In the past months sudden deaths of loved ones kept me looking back and forward, feeling the thread between existence and non-existence.

The voice of master teacher, Rumi, is reverberating throughout the years, whispering in our ears. Rumi recites 60,000 verses as reminders to our forgetfulness. He draws a line between eternity and to where we stand now.

Rumi tells us a strange story about a hunter who is foolish enough to run after the shadow of the bird of love on the earth and keep shooting arrows at it, not knowing that the bird of love is flying up in heaven.

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel enormous love for someone you do not know?

The stories of lover and the Beloved are well known in Rumi’s poetry. I am often asked, what does it mean to be a lover of the Universe? Does it have a sexual connotation?