Page 39 - The Book of Rumi

“I beg Your forgiveness, my God,” he continued. “I’ve sinned throughout
this long life that You’ve gifted me. I’ve spent it singing and playing music,
forgetting the pain of being separated from You, and I and no one else am the
cause of my guilt and shame,” he confessed. “Please save me from myself, for
my enemy is within me, closer to me than my own pathetic soul!”
Omar comforted the agitated man, telling him that he must let go of his
past as well as his future, for he was still entangled between them; and that
meant that he was not yet one with God and had not yet put his full trust
in the Creator. As he listened to Omar’s wise words, the old musician felt a
purer light rising in his heart, enveloping his body and soul. Astounded, he
felt that he was letting go of the world he had known until then and found
himself positioned in a different space, untouched by superfi ciality; a world
that required an alternative understanding where no words were left to speak,
where solitude and silence were the order of the day.

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