Read› Daftar 4› The complete story of that lover who fled from the watchmen into an unknown garden, where he found his beloved, and in his joy, he prayed for the watchmen, saying, 'Perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you'› beyt 70
M4:70 — همچنین بر میشمر ای مرد کار / نسبت این از یکی کس تا هزار
M4:70
Meaning · به زبانِ تو — Your language · AI
This principle of relativity—that nothing is absolutely good or evil—applies universally, so you must learn to recognize it in every situation and with every person.
This couplet serves as a direct instruction to the reader, summarizing the philosophical point Rumi has been building with a series of examples. The preceding verses establish that things like poison, candy, or the sea are not good or bad in themselves, but only in relation (nisbat) to a specific being. A snake's venom is life to the snake but death to a human; the ocean is a garden for a fish but a grave for a person on foot.
Here, Rumi universalizes this principle. He addresses the reader as a mard-e kār, a 'man of action' or a serious spiritual practitioner, and commands them to apply this understanding everywhere. The phrase "from one person up to a thousand" is a Persian idiom for 'in every single case, without exception.' The task is not merely to understand the concept of relativity intellectually but to actively 'count' or identify its workings in all of life's events and relationships. This is the 'work' the practitioner must do: to see beyond simplistic labels of 'good' and 'bad' and recognize the deeper, relative nature of reality.
- مرد کار
- Literally 'man of work/action.' A term for a serious practitioner or adept on the spiritual path, one who puts principles into practice, not just a theorist.
- نسبت
- Relation, relativity, connection. A key philosophical term in this section, denoting that the quality of a thing (good/bad, poison/remedy) is not inherent but is defined by its relationship to something else.
- بر میشمر
- An imperative verb form of 'to count, to enumerate, to reckon.' Here it functions as a command to the reader to actively apply this principle and keep it in mind.
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