M6:592 — بر جه ای عاشق برآور اضطراب / بانگ آب و تشنه و آنگاه خواب

Translation: Rise up, O lover, stir forth agitation! / The sound of water [is heard], a thirsty one [is present], and yet – sleep? Meaning: This verse reproaches those who claim spiritual love and thirst, yet despite hearing the Beloved's beckoning call (the sound of water) and professing their longing, remain immersed in heedless slumber, failing to cultivate the necessary agitation for movement.

Mowlana here clearly confronts what I would call 'spiritual inertia' or 'spiritual slumber' – a state where one desires to awaken but is lulled back to sleep by a 'wet nurse of obsession' (dāye-ye vasvās), a metaphor for temptations, attachments, or old habits. This 'wet nurse' whispers, 'Go to sleep, O soul, for we shall not let anyone wake you from your slumber.' This particular verse, M6:592, is Mowlana's direct address to such a slumbering soul, who feigns thirst but exhibits no agitation to quench it. It echoes his earlier elucidation: 'You yourself must uproot yourself from the depths of sleep / like a thirsty person who hears the sound of water.' The truly thirsty must tear themselves away from the root of sleep, just as one would when the sound of water is heard.

I believe Mowlana here implicitly identifies himself with the divine call, stating elsewhere: 'I am the sound of water in the ears of the thirsty / I arrive like rain from the sky.' His message, his Masnavi, his teachings, are precisely that beckoning sound of water for the thirsty. Yet, the current verse directly challenges the seeker: 'Rise up, O lover, stir forth agitation! The sound of water [is heard], a thirsty one [is present], and yet – sleep?' This is a stark contradiction that Mowlana cannot abide. How can one claim to be thirsty for union, hear the Beloved's call, and still remain asleep? This, for him, is an undeniable falsehood.

My conviction is that genuine thirst is, by its very nature, a propulsion for action. If you are truly thirsty, hearing the sound of water not only awakens you but partially quenches your thirst with its hopeful cadence, compelling you immediately towards the source. To sleep in such a situation is, without a doubt, a sign of insincerity in one's claim of thirst. The one who succumbs to sleep has effectively disregarded this call, indicating that love and seeking do not hold the primary place in their life's priorities.

Mowlana illustrates this point with the tale of a lover who, awaiting the Beloved, fell asleep. The Beloved arrived, found him slumbering, and instead of union, placed some walnuts in his pocket before departing. When the lover awoke and discovered the walnuts, the meaning was clear: 'You are still a child; you should be playing with walnuts.' That is to say, you are not yet worthy of the station of love and union, for the restlessness of presence was absent in you. This inability to stay awake and this immersion in sleep testify to the fact that one has not yet found or committed to one's 'main work' (kār-e aslī). This is precisely the criticism Mowlana leveled at the 'scholars of many arts' (ʿulemā-ye zū-fonūn) whose 'soul is steeped in idleness up to the throat.' Spiritual sleep is idleness itself, even if one appears to be engaged in many activities. Awakening from this sleep is, in itself, the greatest task.

Key takeaways

• Claimants of spiritual love and thirst prove their insincerity if they fall asleep when the Beloved's call is heard.
• The Beloved's beckoning call, even prior to union, partially quenches thirst and incites immediate restlessness.
• Authentic love is incompatible with inaction, passivity, or spiritual slumber; it demands perpetual fervor and agitation.
• Restlessness and wakefulness are signs of a lover's sincerity in seeking union, while heedlessness signals unreadiness.
• The parable of the Beloved's walnuts illustrates that failing to be awake at the appointed moment indicates spiritual immaturity.