Rumi Within 


Sometimes for an artiste, the elephant like artistic stirring within, with its stunning force of realization, gives way to a gentler stirring that feels like the Rumi within.  Rumi, the famous poet of the 13th c, found poetry within and a oneness with the universe, on a series of events in life. Each of us has a Rumi within, and a Rumi-ness that flowers with age, and enjoys a deep, moving, creative space within. Quite like the Bhakti poetry of India in the 12th.c, this inner space finds an experience of one's soul and an altered state of time.

When this manifests in the outer world it takes the form of a beautiful poem of Rumi, or a starry night painting of Van Gogh or a moving Odissi dance by a Guru like Guru Surendra Nath Jena. These jewel like works of art we enjoy, are simply the tip of the iceberg. The mountain of jewels lies within the heart of the artiste, whose inner state of being is resplendent and fiercely glowing.

This 'tejas', spark of being is beautiful, as oneness with the entire universe seeps in. Can one be fiercely illuminated yet flowing in the river of life with the entire cosmos? The answer is in the heart of every artiste, and the artiste in the heart of every person.

As I understand the Rumi within, and enjoy my Rumi-ness, I look back at moments in Turkey few years back. When in Capadoccia, I went to experience the dance of the whirling    dervishes, their mystical dance called the 'sama'. It is the sufi way of experiencing mystical union with the universe through sound and movement. The images seem to sing and dance of the Rumi within us all...