Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 41merely the branch of that purpose. If it had notbeen for that purpose, the poet would never havecomposed that poem.If our real purpose is kept in view, duality vanishes.Duality shows the branches, but the root isone. It is the same with Sufi sheikhs. Although tooutward appearance they have various styles ofteaching and differ widely in their social standing,even in their action and words, yet from thestandpoint of their purpose they all have one goal,namely the quest for God.Take the case of the wind. When it blowsthrough a house it lifts the edges of the carpet,and the rugs flap and move about. It whisks sticksand straws into the air, ruffles the surface of thepool until it looks like a coat of mail, sets treesand twigs and leaves a-dancing. All those conditionsappear distinct and different, yet from thestandpoint of the object, the root and reality, theyare one thing—the movement of the wind.Someone said: “I have neglected that true purpose.”Rumi replied: When this thought enters a person’smind and they criticize themself, saying,“What am I about, and why do I do these