Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Sufi / Muslim 8th Century	About Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya Timeline (717 - 801)
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English version by Charles Upton	My joy --
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Bliss   Heart   Lover and Beloved   Smile     Recommended Books Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabia, Translated by Charles Upton First Among Sufis: The Life and Thought of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, the Woman Saint of Basra, by Widad El Sakkakini Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky Muslim Women Mystics: The Life and Work of Rabi'a and Other Women Mystics in Islam, by Margaret Smith Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom, by Andrew Harvey / Eryk Hanut More >>	My joy -- My Hunger -- My Shelter -- My Friend -- My Food for the journey -- My journey's End -- You are my breath, My hope, My companion, My craving, My abundant wealth. Without You -- my Life, my Love -- I would never have wandered across these endless countries. You have poured out so much grace for me, Done me so many favors, given me so many gifts -- I look everywhere for Your love -- Then suddenly I am filled with it. O Captain of my Heart Radiant Eye of Yearning in my breast, I will never be free from You As long as I live. Be satisfied with me, Love, And I am satisfied.     -- from Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabia, Translated by Charles Upton
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is a beautiful poem of love and devotion to God. Several layers of meaning when you read it from a mystical point of view...

My joy --
The Divine is experienced as an ecstatic joy, a delight not easily put into words.

My Food for the journey --
This may sound odd but, in the blissful state, you are aware of an energy that flows down the back of the throat and a sweetness on the palette, along with a sense of nourishment and fulness in the belly. This is why God is sometimes compared with food.

You are my breath,
There is a certain point in the mystical experience in which the breath grows deep, slow, and full. It is as if your body is no longer breathing; instead, breath is simply moving through you, a living breath.

I look everywhere for Your love --
Then suddenly I am filled with it
In most spiritual practice, there is effort, a striving to look everywhere outside of yourself for the connection with the Divine. But suddenly all of your efforts fall away and you discover the Divine One is already within you. There is nowhere "out there" to look.

O Captain of my Heart
Although subtle phenomenon can seem to be located in many parts of the body, particularly the rising of the Kundalini from the seat to the crown, the point of awareness eventually settles into the heart. The heart is experienced as the center, the seat of awareness, the place from which consciousness lovingly witnesses everything while, at the same time, the heart contains everything that exists.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2005 by Ivan M. Granger.
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