M6:2742 — تلخ آمد بر دل چغز این حدیث / که مرا در عقده آرد این خبیث

Translation: This message came bitter to the frog’s heart, That this vile one (the mouse) brings me into a knot. Meaning: The frog, symbolizing the soul, feels bitter and distressed that the mouse, representing the body, ties it down with worldly desires and pulls it away from its state of blissful unconsciousness and joy.

This verse is one of the dramatic and profound scenes in the Masnavi where Rumi, through a simple animal allegory (the mouse and the frog), delves into the deepest existential conflicts within human nature. Let us trace this unveiling carefully.

In the story of the mouse and the frog, Rumi uses the frog to symbolize the 'soul' (jān) and the mouse to represent the 'body' (tan). The soul is inherently aquatic and oceanic, light and averse to earth. It is of the realm of the heavens and yearns for flight. It attributes all 'heaviness and languor' to the body, for 'the soul, due to its lightness, is all about flying.' This celestial nature, when immersed in 'unconscious bliss' (khāb-i bi-hūshi), meaning released from earthly awareness and traversing the celestial dreamscapes, attains 'joy' (khushi); that lost happiness to which its very essence bears witness.

But this joy and this flight are short-lived. 'The body-mouse pulls it back by that rope.' The body, with a rope of material needs, desires, fatigues, hungers, and all the requisites of earthly life, pulls the soul down from its heights. This pull and engagement with the material world are what are described in this verse as the 'message' (hadith) and the 'vile one' (khabith). 'This message came bitter to the frog’s heart'; this message, meaning this continuous existential reality of the body, which constantly holds the soul back from its spiritual joy, is bitter and unpleasant for the frog (the soul). 'Khabith' here does not mean evil, but rather an entity that is in conflict with the gentle and celestial nature of the soul, creating an obstacle in its path and a 'knot' (oqdeh) in its journey of flight and liberation.

The soul, in truth, 'is like a weight hanging from the soul, and the soul wants to fly but this weight does not allow it.' This constant struggle is a source of bitterness and suffering for the soul, as it prevents it from the 'ocean of the heavens' and 'bliss' within it. If it weren't for 'the pull of this rope and this earthly body,' our soul 'would revel in that ocean of the soul, in the ocean of the heavens. It would be happy; it wouldn't even look down and would just go.'

This lament of the soul against the body is not a superficial complaint; rather, it is an expression of its existential 'alienation' (ghurbat) in this world. The soul's true homeland is elsewhere, and this world is merely its 'exile.' The body, with its needs, imprisons the soul in this exile and prevents its return to its 'own origin.' Rumi states elsewhere: 'Whoever remains distant from their origin / will seek again the time of reunion.' This verse describes this alienation and the obstacle the body poses to this seeking.

However, it must be noted that the bitterness the soul tastes from this 'vile one' is different from the 'slap' (sili) that comes from the Beloved (God). That 'slap' from the Friend, even if bitter in appearance, becomes 'sweet' for the lover, for it is a sign of the Beloved's presence and grace. But the bitterness arising from the body's pull is a bitterness that comes from bondage and captivity, from distance from the Beloved and remaining in an earthly cage. This suffering is the suffering of separation from freedom and union, not the suffering of union in the guise of separation. This bitterness is an impediment to flight, not a wing for it.

Key takeaways

• The story of the mouse (body) and the frog (soul) is a profound allegory of humanity's inner struggle.
• The soul, by its subtle and celestial nature, constantly seeks liberation and flight.
• The bitterness of the body's pull is an impediment that prevents the soul from spiritual joys and union with the heavens.
• From the soul's perspective, the body is like a weight and a rope, keeping it far from its true homeland (the realm of meaning).
• This existential 'alienation' of the soul is intensified by the continuous bitterness of the 'vile' body's demands.
• This bitterness differs from the 'slap' of the Beloved; the body's bitterness is of bondage and captivity, not presence and grace.