Discourses of Rumi

406 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIexample, some people try to catch a cat, but iteludes them every time. Then one day that cat isso preoccupied with hunting a bird, that it doesnot see them approaching, and they catch it.It is not necessary to become totally preoccupiedwith worldly affairs. We should take thingseasily, and not get caught up in bondage to them,lest in becoming disturbed we might distresssomething greater. The Treasure must not be disturbed,for if this world should worry, That Otherwill transform it, but if That Other is vexed (maywe seek refuge with God!) then who will transformThat?If, for instance, you have many kinds of cloth,when you are absorbed, which of them will youclutch? Though they all may be indispensable,still it is certain that from your bundle you willchoose something precious, something to be treasured,for with the value of one pearl and a singleruby you can produce a thousand ornaments.From a certain tree, sweet fruit grows.Although that fruit is only one part, yet God haschosen and distinguished that part above the