MASNAVI V:134-6

Until the cloud weeps, how can the garden flourish? Until the baby cries, How can the milk flow? A newborn baby understands: if she cries, a nurse will come.
But the Nurse of all nurses only gives milk when you cry out.

MASNAVI II:708-9

The Sunbeam fell upon the wall;
The wall received a borrowed splendor.
Why set your heart on a piece of turf,
O simple one? Seek out the Source
Which shines for ever.

MASNAVI III:4581-3;4590-600

Every Blind wayfarer, whether righteous or wicked,
God is dragging, bound in chains, into His presence.
All are dragged along this way reluctantly, save those
Who are acquainted with the mysteries of divine action.
The command “Come against your will” is addresses to the blind follower; “Come willingly” is for the man molded of truth.
While the former, like an infant, loves the nurse for the sake of milk, the other has given his heart away to this Veiled One.
The “infant” has no knowledge of her beauty: he wants nothing of her except milk;
The real lover of the Nurse is disinterested, single minded in pure devotion
Whether God’s seeker loves Him for something other than He, that he may continually partake of His bounty,
Or whether he loves God for His Very Self, for naught besides Him, lest he be separated from Him, In either case the search proceeds from that Source: the heart is made captive by that Heart-ravisher.

MASNAVI 1:566-71

Plug your low sensual ear, which stuffs like cotton
Your conscience and make deaf your inner ear.
Be without ear, without sense, without thought,
And hearken to the call of God, “Return!”
Our speech and action is the outer journey,
Our inner journey is above the sky.
The body travels on its dusty way;
The spirit walks, like Jesus, on the sea.

MASNAVI I:3899-912

O Help of all those who call for help, lead us aright!
Do not let any heart stray that You have guided by You grace.
Do not server us from all those who are well-pleased with you.
Nothing is more bitter to our taste then separation from you.
Without Your protection all is confusion. The material world saps our spiritual strength.
Our bodies strip the cloth of spirituality from our souls.
How can we save our souls without Your help?
The soul that is not united with its Beloved is lost and miserable for ever.
If You do not admit a soul to Your presence, even alive, regard it as dead!
If You reproach Your slaves, that is only fitting, Lord.

And if You say the sun and moon are filth,
And if You declare the tall cypress bent,
And if You call the skies above contemptible,
And the seas and mines empty,
You speak the truth,
For You are the source of all perfections
You alone have the power to perfect
You are holy and free from non-existence
You endow the non-existent with existence
And bring them to life!

MASNAVI II:3129-32

THE HOUSE of the heart into which the rays of divine sun cannot reach is dark and destitute: it is bleak and cramped, its door remains closed.
IT is like a tomb.
Come! Arise from the tomb of your heart!

MASNAVI I:1747-8;1751

O HEART, if you recognize any difference
Between joy and sorrow,
You will be torn apart,
Although what you desire tastes sweet,
Doesn’t the Beloved desire you
To be desireless?
O, the life of lovers lies in death:
You will not win the Beloved’s heart
Unless you lose your own.