Rumi’s Meditation
In this moment, I am entwined
in the vine of love
In this moment I have abandoned care
for consequence
Perhaps you think me a prisoner
of this world
But I am here, the prison is there
I laugh, whose belongings have I stolen?
Come live where I reside
My home is beyond “In o Aan”
What need have I for a mind?
I have destroyed my
thoughts and burnt my worries
Something Other has my attention
What need have I for a heart?
Blood of the Beloved
is running through my veins
I am life itself — Rumi
Once there wasn’t, once there was.* A wise pir (guru) often took his students to the market place. On one occasion he and his disciple happened upon a man leading a cow with a rope.
Sultan asked the man: “Sir, is this cow bound to you or are you bound to the cow?” The man laughed, “Sultan, Of course he is bound to me. I am the cow’s master. Wherever I go, he goes.” Sultan asked, “then, kindly open your hand and let the rope go.”
The man hesitated first, but then slowly opened his hand and let down the rope. The cow, feeling untethered, began running through the street. The man took off chasing after the cow.
“You see, the cow feels no affiliation to the man. The man is desperate trying to bind himself to the cow. Now who is the master?”, Sultan asked his disciple.
“In o aan” is the Persian phrase for “this and that” for the drivel you are keeping inside. It has has no affiliation to you. Trying to bind yourself to it, you are in constant turmoil. Lose interest in “in o aan” and it will disappear like the cow in the story.
*This is how all Persian stories begin. The phrase is akin to “once upon a time”.
