Some of the Discourses of Shamus-i-Tabriz, on varied subjects, taken from the following book:

 

 

   He who knows his Soul knows his Lord. Why didn'y he say, "who knows his intellect? Who knows his Spirit?"

   I said, "Because the Soul encompasses everything. The Soul is a thing's existence."

   One must gain that disposition when one is little. Thou knowest what is in my Soul, and i know not what is in Thy Soul.

 

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    The dreams of God's servants are not "sleep." No, they are the same as events that occur in wakefullness. There are things that are not presented to them in wakefullness because of their frailty and weakness. They see them in sleep so as to be able to tolerate them. When he becomes perfect, he will be shown without veil.

   He asked," How long is the road from the servant to God?"

   He said, "As much as that from God to the servant. If they say "thirty thousand years," this is not correct, for it has no end and no measure. To speak of the measure of the Measureless and the end of the Endless is absurd and false. One should know that the endless is extremely far from what has an end. But this is all the form of the words, and it has no connection with endlessness. What do words have to do with God? Speech ' is unto the day of the known moment '."

 

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   There's not much from Ahad [the One] to Ahmad----

            an m in the world veils this meaning.

   Count that m as the world. When it disappears,

            Ahmad has the attributes of Ahad.

 

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   He who follows the blackness has gone astray. His whole body is tongue, questions and answers, eloquence---but he knows nothing of the world of the Real!

 

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   The dance of the men of God is subtle and weightless. You'd say they're a leaf floating on top of the water. Inside, like a mountain and a hundred thousand mountains-----but outside, like straw.

 

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   There was a sama(listening). The minstrel subtle and sweet-voiced and the Sufis limpid-hearted, but it just didn't take. The shaykh said, "Look and see if there are any others amidst us Sufis."

   They looked and said, "There's no one."

   He told them to search the shoes. They said, "Yes, there are some strange shoes."

   He said, "Put those shoes inside the khanaqah."

   They took them outside and immediately the sama took hold.

 

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   It is as if the resurrection has come and the Unseen has become visible. By God, the Unseen is visible and the veil has been lifted----but for that person who's eyes are open.

 

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   What harm reaches a dervish from the sourness of the creatures? He takes the whole world as an ocean. How can it harm a duck?

 

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   A disciple entered in and said to the shaykh, "I've come like a rogue."

   The shaykh said, "God willing, He will take you and me to the station of being a rogue."

   Happy the one whose eyes sleep but whose heart does not sleep! Woe on the one whose eyes do not sleep but whose heart does sleep!

   The doorway of the heart opened. Since there was crowding, someone had unintentionally banged against the door. Guard over it now so that it doesn't shut. When the door is opened, then you will see whoever passes by whether you want to or not. When it is shut, you will hear their voices and you will find a taste. But how can this be compared to that?

 

 

   Several times the dust has cleared, and I saw that I'm riding an Arabian stallion.

   They don't say "you will see" to just anyone. How could it be correct to say it to everyone? It is not correct to say to a man blind from birth, "you will see." They say it to someone when only a little bit of his existence is left, and the rest has all become spirit. In other words, "Come out of this dust of existence!"

 

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   Someone said to a Sufi, "Lift up your head: Gaze upon the traces of God's mercy."

   He said," Those are the traces of the traces. The rose and tulips are inside."

 

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   You will see them all within yourself----Moses, Jesus, Abraham, Noah, Adam, Eve, Asiya, Antichrist, Khizr, Elias. You will see them in your own insides. You are a world without end. What place is there for the heavens and the earths? Neither My earth nor My heaven embraces Me, but the heart of My believing servant does embrace Me. " You will not find Me in the heavens, you will not find Me on the Throne."

   Where's someone who declares His similarity so that he may shout, "What's this! God forbid!"

   A preacher was saying, "Do not conceive of God within the six directions, nor on the Throne or the Footstool."

   One of those who declare His similarity jumped up, tore his clothes, and began shouting, "God forbid! Get lost from this world, just as you have made our God lost from this world!"

 

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   Mawlana (Rumi) has good beauty, and I have beauty and ugliness. Mawlana saw my beauty, but he did not see my ugliness. This time I will not be hypocritical. I will be ugly so that he may see all of me, both the fineness and the ugliness.

   When someone finds the way to be my companion, his mark is that companionship with others becomes cold and bitter for him----not such that it becomes cold and he continues to be a companion, but rather such that he can no longer be their companion.

 

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   My existence is an alchemy that does not need to be put on the copper. When it's placed in front of the copper, it all turns into gold. The perfect alchemy should be like this.

   God has servants who, as soon as they see that someone is wearing the clothing of worthiness or the cloak, judge him to be a worthy person. And when they see that someone is wearing the robe and cap, they judge him to be corrupt.

   There's another group who look with the light of God's majesty. They've let go of war and they've left behind color and scent: "If you bring that one out of the cloak, he'll be suitable for hell. Hell is ashamed of him. And there's someone in the robe who, if you bring him out of the robe, will be suitable for paradise. Someone is sitting in the prayer-niche busy with work that is worse than what is being done by the one who's fornicating in the tavern.

   "Backbiting is worse than fornication. If the latter becomes apparent, they punish him, and he's free. If he repents, God changes their ugly deeds into good deeds. But this one, even if through ascetic discipline he becomes so subtle that he flies through the air, will not be delivered."

   If someone has both the clothing of worthiness and the meaning of worthiness----light upon light.