M6:974 — وا رود آن حسن سوی اصل خود / جسم ماند گنده و رسوا و بد

Translation: That beauty returns to its own origin; The body remains putrid, disgraced, and foul. Meaning: Mowlana articulates that transient, worldly beauty ultimately recedes to its true, eternal source. When this borrowed light departs, only the perishable and unstable human body is left, succumbing to decay and corruption.

Here, Mowlana delves into one of his most crucial ontological and mystical distinctions: the dichotomy between the real (haqīqī) and the figurative (majāzī), and the permanence of the origin versus the impermanence of the branch. This is, in essence, an expansion of his core idea that true love can only be realized in the divine realm for an infinite Beloved, while any affection directed towards finite, limited beings is merely figurative.

I contend that Mowlana, in this instance, draws upon an ancient principle of conservation prevalent in classical thought. Just as the ancients believed light, after illuminating this world, does not vanish but returns to its source—the sun; so too does beauty operate. The beauties that manifest in this world upon objects and beings are not perishable; rather, they return to their original treasury. In the absence of this luminous and aesthetic source, what remains is but a shell, a body, inherently devoid of intrinsic worth or beauty, and thus inevitably prone to decay.

Mowlana likens these worldly beauties to a 'gold-plated splendor' (ḥusn-i zar-andūd)—something adorned with a veneer of gold. This luminous coating is, in truth, but a reflection of that primordial light. However, once this light recedes, the hidden smoke and darkness beneath the gold plating become apparent, and the figurative love, built upon this borrowed beauty, withers away. This is the moment when 'that beauty returns to its own origin.' That temporary grandeur and grace return to their source, leaving behind a body that 'remains putrid, disgraced, and foul.' A body that, severed from the spirit and that divine radiance, possesses no beauty and becomes repulsive, even to its former admirers. Mowlana explicitly states elsewhere:

The body boasts of grace and beauty / While the soul hides its splendor and wings. It says to the refuse-heap, 'Who are you? / You lived for a day or two by my radiance. Wait until I withdraw from you / You'll see that he who once perished for your beauty Will hold his nose from your stench.'

Or in another verse, he emphasizes: 'If the body should lie in musk / On the day of death, its stench will emerge.' This body, without its connection to its origin, is nothing more than a mass of clay and water whose ultimate fate is decay. The metaphor 'the moon's light returns to the moon / Its reflection withdraws from the black wall' beautifully illustrates this meaning. A wall that appears brilliant under moonlight possesses no light of its own, and as soon as the moon departs, it reverts to its inherent darkness and becomes 'devil-like' (dīv-vār).

Similarly, Mowlana introduces the concept of the 'counterfeit coin' (qalb). A coin that has been gold-plated eventually returns its gold to its mine, leaving behind only the disgraced copper. The true lover is attached to the 'mine of gold' (kān-i zar); that is, to a Beloved who is the source and origin of gold itself, not merely a coin with a gold plating. This is why the love of the insightful grows day by day, for they are connected to an inexhaustible and unrivaled origin, not to a limited and perishable branch. Divine love is the sun of perfection, and creations are but shadows before it. This verse, in essence, invites us to look beyond appearances and to connect with the enduring origin, before borrowed beauty departs and leaves nothing but decay.

Key takeaways

• Worldly and corporeal beauties are but temporary reflections of a formless, divine origin.
• True love is actualized only in the divine realm for the infinite Beloved; love for anything else is figurative and perishable.
• The human body, severed from the soul and its divine source, is putrid, disgraced, and ultimately ephemeral.
• Authenticity resides in the source and origin, not in borrowed and superficial manifestations.
• The wise and insightful attach their hearts to the 'mine of gold' (the ultimate source), not to the 'gold-plated coin' (figurative reflections).