Whether your destiny is glory or disgrace,
Purify yourself of hatred and love of self.
Polish your mirror; and that sublime Beauty
From the regions of mystery
Will flame out in your heart
As it did for the saints and prophets.
Then, with your heart on fire with that Splendor,
The secret of the Beloved will no longer be hidden.
Jami, born on 18 August 1414, Persian Sufi poet (d. 1492)
God and Love are as body and soul.
God is the mine, Love is the diamond.
They have been together
since the beginning …
in every beat of every heart.
If love manifests itself within you, it has its origins in beauty. You are nothing but a mirror in which beauty is reflected. Because beauty and its reflection are both from that one source, it is both treasure and treasure-house.
Be the captive of Love in order that you may be truly free -free from coldness and the worship of self. Thousands have passed who were wise and learned but who were strangers to Love. No name is left to them, nothing to proclaim their fame and dignity or to relate their history in the march of time. Although you may attempt to do a hundred things in this world, only Love will give you release from the bondage of yourself.
Image: Illustration from Jami’s Rose Garden of the Pious.