March 2020: Spiritual Growth
/سرسبز و سبزپوشی جانم بماند حیران
Lushed with the green garment my spirit is bewildered!
~Rumi
Source: Ghazal # 2027
Reflection on the Quote:
A message from Dr. Fariba Enteshari, Founder & Executive Director:
Wisdom Tradition and Human Growth: The Green Lineage
In many verses of the poetry of Rumi and Hafiz, there is a mysterious phrase — “green lineage.” This is one of the mysterious subjects of the path of enlightenment. Both poets mention this “khateh Sabaz” but do not approach it directly. After all, they invite us to the mystery of life that is hidden from us when we are busy with the mundane. They see it as their call to invite us to discover the gems of wisdom within the images of poetry that can speak to each of us differently. Since we are both the treasure and treasure hunter, master teachers entice us to journey with them. The path of enlightenment is not a path of isolation. It is a vortex of energy that the seeker creates, a wave of consciousness.
Searching in the metaphors within the Divine Kabir, I dove in and emerged with gems of Rumi’s vision. I fathomed that “green lineage” refers to human growth plus more…
It is in our spiritual search and growth that we find the gifts that we have inherited as spirit beings. And Rumi’s way to open the door of curiosity is wrapped into this verse of Ghazal #298 where his poetic side gives us a hint of the “green line” or “khateh Sabaz” in Farsi.
برگها چون نامهها بر وی نبشته خط سبز
Leaves are like the letters from a lover illuminating the script of green lineage.
As a child, Rumi had experienced the men in green dress coming down from the sky and taking him with them. He disappeared from the eyes of children who were playing with him only to be found later in some other neighborhood of the city of Balkh.
In Ghazal #482, Rumi asks:
جهان پر از خضر سبزپوش دانی چیست
The Universe is full of Khadhrs in green dress—do you know the meaning of this story?
Another example of what Rumi shares:
Moses saw fire in the tree and the tree grew greener.
In Ghazal #2005.
سبزتر میشد ز آتش آن درخت
می شکفت از برق و آتش گلستان این درختان سبز از آتش شوند
Trees blossom from the lightning and fire in the garden.
This type of tree becomes greener with the fire!
Rumi is clever in transforming what we may know into a deeper understanding that is already within us—always suggesting that we find new ways of seeing what we already see, what we already hear, what we already know — a new way of knowing, diving deeper and deeper, bit by bit to the journey within.
Like love that is an exception to the rules of ego, spiritual growth is another exception. After all, this is a journey that you only can start by setting your own cruiser toward a journey only you can take. As Rumi mentioned in Mathnawi V, 3086. it is all about direction, direction, direction!
Our choices make us who we are.
Happy diving in and awaking in a season where mother earth comes into a new cycle of life!
*Khadhir, means green in Arabic; He is a teacher, in green foliage, to Moses, Rumi and others…like Elijah.
~Dr. Fariba Enteshari