M6:1387 — گریه کردی اشک می‌راندی بسوز / گفت شه او را کای پیروز روز

Translation: The child wept, shedding tears with a burning sorrow. The King said to him, “O you whose day is victorious, why do you weep?”

Meaning: This verse captures the moment when the Hindu slave, elevated to a place of honor beside Sultan Mahmud, begins to weep, prompting the king to ask the reason for his tears.

This verse is situated within a profound and insightful story in the Masnavi, a narrative that Rumi borrows from Attar's Musibatnama. It's a tale that elucidates the "inverted perception" (vāruna-bīnī) of human beings; how one might mistake blessings for curses, or profit for loss, and vice versa. Rumi recounts this story to explicate a fundamental epistemological truth.

The narrative unfolds as Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, after one of his conquests in India, acquires a beautiful young slave boy as spoils of war. The Sultan becomes enamored with this child, seating him upon his throne and bestowing upon him immense honor and reverence. At this pinnacle of glory, beside the powerful monarch and surrounded by all these blessings, the child unexpectedly bursts into tears. Sultan Mahmud, astonished by this scene, asks him, "O you whose day is victorious," you who have been blessed by fortune, why do you weep? Has this prosperity become disagreeable to you?

This weeping, however, is not ordinary. The child weeps because he recalls a past in which his mother, to frighten and curse him, would say: "May I see you in the hands of Mahmud Arsalan," meaning, "May you fall into the grasp of this ruthless Sultan Mahmud." These words of his mother had instilled such terror in the child's heart that Mahmud's name symbolized suffering and annihilation for him. Now, finding himself embraced by the kindness and generosity of this very Mahmud, and realizing all his fears were groundless, he weeps over his past "unawareness" and "trembling with fear."

With exquisite subtlety, Rumi transforms this story into a gnostic and mystical allegory. He likens Sultan Mahmud to "faqr" (spiritual poverty); the faqr in its mystical sense, which signifies ultimate self-abnegation and richness in God. Faqr, in our initial perception and under the influence of "ṭabʿ" (our carnal desires and instincts), appears as a terrifying and destructive entity. Our ṭabʿ, like the Hindu child's mother, constantly warns us against faqr and all that leads to it (such as abandoning desires and self-annihilation), presenting it as "calamity" and "destruction." But the truth is that "ṭabʿ (nature) constantly warns you against him (faqr)," while faqr is "Mahmud-e Rād" — generous and open-handed.

The moment a seeker, on the path of spiritual journey, transcends the fears of their ṭabʿ and confronts the reality of faqr, they discover that what they had fled from was, in essence, mercy and grace. This moment is precisely the "wept with burning sorrow, shedding tears." But this weeping is one of regret for misplaced fears and past "unawareness"; it is a weeping of gratitude and thanks for a mercy that had appeared cloaked in suffering. In fact, this weeping is not from sorrow or grief, but from awe, joy, and the realization of the hidden truth within faqr. Rumi intends to convey that much of what we flee from is, in its essence, divine mercy, which our "crooked vision" and "misleading nature" mistake for an enemy and a calamity.

Key takeaways

• The verse narrates the story of the Hindu slave and Sultan Mahmud to illustrate the phenomenon of "inverted perception" in human understanding.
• What initially appears as a curse or terrifying ordeal can, in its deeper truth, be pure mercy and blessing.
• Rumi allegorizes Sultan Mahmud as "faqr" (self-detachment and richness in God) and the frightening mother as "ṭabʿ" (the commanding ego and instincts).
• Our fear of spiritual "faqr" stems from the misleading instigations of our nature and ego.
• When the seeker confronts the reality of "faqr," they weep over their past error, realizing the hidden blessing; a weeping of joy and gnosis, not sorrow.
• This weeping signifies true recognition and the transformation of fear into gratitude, teaching us to look beyond deceptive appearances and seek the inner essence of things.