these two dimensions meet and are integrated. In Sufi teaching the human heart is not a fanciful metaphor but an objective organ of intuition and perception. It is able to perceive all that is beautiful, lovely, and meaningful in life—and to reflect these spiritual qualities in the world, for the benefit of others. Every human heart has the capacity and the destiny to bring that world of divine reality into this world of appearances. The Sufis, mystics of Islam, have been educators of the heart for some fourteen centuries. Their teachings and methods are designed to help us awaken and purify the heart, to learn to listen to our deepest knowing. In The Knowing Heart, Kabir Helminski presents the Sufi way as a practical spirituality suitable for all cultures and times—and offers insights that are especially valuable for our life in today's world. In cultivating a knowing heart, we learn to experience a new sense of self, transform our relationships, and enhance our creative capacities. Most important, we learn how to meet the spiritual challenge of our time: to realize our sacred humanness.

    These poetic meditations on the most profound of human relationships are like crystals: they sparkle with the many hues of the rainbow and contain worlds within, capturing us with their mystery.Here are poems that cause us to reflect on our own relationships, to experience again the intensity of friendship, the ache of loss, and the profundity of immersion.This is a book for poetry lovers, Rumi fans, and all gift-giving occasions; a book to treasure and to share.Previously published in hardcover as Whispers of the Beloved.Imitating others,I failed to find myselfI looked inside and discoveredI only knew my name.When I stepped outsideI found my real Self.Replaces ISBN 9781571746825.

    It traces a soaring, poetic, popular tradition that celebrates love for both humanity and the Divine as the ultimate path leading humanity back to God. Safi brings together for the first time the passages of the Qur’an sought by the Muslim sages, the mystical sayings of the Prophet, and the teachings of the path of “Divine love.” Accurately and sensitively translated by leading scholar of Islam Omid Safi, the writings of Jalal al‑Din Rumi can now be read alongside passages by Kharaqani, ‘Attar, Hafez of Shiraz, Abu Sa‘id‑e Abi ’l‑Khayr, and other key Muslim mystics. For the millions of readers whose lives have been touched by Rumi’s poetry, here is a chance to see the Arabic and Persian traditions that produced him.

    A Compact yet thoroughly informative series on philosophical and religious topics, written with the general reader in mind.