Rumi: Awakened by Beauty II

Again, here is a continuing excerpt from the article: "Rumi: The Way of the Lover," by Kabir Helminski, in the April 2008 Issue of Spirituality and Health:

Rumi knew deep in his heart, that the love he was experiencing was leading him back to the deepest level of himself and his own intimate connection with the divine...

Rumi and Shams gave themselves...to a spiritual relationship - not a relationship in which one ego fed and flattered..but a relationship that would tear each other down to his essence. Shams knew the secret of love is in...dying.

You have suffered much agony, but you are still behind a veil,
because dying was the one thing needed, and you
haven't fulfilled it.
Your agony will not end until you die...
Let your candle be extinguished in the dawn!
Know that as long as our little stars are visible,
the Sun of the world has not appeared.
Wield the mace against yourself:
shatter egoism to pieces.

The encounter of Rumi and Shams is something rare in human spiritual history - a fire that consumes everything but itself. In the cosmic drama lived by these two great, loving souls...there was no other conclusion than that Rumi would have to lose that friendship that had become the reason for his existence...

With Shams gone, the final veil was removed, and the sun of Rumi's own heart could be revealed. The love that had been awakened... [is one that] Rumi would later be able to teach with conviction:

There is no Love greater than Love with no object.
For then you, yourself, have become love itself.

Conclusion tomorrow...