Sweep away the dust from thy house!

Excerpt

In that house of mine I saw but forms and pictures; I was enchanted with that house so fleeting! I was ignorant of the treasure hidden beneath it, Otherwise I would have grasped an axe as a perfume. Ah! if I had administered the justice of the axe, I should now have been quit of sorrow. But I fixed my gaze on outward forms, Like an infant I sported with playthings. Well said the famous Hakim Sanai, 'Thou art a child; thy house is full of pictures.' In his divine poem he gives this advice, 'Sweep away the dust from thy house!'

Source Masnavi, Book IV, Story VI, §6 · 📖 Read the full passage

✨ To meditate on today

According to Rûmî in the Masnavi, we often remain fascinated by the forms and pictures of our "house", like a child with his toys, without seeing the treasure hidden beneath it; the poet Sanâ’î advises sweeping away the dust to discover it. Today, tidy or clean a corner of your home in silence, and at the same time sort through your heart to let what is precious in it appear.

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