Some one asked, "What is the Way?" I said, "This way is to abandon desires."
Oh lover of the King! Know that your way is to seek the pleasure of that Generous Lord.
When you seek the Beloved's desire and pleasure, seeking your own desire is forbidden.
(The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, pp. 216-217)
I complained of His jealousy. He laughed and said, "Whatever blocks your way -- remove it!"
(The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 306)
Since the lover is not suited for "others," let them all reject him -- then the King of Love will make him His sitting companion. When the creatures drive him from themselves, he cuts himself off from their company; he accustoms his outward and inward to sweet-natured Love. But when the creatures accept him, his mind drags him in their direction and his heart turns furtively this way and that toward anyone's love.
When Love sees this It says, "My tresses have thrown a shadow, so the lover smells there the fragrance of musk and ambergris. I will make these two scents the enemy of his mind and brain -- he will have to abandon both..."
(The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, pp. 306-307)
What sort of Beloved is He? As long as a single hair of love for yourself remains, He will not show His Face... You must be completely repelled by yourself and the world and be your own self's enemy... So when our religion resides in a person's heart, it stays right there until it takes his heart to God and separates it from everything unworthy.
(The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 215)
Brother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do.
(The Essential Rumi, p. 62)
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God... Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
(The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 188)
Always keep the carnal soul from getting what it wants so that you can attain eternal desire and be delivered from the prison of darkness, for whoso shall have refrained his soul from lust, verily paradise shall be his abode. (Koran 79:40-41)
(Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, p. 64)
Throw a dog a bit of something. He sniffs to see if he wants it.
Be that careful. Sniff with your wisdom-nose. Get clear. Then decide.
(The Essential Rumi, p. 258)
Recognize that your imagination and your thinking and your sense perception are reed canes that children cut and pretend are horsies. Deny your desires and willfulness, and a real mount may appear under you.
(The Essential Rumi, p. 5)
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