MEVLANA

Everything in the universe, every being, even matter itself - all are but manifestations of God and exist in God and are united in the Absolute.

The great Turkish mystic and poet Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi was born in Belh, in Afghanistan, on September  30, 1207 A.D.

According to Mevlana, love is the only thing necessary to attain God.

Mevlana old painting

Mevlana was not only a great poet and philosopher but first and foremost he was a mystic, a spiritually touched man. His mind and heart had reached for heights and depths of the spiritual world. In his vision there were two universes which coincided in Man.

Mevlana exalts the state of being in love with a woman, because if someone loves someone else, he also loves himself, humanity, the universe and God. The most beautiful love, 'Love of Truth', begins when someone reaches this level of wisdom. Followers of Mevlana (Mevlevi) spin around and around in a ritual called  Sema. This ritual symbolizes a world united in love and keeping step with the world's universal rotation. While one of their hands points to the sky, the other hand points to the ground meaning , Love from God spreads to the earth.

He means that the universe is an endless place within the existence of God, and as a small part of the whole.  Man keeps that divine essence inside him by saying, -"You who search for God, it's you that you are searching for...."

Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi's masterpiece, his six volume Mesnevi consisting of 25700 couplets, is regarded as the most outstanding work of Persian-Islamic mysticism.  It is not clear when Mevlana started writing the Mesnevi, though it is known that he started on the second volume of his magnum opus in 1264.

Mesnevi book

The Mesnevi was written in the form of poetry which included philosophical, mystical, and spiritual messages and could be considered allegories which carry deep spiritual and religious meanings.

His other writing or Second masterpiece is called Divan-i Sems or Divan-i- Kebir, Is smaller in size but no less important from a Mystical an literary point of view.  It is a collection of beautiful verses in which Mevlana exalts poetry, music and Mysticism. It is a closer expression of his Unity with the divine and universal Love.

Other works of Mevlana are Letters  that were later translated into Turkish, English and other languages are  called Fihi Ma-Fih, Mecalis-i Seba and Mektubat.

Mevlana died in Konya on December 17 of the year 1273.

In Mevlanas  vision there were two universes which coincided in Man - The Inner World and the Outer World: "The inner world was like an endless infinite ocean, which could only be felt and seen with the eyes of the heart, while the outer world was but like the passing foam which appears on the surface of the waves emanating from that ocean."

According to him everything in the universe, every being, even matter itself - all are but manifestations of God and exist in God and are united in the Absolute.