M2:169 — پیش ازین تن عمرها بگذاشتند / پیشتر از کشت بر برداشتند

This couplet continues Rumi's description of the perfected spiritual guide, or pīr. The preceding verses establish that these masters possess a vision that penetrates beyond the visible world (M2:167) and that their souls existed in the divine presence even before the creation of the cosmos (M2:168).

This verse builds on that idea of pre-existence. The first line, "Before this body, they had passed through lifetimes," asserts that their spiritual journey and reality are not confined to their current physical incarnation. Their souls are ancient, having experienced ages of spiritual reality before being clothed in flesh.

The second line, "before the sowing, they had gathered in the harvest," uses a powerful agricultural metaphor to explain their spiritual state. In the normal course of things, one must first sow seeds (perform spiritual practices, gain knowledge, struggle) and then, after much time and effort, reap the harvest (attain spiritual realization). The pīr, however, operates outside this linear causality. Their souls are so primordially connected to the divine source that they possess the fruits of the spiritual path before even beginning the labor. Theirs is a state of pure grace and pre-eternal attainment, not one of gradual acquisition.