M2:1938 — مهربانی شد شکار شیرمرد / در جهان دارو نجوید غیر درد

This couplet is part of Rumi's description of the shir-mard (lion-man), a spiritual hero who has just saved a bear from a dragon. Rumi uses this narrative to define the nature of selfless, divine compassion, which he contrasts with the self-serving affection the bear later shows the man.

The beyt presents a powerful paradox. We normally think of a hunter seeking a prize and of medicine as something a patient seeks. Rumi inverts this. The spiritual hero, he says, actively hunts for a chance to be kind. His compassion isn't a passive quality waiting to be called upon; it is an active force that seeks out a recipient.

This is clarified by the parallel image in the second line: medicine seeks pain. Just as a remedy is meaningless without an ailment to cure, the hero's compassion finds its purpose and direction in the suffering of others. The 'pain' is not an evil to be avoided, but the very thing that gives compassion its function and meaning. The hero, like medicine itself, is naturally and irresistibly drawn to where the need is greatest.