Golden Horn, Haliç , İstanbul

Golden Horn, Haliç, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Kasımpaşa scene

Kasimpaşa scene, Kasimpasa, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Kasimpasa streets

Kasimpasa streets , Knowledge is to understand to understand who you are.

Kasimpasa streets and old fabric houses …

Find Perfect Peace
Knowledge is to understand
To understand who you are.
If you know not who you are
What’s the use of learning?

The aim in learning is
To understand God’s Truth.
Because without knowledge
It is wasted hard labour.

Do not say: I know it all,
I am obedient to my God.
If you know not who God is
That is sheer idle talk.

Twenty-eight syllables
You read from end to end.
You name the first aleph
What can it possibly mean?

Yunus Emre says also
Let me receive what I need.
The best possible thing
Is to find perfect peace.

Yunus Emre (1238-1321)
Translated by Taner Baybars

it is “between the two fingers of God”

black tulips from Istanbul tulip festival, pentax k10d

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

The Source of Our War and Peace

Mathnawi VI: 45-58

45 (The source of) our war and our peace is in the Light of the
Essence (of God). It is not from ourselves: it is “between the two
fingers of God.”1

(There is) war of nature, war of actions, and war of words –
there is a terrible war among the parts (of the creation).

(And) this world is enduring because of this battle. Look at the
(conflicting) elements so that (this problem) can be solved.

The four elements are (like) four strong columns: by means of
them the roof of the world is (kept) even and straight.

Each column (is) the breaker of the other. The column of water
is the destroyer of sparks (of fire).

50 Therefore, the foundation of the creation was (based) upon
opposites. Necessarily, we are battling because of loss and gain.

My own states are opposed to one another,2 (because) each one
is contrary against another in (its) effect .

Since I am highway-robbing myself3 every moment, how can I
act harmoniously with another person?

Look at the waves of armies of my states — each one in anger
and enmity toward another one.

(So) observe a great battle such as this within yourself (as well).
Therefore, why are you occupied with battle against others?

55 Or perhaps [you are helpless and hoping] God may buy you
back4 from (remaining in) this war (and) bring you to the single-
colored world of peace.5

That World isn’t (anything) other than eternal and flourishing,
since it isn’t intermixed with opposites.

This mutual destruction reaches (every) opposite from (its
corresponding) opposite. (But) when there isn’t (any) opposite,
there is (nothing) except eternity.

58 The One (Who is) without equal has forbidden contraries from
Paradise, saying, “There will be no sun nor its opposite, extreme
cold, (therein).”6

–From “The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî” [Rhymed Couplets of
Deep Spiritual Meaning] of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with
gratitude for R. A. Nicholson’s 1934 British translation)
© Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration)
First published on “Sunlight” (yahoogroups.com), 5/30/02

Notes on the text, with line number:

1(45) between the two fingers of God: “refers to the Tradition
[= Hadîth, or saying of the Prophet Muhammad] qalbu ‘l-mu’mini
bayna iSba’ayni min aSábi`i ‘l-RaHmán, ‘the true believer’s heart is
between two fingers of the Merciful God’. The ‘two fingers’ are the
Divine attributes of Majesty (Jalál) and Beauty (Jamál). According
as God reveals Himself in one or other of these aspects, the
mystic’s heart contracts with grief (qabD) or expands with joy
(basT).” (Nicholson, Commentary)

Anqaravi quotes a different form of the Hadîth: “Truly, the
hearts of the sons of Adam are between the two fingers among the
fingers of the Most Merciful, who turns them however He wills”
[yuqallibu-hâ kayfa yashâ']. And he explained: “The commentators
have explained ‘the two fingers’ as the Severity [qahr] and
Kindness [luTf] (of God). (Anqaravi, the 17th century Turkish
commentator, translated here into English from a Persian
translation)

2(51) My own states are opposed to one another: “(It means), for
example, ‘My happiness is contrary to sorrow and the state of my
health is contrary to the state of being sick…’”
(Anqaravi, Commentary)

3(52) Since I am highway-robbing myself: “(It means), ‘Every
moment I am the robber and enemy of myself. . . and I have not
become the master of attending to [what occurs in my own] heart
. . . ‘” (Anqaravi, Commentary)

4(55) God may buy you back: “(It means), ‘Or perhaps God Most
High will grant you deliverance from this warfare.’” (Anqaravi,
Commentary)

5(55) (and) bring you to the single-colored world of peace: “In
other words, ‘By means of your own efforts alone you have not
become effective in becoming free from this battle. Perhaps God
Most High may cause you to be freed from this battle and take you
to the peaceful world of unicolority.’” (Anqaravi, Commentary)

6(58) There will be no sun nor its opposite, extreme cold,
(therein): refers to a verse in the Qur’an about the Garden of
Paradise, “They will not see therein any sun (with extreme heat)
nor extreme cold.” (Qur’an 76:13)

Mevlana

original text is in Dar-Al-Masnavi (http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/index.html)

tulips : Love rests on no foundation

red tulip, Istanbul Tulip Festival (I've used Pentax K10D, 100-300 mm)

Love rests on no foundation

Love rests on no foundation.
It is an endless ocean,
with no beginning or end.
Imagine,
a suspended ocean,
riding on a cushion of ancient secrets.
All souls have drowned in it,
and now dwell there.
One drop of that ocean is hope,
and the rest is fear.

Mevlana

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

Kasimpasa streets, Just a boy and a little girl trying to change the whole wide world

Isolation

People say we got it made don’t they know we’re so afriad
we’re afraid to be alone, everbody got to have a home
Isolation

Just a boy and a little girl
trying to change the whole wide world
Isolation

All the world is a little town
everybody trying to put us down
Isolation

I don’t expect you to understand
after you caused so much pain
But the again you’re not to blame
your just a human, a victim of the insane

We’re afrain of everyone, afraid of the sun
Isolation

The Sun will never disappear
but the world my not have many years
Isolation

John Lennon

Kasimpasa streets

This is my oath of love. Short and yellow tulips

yellow-red tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul , pentax k10d

as a perspective It is may be wrong.

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

Who is at my door?

He said, “Who is at my door?”
I said, “Your humble servant.”
He said, “What business do you have?”
I said, “To greet you, 0 Lord.”

He said, “How long will you journey on?”
I said, “Until you stop me.”
He said, “How long will you boil in the fire?”
I said, “Until I am pure.

“This is my oath of love.
For the sake of love
I gave up wealth and position.”

He said, “You have pleaded your case
but you have no witness.”
I said, “My tears are my witness;
the pallor of my face is my proof.’
He said, “Your witness has no credibility;
your eyes are too wet to see.”
I said, “By the splendor of your justice
my eyes are clear and faultless.”

He said, “What do you seek?”
I said, “To have you as my constant friend.”
He said, “What do you want from me?”
I said, “Your abundant grace.”

He said, “Who was your companion on the ‘ourney?
I said, “The thought of you, 0 King.”
He said, “What called you here?”
I said, “The fragrance of your wine.”

He said, “What brings you the most fulfillment?”
I said, “The company of the Emperor.”
He said, “What do you find there?”
I said, “A hundred miracles.”
He said, “Why is the palace deserted?”
I said, “They all fear the thief.”
He said, “Who is the thief?”
I said, “The one who keeps me from -you.

He said, “Where is there safety?”
I said, “In service and renunciation.”
He said, “What is there to renounce?”
I said, “The hope of salvation.”

He said, “Where is there calamity?”
I said, “In the presence of your love.”
He said, “How do you benefit from this life?”
I said, “By keeping true to myself

Now it is time for silence.
If I told you about His true essence
You would fly from your self and be gone,
and neither door nor roof could hold you back!

Mevlana

Rumi – In the Arms of the Beloved, Jonathan Star
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

its goal is only to experience the attraction exerted by the Beloved

yellow flower, istanbul , pentax k10d

Love has nothing to do with

Love has nothing to do with
the five senses and the six directions:
its goal is only to experience
the attraction exerted by the Beloved.
Afterwards, perhaps, permission

will come from God:
the secrets that ought to be told with be told
with an eloquence nearer to the understanding
that these subtle confusing allusions.
The secret is partner with none

but the knower of the secret:
in the skeptic’s ear
the secret is no secret at all.

Mevlana
Mathnawi III, 1417-1424

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

flowers, istanbul, pentax k10d

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.  Mevlana.

LOOKING For Your Face

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it.

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for.

Today I have found you
and those that laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did.

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold.

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine.

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow.

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky.

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

Mevlana

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?”

yellow tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

“

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?

”

Mevlana

All through eternity

Beauty unveils His exquisite form
in the solitude of nothingness;
He holds a mirror to His Face
and beholds His own beauty.

He is the knower and the known,
the seer and the seen;
No eye but His own
has ever looked upon this Universe.

His every quality finds an expression:
Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;
Love, the life-giving garden of this world.

Every branch and leaf and fruit
Reveals an aspect of His perfection.
The cypress give hint of His majesty,
The rose gives tidings of His beauty.

Whenever Beauty looks,
Love is also there;
Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek
Love lights Her fire from that flame.

When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night
Love comes and finds a heart
entangled in tresses.

Beauty and Love are as body and soul.
Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.

They have together since the beginning of time-
Side by side, step by step.

Mevlana

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

true love is for the treasure, not for the coffer that contains it.

yellow tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

“

Everything in the universe is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty.

”

Mevlana

I am only the house of your beloved,
not the beloved herself:
true love is for the treasure,
not for the coffer that contains it.
The real beloved is that one who is unique,
who is your beginning and your end.

When you find that one,
you’ll no longer expect anything else:
that is both the manifest and the mystery.

That one is the lord of states of feeling,
dependent on none;
month and year are slaves to that moon.
When he bids the “state,”
it does His bidding;
when that one wills, bodies become spirit.

Mevlana

From:
Mathnawi III, 1417-1424

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

Calm in the midst of lightning stands the cause of lightning.

purple tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

Calm in the Midst of Lightning

When the love-lion wants to drink our blood,
we let him. Every moment we offer up
a new soul. Someone comes to collect
the turban and the shoes.

Calm in the midst of lightning
stands the cause of lightning.

The way I look is so fragile,
yet here in my hand
is an assurance of eternity.

A snake drags along looking for the ocean.
What would it do with it?

If, for penance, you crush grapes,
you may as well drink the wine.

You imagine that the old sufis
had dark sediment in their cups.
It does not matter what you think.

The flower that does not smile
at the branch withers.

Shams Tabriz rises as the sun.
It is night now.
What’s the point of counting stars?

Mevlana

by Coleman Barks

original text is in Four New Translations of Rumi

I have been tricked by flying too close

red tulip, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

“

Fasting is the first principle of medicine.

“

Mevlana

I have been tricked by flying too close
to what I thought I loved.

Now the candleflame is out, the wine spilled,
and the lovers have withdrawn
somewhere beyond my squinting.

The amount I thought I’d won, I’ve lost.
My prayers becomes bitter and all about blindness.

How wonderful it was to be for a while
with those who surrender.

Others only turn their faces on way,
then another, like pigeon in flight.

I have known pigeons who fly in a nowhere,
and birds that eat grainlessness,

and tailor who sew beautiful clothes
by tearing them to pieces.
Mevlana

From:
(Mathnawi, V. 346-353) Like This,
Rumi, Coleman Barks, Maypop Books

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul

Love is a Stranger and The lover is a king above all kings

tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

A New Rule

It is the rule with drunkards to fall upon each other,
to quarrel, become violent, and make a scene.
The lover is even worse than a drunkard.
I will tell you what love is: to enter a mine of gold.
And what is that gold?

The lover is a king above all kings,
unafraid of death, not at all interested in a golden crown.
The dervish has a pearl concealed under his patched cloak.
Why should he go begging door to door?
Last night that moon came along,
drunk, dropping clothes in the street.
“Get up,” I told my heart, “Give the soul a glass of wine.
The moment has come to join the nightingale in the garden,
to taste sugar with the soul-parrot.”

I have fallen, with my heart shattered -
where else but on your path? And I
broke your bowl, drunk, my idol, so drunk,
don’t let me be harmed, take my hand.
A new rule, a new law has been born:
break all the glasses and fall toward the glassblower.

Mevlana

“Love is a Stranger”, Kabir Helminski
Threshold Books, 1993

white tulip, Now it is time for silence.

black tulips ,istanbul tulip festival, istanbul ,pentax k10d

Who is at my door?

He said, “Who is at my door?”
I said, “Your humble servant.”
He said, “What business do you have?”
I said, “To greet you, 0 Lord.”

He said, “How long will you journey on?”
I said, “Until you stop me.”
He said, “How long will you boil in the fire?”
I said, “Until I am pure.

“This is my oath of love.
For the sake of love
I gave up wealth and position.”

He said, “You have pleaded your case
but you have no witness.”
I said, “My tears are my witness;
the pallor of my face is my proof.’

He said, “Your witness has no credibility;
your eyes are too wet to see.”
I said, “By the splendor of your justice
my eyes are clear and faultless.”

He said, “What do you seek?”
I said, “To have you as my constant friend.”
He said, “What do you want from me?”
I said, “Your abundant grace.”

He said, “Who was your companion on the ‘ourney?
I said, “The thought of you, 0 King.”
He said, “What called you here?”
I said, “The fragrance of your wine.”

He said, “What brings you the most fulfillment?”
I said, “The company of the Emperor.”
He said, “What do you find there?”
I said, “A hundred miracles.”

He said, “Why is the palace deserted?”
I said, “They all fear the thief.”
He said, “Who is the thief?”
I said, “The one who keeps me from -you.

He said, “Where is there safety?”
I said, “In service and renunciation.”
He said, “What is there to renounce?”
I said, “The hope of salvation.”

He said, “Where is there calamity?”
I said, “In the presence of your love.”
He said, “How do you benefit from this life?”
I said, “By keeping true to myself

Now it is time for silence.
If I told you about His true essence
You would fly from your self and be gone,
and neither door nor roof could hold you back!
Mevlana

Rumi – In the Arms of the Beloved, Jonathan Star
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

When someone quotes the old poetic image about clouds gradually uncovering the moon

tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

Like this

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,

Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,

Like this.

If anyone wants to know what “spirit” is,
or what “God’s fragrance” means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.

Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.

Like this.

Mevlana

Don’t go anywhere without me

yellow-red tulips, istanbul tulip festival, istanbul, pentax k10d

“Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls.”

Mevlana

In The Arc Of Your Mallet

Don’t go anywhere without me.
Let nothing happen in the sky apart from me,
or on the ground, in this world or that world,
without my being in its happening.
Vision, see nothing I don’t see.
Language, say nothing.
The way the night knows itself with the moon,
be that with me. Be the rose
nearest to the thorn that I am.

I want to feel myself in you when you taste food,
in the arc of your mallet when you work,
when you visit friends, when you go
up on the roof by yourself at night.

There’s nothing worse than to walk out along the street
without you. I don’t know where I’m going.
You’re the road, and the knower of roads,
more than maps, more than love.

Mevlana

(From The Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks )

taken by Pentax K10D, at Istanbul