I think I am channeling my dad here because this feels a little like a set-up to a joke: Hafiz, Kabir, and Rumi walk into a party …

It makes me smile to think of such a scene. Hafiz would make everyone laugh. Kabir would remind everyone to love and then love some more. Rumi would help us all keep going.

Here are a few books to explore:

Hafiz

“Zero

is where the Real Fun starts.

There’s too much counting

Everywhere else!”

I have several Hafiz books. I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy, renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky is my favorite.

Kabir

“Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for.”

“Wherever you are, that’s the entry point.”

Check out Songs of Kabir translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.

Rumi

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

“What you seek is seeking you.”

I could read “The Guesthouse” every day for guidance on getting through life.

When my dad passed away I inherited a chunk of his vast spiritual book library including many Rumi books. I opened one recently and tucked inside the book jacket was a printout of an email exchange between him and me. I had given him the book as a present. I knew nothing about translators at the time but it turned out that the two translators were his favorites. It was a little love note from the past.

I have no idea how one selects just one Rumi book to recommend. Just pick the one that speaks to you; I don’t think you can go wrong.

Photo by Ilia Bronskiy on Unsplash