| My precious brothers and sisters, my beloved brothers and sisters, have you ever wondered how I became a servant on Yunus Emre’s path, Yunus, that sorrowing waterwheel of love, the intimate friend of certain strange beings? Do you know how I met him? Let me tell you the story. When I was a secondary school student, I had a profound interest in his poems because they evoked a great sense of excitement in me as I read them, their taste was sweeter than anything. One night in a dream I saw Yunus Emre sitting with a man under a tree beside a stream, talking to each other. I could see his face, but because the other man sat with his back to me, I could not see his. Then, glancing at the man he was talking to, Yunus said, “One day in the future, this brother of mine will introduce you to me.” I was so impressed with that childhood dream I could not forget it although many years went by.
Years and years later when I was in my late thirties, I had a traffic accident which was so serious everyone thought I would not live, but I survived. The experience of facing death, of being saved from death made me contemplate the inner, spiritual world in a new way; in fact, I was already inclined to have an interest in that secret world. Then, at the age of thirty-eight, one night I saw Yunus Emre in a dream again. This time he gave me someone’s address in the town of Vezirköprü, in Samsun, where I was born and had grown up, urging me to find that man, to go see him. Although several months went by, I did not find an opportunity to do this until news of my grandmother’s death came, and I had to go there for her funeral. While I was in Vezirköprü I paid a visit to the man Yunus had presented in my dream. I found the address he had given me quite easily, which turned out to be the man’s home where we met. He was a dark, very thin man weighing under ninety pounds, sitting on a divan. The first thing he asked me was why I had not come at once after seeing the dream so many months ago. This astonished me, my heart was beating with such great excitement I could not say a thing. Then he said, “I have an obligation to you, I am supposed to introduce you to Yunus Emre.” A strange feeling wrapped around me as I suddenly felt I had known him for years, and with this deep awareness I concentrated on his face. “Do you remember the dream you had in your childhood, do you remember talking to Yunus under a tree by the stream, do you remember the man Yunus spoke to? Well that is who I am, I am the person who is to introduce you to Yunus,” he said. O my God, how can I describe my feelings at that moment, in that house? Impossible to say because I felt so inwardly scattered, I lost control of my arms and legs, falling over in a dead heap. At length, with great difficulty and after a reviving glass of tea, I was finally able to collect my senses again as he began to talk. He told me how he had joined the strangers, certain hidden beings, how he had met Yunus and become a lightning conductor for those who sorrow, those who are unhappy in this world. Our conversation went on until the pre-dawn, early morning prayer when I began, just a little, to have some understanding of the strangers, recognizing who they were, feeling close to them. This person was just a stranger among the strangers of Yunus, among the folk of Yunus, and once he had revealed his secret, he passed beyond this world, returning to the eternal. May the blessings of God be upon him. O those who love Yunus, O those who spread the love of Yunus, O those who teach love, O those who offer the remedy of love! Beloved brothers and sisters, the world today lives with rage, with anger, hatred and the vengeance that causes bloodshed every day; human beings, filled with hopelessness are despairing and in need of love, they keep searching for someone devoted to love, someone who loves everything and everyone as Yunus did. Even though people are trying to find those who labor for love, who bring peace to people’s lives, the way and the path to love and to loving have been choked off by society. In this difficult situation we have to understand who Yunus Emre is, we must fill our hearts with love and give this love to the world, to the people who need love, we have to try very hard to extend our friendship and make peace everywhere. Beloved brothers and sisters, people do need love: there are many physical diseases readily cured by doctors who are skillful in their field, what about the other diseases, what happens to those who need love, those who are suffering and need love? There are people waiting for the men and women whose hearts have merged with the heart of Yunus, the folk, beings who will share their sorrow and bring peace to their heart. May God help each of you on the path of becoming one with Yunus, then you can help those who are helpless, you can inspire the birth of countless beings merged with Yunus. I am certain you can do this. If we believe God is separate from us our hearts are easily injured or broken, and nothing relieves the pain, we feel alone, we lose hope, but if we love God His grace reaches out to save us from every difficulty. We should surrender to His command, know that He is close to us and make our way to the source of love, then we will have knowledge, an understanding of the true goal in the life of creation. Perhaps we will not be just like the folk of Yunus, perhaps we cannot love as Yunus did, but we have heard their secrets and felt their love. This is the way the strangers have taught us at least to be a friend to the strangers, taught us to cure our countless sorrows with love. May God keep us on this path of love, this path of compassion, this path of friendship till the end of our lives. O those who have not attained any state on the path of meaning, O those who have read thousands of pages and have not yet become a person of wisdom (‘alim), O those who sorrow, O strangers, if you have not yet lost the love within you, come to this fellowship, come, share the inheritance of Yunus. Let us love and be loved, let us have the insight Yunus had and realize the remedy lies in our sorrow. * * * (From: Yunus Emre: His Life and Selected Poems written and edited by Faruk Dilaver) |
