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A priest, flowers and two cats, Santorini, Greece - by Hans Silvester (1938), German

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Jeanette Winterson, from "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal," publ. in 2011

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I seek God.

Remove the ‘I’. It is an illusion.

Remove ‘seek’. When there is no ‘I’, who is seeking?

When you remove the unnecessary, all that remains is God.

~ Meeta Ahluwalia

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Definition of Love

Tomb of Hussain Ibn Ali in Karbala, Iraq.

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every day i discover the meaning of life and then i lose it and then again a new day and i discover the meaning of life and lose it by night time and then again and so on

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This is a beautiful Ginan, that is, an Islamic Hymn of South Asia. The Ginans are a tradition which is extremely close to me. Most Ginans were sang first in the Thirteenth Centry by Sufi/Ismaili poets/saints called Pirs. You can read more about the history of Ginans here… 

The Ginans belong to the Ismaili Sect of Islam. All Ginans have beautiful meanings. The one you are listening to right now as you are reading this was recited by Yasmin Rayani and published by Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for India. I have no rights whatsoever on this MP3 file, and if anyone sees and copyright infragment by me republishing this along with credit, please feel free to PM me and I will remove it. Here is the lyrics and translation of this Ginan, originally composed by Pir Sadardin in the Fourteenth Century:

ejee tamku(n) sadhaare sohdeen, bahot-j huaare pee-aa me(n) dekhu(n) tumaaree vaatt re maher baan mere, saheb mere, dayaava(n)d mere, yaa shaah tuj vinaa so din jaavegaa kaisaa peeyujee……….1

Many days have gone by since the time of the departure (separation) between me and You (Lord). I am now eagarly waiting You. Oh my Most Merciful, Oh my Master, Oh my Compassionate one. Oh Lord how can my days pass without Your presence.

ejee vaachaa dai shaah more gaam sadhaaryaa re pee-aa sodidhee vaachaa preete paallo re - maher baan mere……….2

Having given to me a promise, the Lord (Master) left the town. Honour the promise given to me in a loving manner.

ejee esaa me(n) jaanntee to chalanne na detee pee-aa me(n) chalatee tumhaare saath re - maher baan mere………..3

If I knew that this situation would arise, I would not have let you go. I would have come along with You.

ejee jeeskaare maai na baap, gaam seedhaaryaa re peeyaa uskaa farja(n)d keeu(n)kar rahevere - maher baan mere…….4

When the father and mother have left the town O Beloved; how can the son remain behind?

ejee usakaare farja(n)d iyu(n) pukaare re pee-aa jeeu(n) thaan vichhuttaa vaachharu - maher baan mere………5

The son is hereby pleading O Beloved. In the manner of the calf being separated from the breast of the cow.

ejee jal vichhuttee jem machhaladdee re peeyaa so jeeve(n)gee kettaleek vaar re - maher baan mere………..6

When a fish is separated from water O Beloved, how long will it survive without it.

ejee paaneekee bharama(n)ddhann, fulukee chhaa(n)yaa re peeyaa sovarannaa varann pee(n)ddh neepaayaa re - maher baan mere…7

Around the pond (well, river, ocean,sea) of water, there is always a shade of (different kinds of) flowers. In the same manner many many kinds of bodies have been created (around one soul).

ejee haidde ke bhitar, agan jalatee re peeyaa soswaamee tu(n)hee bujaavann haar re - maher baan mere…….8

In the interior of my heart, fire (of love) is enraging O Beloved. It is only You the Lord who can extinguish it (through the water of Your mercy).

ejee dukh ne sukh doi hazarat leekhee yaare peeyaa so dosh keeseeku(n) na deejere - maher baan mere………….9

Calamities and peace are both preordained by the Imaam O Beloved. So do not blame anyone for your misfortunes.

ejee charann bhettaaddo yaa shaah, najar meddaavore peeyaa haiddaa maa(n)he maher-j aannore - maher baan mere……….10

Create the conditions for me to bow at your feet Oh Lord, and for my eyes to meet Your sweet eyes(eyes to eyes), O Beloved. In my heart bestow only Your mercy.

ejee eso geenaan peer bhannaave sadardeen saameeraajo ja(m)pudeepmaa(n) aave(n)go nirvaann re - maher baan mere…………………………………….11

This ‘geenaan’ is taught by Peer Sadardeen. The Lord (Hazaar Imaam) will certainly come to the Indian Subcontinent (our hearts).

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My post was mostly joking hehe. But yeah the article was interesting. Thanks!

Abraham (as) patron saint of bad decisions.

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Jean Diodati (1576-1649), Pious annotations of the Holy Bible, 1648 London.

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A Poem on Prophet ﷺ

O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! The lilies breathe sweet scents, embraced by your presence divine

The roses in love's garden bloom from the light of your face that shines

Nightingales in rapture, enchanted by your rose-like grace

Like a lovestruck nightingale, I weep and sing for your noble trace

Though laden with flaws, my heart is captivated by your beauty, a wondrous embrace

Peace and blessings be upon Allah's beloved Messenger, our master Muhammed.

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each man has a name

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“Shamash grew worried, and bending down, he spoke to Gilgamesh: ‘O Gilgamesh, where are you wandering? The life that you seek you never will find.’ Said Gilgamesh to him, to the hero Shamash: ‘After roaming, wandering all through the wild, when I enter the Netherworld will rest be scarce? I shall lie there sleeping all down the years! Let my eyes see the sun and be sated with light! The darkness is hidden, how much light is there left? When may the dead see the rays of the sun?’”

— The Epic of Gilgamesh: a new translation trans. Andrew George 

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The Shofar Breaks Your Heart

by Dane Kuttler

When you give a girl a shofar –  no, not a proper instrument of G-d, but a rough-cut horn with no real mouthpiece her aunt brings back from a trip to Jerusalem, don’t make it easy.

Put it up on the shelf in the living room where its curled promise of a shout will tempt her until she can reach it on tiptoe.

Tell her no one has ever found its voice, that she will only make it grunt, bray and sputter like the animal it came from.

Then give her a few years.

Give her an empty garage and a neighborhood Jewish enough to understand what it’s hearing so she can practice until tiny tekiot burst forth from the scrap of ram.

She will be the only one who can ever shape its sounds, can bend the call to tekiah, round off nine drops of t’ruah wailing, fling the anguished cry of a sh’varim from its mouth.

Let her brag about this.  Remember that children are not humble creatures, that the simple act of being heard is their great triumph.  Let her be heard.

Bring her to Hebrew school. Teach her the story of the rabbi who told his students that he would put the words of Torah on their hearts; that the words would only find their way in when the students’ hearts broke. Let her sit with that tale for as long as it takes for her own heart to shatter, for torah and poetry and forgiveness  find their way inside,

play her Leonard Cohen. Let him croon about the cracks in everything, that’s how the light gets in, let her begin searching for light, ask her where she thinks the cracks come from, give her Auschwitz, give her Torquemada, give her pogrom and quota and blacklist, the ashes of all her burnt bridges, give her avinu malkenu, ashamnu, ashamnu, ashamnu, 

watch her break  her heart with her fist.

Give her the shofar.   Let the horn steal her breath, let her begin to understand that she’s not holding a dead piece of animal, but a living prayer.

Teach her: after every blast you can hear the echo of the still small voice.

If you listen for it, you can hear the calls for the wild cries they are; salute them with a straight back when they yank you from your amidah; and should you hear a shofar blower struggle and gasp and strain for each call, imagine yourself a trapped animal, desperate to be heard.

When it’s over, Close your eyes.

Be. Broken. Here.  Before G-d and your people. Be. Cracked.

feel the light and the words come in.

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cavalera ss06

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“The Beloved.

Mortal never won to view thee, Yet a thousand lovers woo thee; Not a nightgale but knows In the rose-bud sleeps the rose.

Love is where the glory falls Of thy face : on convent walls Or on tavern floors the same Unextinguishable flame.

Where the turban’d anchorite Chanteth Allah day and night, Church-bells ring the call to prayer, And the Cross of Christ is there.”

-Khājeh Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī, translated by R. A. Nicholson.

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my only New Year's resolution so far is get weirder about God and that's it

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“Be of those who call people to goodness without their words. Let them see your striving, your honesty, your restraint.”

— Imām Ja'far al-Sādiq (ع) al-Kafi 5.51.10 

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Linda Gregg from All of it Singing: New and Selected Poems