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Rumi’s Eternal Message of Love
We need it more than ever
Today — December 17- was Rumi’s death anniversary or Urs. Several friends have been lucky to travel to Konya, Turkey for Rumi’s death anniversary. As a child, my parents had taken us to Konya in the 60's. I remember how my sister and I ran ahead of the family into Rumi’s tomb, and then stopped suddenly as we saw the headdress on the tombstone, which was raised at the head. It looked as if the coffin would rise any minute and we ran right back out. Little did I know that I would be studying and following his teachings so much later in life, and that my sister would be painting Sufi art.
Rumi’s Urs, or death anniversary, is celebrated as if it is a wedding, for in Sufi thought our human spirit yearns to be reunited with the Divine where we originated from. Rumi’s essential message was to obliterate your selfish ego, and retreat inward to develop your soul which is a link to the Divine. Anyway, that is just one way to describe it. Just to clarify, as a modern Sufi, I do practice with a particular group and work on my ego, but that does not mean that I do not participate in the material world. Far from it! Our shaikh, i.e. teacher, teaches us that we have to live our life in the contexts we are in; we have to use our talents and gifts that we got to do good in the world and therefore it is not about retreating from life but…
