Ishq or Love is the essence of Rumi poetry, and we cannot understand Rumi poetry without understanding what Love is to Rumi. Love is the unity with the beloved. Love is the foundation of Rumi’s believe and work. To Rumi, Love is the only pathway to connect to God, and our purpose in life is this unity with the beloved.
Rumi refers to Love as Mazehab Ishq, religious of Love. The pathway to reach the beloved through Mazehab Ishq is long and treacherous; it is like a stair to the roof (Source).
Love is the only fuel that takes us to the Pathway of Ishq to join our Source and attain that happiness that we are looking for. Love is about connection.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but to remove all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Rumi says that there is an ongoing fight between love and selfishness (Ego) in our hearts. Attachment to material rises to selfishness or ego. Love and greed both nurture and grow in the Heart. If there is too much ego fills the Heart, there is not enough room for Love to grow, and when there is not enough love fuel, we cannot travel to the pathway of Love to connect with our beloved.
The purpose of all religions is the connection to God, the ultimate aim of our life on this earth. Rumi sees Love as like any other religion- A pathway to reach God.
“You think you are alive because you breathe air? Shame on you that you are alive in such a limited way. Do not be without Love so that you won’t feel dead. Die in Love and stay alive forever.”