Follow Your Heart – the Seat of Wisdom

Thank you for joining me in this exploration of Sufi stories and poetry, ancient
wisdom for modern life. My name is Kamila Shenmen and I am the Co-President
of the University of Sufism. I’m looking forward very much in sharing this beauty
from the Sufi Way.

Today’s class will explore the heart as the seat of wisdom.

I would like to begin with an excerpt – verses 3484-89 from book 1 of Rumi’s
Masnavi.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, known simply as Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian
poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic, whose followers established the
Mevlevi order of Sufism in Konya, Turkey. The Masnavi, or Mathnawi, is one of his
greatest works, commonly called ‘The Quran in Persian’. It is a series of 6 books of
mystical poetry that together span 25,000 verses.

The Sufis have polished their chests

clean from greed, desire, meanness, and hatred.
The heart is, indeed, a pure mirror;
for it is receptive of infinite images.
The Sufis possess in their chests the heart’s mirror
that reflects the infinite forms from the Unseen World.
Remember this: The heart’s mirror has no bounds.
Therefore, the intellect must remain silent here;
or else, it will mislead us.
For the heart is with God, or indeed, God is the heart. (Masnavi
I, 3484-89)

Follow your heart!

What does this phrase really mean, and why would I want to do that?
We live in a time where science and medicine have begun to unravel the
mysteries of the human brain – how memories are stored, how brain chemistry
affects our mood, which parts of the brain are responsible for sight and hearing,
speech, the sense of touch, movement, integration of information and reasoning.
The brain is a marvelous organ indeed and certainly seems to provide everything
we need to make a good decision!
And yet, in everyday language, we continue to say things like ‘I knew in my heart’,
‘I followed my heart’, ‘my heart told me to..’. We seem to intuitively know that
our heart is involved in many of our decisions, and will sometimes choose a
course of action which makes no sense at all to our rational mind.
Why is that?

Sufism is a spiritual path which teaches us of the wonders that lie in our heart -
the place where body and spirit come together to make us human. One of my
favorite verses from the holy Qur’an begins ‘God is the light of the heavens and
the earth’, and our Sufi guide Sidi Muhammad al Jamal explains this further,
saying, ‘This light is like a subtle physical force containing all of the Divine
realization within it. The heart of each person is the house of God and therein lies
the Divine light.’

This light, hidden deep within the heart of every human being is God’s original gift
to us, containing all of the wisdom needed for our human journey, and guidance
to bring us safely home. When we sit quietly, remembering the Name of God and
listening for that loving whisper within our heart, we begin to open to this flow of
Divine Love.

Sufis have been teaching us for centuries the lessons of Love and the heart’s
wisdom, and these lessons often come to us via stories and poems. I would like to
share a selection of these with you today.

I’ll begin with a story about a famous Sufi mystic named Rabi’a, entitled
The Lost Needle
(Rabi’a al ‘Adawiyya was born is Basra, Iraq around the year 717 C.E., and is one
of the most famous Sufi mystics about whom many stories are told. She is
credited with being the person who introduced the concept of Love into the Sufi
Way).
Rabi’a, was searching for something on the street outside her small hut.

The sun was setting and darkness was descending, as a few people gathered around
her. “What have you lost? What are you searching for? Perhaps we can help,”
they said to Rabi’a.

Rabi’a said, “I have lost my needle.”

One amongst the people said, “Well, the sun is setting now and it will be very
difficult to find the needle. Where has it fallen? That’ll help us narrow down the
area on this big road. If we know the exact place, it will be easier to find it.”

Rabi’a told them, “It is better not to ask me that question — because, actually, it
has not fallen on the road at all. It has fallen inside my house.”

Everyone started giggling as if she was joking. Then a skeptic says out loud, “We
always knew that you were a little insane! If the needle has fallen inside the house,
then why are you searching for it on the road?”

“For a very simple reason: inside the house there is no light and on the outside a
little light is still there,” Rabi’a replied.

The people laughed and started dispersing. Rabi’a called them back and said,
“Listen! That’s exactly what you are doing: I was just following your example. You
go on seeking bliss in the outside world without asking the most fundamental
question: where exactly have I lost it?”

After a pause, she continues, “You have lost it inside, and yet you are looking for it
on the outside for the very same reason — your senses are outward bound, your
ears hear sounds on the outside, your hands touch things on the outside. That’s
the reason why you are searching outside. For a very long time, I was also just
searching on the outside. But the day I searched inwards, I was surprised. That is
where I lost it and that is the only place it can be found.”

Rumi has written thousands of poems, known as Divans, described by number.

Here are a selection of these poems teaching us the benefits of stilling our speech
and listening to our hearts:
(Divân, 1888)
Close the mouth of speech;
open the window of the heart.
The Moon’s kisses
come only through that window. (Divân, 1888)

(Divân, 110)
Close your mouth;
open the window of your heart.
For that is where
the souls meet and converse. (Divân, 110)

(Divân, 803)
O the Silent one!
Where is the heart hidden?
“Beneath the tongue.
When the words are gone,
the heart is revealed.” (Divân, 803)

and from the Masnavi book vi, verses 1286-87:

Stop talking!
What a shame you have no familiarity
with inner silence!
Polish your heart for a day or two:
make that mirror your book of contemplation. (Masnavi VI,
1286-87)
Above all, the Sufis teach us of the primacy of a loving, merciful heart. For it is
through Love that the world came about and Mercy was the doorway for
creation. Only love can understand Love, as expressed in the following poems:

Divan 2730
The heart is so buoyant that it went up - heavenward,
and placed intellect as its ladder.
The heart heard the news of the Beloved’s coming.
Overflowing with love, the heart rushed to the rooftop.
Looking for signs of the Beloved,
behold, a world beyond this world came to its sight. (Divân,
2730)

Divan 1001
The face of the heart
is not like the face of any creature.
For the face of the heart
reflects the beauties of God. (Divân, 1001)

(Divân, 395)
Love resides, not in learning, not in knowledge, not in pages
and pamphlets
wherever the debates of men may lead, that is not the lover’s
path.
Love’s branches arch over pre-eternity, its roots, you see, delve
in Forever
a tree resting not on soil, nor trunk, nor even Heaven’s
throne.
We deposed reason and have bounded passion
For such reason and such morals are degrading to such glory.
You see, so long as you long, you idolize longing;
but become the beloved and then no being longs.
The incessant hope and fears of the sea-faring man float upon
planks;
but obliterate both planks and seaman and only submersion
remains.
Shams of Tabriz! You are the sea, the pearl, too
because your being head to toe is nothing but the mystery of
the Maker. (Divân, 395)

(Masnavi I, 109-116)
Being in love (a lover) is revealed by a lamenting heart
There is no sickness like lovesickness.
The lover’s ailment is different than any other ailment
Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.
Whether a lover is drawn toward divine or derivative love,
Ultimately she is guided toward the One.
However much I describe and explain love
Once I arrive at love, I am ashamed of my words.
While explanation by the tongue sometimes makes things
clear
love unexplained (without tongue/silence) is clearer.
While the pen was smoothly writing the things it knew
Once it came to love it split in two.
The intellect, while explaining love, got stuck in mud like a
donkey
Only Love itself can explain love and lovers!
The proof of the sun is the sun itself.
If you wish to see it, don’t turn away from it. (Masnavi I, 109-
116)

(Divân, 662)
Even if the whole world is filled with thorns,
the heart of the lover remains an orchard.
Even if the wheel of heaven stops whirling,
the world of the lovers will function fully.
While all others become sorrowful, the lover’s soul
is always tender and kind, vivid and delightful. (Divân, 662)

(Masnavi IV, 3288-90)

Your thoughts are spread out over a hundred “important”
affairs,
over thousands of desires and innumerable concerns great and
small
You must unite the scattered parts by means of love,
so that you may become as sweet as (the fabled cities) of
Samarkand and Damascus.
When you’ve become one (in your focus), particle by particle,
coming out of your confusion,
then and only then will it be possible to stamp the King’s seal
upon you. (Masnavi IV, 3288-90)

And finally, a poem by Kabir 15th-century mystic poet and saint from India
The poem is titled: The Story of Love
From Perfume of the Desert by Andrew Harvey & Eryk Hanut.

The story of Love can never be told.

It is the sherbet of the dumb man
Who eats it and smiles silently.

Without any earth and without any seed,

The tree of Divine Love just grows and grows,
Heavy with a million radiant fruits
My Lover picks for me to taste.
The story of Love can never be told.

When I calmed my mind

And entered my heart,
The Love of the Lord
Leapt like a flame within me.
All my old ideas and beliefs
Just blew away like chaff in the wind.

It wasn’t because of anything I am;

It wasn’t because of anything I did;
But only because of Him and His wild, miraculous, grace
That I learned at long last the lesson of Love.
My coming and going have ended;
My mind has melted in the Mind.

Don’t ask me to speak any more –

The story of Love can never be told.

I hope you have enjoyed these stories and poems about the heart. I would like to
share one final story which comes back to the theme of dropping into that light,
hidden deep within the heart of every human being, our essence. Again we turn
to Rumi’s Masnavi, book 2:

The story is titled:

The Tree of Eternal Life Masnavi book 2. The Book of Rumi,
translated by Mayam Mafi

A learned man who had traveled the world over was

heard telling a story about a tree in India whose fruit
bestowed eternal life. The story was brought to the attention
of the king, who, like most people, desired to live forever, and
he instantly became obsessed with finding the tree. He ordered
one of his most trusted minsters to travel to India in search of
the special fruit and gave him ample funds to support his
travels.
Upon arrival in India, the minister began his thorough
search from the southernmost point of the subcontinent to the
remotest mountains in the north. He traveled from town to
town and from village to village, asking every person he came
across about the tree and its fruit. Most people laughed in his
face, taking him for an imbecile, while others just ignored him
as they would a madman. The minister spent many lonely
days and nights in foreign places, only rarely coming across a
friendly face. If anyone did speak to him earnestly, it was to
convince him to give up his useless search, to tell him that he
was wasting his precious life. Some people would tease him
and give him false directions to an imaginary tree in some
difficult location, making him go off his trail and wasting
more of his time. Mostly, though, people just laughed at him
and took him for a fool.
The devoted minister, however, did not give up, pressing
on with his mission tirelessly. To ensure that he did not quit,
the king regularly sent him sufficient funds to support him.
Years passed, and the minister turned gray and old, and he
finally had to admit that he had failed. With tearful eyes, he
began his journey back home after years of absence and
hardship.
 On his way back, he decided to pay a visit to a learned
shaykh whom he had heard about, hoping to receive a blessing
from him. However, the minute his eyes met the shaykh’s, he
burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably for quite some time.
Once he managed to take control of his senses, he confessed to
the holy man: “Great shaykh, I’ve lost my way! I haven’t
achieved what I set out to achieve all those years ago, and
now I’m returning to my master shamefaced and empty-
handed. I beg of you to take pity on me and show me the right
path.”
“What are you searching for, my good man?” asked the
shaykh with compassion.
“Years ago, my king sent me in search of a tree that
produces a fruit that gives eternal life. I’ve wasted my youth
searching for it, but I never found it. All I found was sarcasm
and pity!” whimpered the minister.
“My wise man, this tree you speak of is the Tree of
Knowledge, which grows within the human heart!” imparted
the shaykh benignly. “You’ve been searching for what’s readily
apparent, and in the process, you’ve given up on the real
meaning of life. This phenomenon is called by different names:
one calls it the sea, another calls it a cloud, while another calls
it a tree or even the sun, and many more names besides.
Knowledge has thousands of uses, one of which is eternal life!
God is One and without a rival, but He gives forth infinite
signs. Think about it: a man may be your father, but he’s also
someone’s son; what may seem like anger in the eyes of an
enemy is kindness to a friend.
 “You’ve been saddled with only one of His signs, namely
the tree that you’ve been seeking. If you don’t want to remain
defeated, it’s time for you to ignore what you see on the
surface and begin to concentrate on the essence. What creates
differences between men is precisely this superficiality, but
once they understand what lies beneath the surface, duality
vanishes.”
The minister felt an immense burden lifted from his
shoulders; he no longer felt dejected or defeated. His heart had
opened and he knew that his passage back home would be one
of joy rather than grief.

Intelligence and reason are also Divine gifts to humanity, and as such, are not to
be ignored or despised. But when we learn to combine intelligence and reason
with the Divine intuition, understanding and guidance available to us in our
hearts, then we have reached true wisdom.
In the words of our guide, Sidi Muhammad al-Jamal, ‘Walking in the heart’s light is
the best way and is illuminated the most by the radiating Light and it is the best
guidance and the most sincere and truthful and it is the original gnosis and what
leads to ascending until arriving at the Divine Presence and it is the sweetest way
and the most intensified tasting of Love.’

I would like to end with a poem called This is Your Heart by Ruzbehan Baqli
Abu Muhammad Sheikh Ruzbehan Baqli (1128–1209) was a Persian poet, mystic,
and Sufi. Extract from The Perfume of the Desert by Andrew Harvey & Eryk
Hanut

I saw God on the streets of the hidden with something in His

hand.
I said, ‘My Lord, what is it that You are holding?”
He said, “Your heart”.
I said, “Does my heart have such a station that it lies in Your
hand?”
He gazed at my heart, and it looked like something that was
folded up. He smoothed and spread it out, and my heart
covered the space from the Throne to the earth. He said, “This
is your heart, and it is the most vast thing in existence.” Then
He took my heart to the angelic regions and I went with Him,
until I reached the treasures of the hidden in the hidden.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I pray that what I have shared has
brought nourishment and joy to your heart, and deepened your appreciation for
the beauty that God has bestowed on us all.