By Farzad Khalvati
A magnificent mountain, a contemplating mind, a man resembling a lotus, the Seeker is meditating the time, hunting for his Self, searching for a clue in the elusive inner world. A harsh silence; “The outer life, as a thought for existence, has given me a perception of my ego but has taken me away from You.” He says inwardly. “Between You and life, I had to choose just one, and how can I complain now that I chose life?”
The Seeker remembers a man, lost in the darkness of life, seeking for the inner master. After a long journey, he came and knocked at the friend’s door.
The friend asked him, “Who are you, O trusty one?”
He answered, “I”. The friend said, “Begone, it is not the time for you to come in.
“At a table like this, there is no place for the raw and inexperienced.
“Except the fire of absence and separation, who will cook the raw; who will bring the knowingness to the inexperienced and release him from insincerity?”
The poor man went away, and for a year, in travel.
He was burned with sparks of fire of separation from his friend.
The burned one was cooked; then he returned.
And again, paced to and fro beside the house of his comrade.
He knocked at the door with a hundred fears and respects,
Dreading any disrespectful word might escape from his lips.
His friend called to him, “Who is at the door?”
He answered, “It is you at the door, O charmer of hearts.”
“Now”, said the friend, “since you are I, come in, O myself.
“There is no room in the house for two I’s (egos).”
The Hidden Teachings of Rumi 