M6:41 — چون ز ذره محو شد نفس و نفس / جنگش اکنون جنگ خورشیدست بس

Translation: When the particle's self and its distinctions became effaced in the Sun, Its battle now is solely the Sun's battle, nothing more.

Meaning: This verse asserts that when a tiny particle is absorbed and annihilated into its origin, the Sun, its individual internal conflicts cease. Its struggle then transforms into the Sun's universal battle against darkness, transcending particularity to achieve unity with the source.

This verse, without a doubt, encapsulates one of Rumi's most profound and delicate teachings regarding the return to the Origin and annihilation in the Truth (fanā' fī al-ḥaqq). Here, Rumi narrates the story of the particle and the Sun: a particle whose selfhood (nafs) and individual distinctions (nafs u nafs) are effaced and annihilated in the Sun's radiance. This effacement does not signify destruction but a return to the source, where the part rediscovers its identity within the whole.

I have repeatedly stated that conflict and struggle emerge when we distance ourselves from the Origin. The Sun, in itself, is devoid of strife; it holds no war within its essence. These contradictions and antagonisms, these divergences and disparities, begin only when particles detach from the reservoir of being and acquire an independent identity. But when this particle reunites with the Sun, that is, becomes effaced within it, then "its battle now is solely the Sun's battle, nothing more." In other words, the conflict of "self against self" (meaning individual and inherent antagonisms) ceases and transforms into a more universal battle, of the kind of "Sun against darkness." This is no longer the petty disputes of particles with one another; this is the very battle of existence against non-existence, light against darkness, a battle in which the Sun is inherently and perpetually engaged.

Rumi connects this to the principle of "Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn" (To God we belong, and to Him we shall return). We, like particles that have come from the Sun and ultimately return to the Sun, have come from God and return to Him. However, it is crucial to understand that this return is not a temporal one, deferred to a distant future. No, it is not that we are separated from Him today and will rejoin Him in some far-off tomorrow. On the contrary! "We are even now returning to God." This journey is a continuous, presential one; that is, in every moment, despite the apparent separation, we are in the process of joining the Origin. Nothing in existence has strayed from its ultimate destination and true abode, even if it appears to be in motion and becoming. This is a profound philosophical and mystical point that must be deeply understood: the attributes of effects—such as time, space, and conflict—cannot be applied to the First Cause. God, who is the source and origin, is Himself beyond time and space, just as the Sun itself is neither East nor West, but East and West emerge from it.

When we return to this Origin, we drink milk from the "breast of the Origin." That is, we move beyond the transient nourishments that sustained us on the path and arrive at our true mother and ultimate source. This return to the Origin signifies the end of the war of opposites and an entry into the realm of peace, where, in God's essence, there is no conflict. Differences and antagonisms manifest in individual instances, not in the singular, transcendent Origin.

Key takeaways

• The annihilation of the particle in the Sun symbolizes the effacement of the self in Truth and the return to the Origin.
• Internal strife (self against self) ceases upon effacement in the Origin, transforming into a universal struggle (Sun against darkness).
• The return to God (Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn) is not a future temporal event but an eternal, ever-present reality.
• The source of existence (God or the Sun) is inherently free from internal conflict; antagonisms arise only in lower realms of being.
• The attributes of effects (such as time, space, and conflict) cannot be imposed upon the First Cause.
• Reaching the 'breast of the Origin' signifies moving beyond secondary sources to drink directly from the true fount of being.